PLAYING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

[gatoguts]

any embarrassing stories about drinking or drugging a little too much right before (or during) a performance?

[StoneDragon]

My first gig was also my first time drinking enough to get drunk... and let me tell you, I got hammered.


Anyway... we had this little band together (sorta)... me on guitar and trying to sing, my best friend on drums and another guy that the drummer had invited to come and play guitar with us. The drummer and the other guitar player were both in high school at the time, but I was still in Jr High (8th grade).

So... we didn't really have any songs together, but the other guitar player's sister was getting married and he volunteered us to play at her wedding reception. She probably still holds that one against him, to this day.

We didn't have a bass player, either, so we conned the highschool band teacher into playing bass for us. If I remember correctly, we only had one rehearsal together before the gig.

So the big night comes and we manage to sorta fake our way through one set and took our first break.

The other guitar player said he was gonna go outside and get stoned, and the drummer and I didn't really know anybody there, so we made our way over to the banquet table to get something to drink.

There were two punch bowels, and one had a whiskey bottle beside it. We took that as a sure sign the bowel was spiked and helped ourselves to a generous amount of the presumably spiked variety.

Well the first tall one went down pretty smooth, so naturally we felt obliged to have a refill.... or two... or three...

I don't know how many glasses of this concoction I had drunk by the time I started thinking that the other guitar player had been gone an awful long time. I looked over at the drummer and noticed that he was helping himself to the wedding cake by the handful... literally... he was tearing off chunks of the cake with his hand and stuffing it into his mouth. It was quite a sight.

About this time, I started thinking the responsible thing to do would be to see if I could find out where the other guitar player disappeared to and maybe we should get up there and do some playing.

Well... I didn't manage to find the guitar player, but I did find the bass player. He didn't know where the other guy was, either, but he agreed the crowd was getting restless. We didn't know what to do, though.

Obviously, the details were pretty fuzzy even at the time... but I remember that some guy from the wedding party claimed to be a pretty good guitar player and volunteered to entertain the people if we would back him up.

I think it was a Blues... but you gotta understand that I had been playing for maybe a total of 6 months. I didn't know any chords except whatever ones we were using for the tunes we sorta knew... and I sure didn't know what to call those. I'd never even heard a blues tune before. The bass player was calling out chords to me, but I just stood there with what must have been a dumb look on my face.

After the jam ended, the other guy was still missing, so I decided there wouldn't be any harm in me having another glass of punch.

That's when my illusion of having a good time came crashing to the ground.

On the way back to the bandstand with a fresh refill, some guy (adult) stopped me and asked what I had in the glass. I think I managed to slur out, "punch." I know I did just manage to keep from having a "movement" in my pants... but I could feel the blood draining from my face.

We began a dialog that I don't exactly remember, but the gist was him trying to get me to admit I was drinking, me beginning to sweat bullets and me trying to sound convincing every time I said I didn't help myself to the spiked punch.

Then, he tells me that he is with the state liquor inspection board or something like that.... we were playing in a ballroom that was part of a local cocktail lounge... so you can well imagine the horror that was taking over my 13-year-old, very drunk mind.

He told me he was gonna ask me one more time what was in my glass, but I figured I was dead meat, anyway, so I'd better just keep lying for all it was worth.

He must have decided I wasn't going to crack, so he pulled out his wallet and offered to show me his ID. I think it was his driver's license that I was staring at when he slapped me on the back and said, "Hey... I was just foolin' with ya. I had you going, didn't I?"

That was probably worse than anything he could have said to me. My poor, Whiskey-addled brain couldn't make heads or tails out of what had just happened. I was shaking so bad by the time I got back to the bandstand, I wasn't sure I was even going to make it back to the bandstand.

The only thing I remember after that was us trying to play another set... turns out the other guitar player had tried to drive somewhere to buy a bag of dope and got stuck in the mid-January snow storm that was happening that night.

Somewhere during the set I was trying to sing a song... I think it was 'My Sharona', and some lady came up to me and motioned for me to bend down so she could say something to me. When I finally understood what she was saying, I turned to the other guys in the band and got them to stop playing. I explained to them that a consensus among the guests had been reached, and the verdict was that we sucked so bad we should just do the merciful thing and stop playing.


All other substance-related experiences in my life have paled in comparison to that first one.

[BrettV]

DAMN, StoneDragon.


You know, I could probably come up with a few comments on that, but I think I'll keep them to myself. http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif That sounds like one heck of a time!

-tk

[Bossaking]

This isn't so much embarassing as it is the tale of an old drunk that suprised everybody.

I have been playing an open stage darn near weekly in an old dive here in town for around 5 years. We play everything from blues to country to jazz and everyone is welcome to join in, solo, whatever!

Well, this bar has a house band that is pretty darn good and after I had been showing up for about a year, they asked me to join them as rhythm guitarist. This was a joy because I felt these guys were a pretty tight band and it would be great to play with these guys. Having to learn songs on the fly and cover when we didn't know the tune was a great learning experince. Still is because I still play there every week.

Well, as you might imagine, we get our fair share of drunk guys and girls deciding their night had finally come and they're going to finally bless the audience with their wonderful vocal stylings or amazing guitar work. I have seen some pretty embarassing moments but that's the beauty of being drunk. For these folks, embarassment was forgotten along with the fifth gin and tonic.

