Leaderboard

I was doing a gig with the blues/rock band yesterday We only usually do one a year but the BL decided to do a warm up gig in what was a great venue but. They've taken the carpet out 3 Guitarists stupid Bose PA right behind me I had my ACS custom moulds in and by half way through the 2nd set it was hurting my ears The guitars just kept turning up and up During a dreadful rendition of Heroes by Bowie I signalled to the BL that I couldn't hear and it was too loud H e wound the song up early and I said I'm done. It's loud, it's hurting me and I walked off stage I'm not a diva but I actually feared for the hearing I have left I'm still fumimg this morning

Hello! Couldn't resist this one. Never seen another in the UK. Any others out there? A pretty unique spec - ovals, matching headstock, blocks & binding. Board is a lovely bit of rosewood, body is basswood. Pickguard was switched to black at some point, but I've got a correct replacement on there now. It plays and sounds great 🙂

I'm tempted to start a thread called "How was your five gigs last night?" as we played a Shuffle in the village of Aldbourne. We did it a couple of years back and it was something of a mixed bag but the theory is six bands rotate around the village performing sets at the two pubs, two cafes and a club. The immediate downside is that I wanted to see a couple of the other acts but couldn't as we were playing. My duo expanded to a trio as our original drummer from 35yrs ago was dusted down and brought out of retirement, catapulting us back to Sixth Form 1989 / 1990! He even messaged to say his mum would cook for us before we set off. Bless her, well into her 80s and she catered for our dietary requirements! We'd driven down to Southampton to rehearse with Mike and it was a great day, in terms of sound and effortlessly cool company. We've all mellowed with age and are all much more self aware with age. This is 60% of an old Sixth Form goth band and as it is the internet, I can pretend that the three of us drove about in Mike's Lotus! First up was the Post Office cafe. I actually had my wedding reception there back in 2016 so it felt good to play. I had envisaged nobody being there but it was mobbed. It's a tall order doing 5 venues in an evening so I elected myself as chief whip cracker and we got on with our set. We opened with Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart before busting in to two of our own songs. We ended on The Cure's Just Like Heaven and a darker take of The Weeknd's Blinding Light. I could hear the nerves in Mike, and more surprisingly Nick. Plus I had a couple of people pointing at me and pointing up. That said, the video I saw on FB (set to friends only) sounded better than it felt. One bloke complimented on our original songs and said he couldn't believe how intelligent the lyrics were. I said "that's all on Nick, he's bright - he has O level Woodwork!" We deliberately had a two mandocello and a snare drum (dampened by a tea towel) set up, with two small Boss three pedal pedalboards to allow for easy travel between venues. We moved on to The Crown. Last time was a very frosty reception (a couple of rungs down from needing chicken wire!) and we'd not been back. This time we were totally on it and so were the crowd! It was mobbed and we went down well again. We had to stop the audience from chatting as we tried to leave as we didn't want to hold up proceedings but it as all very complimentary. We moved to what had been our second home, The Blue Boar. The owners are moving on and you can tell they are giving up. The PA suddenly looked tired and there were no leads and just one mic. The previous act was more mainstream and we walked in feeling like we'd be following the returning hero. A few people immediately left as she finished and I thought it might be a comedown. However, it started to fill with different people as we started and we did a fair set. This was the one set, I played less than my normal high standards. I'll say it was the worst show of the night but on balance I was happy with it. One thing I will say was it was a really interesting reminder of how much pedal settings need to vary between venues. My overdrive was screaming out at The Boar but barely audible on the same settings back at the Post Office. Funny how the room and the PA can make such a difference. *obviously, I adjusted accordingly! Anyhow, we arrived at The Forge, which was the second outdoor gig. I am yet to source a pic for this (I'm sure you'll all live!) but for me this was my favourite show. I thought we'd hit our stride here. With the exception of the Boar, all had on hand soundmen (basically local musicians who helped us set up). A great set. Finally, we finished at The Club. We did an extra song of Rain by The Cult, which we'd first played together in the very same village 35yrs ago. I noticed Mike's drumming was just slightly dipping here but he'd done so well on balance. Honourable mention to the two old school Swindon goths who came out and followed us around all five venues! Sorry for such a long post but it really was an amazing experience and an amazing night. We ended by returning to the Crown and hanging out with all the acts.

