Post by Marquee on Jun 19, 2011 21:17:22 GMT -6
Think I may have told some of you guys already, but last night was my last show as a musician. I've been in 3 main bands over the last 13 years. Played bass for 11 and sang for the last 2.
Anyway, last night we got to open for Egypt Central, and I thought that would be a nice way to go out. WRONG.
First off there was 8 bands playing the show. Egypt Central came in, set up their equipment, did the sound check, walked off. Not a problem, most big name bands do there soundchecks before everyone else goes on stage. The problem was that their contract agreed that they would move their drumset and the venue would have 3 people help the drum/guitar tech set it back up before they played. They decided that wouldn't work for them, so the stage was shortened about 6 foot. Leaving all the bands with about 4 feet of space for amps, drums and themselves. What made this bad was there was also about 6 monitors that had to be on stage with us. Those monitors couldn't be turned up in a tight spot like that or there would be alot of feedback. Therefore, we are basically playing with no monitors. That's impossible for a drummer, especially one that in the front of the stage and the amps are beside him facing out. Completely screwed up our set.
Then on top of that, each opening band had about 35 minutes to play. Egypt Central went almost 45 minutes over on their sound check, that caused the first two bands to lose over half their set. One of those bands had driven almost 2 hours to get there.
Also, I've played with alot of big name bands in my 13 years, including Nonpoint, Misfits, Micheal Graves, What's left of the Ramones, Drowning Pool, the list goes on and on. Most all of those bands were pretty cool. Most of those bands spent time with the other musicians like myself, and the fans as much as they could. Egypt Central didn't. They came in, did their sound check, bitched about pretty much everything possible they could, walked back to their tour bus, and didn't come out until it was their time to play. Such egotistical assholes. The thing about that is, Egypt Central isn't that big a name. 90% of the people I tried to sell tickets to didn't even know who they were. Hell, if I wasn't a wrestling fan, I probably wouldn't even know who they were.
All this, and remember, when a big name band plays, the opening bands don't get paid. They basically get paid with the bragging rights.
So that's my last show. I've got to say that the crowd we had there when we played were great and kept it from complete suck, but I was one angry motherfucker on stage. Since it was my last show, I let everyone know on stage how big assholes I thought Egypt Central was. I had nothing to lose.
Below is a facebook blog that one of my friends (she's a published author) wrote about the situation.
Anyway, last night we got to open for Egypt Central, and I thought that would be a nice way to go out. WRONG.
First off there was 8 bands playing the show. Egypt Central came in, set up their equipment, did the sound check, walked off. Not a problem, most big name bands do there soundchecks before everyone else goes on stage. The problem was that their contract agreed that they would move their drumset and the venue would have 3 people help the drum/guitar tech set it back up before they played. They decided that wouldn't work for them, so the stage was shortened about 6 foot. Leaving all the bands with about 4 feet of space for amps, drums and themselves. What made this bad was there was also about 6 monitors that had to be on stage with us. Those monitors couldn't be turned up in a tight spot like that or there would be alot of feedback. Therefore, we are basically playing with no monitors. That's impossible for a drummer, especially one that in the front of the stage and the amps are beside him facing out. Completely screwed up our set.
Then on top of that, each opening band had about 35 minutes to play. Egypt Central went almost 45 minutes over on their sound check, that caused the first two bands to lose over half their set. One of those bands had driven almost 2 hours to get there.
Also, I've played with alot of big name bands in my 13 years, including Nonpoint, Misfits, Micheal Graves, What's left of the Ramones, Drowning Pool, the list goes on and on. Most all of those bands were pretty cool. Most of those bands spent time with the other musicians like myself, and the fans as much as they could. Egypt Central didn't. They came in, did their sound check, bitched about pretty much everything possible they could, walked back to their tour bus, and didn't come out until it was their time to play. Such egotistical assholes. The thing about that is, Egypt Central isn't that big a name. 90% of the people I tried to sell tickets to didn't even know who they were. Hell, if I wasn't a wrestling fan, I probably wouldn't even know who they were.
All this, and remember, when a big name band plays, the opening bands don't get paid. They basically get paid with the bragging rights.
So that's my last show. I've got to say that the crowd we had there when we played were great and kept it from complete suck, but I was one angry motherfucker on stage. Since it was my last show, I let everyone know on stage how big assholes I thought Egypt Central was. I had nothing to lose.
Below is a facebook blog that one of my friends (she's a published author) wrote about the situation.
Sit back, friends, and let me tell you the story of a band of musicians whose ego far outweighed their fame; how they came to a little place called Tupelo in the fair state of Mississippi, with the hopes of wowing the few people who may have (by some freak of nature) remained fans despite the incessant lack of creativity and originality on said band’s part.
Or maybe we could skip to their greedy, selfish sound check that stole valuable minutes away from the little guys. Or maybe we could talk about their backline (in the world of music, means all their gear is setup and sound checked, and everyone else has to work around it.) Or even better still, let’s talk about how they hid in their bus while every other band played.
