Author Topic: Ive been flaxinated ( I think) (Read 147 times)

glocke · « **on:** September 05, 2008, 03:30:11 PM »

Not sure if this qaulifies as being flaxinated or not. I play with these guys friday nights, a mix of dead tunes, neil young , some originals, etc...typical jam band fare.

Rehearsels usually go from nine till two, consisting of a total of two hours of playing and many, many hours or partying. Fine with me, I dont party that much, but the musicians are pretty good, and its in a cool location. It also happens to be an hour and twenty minutes from me.

Now, these guys like to talk, and party, and play, and talk and party and play, and sometimes if someone else doesnt show up they dont tell anyone else for fear no one at all will show up, which basically means they are screwin with everyones time.

The last time this happened was a month ago. The drummer (we practice at his house) fell off a ladder earlier in the week and was unable to play. No one said anything about it, so I showed up that friday and found out, and was told everyone would be playing acoustic. Well, I dont have an acoustic bass, and the amp I use is full stack there (not my own equipment), which the drummer didnt want to power up for some reason...so Im basically sitting around with my thumb up my ass jonesing to play while the other guys play acoustic. After about an hour I left....

Today I get an email saying the drummer doesnt want to play, but they want to have an important band meeting. I replied back that if we werent playing, Im not driving over an hour there and an hour back to not do any playing.
Got an email back basically saying that Im not a team player, etc...and theyll be in touch next week.

Sad thing is, the band is really good. We have played a few private parties and gotten good feedback, but the flaky factor is pretty high with these guys. They keep finding excuses for not playing out we arent good enough, I dont want to haul equipment around, etc..etc...

So now, I either blow it off tonight knowing we arent getting any playing time in, and risk getting kicked out, or drag my ass over to north jersey knowing we arent playing at all, and listen to these guys complain all night, and have a wasted friday night.....

For the life of me, I dont know why people have to make this harder than it is. It isnt rocket science. Learn your parts, get togther and rehearse, than go get some gigs....

dannobasso · « **Reply #1 on:** September 05, 2008, 06:09:56 PM »

fugg em!

jet_powers · « **Reply #2 on:** September 06, 2008, 08:03:03 AM »

It isnt rocket science. Learn your parts, get togther and rehearse, than go get some gigs....

I don't know why but it seems no one in New England seems to get this either.... It seems so simple to me.

glocke · « **Reply #3 on:** September 06, 2008, 09:43:14 AM »

yeah danno, thats pretty much what I decided to do....sucks because its been a pretty big investment in time and money for me for the past year, and the band was at the point where we should have been playing out on a regular basis....but whatever.

After chatting with a couple of the other guys turns out the drummer had a hissy fit because one guy had a side project going (that was not even interfering with this band), and he had also bought this huge PA recently, must be like a 4k or 5k system, than starts saying stuff about how we need to start paying him for using it....WTF?

There were plenty of red flags over the past year I chose to ignore because the situation was so good. Big isolated farmhouse, bass stack on the premises, etc....

Anyway, probably use this as an oppurtunity to hit the woodshed...

bsee · « **Reply #4 on:** September 06, 2008, 09:56:59 AM »

Kicking in a few bucks off the top at paying gigs to the guy who sprung for the PA isn't such a bad thing, especially if he also carts it around and sets it up. Paying to play in the basement? I don't think so.

With one of my older bands, I had the money and sprung for a PA when we needed one to start gigging. I collected $25 off the top for about two dozen gigs, not to pay off the PA or to pay me as the sound guy, but to pay for the expected depreciation of the gear over the time we would use it. This was all done with everyone's agreement from the start, though.