So anyway, there was this one older dude that was a regular at the bar, we'll call him Joe, mainly because that was his name. He was the kind of older dude that uses Brylcreem in his hair, uses Aqua Velva, wears an old pleather tan waistcoat ala Starsky and Hutch and wears smokey, dark amber shades all the time. He never participated in the open stage, but he drank himself into a stumble every night, open stage or not. He was no trouble and was always enthusiastic and gave anyone on stage a rousing applause.

Well, one night, a young dude who had downed a few beers asked us if we knew "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers. Well, it so happened that was a tune we did know as it is a classic and he proceeded to do the most off key version ever done in history.

As it would happen, Joe LOVED this song, I mean REALLY LOVED this song and came up on stage an abuptly put an end to dude's rendidtion, verbally abusing him as he hung his head and left the stage. So, Joe has a bottle of scotch in his hand, who knows how he got it, and turns to us and says..."take it from the top boys" or more like slurs the sounds of those words. Of course, we're all like "Joe, no man, c'mon sit down buddy" but he wasn't going to leave until he got to sing.

You can probably see what's coming here, he sang the song about as beautiful as I've ever heard any song ever sung. It was AMAZING! Gave me chills. His voice was just raspy enough to sound jazzy but clear enough to sound soulful. He wasn't slurring, he wasn't stumbling, it was just wonderful. We finished the song and everybody just stood and stared at this guy. After the shock wore off, we all just started hootin' and clappin' like we had just seen Bill Withers do the song himself. Joe, obviously too drunk to even care, just sat back down like nothing had happened.

It was cool though. Taught me a good lesson on never underestimating a person. Joe passed away not too long after that, complete renal failure as one might suspect. It was so cool to have given him a chance to wow everyone even though that was the farthest thing from his mind at the time. Incidently, no one is allowed to play that song as it has been retired from the Thursday night open stage and for good reason. http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

Later,
BK


[This message has been edited by Bossaking (edited April 05, 2002).]

[StoneDragon]

Bossaking.... that is heavy. I got a little choked up while reading the end.

But it's true... sometimes you just never know by looking at some one what talent they might be hiding (or drowning in a bottle).

I used to work in a CD shop that had a couple of consignment guitars hanging on the wall at any given time. At one point there was this cheap semi-hollow noname thing and a little amp that somebody was trying to sell. One day this old coot that I'd never seen before comes in and says he wants to look at that guitar.

Now this guy looked like even the Salvation Army refused to sell him clothes and he kept remarking what a beautiful guitar that piece of junk was.

He finally asked to plug it in, and I just cringed inside. I figured I could turn the stereo up real loud and send him into the very back of the store, though... and maybe he'd just mangle a few chords on the thing and leave.

I'll tell you what, though... that old man slapped me upside the head with my own judgements pretty hard. He sat down and started whipping out some of the coolest, swingin'est chord/melody playing I have ever heard in my life. I ended up turning the stereo off, and everytime he wanted to put the guitar away, I begged him to play another one!

[rivergrl]

Thats a cool story, Bossaking. There are a few people who ive met and some that come into my Dads shop, quite a few of them you wouldnt even give a second glance, then when they play your jaw drops!

I'll tell you this now, ive not played a gig yet, and when I do, I doubt I will drink AT ALL!!! The risk of me messing up is high... and the risk of me stripping on stage is even higher! lol

[Bossaking]

Let me know where your gigs are going to be and I'll bring the alcoh....err the punch! I promise, I won't spike the punch! Why would you think a thing like that? LOL

BK

[born2rn]

Sometimes you don't make it to the stage.

When I was a kid I got so screwed up on drinking and dope I quit learning to play music.I quit band practice so I could hang out with the "cool"kids.I never did anything but talk about what I was going to do someday.I never did anything.
I became a drug addict loser just waiting for my time to run out.I would pray that I would not wake up eveyday.But I always did.
Then one day I just quit,I was exhausted and did not want to go to jail.
I got a really great job for someone like me,I started driving tractor trailer trucks for Rock & Roll shows.I was given a lot of resposibility and became pretty well known in the industry as someone you could count on.I was known as the guy that didn't drink
or do dope.
I was at last around the music I had given up on when I was younger.
Then one night something happened that changed my life forever.
In October of 92 we were playing at the Kingdome in Seattle,when I got some bad news from home.On the way out back I asked one of the road crew if I could have "a beer".He said sure,"but you don't drink".I assured him that I was only going to have one.
Twelve hours later two people found me laying on the ground outside of my truck.I had died of a drug o.d.Fortunately they called 911 and I ended up in the hospital.
After they revived me and I realized the enormity of what had happened,(they impounded my truck to search it for drugsl,which made it really hard for the band to get to the band gear).I thought that was the end of my life.It was just the beginning.
I lost my job,the Denver Post reported that my truck had been stolen,the band I worked for did not need the plublicity I was generating.They were doing enough of that on there own.
For a long time I could not get over what I had done,I had blown the best job that I could ever dream of.At least I could be around the music.
Today I know that I have a deadly disease,that if treated properly one day at a time,I can have a great life.
About five years ago I found this old acoustic at a pawn shop and have been trying to teach myself how to play.I now have a couple of electric guitars and a couple of acoustics.I am not very good,but play well enough to keep me wanting to learn more.I am really greatful to all of you folks that share your knowledge and experience it has helped me a lot.

