Local Musician Stereotypes & Douchebag Musicians

 I have been a part of the local musicians community for many years so I have observed the different stereotypes of them. Musicians have different stereotypes and personalities and I’m about to list them all and explain them too. Chances are, you have pretty much seen all of these and I’m sure you’re one of them as well.

Well, lets get right to it… these are in no particular order:
The Egomaniac and Narcissist: People always think I’m full of shit that there are egomaniacs and narcissists in your music scene but you will meet some of these guys. Ya know, the type of musicians who are full of themselves and love themselves a bit too much. Always talking about themselves and only thinking about themselves. They don’t care about you at all and only about themselves. They think their musical talent is so great and they think they play better than other people. You will meet some huge egos out there in your scene whether you want to admit it or not.
The Expensive Gear Collector: These are the type of musicians that are obsessed with musicians gear. They’ll collect all kinds of guitars, amps, pedals and get all kinds of home studio gear too. They spend a lot of money on gear and obsessed with it. You’ve probably seen these kind of musicians too.
The Music Theory Expert: You’ll see these kind of musicians too. Ya know, the music theory expert. The one that is always talking about theory and you don’t know what the hell he or she is talking about like the notes in a chord, scale degrees, chord progressions and things like that. There is always going to be a music theory expert around for sure.
The Asshole Musician: Yeah, you’ll definitely see some of these too. Not everyone in the musicians community are gonna be nice to you. That’s one thing that you’ll have to accept. All musicians are different. They’re gonna be assholes and some are gonna be nice. You will run into an asshole musician who is never friendly to people, just one thing for you to be aware of. You can be nice to all musicians all you want but not all of them will treat you kindly in return. Trust me, I know from experience.
The Music Critic: You will get a lot of musicians around who think they are a music critic of other musicians and bands. One thing to be aware of, some of them are gonna be brutally honest about your music and playing ability. So because they’re a musician they feel the need that it’s okay to critique others music.
The Political Activist Musician: This is the type of musician that will bring politics into music. This isn’t just liberal musicians that goes for conservative musicians too. These are the musicians who are always going political in their social networking pages, writing political songs and going political at their live shows. You’ll definitely see some political activists around here for sure.
The Unprofessional Musician: These are the guys who are no-shows for gigs, late for gigs, irresponsible promoters and just plain lazy that they don’t get anything done. They also have unprofessional attitudes as well. You will get these in your music scene too.
The Attention Whore Musician: This is the type of musician who will do anything it takes to get well-known in the scene and community. They don’t care what it takes even if it means acting foolish and just plain dumb. Just ramming themselves down in everyone’s throats is what they’ll do. I’ve seen some of these.
The Mr. Know It All Musician: This is the kind of musician who goes around thinking he/she knows everything. Watch out for these types. They think they know everything about being a musician, they think they know everything about your scene and blah blah blah. They think they know more than you just because they’re a musician and out there playing.
The gullible and naive type of musician: These are the ones who trust everyone and everything so easily when they shouldn’t. For example, musicians falling for all the scams and pay-to-play bullshit that is out there. Also, easily going for the gigs when they shouldn’t and stuff like that. You get the deal.
The pretentious and rock star wannabe musician: This would probably fall under egomaniac/narcissist but this is a little different. You will get some musicians out there pretending to be something they’re not. For example, there are too many musicians out there thinking they’re rock stars just because they’ve been hitting the bigger stages and having some successes. You will also get some musicians claiming they’re a “professional” musician when they only know 3 chords and playing shitty gigs.
The Hard Partier: You will meet plenty of musicians who are into it for the hard partying so watch out for that. There will be a lot of heavy drinking and maybe even hard drugs involved too.
The obsessed self-promotion musician: These are the musicians who will be obsessed with promoting themselves and their band. There will be some who will over do it so much. Always sending you show invites, ramming show advertisements in your face and blah blah blah. You get the deal. You don’t need to promote yourself too much.
The only do it for the money musician: You will meet some musicians who are into it for the money alone and that’s it. They’ll only want to play music for the money. Meaning they don’t do free gigs… always wanting to get paid for it. Some like to see music as a “make a living” kind of thing… ya know, kind of like a job. Money is the only thing they think about so just be aware of that too.
The Mr. Perfectionist Musician: Everything to them has got to be so perfect… whether it’s their playing or the way they record their albums. Everything’s got to be spot on. There will be demanding musicians out there like this so watch out for them.
The fund my album/fund my tour musician: These are the ones who are begging their fan base to fund their albums and even tours. I’ve never been a big fan of crowdfunding for projects if other people wanna do it so be it. Not my thing.
The not care about their fans musician: Unfortunately you will see some of these. Not all musicians and bands care for their fans. Many will be into music for themselves. Some don’t care to interact with their fan base online and even at the gigs. It’s worse at the gigs, though. Some bands don’t use their shows to hang out with fans at all. They just hang out in the back or leave right after their gig.
The lazy promoter: You will see a lot of these. Bands and musicians not doing shit to promote their music or live shows. They mostly rely on social networking and doing nothing outside of that.
Local bands & solo artists with a manager: In my opinion, you don’t need a manager when you’re just a local musician but some of them will have managers. I just don’t get it but if they want to have one so be it.
The play dress up for your live shows musician: Some bands and artists take their shows so seriously. They’re not fashion shows. What’s wrong with just wearing jeans and t-shirt on stage?
Musicians who think they are comedians: You will see some musicians who try so hard to make people laugh and that’s all they do.
That cute couple who plays in the same band or in a acoustic duo together: You will always see couple musicians out there. This happens all over the place.
The always hope to play in front of huge crowds guy: There will always be musicians hoping to play in front of huge crowds at their gigs when they shouldn’t worry about that. Big crowd? Small crowd? Who cares! Just give the show your best shot either way!
The very talkative musician: There will always be a musician out there who just won’t stop talking. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy talkative people but when they go on and on and on and on… ugggghhhhh… that can get annoying after a while.
The quiet musician, the one who always keep to him or herself: You will see some shy ones out there too like myself. I’m guilty of being the quiet one ’cause that’s who I am.
The musician who plays on stage like a zombie, always looking bored: Just standing there playing their instrument looking bored. Not smiling, not dancing or moving around on stage. You will see some of these.
The musician who has way too much fun on stage: You will see some musicians on stage who looks to be having too much fun. Running around back and forth on stage, doing stunts like jumping in the air, climbing on equipment, smiling throughout the whole show, etc. I can go on.
The musician who is extremely talented but he/she doesn’t think so: You will see musicians who are very talented at what they do but they don’t think so. They don’t like compliments and they are very humble people. They just do their thing.
The take a girl home after a show to get laid musician: There is rock n’ roll and drugs in music but there will be sex too. Just ask the band Kiss, they’ve been there.
The nervous performer: You will see some musicians on stage who are not all the way confident and they look nervous performing. Maybe that is why some of them play like a zombie, ya know?

