Last night at this local pub I had an almost unbelievable experience, although I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about the manager before, but I’d never actually experienced it myself.
It all started when I arrived with my band and the doorman wouldn’t let our drummer in. He had lost his wallet a few days ago. I can understand a bar needing to cover its ass but there were a few things about even that altercation which didn’t sit well with me. First off, our drummer has been going there fairly regularly for two years, known to the doorman, and he got super aggressive with us when we asked first, if he could just come in to play and then leave, and then asked him if there was any possible way we could work around it, “are you reading my lips? no way”. he then shouted after him as he was leaving down the street that he needs to get an ID.
So alright, whatever, huge fucking kink in the plan, our drummer is an absolute keystone to the band, but we had someone who said they would fill in, and so when we started i said “our drummer wasn’t allowed in tonight, so we’re making due”. And we did, and it was a bad set, we all knew it while we were playing, from the total lack of cohesive rhythm (not the temp drummers fault by any means, he hadn’t practiced with us or anything) to a blaring bass drone feedback off the monitor. But whatever, expected it under the circumstances, it happens. As soon as we finish the doorman starts yelling that he had no idea the guy he wouldn’t let in was our drummer and calls me a “fucking liar”, accuses me of calling him a liar while I’m sort of baffled trying to explain what happened a few hours ago, and then he storms outside, the manager follows him. We all kind of look at each other like “what the fuck was that about?” and start putting our gear away.
As I’m walking down the stage stairs the manager runs inside and proceeds to start yelling in my face out of fucking nowhere. Essentially going on about how we are shit, fucking noise bullshit, we can never play here again, etc. Two of us are calmly trying to reason with him, how we’ve played two tight sets in the last two months there, what happened. There is no getting through, we are just met with more yelling and cursing, he was in a total rage. One of us went back to try and talk to him again about it and it was the same thing.
I’ve played shows all through the states and eastern and central Canada for years, and never have I been treated that way by venue staff. From the get go we were all polite and reasonable and we were treated as if we were rowdy drunks causing damage to the bar. As regular patrons and performers we were treated as if we were nefarious strangers. I’m just totally baffled at the complete lack of professionalism and total disrespect. Such a violent attitude has no place in a supposed community music scene.
—A Band
This article appears in Feb 4-10, 2010.
That’s really $hitty. Hard enough to be a musician in this town with moronic (and cheap) bar owners without the added crap.
That having been said, you should have approached the manager immediately when your drummer was not allowed in, and that may have helped.
Welcome to NS my friend, Welcome to NS.
Heard it before and will keep hearing and saying it. In fact, I heard it this weekend from a librarian here in halifax that just moved here from the US.
NS is by far the most fucked up place they visited. It’s gorgeous, beautiful scenery, they have no idea how people are still alive here and haven’t killed each other off. Nova Scotia, by far, based on personal experience, and from people who are not from here and visited, hosts the most ignorant and rudest population on earth.
so you didn’t do an encore i’m guessing;)
Randomness, there’s a certain poster here I think you would get along with really well!
Once again, this place should be named! Was it… Gus’s? If so, blame the angry Greeks, not Nova Scotians! Greeks are usually very nice people, but can have some temper I tell ya.
Ay gamisou, kolotripa!
qpmzwonxeibcruv, I rename you kooklah (not sure how to spell it).
I really get pissed off when people judge an entire province by one portion of a city. When people refer Bluenosers being friendly, that opinion is not based on the CITY of HALIFAX, nor is it based on the endless number of CFAs who educate themselves, or start businesses here.
I heard for YEARS how horrible Toronto is, and was expecting to hate it because I was surrounded by mean people. Guess what? Some of the most loving, kind, and wonderful people I have ever met were born and bred in the CITY of TORONTO.
Those people who judge the province of Ontario based on Bay and Queen or Halifax based on one pub are like the blind men standing around the elephant. (Get you hand out of it’s asshole, and you might find it more pleasant, methinks.)
Downtown Halifax has assholes, so does the downtown of any city in Canada, and many of them “came from away” to get tax grabs, brought their much-needed money to help revitalize our city, but forgot to leave their attitudes behind.
