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Nearly a year ago my brother, and our singer, suffered a stroke live on stage at a festival. For a while we wondered if we'd ever get to play a gig again. Luckily, that chance came last friday! A filmmaker friend brought his camera along, and I arranged to record the set. We put together someof the footage and mixed a brand new song that we played. It was the hottest day ever, but in my 20 years of being in this band, it's the gig I'm most glad to have been able to do, and I know this video will be something to look back at and cherish as long as I live. Hope you enjoy!

I frequently trawl various 'instrument for sale' sites when I've got nothing better to do of an evening once the boy is in bed and after the wife and I have had some dinner... 8pm to 9pm is my prime hour! I stumbled across a Conklin GTBD-7 on eBay yesterday, not too many of these were made, they were meant to be a cheaper, more accessible version of the USA Custom Shop Conklins, however they were very expensive to make and the quality was exceptionally good, not too far off that of the USA Custom Shop basses, so they stopped production after maybe a year or so. They did the GT-7 (the cheaper version) and this GTBD-7 versions with Bartolini pickups and preamp as well as a premium top and through neck. I've owned a couple of these over the years as well as two USA Custom Shop Conklins (one I still have and I will die with), so I'm very familiar with them vs the USA stock and they are really great basses. I made an offer on this one, we had a quick chat about logistics, and the offer was accepted! Should be with me Tuesday/Wednesday of next week. Comes with a spare set of strings and a hardcase too. 👍 Damn you eBay for FORCING me to buy this! 😆

Audiences don't care if you use fingers, a pick, your big toe or next door's cats claws, they care about the sound and if you're in the groove. The 'pick or not to pick' debate is a nonsense, use whatever fits the sound. ......just as long as no-one asks us low-enders to smile when on stage. 🤐

So I pick another stifling hot day to sand and stain the bass ... hey ho So before I attacked it with the 240 grit .... A couple of coats and the look is pretty much what I wanted ... old looking. Not stained the neck yet ... that will be a next week job. Put an experimental rub-on first coat of Birchwood and Casey gun stock oil after I took this pic - and it's starting to look really good. I want the end result to be satin - and still retain the look of an old and battle-scarred bass ... just with a brooding aged black patina and no obvious chunks missing

John Fogerty looks like my grandad! And I’m 60! 😂

Growing up in the 80s, I always hated the whole idea of what we called cricket bat basses. I remember seeing Bill Wyman and Tina Weymouth with them but it was never enough to swing it for me. As I have gone through my playing career, I have met loads of owners who swear by them. Then over lockdown, I became obsessed with this video… https://youtu.be/wjv_KI4BTaM?si=mYxweEJPccEeAoaL I thought it might pass but I found myself wanting one. I thought it might pass but it’s the “never say never” one I thought I would never own. The guitarist from my duo bought the Steinberger Spirit guitar so I ordered the bass a couple of months back. It came today. I haven’t bought a bass in a long time and my first impression is that it is heavy for what it is (but light, given that there isn’t much of it). It could use a bit of a set up, although the bottom strings are good. There’s a lot of tone variation and I am looking forward to the whole matching vibe with my duo. I don’t think it will ever be my favourite but for something to muck around with, I anticipate it’ll be a lot of fun.

I'm prioritising gigging my AVII Precision, my most expensive purchase, but it stubbornly refuses to do acquire wear or battle scars... I used to use my Performer for every gig in the 90s. For some reason I'm reluctant to use it of late. Must get it out there soon. Edit: I don't deliberately abuse my basses. My choice for gigs is always led by what playing experience I want and what sound I feel like having. On the original question, if you have great looking, easy playing and excellent sounding instrument, it seems churlish never to let a band and audience benefit from it. One could argue you should always use your best bass... but I'd say use the one(s) likely to bring out your best on the night.

My speedometer goes to 260 KPH, and as it's a BMW it can reach that. That doesn't mean I have to drive that fast. 130 KPH is quite sufficient. Just because you have a 500w amp doesn't mean you'll ever use that much power. If you were to measure it you'd find that you seldom go over 50w. That's a good thing, as the majority of speakers will only handle at best half their thermal rating before exceeding their mechanical limit. As for peak ratings those are marketing piffle only worthy of being ignored.

I'm trying playing some stuff with a pick. The originals band has a couple of songs that need a very aggressive sound. I'm rusty and I need practice to get more fluent.... fingers are so much faster! It's a completely different technique with the wrist doing more - and in a different way to slap.

I recently bought a Kala solid body U-Bass with a P pickup, which has nickel round wounds tuned EADG. Sounds just like a 34 inch scale bass, but bouncier (or less piano-like). I absolutely love it, and find myself almost exclusively playing this instead of my long scale basses. I took it to my luthier to sort out some high frets, and now with an action under 2mm, I can give it a firm pluck with no buzz. The string tension is perfect. (He couldn't get over how cool this instrument is, and the fact it has regular bass pitch and tuning from such a short scale.) I fell in love with it the moment I picked it up, and after a couple of minutes noodling realised the shorter scale was allowing me to be more creative, because I can move from point A to point B on the fretboard with ease. If you're reading this and you haven't tried one, I highly recommend giving it a go.

