Why did you get fired?

I got fired from both bands I was in 2 weeks apart .
My life was a wreck , I was dating an alcoholic bartender doing crystal meth and drinking heavy
and smoking lots of weed …..
My timing was bad I’m sure ….

I got us kicked out of a bar one of the bands had been trying to get into forever ….
They were an “ Outlaw Country Band “
I told them everyone wants to be an outlaw until it’s time to do outlaw stuff !!!
 
Houndog1964 said:
I got fired from both bands I was in 2 weeks apart .
My life was a wreck , I was dating an alcoholic bartender doing crystal meth and drinking heavy
and smoking lots of weed …..
My timing was bad I’m sure ….

I got us kicked out of a bar one of the bands had been trying to get into forever ….
They were an “ Outlaw Country Band “
I told them everyone wants to be an outlaw until it’s time to do outlaw stuff !!!
Click to expand...
Lay me down some rails, boys.
Don't put me in jail, boy's.
And if I make some noise,
just leave me alone.

-David A Coe.
 
Like the title says - why did you get fired from a band?

I'll never forget the funniest one for me. Got hired to play a wedding - laid back jazz, you know the thing.

We had one rehearsal which went fine. Myself on drums plus guitar, vocals, and saxophone. Day of the gig, we're playing in a terrible sounding room where all I could hear (apart from myself) was the bass. No big deal, pretty much all the bass is doing is just walking, so I lock into that.

The band leader (a loose term for the guitarist who didn't call or count in the tunes, just started playing and expected us all to join in) started playing a tune that I later identified as 'Summertime' - one that we didn't rehearse, and weren't told it was on the list.

Bass player starts with a slow and heavy 1 2 3 4 which I start swinging to. Seems to go alright. We play the rest of the gig and go home.

The next day, the guitarist calls to blast me for 'sabotaging the gig' with my 'out of time' playing. Confused, I asked what he meant. Turns out, he was playing 'Summertime' as a jazz waltz, and the bass player was playing on 1 and the & of 3 - essentially creating a 2:3 polyrhythm. When I told him that it might have been a good idea to tell the rest of the band how he was going to play a song that we never rehearsed, he said that he 'didn't have time for that weird stuff' and that he would find someone that could play properly.

Bullet dodged!
 
Never been fired. I've been the one that needed to come up to the level of experienced players and I've felt that pressure. It's difficult gaining years of experience simply by summoning it at will but I've always seemed to get by. I didnt like that feeling..like the one staying after class for help or worse yet....summer school! 😨.
 
I got fired for telling the truth...that we were WAY too loud. When 50 people majorly distanced themselves from the band within the first 5 notes...you would think that would have an effect. As pros, we are the ones who are supposed to KNOW what volume to play for the room involved. As soon as we were done the "big gig" the band "broke up" and reformed without me. The leader/guitarist is a "stare a hole in the guitar neck" type of guy. I didn't like the guy, still don't.

The big gig was competing in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, 2014. Which we got cut in the first round. Fun trip just the same. Except it was 9 degrees in Memphis, freakishly cold. It majorly affected the crowd turnout. I drove 18 hours from PA to Memphis, 9 hours of it we were in a blinding snowstorm...stuck behind 3 plow trucks abreast. Slow going. Got pulled over in Memphis because snow was hiding my license plate. The officer cleaned off my plate. That would NEVER happen in PA lol. The food was so good there...
 
I got sacked once just before I quit myself.

When I got back into playing drums a couple of years ago, I joined a cover band to get going again. The band sounded ok at first but soon turned out to be a real mess - no feel, no chops, no time. I quickly realized that it was a mistake to join them but they had already secured a gig so I decided to not let them down and wait until after the gig.
Before the final rehearsal I got ill and called the guitar player. She told me that I absolutely had to come because we needed that rehearsal so badly - when she kept on bugging me I finally got fed up and told her in no uncertain terms that THEY needed to practice, not me. I got the songs down cold, it was them who needed to get their stuff together.
That didn´t go down too well - they called another guy for the rehearsal and told me that they´d use him for the gig and that they were finished with me. I didn´t object - at all. They had a "drummer wanted" ad on the local website for years afterwards...
 
