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They do because the bass riff was edges, and Adam had walked out of recording as he didn’t like the song.

SATURDAY NIGHT! (I know that's not last night) Depping with Manchester Ska Foundation at The Empire in Rochdale. I play with them about once or twice a year, but hadn't for a while so I was looking forward to it. I love playing with these guys as the gigs are always good and they're all cracking musicicans - I really have to raise my game! Early get there (6:45), I had to drive down actual cobbled streets to get to the venue which my crappy Hyundai i10 wasn't happy about! Bit of waiting around as the sound engineers were covering for the usual guy, so there was some confusement about channels, stage boxes, phantom power and such and such... All setup evetually, soundcheck all normal then lots more waiting round as we weren't on until 9:30. (I popped over the road to see the Town Hall, which is "widely recognised as being one of the finest municipal buildings in the country" apparently. It is rather grand.) The place was pretty full when we went on for the first set - a decent mix of people who'd come to see us and random Rochdalians (Rochdalers?) who were in there anyway. We cracked through the first set and sounded great. Highlights were 'My Girl Lollipop' which I absolutely LOVE playing and 'Ghost Town' (one of my favourite songs EVER), especially the trombone solo... Goodness Gracious, that girl can play! Oh, and 'Nite Klub' (Bass Solo!) which I did well on - I got a 👌 from the Sax player after my solo, which I was happy about! 'Hands Off, She's Mine' (The Beat) was a new one for me but I did pretty well (It's pretty straightforward to be fair) I'd done my homework so I was happy with my playing, right up until I completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) buggered up the 'coming back into the slow bit' bit in 'Special Brew'... I wanted the stage to open and swallow me up. I apologised profusely to the band at half time, they laughed and said "You did it better than Al (the usual Bass player) normally does" and blamed the drummer, so no harm done. Quick Lime & Soda and (Strawberry Jam Firerose) vape break and back on for the second set. The place had filled up nicely and the crowd were loving it. Second set highlights were 'House of Fun' (RELENTLESS Bassline! Lots of fun!), 'Too Much Too Young' which is a blast to play, 'Message to Rudy' (there's about four notes in it, so I just went on autopilot and enjoyed myself), 'Our House/Wings of a Dove' Mashup which is pretty complicated (all modesty aside... I'd put a lot of work into that, so I smashed it) and 'One Step Beyond' which always goes down a treat (except I forgot about the 'Swan Lake' keyboard solo in the middle and had to busk it (badly)... cue more laughter from the rest of the band and an amused 'Gotcha!' look from the keys player). We end with 'Night Boat to Cairo' and everyone gets a solo... my solo was... perfunctory at best... (It's over F and Eb minor... can't get my head round it!) but it went down well enough. The band were grateful for me stepping in and I feel lucky to play with them, so everyone was happy. Decent payer, quick packup as we didn't have to take down the PA, twenty minutes back to my dear old Ma's place for a bottle of Henry Weston's Signature Vintage (6.8% ABV). Played the StingRay (I'd taken the P as well, but... couldn't resist the 'Ray) -> Small board (I only used the chorus for the 'Nite Klub' solo) -> 'secret weapons' board (Thumpinator -> VTDI) -> MarkBass 802 -> PA. Shoes were the Black and white leopard print Converse (Peach Pink sparkle don't really go with the whole 'Two Tone' vibe...). An absolutely fantastic night all round. Apart from 'Special Brew'.

Did we have 'OMG!' in the change one letter section? Anyway, it fits here!

Everything but the young person Turkish Barber 100

He had such a great tone with his Alembics but that Status through a flanger and distortion? Ugh! What a mess.

I recognise this feeling so much. I've played a lot of jam nights in the last 2-3 years, and they can be just like that. One particularly rough pub in Reading yielded occasional moments of inspired stuff, truly eclectic song choices and some hair on the back of the neck moments. Random people telling you they love the bass and normally it doesn't get a chance to shine - when I hear that, I just know someone really heard what I was doing. That's when the house band fee feels like it's worth the candle. I hope you get that feeling as often as possible - it's the feeling of having actually entertained someone. 🙂

Cheers for this. Just ordered. 👍

Not in a pub. Trying to get everything as loud as a drummer who is trying to fill the pub will always lead to feedback and the rest of the band not being able to balance their sound and/or hear each other. Get the vocal mic level right first. That's just a case of ringing it out and finding the feedback point.

I’ve signed up to hearthis.at & it’s just what I need. It’s like Soundcloud used to be. Looks very similar, it’s easy to use & the free version has an upload limit of about 50 songs. Perfect for hosting to share, like sending song links to people or posting in the Basschat compo compo. When I get more time, I’ll have a look at the other options too.

Roger Daltrey in Manchester last night. A voice I've known since I was 10 and all of the characteristics and timbre remain intact. An extraordinary vocal performance, and not just in view of age. An outrageously talented nine-piece band including some big names. Roger moaned about his IEMs for most of the performance, though that seems par. Probably a gig for Who and Daltrey stalwarts but a superb two-hour set that covered a lot of ground with some excellent variations on classic and less well-known tracks. A highly appreciative audience too, and the band and Roger appeared to be genuinely happy throughout. Excellent mix overall - I was directly in-front of the desk. Acoustic instruments - and there were many of them - were handled beautifully. As one might imagine, the only flabby, mushy, indistinct mess was the bass. No note definition at all. A P employed throughout with no visible bass amp. A very good player I'd assume (given the overall class of the band) but impossible to tell.

I play with a couple of bands whose guitarists are stone deaf. They can still play but it depends on the day whether they can play with other players.

The O'Kays. The Brotherhood of Dan. Go Pest. The Wee Gees.

Drummers smell funny, innit? (Joking, Chris, love ya!)

Funnily enough I did have it as MP3 on my computer years ago, but I don't have it now. I hadn't listened to it in a couple of years, and now minus the MP3's, I had to listen to it on YouTube just the other week. It's an absolutely amazing record, with 'Suntan' being the highlight for me. The love trio record is also incredible.