I’ve dealt with musicians for many years; pretty much over a decade. I’ve dealt with musicians online and at the gigs. Too many local musicians out there have really douchey attitudes. Many are full of themselves, ego-driven, self-absorbed, naive and delusional. Always pretending to be something that they’re not. It is hard to make friends with other musicians nowadays, ya know?
It seems to me nowadays that in order to win respect with another musician is that you got to kiss his or her’s ass most of the time. Meaning that you have to respect their talent and respect them as a person. If you give them any kind of criticism, disagreements and all that stuff be ready for all kinds of backstabbing, betrayals and all kinds of drama. Like I said before, all musicians are different… they all have different attitudes and different personalities. Some are gonna be really nice and some are gonna be arrogant jerks.

I learned over the years that you can’t trust anybody in the musicians community. There will also be many that will pretend to like you but deep down inside, they can’t stand you. Whenever I talk about musicians with douchey attitudes, most don’t believe me most of the time. Most would point the blame on me is why they all act this way. There’s a lot of musicians out there with negative attitudes. I can easily sit here and name a bunch of names all I want but I’m not going to do that and won’t name any names.
No doubt that musicians are really sensitive and dense people. They get upset and angry over stupid things. It seems to me though that musicians with douchey attitudes has become more accepted nowadays. If you don’t act like a rock star and act like a douchey person then you probably won’t be accepted in the music community. That’s how cliquey it’s become lately.
The thing is there are too many musicians out there that think they are talented and just ’cause they play in a band and had some successes, they want to feel more important than you. That’s why a lot of them feel more superior than you… they obsess with their own self-importance. No doubt there’s a lot of narcissists and primadonnas in the local music community for sure, again not naming names.
I’ve had many musicians over the years supported me in the beginning but stabbed me in the back later and then I never hear from them again. That’s just life and that’s how crazy the musicians community can be. The musicians community is not always fun, there’s always going to be ups and downs. Watch who you trust ’cause not everybody is your friend around here.

In the past, I used to network in the musicians community and used to like meeting them. I still do like to meet local musicians but I’m gonna watch who I trust this time and be more careful. I learned that you should only support the musicians who truly believe in you and yes, I still do have some wonderful musicians who still has my back to this day. I’ve had a lot of musicians come and go in my life, lol… it just happens.
Anyhow, I’ve had many musicians who claimed to be supportive of my music over the years and then they became backstabbers later on. If you’re a backstabber then they weren’t true supporters to begin with and I’m fine with that. A loyal supporter wouldn’t stab you in the back at all and would always support you no matter what.
The musicians community is crazy especially in London. Yeah, nobody believes me and thinks I’m full of shit most of the time but I just tell things like it is. Tell things as I see it. The problem is many musicians around here think they’re rock stars and that explains why a lot of them have a douchey attitude most of the time. Many just don’t know how to leave their ego at the door which to me is sad.
I learned that when you want to play music, play in a band or solo acoustic or whatever… you leave your ego at the door. Don’t act like you’re better than everybody else ’cause you’re a musician. Yeah, you maybe a talented person musically but that doesn’t mean you have to act like a big shot about it. To me, musicians with a rock star attitude is a turn off and those are the kind of musicians I want to stay away from.