A little while ago the Japanese Spector distributor ordered a very limited private run of Spector Euro CST's in a beautiful desert island finish over poplar burl, with an ash back, maple fingerboard, abalone inlays, EMG X pickups and the Darkglass Legacy (Haz-copy) preamp.... The finish blew my mind but I never thought I could get one. However, 2 bass sales and a very lucky timing (this bass was included in a shop 'sale') meant it actually became affordable. Cue the fantastic Danny Stewart at Bass Japan Direct who obtained the bass for me, checked it over, dealt with any declarations and couriered it to me in record time..... And here she is.... Just absolutely stunning and less than a 3rd of the price of a US custom equivalent! I think I'm in love!

An Eagles tribute show at The Fire Station in Sunderland, a relatively new 550-cap venue. I reckon it's probably one of the best in the country. The hall is beautiful... acoustic perfection. The PA is premiere league. The staff are lovely, and absolutely on it. It even has parking! Used my MIA Standard Jazz, with the G&L L2000 on standby. Rig was, of course the Handbox R-400 (with its lovely on-board DI) and TKS S212.

I would have walked at ‘blues/rock’, or if not then, then definitely at ‘3 guitarists’! 😄

Sounds…. Just like a Stingray. For a lot lot lot lot lot less money. Aguilar pickup, OBP-2, 18volts. nice.

Played a local pub (to the drummer and myself)on Friday night, The Yew Tree in Norton Canes (South Staffs). We are, as they described, a light rock band doing 60's, 70's 80's and 90's covers. We got there around 6ish to set up but found that they were still serving meals and they use the stage area for bigger groups, so hung back 'till 7pm. This also gave the lead singer time to grab something to eat. We started at 8.45pm and although the place was not packed but was busy and the audience were appreciative. Started the second set just before 10pm getting a similar response but having people from the 'sports bar' in the back of the pub popping in to listen as well. Finished just before 11pm. Now we had cleared the tables from the stage when we set up and we put them back afterwards as they seemed a little short staffed. The punters had told the landlady that they had had a good time and were pleased to have been able to hear the music and still be able to hold a conversation with friends. She had also enjoyed what she heard and was over the moon with the response and comments from customers to the point that she recommended us, via an internal WhatsApp group, to the other 200+ pubs in the chain and said she will book us again. Sorry for the long post and sounding a bit euphoric but this is only our 4th gig as a band, The Context, and we acquired it via a 30min set at the Yew Tree open mike night in April. They booked us there and then.

Played my usual Everlys & Friends Live Tribute Show last night at Warners' Alvaston Hall near Crewe. First show for the full lineup in two months and was a belter, despite the ridiculous 30 deg heat. Luckily the powers that be at Warners actually had the air conditioning switched on, so playing was bearable! Two hour set straight through with no interval is always a challenge, but was very rewarding. Full six-piece setup, including fake Grand Piano housing for Pete's Digital Piano!

On lead guitar last night with a pub covers band. The venue was a ginormous chain pub with a huge (but not separate) ‘function room’ area at the back. Sadly they had at some point walled off the stage to create a store room and somewhere to mount the biggest TV screen I have ever seen. I really wasn’t feeling it at first as I’d played with the band the previous night and could have done with a night in. Our sound check quickly cleared a table in front of one of the PA speakers, which didn’t bode well! But as soon as we started playing our first set there were people on the dance floor, and it just got busier as the night went on. By the end there were several people dancing on the tables, which fortunately seemed to have been constructed from scaffolding materials! The landlady was so happy with the band that she paid us an extra 20%.

Auld Gambling Hoose in Alloa for BLOCKBUSTARZ tonight. Reasonable sized crowd maybe 100 in plus a childhood neighbour turned up who lives in Alloa. Owner said its been slow over past few mths. Anyways thought i'd try my Overwater J4 for a spin but half way thru 2nd set i realised it was getting a bit heavy and my back was feeling it and i changed over to old faithful Sandberg VM4. Wife reckoned the VM4 was better sounding, deeper but clearer. Had dancers up most of the night with a full floor for special request of Time Warp. Audience seemed well up for a party tonight and really enjoyed themselves. Using Overwater J4 then Sandberg VM4 into Handbox WB-100 and BF 212 cab with Shure wireless and Keeley Bassist Comp. 1st set fro 8 to 9:20pm and 2nd set 9:45 to 11:15pm Got paid and a 1:15mins drive home. Dave

