Leaderboard

In late 2011, Prince Rogers Nelson walked into Capitol Guitars, a modest music store in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dressed in dark shades and an overcoat, he browsed quietly, barely speaking. The staff recognized him instantly but chose to respect his silence. He pointed at a few guitars, asked about the tonal difference between maple and mahogany, and then paused when the owner mentioned a recent conversation with a local teacher. The teacher had said that students at Anwatin Middle School in Minneapolis were losing access to their music program due to severe budget cuts. Prince nodded slightly and left without purchasing anything. Three days later, a delivery truck arrived at Capitol Guitars. Prince had returned but not to shop. Instead, he gave the owner a handwritten list and a simple instruction: “Everything on this list, pack it and deliver it to Anwatin.” The list included guitars, drum sets, violins, keyboards, amps, microphones, and recording equipment. When the owner asked if the instruments should be marked with a donor name or message, Prince replied, “No names. No credit. Just send love.” The delivery created confusion at the school. Teachers and administrators at Anwatin Middle School had no advance notice, and the delivery slip listed only a phone number that led to a private voicemail. Music teacher Kenneth Simms opened the shipment, stunned by the quality and quantity of the instruments. He assumed it was a mistake. It took several days of asking around and comparing handwriting on the note that came with the shipment before a staff member connected it to Prince, who had visited the store days earlier. When a friend later asked him about it, Prince said, “That’s between me and the kids. Not for headlines.” He declined to make any public statement or appear at the school. According to Minneapolis-based journalist Jon Bream from "Star Tribune", even the school district wasn’t formally notified. They only learned about the donor’s identity after teachers pieced the story together. Those close to Prince knew his silent generosity wasn’t a one-time impulse. During his early years growing up on the north side of Minneapolis, he often spoke about the importance of music education. His mother, Mattie Shaw, was a jazz singer and heavily involved in the local music scene. Prince once said in a 1999 interview with "Ebony", “If I hadn’t had access to a piano when I was seven, I don’t know who I would’ve become. Music wasn’t a hobby, it was a lifeline.” Former bandmate Sheila E. recalled in her 2014 memoir "The Beat of My Own Drum" how Prince frequently funded youth centers and music camps without telling anyone. “He believed in giving kids a chance to create,” she wrote. “He didn’t want applause. He wanted them to play.” At Anwatin, the new instruments transformed the energy of the school. Simms recalled how students began coming to class early just to practice. A hallway that once echoed with silence after the final bell now hummed with guitar riffs, drumbeats, and laughter. “We didn’t just get instruments,” Simms told "MinnPost" in 2012, “we got hope.” Store owner Alan Geller, who kept the receipt from Prince’s bulk order tucked in his office drawer, shared later that the musician didn’t even ask for a discount. “He said, ‘Charge full price. They deserve the best.’” For Prince, who had often used his wealth to quietly support causes tied to youth empowerment, the act wasn’t about visibility. His friend Van Jones later commented during an interview with "CNN", “He believed that if you help a kid find their rhythm, they might avoid chaos. He never needed a stage for that.” The donation never became a national headline. There were no photo ops or ceremonies. But in a city where music had once saved a young boy from the streets, it was returned, quietly, to the next generation. Prince gave them music when theirs had been taken away and never asked for anything in return.

Pictures say all that needs to be said, it's taken me a while to get here, but I suspect that of all the fretless Precisions I've owned (P, PJ, PP, PM) and all of the board materials I've used with them - rosewood, ebony, maple, graphite - this is by a long way the sweetest. Classic Vibe body, PUP, and circuit (the PUP as I'd been told would be the case, is very very good indeed), paired with a stunning Warmoth neck. First rehearsal tonight

A bitter / sweet gig this one (Chateauroux in France) 18 original compositions from a good friend who's now sadly very limited with regards to time left. 10 pce band and I only know one of them, two days of rehearsal, live recording third day and public concert on the last night. Quite an honour to be asked to provide the low end. Fingers crossed I don't mess up🤣

