If you are being heckled, how do you respond, if at all?

What about internet slander? Or people you hear at a show, while you are setting up or tearing down, saying things about your music?

SIMILARLY,

What seems like a good way to handle not liking a band? Or their music? Or the people in it? Do you just walk out on them, or stay and give them a chance, possibly getting a headache?

Would you / have you ever slandered a band online or at their shows?


This should make an interesting topic of discussion to say the least.

are you trying to get made fun of?

I respond by having sex with them.

like is this assuming the band is trying to get heckled? No. Assume it's just a band playing a show per normal.

I've definitely slandered a band live. In a "please kill yourself you fuckin' sallies" sort of way. The only acceptable ways to respond to this as a band are--

1] Ignore the heckler, continue playing.
2] Heckle back.
3] Beat them with hammers after the show.

slandered... no, spoken up about how i think they arn't good/play fake grind... yes.

Play better music.

solution: everyone should quit being gaywads, play what you want/have fun playing, ignore any douche that talks shit unless you enjoy insulting them back. in the end, no one cares what you think about a band so you might as well keep it to yourself because it won't change anything.

Me and a friend heckled the fuck out of Keving Dubrow when Quiet Riot played Saugus a bunch of years ago. He was fucking pissed as hell at us. We were right up front, in his face, screaming at him to take his wig off (he claims its not a wig but I don't see how its possible that he has ten time more hair now than in 1984).

It's not a wig, it's a black poodle.

do it GG allin style, shove bananas up your ass and chuck them at the crowd

Agreed.

Rusted angel nailed this thread nicely done.

best response to this i heard is when i was talking with Mike from Walls of Jericho and told me....how on their tour with Fear Factory and Mastodon during a show in Philly.....as soon as they finnished their set and were turning off their amps some guy right in front yells out "well that was a waste of 45mins." now that's gotta suck after a set

tell the bar owner that the heckler is carrying a gun...thats sure to get em looked at.

my buddy got kicked outta the bombshelter for that last night. hahahaha.

Personally, I would prolly flip the heckler the bird, if persisted, I would heckle back, then if all else failed I would prolly physically attack someone, cuz I am on the edge of self immolation anyway and I give a giant non existent fuck.

opinions are like assholes we all have and and it usually stinks!

I feel like if I don't like a band, that's just my opinion and not worth toting about unless i have some kind of idea that I think can actually benefit them or that's worth adding. I rarely will go "that just fucking blew" and more likely to say "the bassist wasn't very tight and had some odd changes...". That's constructive, though still criticism.

In the end, I agree with RA -- what the fuck is the point of giving someone shit? No matter how crappy your band is, it takes balls to go out there and expose yourself to people via music or art. I commend that ubiquitiously.

As far as getting heckled, I still don't know if I handle it right...I try and go along with it, but I have a temper and if someone were to assault me I'd probably kick the everliving life span out of them. Words are just words but I don't think I handle them well and just let it affect my performance.

someone showed me a thread on another messageboard where some dude was badmouthing Dehumanized. he said we suck ass, that we're suffocation clones, and we act like rock stars. a couple ppl defended us and he said he only talked to the bassist. so when i read this i'm like "wtf????? who is this guy?" so i replied back, saying who i was and asked him when i met him. he said he talked to me at the Maryland Death Fest, but he never said that i was a dick to him, he said we have rock star attitudes on stage............. what? i'm sorry that i'm into the music i play and i show it by breaking my fucking neck every night and running around the stage. anyways, i asked him what he meant by rockstars on stage, and he's like "nah man forget about it, i was just ranting, i got nothing against you guys." like 2 days later he invited me into his friend's list on myspace. what a pussy. i called him out on the INTERNET and he backed off. i can't imagine how he'd be if you confront him in real life.

but yea, say whatever the fuck you want about my bands, cause i could care less. i don't care about ANYBODY'S opinions except for my good friends'. everyone else can love me, or hate me, i'm still gonna do what i want to do.

Why must everything be constructive? I don't say this to be argumentative, but to be realistic. Aggressive music in and of itself has a destructive nature, at least in part... Destroying boundaries, rules, preconceptions, eardrums. I don't see anything fundamentally bad about declaring negative opinions, be they gut reactions or well thought out. Besides, if it's funny to SOMEONE then it's constructive as well.

I think anyone who has their fun ruined by getting heckled and rowdiness during a Death Metal/Thrash/Grind/Hardcore/Punk show probably are going into the show with the wrong attitude, and should maybe try being on the other side of some obnoxious, insulting, homo"phobic" comment and see how fun it can be. Or just yell "Slayer!!!" at a bunch of bands. It's fun... lighten up.

Sometimes the "lone drunk guy" can get obnoxious, but I've been in that position and it can be fun too... If (s)he's knocking out your cord, shove em on their ass and tell them to cut it out and leave it at that. If they're just being verbally obnoxious, do it back - if you zing them, they'll probably shut up. If you can't outwit a loud drunk, then they're surely making more than themself laugh... that's usually what happens when I'M that drunk guy . ;)

i heckle back. one time i got to heckle the vince neil crue cover band at the woodstock fair this year. they played with slaughter and ratt. it was hilarious

i ignore the heckling. its a known fact that there will be TONS of people who dont like your band. get over it. i try my best to support all the bands at a show, even if i dont really care for them. i will always give a band a chance.

RustedAngel said:

what he said

My old band opened for Dokken once, we were making fun of them during our set,on the mic, they responded by having thier tour manager give us(me) a stern talking to. I agree with RustedAngel, play what you want, fuck anyone who doesn't dig it, unless you sound like Dokken, then you should just give it up.

me to vince neil during his set: "WHERES NIKKI STIX!!!!!?!" "NICE COVER BAND!" "PLAY GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS"

i cant wait till iron maiden becomes washed up to the point of playing northeast CT state fairs. they aint holdin a pit back at that

sixx^.

if they don't like my band: hit them in the face with my cock
if i don't like their band: hit them in the face with my cock

we don't really have more than a handfull of people who dig our music, so we expect hecklers.

i admit, if i'm drunk, i'll harass bands whether i like em or not

but when i'm sober, i'm very respectful.....
if someone in a band i did'nt dig asks what i thought of their set, i'm honest.....i'll say something like"not really my style but it was heavy" or "you guys are wicked talented" or whatever, i'll always find good in any bands set and tell them about it if they ask what i thought

the best band to make fun of is boe

my band usually doesn't get a great response because we are different from alot of local metal bands and don't play as brutal a style as most of the bands we play with. we kind of stick out like a sore thumb with death/grind/black metal bands, but i love playing with those kinds of bands more than other bands in the area, so i accept the lack of response from those crowds. i'd rather get ignored by music that i like than cheered on by people i absolutely have no respect for.

if someone talks shit about my band, i try not to care about it, because i believe in my band and we enjoy what we are doing. it really doesn't ruin my night if 20 people tell me we played a great set and 2 people were trying to boo us off the stage. i try not to heckle bands onstage, unless it is someone like devildriver or some other corporate shitdick band. local bands who are just up there trying to have fun don't really deserve to be heckled while they are onstage.

Who gives a fuck, stop being gay. Remember they are in the audience, you are on stage.

let the hecklers heckle. if you are on stage playing, you should have the confidence to know that the heckler's wrong.

the entire 1st year of my band's existence was us playing with pop-metal bands, just to play. there was no other scene in Boston at that point, like 1984. the audiences consisted of guys out drinking and trying to get laid and girls out... for the same i guess. we were way out of place and took a lot of crap, but always knew that whoever said we 'sucked' were wrong.