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She is currently with Fury, who supported Metallica Unloaded tribute at Torquay Arena tonight. I only caught the end of the Fury set. But I told her she's brilliant and that I play bass too. Yay!

So I've been pretty much a full time P bass/flats player since i started in bands. Ive had a few flirts with Jazzes and once upon a time a burns bison bass but always come back to the P. Over the years I've had a few basses I've always loved the look of a few others (i still think a Spector Euro in Gloss Black and gold hardware is one of the best looking basses) and had mixed reactions when finally getting hold of them. Now, my main 'always wanted' bass is an original Ric 4005 but finances just cant justify even the reissues but i developed a ric itch. Fast forward to last week and my daily trawl of the usual sites took me to Bass Bros where the had a few ricks in. I love fireglo but to me the newer ones have a sort of 'washed out' or 'bleached' look. Then i saw it - a 1998 Ric 4003 with just the right mojo and for what i thought was a reasonable price - i had to have it! Today, after being ordered late Friday evening she showed up in her rickenbacker hard case and she looks absolutely glorious. After years of P's ill need time to adjust and ill need to get her off to the fixers for a set up with my usual strings when they are in stock but here's a few teaser pics in the meantime.

A lot of the gigs I have been playing recently are with my rick 5 string 4004, I thought about getting a 5 string 4003 made. i looked into it but ultimately you end up paying the same as a real s/h ric for the same price so I decided to just get a normal 4003 and see if I got on with it. So that turned up today, a matte 4003s - I have a practice tomorrow so I get to hear what it sounds like, but I need to go through my normal set and try and adapt to having a string missing. Traditionaly it has never worked, and I ended up ignoring the 4, but we shall see- its a bit harder to convert a 4003 to a 5 string with the bridge! First impressions are good, apart from the obvious lack of strings! Anyway, useless without pictures, so here we are

Great gig last night. A long long day and all for charity. 7 tribute artists across three back line bands. The event was sold out a couple of hours before doors. Line up was Bon Jovi (Jon Bovi), Alanis Morissette, Elton John, ABBA, Elvis, David Bowie (ChangesTwoBowie) & Queen (Queenage) - plus encores from 4 of them. I played Bowie and Queen plus the encore set. It's nice to get paid, but to have an audience go this nuts for the songs they love, I'd do it again tomorrow. A truly remarkable ensemble who I'm honoured to have as friends. Not sure what the final total is yet, but I'm expecting it to be lots of thousands.

We had a great night with a great crowd at The Bend Theatre opening for Reverend Raven. We sold 230 tickets $18.00-$20.00. The place only holds 300. We played from 7:30- 8:30. I could tell from the sound check that were clicking on all 6 cylinders. I got mobbed in the lobby as I was leaving.lol Daryl

I've just got back from Islington after collecting this monster that I bought 6 weeks ago. I'd given up on finding one years ago. I've gigged a 12 in the past, I've played "those" songs live, I've seen Cheap Trick a few times, I've seen Tom Petersson guesting with Pearl Jam playing Surrender in the US, I've been chasing one of these for years. It's a 1999 B12L and it's like New Old Stock. It's pristine. @Wolverinebass has given me some great pointers for biamping via the HXStomp and shared patches that I've already trialled with 4-string Spectors. It's the first set-neck bass I've ever had, apropos of nothing, just saying. It needs a set up, it'll get new strings in the morning and then I'll see what it can do. It's relatively light for such a thing @9.5lb. No idea of neck dive yet. That's the original Hamer case and the original certificate with serial number is in there. More pics and updates as the week progresses.

18:40 tonight sat on the sofa wondering whether to get on with some private work while wifey watched the football or some cr@p horror movie on Amazon. 18:44 Facebook message “are you free tonight our bass player just cried off sick?” 19:15 car loaded and on the road to the gig which was thankfully only a few miles down the road. I depped with the band last probably 8-10 years ago so there were some standards in the set and a few I had heard but not played. I took my iPad and found a few on iReal, the rest it was watching the guitarist or keyboard players left hand and busk it. No major clangers and a good drummer (also a dep but has been doing a few with them so he was up to speed) who was easy to lock in with. The keyboard player chucked in a final one not discussed but I sort of knew it and it was pretty straightforward so got through ok. We talked through the set before each one, did a quick yes/no/swap out and call keys during and “no one died” 😁 Only a smallish crowd but they were enjoying themselves and dancing so all in all what was going to be a quiet night in became an unexpected night out playing a load of songs I’d not done in a while, or ever. FrankenJazz, Helix Effects, Aguilar Tonehammer 350 and BF BigBaby2