NOT LAST NIGHT! I played a gig at the O2 Ritz in Manchester (My old stomping ground) a few weeks ago with The Groove Chorus - a 40 odd piece choir playing fun/funky/cheesy/disco/pop stuff. I used to go clubbing at The Ritz when I was a kid (Monday night Alternative (Goth) night and Wednesday night student (Indie) night) and I've seen loads of big gigs here (Including Chas & Dave!) so... this was a big deal for me! It was a long day, got there about 1 for setup, tech sortouts etc then a full run through... knackering but good fun! Eight piece band including a four piece horn section - we had a monitor engineer which hasn't happened to me for a long time. The MD, guitarist and drummer were guys I've worked with before and not seen for ages, which was nice; the keyboard player was a great bloke and really good laugh - it's always nice to meet someone who hasn't heard any of my jokes. The dress code was 'Denim on Denim on Denim' (NO black clothes allowed!) so I had to buy a pair of blue denim jeans - I don't own that many clothes that aren't black... It was as camp as a row of pink tents (at christmas) - we did 'I Will Survive'... how camp do you want it?! The gig was FANTASTIC - the place was packed, the choir sounded brilliant, the crowd loved it, the band were great, I played pretty well... a great night all round. Certainly the biggest gig I've played for a while. The organisers (and the rest of the band) said some nice things about my playing, which was gratifying and I've since been asked to play the next one, so... a good nights work! (Decent payer as well) Highlight was probably 'Groove is in the heart' - who wouldn't want to play 'that' riff through an ENORMOUS PA while hundreds of people dance to it?! Played the StingRay -> Secret Weapons board (Thumpinator ->VTDI) -> MB802 -> ENORMOUS PA Shoes were peach pink sparkle Converse (not pictured) Video- https://www.facebook.com/reel/1005081587691904

I was in Glasgow this weekend, and as is customary a trip to the various guitar shops was in order. First visit was Merchant City Music. I'm OK with my Reverend Triad, but I gave a Squier Rascal a go. I'm not generally a fan of short scales, but the Rascal wasn't awful. What helps it is the geometry - the bridge being away from the body edge by a few inches moves fret 1 more into the position where I would expect it. But sonically I'm still not convinced that the Wide Range humbuckers are the pickups for me. Anyhoo, on to Guitarguitar. Tried a couple of Ashdowns - they were OK but the one with the single, central humbucker was a bit woofy sounding for my liking, and the bridge pickup on the PJ one was so noisy, it really put me off. Nice feeling necks, interesting looks, but again wasn't doing it for the old lugholes. Then I spotted a second hand bass on the wall, an example of which I had previously owned and sold, but in a more interesting finish than the one I had (which was white with plain black pickguard). I guess because G&L seem to be off the radar of most folk at the moment it was priced very keenly. In almost as new condition - the film hadn't been taken off the pickguard - the only blemish is a small finish chip at the bottom/back of the body. A quick razz with it, nostalgia kicked in and I caved. Does anyone like these shaggy dog stories? Or do you just want the pics? You know the drill with these - Split and single MFDs, two volume controls, that's it. I'm very happy to have an SB-2 again, that'll hopefully stave off any thoughts of getting an SB-1... Guess I should really sell something now

As part of Record Store Day, I played a church in my hometown. Not only did it mark 12 months of me being alcohol free but it marked the first time I played a venue that my Dad had played. No, we're not religious but it amazes me that in 37yrs of playing, it hasn't happened already. I had friends come over from Wales and down from Yorkshire and we were on it throughout. The playback confirmed it. It was promoting my friend Rich Davies and his band The Dissidents. Got to use my Blackstar head and cab with my trusty Ric 4003s. It sounded immense.

Two gigs for me last weekend. First was with the blues band at a rather remote pub on the coast. Not as busy as last time we did it but still a small appreciative crowd. I made a classic schoolboy error of leaving home a bit late and grabbing a gig bag on the way out, only to discover I’d brought along the ‘wrong’ bass. Fortunately I also brought along my Dano Longhorn to show the guys, so ended up using that into the Rumble 500 and it sounded pretty damned good. Haven’t used it for a while, so a nice reminder of how it will always be a keeper. (see pic). Then Sunday I was with the duo at our regular venue in Scarborough, ‘The Lookout on the Pier’. A full house as per usual and some interesting requests, including ‘A certain smile’ ( for the owner Jill ), ‘Africa’ and ‘An Englishman in New York’ with the crazy walking bit in the middle which is OLF. Encore of ‘Eight days a week’ which is a cracking tune as well. We’re there again in May and it’s always a pleasure.

