420 musicians onstage

GRUNTERSDAD said:
Sounds to me like you need practice on new material, showmanship, and variety more than pot. If you have to smoke to change it up on stage then musically you aren't making it. As the owner, after a year of the same eight songs, I'm looking for a new band.
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You have obviously never been in an original touring band. We get a half hour set in the smallist, shittiest, dirt hole clubs the northeast has to offer. We play the songs off the record, because the goal is to actually try and sell a couple of them. So yeah, it can get a bit repetative. Im sure the Stones aren't exactly jumping out of their shorts when they play Satisfaction for the millionth time. But its what you do, you play what you got. Sorry if it offends you that we partike in recreational drugs, but we are a rock n roll band not a church choir. I am giving you the reality. We have played with dozens, maybe hundreds, of other bands and its the same for almost all of them. We all load in hours before the show and then hang out waiting to go on. During that time we do a variety of different things. Sometimes we smoke a joint, sometimes we dont. My point is, it really doesnt make that much of a difference to me. Unless somebody is falling down drunk I dont notice much of a difference between other members being stoned or not. Just my $.02.
 
I smoke probably before every practice. It doesn't really change my playing unless I smoke too much. It has to be within reason. Part of why I do it is just to put up with the other musicians without being an a*hole and speaking my mind about this or that. Besides that, it's in the evening when we practice. That's when I like to smoke. For gigs, I might take a couple tokes an hour before or so, but I never get baked before a gig. I might forget something, but it doesn't make my groove better or worse.
 
Midnite Zephyr said:
I smoke probably before every practice...
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Probably? Ha ha, not me. I'm a definitely.

I have a touch of the ADHD and I swear it helps calm my mind making me less distractible. Okay, true enough, my time is the first thing to take a hit (though not always) but it is the practice room and the point there is to really get inside the music and figure out what it needs - not perfect execution.

When it comes time to put it in front of other people - either live or in the studio - I'm better off without. At that point, (hopefully) I've figured out what I want to do and clean execution is more the goal.

Not that I care all that much, but where I live it's perfectly legal to partake recreationally.
 
For as long as I've been a member, I had just assumed that 420 conversations on this forum would simply be locked and or deleted. It always degenerates into the same old philosophical arguments and people tend to say things that are dumb and later regretted. While I have nothing against MJ other than its cost and scarcity, I feel that another 10-page forum discussion on the pros/cons isn't really constructive to our craft, and probably detracts from the board as a whole.
 
KamaK said:
For as long as I've been a member, I had just assumed that 420 conversations on this forum would simply be locked and or deleted. It always degenerates into the same old philosophical arguments and people tend to say things that are dumb and later regretted. While I have nothing against MJ other than its cost and scarcity, I feel that another 10-page forum discussion on the pros/cons isn't really constructive to our craft, and probably detracts from the board as a whole.
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Why would they be locked down? I think it is a legitimate debate/discussion. It surprises me that there is this taboo notion about even discussing it.

Most of the posts aren't really philosophical arguments, I don't believe, just people sharing their experiences, good and bad. Why would it be a negative thing to do that? People can learn from others' experiences and viewpoints.
 
MikeM said:
Probably? Ha ha, not me. I'm a definitely.

I have a touch of the ADHD and I swear it helps calm my mind making me less distractible. Okay, true enough, my time is the first thing to take a hit (though not always) but it is the practice room and the point there is to really get inside the music and figure out what it needs - not perfect execution.

When it comes time to put it in front of other people - either live or in the studio - I'm better off without. At that point, (hopefully) I've figured out what I want to do and clean execution is more the goal.

Not that I care all that much, but where I live it's perfectly legal to partake recreationally.
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I hear ya. I'm not always carrying some of my own.

I like what you say about getting inside the music, and I agree that it can help with that. I can't say the same with my guitar playing though.
 
I think it is a legit discussion. Like Bermuda said some people do it just fine, and obviously the bass player who inspired the thread did not.

Personally I find I can do it just fine and usually do, which is somewhat because my guitar player smokes like a chimmeny! I find if anything changes in my playing it is just that I impovise a lot more and get more "into" it.

To each his own but this subject is legit I mean come on we are musicians! It is gonna come up haha.

I see nothing wrong with it but that is just me. Like someone said earlier I find it is more of a problem if people are drinking too much. So many sloppy mediocre hipster bands here in Chicago that could really benefit from laying off the beers.
 
IDDrummer said:
Why would they be locked down? I think it is a legitimate debate/discussion. It surprises me that there is this taboo notion about even discussing it.
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The taboo isn't about MJ, it's about all of the notions and BS arguments put forth time and time again by everyone. When ever pot comes up, people crawl out of the woodwork to either defend it or bash it. Everyone suddenly becomes an entrepreneur of notions. We have been having this debate for the last 4000 years, and what it really boils down to is:

1: Drugs make you feel good.
2: Being inebriated sucks for everyone.

Sorry, I'm just really tired of hearing how pot is going to both end and/or save the world when all it's going to do is make me feel good, act silly, and eat snacks.
 
vxla said:
Smoke before you practice? Nice way to defeat the effort.
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I've never expanded ideas more than when practicing high and many of my most productive and lengthy practices have happened high ...

... I didn't always remember what I had expanded to when finished.... but that is why I record every practice session

I don't smoke nearly as much as I used to .... hardly at all anymore....

but when I did I found my creativity to be off the charts
 
I have to say again, I just don't see an issue....the job is to play in tune, on time and as part of the team. To entertain and add value. If it sounds good, it is good and the methods don't matter. If the job is done, that's all that matters.

