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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!

Hi there, Thanks for your messages, Nick's memorial gig was phenomenal, grateful for Grainger guitars and all there support for our family. The weather held out and the everyone rocked there hardest for our big bro 💚🤟🎸 I dropped a couple of notes but managed to get to the end of my song!

Not till this Sunday when I pick it up but just got the pics from Alan of my newly built RSK 5/35 and the weekend now can't come quick enough!!

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

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.

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!

Hey everyone! I’ve followed Bass Chat for a number of years but only just joined the community properly. My name’s Dan, and I’ve been playing bass for around 20 years. I’m lucky enough to work in the music industry through my own music studio and events company, and I also play in a few different bands. Earlier this year, I was fortunate to join the artist rosters for both Blackstar and Alpher Instruments, which has been a real highlight for me. Over the years I’ve owned more basses than I can count, but lately I’ve found myself gravitating more and more toward short scales. My JMJ Mustang has actually stuck with me longer than most others, which says a lot! I’m a huge advocate for short scales—not just for their mojo and unique vibe, but also for how playable they are. One thing worth mentioning is that I developed a tendon issue in my right hand about 3–4 years ago (likely from overplaying). Because of that, longer-scale instruments aren’t always an option for me, but the lower tension of short scales means I can still play comfortably for much longer. So, I’m partly here to say hi, and partly to share my appreciation for short scales. Really looking forward to being part of the conversation!

Saturday night was a trip to London to play the legendary What's Cookin', for my friend Rich Davies and his band The Dissidents. I've been part of the band since 2016 and we have kept the same lineup throughout. They are all insanely good players and I like the fact that this keeps me on my toes. We had one rehearsal and I spent the week going through the set at home as we don't play live often and Rich had changed some keys of songs. I'd initally thought of bringing my Rickenbacker but midweek decided to change to my long scale Hofner Verythin bass. Rich wanted me to bring my Blackstar rig but I hate London load ins so when I found out there was a house rig, I was happy to use that. Having travelled up with the keyboard player, we arrived in good time, only to find out our drummer was not so fortunate. We wound up sound checking without him whilst a kit sharing support band quietly twitched! Thankfully he arrived and we got all set up. The nice thing was I had a bunch of old mates show up, including a singer I worked with for 10yrs, a roadie from a previous band and the guy who does the videos in my main band. We went on and just killed it. Due to the tube strike, the venue was quieter than usual but respectably half full and all eyes were on the band. Props to the support act who danced at the back throughout our set. The downside was that an accident on the M25 meant I got in at 3.15am but it was a superb evening.

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.

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

The strap button, presumably.

Just got in from a Knock Off gig, supporting Therapy? at 229 Club London. Journey up not too bad, and managed to get parking right outside the door - result. Great backstage area where we could chill before and after the gig. Signal chain was Fender US Precision, via BOSS WL20L into my Sansamp, with my RM500 as a power amp. Therapy? kindly allowed us to use their cabs so I went into an Eden 810, so with that and monitors no trouble hearing myself. Therapy?s monitor mix was perfect for us too so soundcheck was one song and sorted. On at 7:45, for a 45min set, venue holds 600, probably 500 watched us. Being a streetpunk/Oi band we’re not really on the same scene but we went down very well, many people coming up to us afterwards saying how much they liked us and how well we complimented Therapy?, being not just a clone but offering something different. Footwear was my Vans trainers.

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.

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.

Today I made a 440 mile round trip to collect a bass that has just been completed by Mr.Jon Shuker. It's a bit too late to take any photos, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. It's similar to the one below, but the neck is narrower and more figured, it has different knobs, is #8 of 10 and is signed by JJ. Pick-up's are in house built, as are JJ's now. After years, probably more like decades, of avoiding Precisions because I found the necks a bit chunky, in 2021 I decided to order a JJ Sig with a J neck (build thread here). I have since used this exclusively in my main band and Queen tribute and it's been absolutely faultless. The Zenith promises to be equally as good and almost unbelievably, it seems to be lighter than my first one. Thanks once again to @Dood for turning my gaze towards Jon's basses in the first place (I'm sure Jon is a member here, but I can't remember his tag). Whilst at Shuker HQ, I also saw the two pieces of spalted maple which will form the top of my next Precision build and they look stunning too. If any of you are looking for a quality hand built Precision (other models are available) that won't require a second mortgage, give Jon a look at Shuker Guitars.

