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Take 5 minutes for a story about a very fine chap. Before the start of the pandemic I ordered a Moollon PV having been in Seoul to visit YJ and Andi Roselund at the Moollon workshop a few months before. I was really taken with the PV's tone. So the Pandemic hit and after working in a factory building respirators for the NHS through most of it I then lost my job. Not good karma. Sadly having paid my deposit I wrote to YJ and Andi saying that I could not afford to continue with the purchase and I heard no more. A few weeks later I saw a red PV up for sale and thought no more of it knowing I could not afford another one. 2 1/2 years later I got a message from Andi saying that YJ had not sold the bass it was still there available for me... Jaw dropping moment. They never got the email and YJ hadn't sold it - he kept it for me. What other maker would do something like that? I had in the meantime managed to get myself back on my feet and could complete the sale. Last week I took delivery of the bass I ordered three years ago. Delivered in pristine condition and sounding like a complete beast. I'm overjoyed to have this bass. I thought I had lost it and out of the kindness of YJ I do. What a bloody awesome bloke - unreal. The bass BTW is staggering, the low end is so deep but articulate and the higher register is thick like a short scale. Its ridiculously good, and oh the colour.. Red............ Red...... Red........

People are quick to moan, but I also like to be quick to praise where it is due. All sorts of grief with the DHL (Damage Handling Loons) over the delivery of my new Fender Precision after a phone dall from DHL to tell me theyd damaged it. George at Andertons was cool, told me not to worry, they'd sort out any damage. Just get it delivered then make an assessment and let him know immediately and he'd sort it. Fortunately the hard case and bass within were fine, it was just the packaging that DHL had mullered. I phoned George back to advise the bass had arrived undamaged, and thanked him for his reassurance. I mentioned that G had been cut a little short and as I tried to tune it beyond F it just slipped round the capstan. Well, not 20 hours a later a full set of spanking new Fender 45's drop through my letter box, fortunately delivered by a different company who didn't manage to drive a forklift over it. I'd have been happy with the one string, but a new set was a very pleasant surprise. Even better as I actually quite like Fender rounds. So top marks to Andertons. Reassuring on the phone, poised and ready to help refund/replace if the bass or case had arrived damaged, and super generous with the strings when I only needed the one. Well done. If anyone from Anderton's is reading this, thank you. You'll be top of the list next time I get a tax rebate that the missus doesn't know about and I go bass shopping.

Ok so my GK MB112II combo is loud. Weirdly loud for such a small unit. But when I’ve taken it out the house it’s too small to be able to hear it properly as it’s firing along the floor. So I bought an amp stand. Which didn’t work as it was designed for a guitar amp which is shallower. There might be better ones which work better for my amp but I didn’t have time to find one as I needed one for last night. So I bought a £9 bit of wood, 22mm x 144mm by 1800mm and made one. I cut a 90 degree angle in 2 identical length at the same time so each side was identical, then braced it together with various bits of wood until I got bored. I just tried to get the biggest tilt on the amp with the 144mm wood width - no audio science here. The width is determined by the space inbetween the (rather large) amp feet. Glued and screwed together and sanded all over and it was done. So the amp fires at me direct when it’s maybe 2m away approximately, it’s super solid and quite light and easy to pack away with my other gear. I might varnish it, I might not! Anyway, I’ve not seen anyone else with something like this or even seen one for sale (I didn’t really look to be honest I just needed a solution fast!) but it works perfectly and costs so little!! if you need something like this have a go at making it yourself, it’s not hard and doesn’t need any special tools.

Popped into Bassbros yesterday on the hunt for a nice 4 string Precision and this was just begging to come home with me. It appears to be a bit of a case queen with barely a mark on it anywhere and even the case is as new! It was a bit of a toss up between this and a Yamaha BBP34 but this won in the end. I have been playing mainly 5 strings for the last few years and the feeling of getting back on a 4 is just amazing! It has taken a really low setup and surprisingly the stock pickup is really nice. It might still get a Nordstrand or a Fralin at some point but let’s wait and see.

