Mayfair wrote:I understand he is used to playing larger venues but come on! This was a special small show. So why not let it BE a special small show? It's like when Aerosmith says they recorded their record in a hotel room, then you see footage of these huge hotel rooms with a truckload of gear and thirty guitars all on guitar stands and a truck of additional gear linked in the parkinglot right outside the window... Come on! If you are going to do that, why not just use a proper studio guys?! Stupid people make me angry.

phh! and have it actually SOUND like it was recorded in a hotel room!? they're BIG TIME you can't fuck with their sound! turning a hotel room into a billion dollar studio makes for a nice story that might for a second make them seem like a "real" band and and "real" people...but they're still Aerosmith not some 2-bit CRAP!!! housewives can read about it and say "oh well isn't that interesting"...

atlantic wrote:The worst rockstar bullshit i have run into in my years of playing was when my old band opened for Idlewild.

.22 opened for Idlewild in March 2003. They were nice enough on that occasion, and their show was good. However, there was some label nonsense going on at the venue that was tough to take. I also recall that they were very excited because they were about to tour with Pearl Jam.

Anyway, let's not clog this thread with Idlewild anecdotes. (Did I just type that sentence?) Here's a Crap/Not Crap thread for Idlewild.

toomanyhelicopters wrote:the guy crying to get slots switched (against what the venue had advertised!)

This doesn't make the cut because it happens so often. Every night someone's screaming about going first or second or third etc. It does indeed cause more damage than a band losing their drink tickets - but I've never heard of someone refusing to loan equipment w/o drink tickets. That is unique and assholish behavior!

But I forgot about what's-his-name lugging his wardrobe into the basement at Lounge Axe. That wins.

"we'd been on the scene for awhile."

classic.

also, if you had a choice between sitting on a plus tour bus playing video games and watching tv, OR, sitting in a stinky, dirty backstage area, only a moron would get off the bus.

waltermalling wrote:"we'd been on the scene for awhile."

classic.

also, if you had a choice between sitting on a plus tour bus playing video games and watching tv, OR, sitting in a stinky, dirty backstage area, only a moron would get off the bus.

What, and actually meet people who might be interesting and have a good time? Or sit in a bus that you've been sitting in for at least 12 hours a day for the past month? Hmmmm...

spoot wrote:...but I've never heard of someone refusing to loan equipment w/o drink tickets. That is unique and assholish behavior!

yes and no. refusing to loan gear is very common, and i would even say acceptable. nobody is obligated to loan somebody else their guitar amp, especially after the guy just fried his own amp during soundcheck. maybe his speaker cab is showing a load of 1ohm, or a short or something. as soon as he hooks your amp up to his cab, your amp is toast.

refusing to loan is maybe even the default. some folks are really freakin nice and will loan out gear. i've had a guy ruin my guitar amp. it's actually happened to me twice, but only once that affected a gig.

so while only loaning out gear in exchange for drink tickets is something that i have never heard of before, i think it's actually one step better than the default, which is refusing flat out. and one step worse than the generous thing to do, which is to loan the guy your amp.

but while i think it is unfair to assume that anyone should loan you their gear after you've broken your own gear right in front of them, i do not think it is unfair to assume that you will play in the slot that you were told you'll play in.

yes, the guy who needed lounge ax to remove their sound board is clearly the winner. what a tool!

toomanyhelicopters wrote:so while only loaning out gear in exchange for drink tickets is something that i have never heard of before, i think it's actually one step better than the default, which is refusing flat out. and one step worse than the generous thing to do, which is to loan the guy your amp.

well, i think the assholish behavior here is the fact that they're obviously not too concerned about their gear otherwise they wouldn't loan it in the first place...as a possibly broken amplifier is not balanced out by a few drinks...it's just that they saw it as an excuse to scam some free drinks from another band in a more vulnerable position...

if you're big enough to be on an actual tour bus then by that point you probably have lost some interest in "meeting people". cause really, you wouldn't be meeting people, you'd just be answering questions about your band that everyone there went to see. right? right. i guess you could get off the bus to go hunt groupies though. which of course, would take you directly back to the bus once you have one bagged.

robert thefamilyghost wrote:well, i think the assholish behavior here is the fact that they're obviously not too concerned about their gear otherwise they wouldn't loan it in the first place...as a possibly broken amplifier is not balanced out by a few drinks...it's just that they saw it as an excuse to scam some free drinks from another band in a more vulnerable position...

could well be. i couldn't have an educated guess without being there and experiencing the tone of the guy loaning the amp.

they probably were being opportunist assholes.

but then again, the $ value of the drink tickets could be what, maybe $30? combine that dollar figure with the odds of the amp being fucked up by the guy borrowing it (what, maybe 10% chance?) and you've got a relatively square deal as far as insurance goes. with the numbers i just pulled out of my ass, after 10 times of loaning out the amp under these conditions, the guy would be taking it in for repair one time after getting $300 worth of free drinks. depending on the value of the amp and its repair cost, he's may actually be coming out ahead.

but yeah, i fucking hate opportunists. they're only one step above ambulance-chasers.