With the help you have been giving me,who knows I just might make it ti the stage someday after all.
Thanks StoneDragon

[ghodaddyyo]

I also will not imbibe before taking the stage. At the most, I may drink one beer, but that's it. I save the drinking for afterwards. On many occasions I wished the rest of my band followed suit. Although the alcohol may dull my anxiety a bit, I can't afford the loss of my motor skills, as I'm definitely no virtuoso.

[Garrett]

born2rn what do you mean you died? and what disease if you dont mind me asking?

Garrett

[Boomer]

probably clinical death, the kind that you can be revived from within a short period of time, and the disease is most likely alcoholism, which is deadly if not controlled.

The trick is it's a disease that tells you that you don't have a disease. Ultimate Catch 22.

Good Luck Born2rn. It's all worth it in the end. That comes from somebody who's had a problem with the stuff as well. http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/biggrin.gif

[born2rn]

Hey Boomer
Good to hear you
I started to teach myself how to play guitar after I learned how to not kill myself "one day at a time"
What a beautiful reward
you guys are all great
Maybe someday I will be able to play well enough to play with other people
still a bit shy about playing with others

[se77en221]

well speaking of getting plowed before and during your performance, is it true that hendrix would soak his headband in lsd and wore it onto the stage? i dont know where i heard it from but it might just be another one of those rumors.

[Jagstang666]

Yeah I heard that too.

[se77en221]

hmm, well i guess nobody knows

[NotMasteredYet]

I love this thread. Can someone dig way back into the foggy mind and let us know what bad things you did?

I don't have any stories but it likely does not help I don't play guitar unless I'm drinkin'. That means I'm drinking lots and practice gets sloppier later in the evening! Wouldn't know what to do if I played out and had to play stone cold sober. Not sure if it would be horrifying or refreshing.

[NickCsavoj]

Im still not good enough 2 play gigs..But my uncle has a group of guys that are quite good. He plays lead guitar and some vocals(him and the bassest share vocals on dif songs) And they were playen for my friends party. Well they played for about 3 hours..the whole time my uncle had been drink beer n' mixed drinks inbetween songs. And smoken cigs the entire time.

Later on they took a break and went inside to grab a bite to eat. My uncle didnt look drunk one bit. But about an hour later they came out and said they'd play a few requests. My uncle, steve, was playen fine...but boy did he look like crap. And he stumbled everywhere. His singing was a little slurred in some parts but not 2 bad.

Then someone requested Sweet Child O' Mine. Well he played a pretty good guitar solo... But during the final part he just lost it. He sang "Where do we go, ohhh where do we..." and just stopped playen completely. His eyes rolled back and he passed out right on the stage and fell off the 'stage' face first and threw up all over. He never regained conciousness so we called 911. He was in bad shape with alchohol intoxication. He ended up bein fine but the doctor said it was a miracle he made it as far as he did b4 passen out.

[Agua]

LOL!! Okay, here's an odd one (or maybe not).

Anyway, I played bass in roots rock / garage rock early 80s clubs in Jackson, Mississippi. An couple of old alcoholic Vietnam Vets I'd known through a connection at work had a gig in this mudhole town named Forrest, Mississippi, and asked me to jump in for a one gig type of thing as they had no bassist. Having never heard many of the songs on the playlist, we practiced like 2 hours before we got on the long gravel road through the woods to go to the gig.

We get to the place and it is the achetypical hole in the wall: Probably 25 x 60, single entrance, full plate glass entrance. Okay, SOP with these guys seemed to be drink as much beer as you can on the way to the gig, so we did. http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/biggrin.gif The bar was cooled only by two very large fans on stands immediately in front of the stage. Well, by about beer #10-14, I decided it would be funny to chuck my beer into the back of the fan and spray the crowd. LOL.... So, I did.

The crowd ran from the dance floor and some snaggle-toothed, scraggly-bearded redneck starts walking up to me with his head half-cocked to the side and I figured I was about to receive my just deserts. Fortnately, I was quick on the snap and leaned into him and said, "MAN, OH MAN, I'm SO SORRY! I THOUGHT I'D STUCK MY HAND IN THE BACK OF THE FAN, I DIDN'T REALIZE I HAD A BEER IN MY HAND"... LOLOLOL..... He looked at me like "HUH?!?!???" Figuring I was a crazed whacko or something, he stood there a second or two, looked at the fan, then at me and said, "it's okay man". LOLOLOLOL...

As a post script, the next day, after having a good live performance for practice, we set up the PA, amps, and stuff at some nitwit's yard a few miles down the road from the guys' house and had one of the most aswesome rockin' jam sessions I've ever participated in ... Frankie Ford, CCR, Johnny Rivers ...

[This message has been edited by Agua (edited February 15, 2004).]

[paper_flowers]

Jeez,all you people are guitar players

Im a vocalist XD
that is trying to LEARN guitar
It wont be pretty
XD!
This is actually quite funny......