Correct, this is my work. Good question and I agree (in general) somewhat, but we now have 3 different hybrid models, and all 3 are very different from each other in tone, texture and feel. The WD-800 is modeled after the Walkabout, with the updates that many players asked for, this amp is modeled after the Bass 400+ with significant player driven updates as well. I spend most of my time over at TalkBass, there were over 300 players over there that provided input on what they would like to see if we were to do an amp like this, and a LOT of the suggestions made it into the final version. Here's a link to the thread, there are informative comments and a couple of our test players have contributed to the thread, including some gig videos. For a (refreshing to me) change, we deemphesized the obligatory bass slap w**ker videos because that's not representative of real life, and instead are focusing on gig and studio demos. I would expect there to be more of these in the next week or two, once players receive their amps. I also begged for better EU access to these amps (we all share your frustration), and it looks like making a fool of myself groveling may have produced results! Thomann says they will have them available within the week on their website. Here's a link to the thread: (sorry, link won't embed) Here's a link to the owner's manual: https://www.gibson.com/cdn/shop/files/MESA_Boogie_Bass-800D_Product_Manual.pdf?v=14438764719515208578

We opened the Swindon Shuffle’s Friday Night at The Castle in Old Town last night. Arriving in good time to see the headliner’s soundcheck, I was immediately taken by the bassists sound. Very dubby. He had his back to me and when he turned around, he was playing with a pick, right up by the bridge! It was a Genz Benz amp and every time I hear one of those, they sound fantastic. We were the first of five bands and I think were given this slot as we’re just a duo. I would be too polite to argue but a few people suggested we should have been higher up the bill. In many respects though, it was one of the better slots. I had my 2008 USA Fender Jazz that was going through my board. Doing as the soundman wanted, he had me go through the Genz Benz amp and it sounded great. We did an all original set with the keys / drums on the iPad. Some soundmen struggle, with this set up but the guy last night clearly knew his way around the desk and the sound both on and off stage was glorious. We let the music do the talking but still had a bit of banter with the audience. We held the audience throughout our 30 minute set, something some of the other acts didn’t manage. Introducing two new songs and a few favourites, the time flew. At the end, I thanked everyone, only for the track to loop and start up again. I quickly stopped it and said “So sorry, you didn’t ask for an encore!” which I think endeared us further. I thought we played well. My lead vocals (I am not the main singer) are definitely gaining confidence and I am falling in love with my Jazz bass all over. A great night.

We got a couple of pro shots from the night before, courtesy of Pacific Curd, so I thought I’d share one. Moving swiftly on to last night, we did a home town “Early Halloween Special” at the Cellar Bar in Devizes. Ahead of our next single, “Gloss”, coming out this Friday, we went all out on the makeup. At the risk of looking like a Temu Pennywise, I liked this pic… We were supporting the fantastic JP Oldfield who does a Johnny Cash type thing. I had my 57Ri P-bass through my board with a Boss IR2. Again, we played well and I enjoyed it. We did £70 in merch sales, which is a record for us. An hour of mostly original music, it rounded off what has been a really great weekend.

The annual Ride to the Wall happens today, and as the Wall in question is about 15 miles from Tamworth, some people ride up the day before and stay in hotels. One of those hotels was the Liberal House, where one of my bands (appropriately, The Bonnevilles) finished up playing. I started to set up and realised that I'd managed to forget my amp - I'm used to getting all of the gear out of the garage and as I don't do the PA for The Bonnevilles, I'd got distracted by moving the bits I didn't need out of the way. Still, it was only a 15 minute round trip to pick it up. We had to fit into an alcove so tiny that the guitarist finished up outside it, and the drummer was sitting on the bench seat in the alcove, as was my cab (on its side). I'd brought a headed bass - rather stupidly, I didn't think to pick up a headless when I went back for the amp. Audience was mainly bikers ("They like both kinds of music - rhythm AND blues"), a large proportion of whom were wearing fleeces/trackies with RCT RIDERS emblazoned on them - Royal Corps of Transport. Mrs Zero sat and talked with some of them - it was the first time she'd seen me with The Bonnevilles, her hip replacement had rather interfered with coming to see us before. All went well, though because the bikers had to get up early, a lot of them buggered off to bed before we finished at spot on 11. Gear: Antoniotsai 5-string dragon bass -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-60B+ -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> supine GR Bass AT212. Footwear as usual but damper than normal.

An almighty trip to the other end of the country for an Eagles tribute show in Newbury. Beautiful venue, and an appreciative crowd. Nice to bump into BC’s very own @alant!

I've wanted one of these since they first appeared so seeing a used one at Guitar Guitar the other day I had to have it. Anyway the bass arrived at tea time and I took it straight to band rehearsal and unsurprisingly it acquitted itself brilliantly. What a bass - tonally its right up my street and the Neve 2EQ sounds terrific - though GG shipped it with a couple of dud batteries so I noodled around on it in passive mode till I could put 2 x9v in there. Love the magnetic battery cover btw! Love the neck too - and the fit and finish is top drawer. Whats not to like?