That doesn’t mean NS is at fault.
Welcome to Halifax…home of the bad in-bar music. Stick to Montreal, TO, and Vancouver where they appreciate music.
I think Randomness is Kay’s alter-avatar.
she (and I use the term loosely) mentioned she had one which seems to fit.
I haven’t really found a band in halifax that I’ve ‘just had to go see’ yet.
seen a few, nothing special…
Ya know, as much as I dislike some of the knee-jerk Nova Scotia bashing that goes on here sometimes . . . I just have to admit that the kind of lousy unprofessional business attitude shown by this story DOES make my blood boil.
Sadly, I HAVE seen things like this too many times before here in NS and it is something that really has to change.
I swear some so-called “businesses” have a “We WANT our business to fail so we treat our most valuable partners and customers like shit” mentality.
And THEN, for some mysterious reason, the business fails, just like that! Now WHY would that be?
I am not really one for the pub scene, so I can’t judge that (although it does seem to me that the bouncer/ID thing is out of control), but I can name a certain children’s store, a certain CD store, a certain shoe store, a certain flower store, and 6 different restaurants where bad management and worse service doomed the place, where POLICY dictated that certain customers were to be ignored (make it clear that their money was not needed) and where the owners were whining in The Coast that “Boo hoo hoo, the customers in NS don’t appreciate quality.”
Halifax business owners, not all of you, but you shitty ones know who your are, get it together if you want to stay in business. If it is a hobby you are looking for, then try stamp collecting or something, but don’t pretend to be running a business if you’re not really interested in doing it properly.
And OP, I sincerely hope you get treated better at your next gig.
I want to know which pub this is.
Fizz, I thought that as well for only a second…& it dawned on me, the OP said in Halifax !
Since I only go there when I have no other choice, it’ll never be a problem…I’m never going there anyway ~:)
if you are in the union,you could give this douche a hard time,if not,you’re shit out of luck bud.happened to my group a long time ago,we left,and he had to pay for the 4 hours we didn’t get tpo play for.nice gig if you know right people.
Um, no…. the union won’t do jack shit for you..
For one thing, they don’t have an executive (no president, vice president, etc) as they all quit some time ago. The only union representative visits from Ontario every few weeks.
Besides that, the music union in NS has never represented it’s members in any sort of legal battle. The MOST they might do, is ban union bands from playing in that particular bar. So if a musician gets caught playing there, he gets a nice fine..
The local union here exists to collect dues and fines from its members (when we play with a non-union member). Probably partly why the executive officers all stepped down.
First of all, stay the hell out of downtown Halifax. There’s countless pubs around HRM that you can play in. I had the misfortune of playing acoustically at a soon to be closed (if it hasn’t already) sports pub on Granville and had the absolutely worst experience in my musical life. Now, I’m playing pressure free at the pizza restaurant/pub on Quinpool and the staff there have been fantastic.
The club in question has got to be Reflections. My band had almost the exact same experience just prior to Christmas. I actually had my ID, but it just so happened to be expired. The guy wasn’t gonna let me in at all. I am 34 years old and totally look it, so its not like anyone would imagine I was under 19. I managed to convince him to let me play, but I felt like the redheaded stepchild the whole night. I hate the vibe at that place. Plenty of other people agree. That place is unfriendly.
Incidentally, I have a theory about why they are so strict. I am convinced that they are screening for cops. Its well known that they have run coke and whatever else through that place in the past. Maybe they still have some shady shit going on. Cops have to disclose when asked.
Question isn’t this discussed with amnagement before hand? You go in and state one member is underaged. This is not a problem because there is an exemption under the Liquor Control Act. Basically Contact the government and let them know and they will most likely approve the exemption. I am surprised OB you didn;t know this, especially if one member is underaged.
I know people who have stepped in for absent band members at the age of sixteen. They have to bring a parent and sit quietly when not on stage far away from the bar. It seems ridiculous that that can happen without a hitch, yet a regular of age performer is turned away for something as silly as losing their wallet. It’s all where you go I guess.
