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Last Christmas gig tonight with BLOCKBUSTARZ at The Dreadnought in Bathgate. Has to be THE best venue we play. Very very busy, most i've seen in there. Door money split 80/20 to us and we made about £1200 so that was good. Feedback was excellent with the venue owner and the SE saying we have been THE best act in there all year. High praise indeed as they get some very well established bands in there. SE has done our sound 3 times now and said tonight was just another level for the band, absolutely superb night. Booked for next Xmas on the Sat night before Xmas plus a date in July too. They booked us last Xmas for this one and next years. NEGATIVES. :- drunk guy fell onto the stage between the monitors knocking Lynn's mic stand into her face given her a sore mouth and blood running down from a cut above her eye. Band stopped playing until Lynn managed to stem the blood flow using my hand towel and ice. She is a qualified nurse so knows what she's doing. After the gig the singer looked at the 2 wireless units and one has a cracked casing and the other a chipped corner. One of them the display was fading in and out so may be knackered but will check it tomorrow. This weekend has been quite eventful with a*s*h***s causing damage to the band and its equipment. Singers gear is covered thru MU so he may have to claim it or we use our band kitty to cover the costs. Bouncers had to keep people away from the stage front the rest of the night and all credit did a good job after the incident. Anyways its now Christmas Eve so hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and a very Merry Christmas to you and your families. Dave

This was posted on our FB page last night by a local band reviewer for the Dreadnought in Bathgate. Very humbled by it. No pics or vids have appeared as yet. Dave This year I've had some good nights, some really good nights, some great nights and some exceptional nights in the Dreadnought.. Tonight's gig was on another scale completely... For ny on THREE HOURS the packed Dread was treated to a Christmas Party of epic proportions courtesy of the phenomenal glam rock covers band Blockbustarz... Mike, David, Colin, Lynn and Barry were tinselled up, hairdoed up (Barry had a hat on), silver suited up, glam rock booted up and face painted up to the max.. The crowd were suitably attired as well, with Elton John style glasses, glitter covered hats, Christmas jumpers, flashing light necklaces and tinsel on show.... Appearing on stage to Rock and Roll Part 2, they were straight into the classics, Ballroom Blitz, 21st Century Boy, All of Me Loves All of You and Dance Dance Dance for starters. It was clear from the onset that the crowd were 'up for it'.... It was party central 'doon the front', led off by a lady wearing a white Christmas jumper and Santa Hat (who I was informed was touching 70!), who never stopped 'glamming' for 2 and a half hours before she had to leave for her bus Tremendous...... Some of us 1970's punters knew all of the words, but the younger audience members just boogied along.. The Cat Crept In, Hey Rock n Roll and Glass of Champagne kept the crowd dancing... Can the Can was followed by a Sweet song... As Lynn intoduced it as "This is Mikes song!", I immediately thought it was Hellraiser... Unfortunately for Mike it was Little Willy... (too much info from the Green Room). Virginia Plain, Get it On, and Let it Snow (which had the crowd singing along) kept the pace up. The white Christmas jumper wearing woman was still going 'aff her heid' and enjoying every minute. Coo Ca Choo , Dynamite and Rebel, Rebel saw no let up in the pace, with Mike and Lynn on vocals giving it welly, as was Barry Bazza Haywood on drums (what an incredible glam rock drummer he is), and more than ably assisted by Colin on guitar and David on bass. The stage was a mass of glittery covered suits and strange shaped guitars.. Saturday Night, Schools Out, Crazy Horses and Hellraiser took us and the band to a very well deserved break.. Phenomenal first half.. Waterloo and Teenage Rampage started off the second half before the call of "Where's Hastie?" went up.... It could only be Tell Him from Hello, the best punk/glam/ rock song ever! ... As sure as night follows day and apples fall from trees, I always migrate towards the front.. Now it was game on between me and the santa hat wearer.. Tell Him was followed by, I Love Rock n Roll, Under the Moon of Love and Children of the Revolution before the first Christmas song Lonely This Christmas was played... CLASSIC.... Next up was Rocket and The Jean Genie before we had a stage malfunction....During Let's Stick Together one big lad went down like a giant redwood... backwards. Before you could shout "Timber", a monitor was crushed and Lynn got banjoed on the eye by a mic... ROCK AND ROLL..! As Lynns shiner was appearing the lad was helped up and staggered away... I Love to Boogie and Fox on the Run led us into Merry Christmas Everybody.. MAGNIFICENT.... Come on Feel the Noise, Devil Gate Drive and Wig Wam Bam had me and the 'doon the fronters' giving it 'laldy'... Hot Love, Spirit in the Sky and the Time Warp took us up to Tiger Feet or as Johnstone 'Swagger Panther' Bowes was singing "Panther Feet"..... The big stage diver was back, but was cajoled around the floor and was still enjoying his night. Blockbuster, I Wish it Could Be Christmas Everyday and a rousing Loch Lomondy version of Shang a Lang ended the proceedings.... 100 out of 100 for all concerned tonight.. The bar staff, Pete on sound, floor security. (), door staff, the up for it crowd, the main man Douglas Croft and not forgetting of course the tremendous band... That's what you call a Christmas Night... ..... That's me and my reviews of the music scene over for this year. I hope next year's is just as good.... As Noddy Holder once said.... "Merry Christmas Everybody!" .... Ps.. I heard Lynn is auditioning for the 'Black Eyed Peas"' .... Big Hastie over and out from his big chair where I'm recovering from my 'pogo' off with the Santa hat wearer.... Rock On Folks..

