Well, to emphasize what I meant by "quit and reform" a little more, it meant to quit and then reform with two guys in thier place. The name of the band is mine, the music is mine and the other guitarists, save for the lyrics which would go with us also. It is a bit of a backstab, and in hindsight, it's really prolonging the inevitable reaction on thier behalf. Maybe prolonging it will lessen the sting of thier backlash, but the resentment would last. Not to sound conceited or anything, but this band IS the best band in town, and it does house some of the best musicians: if they *were* to try and continue without us, noboby in this town would be able to fill the guitarists shoes. I don't think what we play is incredibly difficult, but there really isn't anyone else around here who are as adept at guitar as my other guitarist and I....especially in the circle of friends that our bassist and drummer have.
The issue isn't thier use of drugs. The issue is the priorities are not on the same page: 3 of us are in it for the music and the art, the other 2 are in it for the parties and the spotlight. The drugs are one thing that are part of the whole equation that have added to being a problem. Even moreso of an issue than the drugs are the drug-heads that come over while we are practicing on a regular basis, asking for us to play shit like "Seek And Destroy" and those two wanting to stop everything and play it for them because they want to impress thier wetbrain friends...when the other 3 of us say "Sorry, this isn't request hour. We are trying to work on OUR music", the other two throw a small tantrum.
People come over, and those two have to stop and fraternize...usually to drink or get hooked up.
The three of us write music and bring it in, and our bassist puts down his bass and walks off saying "I don't know that song, I'm not going to stand here and look like an idiot"...followed by our drummer deciding he's gonna go to the store to buy a case of beer. So I take the stuff home, record a simple bass line and slap some EZDrummer DFH track over it so *the rest of us* can hear what it will sound like in context. I bring it in and say "well, this is what it will potentially sound like once things come together on it...but you guys should really come up with your own part on it. Write a sick bassline! Write some better drums for it" and they say OK, but in the end they just learn what I wrote for it because they are more in the mindset of learning covers.
We slave away trying to write songs and those two don't want to write, they want to gig. We tried to tell them "we have to look more at the big picture, there is more to this than just playing a show" but they don't care. When it comes to the gigs, we make on average about $100 a show: I have provided the vehicle to get at least a few members and the equipment to the show. At first, we all agreed it would be better to put the money we make into the gas tank instead of splitting it evenly, that way we don't have to fork as much out of pocket for gas to get to gigs...down the line, those two whine about money while I end up pulling from out of pocket to top off whatever other expenses we end up with. I ended up pulling from my own pocket for Martriden to have sufficient gas money to get to the next town, and was then asked if we made anything because they wanted smokes or some shit.
We agreed to have merch made, so we can start making some money to put towards the band and do shit like record (a couple of us very badly wanted to record our first disc with Dave Otero, for example): our bassist gave all of our first batch of shirts away with no remorse...and they were all to his friends.
Our drummer won't do half of anything for upkeep on his drums unless he has no more choice, and its usually because he hopes one of us will buy it...which I had to learn not to do over time because I wanted our band to sound and look decent instead of having broken ass equipment all the time, but it was really just reinforcing his behavior.
The music we have written has been watered down mostly to level the playing field for those two because when we try to throw anything remotely progressive at them, they are instantly turned off and often allude to that "nobody is going to get it, it's too busy". Meanwhile, half the kids that show up to our gigs are wearing Dream Theater, Rush, and Dragonforce shirts.
Bottom line is that they only care about themselves and not the collective effort. Every band they have been in has amounted to nothing more than a party band bashing out some Metallica covers and getting fucked up. This band has brought those two more than any other band they have been in or ever will be in, and it's more-or-less because I'm tired of being in shitty bands so I do what I have to in order to make things happen. They could really care less if they end up doing something else, in reality. They are more worried about being the rockstars of our tiny and pathetic town...it's a small expansion on dudes being more worried about being the most popular band in high school, because those two have fried thier brain from comprehending much more than that a long time ago. As long as all thier friends are around, they feel like kings of the world...while the rest of the band get pissed because our vision of taking things much further keep getting held back. The only further thought they really have on pushing our music ahead to a more professional realm is that they are lost in this KISS/Iron Maiden/Metallica arena tour illusion that we will get signed anytime now and never have to work again because we will have everything laid out for us. It's simply never going to happen...that doesn't keep the rest of us from pouring our heart into our music, but you all know what I mean. Those two have ended up to be nothing but backsliders who want to just stick around for the glory without doing anything to earn it. It's gotten old.
I'm not afraid to fight them, I don't need any pointers or lessons on how to kick someones ass...I would just like to avoid it, because with my background I'd probably end up going to jail for dishing a relentless beating. I'm not bragging, I'm not saying I'm as good as your favorite fighters or whatever, and I'm not saying I can win every fight or anything like that...I'm saying that I was taught to defend myself using extreme means to end a conflict in as short of time as possible, which pretty much means I'm not going to stand there with my dukes up. I'm not willing to exercise such use of force on an acquaintance unless they flip the lid on me. I'd like to avoid the scenario entirely.
Another avenue we thought about before, and may end up implementing is the ultimatum: Things have to change, you can either make that change or we need to find someone else interested. We actually did try to convey this to them in the past, but didn't really know how to get this across without pointing fingers and having them lash out. The main issue is that, like most people in this town, there is a fighter pride. A lot of folks here tend to handle things by getting in brawls or destroying others property. I would like to think I'm more mature than that, but considering I've had a fist cocked back at me before over a band squabble by a guy that is 17 years older than I am (just one example), I have a good idea what thier reaction is going to be. If it was as easy as saying "you're fired", that would have already happened. Because of that roadblock, putting serious thought to how to avoid a fight has really overcomplicated the situation and left things up in the air.
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