The new Peavey Cirrus will be made by NBE in the Czech Republic. NBE also makes the Spector Euro basses. So, the quality of the Cirrus basses will probably be really good and justify the price. However, I genuinely doubt that the Peavey brand is strong enough to convince many buyers to pay more than £3k for a new Cirrus that was not made in the US. We may like it or not, but brands do matter a lot. Sad but true (and that's my musical reference for the day. Mission accomplished ; -).

Miserable fsckers!

60th Birthday party in Camelon Labour Club in Falkirk area with BLOCKBUSTARZ glam band. Not a large audience but as it was a private party not much we could do about it. Played this club a few times and every time they have an issue with us. 1st - they double booked the adjacent hall for a funeral party and then complained to us about being too loud plus we had walk through the funeral party hall to the changing area in the pool room. 2nd - committee guy that complained 1st time there was complaining about the load in door being open and all the heat was escaping and we had to use the main entrance door that was wide open because of all the smokers outside so WTF ? Last night when we arrived girl behind the bar states in a rant that she wasn't told it was a live band ? what other kind of band is there ? There was no area to get changed as they had an all day wedding the following day and all the tables were stored in the pool room and we couldn't get access. We highlighted that we need a changing area same as we always had when playing there. She then suggested changing in the toilets and at that point i abruptly replied absolutely not. Its disgusting to be changing in a toilet. We have expensive outfits and nowhere to leave our personal belongings like clothes, spare outfits for 2nd set, wallets, watches and phones. If we cant get changed we'd be as well packing up cause this just wasn't happening. She started blubbering that its not her fault (bar manageress). As we pointed out its between her and the person that booked us. We had txt messages saying that all our requirements had been passed on to the club and when the woman that booked us arrived she was furious and said she came into the club and told them exactly what was required for the full night. Singer said only option was to play the gig without the costumes as we were sort of thing but that defeats the purpose of booking a Glam band. Anyways the buffet supplier arrived and i suggested we use the kitchen area if it was a cold buffet and that's where we went. When we started to sound check at what was a reasonably quiet volume staff complained again that it was too loud and when we said its because the hall is empty at moment. Few quests had arrived early at this point and staff said they couldn't hear the orders from customers which was ridiculous. My volume was lower than its ever been for any gig. She didn't understand that you cant turn the drums down. They aren't thru the PA. Amps were set to match drum volume. We are not a loud band. The bar staff were obviously being extremely childish and when not serving went thru to the other function room even tho there were at time 5 or 6 people waiting to be served. Anyways back to the gig itself. After a few songs we had the dancers up and that remained thru the night for virtually every song with some songs just a few dancers to others filling the dance floor. At one point there was absolutely no-one sitting down, they were all on floor dancing away. Audience were great bar staff on the other hand a different story. All in all we will never return to that venue. We've never seen such unwelcoming staff at a venue. From the word go they were being difficult and awkward as if we had caused the problem. The problem was a badly run club that has been cancelling their own booked gigs left right and centre for lack of ticket sales. Got paid before we even started and the woman that booked us was over the moon with us and feedback from the audience was all good at the end of the night. Band played really well with only a few very minor fluffs but audience never picked up on. Happy Days. Next week we are back at one of our fav venues The Dreadnought where we are always really well looked after and they are always happy to help the bands. Dave

It’s kind of like those folks who write in to complain about TV programs or shows “after two hours of suffering through this degenerate filth I was utterly disgusted to find there will be another episode, I can’t believe I will have to endure this again” I would recommend not bothering with Glastonbury if it bothers people so much, but with the sheer variety if you really can’t find something you like I am a little lost for words.

Back when I used to go every year in the 90s it was mainly indie/alternative bands and some dance acts with a smattering of of world music and the odd curve ball like Johnny Cash. The music scene seemed a lot more tribal back then and generally peiple who were into one 'scene' wouldn't relly listen to orher genres, or admit to liking them anyway. The whole tribal snobbery thing was epitomised by the NME of the era which delighted in sneering at anything that wasn't obscure indie, including bands that started out like that but dared to become popular which is why they infamously gave the Stone Roses debut 4/10. I think attitudes are a lot healthier today with most people happy not to pigeon hole their musical tastes into one narrow genre and I think Glastonbury has become better for widening it's line up to pretty much a bit of everything, from tiny amateur bands right up to global superstars, across multiple genres If you're at Glastonbury and you can't find something you like, you probably haven't looked hard enough.

Hi Dave, The Electric Bass Guitar is a support instrument. Sure, you can take a solo but I don't think that was what it's original purpose was. Daryl

Dont try this at home kids

Ezra Collective 👍🙏❤️

For this gig we were supposed to play various sets around the festival site to spread our jazzy vibes (according to the site). I guess that this made us look a bit like buskers - at one point a child accosted me between tunes to offer me 50 pence. Nice that it was the bass they liked best. The audience appeared to like what we played, but it's quite accessible jazz. The weather was quite good:

To an extent I agree, but kind of draw the line at supporting terrorists and paramilitary groups. I feel the same about people who get all starstruck by gangsters and serial killers. Not much glamour or glory in being a terrible human being.

