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Hi everyone I just picked this beast of a guy up from JayDee yesterday....he wanted to say hello... Cheers!

I’m going to write to the government or the police. That when there is film of a live band - there must be, by law, at least a 5 second shot of the bass including headstock close up. im not unreasonable I don’t expect a caption of what make and year it is, just a proper shot of the bass the amount of time I’ve seen some interesting bass on a video but not seen all of it is criminal yours faithfully Seymour Bass

It has arrived, great timing too, I'm in the studio this week. It's bloody light, feels amazing and I can't wait to plug it in!

I've had a good laugh at this thread! On thinking back over an up and down music career spanning about 50 years, there are many Spinal Tap moments. Oddly enough the first three that came into my mind were all drummer related so these are the ones I will tell. First, back to the summer of 75 or 76. Band formed whilst still at school are playing an open air gig. The stage is about six feet off the ground and is set up in a field. There are a couple of bands and a DJ on. We are the first band. Our very cool drummer with the blue octagonal shades and the permed hair is set up at the back of the stage and it turns out his main drum stool foot is perilously "close to the edge". He counts us in with a vocal count and stick clicks - One, Two, Three, Arghh... And just like that, he's not there - nowhere to be seen. Found him slightly dazed and confused lying flat on his back in the grass with his stool on top of him. Number two - different band - different drummer. Social club gig. Second set. Playing away maybe two songs in, drummer is undoing the wing nut at the top of one of his cymbals in the middle of the song. He gets it off and throws it to the ground. Crash, indeed. We finish the song. "Bill, what are you doing? We've got half an hour still." "I don't like these" Counts the next song in and does the same thing with another cymbal. Crash again, not to mention the erratic parts and timing necessitated by this apparently urgent disassembly. "I hate cymbals" Starts muttering. Counts in the next song. Any further enquiries were met with "I can't hear you, I've got a fish in my ear" Last to go were the hi hats. did about the last four or five songs with just the drums and then packed out and left without exchanging a word with any of us. The next night's gig he didn't turn up at all and that was the last we saw of him. His wife contacted us and told us he was having issues and we shouldn't expect him back. I heard he worked his way through it all so I don't mind telling the tale. Number three same band but different drummer. Band has morphed into a seven piece cabaret/ dance band playing all the hits of the day and the day before. We're in a town hall type gig - big stage, slightly sloping forward, four foot drop onto the crowded dance floor. Flashy drummer has a big kit, roto toms, loads of cymbals and just to his right a massive gong hanging on a big tubular chrome stand. Now he's not daft - he doesn't use it all the time- no, no ,no - just for effect, you understand... Anyway towards the end of the night and at the end of some overblown song or another- can't remember which - he gives this thing an almighty wallop. It swings backwards with such gusto that something happens to sever it's connection with it's stand and it crashes literally onto the ground. But somehow it's not done yet. It has managed to land on it's edge and due to the slope is now making it's way forward. It comes off the drum riser in the gap between the kit and my big Acoustic 371 rig, knocks my spare bass off it's stand and keeps going, gaining speed all the time. It was one of those moments when time seems to have slowed down but you seem to be unable to do anything but watch it all unfold. When it reaches the front of the stage, it does a kind of ski jump off the foot of a mic stand and launches itself onto the floor and into the crowd who are now scattering in all directions from it's path which ends with the first table it hits, spilling all the drinks and generally ruining everyone's night. But the sound it made was amazing.

Occasionally, I used to stand-in for a mate's blues/rock cover band when they were without a bassist or drummer. On one such occasion, they were playing at a bar which had recently re-opened after lengthy and extensive refurbishment, a place trying to rebuild a client base. Most of the set was to one disinterested oul fella. He left, after a while, leaving only the barman. Then he disappeared too, and we played on to an empty room. The drummer decided he needed to pee quite badly, so went off to find the loo which, as it turned out, was two floors up and badly signposted. We three stood there for quite a while like absolute dopes, on a stage in an otherwise empty room, in total silence. When he eventually came back, the barman returned too, perhaps he had asked him for directions, so we started another song, at which point my old Peavey MKII let out a mournful wail and died which, mercifully, signalled the end of the evening.