Saturday night I played at The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, which was my final gig with The ELO Experience. Another grand old venue which first opened in 1901, capacity just under 1400 with two large balconies , the upper one being very high and steep. The gig went well, a good onstage sound despite a change of rig as I’ve sold my usual one! Used my GK800RB again, this time with my old standby cab - a Loud Inc 4x10. Really enjoyed using it, and pleased it was enough for such a big venue/stage. It was a near sell out gig which made it great for my last one, as well as being my 800th appearance with the band. I first played with them as a dep at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in May 2009, and then joined permanently in 2011 - first gigs were a short tour of Northern Ireland which were very memorable. I couldn’t have found a better bunch of people to work with, starting out as a 5 piece & then adding 2 cellists and a violinist. It’s been an absolute pleasure throughout, and I really will miss the band and crew (pictured below) who have become like family. I’ll still be playing with the acoustic duo though, as well as any deps that may come my way so will hopefully be gigging more locally for many years to come.

So, yesterday, this arrived. Before we get to the photo, if anyone doesn't like pointy things, leave. There is nothing here for you but pain. I ordered this in 2021. How has it taken so long you ask? There was a thing called covid if I recall. Also, there were also hilarious parts problems on backorder for ages. Enough of that nonsense. What is it and where is it made then? Grainger basses and guitars are up near Peterborough, and around the time of one of the lockdowns they posted a bass in this shape that had a mad blue acrylic top. The cogs started turning. So, my idea was to have this wired like an Alembic Series 1 bass and it is. After chatting to Nuno at Lusithand about it I bought some filters off him (his stuff is great by the way - check out his site) with the caveat that it might not work. Undeterred, I sought the advice of the basschat massive and many thanks to @Hellzero who provided the Jack wiring diagram. Basically, the bass can be used stereo or mono with different jacks (like a Rickenbacker), but it's active with a filter and volume for each pickup also a pickup selector. So there's 2 jack outputs. I also got Darren and Gavin to make the bass modelling the neck on my own Alembics. They've done that amazingly precisely. Top and back is flame maple, body is walnut with headstock facings and neck strings. There is a touch of neck dive, but I've not used a wide strap yet. The bass is quite light as the upper wing is chambered. Naturally, I've got a hipshot on it for drop D and there's a brass Warwick Just a Nut too. Bridge is Babicz mono rails to accommodate the narrower spacing. Inlays are mother of pearl. Pickups are Nordstrand Zen Blades wired in parallel to keep as much top end as possible. The reason being is that Lusithand Filters go to 4kHz give or take, whereas Alembics go to 6.6kHz. So, does it sound like an Alembic? In a word, yes. If you want that John Entwistle 1982 Who bass sound, you'll get it. Or if you want a great clean sound it'll do that too. Darren, Gavin and Nuno were fantastic throughout this especially when there were wiring issues we had to resolve. If you're looking for a custom bass made by a British company (or anyone actually), then Grainger do really exceptional work. Also, Nuno at Lusithand makes really good preamps and pedals which are well worth checking out.

Spotted this Retrovibe on FB marketplace and even better, it turned out to be for sale by a BC'er I'd dealt with before. Its a short scale with the stinger pre amp and obviously jazz pickups. I put Labella Mustang flats on it ( as its through body stringing) and its just a dream to play. The quality for the money is phenomenal and I'm seriously tempted to get another and string it piccolo.David has even agreed to do me an edstraker123 truss rod cover. Definitely one of my better buys.

It appeared last week on kijiji for a market price , a blue reissue Samurai , the Yamaha SBV500. I have a yellow one , and spent some years looking for it. It’s one of the few long scale basses I regularly play , I think of it as being like a Jazz bass on steroids , but much funkier. And today got a call from some friends that work at our local L&M , the big music retailer in Canada. The blue Samurai had appeared at the store , they were going to move it for a really good price , and was I interested … Now I have a yellow one that I love , but I could not turn down the deal. I’ll pick it up tomorrow. And I’m flattered that they called me before they put it out! Sold!