I did a little jam session thing yesterday, second gig in three years and I had no amp so went through the pa and sounded dreadful. There were poets and the usual string of lunatics but watching the tiny crowd watching enjoying themselves was life affirming and I realised that life is not about how I experience things but how WE do so. For that reason, it was a triumph. One lady who was celebrating her 70th birthday yesterday sidled up to me and said she had been volunteering at Rock Festivals for decades and had never heard anyone play bass like I did. She said, '...but I got it. I really did'. Made my little day. 😊

This has been on the cards pretty much since I first discovered ACG 11 odd years ago. It was @eude’s Finn 4 which first drew me to @skelf’s basses and very soon after that I saw a Holly-topped Finn. I’ve been hooked since the first bass I bought, and for a long time had a Holly-topped Finn in my wishlist. It almost became a reality about 5 years ago but I never got beyond the “annoying Alan” phase. Fast forward to last year, an ebony Finn which Alan shared on socials made me hatch a cunning plan for a yin/yang pair of basses - one holly, one ebony. Specs were developed, plans were hatched, then I had to be sensible and drop one of the two. Naturally I kept the holly plan as it has been on the list since day one, and the shape changed from Finn to RetroB. Thus this spec was born and a deposit was paid last July. Today the 5 string bass of my dreams was delivered. She sounds as good as she looks, and I’m over the moon 😎 So, the specs: Limba body, bloodwood accent, holly top 3pc Ash neck with ultra slim profile, ebony fingerboard with bloodwood blocks, 30” radius 3+2 headstock with holly facing and limba rear veneer 50mm RFB in bridge, 50mm OPB in neck Passive vol/tone/blend with coil select switch for RFB Black hardware 17mm bridge spacing (Hipshot A) Gotoh resolute tuners Honestly couldn’t be happier at this point, I am looking forward to getting her out in the wild with Katy Hurt next month 🤠 First 3 pics are from my “unboxing”, the rest are Alan’s:

My old band Knock Off have decided to part ways with their bassist so have asked me to help them out until they get a permanent replacement. Am looking forward to it, though coaxing that old aggressive sound out is a challenge as now playing Fender JMJ Mustangs rather than Precisions for my backs sake, plus my hands can’t take that battering playing style anymore, am sure I’ll find a way though. Some good gigs lined up (Cocksparrer on May 31st in Islington being the first one up) and will be nice to catch up with a lot of people I’ve not seen since I left at end of 2019.

Hi folks Just wanted to share the joy of this exceptional ACG bass handmade by Alan Cringean. I picked this up from Alan yesterday and it’s absolutely stunning. This particular model is a prototype and I’m sure Alan would be more than happy to build another if this is ur thing. From top to bottom the quality of the build is fantastic. The way Alan shapes his necks are always super comfortable to play and this is no exception. It balances perfectly either seated or on a strap. I’m really into filter preamps now and this one is fitted with the ACG EQ 01 by John East. Fine tuning your tone is excellent with the EQ01. Like every ACG I have played ( I have nine!) the quality, the workmanship and the versatility is in abundance. If you’re looking for a custom build at the highest level then speak to Alan. He’s an amazing luthier as well as a thoroughly nice chap. Specs down below. Cheers Stuart Body Olive Top Wood Purpleheart Accent Veneer Alder Body Neck Acrylic Impregnated Birdseye Maple Fingerboard 5 Piece Ash/Purpleheart Neck Luminlay Side Dots Details Set-neck Construction 33″ Scale Length 24 Frets 5 String 45mm Nut Width Satin Lacquer Finish Electronics ACG RFB bridge pickup and ACG FB neck pickup East Uni-Pre 4K Preamp Hardware Hipshot B Type Bridge Gotoh GB350 Resolite Tuners Black Hardware Dunlop Dual Design Straplocks ACG/Newtone Custom Strings

Another Eagles tribute show in Hexham, Northumberland. Nice to have a monitor after persevering with IEMs at the last gig. Old school, but.. I prefer it. Also used my new Jazz for a bit. It's lovely, but I’m not sure stacked knobs - or white - is for me. We'll see. Next stop... Rotherham!

A bass t shirt. Apparently.