We filmed the promo video for our amazing new Doobie Brothers theatre tribute show 'The Doobie Experience' yesterday on the big live stage at KKs Steel Mill, Wolverhampton. It was wonderful to play with so many fantastic singers & musicians and hear ourselves at volume. It's a big band - 9 of us, including 3 piece brass section and percussionist..... lot of harmony vocals and killer grooves/riffs. Bucket list type band/line-up for me.... 💜 Broke out my 'RonnieBarker' Ricky copy and my 1976 Spector SB1 (closest visually I own to a very early Alembic Series I bass) for some kind of authenticity....

Hey guys, I had been hoping ever since the inception of the ME range that they would eventually offer the Modern, as the German/Japanese models have always been rather expensive. So, I’d been keeping an eye on them to show up in stock on Thomann and pulled the trigger last week. Annoyingly they don’t help themselves by only having rendered images on the website, in fact it’s nearly impossible to find a decent photo or video (aside from the official release video) of them currently. I might even be in the very small amount of bassists here who even have one😂 First impressions so far have been great, loving the almost Spector-like tone with both pick ups. The only little niggle has been a high fret up in the dusty end which will be dealt with soon, otherwise it’s been a very easy bass to set up with a lovely low action. I’m thinking black hardware is the next step😏

A couple more: The first one happened to a drummer I was briefly in a band with. His first gig was in his school assembly and he had a very basic kit consisting of a snare, kick, hi-hat and one crash cymbal. He didn't have a stand for the crash, so he tied it to the stage lighting rig with a loooong piece of string. In the first song, he hit the crash with some vigour and watched as it swung away from him. And then watched with horror as it swung back towards him with equal vigour. The pendulum effect, I believe it is called. Second one happened to me in my previous life as a GITarist. The band I was in were asked to play as part of a multi band line up for a charity night at a large club. It had a lovely stage and between songs the curtain would come down so the bands could swap over. We played, it was good. We finished and as I went to get my little effects board, the curtains closed - behind me. Guitar and effects board in hand and in front of several hundred people, I desperately tried to find the split in the curtains. Did I achieve this with style and coolness? No. I flapped and swished the curtain, pulled at the folds, paced up and down the stage. Just me. Finally one of the band members opened the gap in the curtains to let me through.

It could have been worse. I'm at the age where if you sneeze anything could happen. Daryl

Bendricks Rock at the green rooms tonight. First rehearsal after playing seven gigs in quick succession, then nothing dince early November Two new tunes. We were surprised how well Hysteria went (well we got through it a few times and all ended together) but a few rough edges to knock off. New Sensstion, INXS song, was pretty much on point. We also revived Gasoline (Audioslave). Practiced some other stuff, some good, some had become a bit ragged, and felt What is and What Should Never Be went really well and shows our potential. We finished by creating a medley of the Batman theme and Sex Bomb.

If one of my kids made that, I'd be impressed but I'd still hide it away in the loft.

I did lights for the SU for my first year at Sheffield Hallam. Thouroughly enjoyed it, but it ate into too much drinking time so I packed it in after a year. We had a sort of regular rotation of bands so you got to know the faces after a while, unfortunately no-one who went on to be huge so I can't say "I did lights for X at my SU". I ramble... I found the smoke machine one day and thought it would be a giggle to plug it into the desk and out of the patch box on stage for one of the usual rock bands. After the gig the singer came up to me and said "Nice lighting effects this evening Si, but next time, please, no bloody fog, we're not a f******ing goth band!" Apparently the guitarist had gone for a bit of a wander around the stage and nearly come a cropper off the edge in the mist. Oops.

Oh, two more. Back in the early 2000s my band was playing a local pub. The drummist had invited down a hot slightly older lady to try to impress. He got very, very drunk, and proceeded to show off as best he could on the drums. Come the end of the first set, he stood up to do a big drum fill whilst getting her attention, farted and promptly followed through. The look on his eyes as he realised what he’d done will never leave me… Fast forward to a year or so back, I play in a “rock band for kids”, where we do rocked-up nursery rhymes, modern pop songs, lots of interaction with rhythm sticks, scarves, parachutes, bubbles, actions etc…One song - I can’t remember which - the singer would fill up a small bubble machine in the shape of a fish. Normally she would go out amongst the kids as they all try to catch the bubbles etc (kids are easily pleased). This particular gig we had a dep singer, who had done enough previous gigs with us to know what to do. “Let’s get the bubbles out” she says, as she picked up the fish. And then promptly stood stock still, holding it (switched off) whilst singing the entire song, with all the kids looking decidedly bewildered, wondering what was going on. Then she put it back down and we played the Hokey Cokey. We haven’t let her forget it.