But the funniest thing of all was how ALL THIS MASSIVE ROCK STARDOM they “have” drew fewer fans than the little hometown bands with talent FAR exceeding the assholes with a record contract.
I’ll warn you now, if you’re a fan of mainstream, radio-friendly bands like Nickleback and Saving Abel, etc… you might find this offensive. Read at your own risk.
Last night, what I witnessed was both absolutely beautiful in the karmic payback of things and absolutely tragic considering Tupelo prides itself on being the birthplace of Elvis Presley. I have my own opinions about that, but that’s neither here nor there. There’s no such thing as a music scene in Tupelo. Stop kidding yourself.
In 2002, Memphis, Tennessee birthed yet another clone of all those crap, mainstream, radio-friendly bands that record companies love to feed to people and lucky for us, they never stay around long enough to pollute our brains too badly with the same old monotonous junk that no one can ever remember. Egypt Central strapped on their instruments, clanked out some basic rhythm that had been used a million times before and threw some nonsensical lyrics over the noise, only to claim it was about how you have to follow your dreams and work for what you want… and “here’s to the little guys.”
They know shit about the little guys, because the little guys are the very ones Egypt Central’s unjustified egos screwed over!
Are you feeling my disdain yet?
Sound check; Egypt Central sets up their gear and farts around with their noise, acts like the rock gods they clearly aren’t, leaves their shit on an already small stage for the other bands to have to play around, got ugly with one of the best soundmen this area has to offer… then went back to their bus.
No, seriously, it’s bad when the soundman is offering to pay the band their promised money to just leave.
The first band, Tisk Tisk—which is a very, very good band with incredibly nice members—had TWELVE MINUTES to play because Egypt Central’s sound check cut into their time…. Tisk Tisk started the evening tearing down music gear and loading it into their vehicles, then drove from Booneville, Mississippi to Tupelo to play for TWELVE MINUTES….
If you don’t know anything about the life of a musician; the teardown, the money it takes to get to the gig, the preparation, it’s hard damn work! Hell, being the wife and daughter of a musician is hard, imagine what those guys have to go through….
Cult of the Flag, who completely rocks my socks and have rocked my socks since the moment my ears heard the first pound of the drums and strum of the guitars and growl of Shane’s vocals, drove from Memphis to Tupelo for the same abuse.
Syntonic drove from Nashville to Tupelo. Again, with no guarantee of money, with no promise of respect, they put their hearts and souls and time and money and… everything really, into what they were doing.
Koldera, yeah they’re a local band, yeah they didn’t drive hundreds of miles to get there, but they still did the work. They still spent hours preparing. They still had to tear down their gear and get the members to the show on time. They were cut short too. They played for about twenty minutes.
Chaos in Fiction—completely awesome band, hella nice guys, Deadset, and whoever else played that I might have missed, they were treated the same way.
I’d left at this point. I was already standing outside the tour bus discussing, very loudly, what assholes the guys in Egypt Central are and how they don’t deserve the suffocating egos they had, and well, I’d already been asked nicely to quiet down a little, but funny, that only seemed to make me speak louder. Sorry, but they needed to hear it.
Before I left however, I heard the members of Killjay discussing how they would play six or seven songs then turn the stage back over to Tisk Tisk. That… that is true brotherhood amongst musicians. That was the big thing to do. As co-headliners, Killjay had been given an hour to play and thankfully, they did the bighearted thing and let the kids from Booneville have the stage back.
Sigh. And no one would point out Egypt Central’s road manager for me. Gods only knows why?!?!
All that was for this point and this point alone; no matter what level of “success” you’ve reached, never ever forget you were once the little guy. You were once the musician scraping pennies for gas to get to the show only to play in front of no one in a town far from home. You were once the guys who had dreams of that big record deal. No matter how famous you are now, you were once a nobody and yeah, the record company gave you the great big sound system to the world, but the people who buy your shit gave you your fame. You need to appreciate those people. You need to remember where you came from, remember the little guys who are doing the very same thing you used to do.
You’re no better than anyone else.
Same goes for authors and actors and athletes and every other famous person under the sky. You were once a nobody being rejected by the big boys. Don’t ever forget that and don’t ever forget your fans are what is important. Beyond anything and everything, the fans gave you life and your fans can take that life away. Respect them for the power they have. Do what you do for yourself, but make it the best it can be for your fans.
Last night, I went off. I railed a person for decisions made that I didn’t agree and well, I am sorry I let my mouth get away from me… but it really should’ve been no surprise when it happened. I absolutely despise seeing people who work so damn hard being shit on by people who don’t deserve the egos their fading fame afforded them. I will NOT support a band or an author or anyone who treats people like shit and I hope there are more like me in the world.
Take from that what you will… I hate Egypt Central. I despise Tupelo. The end.
