[LAU] Anyone have any anecdotal experiences like this to share (horrible singers in the studio)

[Jostein Chr. Andersen]

On 05/02/2013 03:21 AM, Bearcat M. Şándor wrote:
> http://youtu.be/OWoQpzdB5gs
>
> Has any of you had experiences like this in the studio? I realize this
> is exaggerated but i fear it may not be as exaggerated as i hope.

I was guitarist/arranger/composer/whatever in a backing band for a 
project a record company dude had back in 78-'79 or something, and I was 
on the most terrible gig I have experienced ever. The keyboardist, which 
happens to be my brother, and the drummer was so drunk (nerve medicine) 
that they could not stand properly and the gig ended when the drummer 
was falling forward over the drums, and he took the toms and a cymbal or 
two with him on the way to the public. He did not manage to raise 
properly and ran and fall straight to the first row from the scene. But 
this was not the only scandal that evening. Some shit happened earlier 
in the gig.

The record company dude insisted that his wife should sing this evening, 
and she was supposed to sing a song in the middle of the gig. It was a 
very easy song (the Credence song, Hello Mary Lou which was renamed 
Hello Jerry Lou for the gig) and we had rehearsed it without her, so 
this was the first time we heard her. When she started, it was no less 
than terrible. She was so off pitch that a human ever can be, so I gave 
our sound engineer a signal and he understood at once that he should 
just fade her down to minimum and let me take over. The record dude was 
so angry at me that he and his wife just disappeared from the gig when 
we tried to save the rest of the song. He also refused to pay us for the 
gig and i did not see him or hear from him before he divorced from his 
wife a few years later.

Anyway, you already know how the gig ended. I never played with my 
brother and the drummer again in public and I have a strict rule that I 
never drink before a session.

Jostein