What's been your most "uncomfortable" gig?

[MAXIFUNK]

Back in the early 80's my band played in a bar in West Virginia with chicken net in front of the stage and confederate flags and pro south stuff everywhere.
We won a battle of the bands contest at WVU and the bar owner asked us to come play his 'lil ole joint" as he called it. The pay was allot more than our usual so we jumped on it instantly.

There was more people wearing skoal & various similar style hats, patriotic confederate flag t-shirts and hats everywhere, trucks with loaded shotgun racks.
The DJ was playing Country music while we were setting up and they screaming and yelling a very rowdy crowd fights the whole works. We were like man how did we end up in this joint. We played nothing but hard rock and funk that night they loved us. WHAT A RELIEF man-o-man they keep saying 'MAN YOU BROTHERS CAN ROCK HARD" buying food & rounds for us. They only got rowdier while we playing but never once did we get anything negative vibes towards us but it was hard to feel completely comfortable in that setting of confederate flag wearing folks. We played free bird and someone even pulled out a confederate flag and was waving it around. The owner gave us a tip and wanted us to play there once a month for the next 3 months, well we decided do not judge a book by its cover and we did it and couple of times the next summer (with the tip plus our pay it was one of our better playing gigs). We never had any issues but it was just damn hard to feel completely safe in that setting. Looking back now I know how guys playing the Chitlin' circuit must have felt back in the 50's and 60's.

We always made sure we had a full tank of gas before we reach this club never want to stop in that area. LOL

[mapka]

Wow and I thought that The Blues Brothers was all Hollywood Hoopla but after reading some of these experiences it looks like it was based on some reality!

[scruff]

Back in the early 80's my band played in a bar in West Virginia with chicken net in front of the stage and confederate flags and pro south stuff everywhere.
We won a battle of the bands contest at WVU and the bar owner asked us to come play his 'lil ole joint" as he called it. The pay was allot more than our usual so we jumped on it instantly.

There was more people wearing skoal & various similar style hats, patriotic confederate flag t-shirts and hats everywhere, trucks with loaded shotgun racks.
The DJ was playing Country music while we were setting up and they screaming and yelling a very rowdy crowd fights the whole works. We were like man how did we end up in this joint. We played nothing but hard rock and funk that night they loved us. WHAT A RELIEF man-o-man they keep saying 'MAN YOU BROTHERS CAN ROCK HARD" buying food & rounds for us. They only got rowdier while we playing but never once did we get anything negative vibes towards us but it was hard to feel completely comfortable in that setting of confederate flag wearing folks. We played free bird and someone even pulled out a confederate flag and was waving it around. The owner gave us a tip and wanted us to play there once a month for the next 3 months, well we decided do not judge a book by its cover and we did it and couple of times the next summer (with the tip plus our pay it was one of our better playing gigs). We never had any issues but it was just damn hard to feel completely safe in that setting. Looking back now I know how guys playing the Chitlin' circuit must have felt back in the 50's and 60's.

We always made sure we had a full tank of gas before we reach this club never want to stop in that area. LOL

MY band plays places like that now. I've never been put off by the Confederate flag, but of course here in Texas it's more about the Texas flag. Some of these biker joints, you're playing to Bandidos and other biker MCs, you just have to treat them like any other audience and they'll love ya. They're just folks, like the rest of us. Only they might tend to get a little rowdy at times, if ya know what I mean. When that happens, you just keep on playing. lol

That said, for some reason they seem to gravitate toward music with heavy blues progressions. Thrill is Gone, Further On Up the Road, that kind of stuff, so our sets are full of that.

[kiteman]

Back during high school, about 40 years ago.....my band played for the mental patients at the state mental hospital. Had to be the strangest gig of MY career.

Interesting, we played at a local state hospital. It was a variety or talent show they put on for the patients. We played Pipeline and Walk Don't Run there. That was back in the late 60s. It was fun but it was our first stage presence and we were nervous.

[Brian Krashpad]

double post deleted

[Brian Krashpad]

Oh, there have been plenty over the years.

From a physical standpoint, around '94 or '95 I played an afternoon show on the day before Easter Sunday on an outdoor stage with no cover. In north central Florida, it's already HOT by Easter, and at one point my bass amp just stopped working. I borrowed a little fan for it and after it cooled down I got it running again. Up there with that'un was a show that I played with Crash Pad a few years later on July 2, 1999, in a venue that had no air conditioning and no windows, here's a pic from that:



It was stifling onstage but in the name of fashion I wore that denim bike jacket and the wighat for the whole set. Another heatstroke in the making occurred on August 11, 2007 at a show in Ocala, Florida (45 minutes south of Gainesville). Same deal, no windows, no A/C. There was a big shop fan at the back of the venue but the breeze did not reach the stage. At least I didn't wear a wig or anything, but a couple times onstage I thought I would either puke or pass out from the heat.