[Chulio]

Hi
I am not proud about my past but it was not boring. First let me say that I have been clean now for 14 years and thanks to some good management dissipations (not mine) I still am able to live off the royalties from the 70's. My worst story was my last day on drugs in 1974. I was on my way to a gig in the car provided by the promoter and was snorting cocaine with some chick I picked up in Chicago the night before.
I remember thinking that the stuff on the radio had no guitars (all Keys) and was getting sick of the new sounds. By the time I got to the stadium in Milwaukee I was flying. Someone gave me a bottle of beer and I sucked it down and then the guy freaks and says everyone was supposed to sip it as it was full of acid or something.
I took a nap and was awakened for the show around 3:00. I was toasted freeze dried french fried tripping like I never thought possible. We were on after Rufus and before the Stones. I remember playing like I was watching the show from the crowd and was so far gone I really did not know how I made it though. I guess those songs were ingrained in my brain. The last thing I remember before they took me to some VA hospital that was like a block from the stadium, was Keith asking if I had any heroin or a cig. I through up on him and that was all I remember. I never did meet or see Mick. I do remember Shakacan spilling out of her clothes though.

1968-1974 almost no memorey at all.

[PurpleHaze]

My second time ever playing a open mic gig I ate some mushrooms. I cant say that I made an *** of myself. My buddy and I played two songs pulled it of pretty well, but I was totally peaking and people at the bar were freakin' me out. Man that was actually the first time I was ever in public tripping out. After the first couple of times you get used to it. I try not to drink until after shows. I might have a beer or two between sets.

[socialparasite]

May i ask the name of your band Chulio if you do not mind?

[aPhrygian]

Back in the early nineties I was playing in this crappy garage band. We got our first gig at this little rat's nest called the Tropicana that had two big steel ceiling support posts on the front corners of the stage. I was hammered on Jagermeister and was showing off for some skirts up front and went whipping around and hit the steel post with the long end of my Kramer Rhoads Vee. The guitar split into pieces and flew out of my hands and clobbered the two chicks I was showing off for, the singer busted out laughing into the mike, and the other guitar player just looked at me and shook his head. We never played live again.

[tromplemonde]

it was our first real gig, and i was trying to get the singer/rythm guitar player not to get stoned, so he told me hed just get buzzed. So he only brought a little weed and he played fine. Thing is, he got arrested for being in a mosh pit (they said no moshing, it was such bull) and if i had stopped him that day he wouldv had weed on him and would be in deep s***

[AcousticShred]

bossaking: we'll call him Joe, mainly because that was his name


LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!

[msg80]

I've seen friends drink some before a show only to pull a Burt McCracken on stage. Not pretty.

[HeavyMetalKing]

DRINKIN SUCKS WHY DOES EVERYONE DO IT? GO BANG SOMEONE INSTEAD!L0L!

[Keith]

played in a band called Ragdoll in the mid 80's.
had a few too many and during the second set during a solo to "walk this way" missed the outter stage area and fell off the stage onto the floor below(2 foot drop) and snapped the headstock off my guitar..never again

[Mark Knopfler]

LOL @ Bossaking

[Sarco]

Just drink one or two beers (I'm talking about belgian beer, real stuff http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/tongue.gif) before the gig and the other 12 orso after the gig. It doesn't influence your playing + it's fun too... Once did a show where we had a fridge, we stuffed it before we went to play and had a small party afterwards with nice & cool drinks. I'm now in a dilemma, buying a cabinet or a fridge http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif (maybe a fridge mounted with speakers)

[Keith]

After reading bossaking's post about Joe, a week later something of the same sort happened to someone I played along side often.I played bass for an older man.(Mid 60's)His name was Lenny Adams.He did the old crooner material, Jonny Cash, Elvis and such.We played small pubs and usualy had a crowd of 10-50 people.Sometimes more if we had the right night.Lenny was one of the sweetest guys you could ever meet.He was like a grandfather to me and everyone else that met him.Always in a good mood, laughed at bad jokes, made you feel good about yourself when you felt down and loved it when you brought kids up to him.He could talk to the kids for hours about music.He would let kids play his '45 Martin without question.Our Favorate tune was "make the world go away".Man!.. could he belt that tune out.
But, he drank alot.So we all did doing the older tunes.He couldn't remember all the lyrics, so he had pages on his stand to sing.He always had anyone and everyone in the bar up for the last song "I walk the line".On April 15th, Lenny walked his last line.
Something we didn't know about Lenny was his depression after he lost his wife, then his son a week later from a car accident.He took his own life because of that and the drinking.But right up to that point, he never swayed from showing the crowd and the kids(and us) what it was like to live and have fun.And we never knew what was bothering him.Never told anyone this before 'sept my wife..Still miss him like it was yesterday

[hammer]

Keith: That's a sad story. It's a pity he couldn't share his pain with his friends. Life can real hard sometimes.

[Keith]

Keith: That's a sad story. It's a pity he couldn't share his pain with his friends. Life can real hard sometimes.
Ya it is a pity Matt.But he was from the old school of "men don't show emotions".I think he never told anyone because he didn't want to bring anyone down about his troubles.He'd rather see people smiling then worrying about him.The pubs we played in always had the heartbroken come in, and playing music was his way of telling people that it's going to be ok, and to sit down, relax have a drink and forget about whats bothering you for a few hours.If I ever grow up, I wanna be just like him.He always said after the last song, "good night, get drunk and meet someone".
I think I'll use that in my sig as a tribute to the old guy :)

[YowhatsupT]

that is a sad story man...