Quiet couple of weeks for me, our annual 2 weeks blanking the duo’s diary for holidays etc. However, I’ve had a couple of gigs this weekend with friends. First one was my favourite boozer, The Sun Inn in Beverley on Saturday evening, depping with a band of mates in their dad rock band. Absolutely torrential rain so expected it to be quiet but by 9pm we had a nearly full pub when we started. It was one of those gigs that didn’t really gel for some reason - guitarists struggled a bit, and it was a bit too loud towards the end. Still, went down well so job done I guess. Played my P-Lyte into the Rumble 500 combo. Then yesterday it was playing at a memorial gig for a good friend Lynn Blakeston ( Blako ) who died in April. This was in a local civic hall, with a big PA and backline / kit supplied. Plenty of acts / bands lined up to play, and of course we were on last ( bit annoying because we all arrived early but hey ho). I was playing with an old Hull band called ‘Uncle Sam’ who were an early country rock band in the mid to late 70’s. Four original members plus myself. John Cambridge on drums ( ex-Bowie) and Steve Lee on lead vocals ( also a writer / multi instrumentalist with a CV including Joan Armatrading, Lionel Richie, Will Young, Then Jericho). Steve came up from London for the gig, and was amazing - a pleasure to play with such a talented singer. I used my 63 Precision which had done a lot of gigs with Blako so seemed fitting. Used the house HA5000 / 410 which was fine. We did eight songs, including stuff from Poco, The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt and went down well, with a few dancers at the front and a good reception from the rest of the audience who were mainly made up of musicians. Despite the sadness of the occasion it was still good to see loads of people I’ve not seen for ages, and we all agreed we’d have to do it again in happier circumstances.

A busy week so this is a bit late. Last Tuesday Simply Blu (not my idea!) played to packed house of over 120 with extra chairs crammed into the corners and we had a great night. We normally play summer bluegrass festivals that are mostly open air and this was the first time we have played in a hall. Some debate amongst the organizers if this was the biggest crowd they have had since starting monthly concerts in 2017 so we were very happy with the turnout that included some friends and family and a whole bunch of bluegrass fans and some who were just regular attendees. We were up for it and from the opening notes of Freeborn Man until the last chord of our encore we put on a good show. We played a set of about 70 minutes and took a short break before another good hour of energetic bluegrass and the crowd loved it. The band members are scattered over a large area so our only rehearsal was on the Sunday before the gig, first time together since early August but it came together fast. These guys are fantastic musicians and I am lucky to be playing with them, I joined the band almost 4 years ago when the leader saw me playing with a jazz band and asked if I had ever played bluegrass. The answer was "no but I'll give it a go" and it has turned out to be great fun and a good learning experience. Given the setting we decided to abandon the usual laid back festival approach and went with energy and entertainment in mind and it worked. Lots of amazing solos throughout the show but the only bass solo was in I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome where I tossed is nice gliss on the G string and apparently got the most applause of the night for a solo. I'm not a great bass player but sometimes a schticky lick will fool most of the people! A memorable night.😄 Not the best photo but it's all I have now...

Picked this up (literally and factually) today - but only just Trace elliot gp12 smx 410 combo What an absolute beast. I've always wanted one of these. All the bands in pubs when I first started had one. And I longed for one... Ended up with a 100w commando amp instead Its a lost art. Lost to history if we are not careful. THIS is how bass amps used to be. What has happened with today's amps????!! (I'm a tonex IEM user so take with a pinch of salt). Everything has been done with care, the best materials and purely sound based. However it's aesthetically gorgeous too. Its absolutely a work of genius and has been built with real pride. It's built like a tank. Built to last (it's 32 years old and everything still works perfectly). It has everything you need. Mute switch Gain stage and led guide to correct gain. Passive active switch Input blend dial from pure solid state to valve preamp. 12 band eq. Switchable. Switchable 3 stage pre shapes. Graphic level dial. Low compression dial High compression dial. Eq balance dial. This is the same as the supposed new angled tilt dials on amps. Effects level dial. Effects input dial Send return DI Output level Earth lift. And what a sound! In excellent condition with the originally paperwork and warranty too! Gees, this is a proper amp! Long live the old amps!

At the Royal Mail Cart in Spalding. Smallish room, but jammed from the start. Great gig with loads of energy from the crowd. Decided to bring the Pedulla and it sounded great through the TE head. Justin boots as standard country band fare.

Back at the Exchange with Bendricks this time. Still tough to get the sound right in there, and rhythm guitarist said I was too loud, vocalist that I was too quiet... I struggled to hear myself well. First set was very poorly lit and I could barely see my neck dots... that caused a few minor bloopers, especially compounded with mushy sound due to all the hard surfaces. Second set we got the lights over us switched back on. Audience modest, probably because of storm Amy. In the second set drummer ran for the loo! Lead guitarist started jamming Parisienne walkways (which we haven't ever played together) and I joined in and vocalist jumped on the drums. Audience loved it. Drummer recovered and we got on with it. Had a couple of encores which I played with a pick for an experiment , Rock and Roll and War Pig.