Annual Otis Jay Blues Band show at the local Forest Arts Centre, New Milton. Sold 100/130 tickets for a three-band bill - all good clean fun and a joining-in audience to boot. Great to have pro sound and lights. Sandberg VM4, GK MB200 through Barefaced Two10, DI’d of course.

I was delighted to play a charity fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Society in Salisbury at the weekend. Having lost my Mum to Alzheimer’s, it wasn’t one I had to think twice over! A great lineup of bands - 7 acts who for the most part all supported each other. It was a really friendly atmosphere and we played really well. Our mid placed billing was definitely the golden hour and it is absolutely a contender for my gig of the year, so far. We played electric, mostly original gothic tunes. Here’s a pic, courtesy of John Armstrong, of me heading up the dusty end to channel my inner Peter Hook.

Sunday evening gig in a local, with a new guitarist and new drummer. Slimmed down setlist, of which we’d only run through half together on Wednesday afternoon. Vocalist/guitarist and I have gigged together for the last eight years, so fit well together. Drummer and I gigged together for 12 years in the late 80’/90’s, he dep’d with us for one gig in 2022, so I trust him and he’s brilliant. New lead guitarist has some brilliant vocals, especially with the couple of Cult songs he’s brought, gigs with another Band and does his one man show too, so he’s fitted in well. New line up gives us four ( well three and me ) lead vocals and an awful lot of gigging experience. Cant help but think this might be the start of a good thing.

The Harley Motor gig was fantastic. I was extremely happy with my playing and performance. We were clicking on all 6 cylinders Daryl

Great gig. Packed it out, crowd loved it. First time I've played with a real Hammond master AND horns. Loved it. All originals, mixture of Blues, jazz, funk and a little rocky/pop.

Well… I love 51’/tele basses. Had a very nice custom shop “sting” and have had a MIJ reissue at some point. Saw this on a facebook page and just went for it. Thanks to @walshyfor doing the middleman bit. So spec is Fender neck - stripped, nitro refin guitarbuild ash body, nitro BSB fralin pickup Gotoh reverse machineheads bakelite pickguard bakelite saddles etc some posh pots and capacitors etc. Fender covers all slot-head screws as per early 51’s needs some tweaks to suit, but it’s ace. slightly heavy at 10.5lbs…but it’s a resonant chunk.

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'.

Queer punk gig last night in Edinburgh's Wee Red Bar with two other punk bands. Great atmos, plenty of people dancing, including one of my students from this Girls Rock School term. It was the first chance I'd had to make full use of my wireless rig - at its previous gig, I'd been literally backed into a corner at the Reivers Sports Bar in Galashiels with the 80s band. The stage is tiny and surrounded by railings, which meant that getting a six-piece band on was a very tight squeeze and once the bass player's on, she's staying there. But last night, I was able to wander out front and dance along with the audience. Big grins all round. We premiered a new song, too! And to cap it off, the headline band invited us over to Belfast. World tour! 😅 I took my trusty Sterling Stingray along and it acquitted itself very well through the venue's Peavey backline (I don't know the model - it was a combo with "Peavey' on the front) although it didn't have the clout that it does through my Eden rig. I had been thinking about adding my new sfx Thumpinator to my pedalboard, but then I remembered that fiddling with one's pedalboard just before a gig is officially Asking For It. I had a play with it today and it seems to work best when placed just after the wireless receiver / tuner. Next step is to see how it sounds in the studio as opposed to through a wee practice amp. No pics yet, as we're still waiting for the photographer to provide them, but we had a great time!

Well I really didn't need another bass, I think having 7 after only playing for 12 months is probably a sign that I have fallen victim to GAS, but as a huge Guy Pratt fan I couldn't resist any longer and I have no regrets. There are lots of reviews saying how good, and what great value these basses are and I cant argue with any of them. Even with my limited experience, and even more limited ability I can say it is an absolute joy to play and the finish and the overall quality far exceed what I expected at this price.

Coincidentally my lot had a gig at the Newmarket Harley Davidson place yesterday. They hold a 'birthday party' every year and we are lucky enough to have been invited to provide the live music for the last three years. We played well and are appreciated there by an albeit quiet crowd who are pretty much focussed on the bike stuff. That is the last gig we have in the diary for this year. That's me on the left checking my phone. I took a brace of Gibson shorties - having tossed a coin mentally I used the Les Paul Jnr DC for the gig and an SG as backup - and was wearing Red Back boots. Drummer Joe's picture.

