Ever been glad to leave a band?

rogue_drummer

Gold Member
Just curious here, has anyone ever been glad they've left a band, either on their own or by getting "fired" or replaced?

I got canned from a band I was with recently for 10 months. Probably the best thing that could happen. The guys in this particular band had about 3 prior drummers before me. The bass player was a former inmate for 6 years and made his living by living off of unemployment and picking up gigs whenever he could and by subbing at open mics. Dude was constantly broke and on his second marriage. He kept telling me to follow the rhythm guitar player / lead singer and if I do that, we're ok. We never really jelled as a rhythm section because of this.

The lead singer (leader) and rhythm guitar player was married for 14 years to a foxy lady but constantly complained of having to go to marriage counseling, was constantly broke and barely could afford gas to get to rehearsals, kept turning the mic downward so he could see the music which affected the volumn and everybody's ability to hear when he sang, continually changed the set lists right before gig time, and smoked continuously, which also affected his singing voice.

The lead guitar player was a decent guy, solid player and about 5 - 20 years younger than the rest of us and was a lab tech, but lost his job and was unemployed for 6 months, so his main activity was trying to find a job. Decent reason for being broke. Plus he was more realistic and objective than the other two.

Nobody lifted a finger to find gigs, pay for equipment, pay for CDs and material, print up and put up flyers, pay for the web site, etc. EXCEPT me. I busted my ass trying to make the band successful, talking to venue owners, beating streets to look for gigs, hang up flyers, etc. Plus I was the only one to be able to make it to all the rehearsals.

And the band lost it's coveted rehearsal spot at a local bar because the other 3 couldn't make it to weekday night rehearsals once a week. They other 3 lived in apartments so rehearsal was off there, and I have elderly neighbors who go to bed very early so nightly rehearsals are off at my place also. Daytime rehearsals on weekends were nixed also because they insisted on beign wth their families.

So when to rehease? The lead singer's idea was to make it to open mic jams once a week and play for 30 minutes. We had a catalog of material of over 4 hours we could play. But not rehearsing those songs tends to make things suck at gigs.

The only reason they gave me when they booted me out was that they "wanted to go to the next level" and thought I was holding them back. We only had 7 gigs as a band at the time and only 4 of those were paying gigs - 3 of which I got the band - we all got about $30.00 each. Not that I played superior, but I stayed in the pocket and at least kept the beat steady, which got me compliments. And they had no fan base excpet a few family members and a handful of friends who they worked with. But damn - I was the one holding them back! hahaha!!

Sorry to ramble, but after thinking about this for 3 weeks since they fired me, DAMN I'm glad to be away from them. I didn't realize how much work I was doing on behalf of the band and the rest of them did nothing.

Anyone else glad to be away from a band?
 
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The only band that comes to my mind is my 7th grade Jr. High School marching band. I never did like totting that trumpet. Even though I also played drums at the time, my parents always thought the trumpet would be easier to lug around on the field. I think another motive was that my grandfather had a big band where he played trumpet.. free lessons, lol. Other bands where I played percussion we always turned into a tightly knitted bunch of guys that really liked what we did and played. Sure we had some differences but most resolved without much conflict.

Dennis
 
Yes, I quit a cover band about 2 years ago. This was a husband and wife led group. Both the husband and the wife were cool away from the band...but at practice and at gigs were absolute dictators, no restraint when it came to their opinions of other members playing or the parts they would play. I stuck it out for almost a year, three different bass players, at least that many guitar players, one keyboard player, even a guy on accordian. One night at a local gig, the husband (who had just taken up accordian) and wife started into a grade school rendition of the God Father theme on accordian and flute during a set break. I watched as most of the people there got up and left or headed for the bar. I finished out the gig, loaded up and quit the band the next day. I didn't burn any bridges with them. I still see them occasionally as they are nice people away from the group. But I was definately happy to get out of the band.
 
Yeah, I can relate. There are so many bozos out there who love to talk about how serious they are about music, but in reality their skill level or dedication shouldn't even be considered the level of a hobbyist let alone a professional musician. I have quit 2 bands & been kicked out of 1. Which I was glad about the ones I quit but pretty pissed about the cover gig I was kicked out of b/c I really needed the money that month. It has all worked out for the better in the long run since putting together my own group of non-shit headed people.
 