I did two gigs this weekend, and they couldn’t have been much more different. Saturday night I was playing at Burton Agnes Jazz and Blues Festival with blues trio The Alligators. It was actually my final gig with them, as I’ve started a local weekly residency at a rock n roll club and it was getting a bit much - I’m supposed to be semi retired for gawds sake! Anyway the gig was okay - some great bands on before us including sax player Tom Waters (son of pianist Ben Waters). A friend of mine was on directly before us doing some of his original stuff, and then I joined him for a few covers to get the crowd dancing. Then our band got started at 11pm, to play for around an hour. Onstage sound was really loud, so was glad I’d taken my old Barefaced Compact to use in addition to my Fender Rumble 500. Played my sunburst P Lyte and it sounded good, just about keeping up with the guitar. As is customary, we were joined by a couple of sax players towards the end, and it was in danger of getting out of control. Managed to steer it to a conclusion, and I was quite relieved it was all over. A really steamy gig, drove 50 miles home with the sunroof open. Sunday evening I was back in the familiar ‘Lookout on the Pier’ in Scarborough with our acoustic duo. Really busy along the beach, blisteringly hot weather so parking wasn’t easy due to the crowds but we got set up and ready to play by 6pm. Loads of requests, with some good ones including ‘Out of reach’, ‘Tears in heaven’ ‘Human’ (Rag and Boneman!) and ‘Iris’. Fender Kingman bass into Rumble 100 combo - nice and quiet after the previous night’s gig. Couple of days off now - next gig Wednesday so will give my fingers a rest.

Second dep gig with 'The Gowertones' last night - a birthday bash for the pub landlord at the Plough and Harrow in Murton, Swansea. The weather made the potential for sweaty, melting horror a distinct possibility and when I turned up, I saw we were outside which added the risk of sunburn. But on closer inspection, we were under a pair of gazebos and sheltered by a wall. By some miracle, the only breeze in the area was funneled through a gap between wall and gazebos down onto the drummer and me. I had a small USB powered fan which directed some of that breeze onto my back overall it was a very pleasant environment. We were due to play 2hrs between 5pm and 8pm and the crowd, a respectable 50-60 or so, stayed all evening. Inevitably, we played on and the second hour slot lasted well over 90 minutes, fueled by chips and coke (from a bottle, not a mirror) gratis. A great set which included 'Paranoid' (I've never played it before but what a great 'live' song) and 'YMCA' (please don't judge). My second outing for the Sterling 34HH/Ampeg SCRDI/Peavey Minimax/twin TE1x10" line up and it's really giving me a sound that I'm pleased with. For years I've heard that sound in my head but never really managed to get it and while going DI into the sound desk with my main band is good (for that line up, it makes sense), having the bass banging out behind me is great. As mentioned, the kit list was my Sterling 34HH (mainly the bridge pick-up but for a couple of numbers both pick-ups selected) through an MS60B (for tuner/mute, noise gate and compressor) and the Ampeg SCRDI (with a shallow mix of distortion for the punk/rock numbers) and both bass and treble boosts selected. This went into the FX loop return of the Minimax and through two TE 1x10" speakers. The Minimax retains volume control when using the FX return so I used this to control the volume rather than the control on the SCRDI. There was plenty of volume without pushing either stage. Footwear was the now inevitable Skechers which proved both comfortable and cool (in the temperature sense) for the night. Although they only have one setting, I find that Skechers have nailed that setting and they work for me for all styles of music. Photos and video are slow to appear this morning but I will edit to add any that appear. This is one I took of the ground level kit. Edit: One came through this morning: Some images from video I shot on a GoPro.

So new (to me) bass day, a rather nice Sandberg SL. Been looking for one for a while due to back issues and when I saw this up for grabs, in my favoured black/black/maple it just had to be. Just played it for about an hour and even without being set up as I like, and without my favoured Elixirs (currently has Elites steel rounds) it’s simply a dream to play. Not usually a fan of matching headstocks but I think it really suits it, plus - and shows my levels of OCD - it matches our guitarists Ibanez like this so I’m more than happy. I’m giving up gigging so this will be used at home and with my non-gigging classic rock band, this 6lb bass will make 4hr rehearsals a lot easier.

