Plea: Stop heckling the band!

By Jason Irwin, Chronicle Rock Columnist

I’ve been playing live music professionally for more than two decades, and I’ve been attending shows for much longer than that. Being a musician isn’t always as glamorous as it may seem. There are plenty of pet peeves t

hat go along with the gig, as in any job. Some just come with the territory. Some shouldn’t.

One of those, for myself anyway, is heckling.

Now, before I get going on this, let me explain that I am not talking about shouts of “Free Bird” or that minor level of annoyance. Sometimes that’s even funny. (Well, okay: Not really.)

Most performers are pretty thick-skinned…that minor stuff can usually be laughed off, joked away or just ignored.

I am speaking of rude, disruptive and even aggressive behavior directed toward a performer while on stage: The kind where sometimes — again, speaking for myself — I struggle over whether or not to keep playing my guitar, or start swinging it like a baseball bat.

I experienced this a few times just in the past few weeks — once directed toward myself and another time directed at a friend who was on stage.

It’s unacceptable.

Typically, it’s because of intoxication, and while that is understandable — it’s no excuse. Over the years for some reason, it’s been tolerated as “part of the art.”

I disagree. If it’s you: Please stop. If your buddy is doing it, take him home. You are ruining what could be a pleasant experience for other patrons, you look like a jerk (even your friends think so) and you are making the guy with the microphone’s blood boil.

I checked in with some friends from the local music scene on this, and a few chimed in with their experiences.

• I think that is some of the lowest behavior there is. And hey, maybe I suck, but the venue hired me for a reason. You know? If you dislike a performer, by all means let the venue know. But to confront a performer with hatred and verbal assault — not okay.
  — Liam Irwin, local musician
• Getting heckled was my biggest fear going solo. I’ve been lucky, I haven’t yet had what you described, Jason. Nowadays most of my gigs are restaurants, and I’m gone early enough to avoid the nasty drunks. I also avoid certain towns like the plague.
  — Phil Camp, local musician
• Idiots, with no appreciation for talent and hard work. I once had a drunk gal bigger than I was heckling the hell out of our band. Fortunately, my wife is a Black Belt. A few years back I got into it with a few others. You have to show them that your PA is louder than they are, and that it’s not hard to outwit a drunk person.
  — Dan Ladd, local musician and Chronicle Outdoors columnist
• I owned E Gillis Sports Bar in downtown Glens Falls for years and hosted most of the bands from the day. It’s inconceivable to me. Idiots like that would have been kicked out in my bar.
  — Ana De Avila Cronin, former local bar owner
• I usually give it right back to them unless they become relentless, and then I ignore them. Give them the old “Wedding Singer” — “Sir one more outburst like that, and I will strangle you with my microphone cord!
  — Bryan Watkins, local musician
• It’s unlikely that hecklers understand the emotion involved in performing live. You are absolutely peaked when you are onstage. If they knew, they probably would not do it. It will also upset the “flow” of an event.

  Have you ever been in a restaurant or bar and someone makes a scene? Or in any public place and someone’s going off about how someone has done them wrong?

  It’s very uncomfortable for patrons to listen to that. Ownership should immediately warn then remove anyone who disrupts a paying customer’s experience to draw attention to themselves.
  — Johnny Clifford, local musician

• Dude, I once had an intoxicated woman — angry that we were done playing — grab my stack of cymbals off the stage and throw them on the dance floor……unreal!
  — Roba Grizzly, local musician
• I’ve been heckled more in the past 4 or 5 years as a musician than I ever was prior. I think a lot of it has to do with being in the golden age of complaining.

  People would rather cause a stir and draw attention to themselves than see the silver lining and just enjoy themselves.

  Back in the day people used to go see a live band and just enjoy the time regardless of volume, their ability to speak while a song is being played, etc.

  Nowadays, people will find a qualm no matter what. If you bring a full band, the complaint is almost always that the band was too loud. In the same breath, as a Cajun player at acoustic gigs, I constantly get heckled for not playing a full kit at those gigs.

  People don’t realize they can’t have it both ways. I liken it to people who can’t find a comfortable temperature — they are either too hot or too cold, when in reality they could just throw on a hoodie and shut the heck up and enjoy themselves. That’d be too easy.

  I’m at a point as a musician where I just don’t care anymore. If it’s too loud, then leave. You clearly weren’t prepared to hear a band tonight. If it’s not satisfying to your ear in any way, there are literally dozens of other places you can go. Don’t make it about you and ruin other people’s time.

  That’s my two cents.
  — Tim Irwin, local musician

• Jason I am with you…TOTALLY. Ask some of my musical partners about some of the stuff I’ve said and done over the years. My biggest lesson in 1992: Never, never go onstage after a stripper.
  — Mikki Bakken, local musician

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Jason Irwin is a Glens Falls musician, DJ, promoter and host of a local music show on radio station Hits 95.9. Contact him at jasonirwinrock@gmail.com.

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