Afternoon its been a. While since I did a NBD thread! Been waiting for this for a while as they don’t come up for sale too often Fender AVRI 75 jazz 5 1/2 hr round trip this morning to collect this, well worth it Owned from new by previous owner and looks like it just came out of the factory, all covers included as is the original bridge serial number dates it to 2005 Currently sat in my lounge whilst the trusts settles down Tony

I just picked up this bass from the excellent Bass Bros and am really pleased with it. It is just under 9lbs at 8lb 13oz which my back appreciates! An interesting feature is the neck which is 39mm - I've been searching for a P bass with a jazz neck and this fits the bill. Initially I thought it might be a bit chunky front to back but after a weekend playing it I find it very comfortable. It is actually slimmer than other precisions I've tried. Bass Bros are not sure if it came out of factory like this or if a luthier has done a job on it but either way it is ideal for me.

Just got it home and tweaked the bridge. Action is low , might raise it a hair , it has an older set of rounds on it , I may leave them on , I have Thomastik flats on the yellow one. These are a good looking pair!

Got a call from a friend yesterday afternoon asking if I could dep at a local social club last night. They have a rock’n’roll night on Wednesdays which is quite well attended, and I’ve depped there before. Just a 3 piece band (guitar, bass, drums), and when I arrived I found out it was a dep drummer too, who turned out to be an old mate who played with me in the same band years ago. Had a cracking gig, both musically and socially. Two 45 minute sets, nice people and well paid! Used my Danelectro Longhorn into a Fender Rumble 500 combo. Home before midnight too, so happy days. Tired today though, and got 3 more gigs this week - tonight at my local pub with the acoustic duo, then Redditch tomorrow / Shrewsbury on Saturday with the ELO Experience.

Started my final run of gigs last night with The ELO Experience at Milton Keynes Theatre. As you’d expect, a large modern theatre with great staff, load in and backstage facilities. It has a capacity of 1400, think we had just over 1000 people in so felt quite full. We haven’t played for 3 weeks, so were all a bit on edge hoping we would be okay. Didn’t start well at soundcheck with a few tech issues, but with the help of our guys we got it sorted eventually. We were just leaving the theatre to find somewhere to eat and bumped into Warwick Davis passing by -nice bloke and a favourite of our lighting maestro Rob who got a selfie. The gig went well, lively audience in good voice. We all got through it without any major problems, although I was quite tired. 170 mile drive back home as the gig was a stand alone, have been having a quiet day today.

Last nights gig for me was absolutely amazing. It was a sort of open night in a beautiful venue called The Mill in Elstead. Backline is provided and 5 bands played, each getting about 25 minutes each. The sound is amazing and it's super intimate with a really appreciative audience of music lovers and musicians. We play very stripped back, heartfelt singer songwriter stuff with lyrics personal to the singer. I'm on fretless creating some ambience and our drummer is very chilled and percussive. The first song is very atmospheric and as soon as I started playing, our singer said the two young girls sitting in front me who were about 16, their jaw's hit the floor. They'd never heard fretless and I had reverb and chorus and apparently they couldn't take their eyes off my playing. Mid way through the song, I get a sort of instrumental lead part and as soon as I go into it, the lady at the table whoops and shouts out, 'woah, go the bass player'. When I finish my little piece, the whole place applauds 😮 I've never had that and it was very much like what happens at a Jazz gig. Anyway, we play a blinder and we even had some of the audience in tears by how the singer had captured them with his lyrics. We get to the last song and we are improvising massively and our singer got the who room singing followed by a standing ovation 😁 Afterwards, we got a tonne of compliments and it turns out the lady who shouted 'go bass player' used to be a singer back in her day and one of the two girls was her daughter who is a singer songwriter. Her husband was also there and after chatting to him, it turns out he's a Jazz trumpeter 😎 What a amazing night and just makes it all worthwhile 😁

Last night I was depping for a NE based big band - it was an absolute roast sight-reading these charts having never seen / heard them before! Still I managed to quite myself pretty well! SSBB Sr Duke.mp4

5 Stings, y'say? Mark

Started using a new luthier recently and he takes a while but is really great! Old Stingray looking and sounding brilliant.

I am well chuffed to have taken delivery of this ACG Graft 4 today.

A three-band bill of folk (State of Undress), blues (my own Otis Jay Blues Band) and Americana (World Gone Wrong) at New Milton’s Forest Arts Centre. Capacity audience of 125, which is gratifying. Sound technician Alice did a brilliant job considering the variety of instruments involved. A super fun evening, and though we had a few duff intros - new drummer’s first gig - no one seemed to mind. Photos show me having foolishly raced to the top of the theatre with Sandberg in hand, and descending rather more gingerly… Love to take this package to other venues - suggestions gratefully received.