Hey man If i was you I'd compose a tribute in his honor...

mebbe "good night, get drunk and meet someone"

sounds like a killer dude man wish i could have met him

[motorhead_6]

You definately should never get more messed up than YOU personally can handle. Ive seen unbelievable musicians get unbelievably messed up and play great but more often then that Ive seen musicians who cant play worth a f--k if they get even a little messed up.

[zeeter]

Mine is a little different than most. About ten or twelve years ago I was in a club with a bunch of guys that I worked with. It was a weeknight and there was a band scheduled to play that night. There was also a terrible rainstorm. As luck would have it, the power went out. So the band was up there waiting for it to come back on and people began to leave. Meanwhile, my buddies and I were drinking all the beer that we could before it got warm. You know, helping the bar out so that all of that beer in the kegs didn't go bad. We were being good sammaritans.
Anyway, after a while I got pretty plastered. I had been playing guitar for about three years. The power finally came back on and the band decided that there weren't enough people there and it was too late to start playing, so they began to pack it up.
I went up to the stage and began talking to the guitar player. I convinced him to let me play his guitar for a few minutes while they packed everything else up.
Needless to say, I was horrible. So horrible, in fact, that the bandmates all looked at each other and then unplugged me. My friends still razz me about that to this day. It was around the time that MTV was doing those "Unplugged" shows, so they all reminisced about when I played my "unplugged" concert.

[AnotherTicket81]

My husband use to have a bad drinking problem during shows. One night he was playing a show (I wasn't in the band at this time) and just had WAAAAAYYYYY too much and right before the 4th set, he sat on the barstool and looked me right in the eye and slurred out, "I can't get back up there..." Well, he proceeds to go out to the equipment trailer and sit on the edge and then lays back in it. Hey, it was over right there. He passed out.

The other guitar player was with me - pretty much a best friend to me and my husband - and I remember asking him what the heck we were gonna do. He said, well first thing, take his wallet and keys before somebody rolls him. Then get your tail in there and pick up his guitar.

So there I was, having to leave him in the trailer, which we closed, lol. And I finished the last set. It was cool getting to play, but uncool having to leave him out there in the trailer. That scared me to death. He still wasn't awake when we left lol.

We pretty much swore it off after that!

[thunder_bird]

I tried it once and i sucked. I however thought i could rival Hendrix

[thunder_bird]

Im plannin to have a little before our next gig mind

[damien03]

There are some really touching storys here, as well as bust open your gut laughing storys. This is mine. It was in 8th grade and a bunch of guys got together to form a band, lead vocal/guitarist bassist and drummer. I was back up so i learned a little of everything and I was also the manager. I had gotten them this gig with the school as a kind of " might as well let them play for the school not like we need the kids in class anyways" kind of deal. Anyways, lead singer/guitarist gets up there, baked, cant remember the chords, the lyrics or how to properly pronounciate any of the words to Nirvana's smells like teen spirits. It was a sad embarassing day for all of us, people iun the crowd felt bad for us.

[SKEETER]

I never liked playing when I was high (even when I was partying like a madman). Now that I do not drink or get stoned, I find playing with musicians that are a pain in the ***. They tend to make a lot of mistakes and then stand around and argue about whose fault it is, when it is the boozes fault.

[Slipstream]

I never liked playing when I was high (even when I was partying like a madman). Now that I do not drink or get stoned, I find playing with musicians that are a pain in the ***. They tend to make a lot of mistakes and then stand around and argue about whose fault it is, when it is the boozes fault.I know what ya mean Skeeter. I quit drinkin' about four years ago. Back when I used to drink I could hardly tell one note from another. If I started tuning my guitar after even one drink I'd screw it up beyond remedy. I made it a habit not to do anything important when drinkin' - like playing guitar, or driving, or anything involving judgement.

Friends don't let friends drink and jam :) .

[SKEETER]

I don't mind other guys in the band drinking a little, or smokin some, but when it gets carried away then it becomes tough. I also worry about them driving home, considering the current bust everyone with a beer in them craze..........
But it is a hassle when the liquor bottle opens, especially at my age, when I know that they also are jeopordizing their health with it.

[genereaux]

I've been part of this silly band (name witheld for the time being) for a couple of years now, on&off (the band as whole). There's three of us and we do quirky (but well arranged) covers and some cool originals. Think country-fied versions of Rebel Yell. But no genre is safe. We all sing and play guitar (on the big shows we'll play other inst's as well), usually two acoustics and an electric(me).
We played this party (a very well done party, i might add) and we of course imbibed. Our primary singer 'T', does excess very well. At least frequently(he's feeling much better since the 80's). So after a few sets, we're ready to go back up, but we can't find 'T'. So 'J' and I start w/o him. J sings, I sing, finally T stumbles back to the "stage" (more of a riser really). We're as much Smothers Brothers as Loudin Wainwright, so we welcome him back, stopping in mid-song, fake bickering, real bickering. He grabs his guitar and take his seat, then takes 2 minutes(in stage time thats looooong) to decide what we'll play next. Then he decides and forgets. Gets up, put's down the guitar and goes to walk off the stage. Stops, turns, gets the guitar and walks off the stage, sits down in front of the stage (w/guitar) and says "let's do chicken" (one of our songs).
"Allright, thats your song, start it off"
"No, no I'm too drunk to play"
So I sang it, which was a big thing, because he prefers singing his own songs rather than me or J. But I did well and he liked how I did it, of course he can't REMEMBER how much he liked it.
Then one time we (same 'we') were hosting an open mic, and by the end, we were all soused. But I was the only one who didn't think 'too soused to play' out of three of us. We still had time to burn and a couple players still in the mood so I played with three other guys (none of us met before that night) and we called out songs till a majority knew a given song, and the others faked it. And oddly, we REALLY rocked. I was the only one who would sing, and I'm pretty sure I made up some words, but reveiws from folks after (well into the next week) said it was a blast. So I may have been the 'right' amount of plastered. Any less, I might not have sang, any more and I might have started taking MY clothes off.