Pub beer garden solo gig - yes it was outdoors - for a local Oktoberfest in the village. Despite the best efforts of Storm Amy all day the rain stayed away although the high winds didn’t do any favours to my sound and I was playing in the dark by the end. It was also a test of my lyrics knowledge as any paper cheat sheets blew off the stand within the first song and I had to step on them until the tune finished to save them ending up in the stream behind. Seemed to go down really well to be honest. I was set up a bit away from the main crowd who were busy with German sausages and proper German beer so I can’t fault them for staying where they were. But a few collared me afterwards to say how good they thought it was etc also that’s a bit of a result. The landlord has assured me I will progress next time to the hallowed ground of “indoors.” Gear was my Simon and Patrick with the Seymour Duncan woody, my A&H desk, Shure SM58 and a pair of Mackie SRM350s. Effects were a tuner, a compressor and a Boss EQ pedal. Earl Grey Tea was by Twinings.

Great local gig at dorking halls tonight (ok last night!) very enthusiastic audience , it wasn’t a sell out but not too many empty seats I think! . Hadn’t used the Wal for a while and it was great to ‘re connect’ with her. They really are amazing instruments. Pissing down on the load out and got a good soaking but it was worth it! X

We played a charity gig last night. Furthest one from home (about 1.5hrs). 40 min set in a town hall. can’t say it was mobbed but it was pretty fun. Used dark ray into my QC and the sound guy was chuffed. Random amp onstage for DI (which was set flat). Some weird screaming from my IEMs and my guitarist seemed to lose his guitar in his mix. We haven’t figured why… Overall, happy!

Last night was at Bridgeness Bowling Club in Boness with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band. Played it last year and the organiser booked us that night but last night wasn't so busy. Apparently there was an all day beer festival on in the town but still busy enough to have a decent audience. We had scattered dancers up from early on but the floor fillers didn't happen until the drink kicked in. We even had a group of "young ladies" celebrating a 21st birthday party so that helped the party move along. First gig in 5wks and i expected us to be a bit rusty but all went really well. My usual gear :- Sandberg VM4 MarloweDK (back up bass) Shure wireless Keeley Comp. Handbox WB-100 BF 212 cab Jamman for sound effects samples thru a GK MB200 as a pre-amp direct to PA Last night i was mainly wearing the blue outfit for first set and purple for 2nd set with my trusty old platform boots. Using our new PA guy last night again as we hope to use him every gig next year to save us a lot of work. Next gig end of Oct. These long breaks are a nuisance as my plucking fingers are a tad aching this morning. Dave

Just back and having the usual tea and toast from our first ever gig at the famous wedgewood rooms in Pompey with the Phil Collins tribute. Geoff, the guy who is the main man there is such a gent! Super nice guy who has a fantastic team of people working for him. The sound lads were very friendly and professional and done a fab job for us. On stage sound was perfect and everyone said how good it was out front aswell. (11 piece outfit so not the easiest to sort out!) Got about 275 in there tonight which wasn’t bad for a first pop. Very appreciative audience and they said we are welcome to another gig there nxt year 😊. Used my GB spitfire 5 again, through my usual puma 900/ LFsys Monza rig, PA support obviously. All together a really fun experience.x

For me intent is everything. To take the piss in some way - bad. To honour the song / subject - good. A few words spoken before playing it will clarify intent for the audience. "We have been asked to play this song. It is one of the greatest protest songs ever written about a subject that doesn't get enough attention and we just hope we do it justice" Something like that.

Just got in after an excellent, but LOUD, gig with Katy Hurt at the Hogs Back Brewery Hop Harvest festival. Weather was changeable and literally 15 minutes before we were due on the heavens opened, but thankfully the rain stopped and the sun shone for our entire hour set. The lineup was eclectic but cool, naturally there was great beer, the crowd was superb, and the sound (onstage at least) was great, (except for the loud bit 😆). We played well on the whole, my ACG/Elf/Two10 rig was sounding mint, Gab played a blinder and Katy was in fine voice. Really enjoyed it, just wish I’d put my earplugs in…