This stuff is all good fun but we’re ripping off the intellectual property of huge numbers of people doing this. ChatGPT aren’t paying to license this. Neither did they pay Studio Ghib for the manga stuff and a near limitless number of other things they’ve stolen. It’s fun and a I enjoy seeing the results, but ultimately, it’s theft, however the AI guys want to dress it up.

Played 2nd on the bill in a 4 band/artists gig in Alderbury (village close to Salisbury). It was a fundraiser for a Salisbury Live event in June called Picnic in the Park. It was a social club and a good mix of locals, band members, friends and family in there, pretty busy and a good atmosphere. Our drummer did his solo act before we went on, he sings and plays guitar in his own band. Our set went well, some of those that have seen us before said we get better every time they see us... I guess the songs are becoming more familiar 😂 I enjoyed the night, the last band played covers but threw in a few curve balls that I enjoyed (I am the resurrection, who covers that?! Brilliant!). For the shoe fetish crew - a pair of scruffy Lee Copper Converse fakes. Normally I wear my Airwalks but wanted a change. As an aside, my 87 yr old dad watched me lace up a shoe today and told me off. Apparently they taught him how to lace up his boots during National Service so that you could cut the laces with a knife easily and get your boots off quickly if you needed to...every day is a school day 😁

I think today’s the logical day for showing this one. May the 4th be with you, and all that! I’ve added a delay since last year and a more fully-featured drive pedal. The drone, a multi-chorus and a fuzz have made way. I’m happy with the functionality of what is essentially a novelty board though. In particular, the bass chorus and reverb both sound right up there with some of the best of that type of pedal.

The Hulla band played a 50th birthday party last night in what is becoming a regular venue for us in Port Eynon on Gower. We've played inside and outside the hall, in teepees and marquees there and, for the first gig I played with them, open air outside the fish and chip shop on the sea front back in 2022. That day we were paid in food. 😀 The stage was cramped but I wanted to play my new 5 string Ibanez. I was aware that it might not be possible without repeatedly stroking the guitarist's lower back with my headstock (not a euphemism) and took my headless shortscale Ibanez as an option. But I managed to find a little spot between drums, keys and guitarist that I was able to make my own. I had planned on using the onstage monitors rather than my in ears but the cramped conditions and proximity to the drums and the guitarist's amp meant that I ended up with the IEM. Our sound man had brought the PA subs and during the soundcheck my bass was booming away but once the hall filled up and he'd EQ'd properly, the sound was good. I kept the board to a minimum - Zoom MS60b giving me a noise gate, compressor and tuner and my Ampeg Classic preamp going into a DI box and into the desk. IEMs were through my Behringer P16 via Ultranet from the desk and a pair of KZ ZS10s earphones on which I've replaced the silicon buds with foam ones for much better isolation. Footwear of choice was the lace up black Skechers which have become an intergal part of my sound. This was my first gig playing a 5 string for several years and there were a few string faux pas but nothing the derailed the night and overall I was happy with my performance, and with the 5 string. I love the narrow string spacing and neck, which suits my hands perfectly. As usual, we had a lot of fun on stage and the audience were up and dancing from the first number. Hiding behind the guitarist.

Gigging in a pub? Soundcheck 'till you're happy. Gigging in a ticketed venue? Be done and dusted before they let people in. ...IMO, of course.

Couple of gigs for me this weekend. Friday night I was with The Alligators blues band in Hornsea on the East Yorkshire coast. Gig was The Green Owl, a decent cafe bar more popular with locals than holidaymakers. Used my P-Lyte straight into the Rumble 500 combo which is now my go-to setup for this band. The Rumble is astonishing both tonally and volume wise - one of the best amps I’ve used. Anyway, the gig went well, with an appreciative audience for us - I’m the only band member not from the area so it’s nearly a complete hometown gig for us. Saturday saw the acoustic duo playing at a lovely big village hall in the Yorkshire wolds near Driffield. It was an early VE Day / late St George’s day bash! They hired a local fish and chip van for the catering (see pic) and by the time we started the hall was full. Some fairly normal requests, with no surprises so an easy gig really. 2x50 minute sets flew by, followed by a quick pack down as my guitarist mate was flying off to another gig, in Hornsea! I was home by 9pm so well happy - these late afternoon into early evening gigs suit me just fine, after decades of getting in at 2 or 3 am.