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…

Back with an enhanced version of Deadlight Dance yesterday, and once again we were joined by our drummer from our Sixth Form band, Mike. This was for a street party in the road my band mate lives in. I had my trusty long scale Hofner Verythin bass but was mixing it up with several on the Gold Tone (AKA Goth Tone) Mandocello and even a couple on guitar and a couple on mandolin. I was going through my Boss BCB60 with the Boss IR2 at the end of the chain. I was telling the story of how we filmed our zombie apocalypse video in this very road, in a very light hearted way - see Infectious for details - when that Government text alert went off! You couldn’t make it up and it was a genuine comedy moment. We played well. We picked up some travelling fans from the last gig and even sold a few CDs. It was also an absolute pleasure to hang out with two of my oldest friends.

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?

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.

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....

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

A few photos of the actual bass. This one weighs just 6.7lbs! My other one feels like it's made of lead in comparison weighing in at 8.2lbs 😂.

Hi everyone. Got together with @warwickhunt, @cd_david and Tim yesterday for a bit of a plunk and natter. Here's some pics.

Look Morrissey you’ve asked once and the answer is still no 😝

Played a 60th birthday party on Saturday at the Baines Hall at Elland Cricket Club. We'd been brought in as a replacement for the band originally booked who became unavailable, and who for some time have been trying to get us to fulfil gigs they can't but this was the first time it had happened. Absolutely pissed it down all evening, so got drenched loading in and loading out. I also made the mistake of being set up first which led to other band members dumping things on the (fortunately quite well padded!) gig bag containing my spare bass! I used the Sire - Elf - Two10S setup again, but it didn't sound particularly great, probably not helped by the hardwood floor throughout making the place really boomy, or by the fact that the Sire desparately needs a string change. It didn't sound bad, especially when the full band was playing, but when I was on my own then it was definitely noticeable (by me) that it didn't sound ideal. I also had the amp cut out during the first song, but a quick reduction in gain and increase in volume, together with a conscious effort to play lighter, solved the problem and there were no further issues. I had cut the pad on my left ring finger a few days prior to the gig - not a deep cut but given the aforementioned filthy strings I didn't want to get anything nasty in it, so I had to play in a plaster. That didn't cause any issues fortunately, except when I had to slide using that finger and found myself a fret higher than I'd intended to, and towards the end when it started to come off my fingers would stick together which made me really have to concentrate. We didn't expect to have much audience interaction, and apart from a dad and his two young kids, and a young woman in very sparkly trousers, we had no dancers until about three songs from the end when there were a good twenty people up and cheering. No encore and the fastest teardown I think I've ever had, and I was home for 11. Shoes were a pair of very wet brown Clarks ones that need a bit of attention now. We've a couple of months off now until our next gig in November, so plenty of time for string changes and learning new songs.

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.

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.

I was in the big time Saturday night at The Bend Theatre with the full Maple Road band.. Sunday we had an acoustic gig and back in reality. It was an okay acoustic gig. We were background music for an event sponsored by wine makers and vendors. Daryl

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!

An Eagles tribute show in Richmond, North Yorkshire last night. A fun gig as always, but notable for being in one of the oldest theatres (c.1788) in the UK.

I've been more than a bit smitten with my '95 Aguilar equipped Stingray, so you might say this is a natural addition... After selling off a few instruments over the last few weeks, I picked up this 2023 Stingray Special 5 in 'Smoked Chrome' yesterday. I first saw it when @lowregisterhead had it up for sale on here. I knew where it went, and traded a couple of instruments along with quite a few pictures of the Queen in order to acquire it yesterday. The setup was very good and curved accurately to the fingerboard as was, but I put 40-125 Elixirs on it last night, and today made some small adjustments, including raising the humbucker according to MM specifications. The Neodymium pickup still has the typical 'MM chewy sizzle' (yes, that's a technical term!) and looking over it, you can sort of see where the money has gone. I think MM are going the premium route these days, making less instruments, but really concentrating on top quality (and raising the prices considerably too!). The Special's new titanium tuners are much thicker and feel great in the hand, and the border between the glossed headstock & the oiled neck is utterly perfect. I've always liked basses with ebony fingerboards, too. Consider me suitably impressed!

Not last night, but Friday night, played a rare live outing with The Inevitable Teaspoons at Krakatoa in Aberdeen. We played last ("headlining") and were treated to some fine acts first - Kaleidoscope and then Autohuman. No pics, it was a bit of a rushed changeover because as usual things ran on a bit. We played pretty well and went down favourably, heard someone describe us as "entertaining", and was speaking to the guitarist from Autohuman after and he was keen to do gigs with us again. It wasn't super busy, but there was an enthusiastic gathering of about 20 folk up front and probably 10-20 more skulking at the back, so eh, as long as it wasn't empty! Gear was the Greco LGB-700 three pickup bass into my pedalboard then out into Krakatoa's FOH, using a Markbass Little Mark Black Line 250W into an Ampeg fridge for monitoring. Because why not?

