Is it just me?

Oh man... not the mention "smoke screens". Not the first time i watch back a video of a gig and for half of the gig i disappear behind a wall of smoke
 
Looks like every gig picture ever taken of me. Either blocked 99% of the time or my mouth is doing something stupid….well, that accounts 99% of the time too. I have one and only one good picture in 47 years of playin. Someone snapped that during sound check!
 
The guitarist at church likes to put his stole literally on top of me. I guess it's to be closer to the band leader. He does it when his son plays drums too.
 
My first experience with a smoke machine was pretty traumatic. First of all, nobody told me it was gonna come on, and secondly it was pointing straight at me so when it went off the concentrated smoke all hit me before dispersing majestically onto the rest of the band…nearly bloody choked to death during the first song!! 😂
 
At least you're on same stage. I've been stuck off to side-behind a curtain. And don't forget it takes a hero to be a zero with no visibility. And the silver lining -if you get hot you can play naked and no one would know.
 
Or bands don't want their good drummers to get noticed and later stolen to a better band or promoter.
 
Also play-for-fun bands certainly don't want the level of notoriety that pushes them to turn pro. Hence hiding the most visual aspect of the band - the drummer.

And cramp the drummer so he or she doesn't perform their best? Or is it an attempt to keep the volume low?
 
Despite the fact that if the drummer sucks, the band sucks and that a number of band leaders are drummers, we are mainly a supportive instrument. Very few bands feature the drummer even though they are (in some cases) the reason for a band's success. I remember being told in college that a good film can be made better with good music but there is nothing good music can do for a bad film. I don't think the same applies to a good drummer and bad band, but the drummer can certainly help the band be better.
 
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