Im not a toker....don't really care to be around it....but am not going to advise others on what they should be doing. I've seen too many times folks that study, take academic tests, play music, talk Plato, whatever.....and excel at all of it while being stoned out of their minds.

Sometimes overactive senses can be an impediment; nervousness, anxiety, hyperactive .....a little liquid or smoke filter can depress the overactive senses and allow one to settle in and focus. It's not all that hard a concept to grasp.
 
I've always thought of things this way- "People can do what they want to do, until it becomes a problem. When it starts inconveniencing others then something has to be done to fix the problem."

I have played with drunks, stoners, opiate addicts, FOOD addicts (I swear the bandleader's Native American nickname at the casino we played was "Chief Banned From The Buffet")... and every so often someone gets way out of whack. I just can't work with anyone who goes off the deep end. I need firing synapses 10000% of the time! If it looks like something is about to get nasty then something has got to be said about it, and my loud-ass mouth is usually the one to say it. I've been in too many bands for too many years and seen too many stupid things go down and after a couple of decades of it, one can recognize the problems from a safe distance.


Then there's the perception thing- I once got passed over for a gig because the bandleader "was worried you'd get popped at the airport for carrying a joint". Seriously, there *is* that. So even if you're in Colorado or Washington or somewhere that cannabis is legal, you're still dealing with the curve of public perception and the programming that dictates that a falling-down blackout drunk is more legit than someone who smokes a little reefer. "Discreet" is always the best policy.

Let the music be your master, not a substance.
 
MikeM said:
I have a touch of the ADHD and I swear it helps calm my mind making me less distractible.
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This is actually a documented thing. In fact, they are now issuing medical recs at some doctors for adults with ADD. People with ADD are easily distracted, but another thing they tend towards is the opposite, if they/we get really interested in a subject, we can also hyper-focus on the one thing. Given that thc can be an "enhancer" and make things more fun/interesting,(ask any stoner how much more fun cleaning the house is stoned) it makes a bit of sense that it might also help one focus on something that is already so engaging... Music lights up the brain good.
 
I liked what BillRay said. There are good and bad sides to everything. We got to weigh it out for ourselves.
 
Every single note on my two Soundcloud channels was played and mixed while high. Every single one! It's sloppy at times but we like to improvise, and there's always room for improvement - practice makes perfect :)

I know from experience that the off-the-wall stuff my jam pal and I play at times is not only the product of the 'erb (as has been suggested) - it's probably more the music we listen to.

I'm going to a health farm soon to sort out my habits (gettin' old bla bla) and it will be interesting to see what happens musically sans weed ... I suspect not wildly different.
 
30 years ago I would of and could still function

Today...if I was to do that, I can't keep time, keep slowing down and have vague outs where I completely forget stuff, for example I forget to keep playing the bass drum for a bar or two....or totally forget where we are up too in the song, like completely forget to the point the song seems completely unfamiliar even though I might have played that song 100 times....

Each to their own but I can't do it ;)
 
Dr_Watso said:
This is actually a documented thing. In fact, they are now issuing medical recs at some doctors for adults with ADD. People with ADD are easily distracted, but another thing they tend towards is the opposite, if they/we get really interested in a subject, we can also hyper-focus on the one thing. Given that thc can be an "enhancer" and make things more fun/interesting,(ask any stoner how much more fun cleaning the house is stoned) it makes a bit of sense that it might also help one focus on something that is already so engaging... Music lights up the brain good.
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Glad you mention this. I remember reading that somewhere, too, but couldn't cite a source. I didn't try to look it up but it's a noticeable effect that I experience just as a matter of course. I totally get the hyper-focus, too, and if there's anything "good" about ADHD that's it, but it comes at the expense of other things that need to get done - like paying bills and sleeping. Not hard to keep a clean house though!

I've been going thru CL ads lately looking for a band (as a bass player this time) and there are a lot of bands that aren't 420-friendly. Obviously, I'm not responding to those. I have an audition tomorrow night with a band and sent the guy a note making sure enhancements are okay (they are).

In my current band (where I'm drumming) we were working with a singer briefly who was opposed to even being around those who partake, and I was okay with that since I knew he had a history with the hard stuff, but our guitar player (who never smokes) wasn't okay with this singer's position arguing that we simply gotta be able to fly our freak flags, so me and the bass player resumed our normal activities (outside so as not to be so blatant about it) and predictably, the singer chose to not work with us. I could've gone either way (he's a really good singer) but ultimately felt the guitar player was right - that we weren't asking the him to partake and that we shouldn't be modifying what works for us to accommodate someone else with a hang up.

BTW, I think this is a highly relevant topic since it comes up with musicians all the time. If you're going to play in bands, one way or another, and despite what side of this you come down on, you'll have to decide what you can and can't handle in both yourself and other band members
 
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Re: free speech.. I find it amusing that once in a while someone will contribute to a post by saying ' why are we even discussing this? Or we shouldn't even talk about blah blah' . Really.. if the thread doesn't interest you then don't bother looking at it.

But one other thing I remember from when I used to partake many years ago.. it can loosen you up and make you feel like you're conquering the world when playing.. or really 'getting inside' the groove - but usually when you play it back cold sober.. you hear all the tempo problems or miscues etc. So basically I made a rule; if you're just fooling around and playing for fun and don't care about playing as a tight band.. then fine knock yourself out. But absolutely I would never play live under the influence.. it just doesn't work for me.. and most of the band members I play with wouldn't even consider it.

I played with a classic rock band for a long time where the 2 guitarist/singers would usually be on the smoke.. and when I started learning how to sing properly, I asked them tha I read smoking is the really bad for the singing voice... and how do they do it? They replied " We've been doing this way for 20 years and figured out techniques to handle it - we're Professionals!"
LoL
 
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