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I already posted getting fired in the Why did you quit thread.
larryace said:
The big gig was competing in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, 2014. Which we got cut in the first round. Fun trip just the same. ..
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I'd like to do that.
I got recruited to drum in something called a Christian Nationalist Militia Rock band. We went to an open jam for stage practice and I was the only drummer there so I played for the well established host blues guys. They asked me to join their band. Ench, Dave the main guy isn't doing the asking. He had his bass player ask. And I'm in a band already, why do I want to play old man Blues? I quit drums altogether for 15 years after that. Dave went on to compete in Memphis and sorta ruled the area in Blues playing weekly. Bad choice on my part. But both of those guys are dead now. I've open jammed with several people who competed in Memphis. None have asked me to drum for them, lol. But none won or are playing much more than I am. But for me it's the road not taken...
 
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larryace said:
The big gig was competing in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, 2014. Which we got cut in the first round. Fun trip just the same. Except it was 9 degrees in Memphis, freakishly cold. It majorly affected the crowd turnout. I drove 18 hours from PA to Memphis, 9 hours of it we were in a blinding snowstorm...stuck behind 3 plow trucks abreast. Slow going. Got pulled over in Memphis because snow was hiding my license plate. The officer cleaned off my plate. That would NEVER happen in PA lol. The food was so good there...
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Do you remember where you played?
 
Got asked to do a tour with a bigger act. Electronic backing tracks + live instrumentation. 4-on-the-floor money beat stuff. Got fired because of a combination of things:

1. Didn't give the gig the credit it was due. Like a lot of really basic stuff, it was full of nuance and really smart songwriting on the drums, and had an absolutely terrible first rehearsal with the group because I thought I could just use my ears and groove with minimal prep, which was 100% on me. That decreased the faith that they had in me as a fill-in. No excuse, just really dropped the ball.
2. I got hit with a 1-2 punch with covid. My roommate got it, so I had to quarantine and miss 2 rehearsals, and then I immediately caught it and had to miss another 2 rehearsals.
3. They started having issues with their drummer-run backing tracks and needed someone with knowledge of the program (which I did but for some reason I had a hard time getting them to acknowledge this).

The dude that heads up the project called saying that their guitar player (also an awesome drummer) was going to take over my spot, then they were going to hire a local hotshot guitar player who already knew the parts. I did my best to assure them that I am an animal when it comes to the crunch time gig prep stuff, but I think up to that point I had just been a source of stress for them, whether it was my fault or not. They gave me $ for my work thus far and sent me on my way. I was gutted and have since had the opportunity to redeem myself in that circle (got to fill in on some SUPER gnarly stuff and I killed it) but that one will forever haunt me. I will never underestimate any gig again.
 
IncipimusIterum said:
he said that he 'didn't have time for that weird stuff' and that he would find someone that could play properly.

Bullet dodged!
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Yeah...you definitely dodged a bullet with that bozo.

As my signature line says, "You're never fired, you're just not asked to do the next thing".
As a hired gun, I'm never fired from a gig, my phone just doesn't ring for the next one. Which has been the case for the blues band I've been playing in. The guitarist/band leader has another drummer who is also good at booking shows. Since he's doing more than I do in an administrative capacity, he gets to play the shows he books.
It's a logical choice to me, so I'm not too broke up about it. But there is that empty feeling of having "lost the gig" that I don't like.

So I'm motivated to reach out and see what else is out there to keep me playing with other people.
 
Got fired from regular gigs twice—

1. From a steel drum and brass quintet gig, but they call me every time my replacement can’t make the gig. They’re nice guys, but they’re in their 60s, and I think they prefer a guy around their age.

2. From a 90s grunge cover and original rap band—-I don’t think they’ve found a drummer they like in 12 years of trying. The guitar player is a brilliant player but a total d-bag.
 
IncipimusIterum said:
Like the title says - why did you get fired from a band?

I'll never forget the funniest one for me. Got hired to play a wedding - laid back jazz, you know the thing.

We had one rehearsal which went fine. Myself on drums plus guitar, vocals, and saxophone. Day of the gig, we're playing in a terrible sounding room where all I could hear (apart from myself) was the bass. No big deal, pretty much all the bass is doing is just walking, so I lock into that.

The band leader (a loose term for the guitarist who didn't call or count in the tunes, just started playing and expected us all to join in) started playing a tune that I later identified as 'Summertime' - one that we didn't rehearse, and weren't told it was on the list.

Bass player starts with a slow and heavy 1 2 3 4 which I start swinging to. Seems to go alright. We play the rest of the gig and go home.

