maximzub wrote: ↑Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:24 pm
Well, I just had to kick out a bandmate for the first time.
I'm gonna elaborate on this.
Our drummer Ashton had been in Headroom Karma for a year and a couple months. The entire band only managed to get together three times and played onstage two of those times. Otherwise, he had sometimes joined my dad and I onstage at open mics, and the two of us jammed sometimes.
I've maintained that our first show was a mess, mainly because of the drumming. Our last jam about a month ago was even more of a mess. It just didn't feel good to be playing with him compared to any of the other musicians I play with lately.
Anyway, his dad is the sound guy for the country musician Chris Janson. And since they hadn't seen each other in a long time, his dad offered to take him on tour with Chris. That's where he was for most of July. We're great friends outside of the band, so we texted every single day while he was away.
In the middle of the tour, he broke up with his girlfriend from back home. The very next day, he already had a new girlfriend. This may have not been surprising if it was an isolated incident, but it's already happened many times before. He's had 8 girlfriends in the span of just over a year, and the last 6 were with absolutely no break in between. But he keeps insisting each and every time that "this one is the one".
Anyway, he and his girlfriend were planning to get laid with each other on Friday. My friend Danny and I helped him brainstorm ideas for where to do it, even down to the last minute. When they didn't get the chance to do it, he became pissed at us for thinking he's some kind of player when he's "only had 8 girlfriends in his lifetime". Like that's normal. The average number of relationships a person is in in their lifetime is 4. He's had 8 in a year. That's a problem. And he's pissed at us for it.
Back to the music part. Last Saturday, I had Carson over for the first time in forever. We hadn't even seen each other for 11 months. But when we started playing, we just fell back into place like before. We tried old and new songs, and sounded great. Most importantly, it felt good to be playing with him again. I've never had that feeling with Ashton.
So after talking with Carson and other trusted mutual friends (Danny, Noelle), it was decided that it was best if he wasn't in the band anymore. He doesn't have time for the band because he has other problems that he needed to work on first, and he just isn't as skilled as Carson and I am. But I needed a backup plan so I would have another drummer ready before we kicked Ashton out. So I reached out to our old drummer Mack, who you may have seen before in videos I've posted to this board, to see if he knew anyone that might be interested. And to my surprise, he actually wants to play with us again! Talk about a Taylor Hawkins scenario. I'm looking forward to reuniting with the old lineup and finally having it be a fun band again.
Of course, the part that was not so fun was telling Ashton that he's out. He didn't take it very well, but I think he's calmed down since. I don't know. We haven't talked today since then.
So there you have it. I had to kick out a bandmate for the first time, but it looks like it was for the best. And we might be getting back to something we've missed for years.
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