So there's a couple. Nothing scandalous, but oh well. At least it was entertaining.

Sean

[SKEETER]

There was a bar in Cowtown (aka columbus) Ohio that had a suicide prevention benefit every year on the anniversary of the death of one of the finest guitar players to ever walk the earth. The dude got drunk with a gun in the house one time. Never get drunk with a gun in the house...............

[genereaux]

I saw this last VH show, and it made me sad. Eddie was drunk PAST the point of 'cool'. He was really playing like crap. It was most noticable during the solo. There were moments(he pulled off the Cathedral bit fairly well), but overall, couldn't put a cogent musical thought together, let alone play it. I felt so bad for Sammy, who was fighting his butt off to hold the show together. He did well, but had a lot to contend with. Much respect to Sammy.

Sean

[freefallingman]

I've never completely destroyed a show, but in my day I have made a few mistakes when it comes to what is the right and wrong time for acid...

One night, playing at a bar in St. Louis, I decided hell, I've done acid in public before, I'll be fine. We were planning on just two more songs for the night and after our thirty minute break (something blew or shorted out or something) we got back on stage. I had been slightly tripping for the past 10 minutes, but what followed could hardly be defined as "a mind explanding adventure."

I got on stage and we were starting off Slight Return (Voodoo Child, that is), when I noticed my wah-wah pedal was sounding a little funny. I thought nothing of it and kept on playing. Right as soon as I got into the open-position E riffs Jimi starts pulling off, my guitar's headstock begain to curve upwards and it tried to double back and take off my hand. I immedately took off my guitar, threw it across the stage at our surprised bassist, who only suffered a nice knock to the shoulder, and then took off to hide behind the jukebox and dart machine. Needless to say, we did not get our full promised pay because of the upset, but the show was fairly good when you don't consider the error near the end. The bassist did a solo over slight return and called it quits, and my good friend, our drummer, talked me down.

I've decided acid is only for home now.

[t_shirtsnjeans]

I play under the influence of L-O-V-E, luuuuuuuuuvvvvvv! :toohappy:
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(saw the title to the thread and just HAD to, I mean really had to say something! :D )

BTW, this thread IS OOOOOOOLLLLLDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Claptonisgod]

I've never completely destroyed a show, but in my day I have made a few mistakes when it comes to what is the right and wrong time for acid...

One night, playing at a bar in St. Louis, I decided hell, I've done acid in public before, I'll be fine. We were planning on just two more songs for the night and after our thirty minute break (something blew or shorted out or something) we got back on stage. I had been slightly tripping for the past 10 minutes, but what followed could hardly be defined as "a mind explanding adventure."

I got on stage and we were starting off Slight Return (Voodoo Child, that is), when I noticed my wah-wah pedal was sounding a little funny. I thought nothing of it and kept on playing. Right as soon as I got into the open-position E riffs Jimi starts pulling off, my guitar's headstock begain to curve upwards and it tried to double back and take off my hand. I immedately took off my guitar, threw it across the stage at our surprised bassist, who only suffered a nice knock to the shoulder, and then took off to hide behind the jukebox and dart machine. Needless to say, we did not get our full promised pay because of the upset, but the show was fairly good when you don't consider the error near the end. The bassist did a solo over slight return and called it quits, and my good friend, our drummer, talked me down.

I've decided acid is only for home now.

Good Idea man...

[Eclectifish]

Once, in high school, a friend and I went outside and toked up during the set break. When I got back, no matter what I did, my guitar sounded out of tune to me. I retuned after every song during the next set and pretty much ruined the show.

Blame it on young and stupid--I learned my lesson well and never did that again.

[mr mungbeen]

I had my first gig (put loosely) up in a remote pub in North Queensland Australia about a little while ago... The owner happened to spy my guitar case and said that if I was keen, he would feed me free liquor until I was done....

2 hours and 3 bottles of red later my fingers stopped working and I fell off the chair.

[Weak as Hate]

I have found that if I have 2-3 beers in me, I play like a madman. It just gives me more confidence in my playing ability (liquid courage) and I end up playing a lot better. Typically though, anything more than that and it starts to get sloppy.

[neeb]

hahaa, never blazed b4 or during gigs
me and friend blazed 5 bowls then jamed till we were sober tho.

[mmchoppers]

God must have been watchin out for you

[elvisdudette]

Jeez,all you people are guitar players

Im a vocalist XD
that is trying to LEARN guitar
It wont be pretty
XD!
This is actually quite funny......

vocalist trying to learn guitar huh? thats what i was a few years ago, content with my singing and thought my guitar playing was as crappy as can be now its the other way around, i like the way i play but my voice seems to have mutated in a muffled wanna be blues singer type thing (even though i don't wanna be a blues singer) lol

[momadaboo]

I've never completely destroyed a show, but in my day I have made a few mistakes when it comes to what is the right and wrong time for acid...

One night, playing at a bar in St. Louis, I decided hell, I've done acid in public before, I'll be fine. We were planning on just two more songs for the night and after our thirty minute break (something blew or shorted out or something) we got back on stage. I had been slightly tripping for the past 10 minutes, but what followed could hardly be defined as "a mind explanding adventure."

I got on stage and we were starting off Slight Return (Voodoo Child, that is), when I noticed my wah-wah pedal was sounding a little funny. I thought nothing of it and kept on playing. Right as soon as I got into the open-position E riffs Jimi starts pulling off, my guitar's headstock begain to curve upwards and it tried to double back and take off my hand. I immedately took off my guitar, threw it across the stage at our surprised bassist, who only suffered a nice knock to the shoulder, and then took off to hide behind the jukebox and dart machine. Needless to say, we did not get our full promised pay because of the upset, but the show was fairly good when you don't consider the error near the end. The bassist did a solo over slight return and called it quits, and my good friend, our drummer, talked me down.

I've decided acid is only for home now.

Freefallingman I think you need to learn that there is never a time for acid. Acid is a horrible drug that is very capable of ruining your life.

[SKEETER]

Yeah, acid is bad, it is almost as bad as alcohol, heroin, and tobacco...

[Carbohydrates]

Yes, but it was a hilarious story. I mean, not really, but in a way.

[SKEETER]

P S I don't drink now, but I was at one time a bad drinker, and smoked a lot of reefer. I was fortunate in that I was always able to handle it, I used to get pulled over with 15 beers in me and the cops would let me go, because I would be for all intent purposes straight. I was the same onstage, it did not effect me, and I played in bands where the guys in the band seemed to be able to handle it, but those bands were far and few between. Most guys are terrible musicians when they are stoned.

[motorhead_6]

If you think you play better under the influence then you probably do and if you think you play better straight then you probably do.

[SKEETER]

If you think you play better under the influence then you probably do and if you think you play better straight then you probably do.
\


I have been playing for 40 years, and never once have I seen someone that played well intoxicated. They always thought they sounded great ( so did I) but in reality, they normally didn't sound near as good. This seems to be even more so for singers, who tend to mix cues and forget words when they are screwed up. Guitar players and drummers can more easily compensate for their screwups. Front guys being screwed up are a potential disaster.

[piggybank04]

hey,that was hilarious!!!!ive got tears in my eyes from laughing so hard!i'm going to share this story with my co-worker that was in a teen band years ago.he'll get a kick out of it!! hahaha

[piggybank04]

actually,i meant to send that last msg to stone dragon......

[Slipstream]

actually,i meant to send that last msg to stone dragon......You might wanna quote the story you're referring to. Otherwise he'll have no idea what yer talkin' about. If you're talkin' about the second post in the thread it was over three years ago. :)

[PhantomLord]

and considering the fact that he don't come here anymore

[Slipstream]

Who remembers the 'broken neck' thread?

[PhantomLord]

me! what about it?

[Slipstream]

me! what about it?It was an old thread brought back from like 4 years ago. It was called "Help, I broke my neck" (he was talking about his guitar neck). Someone said the guy wasn't around any more, and someone else said maybe cause his neck was broken. Cracked me up.

I looked it up. Here's the thread:
Help I broke my neck (http://guitar.zentao.com/forum/showthread.php?t=332&page=1&pp=15&highlight=broken+neck)

[_TorN_]

I have actually heard he would put hits of LCD under his headband. I heard he did it at Woodstock. I have a Jimi Hendrix Bio VHS and it shows him playing at Woodstock. You can see how this might be true, lol.

[Cowsarecool]

Ok, I am only 15 but hey what do u do?, I got stoned with my bandmaes one time before a party, When we started playing me and my friend lew (rhythm) started to get up and we sed hello to everyone, they all looked (100-140 ppl at out school) we then started to jsut sing inda gada la vida by iron butterfly and we sounded ******. the guitar started after we sang which was me, i didnt realize they started lol. From then on we were considered the CUSHCO BROTHERS! i dont know why!

[unclebobscircus]

I'm pretty self-conscious of my suckiness when I'm messed up, which I guess is a good thing.

[Audiocide]

LSD is a very potent chemical, no doubt, but as an alkaloid is is not as susceptible to being absorbed into the skin. An experiment done by a scientist using several different medium crossed with high doses of LSD painted onto his skin all showed no results, save for one in which he got a sort of red rash that he claimed "itched like all hell."

Now knowing Hendrix's creative nature, the culture at the time, and the situation he was in there is foundation for the assumption that he was under the influence of something. Hendrix, however, was not the kind of guy to be constantly messed up. You do realize he is a bit less worried about staying in tune during the concert, yet most psychedelia tend to focus your attention on one thing, and seeing as he moved around a lot, the playing should be much, much more off and less concentrated on (anyone who trips the light fantastic can tell you that).

And though I have hi-jacked the thread by saying this, it is not all too bright to say any kinds of unnatural stimulation affect your playing for worse. Drinking will most definitely do this, but psychedelics, when used RESPONSIBLY and thoroughly researched (to heighten your awareness and preparedness levels) impair very little at times.

