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Yesterday I watched using The Big Stereo at A Reasonable Volume... English teacher I found alternately excellent and deeply annoying. My Mrs likes 'em more than me, I feel! Loved Gary Numan - serious bass sounds! If only he'd played It Must Have Been Years... Enjoyed Fat Dog with their Klezmer-tinged punky stuff - singer very shouty and looks like James Acaster dressed up as the Man From Delmonte. Shame the bass level wasn't upped till halfway through. Briefly watched Haim for a look at The Bass Face but found it all rather too cheesey and wet. Liked The Ezras, though I prefer max rather than min funkin'! Unfortunately, missed Big Bad Bobs Vylan - nice to see the boys still causing trouble! I wonder if the Beeb will put his show up for our viewing pleasure? 😁

What Sandberg are you using. ? When i had a MB 112 combo with 112 ext cab i found i struggled to get a decent on stage sound or even hear myself but when i moved out front for sound check it was a great sound. That was using a Jazz bass back then. I've had that issue with other rigs while using a Jazz bass to be fair. I find my J basses have a sweet spot for their tone that just works but if i tweak the tone away from it i get lost in the mix. Dave

Do you think we go into auto-pilot and when one person starts to drift it kind of throws the rest of us because we weren't expecting it at that point in the show. ? Just a thought. Dave

Just while we're on the subject of Living Colour, are many/any of you aware about the version of Stain with the alternative guitar solos? The original US CD (catalogue# EK52780) was issued in two versions, one of which was very limited and contained totally different guitar work on Ignorance Is Bliss, Leave It Alone and Bi. There's no discernable visible difference in the CDs, just the content thereon. You got lucky or you didn't. I was a huge fan of Living Colour from the outset and bought a copy of Stain when I was in America; there was a bit of a WTAF? moment when realisation struck that the versions were different. Interesting stuff.

Ani DiFranco tonight at Cardiff New Theatre, I have been a fan since the first album over twenty five years ago. Really looking forward to it, although sad act that I am, I am going on my own as no one else I know likes her enough to come along.

Me too. I like Doug Wimbish, but just felt Living Colour were more, umm, colourful when Muzz was in the band. They just seemed a more happier/fun unit with Muzz; when Doug came in, things just got a bit darker and moodier.

Last nights gig was delayed due to a game of football so we didn't start until 9:45. We sat in an empty room until the match finished where about a dozen or so came in from the bar area. The few that were there enjoyed it, pretty drunk by then I'd guess, singer dose not drive to gigs so he was well oiled too. But he dose a great job engaging with them and will take himself and his radio mic over to them and get them involved. He was loving it, I hated every moment. I struggled with the drummer who was all over the place and a guitarist who I'm sure was at another gig. I made plenty of mistakes too it must be said but it's hard not to under the circumstances. I used a 1x12 Markbass combo on its own and it preformed brilliantly with plenty of power but I was unhappy with my Sandberg as I just couldn't get the right sound out of it, great in some areas and completely lost in others so need to do some work with that. So a successful gig according to the singer and the venue who have rebooked us but from my point of view, effin' awful! But both myself and the guitarist agree that a lot of work needs doing and this shambles has to improve.

Oddly, where we were sitting, his bass sounded sh*t, almost like there was something wrong with it whenever he went high up the neck! But other than that - excellent gig, probably one of, if not the, best IM shows I’ve seen. Thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it, except the heat 😆

The truth of it, and nicely put

Skipping - Eddie Vedder

Jump Around - House of Pain

Thanks everyone for the advice, it's much appreciated 👍 Basschat to the rescue yet again. Looking forward to trying the Microtubes 500 out properly next rehearsal 😎

Wishin and Hoppin. Dusty

We had a funny/odd moment on stage last night. It’s a well played in show where everyone knows their parts and suddenly, towards then end of a song, we sort of found ourselves drifting. All of us… we were somehow off track, simultaneously falling asleep at the wheel and none us knew how it happened. When we came off stage, I asked what was up, fearing it was me, but everyone else had the same experience, thinking it had been them, in a sort of “I am Spartacus… no, I am Spartacus!” moment. 11 people, all inexplicably lost. Fortunately, our singer who is an absolute machine in moments like that, managed to guide us to a slightly bumpy landing. How bizarre - no clue what happened.

One Step Ahead - Split Enz

Now My Feet Won’t Touch The Ground - Coldplay

No, I think it's exaggeration, like, literally the worst thing in history ever.

There was some in PMT that were clearly made differently a few years back.

There’s an alternate arrangement of Love Rears Its Ugly Head on Stain, that I think I prefer to the arrangement from Time’s Up. But they’re both fantastic. Stain is a ridiculously good album, and as a statement of intent from Doug Wimbish about what he intended to do in the band, it’s spectacular. The greasy fretless on Nothingness, the whammy-and-delay goodness of Wall, the deep groove of Leave It Alone, the angular heaviness of Auslander… Doug is peerless at what he does.

Yes, I know exactly what I'm doing, I think... I'm a bit uncertain about what you think I'm doing, though, or why you think I should be pulled up on it. Anyhow, I've enjoyed some good Glasto today, and I hope everyone else has too. Like I said before, if the bands are good then fair enough, and if they're bad then even better. It would've been exciting if they had shown Kneecap live, but that's a bit too much to expect from the dullards currently running the BBC, who stand by their arcane principals until someone comes along and claims to be offended. And as we all know nowadays, offending someone is the worst thing to do.

It's like some people just don't get it. If you don't do something to create a bit of a vibe then a venue will stagnate and die. Then they will be out of a job. Miserable, undeserving, a-holes! We had quite the opposite tonight when the lady that booked us brought us the money at the end of the night and told us we were on more money next time! We didn't ask for more - it was thrust upon us. The place had been redecorated since last time we played - they are investing and it seems to be thriving. Anyway... Conservative clubs. A few years ago it was jacket and tie. Ladies might even bring along their silver shoes for a bit of ballroom dancing. Woe be tied to anyone who sat in someone else's regular seat. Well that was back in the 80s. I'm glad to say the political party clubs that have survived have needed to adapt, modernise and be appealing, especially to a younger crowd. Hence we were playing at the "Conny" club tonight, lots of younger people there. I think we pulled in probably 40% of the crowd. 20 years of playing together and making sure you post gigs up on Facebook pays off, as well as plugging the QR code that I created. It certainly helps us get rebooked. I forgot to take any photos. You've seen it before though if you've read my previous posts. "Stingish" bass, GT-6B, Fender Rumble v3 500, purple suede Gazelles. I wasn't sure if I liked our sound at first. It grew on me though as we knitted together (and got slightly louder/hit a nice balance). The recent decor has changed the sound of the room, but probably for the better. I just hope the loos are next on their list for some attention as they could do with it