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02 Mar 09 - 01:37 PM (#2579452) Subject: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Jayto The 1st gig thread got me thinking. I have encountered some really weird events at some recording sessions, gigs, after gig jam sessions and so on. I would like to hear some others stories about things you have encountered. At one recording session the singer sit down in the middle of the studio and cried because she was so nervous. While she was crying her sister (in the control room with me) started flashing her breasts to make her laugh. While this was going on the singer's husband (also in the control room) answered the singers phone and it was another man that turned out to be the singers boyfriend. He stormed into the studio and a huge fight broke out. There was alot more at this one but I will stop there at it. Another session at the same studio in Nashville Tn. the band I was recording had a huge fight. This fight included yelling loading their gear and storming out only to load their gear back in. After everything was settled and they kissed and made up I walked into the hallway and noticed smoke pouring out from under the door of another office down the hall. I went and raised the mail slot and yep there was fire. I went back in and told everyone. We had to call the fire department and evacuate. Of course the band refused to leave their gear. That eventually led to an argument with the fire department. The band kept on running in after gear when the F.D. told them not to enter the building. Nashville metro (the PD) showed up and the band started arguing with the. I looked up and channel 5 tv was standing there with 2 cameras rolling. One on the building and one on the band. Finally we got the all clear to re-enter and the band was luckily not arrested but had to start loading the gear back up once again. I have a ton of them but I wanted to get it started. So there are 2 stories to get the ball rolling. cya JT |
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02 Mar 09 - 01:54 PM (#2579471) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Will Fly The rock'n roll trio I played guitar in from 1982 to 1994 was booked to play at a club in Guildford in Surrey. The club was actually a converted cinema - we played on stage - and the customers sat in the cinema seats. The bar was in a different area. Did I say customers? Well, there were three. There were three when we started, and there were three when we finished. So we played the whole two sets - chat, intros, jokes, tunes - to those three people. And, do you know, they applauded wildly, cheered, danced with each other in the second set and filled the room. They were three Swedes, over in Guildford on business - drunk as skunks and merry as hell. It was a weird and wonderful night. When I was playing in a jazz band, we went over to Holland one weekend to play a jazz festival, along with other bands. We took the Olau Line ferry from Sheerness to Vlissingen in rolling, stormy seas. Several of us had a jam session in the ship's bar. I tied myself to a pillar with my belt so I wouldn't get thrown around, and the piano swirled around the bar floor in time to the sea swell. Coming back, we hit Customs & Excise at Sheerness about 9 in the evening, and the Customs men were being bastards and stopping everyone. We had to queue up and down long lines divided by metal railings. Suddenly, one of the musicians began to bleat like a sheep - and everyone else began to join in. The Revenue men gave up, red-faced, and we all filed out as fast as we could. Two more. |
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02 Mar 09 - 02:46 PM (#2579521) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Jayto Another one with violence. I am not a violent person maybe that is why they all struck me as weird lol. I was at a video shoot one day (or actually day and night) and the music video idea was the lead singer singing in this little bar. They edited in all these other shots with actors acting out the scene and then would return to the singer and his band of actors (a long story there I will spare you. Me and the rest of the band were there advising how to look like they were playing.Gotta love Nashville). The lead singer had been drinking all day and was VERY drunk toward the end of the night. About 10 pm after being there all day drinking he decided he was driving an hour and a half and going home. He had enough of filming and said he was done. The director and label heads said he wasn't done but the singer just laughed and told them that yes he was going home. A label guy grabbed for his keys to stop him from leaving and before I could blink my eyes the singer had knocked the label guy to the ground and was out the door. I caught up with him and talked him into letting me drive him home. The next day I spent a good part of the morning trying to smooth things over in Nashville with the label guys. That was the most chaotic video I ever did. |
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02 Mar 09 - 02:49 PM (#2579525) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Jayto Here is the video. Don't get the wrong impression of the singer though he is one of my best friends and a great writer. I just thought it was funny and you can see where it happened and when it happened lol. The final product from the video shoot lol. |
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02 Mar 09 - 05:29 PM (#2579700) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: GUEST,Jayto Nobody else has ever had an odd gig? Hmm serious self evaluation going on right now lol. |
