Sunday, February 20, 2011

Bring It, Bi*ch!

Okay, so lemme give you a bit of background before I move on to my rant for today.  It will be minimal- I'll leave the details for another post.  I have known my "significant other" for 4 years, and been with him as a couple for 3 years.  He is a musician, drummer to be exact, and has spent over half his life in the industry.  He is currently the drummer for a Canadian artist who is part of another band project at the moment, and we don't know if he'll play a solo show again so that's on hold for now.  Even so, he's always played in cover bands to make extra cash (sometimes 2-3 at a time) and works at a bank during the day.  2 years ago, a friend of his got him a gig working in a cover band he was playing in that was super busy and looking for a drummer.  During one of the first gigs he played which I attended, he approached me at a break and told me that everyone in the band was contributing towards a sound system that the band leader has bought so they didn't have to rent equipment every gig.  Once it was paid off, then the payments would stop (obviously.)  Until then, everyone would contribute $12.50 per gig automatically deducted from each of their pay, so $50 for the band.  He wasn't thrilled about it, but because he was the new guy he didn't want to make waves so he said fine.  The sound system was paid off sometime before summer 2010.  By August 2009, the guy who started the band informed the other members he was leaving to play in another band.  Conveniently, he hadn't booked many gigs between September and December so it was slowing down AND he was the one in possession of the sound system.  So when another band member sent him an email on behalf of the rest of the band asking if he'd be leaving the sound system and they'd buy out his share, or if he'd be taking it and buying out their shares (which they assumed would be one of the other) his reply was ...wait for it...."No, you guys were renting it from me."  Um, EXCUSE ME?  Why the FUCK would the band agree to pay into a sound system they wouldn't own in the end, which is exactly what they were doing BEFORE they bought the sound system AND the reason for buying in the first place!  How the HELL is that any different and what exactly was the point of buying a system then, so they don't have to rent one anymore?  Oh, I know!  YOU would get to walk away with something OTHER PEOPLE paid for!!  The 3 remaining members of the band, and ME were friggin' flabbergasted.  I remember the exact moment in the car when we got the text message indicating his response.  This was news to all of them.  There was never any mention of renting to ANY of them, and if so, where's your rental agreement?  Wouldn't you have people sign a rental agreement so they wouldn't make any claims to it and there are no misunderstandings?  And why did they stop "renting" it once it was paid for?  Wouldn't you keep charging people that were renting something at every gig, and not stop just because it was paid for?  So, a store that rents out equipment should lend it out for free once the rental fees have covered the cost?  WTF??  So they let it go for a while, then one day they had a practice together with the new guitar player at the singer's house.  They called the band leader, told him they had a practice and needed the equipment.  Hell, they paid for it, they were entitled to use it, and as far as they were concerned it belonged to THE BAND.  When the bass player arrived with the equipment, he told the guys that the band leader was adamant the equipment be returned that afternoon.  Well, super pissed off, my guy decided at the practice that he was going to keep part of the equipment.  He paid for 1/4 of it, so he felt he had the right to use it as he pleased.  Besides, they felt if they had part of the system, they would have some leverage to come to an agreement with him.  The rest of the equipment was returned to him and my guy has been in possession of only a set of speakers.  To fast forward, he was less than impressed, has sent a tonne of threatening emails and lies over the past few months, then we've heard nothing from him since December or so.  Mostly because we blocked him from Facebook and email so we didn't have to read his retarded moronic rants anymore.  Until tonight...when the guy showed up at my guy's gig with a bunch of his friends in a town he doesn't live in, to hang out at that bar???  Random?  I think not.  He has now served my guy with small claims court papers, suing for the equipment, plus a microphone that he bought on behalf of my guy and he has already paid him back for!  Fucking jerk.  He claims to have a letter signed by the old drummer my guy replaced that HE understands the band was renting the equipment (funny that none of the other members have this recollection) AND he has falsified a document from the bass player who is STILL IN THE BAND, and who is my guy's FRIEND claiming the same thing.  Who the fuck does this guy think he's fooling?  Even if he did have a signed agreement with the other members of the band saying it was a rental (which he doesn't) he DOES NOT have one with my guy.  The other members were there first, and this retard has even told my guy in an email that he had NO CHOICE in the matter anyways because the agreement was in place when he joined and he HAD to accept that arrangement whether he wanted to or not.  He could have 15 other signed agreements with various people- if he doesn't have one with the person he's suing, he's SOL as far as I can see.  I just want to go over to his house (which is an hour away) and give him a swift kick in the junk.  I don't like people that try to take advantage of other people, and we are not going down without a fight.  Not only did he suck almost $600 out of my guy and didn't want to give him anything to show for it, he now wants $850 more!  Not only will there be a defense entered, but a counter-claim for the total cost of what my guy has put into that sound system.  I hope the other members of the band join in on the counter-claim and screw him right up the ass.  That is all.  :)  

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