Keep doing what you’re doing if what you say is true. Spread the word. Make it difficult for them to get their act together.
Reduce them to balloon animals and hand shadows.
Odd story. You didn’t go get the manager right away when this happened?
A stranger sat in on drums? I can’t imagine, other than maybe blues, how that could be anything but a train wreck…
frosty, not so odd and yet another thing that makes the HRM such a “friendly” place to hang out. Desi had this happen at both establishments mentioned in the comments… maybe he was playing with booer? Desi is of obvious drinking age AND the heart of the band. There is no show without the front-man. There is no show without the guitar player. The bouncer doesn’t give a fuck. The management doesn’t give a fuck since bouncers act on their direction. They all believe and would have you believe ID is required on your person for them to keep their liquor license. They don’t care who they turn away or what kind of ridiculousness they cite when refusing entry. They certainly don’t care if you ever come back… and we won’t. Ever. Ask them if they care their bullshit is being discussed here! They don’t. “Customer service” and “hospitality” are lost to these people. Randomness has got it right whether it hurts your feelings or not. (no, I’m not randomness)
as opposed to playing with a ‘boner’ knowing he was out having fun collecting g-strings on stage while you sat miserably in the corner wearing spanx.
zZz… A LOT of women sporting relationships with men on the stage are VERY insecure in their relationships. I do NOT have that problem with my husband although I’ve seen many who do, you fucking bitch.
heh heh… I’ve missed razzing you…
hell, you are the boss and have a rockstar boy toy…
how can I possibly get you down?!?!?
I’m just a lowly worker in a job he loathes who complains all day.
think outside your own fucking box and get some perspective
safe to say I somehow shit in zZz’s cornflakes and somehow Desi did too. Desi said he loathed your job? Are you a bouncer refusing entry to the band? Think outside the box? Get perspective? What exactly do you think I’m missing here, zZz? Bring it on.
🙂 sadly, I’m starting to like you. not in that way… I’m not into bestiality or anything…
unless you count some of the ‘sheep’ on here perhaps….
you’ve been away a while… mini-break out of the trailer park?
I’m not a bouncer, just wanted to give a shout-out to Desi since it would seem you’ve murdered him and hidden him under your couch with the cats and toenail clippings.
Desi would rather write a hit about it than bitch about it. I’ll call my cat and see if I can’t get his attention. Don’t get your hopes up.
I’ve been working… harder than usual to put the trailer park behind me.
It’s strangely comforting to be missed by a bitchy bitch like you zZz. Thanks for that.
😉
shoulda spit in the managers face, all that yelling, he was likely spitting all over you!
yeah, nothing like adding an assault charge to your record for playing a bad gig.
You would have to be a Ninja to get away with that…
This is really passive aggressive. First a locals post and now this? Why don’t you just contact the guy and discuss it? I’m pretty sure he reads both this forums…I wasn’t at the show, so admittedly I don’t know what happened, but regardless of who was at fault or whatever, it would sure look better for you if you took the adult route and didn’t bitch about this all over the internet.
Just checked Halifax Locals… I was right! It was Gus’s and was some angry Greek dude (Dimo) screaming! Thank you all… so, was I RIGHT or was I RIGHT?
Apparently Rejections has gone downhill quite a bit since it became more of a “straight” bar… well, really, it’s quite mixed I guess you could say. Never know what you’re going to get there! If I was gay, I’d love to do coke and suck dick in the men’s bathrooms. Man, how much cum must there be on those walls?
And what’s with the massively fat bouncer? That guy’s gut is the size of a hot air balloon! Puts a whole new meaning to the term… bouncer. Ha ha ha. Love the cranky old punk bartender, though. He’s got character.
Hmm, so we now know that kay is originally from Calgary but moved here about a year ago, is in her mid-thirties or so, works in IT, and has a rock star husband who plays at such well-renowned venues like Gus’s and Reflections. If we cared more, we could easily figure out who this Nova Scotia-hater is!
Actually, if people cared more, they could easily figure out who I am, too, but we wouldn’t want that to happen now would we?