So, on Friday I received my new Maruszczyk Frog 6A twins - Skye and Scarlett. Skye is the blue-stained fretted bass, Scarlett is the red-stained fretless. Yes, I name my basses! Specs: Swamp ash bodies Quilted ash tops with colour stain in the grain Roasted maple necks with ebony fingerboards - edge lines on the fretless, Luminlay blocks on the fretted, Luminlay side dots on both, 17.5mm spacing at the bridge Delano Xtender pickups (with series/single coil/parallel switches) Noll 4-band EQ, 18V Hipshot Ultralite tuners Monorail bridges Ramps I’m still exploring the range of sounds available, but, holy crap, these things are nice. Light (8lbs), lovely necks, and a very smooth, slick feel thanks to a perfect setup. They weren’t all that pricey either. Maruszczyk also make it all a bit special - every bass comes with a certificate of ownership, a nice manual, a T-shirt, a big thick leather strap and a fancy gig bag! Adrian’s English isn’t great, but he’s very accommodating of any unusual requests. For instance, to fit the colour theme, I requested coloured knobs - we managed to do them on the volume and blend pots, but Noll’s concentric EQ pots are an unusual size, and we weren’t able to get knobs that fit, alas. Doesn’t bother me really, I think they still look cool. Merry Christmas to me.

I've had a busy December gigging with various bands and accompanied by a disgusting cold. Last night we were in a very odd, labarinthine place made up of many small nooks and booths on at least four different levels. We were crammed into a rather pleasant but tiny corner and I ended up sat like a Jackanory narrator in a luxurious armchair. It was heaven. So exhausted from my germ ridden life on the road I got to recline and play in comfort. Also my ears were in perfect proximity to the bass cabs so I could hear just how good it sounded. I used the Demon FX D7K Ultra as a preamp and played my Reverend Triad bass on the middle pickup. It was glorious.

Few pics have appeared from last nights Glam gig.

Bit late to the party but finished a run of Xmas parties last weekend… lovely having the pa and lights set up for us and ready to go. Just tonight and nye left for this year and a few weeks off in Jan.

