Musicians without Honor

rogue_drummer

Gold Member
I usually don't try to judge people, or if I find I am, I tell myself to backoff because I don't know the person or people well and have no idea of their family life, background, etc. But this one instance really got me ticked off and more than a little fed up with the local music scene.

Let me describe: Our band is a 4 piece Texas Country / Rock band with 3 wonderful guitar players and me on drums. Like any local band, we're trying to play as many venues - both paying and non-paying - as we can to get our name out there and build a following.

Friday December 18th we played a gig at a local honky tonk that was arranged by a local booking agent we have come to know and are on good terms with. He's up and coming like we are and is trying to get bands and venues to work with. Four bands were on the bill, with us playing 2nd. We take the stage and play for an hour. We finish and people are saying we sound great. It was one of these deals where we had to set up and take down in a hurry so all of our stuff is piled off to one side. The other band begins to set up and we start to carry our equipment out and load up. The other band finishes and the next band starts. You get the idea - a hurried affair.

I pile my equipment in my car and hang around to listen to the other band. I finally get home around 1 am. The next day I go to unload my equipment and damned if my stick bag is missing. I look all around and can't find it.

The next day I get an email from our lead guitar player saying the band that played right after us tried to steal two mics and cords from the booking agent's PA system. I say tried because the booking agent is a sharp guy and accounts for every piece of equipment on the floor. He quickly encountered the thief or thieves and got them back.

Glad to report our band wasn't at all suspicious and the bookign agent loved our set and promised to continue working with us. The crooks in the other band probably won't ever deal with that booking agent again, they screwed themselves royally.

A word of warning, WATCH YOU EQUIPMENT. After this incident we made it a standing policy that one of us, or our designated roadies, must stay with the gear at all times to watch over it. I now feel lucky only my stick bag got taken....

It just makes me mad to no end that this sort of petty crap happens. You can't even trust a fellow musician sometimes.
 
Hmm tough situation....There's no proof, but plenty of circumstantial evidence...
Good tip though, people see musicians as easy targets. Gotta protect what's yours. Sounds like a visit to the suspected bands next gig is in order.
Sorry for your loss rouge
 
It happens, they're out there, it stinks & saddens the heart every time something like that happens. Great looking band pic's on the site BTW. Good luck for the future & would love to hear some of your stuff if you have a recording.
 
i had my stick bag pinched once by another band, and that sucked. but another time another drummer picked up my stick bag by accident because it looked exactly like his. we both had black zildjian stick bags with no other markings. all our stuff was piled up close together in a very small space backstage so it was easy to mix them up. i saw what he had done and got my bag back. he was very apologetic and i'm sure he didn't mean it.

now i try to take apart and load my stuff into the car immediately after our set so i don't have to leave it unwatched. it's tough because i always want to hang out with the girls after the show, watch the next band, and have some beers, but it's not worth having your stuff stolen either on purpose or by accident.
 
Yeah those guys ruin it for many but certainly cut their own throats for sure. I for one have a very ugly bright purple bag that too many guys find repulsive and don't take it. Ha ha
 
That sucks, but not surprising. Musicians are just people, and some people steal stuff. Watch your stuff.

and dairyairman made me think of markings on my cases which is something I do with my luggage at the airport too. Something to make it unique and easily spotted. I'm paranoid of people stealing my gear in the confusion of band switching and when my luggage comes down the belt at the airport too.
 
Not too long ago I lost a bag full of about $500.00 of percussion gear, cowbells, vibraslap, shakers and blocks etc. But worst of all was a large Brasilian triangle from Torreli. Hard to replace that. Someone simply picked up the black case as all the other cases were being loaded out. Grrrrrrr.
 
I have only had a guitar stolen from me once. :(

A fellow percussionist, when I was in college, had her whole stick bag stolen. I'm not talking about one of the drum stick stick bags, but one of the HUGE marimba/vibe/xylo/bass drum mallet/gong mallet/3 triangle/woodblock/tambourine ones. Man, she had about $800 worth of stuff in it and was MAJORLY distressed, obviously. She had to borrow all kinds of equipment from us other percussionists, which of course we let her use, but it was a real downer for her, being a very self-sufficient person and all...