Just got in from a Spacewasters gig at The 100 Club in London, supporting King Kurt & The Polecats. Used my JMJ Mustang into my Ashdown RM500v2 into whatever the cab that was there was. Doors opened 7:30, we were on at 8:00 and for that time not a bad sized crowd at all. Played well and got some very good applause. Was nice to be on a big stage again, especially now we’re a 5-piece. One of the guitarists sadly broke 2 strings (at separate times) so we had to change things about a bit (they both work in London so only had one guitar each as had come from work) a bit disconcerting for me as I then ended up doing half lead vocals on a song which ain’t my bag, but the show must go on. Nice & easy trip home too which made for an all round good gig.

Both Hurtsfall and In Isolation played the Goth At The Brewery Event on the 27th as part of WGW. This is a free gig at Whitby Brewery on the Saturday afternoon of the Goth Weekend organised by Dominique from the band Westenra and over the past 3 years has grown from being fairly low-key to one of the major events of the weekend, and for those who attend WGW for the music probably as important as the "main" event at the Pavilion as it showcases the current generation of Goth bands. It draws a massive audience made up of people who are there for the music rather than parading around town in their "costumes" and is now so well attended that the main doors of the room are opened to allow people outside in the courtyard to see and hear the bands too. This weekend was a "Nottingham takeover" with Chaos Bleak also playing. Hurtsfall were on first at 2.00pm. We probably had the best on-stage sound of the afternoon, but even so there were problems with the monitor in front of me which kept cutting out. However due to the nature of the band we are well used to playing under less than ideal conditions, so it wasn't really a problem, and everyone we spoke to afterwards (including several people whose opinions I trust) said the FoH sound was excellent. The audience appeared to enjoy it, and we sold a decent amount of merch afterwards. This photo was taken at the beginning of our set just before Sam, our singer, got everyone to move forward so that more people could get into the venue. Even after that there were still almost as many people outside enjoying the gig as there were inside (and yes that is Whitby Abbey you can see in the background): And two more general gig photos: Chaos Bleak probably pulled the best crowd of the afternoon due to both their time slot and their reputation. And then at 4.00pm I was back on stage with In Isolation. By this time it appeared that all the foldback had stopped working - There wasn't anything coming out of the wedge in front of me, and unlike during Hurtsfall's set I couldn't hear anything from the other two. Still we powered through our set even though it sounded weird on stage. Again we were told afterwards that FoH the mix was excellent, but it was unnerving playing some of the songs with longish intros on the backing tack where they were barely audible on stage, so having no clue when our drummer was going to count us in! Also we discovered that playing last in the afternoon isn't the ideal spot as people tend leave before the end so they can get ready for whatever night-time event they are going to. Still there were a decent number who stayed all the way through our set, and we even had to sign CDs at the end - something which always bemuses me... For some reason there are a distinct lack of photos from our set on Facebook and this one of me was the only one I could find.

After many years of recommending the Fender Rumble amps, based upon both the specs but very importantly having heard them in use I’ve finally got one myself. Needed due to back issues, at around 13kg it’s the same weight as one of my Ashdown cabs so in terms of carting stuff about I lose having to carry the my RM500 (only 3kg or so) but also lose having to lean over to plug in speaker leads etc. Additionally as the controls are on the top I’m assuming this makes adjustments when on stage easier. I can put the power lead in my Mono M80 as well so practically it’s winning already, less gear/no of items to carry. Sound - well only been able to use it at home volumes but it’s very easy to get the sound I want. The Drive is very good, with careful setting rather than being full on drive it can really add thickness to the sound which to me is a real benefit, the combo being a 210 being able to thicken the sound up is a real bonus. Overall I’m very pleased with it, some of our gigs will require me to provide a full bass rig, in fact our next one does, so this amp is going to make my life easier. I’d have put up with it irrespective as needs must but it really does sound great so I’m feeling rather chuffed.

