Why I don't want help taking down, even carrying my drums.

moodman

Well-known Member
'Helpful' bandmates often carry cases by straps not handles, tend to sit the stuff in your drum footprint so you have to move them one more time and after the gig, are only doing it to rush you so that you can drive them home in your van.
And I want no one, not even another drummer, to help me tear down, my kit has idiosyncrasies.
At festivals and concerts, union stage hands etc, no prob, they know what they're doing.
End of rant, you can't get to my lawn but stay out of my woods!
 
I don't want it either, but i always instruct them on how to carry stuff etc. if they want to help. Cymbals i take down myself (with gloves) just so i don't get sweaty fingerprints on them. And also they tend to drop them because they misjudge the weight of a cymbal and pick it up with one hand.
 
I can actually get the job done more efficiently myself rather than directing where the stands, tom holder, throne, etc. go while packing up. I don't mind them carrying the stuff out to my truck, but I don't want them loading the stuff. I have a particular way of loading so that I can unload and store the equipment at home very quickly.
 
You can't get to my lawn but stay out of my woods!

Yep, my band stay in their lanes when it comes to set up and tear down. We have our own little systems that run like clockwork.

Load in/out is a little different, we have to do some venues where access is a royal pain in the arse so we empty/load one car at a time.
 
Cymbals i take down myself (with gloves) just so i don't get sweaty fingerprints on them.
I can't remember ever cleaning a cymbal, except for a shiny one I had years ago. It got moved on, partly because it was shiny ;)

Yep, my band stay in their lanes when it comes to set up and tear down. We have our own little systems that run like clockwork.

Load in/out is a little different, we have to do some venues where access is a royal pain in the arse so we empty/load one car at a time.
Yes, except for festivals & other multi act events, load in & out is always a group effort with my band, but everything is robustly cased, so no concerns.
 
I'm filling in for a friend's band who's drummer has gone awol due to a big promotion at work (it seems to be more permanent as time goes on because he hasn't spoken to them or attended anything band related in like a year). I was in a different band with one of these people and have known them all for about 6 years now. Whenever we are done playing they each grab something and force help upon me. I use a small kit (2-4pcs with 1-2 cymbals) and it literally takes me 10 mins tops to breakdown and get everything in my car. I hate even my wife helping, especially when we aren't in a rush. But these guys (and gal) just refuse to take no for an answer... To the point that the 'leader' of the band tells each person which piece of my gear they need to take and move. Even if it's just a stick bag, in his mind everyone has to help. He/they have good intentions but it seriously drives me insane... Let me move my own crap!!! I got to a point where I told them that I have a very specific way/order that things have to go in my small hatchback Mazda and that just resulted in the band leader telling them all the order so he can arrange each other band member in the order of how my stuff goes in while they a stand in a line by my car and slowly hand me my stuff. It takes longer for me to constantly tell them this order and wait for them to 'organize' then it would for me to just do it myself.

Thank you for hearing my rant.
 
My band mates know to just leave me alone to set up and tear down . They just worry about there gear and I worry about mine . We are usually all broken down in about the same amount of time anyways .
 
I take everything down. Anyone who will help can carry them once everything is in its case. Peace and goodwill.
 
You have to be careful.. I always tell my eager bandmates to wait until I have torn down and packaged everything up, counted the packages and grouped in one location. Then it's okay to move everything to the vehicle.
Otherwise you risk losing track and stuff either gets forgotten, lost or worse - stolen - like the time I let a bunch of recording interns help move my kit.. and a few cymbal stands went missing!
 
I don't want anyone helping me to load the car. Everything has to go in a particular place. Helpers misplace things.
 
Load in or out, I'm fine with help on and appreciate the lifting. Don't have a huge kit so equipment can go anywhere there's a spot in the van.
I won't let anyone touch the kit in setup or tear down though. The way things get unpacked and repacked is specific and I'm the only one who knows the routine.
 