So I thought it would be interesting (decide for yourself how interesting!) to document the setup of a new band... Read on if you want to, or don't if you don't. I've always wanted to have an 80s covers band. Ideally I would be the lead singer and bassist, alas my vocal chops just aren't there. I tried once in the past to set up a band using people found on joinmyband and other sources and it wasn't a great experience but a valuable one. Earlier this year my main band, a 2000s covers band, had a hiatus and the drummer and I cooked up a scheme to do something as a side project. This is one of the big lessons I learned a few years back: work with at least one person you already know! Well, that makes bass and drums... I contacted a guitarist I was in a band with four or five years back, I love his style and attitude and we have remained friends loosely keeping in touch, he was excited to join in. In the middle of August we met up with a handful of songs to bash through. I found it a real struggle to sing and play, my voice was knackered at the end of it, but we agreed we had something that worked and if we had a singer and ideally a keys or sax player we could really have something worth progressing. I got too excited and advertised for a singer much earlier than I had wanted to. I got a handful of responses: a guy aged 28 who sings modern metal, a classic rock vocalist in a covers band id heard of, a female singer who recently left an indie band, and a lady who only wants to do backing vox as she doesn't want to fully commit. I have not yet met the singers, we want to get the songs tight first. But we have rejected two of them already! Now, the lost of songs we are working on is a handful of "male" songs and two "female" songs. The classic rock singer contacted me to say words to the effect: "you do realise that Holding Out for a Hero is written for a girl??? You know it's about a Man???" That told me all I needed to know about this person. Didn't say "hey I might tweak the words" which I'm happy with, just basically came across a bit old fashioned and hinted he could be difficult to work with. Luckily, the recordings of heard of his vocals weren't great so I was comfortable saying we had better fit singers already. Also, he didn't notice, or at least raise, that "I wanna dance with somebody" is also a female perspective song. I have no issue if a man or woman wants to change the gender perspective of a song, or keep it. But we had not at this point said we want a male singer, or we want a female singer. We just wanted a good singer and to do good songs, so we have a mix. Anyways, onwards and upwards. In the meantime we wanted to get the songs tight but also I kept hearing sax in a lot of the great songs of the decade so I advertised for a sax player. I got a great response from a guy local to where we rehearse who plays sax and keys. I sent him the long-list of possible songs and five mins later got a reply of "f me that's my childhood!" And I just knew he would do for us. This week we met up again and invited our sax and keys player. We also had a friend come along to sing so I could concentrate on bass and arrangements. Magic happened. We did two or three runs through of each song, had a ten minute break for a chat. We instantly bonded with our new multi-instrumentalist: a decent person, a proper musician, and he LOVES the genre. There are still details to work out such as better transition to solos, proper endings of all these fade out songs, but we were really solid and the keys and or sax just really added something. It felt special. We will meet again in a few weeks' time, now with a handful more songs that really prominently feature the sax. Our best candidate for singer isn't available until mid October so hopefully we can be really tight by then and ready for him. I'm getting quite excited about this side project! Playing with a drummer and guitarist I know really helps, and striking gold with a chap who plays sax and keys is just sheer good fortune. More to come soon....

Great dep show last night at the lovely South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell with Duran/Spandau tribute 'From Gold To Rio'. Gear was my usual (with this show) of Spector Dimension HP4, Shure wireless/tuner, Thumpinator, EHX Signal Pad, HAZardlAMPS Pre and HX Stomp (GK head/Ampeg 810 sim), straight to the desk.... then back to my KZs & Sennheiser IEM system. Back up bass was my upgraded Spector Coda 4. Apparently it sounded great out front and the audience was very receptive. A fun night!

Deadlight Dance returned to the stage last night, supporting the excellent Sun Machine at The Tree House in Frome. Prior to the show, I took my 57RI P-bass into Kempsters in Swindon, to replace some dodgy pots. Amazing service as always with 80s style pricing, although he did “have to tell me” that he didn’t like my neon green strings! 😹 I also picked up a Pennywise stage mascot at HMV. Despite the AD200 Orange bass rig, I am actually running through just a board with the Boss IR2 as my “rig”. The Orange sounded incredible when Sun Machine were on and having owned the exact same setup, I didn’t miss it during the first floor load in. In fact I had 4 separate people ask me about my bass sound! I was also compared to Peter Hook and Simon Gallup, which for an originals based set is either a massive compliment or I need to get better at stealing! The sound guy Chris was amazing, Sun Machine were fantastic and there was not one diva style ego in the house. A respectably full room and everyone showed up to watch both bands. Coupled with the age friendly 10.30pm curfew and the competitively priced Guinness 0%, a superb evening. Nice to be back “home” on the bass too 😎

We, Siren, played at The Constitutional Club in Chippenham Saturday night, crowd was a little on the small side but they responded well and made it a good night. Used my TT800 and BF big twin II, chose to use my surf green MIM P Bass which sat very nicely in the mix - bloody hot in there!

1st actual gig with the 'A little more Gilmour' band https://alittlemoregilmour.com went well, I think....

Last night I played Drummonds in Aberdeen with The Inevitable Teaspoons. It was a good gig, not super busy but busy enough not to feel empty - Drummonds is a tough room if it's dead. We played well, and big props to the sound engineer, John - super smooth soundcheck, great FOH sound. After we finished, we got lots of nice comments, saying that we're tight and played well. A guy came up to me after we finished playing and he said (roughly paraphrasing) "You're a wizard on bass, mate, I play bass too, and you've inspired me". I was floored, that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me after a gig. Gear was the Greco LGB-700 and the venue's Trace Elliot backline.