Nice gig at Leicester’s Donkey music venue with my blues/soul trio the Andy Wales Band. First outing for my recently-acquired Ashdown ABM500 head too, which sounded beefy and fat - apart from briefly leaning my bass against the front panel which pressed the switch to turn off the EQ (why would anyone want that?) leaving me wondering for a few songs where my lovely sound had gone…. Lesson - always know the position of your knob. Good turn out tho including interestingly various punters who’d paid for a nearby blues festival but didn’t like it and instead spotted this gig in the listings and came along (and seemed to enjoy it!)

Drummers 65th party last night playing with both the Glam band and the Punk band. Great night and just good fun night. Glam band went on first mainly because the singer Mikey and guitarist Colin wanted to get it done so they could have a few beers etc after playing. Have to say the Handbox WB-100 with the Godin Shifter bass is a perfect match. The depth of tone was simply incredible and worked so well in both bands. Guitarist and singer from the Glam band told me after the punk band played that the bass tone was the best they had ever heard and reminded the guitarist of Roger Glover's Deep Purple tone. He had never heard me playing like that with so much energy and aggression. I don't particularly play that way with the Glam band because its not needed when you are copying the Glam era from studio recordings rather than a live sound. Its more controlled and a bit more mellow. So many compliments from our guitarist about my punk band style and tone and the fact he had no idea i even played like that. He reckoned it was the best punk band he had ever seen. I have to add that by the time we finished at 1am they were a wee bit oiled and i think the comments were fuelled with alcohol a bit but a compliment is still a compliment is still a compliment. The punk band is all about energy and that amp and bass gave it in buckets full. It had so much depth and from what they told me carried right thru the guitarists Marshall stack with so much power and clarity. Singer said the high notes at the dusty end were so clear and sharp where he was standing at the back of the hall. For the more Ric style tones i engaged the "bright" button just to give it that little kick edge. Loved it. Particular punk favs for me last night from a tone point of view were Do Anything you Wanna do and In To the Valley with its de-D tuning for one song but the depth remained but that bright button just meant it carried so much further. Another thing i found using the Godin bass was that the pick ups being so hot meant the amp was nowhere near the same master volume as with my Sandberg basses meaning that amp has a lot more headroom than i thought. I am now keeping that bass and amp. Guitarist said it ws THE best bass tone he had ever heard from any band The Handbox is staying and hoping the Mesa TT800 when it arrives will also give me that Mesa "heft" as so many have commented on the TB site i follow. If anyone gets a chance to play one of those Godin Shifter classic basses then try them they are so well made, not heavy and some of the nicest sounding pick ups i've tried over many many years. Not a hugely expensive bass either on 2nd hand market. If you like a P bass with some extras its a wonderful buy. It has a V & T control and 4 way switch for P, J, Series or Parallel. I had it on Parallel last night and cant fault it. Many thanks to our very own Stevie @theplumber for finally selling me the Godin. If you're reading this Stevie i'll take the other Godin if you decide to move it on. No pics as yet but if any appear i'll post later. Short drive home too at 25mins altho the road to Wanlockhead is very pot-holed at the moment and a bit of care was required in the dark. Just got to head back there today at mid-day to pack up the gear and return home again. Bit long winded post but it just shows how excited i am with that HB and Godin combination. Sometimes things just fall into place by accident and this was that night. Dave

Finish has just been completed.

Not quite a gig, but last night I performed two songs at our local folk club - the first time I've sung publicly since 'ambulance day' in December after I had trouble breathing, needed an ambulance, and lost my voice for a month. I think I sang well and it felt so good to be 'back' !

