My need to defend MP.

In the recently concluded PSMS show here in Manila (which I wasn't able to watch), MP had, for lack of a better term, a "meltdown" during their set. Or was it soundcheck? Not really sure. There's a video of it on youtube. It seems like the actual set but according to the description this was during soundcheck. I'd love to post it but it might violate forum rules.
 
Basically from what I heard, our Filipino techs failed to set it up right before the show started. So everything was kinda rushed pre-show. Mics and stands weren't set up properly, so the show was bound to be disrupted by technical problems. You get the gist.
 
MP gets pissed mid-set/soundcheck. He takes it out on the cymbal stands and whatnot. The Filipino's on the interwebz react negatively to it. Though petty, I can't help but defend MP on this.
 
Here's the thing, you finally get to play a country you've been wanting to play in for so long, then they give you THAT, you're bound to be frustrated and disappointed. One of the youtube comments said it really well, You guys are supposed to be catering to a world class drummer yet you set up his gear as if it were just some amateur battle of the bands competition.
 
It just shows that we should be giving our best in what we do because there are other people who willingly their best for other people. From what I heard MP made amends with the crew, so it's all good.
 
MP, I would like to apologize on behalf of the Filipino's who dearly love you so much for that somewhat shitty incident that occured. I hope it doesn't ruin your view on our country because we would really love to have you perform once more here
 
Okay rant over. Now I can rest at peace.

For MP to get pissed at anything it must've been pretty serious...For he is the friendliest, coolest, even keeled dude there is....

Yeah, I figure is MP is getting pissed about such things it's just because he's dedicated to delivering the best possible performance that he can for the paying fans.  Equipment and stage production is part of the performance equation and if it is not done right it interferes with his ability to do his job.  I applaud him for his tenacity and don't blame him one bit if he goes off on people who fuck up his gig.

Not to excuse my actions, but at least to explain the situation:
This PSMS tour has been VERY difficult on all of us in terms of gear and production. The only way we have been able to make it to such far away places such as Manila, Russia, Israel, Indonesia, etc (where it is normally VERY expensive to tour unless you are a "name" band that has been around for many years) is we've have had to make concessions by using supplied gear and local techs at each show.
 
Granted, WE agreed to these terms and are willing to make it work - however, on at least a half dozen occasions on this tour we have been incredibly frustrated to arrive at the venue only to find the band's gear requirements were simply blatantly ignored (wrong keyboards, wrong amps, Zildjian cymbals, etc) AND were not setup and ready for us as was supposed to be the case and what the promoters had promised.
 
We have been as patient and understanding as we possibly can be...but when you get 4 guys who haven't slept more than a couple of hours every night in order to fly to these shows without sleep...sometimes our patience can wear thin.
 
In the case of the Manila show, we arrived hours before the show to find out the drums weren't setup, cymbals were missing, Billy's amp was wrong (again) and Tony had a buzz on his gear that would not go away...but we forged ahead because we were VERY excited to play for the fans!
 
At the start of Stratus (where the video on youtube is from) - my snare drum mic fell off and I motioned for the tech to come put it back on the stand/drum...and instead, he comes up to the drum kit and takes the mic away...leaving me playing with NO snare mic!!! (you'll hear I begin playing the high tom instead of the snare)...realizing he had no idea what was going on or how to fix the situation, I stopped playing and did my little "rap" while they fixed the situation and we wouldn't have to play the whole song with no snare in the mix.


In the video, you can see I was at least making a joke out of it and wasn't maliciously trying to hurt anybody or storming off in anger.
 
Moral of the story: WE ARE HUMAN! And sometimes frustrating circumstances create frustrated behavior. I'm not saying I was right in stopping the song...but if you see a video from later in the show, you'll see I explain to the audience that I've been waiting my whole career to play in Manila and I wasn't going to let ANYTHING ruin my night or their show!!
And we carried on and everybody had a great night...
 
And I look forward to returning...
(although this may be the last time I tour without my own kit and my own drum tech...hahahaha!!!)
 
MP  
 

At least they didn't parade you on a truck under the rain for the delight of thousands of screaming fans.

Still and always the true professional MP...

I think that you handled it really well Mike!
 
If I had been at the gig, I would not have been offended in any way!

I don't think any rational person would have done anything differently Mike !
 
I'm suprised you didn't feed him the microphone, from the wrong end !
 
Stay safe and continue to inspire !!!
 
Rob

Holy crap, what a class act!  The video does look like he's royally pissed/frustrated/tired (who wouldn't be!?)  but keeps it damn professional.  I dont' think I'd be able to do the same thing.  

Holy crap, that sounds like a frustrating situation, Mike. Hopefully you were able to laugh it all off when the Asian promoter named your band "Amazing Union". The expression on your face in that photo is priceless. 

sarcophage

Holy crap, what a class act!  The video does look like he's royally pissed/frustrated/tired (who wouldn't be!?)  but keeps it damn professional.  I dont' think I'd be able to do the same thing.  