So last night we headlined a 5 band charity fundraiser for Wilts Air Ambulance at The Lamb in Marlborough. We’ve been working on our new original material recently and I think it’s fair to say that other aspects of the band have taken a backseat. A couple of you may recall that we go out in different formats, across a range of instruments. I have decided recently to upskill on the mandocello and have spent the last couple of weeks practicing on it. Always beneficial. When Nick and I sat down yesterday to rehearse, we may have been the worst we have ever sounded! To the point that we regrouped at mine to go through everything again and wound up being the best we have ever sounded. We got to the gig and there was a green room with drink and food laid on for the band. Enjoying alcohol-free irresponsibly! I resisted the urge to have a Nigel Tufnel moment! All the acts were excellent but everyone overran. We wound up hitting the stage at 10.55pm and I really thought we might be doing the world’s shortest set. However, we went on with a real focus and determination, playing a really charged set. We did a full show. I am resplendent in green here! Backstage, the camaraderie between bands was superb. We talked about men’s health (& mental health) which I always think is really positive. We then talked about first gigs and young Josh (our resident cool youngster) coughed to his being Chico (“It’s Chico Time” fame!). Sadly I don’t think we can let that go! Oh, I came home to discover that aside from my band being nominated for best act in multiple categories of the Wiltshire Music Awards, I have picked up a nomination for best bassist and best multi instrumentalist too! A near perfect day.

I really needed this one. Great gig. We were clicking on all 6 cylinders from the first couple bars of the first song. We played from 3-5 with a 20 minute break. Stage volume was great. The crowd loved us. Daryl

I'm a lil' late with this but my main squeeze (Felis Leo) had a gig on Saturday afternoon. A bit of background...the only promoter who will offer us a gig in town offered us a gig at a village pub, seven bands starting at 3pm. The gig was offered and Paul deals with it, we all say yes after a day of back n forth. Paul gets back to the promoter with a yes and gets told the gig's been offered elsewhere as we took too long. Paul takes umbrage at this and we get the gig, we're the first band on and we've got 30 mins! Paul is a quiet fella and slight but he don't do flaky. I've promoted the hell out of this one as I always do and we get the occasional comment about how much we promote our gigs, I usually have a day off work during the week and post loads. I get to the venue and the rest of the band and our 1 fan are there saying "we're not sure if we're playing" 🤔 they then show me the poster and our logo and the band after us have been removed and these posters are all over the pub! Jon, our singer, said we're not on the Salisbury Gig Guide either! Brian the SE said our name was on his list so we started to set up under a tiny gazebo (the only shade in 30+° heat 🥵). The 3pm start time also came and went as the guys were still setting up, there was a pile of cardboard next to their van and it was pointed out to me that the PA speakers were brand new (and big!). Quick soundcheck, everything good and away we go! The sound on the tiny stage was just mash potatoes, I was stood next to my cabs so found it hard to hear myself. There seemed to be a humming noise coming from a new speaker and Brian was fiddling with the back of it. I looked at the (sparse) audience and they seemed to be enjoying it, nobody was covering their ears or wincing so it must be ok. About 10 minutes into the set Brian goes to his van and comes back with the instructions for the new speakers! I kid you not, proper Spinal Tap moment... I'm looking at him reading and then looking at the band and...it was just a weird, tense gig, difficult to explain but you don't know if there's a problem or not and you're just trying your best to get through it 😂 Anyway, the gig went great! There were some small teething problems but our 1 fan who filmed some of it said we sounded really powerful (big, new speakers), the bassist of another band said we were really tight (should've bought him a drink but didn't 😄) and other comments were really positive. Maybe the tension and playing by your wits is the way forward 😬 We broke our RnR rule by wearing shorts I'm afraid, Darrell the drummer is allowed shorts but we're not...it was hot though! I used my lakland 55-02 through a TC electronic BH 550 into a pair of Barefaced one10s propped up on one corner due to an uneven stage surface (dead grass 😂).

We closed the Home Grown Music Festival in Regner Park tonight. We started at 8:30 and played an hour set. If any vids appear I'll post them. Daryl

Just played to 400 or so Swedish Bluegrass fanatics at a festival by a lake. I’m taking the photo, not in it!