Just back from Stourbridge town hall where I played with the Phil Collins tribute, lovely old place and the audience and atmosphere were brilliant, decided on the GB Spitfire tonight, put lighter gauge strings on as a bit of an experiment. Had to push the low mids on the Tecamp puma and dial off a bit of the bottom end as it was sounding a bit ‘flubby’ , not tight and punchy how i like it, but after a good sound check everything was fine and nicely cut through as the show went along. My LFSYS Monza was fab as usual. Not very rock’n roll but enjoying a nice cuppa and a couple of bits of toast after a long drive back to West Sussex.

Well, better than last night, very little of the same problems of yesterday, but god was it hot! Luckily the club had some fans, but even so it was like a sauna. Not as well attended as some have been there, but for some reason the setup was easier, and I think we seemed to play much better. There were a couple of songs, Learn to fly, the singer decided to do the end part before the end which caused us an issue, and a few other fluffs, but nothing as major as that. At half time we found the guitarist that we had last year came to see us which was good to see him. I played the ric tonight, as I did last night, I really do like that bass live, apart from seven nation army, that is a bit shit for. Everything else it is great. Certainly going to feel it tomorrow though. And black Solovair boots, the broken ones. Oh I took the <£10 laser too..

Depping gig at Ashby Road Sports Club in Hinckley last night. Was particularly pleased to try out the bitsa P bass I’ve been working on for the last few weeks - from what I can tell it’s at least partly an oldish Squier Affinity. It sounded great. Not “vintage P bass” great but much in the same ball park and very usable indeed. I was planning to upgrade the pickups but tbh it sounds fine as it is. Weirdly my IEM sound was terrible - everything was just distortion which was so distracting I took them out after a couple of songs. Half time I swapped the lead, the batteries and the headphone amp itself, and reduced the volume of the mix coming into my monitor channel. But it still sounded awful - I suspect I may have blown something in my IEMs! So ended up playing without any monitors and just using the onstage sound, just like the old days. Good gig tho.

Last night was a gig with a difference, I knew almost everyone in the audience, it being one of the local walking football clubs I used to play at. The event was their annual summer dinner dance, but there's usually double the number of folks and tables. Because of the personal connection, I especially wanted the band to do a good job and for me to play well. Whether it was because of the extra banter and focus on me by the band and crowd, I was distracted and definitely didn't play as well as usual. Had a good laugh though! The venue is good, acoustics not bad and looking out into its golf course. Bit of a walk to get our gear round to the back door. The band wanted more folks there too obviously but the atmosphere was friendly and fun. All the gents had a lady with them. Small gear error. Left home in a rush and forgot the fly lead for my bass so, the wireless dongle went direct in the jack socket. We got to the venue at 7, played for nearly 3 sets with short breaks over 3 hours and away by half past midnight.

Fight all of them in a massive brawl, use as many weapons as is possible, I'd suggest swinging a ship's anchor around your head for maximum damage. Once everyone is sufficiently subdued tell them all it's their fault and that you're now going to take all their belongings and burn them in a giant fire followed by creating a commune where you are the leader and their families now live under your leadership. Or... just tell them honestly how you feel!

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.

Our twice yearly date at the Ringwood Meeting House. They’ve been hugely supportive of the Otis Jay Blues Band for the last three years and we have rewarded them with four different line-ups in the past four visits! Cecilia our new singer went down a storm with 53 paying customers - a reasonable haul and very appreciative. Rig: Sandberg VM4, GK MB200, BF One10, Clarks leather shoes.

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.

Wet. Up early to drive to Lancashire from Surrey to play the Wafsville Country Music Festival. Traffic meant we arrived with 25 minutes to spare before going onstage, which was great in terms of not hanging around in a soggy field to be fair but we were slightly on edge… The rain set in as our set progressed so the crowd noticeably thinned as they sought the cover of the bar area at the back of the field. Onstage sound was very boomy, as it was out front apparently, so we came away feeling like we hadn’t quite played our best. But on the whole it was fun, the first full-band Katy Hurt gig since mid-July and we have another (much closer to home thankfully) in 2 weeks. Bass was of course the ACG, amp was the provided Ampeg SVT3 into a knackered 4x10 cab. Shoes were my brown suede Chelsea boots which now need a good drying 🤓