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So how do you decide which gigs to go to? This is not an attack, as someone who has been an avid gig goer and seeker of new music for the past 45 years I am genuinely interested. I told you my method in the post you quoted. I still get to see loads of bands live although these days it is mostly bands who happen to be playing on the same bill as mine.

When sampling first hit I was studying an HND in Electronic Music Technology. We had one of the first Fairlights in the UK, in fact I think we had ours ahead of Trevor Horne (who was based just around the corner at the time). What did we use that powerful new technology for, playing the national anthem in harmonised dog barks was one of the extraordinarily creative outputs I remember. The first wave of any new technology can be pretty awful, AI will settle down as did sampling

Highlighted in bold. This was discussed yesterday.

Quick q for anyone who has had this done... I am considering buying a very beaten up vintage bass. At some point in the past someone has done a very bad defret. I think the board is unusable and would want it removing and replacing with a nice slab of unlined ebony or wenge. How much would I be spending on an operation like that, ballpark, please? And are there any recommendations? I have emailed Shuker but expect he's a very busy chap, any other recommendations gratefully received. Thank you

I'm sure there are loads of 'it depends if...' there, but very interesting observation 👍

Please show me a comment I've made telling someone they're "wrong".

Yes true but ultimately it is pointless going all Don Quixote. This technology is out in the wild. Some of it is useful, some of it is deeply destructive. Ultimately we can only learn to use it and make our own decisions about what elements to embrace and what elements to resist. In the same way I never gave Cowell a penny of my money or willingly watched any of his abysmal TV shows I will avoid AI generated music. I have to let other people make their own decisions about it though.

But does it? In the 80s SAW did everything in house and most of the artists they produced were signed to their PWL label. These days I suspect most of the money goes to Max Martin or one of his associates.

Have listened to this album almost non-stop. Great tracks, I wish I could play like that!!!

All I'd say against the BTB as I remember it is that whilst not outright uncomfortable, and certainly not for the reason which forms the basis of this thread, I personally didn't find it an ergonomically optimal experience overall. The body is not insubstantial, the scale length is longer than average, the string spacing and neck dimensions aren't compact; I'm 6'4 and was a well covered early-twentysomething at the time I owned mine, and even with build and youth on my side I found them a bit of a lump to wield. I wonder whether the more mixed reactions are potentially explained by how people of different builds end up holding something which they aren't all finding similarly forgiving. I've owned a fair few SRs and can't imagine them presenting the same disparity of experience.

That's increasingly not the case Steve, much of it is done in the box in offices. The digital voice processing tools these days mean that you can record a voice in a kitchen and it can be made passable. To a degree it makes music production more democratic and accessible which is a good thing, but there are negatives

I think maybe because you expressed the opinion that all who use streaming services are bad, you've raised the question of how to find new music without using them. Maybe you don't listen to new music, nowt wrong with that.

At least with the formulaic pop music made by humans, it keeps recording studios, producers and session musicians in work.

In those days I would go and see bands I had heard and liked on John Peel's Radio One program, or someone who looked interesting in the music press (mostly NME and Zigzag) or even a local band that had an eye-catching poster. Most of the bands I heard on Peel lived up to their recorded promise at gigs, the others were a mixed bunch, some excellent, many terrible. The great gigs made it all worthwhile. These days none of those things really exist. What is left of the music press on-line is depressingly mainstream, there are no radio shows as eclectic as Peel's, and hardly anyone puts up posters for gigs and those that do are mostly dull. The internet has given us access to bands from all over the world and that is both its strength and its weakness. I get to hear loads of interesting new bands but lots of them are not from the UK and are unlikely to be playing here any time soon. I could order a CD or record from one of these bands and hope that it reaches me in an undamaged state, but with the current postage situation regarding UK and US in particular, this is becoming more and more difficult. From the other side of the transaction, I have had to stop selling physical copies of one of my previous band's back catalogue to addresses outside of the UK, because for the last 5 years not one has reached its destination and those that did eventually get returned were no longer in a condition here they could be resold. In these cases streaming whether it be Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube is the only way of being able to hear these bands. Each stream may not add up to much but at least the money will eventually reach the band. If I buy a CD the chances are that there is no profit to be made once international postage and Bandcamp have taken their cuts. And so I ask again how do you discover new bands?

when it’s relevant to a the discussion at hand I am. Otherwise I have limited interest. You rarely seem to have anything to add other than to tell everybody else that they are wrong.

Not sure why you're so bothered with how I spend my time and what I do?