Must keep away from the Gardiner Houlgate auctions, they're a dangerous place for me, or at least for the integrity of my anatomy if I keep buying basses and can't manage to sell any. Went down to near Bath to pick up this lovely Shuker Uberhorn today. Body: African blackwood topped mahogany body Neck: seven piece wenge/mahogany with CF strengthening rods, 35" scale Fretboard: phenolic resin Electrics: concealed EMG pickup system and Graphtech piezo saddles All in an original branded Hiscox hard case. There's also a card from WM Guitars whose hands it has obviously passed through giving the specs (and the price they sold it for). The strings are described as D'Addario tapewounds in the WM Guitars description, and that's still what's on it, looking a bit worn, especially the long thumb rest string. It will be getting some nickel rounds. The action is ridiculously high, mainly (I think) due to the relief being absolutely huge. The battery is in quite reasonable nick, should get a bit of use out of it. There's a couple of little dings around the edge but nothing major. For some reason, it hasn't got straplocks on it, which I see as a significant omission to be rectified very soon. Pictures are from the Shuker website and the auction website. When I summon up a bit of energy, I'll take some more.

Our first gig for the duo ( since our annual break ) was yesterday afternoon at a local vineyard, playing for a 60th birthday party. Great venue set on the edge of the wolds, overlooking the Humber estuary. Only about 40 guests, and a surprise do for the birthday lady so we played ‘Happy Birthday’ as she walked into the room. Not many requests, but the family were big Fleetwood Mac fans so it gave us a challenge to sort some keys out for a few of the female led vocal tunes, some of which worked and the odd one didn’t! Still, some dancers towards the end of the afternoon so we just kept the well known material flowing, along with the sparkling wine which was delicious! Used the Fender Kingman into my Rumble 100v3 combo, more than adequate in rather lively room - barn like with bare wood everywhere. Home by 6pm, well paid / fed / watered etc. We have 3 more gigs this week, so back with a vengeance!

Finally…… I have got my hands on the one. I was 16, when I first got into bass. A mate played me “Live Xcert” by The Stranglers…. and I was hooked. Jean Jaques Burnel playing a black/maple Fender Precision. Yes mate. 44yrs later, and 100’s of basses…. like all the basses, and finally I have the one I should have had in the first place….. I’ve owned most brands except Fodera , but one bass always eluded me, the one that started it, at least in my head. I have no idea why it took so long tbh… Anyway, there you go, better late than never eh?

Ah, that's great to hear. Everyone was very welcoming. Up early the next morning for a rainy 7-hour drive to the Laundry Theatre in Bowness the following night. Another lovely venue. ...and then back to 'proper' work for 8am Monday morning. Even so, I'd do it again tomorrow.

Great gig, depping with Duran/Spandau show 'From Gold To Rio' in Gainsborough on Saturday night. Almost full.... and receptive audience up and singing/dancing. Bass sounded great in my IEM's, and apparently out front too, really cutting/punching through. Gear used: Spector Dimension HP4 set flat, through dimed HAZardlAMPS preamp pedal, in to HXStomp with my own EQ'd GK800RB/Ampeg 810 setting (& chorus where needed).... and out to desk.

Friday night saw Hurtsfall's first proper headlining gig. This was at Liquid Light in Nottingham, which is first and foremost a brewery that has a bar and occasional events such as gigs and film nights. I discovered the place as it used to be home to the best vegan burgers in Nottingham. Unfortunately they seem to have moved on and there was no food on when we played. The PA is something else - it looks home-brewed but sounds great - see the photo of support band St Lucifer: There were plenty of people about while the bands were setting up and sound checking, but only a few of them opted to come inside once the actual gig started which was a bit disappointing for opener Joshua Todd, but luckily for the us and St Lucifer it filled up as the evening went on. I don't think the location helps, although it's close to the city centre, it's on an industrial estate and quite hard to find if you've not been before. With it being our first headlining set we were able to play for longer than our normal 30-35 minutes, and dusted off a couple of songs that we haven't done for a while. While it would have been nice for a few more people to have been there, once again we were competing with a goth festival in Morecambe and some of our audience were definitely in attendance there. Still it wasn't band for our first self-organised gig and we sold a decent amount of merch afterwards. Hopefully I'll be posting some more photos of us playing later in the week when they appear on social media. Next gig is also with St Lucifer in Manchester on Saturday 27th September.

