The dark side of supporting bigger bands: finding out that former "idols" are idiots

[petereanima]

so, over the last 2 yearrs we played about 50 shows, over half of them we were supporting international metal bands, some of them are really well known a.ka. "big". and also some of them we all were really excited to play with because they were wether "influental" for us or just released one of my/our favourite records or something...you know what i mean. its always great to play with bigger abnds, because you get more audience than usually...but what really pisses me off is that really many of the bigger bands are acting like over-the-top-assholes. its really disenchanting, and i often say to myself "damn it, why can't i just be a normal fan? i could still love this band...".

i got a lot of CDs/LPs i actually can't listen to anymore, altough i loved them int he apst... until we played a gig together. and THATS what i hate most: i am music-fanatic and its liek hell for me "losing the relationship" to a former favourite album...

any similar experiences on your side or did we just have bad luck always getting the idiots?



EDIT: thread no. 666 in this section

 

[John_Strychnine]

Yeh mate it's going to happen all the time. sometimes musicians act like arseholes when they are tired from being on the road too (i know im grouchy as fuck when im tired) and this probably ties in with it. FWIW the Arseholes are of a less majority to the non-arseholes, ive met lots of awesome musicians and some arseholes too.

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Yep, some people can be idiots, but then, I've spent 10 weeks on the road before, and the last thing you want to do at some points is talk to or communicate with anyone...

Still, it all depends and varies, just like in real life. Some people are idiots, some people think too highly of themselves, and some are very cool. I know a few people that despite being in large bands have refused to meet their idols because of this, as they didn't want to ruin the music they love so much and maintain the mystique

 

[Emperoff]

HHhm... That happened to me when I went to a Killswitch Engage show. I remember how Howard jones went away to the bus pretending he was talking with his cellphone, like if he was Maddonna, or something. We were around 20 people on the exit, and just wanted an autograph or a pic, but he fled. Then he came up for signing with the biggest expression of discomformity in his face, like someone pushed him to do it. And he appeared in all the pics with "I hate this, please go away idiot" face, and even he signed "Jerk!" to one of the guys. Imagine the face of the guy, when he was told that "Jerk" was an insult...

The rest of the guys of the band were nice as hell, specially Joel, though

 

[petereanima]

Yep, some people can be idiots, but then, I've spent 10 weeks on the road before, and the last thing you want to do at some points is talk to or communicate with anyone...

yeah, of course. just to be clear: when we play with bigger bands i do not come up to them and even i do not try to talk to them - if they show up and start talking i'm happy and start talking, but i let them their peace because i know life on the road is heavy.

its just situations as for example: we played with a band yesterday i really used to like, and obviously they got a new drummer which has never been in a bigger band before and does now think he is god or something. when we showed up at 18:30 (thats what was fixed with the venue) with all our stuff (full backline of course) - he was doing drum-soundcheck. when he finished, the sound-tech asekd him to remove his drumkit so the support-band (us) can set up their equipment doing soundcheck. he said that he won't remove his kit and we should put our kit in front of his'. needless to say that it was a rather small stage and no space for 2 drumkits. soudntech said "no space dude, are you kidding? if you do not want to remove than the only option left is that the support band will play your kit" - "no, for sure not! hell, if they have problems they better leave, who the fuck needs them? support bands..pfff....".

it took us one hour trying to argue and convince him - in the end we were lucky that the tourmanager showed up, asking for the problem and finally had them on our side as he saif "go remove your fucking kit and then piss the fuck off!" - seems like he didn't act well on the rest of the tour...

in the end - he didn't remove his kit and said "if you want to remove it - do it, but it better is set up when i want to enter the stage at 21:45 SHARP!" - and of course he meant that his TOURMANAGER should remove his kit, not that we are allowed to touch it...

i mean: come on - this guy played in "support-bands" until fucking a few month ago, then getting hooked up by a bigger band and he think he is don't-know-who...

Yeh mate it's going to happen all the time. sometimes musicians act like arseholes when they are tired from being on the road too (i know im grouchy as fuck when im tired) and this probably ties in with it. FWIW the Arseholes are of a less majority to the non-arseholes, ive met lots of awesome musicians and some arseholes too.

yeah, thats what i wanted to hear...i of course also met a lot of awesome persons at gigs, but especially in the last 6 month, there were like 80% assholes - 20% nice guys...