In the emotionally/psychologically "uncomfortable" area, I've played a number of house shows that've been shut down by cops, and that's seldom fun. Worst of those was one with Allen Wrench (same band as the Easter weekend show) in the mid '90's, that turned out to be my last night as a member. It was supposed to be a practice at their house, but it turned into a party and the cops showed. There was beer there and other intoxicants, and some of the other band members' (all of whom were much younger than I) friends were under 21. The cops tore the house up a bit looking for anything illegal, which they didn't find, and threatened us all with arrest, and me personally with same on the twisted logic that because I was the oldest person there, that made me "responsible."

Another threatened arrest came with Crash Pad on June 12, 2000, but that was a bit more fun. It really deserves it's own post though, so I'll break off here for now.

[Brian Krashpad]

Back in 2000 Crash Pad was asked to play at Media Play. They sold music and books and computer games and guitars and t-shirts and just about anything else even vaguely connected with entertainment. Huge-*** store. How they found us or why they chose us I don't know to this day. Got an e-mail out of the blue.

Anyhow, the deal was: would we like to play in-store, at like 11 pm on a Monday night? They wouldn't pay us, but we could sell CDs and stuff. They would have a promotion where new releases would be available at midnight. We would have to bring our own PA.

So I brought them a CD of ours just to make sure they really wanted a loud punk rock band, and could actually hear our material. No prob, I'm told.

You can guess where this is going.

We get all set up in the middle of the store. First song, and the night manageress comes running up and says we have to turn down. We're already playing as low as we can and still be heard over the drums. I explain that drums don't "turn down." She's pissed because her stupid sales staff can't hear their in-store pagers.

Not my problem, they shoulda thought of that when they hired us.

So she orders us out.

My response is that she's breached the contract hiring us. She has two options to avoid breach: let us play as agreed, or pay us for the lost promotional opportunity and out-of-pocket costs including our time in going out there for nothing.

Of course she says no way.

Our other guitarist says over the PA (just before I shut it off): "Media Play does not respect local artists and is trying to back out of letting us play here!" along with a couple well-placed cusses. Meanwhile manageress lady is calling the cops.

So I tell the kids to pack it in, and tell the lady we'll see her in court.

We get out to the parking lot to load up and 3 sheriff's deputies' cruisers roll up. "What seems to be the problem, guys?" I explain that Media Play hired us and then wouldn't let us play because of their dumb-*** in-store pagers, and we were just leaving. The cops actually laughed at the manageress for calling them out there over such a matter. We took some photos with the cops and actually discussed the punk rock with one of them.

Unfortunately the cops shots didn't come out because of the poor lighting outside, but we did get some of our single song:





So anyhow the next day I call the store manager, explain what happened, and tell him they owe us some bucks or I'll sue him. And even if we don't win it'll still be fine because they'll have to hire local counsel and spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars defending, plus they'll look like dolts in the local media. I might have let slip that I wrote for a regional entertainment magazine at the time.

The following day one of their corporate counsel from Minnesota or some such place calls me. We have the same conversation. I tell him the whole thing can go away for a hundred bucks, which is roughly our gas, time at minimum wage (including doing flyering, trips out to the store, etc.), and incidental expenses (such as flyers).

They thought about it for awhile and decided to cut their losses. I still have the receipt for the hundred bucks somewhere. Plus, I wrote a song about it called "One Hundred Dollars" that used to be in our setlist thereafter. And, although Crash Pad still exists, that store has long since bitten the dust.

All's well that ends well.

[kiteman]

Wow, cool story bro.

[Eric***]

Nice. Way to be a hard-***, BK. It was justified, methinks.

[Brian Krashpad]

Nice. Way to be a hard-***, BK. It was justified, methinks.

Haha, I RARELY play the lawyer card. But they kinda d*cked us around, and calling sheriff's deputies when we were more or less civil with them (a few swear words by our other guitarist notwithstanding) was a bit much.

I doubt I'd actually have bothered to sue them. But it was worth the bluff.

[kiteman]

Nevertheless it was a breach of contract and you stuck to your end of it.

[Brian Krashpad]

Nevertheless it was a breach of contract and you stuck to your end of it.

Agreed, which is why I had no problem pulling the lawyer card. The key in those sticky situations is to stay cool (which is why I immediately moved to pull the plug on the PA when my compadre started badmouthing the store), so the other side doesn't have any counter-ammunition. A friend of mine had a similar scenario happen to him at a show I attended. He (of course) asked me to help him out afterward, but I couldn't get anything out of the venue owner. Why? Because he and his bandmates (but in particular, him) had gotten drunk and belligerent, and ordered a couple rounds after that, that they then walked out on. In that situation I had very little leverage from which to negotiate, and my friend had to console himself that they'd stiffed the venue on drinks for a goodly percentage of what they they otherwise would've been owed.