Loud (possibly too loud…) Lots of drunk people Fun. Depping for @Graham again 🤓 First gig with my (new to me) Super Twin, it did not disappoint. I still need more time to tweak the EQs in my HX preamps to suit the difference between this and my Two10 cabs but it sounded pretty good (from where I was standing…) Had one punter come take a closer look at my board and rig but he disappeared so no idea what he actually thought 😆 Home for a rest before the madness of Christmas… EDIT TO ADD: I didn’t play great the whole night. Some of the songs seems to get stuck under my fingers for some reason. It was the first time I’d played Treasure (Bruno Mars) and was looking forward to it but played it like a turnip 🤦🏼‍♂️

Last gig of the year for us last night, supporting Too Late To Atone at The Monarch Bar in Dunfermline. Played a 45 min set, had a blast, cracking crowd. Headline band were superb and looked after us very well. I kept things super simple and skipped the pedalboard, just straight from bass to the amp & PA. Thoroughly enjoyable evening even if my post-set bevvies are having an adverse effect on my head today.

A few transfers and a bit of pen! The pen ran a bit when he got sweaty but it was a belter of a first gig. Shifted 100 tickets with bare minimum promotion really. It was definitely a pleasant surprise! We'll be investing a lot into advertising campaigns for next year now we have the first gig under our belt. We werent sure it was going to work!

2Young 2old did a matinee in the old dive. Band was jumpin. Great crowd. Wonderful to get a last one in before Christmas. great gig

Hello! Picked this Japanese beaut up on a whim the other day, because you can't have too many Sunburst Precisions.... right? Spec... Jazz neck, oval tuners, light weight (8½lbs, thanks to the basswood body, which is surprisingly pretty). So far, the usual cliches apply. It's very resonant, balances well, feels great, it's rich and punchy... I'm gigging it on Boxing Day, and as ever the proof will be in the (Christmas) pudding. I'll report back..

At this stage, I think she's curious. She's a good trombone player, but a poor keys player. Her husband plays drums, guitar, keys and bass. Being a multi-instrumentalist seems de rigeur in their family. Difficult to tell exactly how serious she is about playing at gigs. I've given her advice about what home-practice combo to buy, and I've offered to do a basic set up on her bass. She asked me for lessons. I declined, saying that she needed to find a professional teacher, not me. I get on well with her, and her husband. Maybe the best approach is to sit back and see what happens. In the nicest possible way, I'll avaoid giving her playing tip. It might just fizzle out. However, if she (and husband) make serious suggestions of her playing bass at gigs, I'll say No at that point. I don't play any other instrument in the band.

By the Mrs?

What will you be doing during her bass songs? If you'll be singing lead vocal or playing another instrument it can add a different dynamic for a couple of songs. If she doesn't need or want you to do anything but leave the stage kill the idea stone dead now.

Ah, the internet. When you're gagging for an argument and you really don't care what it's about...

FLEA JAZZ PACIFIC PEACH (Ltd Ed Player Series) Body Alder Alder Finish RW Nitro Gloss Poly Fretboard Rosewood Pau Ferro Neck RW Nitro Satin Neck pro C shape Modern C shape Headstock Plain Matched to body colour Radius 7.25 9.5 Frets Vintage narrow tall Medium Jumbo Truss Body, neck off (or loosen) Headstock Tuners Fender tall vintage style Standard PICK UPS Pure vintage 64 jazz Pure vintage 64 jazz Rotaries Stack knob Stack knob Pickguard 4 ply tort 3 ply parchment Bridge 4 saddle vintage threaded 4 saddle standard Gigbag Deluxe None PRICE £1295 £889 I much prefer the headstock truss access, 9.5 radius & medium jumbo frets, only an opinion. I replaced the parchment plate before I even set the bass up.

In the same band though? Because that's what the beef is here, I think. I for one would not be keen, mostly because I can't do anything else but play bass, so I just have to bog off to the bar then? I don't think so. Maybe the OP can do a straight swap and play some keys while she's playing bass so maybe it's a moot point. But in my world, that's someone taking my role in the band leaving me with hee haw to do. I'm not having that.