Or maybe we could skip to their greedy, selfish sound check that stole valuable minutes away from the little guys. Or maybe we could talk about their backline (in the world of music, means all their gear is setup and sound checked, and everyone else has to work around it.) Or even better still, let’s talk about how they hid in their bus while every other band played.
But the funniest thing of all was how ALL THIS MASSIVE ROCK STARDOM they “have” drew fewer fans than the little hometown bands with talent FAR exceeding the assholes with a record contract.
I’ll warn you now, if you’re a fan of mainstream, radio-friendly bands like Nickleback and Saving Abel, etc… you might find this offensive. Read at your own risk.
Last night, what I witnessed was both absolutely beautiful in the karmic payback of things and absolutely tragic considering Tupelo prides itself on being the birthplace of Elvis Presley. I have my own opinions about that, but that’s neither here nor there. There’s no such thing as a music scene in Tupelo. Stop kidding yourself.
In 2002, Memphis, Tennessee birthed yet another clone of all those crap, mainstream, radio-friendly bands that record companies love to feed to people and lucky for us, they never stay around long enough to pollute our brains too badly with the same old monotonous junk that no one can ever remember. Egypt Central strapped on their instruments, clanked out some basic rhythm that had been used a million times before and threw some nonsensical lyrics over the noise, only to claim it was about how you have to follow your dreams and work for what you want… and “here’s to the little guys.”
They know shit about the little guys, because the little guys are the very ones Egypt Central’s unjustified egos screwed over!
Are you feeling my disdain yet?
Sound check; Egypt Central sets up their gear and farts around with their noise, acts like the rock gods they clearly aren’t, leaves their shit on an already small stage for the other bands to have to play around, got ugly with one of the best soundmen this area has to offer… then went back to their bus.
No, seriously, it’s bad when the soundman is offering to pay the band their promised money to just leave.
The first band, Tisk Tisk—which is a very, very good band with incredibly nice members—had TWELVE MINUTES to play because Egypt Central’s sound check cut into their time…. Tisk Tisk started the evening tearing down music gear and loading it into their vehicles, then drove from Booneville, Mississippi to Tupelo to play for TWELVE MINUTES….
If you don’t know anything about the life of a musician; the teardown, the money it takes to get to the gig, the preparation, it’s hard damn work! Hell, being the wife and daughter of a musician is hard, imagine what those guys have to go through….
Cult of the Flag, who completely rocks my socks and have rocked my socks since the moment my ears heard the first pound of the drums and strum of the guitars and growl of Shane’s vocals, drove from Memphis to Tupelo for the same abuse.
Syntonic drove from Nashville to Tupelo. Again, with no guarantee of money, with no promise of respect, they put their hearts and souls and time and money and… everything really, into what they were doing.
Koldera, yeah they’re a local band, yeah they didn’t drive hundreds of miles to get there, but they still did the work. They still spent hours preparing. They still had to tear down their gear and get the members to the show on time. They were cut short too. They played for about twenty minutes.
Chaos in Fiction—completely awesome band, hella nice guys, Deadset, and whoever else played that I might have missed, they were treated the same way.
I’d left at this point. I was already standing outside the tour bus discussing, very loudly, what assholes the guys in Egypt Central are and how they don’t deserve the suffocating egos they had, and well, I’d already been asked nicely to quiet down a little, but funny, that only seemed to make me speak louder. Sorry, but they needed to hear it.
Before I left however, I heard the members of Killjay discussing how they would play six or seven songs then turn the stage back over to Tisk Tisk. That… that is true brotherhood amongst musicians. That was the big thing to do. As co-headliners, Killjay had been given an hour to play and thankfully, they did the bighearted thing and let the kids from Booneville have the stage back.
Sigh. And no one would point out Egypt Central’s road manager for me. Gods only knows why?!?!
All that was for this point and this point alone; no matter what level of “success” you’ve reached, never ever forget you were once the little guy. You were once the musician scraping pennies for gas to get to the show only to play in front of no one in a town far from home. You were once the guys who had dreams of that big record deal. No matter how famous you are now, you were once a nobody and yeah, the record company gave you the great big sound system to the world, but the people who buy your shit gave you your fame. You need to appreciate those people. You need to remember where you came from, remember the little guys who are doing the very same thing you used to do.
You’re no better than anyone else.
Same goes for authors and actors and athletes and every other famous person under the sky. You were once a nobody being rejected by the big boys. Don’t ever forget that and don’t ever forget your fans are what is important. Beyond anything and everything, the fans gave you life and your fans can take that life away. Respect them for the power they have. Do what you do for yourself, but make it the best it can be for your fans.
Last night, I went off. I railed a person for decisions made that I didn’t agree and well, I am sorry I let my mouth get away from me… but it really should’ve been no surprise when it happened. I absolutely despise seeing people who work so damn hard being shit on by people who don’t deserve the egos their fading fame afforded them. I will NOT support a band or an author or anyone who treats people like shit and I hope there are more like me in the world.
Take from that what you will… I hate Egypt Central. I despise Tupelo. The end.
