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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.

I was thinking why are the band so far from the drumkit...

Last night was a joint 60th and 40th birthday, but in an open pub. This is about the smallest place we play, crammed into the corner. I always prefer to have my amp on the floor, but had to put it up on the seat for this one. Our regular drummer is still down with bronchitis, so the seat was filled by Rob Hewins, a musician I really admire - he did a great job drumming, filling in harmonies and taking the lead vox in a couple of songs. He's a pretty mean guitarist too! As usual the place was rammed, so I hovered in that thin line between having my teeth knocked out by the crowd knocking my mic stand and being stung in the back by a cymbal crash 😂 Sire P7-5, GT-6B, Rumble 500, burgundy suede Vans

Also - bonus video! Pittendrum-end-trimmed.mp4

What a cracking gig last night. Played with Nine Lives in a wee pub in a wee village (specifcally the Pittendrum Bar in Sandhaven - a small village just along the North Sea coast from Fraserburgh). Funnily enough, we had played in this village a few years back, in their village hall on Hogmanay just before the COVID hit (so 2019, I guess? The "before times"). One of the advantages of playing a small place is that you don't need many folk as long as they're up for a dance or a singalong. There were 20ish folk in but they were a musically omnivorous bunch and seemed to be up for just about anything, which makes our job a bit easier. Anyway, long story short, we had folk up dancing to most of the songs, and a few head bobbers at the bar, so can't really ask for more than that. The pub said that they want to book us again, so that's what you want to hear. Easy load in/out - side door onto the street right next to where we're playing. Really was a fantastic wee gig. Gear was my "cheap night out" basses - Gear4Music bass with Lace Aluma-P then Epiphone Em-bassy with Entwistle PBXN Neodymium, into the usual Markbass modular nonsense. Also because yesterday was May 4th, I geeked out a little. R2-Neep2?