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02 Mar 09 - 05:46 PM (#2579717) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Leadfingers As a 'Fairly Serious' Folkie ,(OOOPS ! Sorry Diane) I had a great time recording a track with a local Indie Rock Band who were doing 'The English Civil War' on a Clash Covers album ! Their Original idea was Pipe and Tabor intro (Taking it back to the REAL Civil War) , but they couldnt find a pipe and tabor man , so it was myself , double tracked on two whistles in harmony , over an acoustic guitar , THEN Came the Heavy Rock bit ! LOUD !!! Five of us used 23 tracks of a 24 track desk , over twelve hours , to do one number , including two tracks of the five of us round one mic , chanting "Hurrah ! Hurrah!" as a fill !! |
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02 Mar 09 - 05:55 PM (#2579730) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: bankley plenty.... I once had to dress in a long black priest's robe and play banjo in a front balcony in an old theater... it was for a movie in Quebec... we were all high and tired by the time we shot near midnite, had been there since 8 am... the sax player had a fake rubber hand so it looked like he was playing with three hands... it was hard not to laugh.... the production company made a mistake and over paid me by a lot.... they had to chase me for a longtime to get it back... I didn't keep the robe... and lost the banjo later.. the principal actress in the scene we were doing was wearing nothing but feathers stuck to her and body paint.... it was kind of a tango tune... |
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02 Mar 09 - 06:13 PM (#2579753) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: bankley oh, and there's lots of Ville Emard stories.. but one that stands out was a gig we were doing for Carnival du Quebec... which was an outdoor show in Feb. The temp was around 0 F. The stage was some kind of flatbed fixed up with a roof holding incubator lites about a foot overhead.. which caused a few problems with the taller players.. there were 18 in the band... anyhow the front of the stage was closed in by plexiglass to keep the heat in... when we got going, there were around 30,000 in the crowd, and they were rowdy, toting hollow plastic canes filed with booze.... one exuberant fan rushed the stage and hit the plexiglass... just bounced right off with a thud... funny thing is he tried a few more times during the show... just kept bouncing off...to the cheers of the crowd... after the band all went in a trailer backstage and were carrying on..until and the thing came off it's supports and tilted over like a sinking ship.... we had fun tho.. |
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03 Mar 09 - 11:09 AM (#2580296) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: bankley got me to thinking back, Jayto.. I was playing a gig in a 5-piece band with two lady singers... it was an instrumental/fusion band featuring the piano player's songs and a week-long record launch at a showbar in Old Montreal... well, Gros Pierre the pianist liked to drink and could really put away a lot... he was short and stocky, big beard... so on the last set he yells out to the crowd "Etes-vous libres?"... which means, 'are you free?'...he then takes off all of his clothes except for a black derby hat on his head, sat down behind the piano and played the whole set.... I was standing near the lady singers and we laughed so hard we had a hard time playing.... I had to close my eyes to concentrate..... what a hoot... |
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03 Mar 09 - 01:21 PM (#2580402) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Don Firth Hmm. . . . I've guess I've led a pretty calm existence. The recording sessions I've been in on all went reasonably well, as did most of the gigs I recall. There was one evening—Friday, November 22, 1963—that was very strange. President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas, Texas that morning. I was scheduled to sing at "The Corroboree," a coffeehouse in Seattle's Wallingford District that evening. The singing went okay, and the place was crowded as usual on a Friday evening, but the whole feeling of the evening was weird! I was in a rotten mood, and apparently so was everybody else. I sang as usual, there was applause as usual, a few requests as usual, but there seemed to be an atmosphere of anger in the place. Very uncomfortable. But the casual observer probably wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary. Strange! Don Firth |
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03 Mar 09 - 02:11 PM (#2580449) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Jayto A black robe and banjo that sounds cool lol! For years the Everly Brothers had a homecoming concert in Central City Kentucky. I played almost every one but a couple. One year I was backing up an artists and he insisted everyone in the band ride the bus to the concert. I lived just a couple of miles from the concert site and wanted to just drive over and meet up with them. The singer insisted we all ride the bus no matter if I lived close or not. He held the check in his hand so I was paying attention lol. So bright and early that morning I loaded my gear and behind on this stupid bus. The only bright spot was steel guitar genius Buddy Emmons was catching a ride with us and he is a blast. We got to the concert site and it was like 200 degrees outside. Did sound checks and the normal song and dance. Of course my first move is and always has been to find the green room and see what they had for us lol. Showtime came