My Japan 1100s has a hex nut. When I bought it there was already a very handy normal 1/4 drive 8mm (I think from memory) socket on there with a pair of holes drilled right through the sides at right angles to each other to allow you to use a small screwdriver, allen key, etc to turn the trussrod like a Stingray. It lives on there permanently. A simple, but very useful idea. To hell with it, vanity shot, ain't she perdy. 😁

My knee jerk reaction is "if you want to play bass, off you pop and join another band to do that" and "what am I supposed to do while you do that, play the effing triangle?"

My worst has literally happened in the last 15 hours. how did I discover this purchase? when eBay sent a payment reminder. god love p*ssed me…

I thought I’d update you, as I know you’d all be worried. It lives! Copious amounts of switch cleaner and much pot twiddling appears to have cured the crackles and volume drops. Phew.

The real tricky part is the fact she’s the drummer's wife. I avoid playing in bands that have a ‘couple’ in their ranks after a particularly bad experience. What’s best for the band quickly goes out the window, I found.

Tell her you've got a new song for the setlist

Well, why, of course - I mean, bass is so easy, anyone can do it. There's only four strings for a start, and all they do is play the first note of each chord 😬👍

TBF when you've had a skin full they are pretty cute

Look, it's really very simple. They make StingRays and Sterlings. The Sterling is a 4 string version of the 5 string StingRay. They also made a 5 string Sterling, so a 5 string version of the 4 string version of the 5 string StingRay. Their budget line is called Sterling by MusicMan, which have nothing to do with the Sterling. Unless it's a Sterling by Sterling by MusicMan. Sterling by MusicMan also make StingRays, so it's a StingRay by Sterling by MusicMan. They also make a Ray34 (4 string, unless it's a 5 string) and a Ray35 (5 string unless it's a 4 string) They used to make the S.U.B. but everyone liked them so they stopped, then they made the SUB which is a different thing to the S.U.B. They also make the bongo, which isn't a bongo, it's a Bass and looks like HR Giger and Hieronymus Bosch had a bet as to who could make the ugliest thing and they both won. Hope that clears things up!

The name of the band - thankfully I don’t have to live up to that name or there’d be no-one in the pub 🤣 The white bass is an ACG TKO Classic - quite the beast of an instrument. 30.5” scale, limba body with figured ash top, ash neck with rock lite “ebony” fingerboard. ACG pickups styled on a J and a P, passive volume tone 4 way selector switch (J, both parallel, both series, P). It’s a rock machine!

No G-string jokes please!

It has to be said… PARKLIFE

OMG thank you so much guys. I wasn't expecting such a response. I will PM you all.. The legend that is Happy Jack has offered to loan me a bass. Thanks Mick. Im in Worcestershire btw.

Happy Christmas one and all, It's official, it's time to have a listen to the Basschat collective offering for the annual cover song challenge. Some of these have been recorded during the year and some have been recorded for the challenge, but they are all just a celebration for the end of term. Normal voting rules apply, choose your favourite 3, and the winner gets the kudos of printing one of Douglas's iconic certificates. 1 @sammybee My effort is a cover of Tom Misch's - It Runs Through Me recorded by my daughter and I earlier this year this is a Temporary link to the challenge thread I will update in due course 2 @Dad3353 As it's all we have from this past year, here's a medley of 'punter's' videos, taken at our rare outing, 3 @AndyTravis It DOES have to be a Christmas track 😂 4 @ezbass A recorded rehearsal with my band from earlier this year. A rough recording, even more roughly mastered in GarageBand (I don't know what I'm doing really). 5 @Leonard Smalls For the cover challenge I thought I'd do a completely original song wot is all my own work. Any similarity to the Sylvester disco classic with a very similar name is purely co-incidental! This also features my wife on backing vox! 6 @Nail Soup This is a song I've been meaning to cover for a couple of years now, but never found an approach I've been happy with - until now 7 @MoonBassAlpha I've chosen the Kula Shaker tune Start All Over from their "K" album, as it's got a Beatles - like vibe, and I thought my friend Rob would enjoy singing it (massive Beatles fan) With invaluable input from Phil Beavis (organ) and Paul Ibbott (Horn section), the guitar, bass, backing vocals and drums are me. Tried to keep this fairly close to the original this time, subject to my own limitations! 8 @SH73 I decided to cover the Blade Runner 1982 soundtrack the end song that has been used as an intro on Somewhere on Tour in 86 and The Future Past Tour in 2023 9 @upside downer I've recorded a version of the Pink Panther theme using the arrangement that the superb Russian surf-pop band Messer Chups use on their track Pink Pantheratu 10 Lurksalot I got Lurksalittle to help out on this one 11 @skankdelvar What ho! It's an old Joe Jackson song that's got nowt to do with Christmas and featuring Mr Gordon Gecko. 12 @BreadBin late entry A great way to end the recording year , I've really enjoyed it and look forward to doing it all again next year. 3 votes each, voting will finish at midnight on the last day of the year. Cheers , Salut , Nostrovia and Slainte Mhath