The next day, the guitarist calls to blast me for 'sabotaging the gig' with my 'out of time' playing. Confused, I asked what he meant. Turns out, he was playing 'Summertime' as a jazz waltz, and the bass player was playing on 1 and the & of 3 - essentially creating a 2:3 polyrhythm. When I told him that it might have been a good idea to tell the rest of the band how he was going to play a song that we never rehearsed, he said that he 'didn't have time for that weird stuff' and that he would find someone that could play properly.

Bullet dodged!
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I quit my first band because the guitarists cousin (yes guitarists they were twins) anyway their cousin bought a drumset so I became redundant. He was at my same level of playing but I understood why they would prefer their cousin over me.
The second band I was fired because of an argument about tempo, the guitar player (band founder) fired me and the bass player because we couldn't keep tempo (it was him of course) so both the bass player and I formed another band immediately. had many gigs and lived happily ever after....... wait what? no, we did have a few gigs but I wasn't into the music so much so I moved on. (They played all kinds of Mexican pop music).
after that, I never been fired or quit bands I just had to move away so we parted ways in a friendly manner.
 
I’ve not yet been fired from any bands but I did audition for a band a couple weeks ago and didn’t get the gig.

The gig would have meant running backing tracks from my iPad for the band and using my In-Ears, so I was looking forward to it as something different from my current bands setup.

Plus it would have meant playing larger festival shows in the summer and larger club shows in general.

However, the closer the audition got the more I got doubts and cold feet about taking on the project and also taking on a second band, mostly due to the stress that would bring on my partner with our 3 year old daughter (who was unwell at the time) - plus the band are based an hours drive away from us.

I prepared as hard and as professionally as I could and the audition went really well, but I think I just came across as wanting it less and less enthusiastic maybe than the other drummer.

Plus I’m booked in for shows with my main band until the end of the year and wasn’t looking to leave them, so not really ideal for them really.

When I got the call a few days later after we were in the hospital overnight with my sick daughter (precaution stay, nothing serious) and the news that I didn’t get it I was relieved, to say the least.

Sticking to one band until the little one is a bit older, plus my band is sometimes like a mum and dads club as as most of us have small kids, which is great and well suited to my life currently.

I’d say it was a shame but it wasn’t at all, a good outcome all sides.
 
Only been fired once. The guy who replaced me could play cumbia beats better than I could. I went back to school (so to speak), took lessons, improved my chops, improved my touch and feel and timing. The other guy turned out to be a lot less dependable, and suddenly said "I'm moving. Tomorrow." There was a gig scheduled for Friday, and I got the call. We laugh about the whole situation over drinks now.
 
Been my experience that once established people develop an opinion on your play, that is who you are forever.

I went to jams to find someone looking for a bass player, but I played drums at jams since I played 15 years ago. A few pushed me to play drums instead. I was way outta shape and feel that the label still sticks. I don't attempt to jam with those people, and yet I play very regularly around town.
 
I was fired from a blues band I had been in for ten years. The band only played a few gigs a year, mostly in the summer and in the afternoon. I was also in a country band that played 5 or 6 times a month. Those were mostly late night bar gigs so even if they booked gigs on the same date, I could make both gigs. There finally came a conflicting date and the leader said I had to choose. He didn’t think I was “their drummer” since I played so much with the other band. He got a new drummer who actually stabbed the bass player at a rehearsal. In the 3 years since the entire band has turned over a couple of times. Another country band fired me, and eventually everyone else. He ended up going to prison for a while and the lineup at the time, changed the name of the band and took all the gigs he had booked. A third band fired me and the steel guitar player because a venue canceled the rest of the gigs he was hired for. He blamed us. I think it had to do more with the cussing and dirty jokes at a family friendly establishment. He never had players for more than a few gigs before he would fire them. He now only does solo acts because he’s burned so many bridges no one will play with him.
 
I realize this sounds like sour grapes, but, I've been fired lots of times, and 100% truth, I was on the verge of leaving anyway due to others' immaturity, passive-aggressiveness, unprofessionalism, disproportionate work ethic/effort, duplicity, etc- but never once for musical reasons- and 100%, they were less productive after my departure and ended up disbanding, largely due to the same issues I'd been witnessing. A few of those bandleaders/members have told me after the fact that it was a mistake to let me go. :cautious: I'm easy to get along with and a great hang, but my meter is sharp, and man-babies (and one woman-baby) don't like it when it gets set off and exposes their issues. (I'm never rude/angry, but rather, politely outspoken.) I often wonder if it's the area I live in (Raleigh to Greenville NC), or if I've just been unlucky in landing the gigs I've had.
 
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