 
 
Not sure I'd call knocking down the china cymbal and all the mic stands and calling out the crew's incompetence on the mic an example of a "class act".  With that said, I do understand his frustration and the incompetence that led to the actions.  It could've been a lot worse, he could've walked off the stage.  But he continued the show.   Not the classiest of moves from Mike, but given the situation somewhat understandable.

Between this and the "Amazing Union" poster, wow.  As if things aren't difficult enough for the guys.  Sounds very frustrating.

Another vote here for our man Mike.  I actually like that kind of stuff (when bands stop the song to get it right).  Shows they're human.  Chickenfoot did that when I saw them on their club tour (though for very different reasons) and it made the show REAL.  That's Mike's work, his office, even if he treats it as a passion instead of a job.  He's showing up to do his job, and it is not unreasonable at all to expect others to do theirs as well, especially if they are being paid for it (and presumably, they didn't bring PSMS in to lose money). 
 
If I was at the show, I think I'd have been more pissed at Mike if he half-assed it and let it all go as if it didn't matter.  THAT would have been something to have to defend! 

Goosebumps right now. To see MP himself reply! Thank you Mike for that! And thank you for giving the Philippines a chance!

charles827


Goosebumps right now. To see MP himself reply! Thank you Mike for that! And thank you for giving the Philippines a chance!

 
Well thank YOU for this thread!
Please pass my message on to the great Philippino fans...I tried to post this thread/link onto the YouTube page and for some reason it won't let me...???
MP

And I vehemently disagree with the notion that Mike wasn't "classy".  It's not a situation of "class".  What isn't "classy" is asking someone to fly halfway across the planet on a certain, clear expectation, then functionally ignoring it once the person arrives.  I understand it isn't the U.S. and standards are different, but had that happened in Detroit, he wouldn't likely have had any obligation to do anything except stand there and wait for it to be fixed.  It's easy and convenient to point fingers at Mike because he's the "celebrity".  One more example where "easy" and "convenient" doesn't mean "right". 
 
Regardless of any specific moment in time, what's "classy" is that he ultimately put himself out there and delivered on his obligations when he likely didn't have to.  Contrast that with Pete Townsend, Roger Waters and Axl Rose, who all famously walked off stage and refused to play because it was "too loud", the fans weren't pandering enough, and the opening act's singer almost burned his arm off and created a delay.

As frustrating as it was, that reaction was simply uncalled for and downright creepy.
 
Insulting the techs like that, no matter how mediocre and abysmal their performance was, made me cringe.
 
Mike will always be my hero and a role model in many aspects, but he lost the ball here. That video is not gonna bode well with his reputation.
 
 
Still, I get it, you guys have been touring under rough conditions.

Hi Mike, I was there at  the concert. I'm from the central part of the Philippines and I traveled just to see you guys play. The show encountered some hiccups but I was not disappointed. I hope to see more of you (fingers crossed) . And I hope to see you here again with your old friends .
 
MABUHAY!

I understand lack of patience due to deprived sleep and experiencing frustration with a drum kit not setup properly show to show but saying "class act" is ridiculous. I saw Sonny Rollins in a venue where his saxophone mic stopped working and he tried to use an adjacent mic but it did not work out. Instead by the next song they were able to place a new mic on and the show went on. No thrown saxophones occurred. No mentions of the mistakes or mishaps. That's a class act to me.

Again I understand we all lose it time to time due to frustrations, lack of sleep, negative experiences in our lives and we all due things we probably regret later on. The dude wants to make the fans happy and perfect for them, i do admire that about him. That's cool and it happens but for people to say "what a class act" dor this isolated situation makes me laugh.

I was at this show and obviously Mike was frustrated but actually made do with a bad situation. Part of live music I guess.  Went and did a "rap" and I actually though what he did was funny (in hindsight). He did say that it wasnt gonna ruin his night, and after that, the show did go on.
 
Again, to what lengths/sacrifices the guys had to go to make these shows happen is a testament to their desire in playing their hearts out to their fans. For that we thank you Mike, snare or no snare!

Kinda sad to see one of the finest, most awarded drummers in modern rock history
having to use local gear and techs. Everybody has a breaking point.
 
btw there are over 3K guests viewing this thread right now.

Mike was a total good sport at the gig I was in charge of in Jacksonville, and the PA the venue supplied was a complete Mickey Mouse set up. But, Mike did have Jose and Jerry Guidroz to work their magic on the sound and, by mid show, Mike was having a ball. (Or so it seemed)

Does he start the whole rap/rant (1:49 in the video) by saying, "Oh, ManiRRa"?!

Portnoy

charles827


Goosebumps right now. To see MP himself reply! Thank you Mike for that! And thank you for giving the Philippines a chance!

Well thank YOU for this thread!
Please pass my message on to the great Philippino fans...I tried to post this thread/link onto the YouTube page and for some reason it won't let me...???
MP

Youtube doesn't allow links in comments. There used to be ways to get them to go through, but I believe they've patched most of them by now.

Throwing gear around that doesn't belong to you and shouting crap at the techies (even if they are bad).  Not cool in my opinion, no matter how stressed you are. Soz MP.

