That Time the “Unthinkable” Almost Shut Down a Gig

This is one of those short, simple, yet catastrophic stories I bet many of you can relate to. I was on a gig one time where soundcheck went smoothly, rehearsal went great…then the unthinkable happened just before showtime. The "psychological trauma" (spoken mostly in jest!) reminded me of something really important we always need to remember as drummers.

I was playing this particular night with some folks I always enjoyed playing with. We were set up in a fairly large venue on a big stage, and we were all using in-ear monitors. The front of the drum set was covered by the typical clear, heavy drum shield that prevents cymbal bleed into vocal mics. We were fairly spread out across the stage, and guitar amps were in iso-boxes offstage on either wing. Bass was running direct to the house, as were keys and all vocals. Maybe you can guess why I’m telling you all of this…

Rehearsal was a blast, and we played through all the songs for the night. We even wrapped up with half an hour or so to spare before starting time, which gave us plenty of time to relax, eat, and chill for a bit. However, about 5 minutes before downbeat, the sound man came running back with some devastating audio news. "The in-ear system is down! We can’t get it back on, and there’s not enough time to run floor monitors up there for you guys."

Considering we had to start in less than 5 minutes (and there was literally an onscreen countdown reminding us of that), we had only one option:

Hang in there and enjoy the ride.

There wasn’t time to restructure the setlist. There wasn’t time to take down the drum shield and have every one switch to acoustic guitars and play a more "stripped-down" set. There wasn’t even time to get floor monitors up there. On top of this, it was expected that we were playing loud. Levels were set for full-on rock’n’roll, and I couldn’t just switch to brushes and play quiet enough to hear every one else. We had to play just like we rehearsed…without being able to hear each other.

Now every one near the front of the stage would be able to hear at least something. There’d be some bleed from the house speakers that would help the vocalists to hear themselves after taking their ears out. Not the case for me, though! I was camped out behind a heavy drum shield with no monitors nearby and no hope of any bleed from the house. I could take my in-ears out and go deaf, straining to listen for something beyond the sound of my rimshots and cymbal crashes. Or I could leave my ears in and know that I’d hear nothing - maybe just some low end rumble and a hint of a muffled vocal.

I took that second option, choosing to preserve my hearing. Surprisingly, there were no train wrecks. Although I really could not hear anything, we all stayed together and played the songs fine from the audience’s perspective. (At least that’s what I was told by the production team and others out there listening!) The whole time, though, I felt like I was just making noise - not music. I felt like I was playing a really boring drum solo that lasted for an entire half hour. But I played the exact arrangements I’d learned and we’d rehearsed, with the exact same drum parts. Evidently we all did that, and our parts still fit together like a puzzle.

This experience reminded me of and reinforced something that’s been my motto for a while: Know the songs. As a matter of fact, know the songs better than anyone else in the band! I don’t say that to sound egotistical as if "the drummer needs to be the best musician in the band" or anything like that. Just know the arrangements really, really well. Be able to sing all the vocal parts and lead lines in your head. Know the framework and the essence of the song. What we drummers play is strictly dependent upon those melodies featured throughout the song. If you can’t sing those in your head, then you’re going to fall apart if a singer or lead guitar player messes up or misses a line. You’ll also fall apart if the in-ear system goes down. :)

If you’re fairly new to the drums or you’re just getting into playing with other musicians, I hope you’re working hard to learn songs really well. Whether you’re playing in church, playing shows with your band, or playing cover gigs in local venues, have a dependable system for learning songs. That system will "save your life" one day if you end up in a pinch!

God Bless,

Stephen