Played for my Neice’s and nephew-in-law’s (is that a thing) wedding yesterday at the beautiful Creeksea Manor in Burnham-on-Crouch. Keen readers who may recall I had a particularly painful experience at last week’s gig will be pleased to to know this one went much, much better. You may also recall that last week was challenging due to personal reasons, that I have taken steps to address. As I was party of the wedding party for the day, I had to leave the other load in and do the majority of the setup. This massively helped me, not just my time being involved in the wedding celebrations, but also relieved some of the pressure I’ve been feeling lately with band stuff. So by the time the band had to make themselves scarce whilst the guest sat down for the wedding breakfast, most of the work was done. Just a case of plugging in my gear and a couple of mics afterwards and a quick sound check. Everything was still dialled in from last week, so soundcheck was quick and easy. The reception was a in a huge marquee, with a permanent DJ booth at the head of the dance floor, meaning the band were somewhat crammed in the corner, but still more space than we’ve had in some places. Usefully it also ment the soft drapes caught errant reflections and sounded great “straight out of the box”. Although it was quite a warm evening - somehow the thunderstorm the weather reports promised amounted to no more than a rumble and a couple of minutes of drizzle - but you could feel the mugginess in the air! Hazel, our dep co-lead singer for the night did a fantastic job, and worked the crowd well with Liam, our other singer. At one point they both got into the crowded dancefloor getting people to join in on Parklife which was a particular highlight. Another highlight was the bride’s brother sang Teenage Dirtbag (with my wife doing the girls bit in the middle). When the bride first asked us if he could do it ages ago I didn’t even know if he could sing. Turns out he can’t, but he’s very enthusiastic. Thankfully he was in time and more on less in key, but moreover, he love every minute of it and the crowd lapped it up. Two hours of rock, pop, party and cheese later we were done and knackered. I received a number of compliments from guests, including people who hadn’t seen us play before but had heard good things. So I’m glad we didn’t disappoint. A couple of people even said they were glad they had a good band as the DJ was rather lacklustre. Most importantly my Neice and new Nephew were over the moon with their day and evening, and I went to bed feeling a lot lighter in mood!

It's been a while since we played at the Horse and Trumpet and at the end of the gig the landlord and lady were telling us how July is always their worst month, with a lot of people on holiday. We very pleased then to see a lot of familiar faces that we'd managed to pull in. The A4 laminated QR code to our Facebook page took a few more hits from some new faces too. It was... darned hot, and I forgot to take my fan! Cue a very sweaty bass by the end of the gig ... the Stingish bass (Sterling Sub5 with Retrovibe Stinger preamp). Usually a lovely matt finish. Of course we just had to do War Pigs in the second set, and saved Paranoid for an encore at the end of the night (how did we know?! 😂) - RIP Ozzy. I was very pleased that Sir Duke on its 3rd outing, and especially after a couple of weeks break, was tight and got the crowd dancing and singing along. It's a right earworm that riff! As seems to be the case recently I forgot to take any photos until we'd finished playing. There were a few people taking photos, so some decent shots might turn up. For now here's the kit-spotter's wide angle shot (Fender Rumble v3 500 combo and Roland Boss GT-6B on my side) The purple suede Gazelles got another outing

Bendricks Rock played Edmondes in Cowbridge. Originally meant to start at 8:30 there was virtually no-one so we started at 9 when we had a bit of an audience. It rapidly filled up although it was a bit tidal with people moving around thd pub coming in to dance to songs they liked. There was an engagement party in the pub. Their friends wanted us to spoof them so we got them up for a slow dance and played War Pigs 😂 Our original singer (didn't get as far as gigging) came to see us and said we were good. I took an anti-nausea pill again as squatting and standing to set up the gear set me off again. After tgat I was fine and managed to join in on backing vocals but was pretty shattered by the end of the night. Worst thing is the nausea means I can't drink... so had three pints of alcohol free - then spent the night waking up to pee.