Yeah that can be really frustrating and the fact is you can play perfectly but if the techs don't do their job correctly it can still sound horrible.

I guess some people just don't get it  
 






 
 
 

I'd say that I don't like it when the musicians stop in the middle of the song for some reason and start the same song again, but seeing that the rest of this band got it right, continued playing, never stopping... Wow, that's so cool...
 
As for the problem that MP outlined - it's basically the reason why lots of bands stop coming to our country. And that's so not cool...

Not good. No need for that reaction. And the gear wasn't yours to abuse. We all had to play backline gigs many times and as much as it sucks, you push through and deal with hiccups the best you can. Hell, I had to pull off a 9mm gig with nothing but an old hi-hat the club had and a broken ride cymbal (which was NOT secured to the stand in any way, so crashing it was tricky). The club only had 1 cymbal stand, so I made it work. Was it frustrating? Definitely. But I certainly didn't throw a temper tantrum on stage (!) of all things. And you know what? It's just a damn snare mic falling off... Not a crisis by any stretch of imagination... :) Have a good night of sleep and lay off rock juice for a bit. Too much caffeine, I tell ya! ;)

Not seeing anything about abuse. 
 
What sort of drum tech would think that the drummer would want the mic removed from the snare?
 
 

SeventhSon


Yeah, I figure is MP is getting pissed about such things it's just because he's dedicated to delivering the best possible performance that he can for the paying fans.  Equipment and stage production is part of the performance equation and if it is not done right it interferes with his ability to do his job.  I applaud him for his tenacity and don't blame him one bit if he goes off on people who fuck up his gig.

 
I agree with the above

Wow, some of you are being a bit hard on MP, don't you think? Judging by his post, he obviously regrets his behavior and explained why he became so frustrated. 
 
He is human and has bad days just like anyone else. Anyone who "knows" Mike knows that his reaction was very much out of character, so things must have been going pretty bad for them that night.
 
Mike has a pretty damn good track record of being a gentleman, so please give him a break. Why do some people think it's acceptable to judge and berate the man on his own forum? I'll never understand that.  

i like how this has 31 responses with 17,100 views 31/17100
 
guess that shows the difference between the forum and the world of twitter

Smirnoff


Not good. No need for that reaction. And the gear wasn't yours to abuse. We all had to play backline gigs many times and as much as it sucks, you push through and deal with hiccups the best you can. Hell, I had to pull off a 9mm gig with nothing but an old hi-hat the club had and a broken ride cymbal (which was NOT secured to the stand in any way, so crashing it was tricky). The club only had 1 cymbal stand, so I made it work. Was it frustrating? Definitely. But I certainly didn't throw a temper tantrum on stage (!) of all things. And you know what? It's just a damn snare mic falling off... Not a crisis by any stretch of imagination... :) Have a good night of sleep and lay off rock juice for a bit. Too much caffeine, I tell ya! ;)

Stating your opinion is one thing. Everybody does it, that's what forums are for.
 
Going on about your musical life, drawing useless comparisons, putting yourself on the spotlight EVERY time you criticize MP ... totally unnecessary. 
 
You are not even remotely close in the same league, I don't care about your experience in the club, it's not relevant as you had not been travelling for over an entire month touring jetlagged.
Every window you get to criticize MP it's also a window you use to put yourself in the spotlight.
 
I just hate that sir, it's not the first time.  Have a good day though . 

I thought it was hilarious. I'm sure MP could come up with a replacement cymbal and stand. He's a big The Who fan....

BTW, that ad-lib rap Mike did about the situation was brilliant and turned a bad situation into an opportunity for some levity.  When life hands you lemons you have to make lemonade right?

Word.

Off topic, but:
 

Tupaloop

Why do some people think it's acceptable to judge and berate the man on his own forum? I'll never understand that.  

+1

Sorry, no spotlight is necessary for me. I am sure a vast majority of gigging drummers have stories of their own. I was simply providing an opinion that it was a bad call, as you have pointed out, MP himself added that the situation doesn't justify his outburst. No big deal. I am sure he had a bad day as we all do from time to time. And yes, when life throws lemons at you, you make lemonade. I was simply providing a perspective that I have dealt with a similar thing before and I have also witnessed other drummers, including some of my most admired players put there deal with technical issues, but I have never witnessed such outbursts of frustration. And you, Sir, don't seem to remember all the times I give a shout out to Mike for things he does great, such as his work on Flying Colors, and also especially for his interactions with me personally, which I have nothing negative to say about whatsoever! :)

Anyway, I hope the rest of the shows go on without these problems as the band and the lineup is absolutely amazing... I envy those who got to see any of these shows. No need to dwell on this hiccup here, let's continue a positive vibe here on the forum. Now that Mike has thrown in his two cents, it may be even a good idea to close the thread, as I am sure people will have their opinions but none of them change anything, considering Mike has explained himself - yet another thing I commend him for. Not trying to step on moderators' shoes here! ;) Move along, nothing to see here - I was just one guy providing a response to a conversation. Cheers! ;)