E-drums: could they be a common thing for small bands gigs?

[Orvillain]

In my neck of the woods, I would say about every 5th band uses eDrums, but it is growing for sure.

BTW - this is a statistical anomaly. Seeing an e-kit on a stage every 5 times, is a ludicrously "common" occurrence, that the usage statistics do not support. So either it is a completely invented and meaningless stat, or you live in the Burmuda Triangle for drummers.

Worldwide, as I've said before, the stats show that e-kits are used in:
- education
- praise and worship venues
- home studio & production environments

They are largely not used on stage. You do see them, sure. I'm not saying they're never used on stage. But they are not common, for the reasons cited in my very first post in this thread; which you still haven't tackled nor responded to in any form.

 

[DrewJD82]

I think we all had crushes on Shirley back in the day...I saw them in 1996 or so as a 13-14 year old...my friends and I definitely pushed our way to the front row if you know what I'm saying.

Hahahah my best friend saw them open for Smashing Pumpkins around that time and was saying how embarrassed he got whenever she did anything that showed her underwear while his dad was sitting next to him.

I’m pretty certain she was open about dealing with depression even back in the 90’s before it was a thing to discuss openly and I also recall her having a bit of a hard edge as a result of being a female in the rock world and her pre-Garbage experiences.

She’s probably 90% of the reason I ended up with moody, redheaded goth girlfriends ever since high school.

 

[Jarick]

Hahahah my best friend saw them open for Smashing Pumpkins around that time and was saying how embarrassed he got whenever she did anything that showed her underwear while his dad was sitting next to him.

I’m pretty certain she was open about dealing with depression even back in the 90’s before it was a thing to discuss openly and I also recall her having a bit of a hard edge as a result of being a female in the rock world and her pre-Garbage experiences.

She’s probably 90% of the reason I ended up with moody, redheaded goth girlfriends ever since high school.

Oh man that checks out! If I didn't have a Shirley Manson poster I definitely had her as a computer background (next best thing).

I can only imagine she likely went through hell before Garbage, then she was one of the biggest stars on the planet, then they all fell completely off the map. Probably took a lot of therapy to get to a good spot after all that.

 

[Jarick]

I haven't been following the back and forth on electronic vs acoustic drums, but as a former drummer I'd be much more worried about being replaced by a backing track than I would about having to play on an e-kit. With the current state of music, I could see a singer/songwriter doing a lot of smaller gigs with a laptop and maybe a side man to share the stage.

 

[Orvillain]

I haven't been following the back and forth on electronic vs acoustic drums, but as a former drummer I'd be much more worried about being replaced by a backing track than I would about having to play on an e-kit. With the current state of music, I could see a singer/songwriter doing a lot of smaller gigs with a laptop and maybe a side man to share the stage.

Yeah but honestly, who the fuck wants to go and watch that. It's one step below an Elvis impersonator at the local Dog & Duck.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Yeah but honestly, who the fuck wants to go and watch that. It's one step below an Elvis impersonator at the local Dog & Duck.

Well, given that pretty much any top (and not so top) acts are using backings all the time already, it's just the next step in music "evolution". And yes, most often I loathe it, especially in case it's obvious that musical shortcomings of the performers on stage have to be masked.
I just want the real deal.

 

[Jarick]

Yeah but honestly, who the fuck wants to go and watch that. It's one step below an Elvis impersonator at the local Dog & Duck.

20-somethings who want to drink and try to get laid aren't really going to care all that much.

 

[Orvillain]

20-somethings who want to drink and try to get laid aren't really going to care all that much.

They go to clubs. They don't go to musicband events.

 

[DrewJD82]

See, if ya’ll played metal this wouldn’t even be a discussion. Even non-musician metal fans would stick their nose up to backing tracks. I know this because when our drummer quit in our last band we played to drum backing tracks, while the people we spoke to after were sympathetic and stoked we didn’t bail, “Get a fuckin drummer!” was the general ending to the conversations. I could only handle 2 gigs playing like that before I swore I’d never do it again.

 

[metropolis_4]

There’s two sides to the backing tracks thing.

On one hand, they’ve been saying backing tracks will replace live music since the ‘80s at least (maybe even longer), but it has never caught on. There are too many problems with it, too many things that can go wrong, and there are many people who are not interested in paying money to go hear a recording so you lose audience numbers.

On the other hand, musicians are really expensive. For regional theater the musicians account for something like up to 75% of the total budget for a show.

So it’s a balancing act for venues and production companies. They have to decide if the ROI of better sales is going to offset the added expense of musicians

 

[Orvillain]

See, if ya’ll played metal this wouldn’t even be a discussion. Even non-musician metal fans would stick their nose up to backing tracks. I know this because when our drummer quit in our last band we played to drum backing tracks, while the people we spoke to after were sympathetic and stoked we didn’t bail, “Get a fuckin drummer!” was the general ending to the conversations. I could only handle 2 gigs playing like that before I swore I’d never do it again.

If it is sound textures, synth beds, programmed drum breaks, glitches, etc.... then I'm all for it.

But I strongly believe the core instruments - drums, bass, guitars, vocals - should be as close to "real" as possible; within reason of course.

 

[Sascha Franck]

But I strongly believe the core instruments - drums, bass, guitars, vocals - should be as close to "real" as possible; within reason of course.

What I hate the most is miming. Anything that is supposed to happen on stage should actually happen. In addition, I want things to be "plausible". As in "a little backing track support is fine, but in case it's all over the place, fuck off!"
Been at a Lenny Kravitz show some weeks ago. And both issues were obviously unchecked.
Not only that there's been quite some bombastic playbacks, no, there's been some vocal and guitar parts that were literally identical with the stuff on his earlier recordings regarding all aspects (phrasing, articulation, sound, whatever). So much about "plausibility".
Add to this some moments that were really embarrassing. There's been one tune with a very funky guitar part pretty much standing out. But neither him or his (otherwise excellent) guitarist were playing that very part. That's been the moment where I'd brought the rotten tomatoes out, had I been able to smuggle them in (too bad they detected them in my boots).

 

[[Nathan]]

they’ve been saying backing tracks will replace live music since the ‘80s at least (maybe even longer), but it has never caught on. There are too many problems with it, too many things that can go wrong

One way ticket to forever meme-dom. RIP Ashley Simpson’s music career