What has been your favourite band discovery this year? New or old band but new to you. For me it's Brutus. I saw them at Arctangent festival and they blew my mind. Interesting and original metal music. The singer/drummer is one of the most talented people I've ever seen live and the rest of the band are great as well.

It's a difficult thing to manage. You don't talk about a band leader but if one of this couple are the band leader then you have a problem. I'm also suspecting that up in Barnstaple there aren't huge numbers of gigging bands so if it got heated you'd be pushed into the wilderness. On the surface it's simple, you clearly don't want to share bass playing duties and why should you? You've learned all the songs and taken part in all the rehearsals and everything else being in a band entails just so you can be the bass player. It's the only reason you are there and committed to the enterprise. I actually think it's a really rotten thing to have asked you to step aside even for one song. In terms of the band if she isn't a decent keys player she could put her efforts into improving her keys for a better return for the team. I don't know the people, it's maybe she is just keen and naive, not thinking about how it would affect anyone else and innocent of band dynamics. Maybe just saying you really care about this and how being the bands bassist is really important to you will give her pause for thought. We've a young singer who is really enthusiastic and fires off ideas all the time, it's hard to know when to kill off the slightly loony ideas and when to indulge the enthusiasm. I think killing this off early would be my approach. The situation can only get more tense if nobody is talking about it. How does your fourth band member feel? Maybe the drummer can intervene. Who should you talk to first? Just be polite and say politely that you just aren't going to share bass duties. If it's a happy band they will understand, if not then do you really want to be there and steadily undermined?

Now that's a review!!

I'm Spasticus Ian Dury & Blockheads Beaten to it by DCS222 and he got the title right.

Spasticus Autisticus - Ian Dury and the Blockheads

Interesting amount of negative responses here! I work often in a covers band where one of the singers is a bassist-in-progress to whom i give a lesson every now and then. Sometimes I get her to play a tune or two on the gig just for fun... no harm in being supportive of someone who has taken interest in the finest of instruments!

say yes, but only if you can play the drums.

Tell her you want to play keys on a few songs?

Our guitarist has the lead version. It was one of Hugh Mansons early guitars. Mike had it custom made by Hugh in a black/white diagonal paint job and it’s been his main guitar ever since….. that was around 40yrs ago I think…. This picture was 10yrs ago….. I miss those Schecter Model Ts I was using then.

Mango In the Night - Fleetwood Mac

I remember seeing one up in London a few times. Just hanging on the wall in one of the shops in Denmark Street. It was there for yonks. Couldn't even tell you what colour it was, but I do remember it had diagonal stripes on it, which on closer inspection turned out to be wide strips of electrical tape. The bassist in NWOBHM band Rock Goddess played one:

Maybe it’s similar to that naked butler thing? 😆 Just call Matt on 07……..

Bubinga, when you have been contributing the fantastic ideas and input you have for so long to this site, we should contribute something to you right now, even if it's just creative thought and positive ideas. Stick with it....we will be with you all the way