--mic

[Vintage Picker]

Early on, I learned not to have anything that impeded my playing.....I messed up plenty on my own without help from alcohol or drugs...then I played with some guys who thought they played better when they were drunk...nothing sounds worse than being a sober musician on stage with a bunch of drunks. when it was time for me to have a band....we decided a "no booze" rule was in order.....it was amazing how much better we got.

[Cowsarecool]

most ppl on this thread lied i bet. cuz they sed things that the drugs wont do to u. acid makes everything spped up pretty much. u move ur hand u see it go further and further. not like monsters pooping out every wherer or pigs in the sky .

[zeeter]

I can't believe this thread has been open for almost four years and is still only five pages long.

[Sir Kevin]

hmm this isnt really a drinking and gigging story. its more of a drinking and jamming story.

Anyway, me and a few friends (i think this was my first time drunk) were in one of there basements. they have a total music set up there. two of them were drummers and the other was one of those people who dont really ave anything to do with music and the brother of the guy who's house it was ( Harold we'll say) is a guitarist so i got to pplay his LP :D .
anyway we were in the basement drinking away and I got the bright idead to play Iron Man, by Sabbath. I cranked the volume on the Les Paul and played menacingly loud and embarrasingly sloppy. Harold picked up the sticks and pounded away out of time and we grinned at each other, we thought we sounded great.
eventually his parents came home and we were in the basement which reaked sickeningly of vodka and i was trying to tune the guitar at the time. Paul (we call harold's dad paul) looked at me like i as crazy and began telling me "up, more... okay down a bit... up again." before eventually giving up and going downstairs.
We decided it was time to go to bed. Gerry (that's what well call the other drummer) and I were stationed in the extra room, which lucky for us was right above Harry's parent's bed room, we tried to be quiet but you know drunks, its not entirely possible. We were thinking of throwing our matresses out the window and jumping down to them to make our escape into the night.I was semi-sober-ish at the time and finally convinced Gerry that we didnt need to escape. We began, for no good reason, tearing up the foam matress that Gerry was sleeping on and hiding the evidence in a box in the corner of the room. Gerry's mom must have heard us banging around and laughing because she came upstairs and said something to the effect of "What's going on? do you guys need anything?" thinkomg fast i said, "we were just trying to open the window, and we cant get it. Can you help us" she gave us this look like.... ***... okayyyy. and she opened the window as easy as if she was,,, opening a window and went back downstairs. Cory... Gerry... and I laughed our asses off for like an hour and began contemplating escaping again when we both simultaneously drooped into drunken sleep.

Yes, yes this is not that much of a drinking, gigging story. its more like a drinking story that involved, partially, being embarassed at the fretboard. but i felt like sharing it simply because i thought of it reading some of the other stories in this thread

[stevieboy378]

most ppl on this thread lied i bet. cuz they sed things that the drugs wont do to u. acid makes everything spped up pretty much. u move ur hand u see it go further and further. not like monsters pooping out every wherer or pigs in the sky .

You've obviously not taken many acid trips then. You'll see whatever your mind wants you to see at the time.
One of the joys (?) of Lysergic is its unpredictability, trip wise. I once spent an entire night sitting in an armchair staring into a small mirror - my face was continually changing shape, kind of like in the Michael Jackson "Black Or White" video . . . A friend of mine, who is a huge, muscular guy, became so convinced there was a monster in his kitchen I had to hold his hand and take him in there to prove otherwise. I also spent an entire evening listening to the Sgt. Pepper album - the Beatles, all of them 6 inches high, were on the top of the record deck, playing live. I also once ended up lying on my friends lawn, listening to the grass talking. Oh, I also held quite a long conversation with a gas fire - a decorative brass badge on the front of it acted as a mouth . . . .
I swear all of this is true - that stuff is potent . . . I did try to play guitar once whilst on acid, but the strings felt like rope, and the neck was moving around . . . . .
Weed always had the same effect on me every trip - I'd be giggly for a while, then mellow out and become very introspective, before finally falling asleep. None of these states were very codusive to good guitar playing, so I learnt to avoid weed before a gig.

I must stress that all these incidents ( and there are hundreds more, trust me :o ) happened years ago, when I was young and foolish. Nowadays a few beers is all I'll be downing whilst playing - drink and drugs don't go hand in hand with good guitar playing for me . . .

[Pinkerton]

I personally try and avoid any and all playing under the influence - I've tried to play even with a few beers in me and I really start to lose my co-ordination and desire to even play properly. It's not condusive to creativity for me.

I (foolishly in hindsight) tried smoking pot after a self imposed hiatus and once again picked up the guitar... it was good for about five minutes, after which I started to freak out and become extremely anti-social. Hence my self imposed hiatus. It doesn't agree with me, my guitar playing, or my attitude and self happiness these days anyway.

So you can skip all that jazz up in my post and I'll put in a vote for not playing under the influence :).

[SKEETER]

I use to drink and get stoned a lot, went through the whole kid thing.
Now I play in bars quite a bit, and with a variety of musicians. There is a DEFINITE difference between guys that are mentally artificially altered and those with their witts about them. When guys get drunk or high their timing gets bad, their hearing perception gets bad ( and they get WAY too loud) and they tend to miss licks and forget lyrics. I see it constantly.
I use to think I sounded better and played better stoned and drunk. Then again, I use to think coyotes looked like foxes at the end of the night too. Same thing, perception gets distorted and garbage sounds like the main course when your mind is not in tip top shape.