Simply Blu Trio, three members of our 5 piece bluegrass band playing at The Block bistro in North Bay Ontario last night. We have played here before and do a mix of standard bluegrass songs and a few others including some Gordon Lightfoot and keep it light and friendly, it's not a show as such just background music for the diners and it went over well with some nice comments afterwards. We had a request for Ian Tyson's Four Strong Winds from a lady celebrating her birthday and although we had never played it together we picked a key and ended up surprising ourselves with a very nice version of it with three part harmony! Smallish crowd but early gig (6-8:30, two sets) and we will be back next week for something new, a lunch time gig. 😊

We've just done the first of two gigs today... We had the 1350-1420 slot at Rebellion Festival Arena. We played there two years ago and the sound was awful, boomy, feedback and generally horrible. So now they've put the stage facing across the room, and it's now the best sounding room at the Festival! For the first time in many years I went directly into the PA from my Helix. Our other bass player used the supplied AmpegSvt and Fridge. As a result, he was happy with trousers flapping indistinct mush, and I was very happy with a slightly slappier JJ Burnell-esque tone which suited my far too many notes style. We played ok, a number of mistakes due to nerves from our two new members and also a serious lack of rehearsal, but I shall eventually beat the songs into them good'n'hard. However, audience of 2-300 seemed happy (we were up against 4 other bands in the other Winter Gardens venues, plus the Typhoon and Red arrows flypast at Blackpool airshow. Afterwards we didn't get a kicking, and even sold some merch... Gear- Sandberg Basic, Helix, PA. Shoes - TUK zebra creepers. T-shirt - original UKSubs Another Kind of Blues from about 1978-9.

First gig back for 7 months for various reasons….. Good warm up, bit rusty, but a fun one.. Then the following night, a hot one, but I had a great on stage sound, full Ashdown rig on full tilt, a lot of fun…..

Had our first gig with the new lineup last night to a packed venue with close to 150 people in this tiny room. And we absolutely smashed it. I went DI for the bass - Tonex One into cheap generic passive DI box into FOH, and wired IEM packs. Struggled to sleep overnight from the adrenaline, but that's about normal for me after a gig.

Couple of pics from Sat nights gig with Blockbustarz just appeared from Auld Gambling Hoose in Alloa. Excuse the wig, it was a new one i was trying out for a friend. 😂 It needs a bit of trimming for the next gig. Couldn't see thru the darn thing. Dave

We've not been as busy recently, feels like ages since I've posted! We were supposed to have a big slot at Northern Kin festival on Sunday but that festival, along with a load of others, went bust. We managed to put together a show a Billy Bootleggers in Nottingham instead. One support act, then our 30 minute "acoustic" set for Rebellion Festival next weekend, then our latest album in full, then another 10 songs. We arrived at 1:30. The sound engineer was outside, "no staff here until 2pm". Apparently this was known to our front man so god knows why he wanted to get there so early. He was desperately hungry and went to order some over priced pizzas while we waited. Then it turned out the staff had locked themselves out of the venue so we had to wait another half an hour for someone else. Finally load in at 2:30 in the world's smallest lift. I was soaked with sweat by the time I'd set my drums up. Boiling in there! Sound was fine and the venue was rammed by the time we went on. The acoustic set was fun, but I really was soaked by the end of that. Everyone else got a nice 5 minute break while I re-jigged the drums for the "proper" set. Our latest album has some very intense and difficult drumming on it, for which I can only blame myself, but after playing it all the way through, and then another 8 songs from our back catalogue, I was absolutely done. I could literally wring out my t-shirt. Anyway, absolutely wonderful gig in every way but I really, really wish I'd booked today off to sleep and hydrate.

Three gigs this week. Tuesday was our monthly gig at a local pub ( acoustic duo). Plenty of great requests, including a few for the inevitable ‘Paranoid’ which we left until the end. Probably the busiest we’ve seen it, a lovely crowd all up for a good time and a laugh too - we did ‘Sylvia’s Mother’ and don’t know how we got to the end TBH. A fabulous gig, best we’ve done there I think. Wednesday was my weekly gig playing rock and roll at a local club. I’m getting a few songs together to sing , to give my guitarist mate a break mainly. I did JJ Cale’s ‘The Breeze’ and also ‘High heel sneakers’ which went down well with the dancers. Then Saturday I was depping with a local band at a garden party 6 miles from my village. We played under a gazebo at the end of the garden, and I had a tortoise keeping me company throughout ( see pic). One of those rare occasions where I wasn’t the oldest guy in the band, sax player was 83 and played seated unless soloing when he stood up and rocked it. Material was a mix of ska / reggae / soul with a few pop standards thrown in as well. Well lubricated audience loved it, and we got fed and watered. Nice to play with people I’ve never worked with before, doing stuff I’ve not played before too. Tunes included ‘Lip up fatty’, You can get it if you really want’ , ‘My boy Lollipop’ and ‘Everything I own’. Finished by 8.30pm, home around 9.15 so fine with me.