Back at the Cow & Telescope in Southend-on-Sea on Friday. Our third time at this venue and by far my favourite place on the pub circuit. Always an appreciated crowd who turn up for the music. A decent night with a good turnout of our friends, family and followers. Unfortunately for us, we were told by the landlady that about 15 of the regulars (who wanted to see us) were up in London to see Slash and Myles Kennedy - I don’t blame them TBH, I’d rather watch Slash and Myles than us, lol. We’re gradually getting used to the Allen & Heath desk, and it’s getting easier to dial in and tweak for every venue,. I had a slight issue with my IEMs - the cable came out of the right one halfway through the second set. It was so hot and sweaty in there I could grip the plug firm enough to push it back in, so I played the remainder of the set with one IEM and a glorified earplug. Oh well. Our super sub Sophie did and fantastic job yet again and received lots of compliments. She blew our socks off on Proud Mary, she really went for it. I had an interesting chat with one chap. One of my wife’s younger workmates introduced me to her new boyfriend before we started who is a drummer. Nice chap, and got a chance to chat with him after our first set. He was very impressed with our drummer, asking me who he is. I replied he’s a grade 8 qualified drummer who’s a full time drum teacher, played in a number of bands, including originals and previously a busy, touring a punk band. The chap said, I’m a session drummer and he’s better than me. He then asked who our bassist is as he’s pretty good as well I don’t think he could see me where he was sitting and didn’t realise it was actually me. I said, “that’s me, and thank you. He told me one of his regular session gigs is playing with Samantha Fox, and what am I doing in a couple of months time as there’s a gig their regular bassist can’t do. I told me I’m not a session guy and I have a full-time day job so I’m not sure about that thing. He said, “Oh the songs are easy, and it'll be a case of fly into Lithuania on the Friday, gig Saturday and home again Sunday"! I'm extremely flattered and we shared details, but I don't think I'll go for it if he does end up asking. Not only do I need to renew my passport, but I don't own any flight cases for my gear not to mention a massive dose of imposter syndrome and I don't think I'd be able to dedicate time to learning a batch of songs I've never heard of at very short notice - it's just not a skill I'm used to doing. Still, it's nice to be asked. Obligatory venue pics, including the tools for the night - the very unidentical twins.

Owen has a problem with his neck! Or more correctly, Owen has a problem with one of his necks. Or to be utterly precise, Owen has a problem with a G&L 5-er neck that has a snapped off truss-rod end. Getting fretboards off in one piece always carried a risk - but I haven't lost one recently and so it is worth stacking up the odds a little further and giving it a go. It's a very nice neck - but those edges are mighty thin, with the fret slots almost fully through to the maple: And so there is the possibility of ending up with 22 rectangles of fretboard rather than one whole one. BUT, it's a case of taking that risk or scrapping it. Most fretboards (but not all) are glued with heat-softening wood glues - and so you basically heat the fretboard up with an iron or similar (I use a travel-iron) and then ease a blade, and eventually a thin steel sheet slowly, slowly, slowly along until it's off: And it's still in one piece! You can see that the truss rod was fully tensioned when the adjuster-end snapped off. Interesting, though, that only one half of the strip is bowed. Sort of defies physics - I've never seen that before but maybe this is why it wasn't doing the business: Should be a pretty straightforward replacement as long as I can get a rod that fits properly.

My gig wasn't last night, but rather last weekend when on Friday we opened up for Subhumans at The Drill in Lincoln (a 550 person venue, but I heard that around 300 tickets were sold). I'm a huge Subhumans fan, have been ever since I was about 13 or 14 years old (I'm in my late 40's now). Fortunately I met them once before, otherwise I would have been completely geeking out. There is a Subhumans cassette tape that I have had since the late 80's / early 90's, which I used to just leave in the tape deck of my car for a long while... I brought it on to stage with me when we opened for them. The Drill is a really impressive venue, and the organization in advance was superb. It was the largest stage that me or any of my bandmates had ever played on, and we felt a bit out of our league (in the same way that you might feel flying business class when you normally travel economy). We certainly enjoyed the experience, but at the same time we were playful and laughing about how unusual certain aspects of the show were. I had brought my Mesa 6x10" cab specifically for this show, but sadly the main sound engineer did not want to mic it (he mic-ed the Subhumans bassist's cab, and commented it's only done for the headliners). For me he used the post-eq DI on my amp... oh well! We had one dedicated sound engineer just for monitors. He seemed very attentive during soundcheck, but when we played our set in front of the audience he seemed to forget my request to kill the vox in my monitor. This threw me off a bit at the start, and our songs came fast and furious... I was only able to communicate the problem to him on the fourth song of our set, which starts with the bass and gave me the opportunity to briefly pause. We had a dressing room complete with mirror and large round bulbs, a couch, fridge, and the wifi password. Beers and other drinks were provided. My family came along, and my son ran the merch desk. He did really well on sales! He sold 5 tees, 6 CDs, and 3 cassette tapes during the show. We played really well, and someone who had seen a lot of our performances commented that it was the best show yet. Most of us stayed overnight in Lincoln, and I went around the town the the fam for some sightseeing the next morning. We didn't stick around too long however, as we had to hit the road and head to Boston. There we were headlining on Saturday, but given a lot more time for our set. We played every song that we had, and I honestly think that the Boston performance was the very best show yet. They get better and better... I had to take the fam to Manchester airport on Sunday afternoon, and Subhumans were playing at the Star & Garter, so I popped in for their show. I caught the opening bands too, and between acts I went into the loo... I find Trotsky (Subhumans drummer) taking a leak next to me and he says, "Hey, what are you doing here?!?" Funny. I chatted with the Subhumans merch guy (he owed me a shirt from the Lincoln show, when I traded tees with Dick but they sold out of my size), as well as Phil the bassist (there are two flights of stairs at the S&G, and he said he was too lazy to carry up his bass cabs). I'm honestly not sure that we'll ever play such a large show again... but who really knows? Anyway, we enjoyed this weekend, which was awesome.