c**** are still running the world. Jarvis Cocker

Looking forward to seeing everyone there over the weekend, come and say hello

One of my early gigs with my old function band was at a hotel in Grimsby. As it was an 8 piece band and the stage was only a small recess in a wall near the dance floor, it was me, the drummer and keyboard player who squeezed onto it, leaving the brass section, guitarist and the singer to ‘work the floor’. Our recently acquired smoke machine was usually operated by the one of the sax players, but as the lead with the ‘on’ switch wasn’t long enough to reach him, I was given the task of using it. Very few punters dancing at this point, with most of them still in the dining room nearby, so I thought I’d see how hazy I could make it, egged on by the brass players and of course copious amounts of alcohol from the free bar. A short while afterwards I saw a couple of old people wander in, dressed in their pyjamas and nightwear. A few more then appeared in similar attire, and I wondered if it was a themed fancy dress do or something. Then next to appear were a couple of guys dressed as firemen, which I thought was even more bizarre, until I realised that the smoke had triggered off an alarm in reception which was linked to the fire brigade. The people in nightwear were guests asleep upstairs and were woken to be told to evacuate the hotel by the firemen, who came over to us to advise us to do the same until they could determine the whereabouts of the fire/ smoke. It was then that the penny dropped and they realised what had triggered the fire alarms, and gave us a lot of grief ( quite rightly too) about their unnecessary call out. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful after that, and needless to say the band never played there again.

In other news from Bass_dinger Towers, a setup followed a slight repair ( replacement neck and refinish) to this 2023-purchased bag of bassy bits... ....resulting in this barely-distinguishable-from-original finished article... Repairs and setups are within the rules, I think....

Now sorted. Following the very sad news about Nick Smith, Genesis Connected are looking for a bass player who is based reasonably close to Northampton. This is a professionally run band playing lovely venues and the pay reflects the standard and commitment required. Please message me if you're interested. Thanks Tom

Levy's reversible...orange and blue.

We did a gig in a WMC. We always did like curtains - just great for the occasional prank. On this occasion I set up my Traynor 400w head and 2x 15" cab behind the back curtain. In front of the curtain was a tiny 6" practice amp on a chair, with a lead connecting the two. I was chuckling all night 😁

CX210 picked up and at home!! How is this thing only 200w (ish can’t remember specs) into this 8ohm cab? Jeez it’s loud. @ossyrocks will hopefully appreciate the cab is wider than the amp, we don’t want that top heavy nonsense do we?

…but they have just officially announced the full supporting line up… BLIMEY!!!!! Three of my all time favourite artists together on one bill, and all ones I have yet to see in concert. I’m totally blown away by this line up. I saw a rumour about it last week but didn’t want to get my hopes up without an official announcement. Well, that’s “Trevor’s GIG OF THE YEAR” settled six months in advance.

What's The MAGA — Ian Gillan

ELO AND Doobie Brothers - two of my faves right there! Good job I already had a ticket...... Even better I'm probably working it backstage during the day and watching from out front by the time the Doobs hit the stage 💜

There was the time I was playing in a cabaret band doing a season at Butlin's. We had just started a song when I sneezed. Next thing I notice the goop slowly running down the back of my plucking hand (ew!). A casual stroll to the back of the stage, a quick wipe on the back curtains and I didn't miss a beat!

Here you go

I played a biker festival in Germany, and the support act was a female stripper. Rather awkward when she walked offstage and past us. "Great set" didn't really seem right (or maybe it was). Worst part (for a shy retiring type) was, when we finished. The audience were howling for an encore (from her) and we had to pack up as she gyrated around us.

IIRC From the French verb savoir, meaning “to know” I am also a savant, not yet sure of what exactly yet though ….