Here we are. 16 years on… She’s completed her GCSE’s, she’s not playing as much bass 😔 But she’s on the stage acting… We went to her show close last night. She’s bloody ace.

Hurtsfall played the Nottingham Pride event yesterday on the Gladrags stage at Rough Trade. Second time we've played at Rough Trade in less than a month and once again it was joy to be performing in an air-conditioned venue when it was uncomfortably hot outside. Once again excellent sound on stage and FoH. Due to time constraints we did the shortest set ever - under 25 minutes comprising just 5 songs. However we managed to pack the gig space at the end of the bar with plenty of people dancing and cheering as well as picking up a load on new fans, if our Facebook profile is anything to go by. Early finish and back home before 6.00 in the evening! Here we are giving it some at the end of our last song: "12 Long Years": Next gig is Twisted Firestarter which is the Infest Festival warm-up party at Rebellion in Manchester on 14th August.

Just got home from a Knock Off gig at The Hope & Anchor, Islington, supporting GBH - apparently there never played there in their 40+ years so Knock Off arranged the gig for them. Went great, we played very well and the audience reaction was amazing, literally bodies flying all over the place, and singing along. I used my Fender JMJ Mustang and Behringer BDI21 into the 100w Ashdown house combo, which with a bit of help from the monitors was fine. Only downsides were it was incredibly hot in there so given the music type and how we play I’m now very smelly, and I ache all over - a reminder of why I’m giving up gigging. Footwear was a pair of black Vans trainers. Edit - I forgot to add, GBH were amazing, as they always are, great bunch of guys, really good to work with, and such an awesome sound.

The acoustic trio, The Desperate Cowboys played The Doghouse pub in Alfreton. I’ve played there a couple of times before with a full band and was a bit concerned about how we’d go down with a ‘softer’ sound. As it happened, we got as many people up and dancing (without any drums or percussion) as on previous visits. So, a good night and well appreciated by the pub and the audience. The pubs of the Derbyshire/Notts ex-coalfields are not for the faint-hearted or easily offended. But if they like you it can be a great night. Taylor mini-bass through Trace Elliott Elf and Barefaced One 10.

Reformed the function band after a 3yr break, albeit with a fresh lead guitarist. We had four rehearsals to get up to speed for the local pub festival / charity event. It was a great success, sounded fantastic and had 'em up dancing from the off of the 90 min set. Good to be on the trailer with the guys and gal again. I do ache a bit today though 😄

Another totter along the pathway to full-on gigging on Friday, but (spoiler) alas not on bass. Leader of my former band couldn't find a dep guitar player for the 5-7pm slot she had been given at a mini-festival in Shaftesbury. Dep number 3 in her little black book could do the first set, so I got the call to do the second set on sax. It felt like a good idea as up til then the furthest I'd driven post my stroke op and recovery had been a 30 mile round trip, so the chance of doing a 90 miler in daylight and getting some pay for it was nice. Mrs G came along too... The traffic was very bad most of the way (it's getting to peak holiday time down here in Dorset) so we were a bit late arriving at the venue, which was a de-frocked church converted into a social event centre. The stage was set up amongst the gravestones, (in the dead centre of town?) and was rather impressive, being an inflatable shell over a proper raised playing area, with a pro sound guy and a full PA with massive speakers and foldback monitors - top marks! We sat and listened to my old bandmates doing their first set,after which the guitarist packed up rapidly and exited to get to his next gig. With just my tenor sax to set up and radio mic to plug in we were ready to continue after a few minutes with set 2. If you're a sax or brass player you'll be familiar with the need to transpose chords and melodies when playing with keys and guitars; I'd been used to playing most of the numbers in set 2 on bass without this embuggerance, but this time I was busking 9 out of 12 for the first time, which was a bit of a challenge especially with 'Sweet Caroline' and 'Country Roads' both played in B concert = C# on the tenor, with 7 accidentals to manage in the root key, and no chance of cheating with a capo... Anyway, it went OK 95% of the time and the punters seemed to appreciate the different sound of a sax-led band for a change, so I was able to successfully chalk up gig 3 after my 5 month medical lay-off - however, I was cream-crackered today!