Good luck with getting things straight!

richbass939 · « **Reply #5 on:** September 06, 2008, 09:58:12 AM »

Once again, I think I'm the luckiest person here. It has been so long since I was flaxxed (I guess this is now officially a verb) I can't remember who or when it was. I play with a couple of people who can be a bit moody but they still end up being mature and realistic about things.
Sounds like the insecurity is running rampant out there.
Rich

glocke · « **Reply #6 on:** September 06, 2008, 10:06:04 AM »

Bob,

from what I understand he wanted a few hundred from each of us. this was after the PA was bought without our knowledge or input. We were all also contributing a couple of bucks every week to help with electric bills and stuff, and we had all agreed that he would get a larger cut of any gig income since he provided us with a space to rehearse....

pretty screwy..unless something drastic happens, Im pretty much done with these guys. too much drama....

flaxattack · « **Reply #7 on:** September 06, 2008, 11:12:33 AM »

once again i have to make this official,,,,,
YES you have been flaxed......
but...the band called a meeting... and you chose not to attend, so you couldnt fight back with bullshit repellent. so the email nonsense starts..
i agree with the tossing of a few bucks to the pa buyer, but anything more is bs cause the jerk went out on his own without any band discussion
======
greg= its sad.......
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rich- now that you cursed yourself not being flaxed -you probably will-lol
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i get to laugh though- the band that tossed me without saying a word-= the cover band is playing in norwalk tmrw at the oysterfest/ no they arent opening for the jonas bros- heck they aint even playing- they have an hour slot before sister sledge closes 3hrs later=
Did i mention we are getting hit with hanna tonight to the tune of app 5 inches of rain and 40 mph winds? something tells me the field will be soaked! i was lmao when i saw the schedule
=====

keith_h · « **Reply #8 on:** September 06, 2008, 11:37:45 AM »

Hey Flax,
Hanna isn't all that much. The sun just came out here an hour or so ago and while we got about 5 1/2 inches of rain I've seen thunderstorms that were worse. Heck I don't have any broken branches and just a few leaves in the grass. I went out and the yard is not even soggy. Most of the rain just ran off since the storm was moving so fast. I will say that all of our hurricane party supplies went to good use though. LOL

Keith

flaxattack · « **Reply #9 on:** September 07, 2008, 01:48:04 PM »

it was a letdown up here/ they did cancel the festival since it was on a dirt field.

terryc · « **Reply #10 on:** September 08, 2008, 03:18:25 AM »

This is getting ridiculous!!!, where does it end.
I was going to stay where I am because we had issues and my experience with a post I made(a flax experience) put me off but I was told one story why a gig was cancelled only to be told another story - first story - gig was cancelled because venue was hard hit of cash. Real story, singer would not play because we were using a stand in drummer who has played with us before.
Well that's it for me, I have been asked to join a band who has 26 gigs from now until Christmas. It's all cheesy stuff but they just get on with it.
I personally just want to learn the tunes, rehearse them and play gigs.
As said before it isn't rocket science or quantum mechanics..what is it with these people
Another flaxed person.

glocke · « **Reply #11 on:** September 11, 2008, 07:56:48 AM »

what is it with these people

Mental instability? Ego? who knows...
the drummer in the above mentioned band really went mental on our KB player earlier this week...the KB player called and was trying to find out what the problem was and the drummer went off on a rant saying we all suck, the band sucks....etc..etc...

really weird and unfortunate...we had a good setlist (could easily play for four hours without noodling or other bullshit), were tight...etc...

Now we get an email from and hes all apologetic and stuff and wants to the band to continue..

criminy...I say fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...

David Houck · « **Reply #12 on:** September 12, 2008, 06:03:38 PM »

Maybe there's something else going on; maybe work, family, health, or economic issues.

glocke · « **Reply #13 on:** September 12, 2008, 06:25:48 PM »

Kind of what I thought also Dave...
I know he has money problems.

I dunno...I need to give it some thought. It is something that alot of work went into over the past year...

terryc · « **Reply #14 on:** September 16, 2008, 09:57:02 AM »

Nice post explanations dave but if I had the aforementioned problems then I would out of respect and courtesy let the band know..in fact if the band are very close they usually try and help as any person would.