Brian Krashpad
Well-Known Member
I literally cannot recall ever having a serious run-in with a sound person (or worse, venue management, who can often be clueless) over using a half-stack in a club*. I think in large part, fault for such kerfuffles can be laid at the feet of the muso rather than the soundperson. While it's the latter's job to work with what they're given, a little bit of diplomacy and moderation on the player's part can go a long way.
*note: the use of "club;" this was intentional. Because I did have quite a run-in at a record-store show. We were promised a "promotional opportunity" at a giant chain store called Media Play. Played one song and were told to leave (because they couldn't hear their in-store beeper/walkies!), and they called the cops, who did show up. They broke their promise because of their own stupidity (not realizing that asking a punk rock band to play in their store might be "loud," despite being given a demo beforehand, that literally said "PLAY LOUD" in all caps on it, haha!). And they ended up paying for it. (Although we'd agreed to play for free, when they kicked us out and called the cops, who responded and couldn't believe the store's idiocy-- the sheriff's deputies were literally laughing at them, with us out in the parking lot as we loaded out.)
As for karma, I threatened to sue them purely on the principle of the thing, and they ended up cutting us a check for $100 USD for playing two minutes and thirty-five seconds.
And we got a song out of it:
