Offstage keyboard players!

[Mr Badguy]

Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Sabbath, The Cult, Kiss...loads of bands.

They`ve all had keyboard players that aren`t official band members or allowed on stage.

I don`t get it.

Where do these guys go?

Do they sit in a little cupboard with headphones on?

Is having a keyboard player so uncool?

[Seshmeister]

It was uncool around a certain time in the 80s/early 90s.

Bands like Priest and Iron Maiden would even put a note on their album sleeves saying 'THERE ARE NO KEYBOARDS ON THIS WE USED GUITAR SYNTHS' which I always thought was a bit fucking bizarre. The guitar synth was effectively just a controller attached to a keyboard so the act of playing a keyboard(not the sound it produced) was the problem then??? :)

On the other hand I actually played keyboards for quite a few gigs in the 80s and there is/was an inherent problem in it in the context of a rock/heavy metal band. You have 3 options.

a) Stand very still whilst everyone else runs about and look like a dick.

b) Headbang, dance or just generally move around within 1 step of your keyboard and look like a dick.

c) Worst of all the Keytar where you prance around pretending to be a guitarist whilst only being able to play one handed looking and being a total dick. :)

I used to go for (a) unless I was very drunk when there might be a touch of (b). I looked like a dick.

I think that the 'looking like a dick factor' was the main reason a lot of these guys ended up offstage. Personally I thought the best option was the Ozzy approach where at least early on in his solo career they would stick the keyboard player away up in the gods, visible but out of the way.

Nowadays I think a lot of the time they aren't offstage at all and the keyboards are provided using tapes and sequencers.

I don't think that's good. If say you hear the start of Mr Crowley or Jump and can't see a keyboard player to me it all seems a bit phony. You think ok is this a tape or have they someone offstage? Who else is offstage? What else is tapes? Backing vocals? Lead Vocals? Or is it a Duran Duran situation and the whole thing is being mimed?

The fact the guy onstage(like the keyboard player in Duran Duran) could be miming isn't really the point it's the fact that there is noone there that brings the whole thing into your mind and spoils the gig a bit for me.

So basically we need more people looking like dicks onstage... :)

Cheers!

:gulp:

[FORD]

I'd say the question of whether keyboards belong on stage depends on how central they are to the music.

Duran Duran bases most of their songs around synthesizers. So they would look a little silly without Nick Rhodes on stage. Of course they look silly anyway, but even more so, regardless of whether they're all miming or not.

Van HALEN - If all they're doing is "Jump", then I'm thinking it's probably all sequenced on a hard drive somewhere. Does that mean Eddie's Mac should be on stage?

Now I heard a rumor that Alan Fitzgerald played keyboards (offstage) for the Velveetapalooza Trainwreck 2004 tour. If that's the case, it's probably ridiculous to hide him, given the number of Van Hagar songs that used keys, and the fact that Fitzgerald is somewhat of a "known" musician from his Night Ranger days, and before that with Hagar/Montrose in the 70's. He probably got paid as much as Sobolewski did, so make a spot for him on stage. Maybe Chickenshit will treat him better?

Is Geoff Nichols still with Heaven & Hell? That guy should be considered an official band member by now, if he's been putting up with Iommi for almost 30 years.

Oh well, at least the Stones don't try to hide Chuck Leavell, or any of the other keyboard players they had over the years (Stu, Mac, Nicky Hopkins, etc.)

[indeedido]

Yes, it is that embarrasing.

[lesfunk]

I'd say the question of whether keyboards belong on stage depends on how central they are to the music.
.


Is Geoff Nichols still with Heaven & Hell? That guy should be considered an official band member by now, if he's been putting up with Iommi for almost 30 years.

Oh well, at least the Stones don't try to hide Chuck Leavell, or any of the other keyboard players they had over the years (Stu, Mac, Nicky Hopkins, etc.)
Heaven and Hell are using Scott Warren, Dio's keyboard man.

[DavidLeeNatra]

Queen had a Keyboard player who also came on stage with a guitar for "crazy little thing called love" and that was ok...giving him props though he doesn't fully belong to the band...good solution...

We use pre-recorded synths when we play JUMP and California Girls...works fine...

We had a keyboard player back in the early 90's and he totally looked like a dick...and that was already before he started playing...he was the most boring piece of uncool shit you ever whitnessed on a stage...but guys who could play keyboard were rare back then...

[lesfunk]

Queen had a Keyboard player who also came on stage with a guitar for "crazy little thing called love" and that was ok...giving him props though he doesn't fully belong to the band...good solution...



He still works with them BTW

[Hellraiser!!]

Keyboards were really uncool during the 80's, probably because of those new wave acts and even in the 90's...so It's like a sacred law now...."No keyboards players allowed" unless you're an old hard rock band like BöC or Deep Purple or if you are some old progressive band!!

[Hellraiser!!]

Plusss...it would be really weird to see KISS with a keyboard player on stage....what kind of make up the fucker would wear....a Piano Make up?! That's just too fucked up!

[Mr Badguy]

Plusss...it would be really weird to see KISS with a keyboard player on stage....what kind of make up the fucker would wear....a Piano Make up?! That's just too fucked up!

It was only in the late 80`s when they had Gary Corbett and later Derek Sherinan that they dabbled.

Then again, that was when everyone was doing it.

[WACF]

The keyboard player in Opeth is worth watching...amazing that guys head stays on...

[Coyote]

Queen had a Keyboard player who also came on stage with a guitar for "crazy little thing called love" and that was ok...giving him props though he doesn't fully belong to the band...good solution...

Actually... "Hammer To Fall".