and we went on. It was a nice crowd probably 30,000 or more and the sun had gone down so the temp was nice. The very first note I hit all I heard was BOOM. Every monitor on my side of the stage blew with a huge boom. The stage was huge so I was left totally in the dark. Mid ways through the set the backup singer (a female lol) started a backward walk dance thingy while I was turned around messing with my amp. She was snapping her fingers and ran right into me grabbing a handful of my buttocks lol. After the gig was over I had a guy on the golf cart run me up to the green room to grab a drink. When I returned I saw a pile of gear where the bus used to be. Not just my gear the whole bands gear. I gathered up the rest of the band and their families. Oh I forgot to mention a couple of band members brought their kids and wives with them. I had neither at that time so I was solo. We all went back to the bus site and found all of our gear laying there. I called the singers cell phone and was stunned he actually answered. I asked him what was going on and he informed me that all he needed us for was the gig so that is all he was paying to drive us to was the gig. Then he had the audacity to tell me to call him and we would get together at his place later in the week and cook out. I told the rest of the guys we were on our own. I hooked up with an ex girlfriend I saw in the crowd and got a ride home. Being from the area I knew several people in the crowd and made arrangements for the rest of the band and their families to get home as well. Still to this day that guy's name makes my blood boil. I am not the only one though everytime I see one of the former band members that is the first thing that is mentioned lol |
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03 Mar 09 - 02:15 PM (#2580454) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Jayto Oh I have to add though Don and Phil Everly caught wind of what happened and stopped booking him after that. So I have total respect for them over that. |
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03 Mar 09 - 02:30 PM (#2580466) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: Stringsinger We were doing a soundtrack for an Italian movie. Barney Kessel, the great jazz guitarist, James Burton, another fine guitarist, were on the session and I, was playing autoharp and Shakey Jake Morton the blues harmonica player doing a lead. A film cue is supposed to fade under the action in the movie. Shakey Jake felt obliged to put a blues flourish as an ending to each cue. This is how he always did it. He couldn't allow himself to fade under. In the control room, Harry "Sweets" Edison got on the "horn" and started yelling at Shakey Jake saying "Man, why don't you get an education in music instead of being a dumb n.....gr." He read Shakey out and it was a source of great laughter from all of us except the two musicians. It was a very strange session from then on though I think Barney got his score. Shakey Jake was just coming from a different place. Frank Hamilton |
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03 Mar 09 - 03:04 PM (#2580489) Subject: RE: Strangest recording session,gig, ...etc From: GUEST,Jayto I won't mention any names on this one but it involves a guy that has been the king of modern Nashville session guitarists several yrs now. I was in between gigs and needed some cash. My best friend and pretty much roommate (because he let me stay with him at his house as much as I wanted or wanted lol) was the head of Decca records A&R at the time. He told me that he had a session and would pay me to come help him. He didn't really need me he just knew I needed some work in my down time. It was a straight Nashville A list session and was loaded down with the best the town had to offer. We were there recording for several hours and it was going good. The guitarist was joking with the bass player from the moment he arrived. Throughout the day the joking was becoming meaner and meaner and more and more frequent. The bass player had came to me and my friend several times and told us we better get him to chill out. I had gone and talked to the guitarist and tried to get him to lay off so had my friend. Nothing doing each time we approached the guitarist it only added fuel to the fire. The guitarist (who is normally a really nice laid back guy) would rip into the bass player twice as hard after we would approach him. We finally decided we would not get involved and told the bass player we were only making it worse and to just ignore him. I twas turning from recording session to baby sitting session. Finally it came to a head. The guitarist made a crack about the bass players rig. The bass player stood up and walked into the control room and grabbed his case,jacket, and drink. He then walked back in to where the guitarist was. The guitarist was fooling with his gear when he walked back in there. He had a rack unit that was incredible lights flashing everywhere and every kind of rack unit you could imagine and several you couldn't. The bass player told him it was a nice unit and too bad his didn't suit him. The guitarist stands up and mouths off to him. Before he could finish his sentence the bass player dumps an entire 20oz Mt.Dew right on top of his rack setup. A few sparks a sizzling sound and then every one of those blinking lights and led readout screens went black. He fried everything in his rack. The guitarist was so stunned he didn't even know how to react. Before he could say or do anything the bass player had his gear and was out the door. I was sock to my stomach and laughing my ass off at the same time. |