TONIGHT! More of a concert than a gig... depped with Tamworth Wind Band in a church in Tamworth. Lovely bunch of folks, really nice vibe, good players and appreciative of me standing in. They'd commissioned the ex principal director of music at the RAF (!) to write a piece celebrating Tamworth (!) especially for the band, so we rehearsed/workshopped it with him in the day and performed the **World Premiere** at the concert. He's a phenomenal musician, he picked up and pointed out loads of tiny little things that really elevated it. Lovely bloke as well. It's not often you get to perform a world premiere in Tamworth... I certainly don't. There was about fifty of us, so it was a fantastic sound. The tuba player was playing an absolutely beautiful old horn- I don't know much about tubas but I'd guess it was a BBb Conn 20J with a recording bell made in the Elkhart factory some time in the mid-late 1920s? He even let me play it. Cheers, Colin! The rest of the repertoire was pretty standard wind band stuff - Vaughan Williams, a couple of film medleys, a slow one with a lovely Cor Anglais solo and some Andrew Lloyd Webber - not my favourite, but Jesus Christ Superstar has got some bangers in it. The highlight (apart from the piece specially commissioned for the band 😳) was the music from 'The Incredibles' - spoof/cheesy superhero film music - a cracking Bass riff driving the whole thing along, bars of 5/4 mission impossible type stuff all over the place... loads of fun to play. Played the 'Ray -> Thumpinator -> VTDI -> MB 802, Rainbow Converse foot fans. Radio 4 on the way home - the evolution of instant messaging, from the invention of the emoticon on MSN messenger to a woman who married a chatbot. Weird. Home just after 10 for a G&T, a slice of raspberry cheesecake and a very stupid cat.

Played at the Ipswich Regent Theatre last night with The ELO Experience, my penultimate gig with the band. Bit of a nightmare journey of around 200 miles each way - one of our vans broke down on the A1 en route to Ipswich. Clutch master cylinder was to blame, so RAC summoned to trailer the van back home whilst a replacement LWB hire van was found in nearby Grantham. This resulted in us being nearly 2 hours late arriving at the venue, so a mad set up and sound check with little time to eat etc. The Regent is a big Grade 2 listed theatre built in the late 1920’s. With a capacity of around 1500, we had it just over half full. Was a slow start but they warmed up into the second set - maybe took us a while to settle into it after the rush to get there. Used my GK800RB into the Neo 410 cabinet - last time with this cab for me as I sold it after the gig! It’s been a great cab, never missed a beat. (For my final gig with the band this Saturday I’ll be using my trusty Loud 4x10.) For once a drive home with no diversions, but still got in around 2.30am. Must admit I won’t be sorry to see the back of these long gigs - driving over 400 miles in total and two long sets is getting a bit much for me. Easier drive to Birmingham tomorrow though, so looking forward to it.

Our acoustic duo played another gig at The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough last night. Usual full house and dozens of requests, this time including ‘The thrill is gone’, ‘Moon river’, ’Unchain my heart’ and even ‘Waterloo’ which I don’t think I’ve ever played before. Nice bassline too, although a bit more limited due to dropping the key so two blokes could sing it! We have one more gig there at the end of this month before a bit of a break until July. Picture taken as we were loading out, a beautiful evening over the bay.