@killswitch-jerk-storry: man, that sucks even more

 

[Matt Crooks]

Two words:

Bland Guardian

 

[DaveCarter]

HHhm... That happened to me when I went to a Killswitch Engage show. I remember how Howard jones went away to the bus pretending he was talking with his cellphone, like if he was Maddonna, or something. We were around 20 people on the exit, and just wanted an autograph or a pic, but he fled. Then he came up for signing with the biggest expression of discomformity in his face, like someone pushed him to do it. And he appeared in all the pics with "I hate this, please go away idiot" face, and even he signed "Jerk!" to one of the guys. Imagine the face of the guy, when he was told that "Jerk" was an insult...

That sucks, a similar thing happened when I saw them on 2 occasions. First time we were hanging around after the show. We weren't even waiting for the band, but he came out of the venue and saw us (about 12 people) and ran back inside the venue. Then about 5 minutes later came out with a huge crowd of security round him and went straight on to the bus.

The next time they cancelled the show as him and Adam were ill. We'd been there since 8am (all-nighter from a house party the night before) so we saw the doctor going on to the bus. Later when were were round the back of the venue we saw him walking towards the bus, and this girl (who was a HUGE killswitch fan and had apparently been there since 7am) asked him if he was ok. He completely ignored her and walked past her on to the bus, then didnt come out again.

Thats partly why Im still such a huge Dimebag fan, everyone I know who's met him always says how he was such a genuinely nice guy

 

[Randy]

I've had both experiences. Being underwhelmed by assholes, and being met with gracious, down to Earth guys. It's pretty much a cross-section of any group, really. I've known local bands with no reputation, or couldn't play worth a shit that had the same quirks.

Two words:

Bland Guardian

 

[eaeolian]

Two words:

Bland Guardian

F those guys.

 

[Groff]

I usually meet nice peopl, Eric Sardinas and Steve Vai are the coolest fucking people on the planet! Even at 3a.m. hours after a show! Warrel Dane was super nice too, and he had this super happy energy about him when I talked to him.

However...
Mortiis is a fuckin' dick Although I think he was in a bad mood before he came out. And I too had a similar experience with Howard Jones... Prick.

 

[noodles]

its just situations as for example: we played with a band yesterday i really used to like, and obviously they got a new drummer which has never been in a bigger band before and does now think he is god or something. when we showed up at 18:30 (thats what was fixed with the venue) with all our stuff (full backline of course) - he was doing drum-soundcheck. when he finished, the sound-tech asekd him to remove his drumkit so the support-band (us) can set up their equipment doing soundcheck. he said that he won't remove his kit and we should put our kit in front of his'. needless to say that it was a rather small stage and no space for 2 drumkits. soudntech said "no space dude, are you kidding? if you do not want to remove than the only option left is that the support band will play your kit" - "no, for sure not! hell, if they have problems they better leave, who the fuck needs them? support bands..pfff....".

Man, I hate those kinds of guys. Thankfully, there aren't a ton of them, but they are out there. Anyone who forgets where they came from deserves to lose it all.

The bands with the most status generally tend to be the easiest to deal with. Everyone is Testament was really gracious. Kamelot and their crew were a pleasure to deal with. Kai Hansen invented power metal, yet he was outside of his bus before the Gamma Ray gig, signing CDs and taking pictures with fans. Nevermore routinely hangs out in the bar area with fans. Symphony X makes it a point to let bands know that they don't screw their openers.

Frequently, it is the crew that is the problem. If you have a bad tour manager, he won't keep the band focused on the sound check, and he won't give a fuck about the local support. I've run into guitar techs who think they are better than everyone because they work for <insert name>. However, the biggest dicks of all tend to be the tour support bands. I've talked to tour managers who hate the act that is touring with the headliner, and then heard all sorts of horror stories. I've watched a headliner blow through soundcheck, and then watched the support band fiddle with knobs for an hour, eating into our fucking set. Then there was the chode from a support band who walked up onstage during our soundcheck, behind my rig, yanking out cables as he went. That tour manager hated him.