I couple of fellow bandmates have told me about upright basses, guitars, amps, etc. being stolen. It's a pretty devastating thing, especially when you pick out an instrument as "the one" that you like the sound/look/feel of. It's not like you can just go out and buy another of the same model, 'cause they're not all the same. I've been fortunate so far, but after hearing many stories like this, I'm never far from or out of sight of my gear, unless it's being watched over by a trusted friend/bandmate.
 
Yea from now on I'm gonna guard my stuff like a German Shepherd, grrrrrrr
 
Back in 1996 my residence was robbed while I was away on tour. I lost everything, all my recording gear, drums cymbals mic's, even my complete collection of Modern Drummer magazines! When I returned home it was as if I'd moved out. All I had left was my touring kit and it's cymbals. Some of which were just 2002's with cutouts in them. Not my best gear. Sadly while on tour my insurance had expired and it was too late for me to claim.

I really screwed up.

A fortnight later I had a huge problem with my health and was unable to work for years. In short I was unable to walk, unable to work and unable to play.

The gear you have seen now is me trying to rebuild, but still it isn't even close. And I've gone from being a very busy touring and recording drummer to mainly an educator who sometimes cuts and producers demo's for struggling bands. And still my feet have not been able to fully regain the technical ability I had before I became ill.

And you know what? I know who robbed me, a soundman. I just cannot prove it.
 
Worst was I was playing, and we had assorted keyboard parts and other tid bits on backing tracks.

So I had a rack case with DAT player with a head phone amp and direct box, that I had wired up to send the correct signals to the appropriate place.

One of the other bands threw a bunch of attitude about how they wanted to night to go (they thought everyone should set up around them, and everyone else's gear should be no where near the stage when they played, real prima donas).

Anyhow, they didn't quite get there way, and a compromise was reached (they went 1st!).

When it came time for us to go on, I discovered some had opened my rack case and disconnected all of the wires of my set up. I was so mad!! It didn't take long to re set up all the wiring, but dang, I couldn't believe the other band could be so petty. At least they didn't take anything.
 
I play drums in a house band where I also frequently run sound. During my drum gig, I had felt ill and when it came time to actually tear down, I left my cases in a spare room next to the stage. When I went the next night to play the gig they were there, I saw them and made a mental note of them being there, so when I rolled my cables and mics at 1:55 I saw them again as I was in that room picking up gear. The headlining band was packing up. When I came out of the office after getting paid, they were gone.

I went outside and confronted the drummer, and was VERY polite. I said, "Hey man, I think there must have been a mix-up" and explained the situation. he said he didn't have them.

Long story short and several promoter/club owner calls later, they were in THE CAB of his TRUCK, not even the trailer.
Watch your gear at all times.

When gigging in New Orleans, I never even bring gear that's worth anything...sad I know...
 
Re: Musicians without Honour

Shocker Rogue. About 20 years ago I had a nice little recording setup - a Tascam 4-track Portastudio and an ESQ-1 sequencer. It meant I could make actual music without having to rely on other musicians (apart from occasional dropin parts by friends to add spice).

The guitarist in a band I was in flatted with me when he moved out after having a fight with his defacto wife (all above board). He was out of work and I let him use my gear. He got really good at it to the point where he was also doing the band's sound when recording demos and at the smaller gigs. Talented boy.

Then he moved out and asked to borrow the gear. We were friends so I said yes. You know where this is going ...

Without warning he moved interstate and took my gear with him. Then he developed a habit and pawned it off. Thousands of dollars of gear, and a grand was worth a lot more back then. About a decade later he sent me an Xmas card, apologising and saying he would buy me new gear. That was the last I heard from him.

Like Wy, I really screwed up.
 
Did you (and maybe the booking agent) talk to him about it? I wouldn't hesitate to give him shit for a while. No tolerance for that.

He was sort of a fly by nighter. Then my health went and I was incapable of doing anything. Including walking. It's some years ago now and I've no idea what became of him.
 
Guess you just can't be too careful, even with other musicians who you would think would identify with you and so have your back, but I guess it's the same percentage across the board that would steal no matter what profession or walk of life.

Fishnmusicn
 
My friend owned a very large rehearsal studio in Vegas for about 10 years and I've heard more horror stories than you can imagine. Usually the source of the trouble was thrasher bands made up of practically homeless young dudes. Our nickname for these types of bands was "Crooked Tooth".

He actually caught some guys trying to remove the speakers from the house PA cabs that were mounted 8 ft up on the wall!
 
Back
Top