I settled on an Aria STB Jazz for a modding platform. It's cheap, made in china or indonesia, and, did I say it was cheap? I first checked fret level, and it was spot-on, no work needed. I rolled the board edges and polished the fret ends, set up the nut for 21 thou string height, and added a set of Hipshot USA tuners. The body got Dunlop straplocks, an Allparts vintage bridge, a pair of DiMarzio Area J pickups, Alpha concentric pots, a series/parallel switch and Switchcraft socket, and I knocked up a pickguard from a sheet of mother of toilet seat pickguard material. A new set of TI Jazz Flats and we're off. At just under 8lbs (3.6kg) it is a great weight and balances absolutely perfectly on the strap. It's one of the most comfortable basses I've ever had. Soundwise, in parallel mode it sounds just like a quality Jazz, in series mode it rawks! I had most of the mod parts in my stash drawer, so it's been a cheap build. Yes, this one is definitely a keeper!

I wasn't sure where to post this - gig or rehearsal thread, but it's felt more like a gig than a rehearsal. I've spent the weekend at Stonegate Recording Studios near Bentham North Yorkshire. We set up Friday night, and have done 10-6 Saturday and Sunday. This is the new blues band, with only one 45 minute gig under our belt so far, and this was for recording a few tracks to promote the band. We have really gelled as a unit, personally and musically, and it's been a really positive experience. The band leader does his job well, directs with without being over-bearing, and is a consummate musician, playing Hammond, Rhodes and Sax, and the drummer is one of the best I've ever played with, really exceptionally good. We managed to get down 6 tracks yesterday, without vocals and solos, which we've added today. We had a guy filming too yesterday, which we're hoping to sync with the recordings at some point. I took two 70's P basses and have played everything through my rebuilt '73 Bassman 50 and a Barefaced Super Compact, it was a great sound to me. When the tracks have been mastered I'll post some links up. Knackered now though! Rob

First gig with a new singer last night for Nine Lives, at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh. It was a good gig! Our new singer has put a lot of work in to get the songs together and she did great, if she was nervous she didn't show it. I'm really chuffed with how it all went - change is always difficult for all concerned but we all handled it like champs. Pub was lively, maybe 40-50 folk in there at the peak with plenty dancing and 1 face plant that someone is definitely going to feel today! Kit used - the Soloking's first live outing (which also did me proud) and the Yamaha BB1200, all into a Markbass Mini CMD 121P IV plus New York 121 cab.

Quite silly but amusing.

The rather magnificent St Luke's in Glasgow. Brilliant crew, and sound, too.

My first full-blown choral gig for a few years - I've depped in a few concerts, but I've not been part of a group for a while. Saturday's venue was Carlisle Cathedral with a fully pro orchestra plus the cathedral organ for Elgar's Music Makers. Orchestra was brass: tuba, 3 trombones, 3 trumpets, 4 horns; woodwind: usual pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons plus bass clarinet and contrabassoon; strings including 2 double basses; harp; percussion: timps plus assorted things like bass drum. Audience was more-or-less a sell out.

Van's been found by the Police in a lock up. Gear was nearby...

A first gig of the year at an award-winning Glamping site in deepest Dorset. We - the Otis Jay Blues Band - had to tweak our repertoire to include more danceable/recognisable stuff as the glampers have come for a good time. Hence a closing Mustang Sally with three young ladies around the mic adding the responses! (Sadly not pictured…) The applause sounded tumultuous, though that was clearly assisted by downpours onto the clear plastic covering of the bar. Only mystery to be solved was why four cop cars and a paddywagon turned up during set two. A Blues Brothers moment😂 Gear: Flea Jazz, Elf, 2xBarefaced One10.

Good one last night in Stockport. Very hot in there, but a great crowd, even though they were half our age, they were into it. Way too much bass in the monitors, put me off a bit, but apparently it sounded decent out front.

I'm fortunate enough to have a man-cave/studio/office daaaaaaaaaan the bottom of the garden, so naturally have rammed it fully of crap. Does mean that I can blast through the Marshall VBA at full volume or smash the drums to pieces without anyone hearing/caring! Usually though, it'll be an ACG 6 of some sort through a Helix and into an Epifini UL901 and Bergantino 410. 👍