 

[petereanima]

Man, I hate those kinds of guys. Thankfully, there aren't a ton of them, but they are out there. Anyone who forgets where they came from deserves to lose it all.

yeah, thats what satisfied me a little bit: he's in a band that changes drummer like their udnerwear - so his "fame" won't last too long.

 

[Zepp88]

Luckily I haven't encountered any total assholes at gigs (bigger acts) at the recent show Candlemass and Daylight Dies were very cool, Rob Lowe even hung out for a while outside the tourbus to chat with us

 

[petereanima]

rob lowe = a very nice person!

i think most of the assholes are mostly in the "not-really-majorbig-but-big-in-the-underground" status...it looks like that when they reached or passed a certain point of fame - they are mostly down to earth (again?)...or they realised that it is the fans who pay theyr fucking rent.

 

[Nick]

i stood and listened to Eric Rutan talk about his recording setup and how he records, what he aims for sound and production wise in his studio and how he generally runs his studio the otehr day at a hate eternal show.

Great guy, really down to earth and when their set gut cut short (fuck venues in glasgow) he was openly pissed off and dissapointed.

 

[Zepp88]

rob lowe = a very nice person!

i think most of the assholes are mostly in the "not-really-majorbig-but-big-in-the-underground" status...it looks like that when they reached or passed a certain point of fame - they are mostly down to earth (again?)...or they realised that it is the fans who pay theyr fucking rent.

Have you had the pleasure in meeting him? Cool down-to-earth kinda guy.

 

[InTheRavensName]

Two words:

Bland Guardian

I'd have put money on them being part of the 20%

On a plus note, one word

Korpiklaani

and another two

Michael Amott (so fucking relieved that my hero, far from being a douchebag, is THE nicest man on the planet \m/)

Man, I hate those kinds of guys. Thankfully, there aren't a ton of them, but they are out there. Anyone who forgets where they came from deserves to lose it all.

The bands with the most status generally tend to be the easiest to deal with. Everyone is Testament was really gracious. Kamelot and their crew were a pleasure to deal with. Kai Hansen invented power metal, yet he was outside of his bus before the Gamma Ray gig, signing CDs and taking pictures with fans. Nevermore routinely hangs out in the bar area with fans. Symphony X makes it a point to let bands know that they don't screw their openers.

Frequently, it is the crew that is the problem. If you have a bad tour manager, he won't keep the band focused on the sound check, and he won't give a fuck about the local support. I've run into guitar techs who think they are better than everyone because they work for <insert name>. However, the biggest dicks of all tend to be the tour support bands. I've talked to tour managers who hate the act that is touring with the headliner, and then heard all sorts of horror stories. I've watched a headliner blow through soundcheck, and then watched the support band fiddle with knobs for an hour, eating into our fucking set. Then there was the chode from a support band who walked up onstage during our soundcheck, behind my rig, yanking out cables as he went. That tour manager hated him.

Oh, and a nice big mention for Jeff and Chris, who I got to talk to about their signature axes despite them obviously being pretty drained after an hour set in blazing sun, very cool guys too.

 

[petereanima]

Have you had the pleasure in meeting him? Cool down-to-earth kinda guy.

just for a moment, but yeah - friend fo mine did an interview with him for a mag and i was also there.




and i want more details concerning blind guardian!

 

[ZXIIIT]

Michael Amott (so fucking relieved that my hero, far from being a douchebag, is THE nicest man on the planet \m/)

YES!
I met him at NAMM, he was smoking a cig and I asked for a pic, and he was awesome enough to do it and had a little chat too!

Dino Cazares, Tommy Vext, Tim Yeung, John 5, Joe Satriani, Chris Adler and Brandon Small are some of the nicest guys I've ever met....

Kerry King was kinda of a jerk, but its understandable...

 

[neon_black88]

Chris Broderick stood out with us in a hallway and talked to us for about 20 minutes after a Nevermore show about pretty much nothing because we were kind of lost for words, he actually kept the conversation going and never tryed to get away even in the most awkward moments, it was fucking awsome. We got photos, hugs, and he tryed to help us find Jeff Loomis but we never did un-fortunatly. Seriously the nicest musician I've met.

It seemed like he was almost as exited to see us as we were to see him

I can defenetly reccomending having a chat with him if you get the chance!