Brit Club beer festival. Got some great British ales and Belgium beers in. These pics taking just as we set up, but did get about 200 people once it got going. Setting sun straight into stage area with everything, including us, getting really hot. Bizarrely fried my Aguilar tlc pedal which gave up the ghost. I put on 5 bands, I was in four of them. Made sure the last band was the one I wasn’t in so I could enjoy a few ales before having to pack up. Everyone played well, started off with chilled vibes playing the likes of Bill Withers, then Hendrix/blues, punk/new wave, a 80s/90s cover, and finally my mates metal band at the end. Oh, and used my new (to me) Zoom L20 for the FoH and monitoring and worked a treat. So easy to get a good sound. All told, a great day but after playing for four hours and a 12 hour day of setting up and packing everything away I’m having a very lazy day’s rest.

Yeah it was great fun last week. Currently on tour in Germany with a different band. Also great fun.

Just got home from my Spacewasters gig at The Hope & Anchor, Islington. 4 band bill, in an 80 capacity venue, luckily a dedicated storage area for gear. We headlined and played well, though it was soooooo hot down there, even setting up had us all sweating out half a stone. Didn’t bother with a soundcheck but the sound man was very good and kept the volume to reasonable levels. I played my black Fender JMJ Mustang into my Behringer BDI21, DI taken from that to FOH, and then into a small 100 watt Ashdown combo of some sorts for stage volume which was plenty. Due to my plantar fasciitis rather than DMs I wore my Skechers trainers. Edit - Review now online, in punktuationmag: The Spacewasters are approaching their 25th anniversary, and over the years, they’ve become really damn good musicians. Maybe that’s not a very punk thing to say, but as their guitarists sprinkle frenzied solo magic on the likes of ‘Leave Me Alone’ and ‘Devil’s Bones’, we have to be thankful that they’ve chosen to channel their talents not into tedious 20 minute jazz-prog suites, but into shit-kickin’ street-level punk rock n’ roll. Add the larger than life presence (and sense of humour) of frontman Mick, and you have a recipe for one hell of a good time. Check out their new album ‘The 7-Legged Groove Machine’, it does exactly what it says on the tin, and it does it very well.

They are essentially this:

Well I did it. After watching this one for over 2years online with the local agent, I pulled the trigger and bought myself the one bass I will never put down. I have promised both myself, my long-suffering better half and most of my mates that this is genuinely the last bass I ever buy. Feel free to screenshot this postand remind me if you see me lurking 🤣🤣🤣 But anyway, here she is: One N.O.S. 2021 Amerocan Pro 2 Jazz bass 75rh Anniversary FSR Dark Night woth Rosewood board. Genuinely cannot describe how beautiful this thing is, all around. It feels amazing in the hand, sounds exactly like a Jazz should and it has the most beautiful rosewood I have ever seen on any neck! This is a pretty good place to end my GAS Odyessy 😎

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?

I played a really good gig at Bar Silo in Golant in Cornwall. Crowd was amazing and the venue was absolutely wonderful. We even got free food which was delicious.

My blues band played a new festival last night. Great stage, excellent PA and lighting, and very well run in terms of the sound. The guys were really good at their job. However, it was a brand new festival, I would say intended to be a very big event with thousands in attendance. But....there were not a lot of people there, and they are still desperately trying to sell tickets for the rest of the weekend. I think the organisers are going to take massive bath on this one. We were very grateful to those who did come and see us, especially @rwillett and his partner Zoe (credit to Rob for the photo). '73 P bass, GK Legacy 800 (DI'd), TE Elf 2x8. Rob

Local Social Club in Sunderland called Steels on Saturday night, a bass playing mate sent me this pic. Big club but had a full house with a great crowd in 👍🏼

The Salty Dog in Northwich on Friday night. It's a small place so we easily filled it. I love this place 'cos they always have great beer. For the first time since I started playing there, they had a great sound engineer! Every other time we've played there the sound has been plagued by low end rumbling and constant feedback, however, it's always been a barman or the like just doing their best. This guy clearly not only knew what he was doing, but was also concerned with doing a good job, and he did! A very sweaty 1.5hr set and all the free beer I could drink made for a very entertaining evening