After a few weeks off while the guitarist was touring, we were back at the Railway in Countesthorpe last night. Unfortunately nobody told us about the Indian streetfood kitchen set up in the carpark, and I'd turned up with a bellyfull of Chinese takeaway. Moot point anyway because they had packed up and gone by the time we'd got the kit in. Slightly quieter night than recently, which was good because we could actually set up. Normally it's a right scrum. It was hot! It went pretty well considering I hadn't picked up a bass since the last gig. Lots of compliments on both sound and playing. Stingish bass through the GT-6B, and then via my new deluxe big muff, into the Rumble. DMs

Hi all, I’d like to step in and clarify things directly, as I can see some understandable confusion here. Bass Bags Ltd (the company) went into liquidation, but the Bass Bags brand, stock, and team were acquired by Strings Centre Ltd, which is now running the business. We are trading as Bass Bags (a Strings Centre brand) and continuing to serve musicians exactly as before. Like many UK retailers, we’ve faced tough trading conditions in recent years — Covid, Brexit, and wider global pressures (including the war in Ukraine) have all made it challenging. Closing Bass Bags Ltd was a restructuring step, but it has allowed us to protect the brand, keep the same team together, and continue looking after our customers. For me, Bass Bags has never just been a company name — it’s our team, a small family of people who share their expertise to make a living. We’re musicians and craftspeople ourselves, and we take things personally when it comes to our customers. That hasn’t changed, and it never will. To be absolutely clear: The same team is here looking after customers, just as we always have. No customer orders, hires, or repairs have been affected. We’re fully operational, continuing to support players across the UK and beyond. We’d always prefer people to pick up the phone and speak to us directly rather than speculate online — but I completely understand the concerns and wanted to set the record straight here. If anyone would like to talk to me directly, please feel free to get in touch: 📞 01332 840391 📧 [email protected] Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years. We remain committed to delivering the same reliable service that Bass Bags has been known for since the beginning. David (Bass Bags / Strings Centre Ltd)

The gig itself was a bit shit - private event in a posh garden, lovely surroundings but it was cold and rainy so we played most of it to an empty garden occasionally punctuated by their kids doing cartwheels However I did get to use my newly contoured and painted custom bass which felt much nicer

Both gigs were good with nice responsiveness crowds. The Ziegler Winery gig was moved inside due to the rain. The,Cedarburg Wine & Harvest Fest was another win for us. The stage and sound was very good. Daryl

Last night, played The Railway Club in Keith with Nine Lives. Drove through a one minute monsoon on the way there - rain so hard had to slow down because even with the wipers on full speed I couldn't see very well. Then it was done. What a bizarre, angry, and incredibly small pocket of weather! So we get there and get set up - it's an odd place - L shaped, so we are in the bit round the corner from the bar. It has alcohol, we don't. So, as you can imagine, we had only a trickle of folk getting off their backsides and coming round to see us, and a bunch of folk who were quite content to sit round the corner and merely listen. Are people not curious any more? Anyhoo, I frankly don't know how busy it was. We had some people come round for a dance and a singalong, so at least there's that. Got some nice comments afterwards, compliments on our playing and the sound (which surprises me because the first half was a nightmare - just couldn't get the singer loud enough. At half time we swapped out her wireless gear for a good old wired SM58 and things improved greatly - we'll need to investigate that. We played pretty well for all that, and the Neep One got its first live outing and didn't explode/collapse in half/go silent so yay for my dubious luthiery skills? Gear was G&L L-1000 then the Neep One into the cubes of doom.

A fairly long trip to Bridlington in god awful storm weather last night for Glam Viva. A great venue, the Black Lion in the old town, first visit for us. A great venue with a small theatre type arrangement. Unfortunately the weather had put off a fair few punters so it was only about half full, fortunately those that braved the onslaught were up for it and danced the night away. Only negative of the night was the outside door that let water through due the the storm and wet my clothes through in the changing room so had to drive home in 70s glam wear…… Footwear….red silver and blue sequinned converse.

Well... First, the chaos of setting up three bands well (solo singer plus band) using the same mixer with two guitars using the desk, a drum machine and an electronic kit. Somehow it worked, but the second band's guitarists did the "crank after soundcheck" thing which scared off a few punters and did their sound no favours. Their bass player (also the organiser) used my kit. Our set was as interesting as promised, despite Fritz doing his back in which made it a little tamer. In my labcoat I wheeled in the patient (we skipped the straitjacket). He shambled to the mic as Nigel the specialist delivered the narration. I handed Fritz an acoustic guitar so he could start his 'creative therapy'. He played the Fractured Persona song with us backing quietly. The first four songs I went fretless Maya P. As it cranked up the fourth song was pretty punky so over to fretted P and plectrum. Then back to fingers except for Kill the Klown, which featured a sledgehammer clown attack on our singer who reponded by chainsawing the clowns head off. The prop chainsaw was wirelessly miked up too We ended up doing our encore, largely without our rhythm guitarist who truned the volume down on his guitar and forgot. We knew some of the songs were memorable and it was surprising to see people joining in some of the choruses, so comfortable we weren't just a novelty show. Lots of decent feedback despite obvious first gig hiccups. Memorable for us and the audience.

