Have any of you, in your working musician lives, been told by a soundman that you can NOT have one of your integral instruments onstage?
Not just, like, bongos or sousaphone that someone decides to throw into the mix at the last minute, but actually the *LEAD GUITAR*?
Well, this happened to me last night at the S0C1@l.
I did not make the soundcheck because I was ill. I do not know what happened at the soundcheck, but I asked our manager to at least linecheck my amp with the support band's guitar.
I get to the gig, I see my amp is onstage and miked up, so I set up my pedals and go off to change. TWO MINUTES before we are due to go on, the soundman has an absolute conniption and tries to tell me that I cannot have live guitar onstage.
Not only this, but despite our spec, he has only brought three vocal mics despite there being four singers, and has set up a shitty intrument mic in the fourth place which barely works to the point where two girls end up having to share a mic for some songs, and we have only 3-part harmonies during others.
Then he tries to tell me we can't have live guitar?
Would he try that with a guitar-bass-drums power trio? Come to think of it, would he try that with a *man*?
His actual quote, when I told him I planned on playing the guitar against "his advice" was "you girls will CRASH AND BURN!!!"
Thanks for coming out, you patronising asshole. You want me to COMPLETELY REARRANGE THE LINEUP OF MY BAND because you can't be bothered to DO *YOUR* JOB properly? Fuck off.
Not even the suggestion that we do a line-check before we go on. He's never even heard of the idea of doing a running soundcheck during the first song.
Has anyone on this board ever had such an experience? Honestly, I've been playing in bands since before the dude was even born, and I've never been told before that my band can't use their lead instrument.
― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 7 December 2006 12:48 (seventeen years ago) link
FWIW: I held my ground and went on with the guitar anyway.
The sound was shakey for the first song or two, but got there in the end. The overall sound was difficult - but this was due to not having enough microphones, nothing to do with the guitar.
― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 7 December 2006 13:02 (seventeen years ago) link
The *worst* part of it all was our manager siding with the dude over this, and trying to persuade the band to go on without guitar. And then *I* get yelled at for getting stroppy about it.
I've never come so close to just pulling out of a show on the spot.
― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 7 December 2006 14:07 (seventeen years ago) link
Fucking tell me about it.
Two years of work down the drain. But I just can't go on like this any more.
I have so much bile to spill right now, but I can't do it in public.
― masonic boom (kate), Thursday, 7 December 2006 17:31 (seventeen years ago) link
My first band broke up on stage. I was a kid at the time, whatever. You live and you learn.
My next band, coincidentally, had one of the band members storm off and quit mid-set - on stage at the same venue. People thought it was a stunt! :-D
I'm glad we finished the gig, because I felt like we proved a point - to myself as well as to incompetent, patronising soundfoetuses.
― masonic boom (kate), Friday, 8 December 2006 10:45 (seventeen years ago) link