Just back from gig #2 of the weekend. Quite sleepy. Gig #1 was Wednesday’s Child - pub rock covers - in Dorking last night. We were under-rehearsed and the guitarist was far too loud onstage, so I came away feeling quite underwhelmed with it. I think I played ok, was fun switching between a standard tuned bass, a C-tuned bass and a fretless 5 - kept me on my toes! Need to go through all my patches and sort them out though as I noticed some hideous volume differences between some of them 😳 Gig #2 was Youths - original pop/punk - in Canterbury this evening. We opened the proceedings and played a blinder I think. Bass sounded ace - my first ever bass came out (a Vester Jazz with replacement Schaller pickups), through an HX Effects using the SansAmp clone, into my Elf and the headliner’s Markbass 6x10. First time I’ve played a long scale bass in anger in public since about 2015, was fun but I remember why I made the switch to shorter scales 😄 We were celebrating the release of our first single from our debut album - feel free to go check it out 😎 https://music.apple.com/gb/album/bumpy-single/1807891026 https://music.amazon.co.uk/artists/B002H5YZCU/the-youths

One trip to Edinburgh later... Okay, I'm still on my way back! Gotta love Competition Burgundy. Thanks Dave!

Played at the North Bar in Peterhead last night with Nine Lives. Bit of a weird one. A venue we've never played before. An area so wide, but with paths customers will take across where the cables to the PA speakers have to go, so I spent most of my time sticking cables down with gaffer tape. Really going to have to investigate using wireless bugs to get the signal from the desk to the PA speakers for places like this in future. Rushed setup as a result, and we were a bit late starting. And after all that effort, it was pretty sparsely attended - in the first half we ended up playing to 4 (four) folk plus the bar staff. "Paid rehearsal" came to mind, but thankfully some people came in later on and it was better in the second half. On the plus side, the sound was good, and the SB-2 performed admirably, with the Wunkay seeing out the second half. I do love my G&Ls. MFD FTW. Gear was the fantastic MFD brothers (G&L Tribute SB-2 then Wunkay) into the usual Markbass cubes of low frequency. Please excuse the terrible photos, my phone was having a 'mare focussing, it would seem.

I never got my name in lights but more than happy with chalk! We had our headline at The Vic in Swindon. We’d been weeks in rehearsal and our soundcheck had us struck by the curse of backing tracks. For some reason we had a virtually non-existent kick drum and barely audible count ins, coupled with ear bleedingly loud keyboard washes! Rather than try and dissect the problem, we hastily rewrote the set to come up with a stripped back set. The Rickenbacker sounded immense through my Blackstar U700 head and 4x10. That head continues to excel in all situations. The crowd walked a line between modest but respectable (original goth music in Swindon on a school night perhaps isn’t the easiest of sells). Despite the initial woes of soundcheck, a fantastic night. I was even complimented on my singing voice - something I have been working hard on for the last couple of years 🎉

The Jam Night I usually go to has moved back to its original venue (McCafferty’s in Epsom). We weren’t really able to attract a following at what was the new venue - various reasons I guess. Certainly there was never much of an atmosphere there. I think the original venue probably saw their takings drop by more than they were paying the band and certainly by more than the £50 pay cut they were trying to get the band to take. I’m pleased we’ve moved back as McCafferty’s is a much better music venue (and it’s walking distance from my house 😀). It’s a while since we’ve had anyone take any video of us. My daughter who was the main videographer has moved to Derby. My wife didn’t attend the new venue as often. Anyway back to the old venue so my wife came, and a mate and his wife came for the 1st time. They both took some video. We played ok, without nailing any of the songs. As it’s the 1st one back at McCafferty’s I decided on a compilation video.

Apparently, Pete told Zak he was only researching alternative drummers for a book.

Another wedding close to home and miraculously another broken limiter 🙏 Overall a good night, the highlight being a pissed up woman hovering over our equipment with a large full glass of wine. When I asked her to keep drinks away from the stage she proceeded to straight up down the glass 😂 fair enough... Used my rocky bass after my wife complained I don't use it enough after she took the time to paint it!