Live and learn. Don't get overly toasted at shows kids, it can bite you in the arse in ways you couldn't even have imagined.

Btw, I don't mean to imply I've never gotten overly toasted at a show. Quite the contrary, unfortunately. I'm... deeply flawed. But I do know at this point that it's a stupid thing to do.

[DrumBob]

OMG, my blues/roots band played three times at a local mental hospital. The first time was in a big field in a gazebo. That was OK. The second two times, we were locked in a courtyard with some of the most severely afflicted patients. It was extremely uncomfortable for me. I was freaked. On breaks, I sat behind my drums, read a book and tried not to look up. I couldn't wait to get out of there, and when the opportunity came up to play there again late last year with my current band, I turned the gig down flat. I know it was a good thing to play for those poor people, but I just couldn't go through with it again.

[kiteman]

OMG, my blues/roots band played three times at a local mental hospital. The first time was in a big field in a gazebo. That was OK. The second two times, we were locked in a courtyard with some of the most severely afflicted patients. It was extremely uncomfortable for me. I was freaked. On breaks, I sat behind my drums, read a book and tried not to look up. I couldn't wait to get out of there, and when the opportunity came up to play there again late last year with my current band, I turned the gig down flat. I know it was a good thing to play for those poor people, but I just couldn't go through with it again.

I have a feeling they don't care. Funny to be there in the first place.

[Commodore 64***]

This has been a cool thread. I've yet to "gig. But I wanted to chime in and say that I have enjoyed each of the stories here. I can only hope to add my own.

On Sunday we rehearsed for 5 hours, including a monster jam on a For What It's Worth/Mr. Soul medley. I think we're gonna add Down By the River...to complete our Neil Young Medley. We have rehearsed other medlies: Stax: (Hold on I'm Comin', Soul Man, Respect,Knock On Wood), Stones: (Let's Spend the Night Together, Paint it black, The last time), Motown: (Nowhere to run, Get Ready, My Girl, Dancin in the Streets), Elvis: (Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes, something else) and the "E" Medley: (Not Fade Away, Tobacco Road, Ain't Got You, She's the One).

Anyways, Sunday was the first time I think we played relatively tight...we were able to jam and still stay together and anticipate when/if to trade leads. By far the most fun I've ever had playing guitar. So hopefully I'll be able to pop my giggin' cherry soon.

[Brian Krashpad]

This has been a cool thread. I've yet to "gig. But I wanted to chime in and say that I have enjoyed each of the stories here. I can only hope to add my own.

On Sunday we rehearsed for 5 hours, including a monster jam on a For What It's Worth/Mr. Soul medley. I think we're gonna add Down By the River...to complete our Neil Young Medley. We have rehearsed other medlies: Stax: (Hold on I'm Comin', Soul Man, Respect,Knock On Wood), Stones: (Let's Spend the Night Together, Paint it black, The last time), Motown: (Nowhere to run, Get Ready, My Girl, Dancin in the Streets), Elvis: (Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes, something else) and the "E" Medley: (Not Fade Away, Tobacco Road, Ain't Got You, She's the One).

Anyways, Sunday was the first time I think we played relatively tight...we were able to jam and still stay together and anticipate when/if to trade leads. By far the most fun I've ever had playing guitar. So hopefully I'll be able to pop my giggin' cherry soon.

Sounds like fun! Break a leg!

[Eric***]

Anyways, Sunday was the first time I think we played relatively tight...we were able to jam and still stay together and anticipate when/if to trade leads. By far the most fun I've ever had playing guitar. So hopefully I'll be able to pop my giggin' cherry soon.

That's cool.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll ever get there (gigging). I've tried to get involved with some people a few times here, and there's so much stupid posturing (where they want you to be Slash just for their craptastic cover non-band) and/or disorganization/chaos that I'm sick of even trying. If I could find some supportive group of people who actually want to play together and that I can learn from, that would be different. But right now, it just feels like people only want seasoned professionals or something. It's really retarded.

[R_of_G]

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll ever get there (gigging). I've tried to get involved with some people a few times here, and there's so much stupid posturing (where they want you to be Slash just for their craptastic cover non-band) and/or disorganization/chaos that I'm sick of even trying. If I could find some supportive group of people who actually want to play together and that I can learn from, that would be different. But right now, it just feels like people only want seasoned professionals or something. It's really retarded.

It's a shame many of us fretters live so far apart. There are a bunch of players here with whom I have much more in common musically than anyone I've played with.

[Commodore 64***]

Is there a local MoM and Pop shop that does a "Rock Band" dealio for the summer? You know , where kids that take lessons get together in little bands and play a few cover songs at the end of the summer...to a live audience? Best $110 bucks I've spent in a long time (last summer). It got me in with the group I practice with now.