We used to do a gig in Tipton in the Midlands, part of the 'Black Country tour bus' route. This is basically bus companies that fill a bus with hen, stag, and group outings and drive them to iconic bubs around the Black Country. we would set up sound check and then sit around until the gaffer told us a bus would be pulling up in 5 minutes. As the doors opened we would start our set. They would stay about 30mins or so and we would stop and wait for the next bus. Maybe 6 a night. One night there was a bus with a female biker crew arrived. They had clearly been to a few venues and were well on it. we played a few crowd-pleasers etc. As the bus driver gave them their 5-minute to departure call. It turned into a scene from 'dusk till dawn ' several of the party started to undress and join us on stage. It was shocking and not in a good way. Their bits were dragging on the floor and flapping about. I remember a few kept shouting "It's just a laugh" The most Spinal Tap moment I've ever experienced

I play or have played both in bands and I can get away with some lead solos etc but that’s my limit I’m an excellent rythmn guitarist and I was a half decent rock bassist certainly good enough for all the bands I was part of over a 40yr period. The bass always felt the right instrument for me ( I’m a big tall guy and the bass feels more in proportion to my frame if that makes sense whereas I feel I dwarf a guitar a little ! So I would say the two overlap nicely if you put in the effort on both as they need differing skills and where your place is in a band etc

Yeah, I don't need a guitarist for that, I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself...

Fairport Convention this evening.

Tier 2 fail on torture implements though. Bagpipes would be a tier 1.

before I forget , I need to uphold tradition while Dad is on sabbatical .... And the winners are @Leonard Smalls and @upside downer I haven't sussed out how to post a link to the PDF to print it off , but will do by next month hopefully

Pretty cold rehearsal on Sunday, I had to wear my fleece and warm the strings up between songs. The main atrium at the rehearsal studios (Eiger in Leeds) was toasty warm but the room we were in was freezing. Good rehearsal though. We decided that although Sledgehammer sounds great it's probably too slow for either of our sets, so it's one we might have a go at as a bit of fun in the future. Alright by Supergrass came together pretty quickly, and after only a couple of run throughs we decided that if we can nail it at our next practice in a couple of weeks then it'll be in the set at our first gig of the year on 15th March. We also decided that having a go at Start by The Jam would be on the cards too, although we'll have to figure something out for our keyboardist to do during that other than chipping in with some backing vocals. Our usual place is booked up the only weekend we can do between now and the gig, so we're going to try the Old Chapel in Holbeck as an alternative. It's cheaper and looks better appointed, so fingers crossed. I'm also looking forward to seeing how ridiculous my Elf head looks on top of the Ashdown 8x10 cabs they supply!

I've got a couple of Warwick basses that I gig regular and the batteries are 4 and 6 years old (I put the month/year date on when I install). I know this as I took them out and did a test on them to see how they were doing... well over 9v on both of them but I replaced the 6 year old battery any way.

Think we've strayed a little off topic.... So getting back to the "Here I Am Then & Now, How About You" post...

7 days to go... if there are no further delays...

Another dep gig with the Lee Aaron Band last night, this time in Bracknell. First time out with the LFSys demo Monaco cab which performed admirably with my Spector/GK combination. Tight, focused tone and sounded great! Great audience, up and dancing & singing from the off.... great fun 😎👍

Had our nearest gig to home last night, at the Assembly Rooms in Ludlow with Kidderminster's finest, Humdrum Express... Sound was good, we were above average - nobody even threatened us! It was our drummer's last gig so we were out to have some fun - this was helped by a large Jim Beam on mounting the stage. We also did our longest set for a while, a whole 55 minutes including two covers (our Magazine tinged version of Dead Kennedy's "Moon Over Marin" and the Cameo mash=up of Penetration's classic "Don't Dictate) - there were a few OG punks singing along raucously to these as advancing years had stopped the stage diving... I even did a whole 2 minute reverby bass solo as intro to our first song (mainly cos Mr Guitar had gone for a piddle so had to cover!). gear was ACG Recurve, Helix, BBEPre/DBX compressor, Crown power and Markbass 4x10. Boots were MotoMartin bike boots, trousers by Indian Project, home-time dram was a rather fine Machrie Moor cask strength.

Not a bad gig. We had a respectable crowd. A little over 50 people. I think that's pretty good considering we're really not a "pay at the door" band. Nice room, however the sound and lighting looked vintage 1979. But we made it work. The band was sounding good tonight. I couldn't get any decent pics. I did see that Peter Asher and Alvin Lee played there not to long ago. So we were in very good company. Daryl Daryl