Growing up Bass Player (The power Struggle)

There came to be a power struggle between Russ and Ken (the guitar/lead player). They both seemed to feel it was important to them to be the band leader. I, then and now, didn’t feel the need to lead so I let them fight it out, trying not to take sides. Being the leader meant that he, the leader, took the responsibly of finding and booking the jobs, collecting the pay at the end of the night, paying everyone their cut and taking any grief that came along. I don’t know why anyone would fight for that job, but they did. I just took my cut and tried to stay out of the way when the fight began.

Russ was the worst. He would get drunk while we were playing and than fight with Ken about every little thing he could think of, all the way home. As you can image, riding home with the two of them was not high on my list of fun things to do.

The power struggle came to a head when Ken spray painted his phone # on the side of the trailer. Russ went ballistic. That was the longest weekend of my life. It ended with Russ and Ken in an unbelievable fight for control. It never came to blows even though I was afraid it would.

That was the end of the “High Lows”. Russ quit, Ken quit and then I did, (didn’t think I could do a solo, just me and my bass guitar).

Little did I know Ken, had found another drummer; the telephone number incident was just part of his plan to get rid of Russ. I really liked Russ and felt bad to see him go. I might have stay with him, if it had not been his alcohol problem. I don’t think Russ ever play music live again. He and his wife bought one of the bars we played in and several years later he committed suicide in on of the back booths.

PA|Sound System