Charity beer festival at the Shirley British Legion this weekend, Friday and Saturday, and quite busy for me. Friday evening I did Hey Joe with the first Chris, then it was the band to which I've been recently recruited with one and a half rehearsals for an hour. Quite a lot of jamming occurred, the audience liked it. Definitely needs a lot of tightening up. Then another hour with Graham and Tony - Graham had sent me the song sheets but I hadn't looked at them properly and missed the "capo 4" on Eight Days a Week. Sat that out as I couldn't transpose it on the fly, coped OK with Come up and see me (capo 2) and something else with capo 1. Saturday I was there for the latter part of the setting up and ran through some songs with Paul, then did the first half hour with Rick and nine short 60s songs, half an hour of rest, then half an hour with Annette where I sat out a Smiths song due to confusion over chords and capo but did the rest. Another hour and a half of rest, then back with Annette and Chris the sax for half an hour, and then I played guitar with Mrs Zero singing for another half hour, then straight on to an hour of blues with Tom and Tony. Shouldn't blues be restricted by the Geneva Convention to a maximum of half an hour at a time? Half an hour of rest, then one that had been sprung on me, playing bass for Paul and his two lady friends on ukes and guitars. Then half an hour accompanying Blind Young George. My old band played next for an hour but didn't include me, although I sneaked in for their encore. I think I played about 70 songs over the two days. Gear was Sei headless fretless 5 -> Lekato/M-Vave wireless -> Zoom MS-60B+ -> HH bass combo, footwear was the usual Caravelles. Blind Young George really is blind, and 14. Very talented. And I do have a music stand because I can't learn 70 songs that quickly (only needed it for one of George's songs though).

I played a gig as a dep bassist in my mate's band last yesterday. I had 2 weeks to learn 32 songs most of which I hadn't played in any form before and a third of which I'd never heard before. It was at a rugby club where a local derby match was being played so the prospect of post game rowdiness was high. And it was in a smallish marquee on a day when winds and thundery showers were forecast. We set up in the morning, pre- game, during several heavy downpours and the water was running into the marquee under the sides and across the band area. There was only staging enough for the drums so when I got there everything else had been placed on beer crates, duck boards and in the case of the keyboard player, an old door. I was stood on the upstream side of the band area and only had a couple of old rubber car mats for my pedalboard. Fortunately the stage had enough room for the Trace Elliot cabs, which were only for monitoring anyway as I was going through the main PA. In the gap between set up and gig I was able to go home and make a mini riser for the pedal board and a folding duckboard for me which I deployed when I got back for the soundcheck. The anticipated rowdiness wasn't there and we kicked off at about 5.40pm, playing all the way through to 7.30pm when the crowd started making their way home after an all day session. I managed to get through all the songs with few 'creative lapses' - the drummer reminded me when to come in on one song and there were a few fumbles on transitions between choruses and middle 8s. We had a full tent of dancers for pretty much the whole gig and best of all, no river flowing across the band area. Kit was my Hohner Jack into a Sine HPF, MS60b (for noise gate and tuner only), NUX Sculpture compressor, EHX Bass Clone, NUX Voodoo Vibe and into the desk via my Ampeg SCRDI, with a signal to my Peavey Minimax 600 nto apair of TE 1X10 cabs, one angled for the drummer the other angled across to me. The original plan was to take a split from the SCRDI into my Behringer P1 monitor and via radio to IEM. But one of the cables in that chain was playing up and all I got was crackles and blips so I gave up on IEM, retaining the earphones as ear protection. As it happens, the monitors were good and I could hear myself nicely. After rejecting the idea of wearing wellington boots as being a little out of character with the rest of the band, footwear for the evening were a pair of black shoes, brand unknown. Morning set up. My pace is stage left. Duckboards

Last night in a Boston pub, 1st dep for Kloane, an 80s+ covers band. Was apprehensive to be honest because, though I had depped twice recently with most of the guys for their soul big band, these songs were mostly brand new to me: I'd never attempted these basslines before, even at jam nights or learning at home. Out of 30 on the setlist, 9 days to learn 25 of them. I had a feeling they wouldn't mind if I used a tablet as an aide and it turned out to be the case - it was a bloody useful crutch. I don't know how I'd have fared without it, but on some songs I'd have been not got the starts right and missed some of the many breaks, interludes and specific endings. Most of the recorded tracks are fade out, but I had their backing tracks the vocalist uses on his solo gigs and I trusted the band would follow the structures, which they mostly did. Had a few unannounced key changes which totally threw me for more than a few bars as I was trying to desperately transpose in my head whilst keeping the groove going 😱😎. Pay wasn't the best, but we all get the same and this is the first that's not been cash No rehearsals, just straight in. It's nice they trusted me for that. I'm not even a semi-pro, so this has been a challenging but huge learning experience - and on the night a lot of fun once we got going. Hopefully I'll get called in again. In the meantime I plan on learning these songs properly!