Dave, Agreed. In my neck of the woods the nicer upscale venues go out of their way to treat bands nice. These places always comp entrees and drinks for the band. At The Harley Motor the lady that supervises the place comes up to the band members before the last set to take our orders. Daryl

Most clubs we play have been exceptionally friendly and helpful to us with some supplying sandwiches and soft drinks in our changing area. This is the first club we've had any issues with. We played a club 2 weeks ago just half a mile up the road and it was polar opposite. They couldn't be more helpful or friendly. That was a great wee night. Sometimes i think certain people shouldn't be working in the hospitality business. They don't have an attitude of helping make the venue better. Everything they do is obstructive and against what most know works best for any venue / club. Dave

I haven't watched the English Teacher set but if the consensus from people who have seen it is anything to go by, I think it'll be the first thing I put on when I'm back home later today. Also going to try and find the Fratellis and Ash sets from yesterday if I can. Very much looking forward to watching Maccabees tomorrow night too.

Yes good bass solo, Daryl. Thought the lady singing could have been mixed a bit higher.

I get cramp when I try to play with a pick these days as well. I went back to fingerstyle after playing with a pick for several years because I realised that I was a more fluent and had less limitations using my fingers. I was just a better player that way. I do occasionally meet people who remember me as a pick player. I actually started out playing fingerstyle because of the cool looking, smiling black dude with the afro and P bass in the instructional book I originally learnt from. If he played with his fingers, then obviously I should...!

I really like this board! 🤩

Huh? Isn’t that an oxymoron? 🧐like “thoughtful politician”

Iron maiden in dublin - still awesome after all these years. not the best Ive seen them (no criticism, theyve just set such a high bar for live performance over the years) but if you asked me to draw up my dream setlist it'd be pretty close to this. New drummer seem to have settled in nicely, he's not quite as fluent sounding as nicko but he's only been with them for a couple of months, rather than nicko's 40+ years. Adrian smith dusted off his old Lado guitar, was a shame 'arry didnt dig his Lado bass out too - he was as flawless as ever - an absolute machine. not my footage but it gives the general gist of things - I was a bit irked by the cgi projected backdrop at first but it quickly won me over - it's probably the best Ive ever seen this sort of thing used. I was feeling positively seasick by the end of the ancient mariner

Scale length of the GTBD-7 is indeed 34 inches @velvetkevorkian, not 35 inches @binky_bass. 😉

Originally a heart blood flow drug

I analogise it to the tuba

Managed to find this, they are sounding good

Might be useful to say where you are.

Running two boards now

I play fingerstyle but i'm not snobby about it and enjoy good bassists no matter how they do it. If its good, its good. Simple as that. I started with a pick for first few yrs then got into Jazz rock and changed to fingerstyle but i was caught between both styles and chopped and changed depending on what i was listening to. I liked Jazz rock but was mainly playing classic rock or prog. Eventually i settled on fingerstyle and just found it easier. I can play using my index finger as a pick but struggle with an actual pick and end up getting cramp after a few songs. Dave

Ok, I thought with the combination of playing a Telecaster body style bass and usind a pick I could trick people into thinking I was some sort of groovy guitarist. Lol Daryl

So a festival that's been going since 1970 has always been crap and has never had any music you might have liked. Fair enough 🤷🏻‍♂️

It is turning into a bit of a saga.

Yes, that's the experience most people have. Odd, isn't it? The orientation of the horn is one aspect. Another is that the compression driver takes over from below 2kHz, which means you get a controlled dispersion throughout the range of bass guitar frequencies - no matter where you're standing. I've written a short article for @Sean and will probably post it on the website once I get some explanatory diagrams done. I already have some frequency response curves that show what is going on.

My daughter and her band mates are working together in the Woodsies crew bar and were asked to play the stage in there so took their instruments with them. With their youthful enthusiasm, they decided to wander around and see if they could blag another gig. Tonight at 10:35 they (Butane Skies) are playing the Avalon Inn and that will be their third gig so far with another possibility tomorrow as well, all fitting in around bar shifts.

am seeing the mighty iron maiden tomorrow. hope the heat holds of a bit otherwise my bald patch wont be happy

I found some video from last Saturday. Not our best. I post the good and the bad. Guitars seem out of tune, it was 100°, sound mix was not great and I played with a healing broken ankle. I'll stop because I can go on forever with making excuses. I can't hear any bass without earbuds. Daryl

I'm playing Glastonbury 2025, I have 4 gigs lined up, playing with Andrew Maxwell Morris. Wednesday 25th: Toad Hall - 17.10-17.50 (40mins) Thursday 26th: Mandala Stage - 14.00-14.45 (45 mins) Friday 27th: Open Arms - 12.00- 12.45 (45 mins) Small World Stage - 14.10-15.00 (50 mins) I so can't wait 😁