Great private party gig last night celebrating a 40th and an 80th so wide age range watching. Outdoors in the garden of one of the local farmhouses and all up for a good time. Only the 5th gig of the new band but they liked us so much that they paid us more than the agreed going rate. Same happened last at last gig so we must be doing something right. First outing of my s-s Sandberg Cali since new Aguilar pickup set fitted. Much more heft that OE pups. Didn't realise just how much in fact. No need to engage the 'deep' button on my Mesa D800+ from now on methinks. So nice to see all the old folks having such a good time. That includes me btw 🙂

Two gigs for Hurtsfall this week. First on Thursday at Rough Trade in Nottingham Supporting the brilliant Miranda Sex Garden. Lovely air-conditioned venue which was a relief from the heat and also meant I could wear my normal stage gear rather than something that wasn't going to make me pass out due to heat stroke. Played to an audience who were largely unfamiliar with our music but it looks like we won them over, and consequently sold loads of CDs afterwards. As always here's some photos from the gig: Then on Saturday we were near Ellesmere on the Welsh border for Goths On A Field. The bands play inside a barn which could have meant it was like an oven, but luckily it turned out to be marginally cooler in barn than outside in the field. My sister (who last saw me play live in 1985) and her husband who live nearby came along and seemed to enjoy it almost as much as our usual Goth audience. Plenty of people up and dancing from the first song, and the new song we were playing for the very first time got a great response. Despite the fact that most of the audience must have seen us play before we still sold a decent amount of merch and we had a number of people saying that we were their favourite band of the weekend which given who else was playing was high praise indeed! No photos as yet, but I'm sure there will be some posted when everyone is back home later today or tomorrow. For both gigs I was using my Eastwood Hooky 6-strong bass going direct into the PA via a Line6 Helix. Footwear was a pair of black and silver Converse-style boots bought years ago from TK Maxx Next gig is back at Rough Trade on 26th July as part of the Nottingham Pride festival.

A very hot sweaty gig playing at the new Rodeos Birmingham. Bizarre stage with the back end of a pickup truck slap bang in the middle, a solitary monitor, no sound man, a drummist we’d never met before, several drunk hen parties… had the makings of a nightmare alongside the heat. On the whole though, it was great fun. We threw in a few covers alongside Katy’s originals, had a delightful interaction with someone in the break asking us to play all the artists we’d covered in the first set 🙄, and made a few new friends along the way I think. The dep drummist was fantastic, so he can come again 🤓 Bass as ever my sexy ACG RetroB, through Handbox WB100 and Barefaced Two10. Shoes were my Soul Cals again. No decent photos of us playing (yet) so have a photo of my side of the stage 😆

Had a great afternoon at Summer Soul Vibe Festival in Ipswich. We played a 40 min set mid-afternoon. Exellent stage, crew and pa playing my first gig with my new Sadowsky ME. The back line the same SVT I played with a year ago at another festival, same hire company! Proper green room in Venue 16, with lasagne, soft drinks tea and coffee and staff looking after you. Really nicely done. Good to get great comments from the sound guys and I could see the foldback engineers having a good time stage left of us. Which is always nice.and reassuring. IMG_0666.mov

I'm out at last. Mri was clear but still unsteady and probably will take a weekor two to recover. Had to bow out of three gigs with three bands this weekend but they have all been great about it. Gutted as was really looking forward to it

It's been a while since I've been able to post in this topic, as our old guitarist opted out at the beginning of May. It's been cancellations, auditions and just a couple of rehearsals since then. I think we've got the right new guy. I was slightly nervous in the run up to last night's first gig, as we didn't manage to rehearse this week as our drummer has been taken into hospital for urgent surgery. He's going to be out of the game for a while. A good friend of ours is going to sit in on drums for a while when he can and I am meeting another drummer this evening, when we play another gig (and he's on drums). We're deviating from usual set to a degree, as our new guitarist has some songs he's pretty good at, so to get a set together, and to change things a bit (the old band was a bit of a museum, as we couldn't add new songs without a distinct lack of enthusiasm from one corner of the room). We've pulled the best set together of crowd pleasers that we can . There were a couple of hairy moments, but the punters didn't notice. The good news for us is that we are back doing it and enjoying it.