Yeah, I've had a band I was glad to leave. The bassist and one of the guitarist were twin brothers, so aparently they figured that meant it was their band and they got to write and decide everything, and I was to be a puppet and just do what they wanted. I played along for awhile, then started working with another group. I'm not sure if they found out I was jamming with other people, or they just finally realized I was getting bored real fast and was planning my exit, but one of them called me up one day and said "I think we are going to take a break for now. I've got lots of work things to do, but I'll hit you up when it slows down a bit." I never heard from either of them again...but that's ok, I moved on and found a band I'm very happy playing in and we've been together pushing 4 years. And the best part, the two brothers recently started a new band and hit up my current bassist on one of our websites (I don't do the whole facespace thing) and asked to book a show with us. Should be fun. :)
 
for some reason there were a lot of bands back in my highschool days, I guess forming a band was the cool thing to do. There were only 3 really good drummers in my school, all three of them were in the drumline with me when I was captain. So the three of us were constantly being asked to be in bands. Personally I just wanted an excuse to play so I would drum for pretty much anyone who needed me. But the one band all we played were covers of crappy pop-punk songs. Blink, Good Charolette, NFG, that kinda crap. Only problem was this band was a few of my good friends and I enjoyed playing with them, just not the music we played. Boy was I glad when I graduated and didn't have to pretend to like that crap anymore.
 
I played in a 4 piece band that i got out of.The bass player did most of the singing,He had a very loud voice that was not always pitched to well,in other words he would sing out of key,but he thought he was a great singer...........And his bass playing was one volume...loud. The lead player didnt play loud enough!!!It was a mess, But we got gigs for a while but it just became a real drag to hang with the bass player..You couldnt tell him to turn down,he was a royle pain Found another band and what a pleasure night and day man night and day..............
 
Congratulations rogue_drummer!

been there. Played in this band that was almost awesome.. Excellent guitarist, excellent bass player. Drummer, well you know! Then there was the leader... He owned the PA and we practiced at his place. Oh, and his girl friend was the lead singer. She was pretty good to0. The leader played the keyboards, and he owned a Hammond... He wasn't that bad, just not quite in the same league as the rest of us.

We worked for about a month rehearsing about 2.5 times a week. The three of us were pretty sharp and learned songs fairly quickly. We were able to put about 50 songs together. We were doing a little Rush, Journey, Pat Benatar, Heart and a smoe calssic rock..

Anyway, we had our first gig. It wasn't the greatest due to poor monitor system.

We got together shortly after the gig..The "leader, split the cut like 7 ways. We each got a cut as band members. He took a cut for being band leader, then took a cut for his pa system.. This was unspoken before the gig, so I guess it was partly our fault too, but we felt he should have stipulated this arrangement to u s before this.

That was the one and only gig we played. He and his girl friend put another band together. He was the manager and sound man and didn't play... they lasted for a little while..

One of the worse situations I was in.. It was not fun
 
Rouge, it is really great to hear you say this stuff. I remember when this happened and you were having a bit of a time with it. Glad to see you resolved things with yourself.
One thing I wanted to touch on, because you mentioned it more than once, was the bass player told you to follow the rhythm guitar player. My impression was you took it as musically follow him. I don't think he meant musically, I think he meant that the rhythm guy does all the cues and leads the song. You always have to lock in with the bass, but I think he meant to keep your eye on the rhythm guy for cues and other stuff. I could be off here but that was my impression.
 
I agree with larryace.................the drummer and the bass player play together, period. Th e cues he speaks of are another thing totally. Communication...................the art of living and the thing that kills all of us!
 
Absolutely.

I didn't burn any bridges and have gigged with the former bass player a few times since in a different band. It just got stagnant because of lack of rehearsal space and priorities changing. When we were working it was great! Some covers and originals latin jazz stuff that was hip and very fun to play. We all are staying busy doing our own things. It was good while it lasted.
 
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