Ugh, the worst for me was someone always wants to carry the double pedal by its driveshaft. I appreciate the help, I really do. But no.

I tried to make everything idiot proof so I could get help. Color coded rack clamps and cymbal/tom arms, blueprint drawn on carpet, memory locks on everything, it doesnt matter. The only help I wanted after a while was moving the full rack. With 3 people, the whole kit moved on and off stage in about 5 minutes.
 
I want to set up and tear down my stuff, and to pack it, as well. I will accept assistance bagging the toms, pretty much all I will allow in the process. As others have said, I can do it far more efficiently myself, and I need/want it put away in a certain fashion to make it easier to set up the next time. I do prefer to be involved in where the gear gets placed during load in, if only to keep it together and out of the others way, but we've gotten pretty good at that, as many times as we've done this.

I certainly will accept help lugging it tho! We have a band trailer that it lives in, and the owner packs the trailer in a certain way, as well, so we all help lugging the gear out, and feed it to him as it gets put away.
 
I lost a rug that was worth more than the kit I played one night. It was a DW Collector's kit, btw.

I will preface this by saying I have only used $20 rubber-backed entrance mats from Home Depot after this incident, and leave the fancy stuff at home.

Story time. I'll set the scene. We played an outdoor patio gig late in the evening, which had a wall behind me, and on the other side was my gig van, the Mazda5. Not only did I carry all of our gear, but I also carried the guitarist, singer, and their gear as well. Load in and load out were epic games of Tetris, but everything, and I mean everything, had a specific space where it belonged. The rug was always first to go into the car.

At the end of the night, the guitarist decided he was going to help carry things to the car and pack things away. By the time I had begun to pack my kit, which went in last, so it would be the first thing out, he already had the speakers, stands, and mixer loaded. By this point you wouldn't be able to see the rug with the gear on top, so I thought nothing of it.

Unfortunately, while we were loading out he chucked the rug over the wall and forgot to pick it up on the other side, as it had landed in a grassy area behind a curb and he was unable to see it. Damn. We went to grab a bite to eat, and I noticed the rug was not butted up against my arm rest when we went back to the car. Damn again. We traveled back to the club, and the rug was nowhere to be found. Another damn as well as several other colorful words, some of which I am proud of and are new sayings between us.
 
'Helpful' bandmates often carry cases by straps not handles, tend to sit the stuff in your drum footprint so you have to move them one more time and after the gig, are only doing it to rush you so that you can drive them home in your van.
You relay this wisdom as if there is a Vocalist out there that occasionally carries stuff to the van, which we all know is impossible.
 
Here's a big Oh Yeah! on the inexpensive Home Depot mat. They work great. A little heavy, though.

I don't like people trying to help on the tear down and packing. One experience I had was subbing for someone else, and the guitar and bass player tried to help me. They unscrewed every nut, bolt and thumb screw on my kit, and then put in bar glasses. I had been distracted by someone talking to me about playing. Never again will I talk to someone until I'm packed and ready to go. It took hours to figure out what bolt went where.
 
Here's a big Oh Yeah! on the inexpensive Home Depot mat. They work great. A little heavy, though.

I don't like people trying to help on the tear down and packing. One experience I had was subbing for someone else, and the guitar and bass player tried to help me. They unscrewed every nut, bolt and thumb screw on my kit, and then put in bar glasses. I had been distracted by someone talking to me about playing. Never again will I talk to someone until I'm packed and ready to go. It took hours to figure out what bolt went where.
Good lord! And they make jokes about drummers...
 
I understand. I prefer to handle my own gear as well. I wear gloves when moving my equipment, both to protect my hands and my gear. I'm a trifle neurotic about letting others grope it.
 
I don't get help offers here in the Phila suburbs. We're just not that nice around here. But I prefer that.

I use a rock n roller cart, and a rolling hardware bag, that I can move both together in 1 trip total. By myself.

Best thing I've done for my load in ever.
 
Back
Top