hiram.k.hackenbacker

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1452253801' post='2948052'] I like this more than any of their other basses. There must be a market for it otherwise they wouldn't have made it. 4K isn't that much money to a lot of people these days, it's all relative. If you live in Manhattan, drive a nice car and have a decent wage, this is an ok price. It's like buying furniture. The divide between people's wealth, and the difference in what people consider to be normal is staggering these days. To me it's too much but I'm not the target audience. [/quote] +1 I guess. Having thought about it, I paid slightly more for my Pino. Lovely bass, but it decided me I wasn't a P person. Having seen the Holly top version, I kind of understand how the Monarch P was born now. They must have had a few requests for similar and to have space to upgrade to a preamp gives you options. I knew there was something odd about it. Glad the fret thing was pointed out as something didn't compute for me there.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1452244961' post='2947903'] I think it looks pretty nice. Would it look good reliced tho? [/quote] LOL. I wish someone would buy one and send it to Sandberg to do their HCA thing on it. The Fodera lot would have a sh*t fit.

I just read this in the description.... "Additionally the Monarch-P is built with a control cavity so that if you wanted to add a preamp down the road there is a place to do it." Well, if they had just got on and done that themselves, I would warm to it.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1452210380' post='2947775'] Nice, but it would have to be a really, really exceptional-sounding and brilliant-playing instrument... because for that money I'd rather buy a pre-CBS P. And of course I've been genetically programmed to expect a four-in-line headstock with a P-shaped body. A 2+2 just seems wrong!! Yes, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool stick-in-the-mud who wears large-tena-lady-pants. [/quote] Yes, quite. I have a Fodera, but it is what it is and it's not trying to be anything else. It is an exceptionally sounding instrument and plays brilliantly, but it's purpose is not to convert fans of a particularly well known and legendary bass. It does nothing for me at all visually and I doubt how it plays or sounds would change my mind. P.S. I am however thinking of what body parts I can sell to fund the purchase of that bloodwood!

I recently received a flyer e-mail from Fodera giving details of their NAMM 2016 basses (more on that later) and within in it were details of the new Monarch P. I have to wonder how popular this is going to be at $4000! [url="http://www.fodera.com/monarch-p/"]http://www.fodera.com/monarch-p/[/url] To my mind it's less than half a standard Monarch. Just a split P and passive. I'm sure it plays well, but I can't help thinking if you're going to get a Fodera, you may as well get an active P/J. This leads me to one of their NAMM collection. I love a Fodera me and this is just obscene.... [url="http://fodera.com/instruments-in-stock/namm-2016-bloodwood-emperor-4-elite/"]http://fodera.com/in...mperor-4-elite/[/url]

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1446748884' post='2902073'] Cynical cash-grab-tastic. It'll be Chuckles Blackmore & a bunch of American session players. I have read that there is a specific vocalist but he is an "unknown". Presumably someone from a Rainbow/Purple tribute. The only people you'd really want to see in a Rainbow reunion are dead. Jon. [/quote] So, just RB playing Rainbow & Deep Purple songs then. I think I'll steer around that one then.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1446748686' post='2902063'] Not sure, but being an avid Planet Rock listener, there has been mention that Joe Lynn Turner desperatley wanted to be incuded, but seems Blackmore snubbed him. It also seem Roger Glover wants no part [/quote] Smart bloke that Glover. Can't say I blame him.

A friend told me about the gig. Anyone know any details regarding line-up? One UK gig seems a little sparse. More could be added I suppose.

This is a link for a few songs recorded at a gig earlier this year: http://www.changestwobowie.co.uk/sound.html

This is the link for online tickets: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/search/?keyword=Riga+Music+Bar+Southend-on-Sea

ChangesTwoBowie will be playing Riga in Southend on the 7th of November. The address of the venue is: Riga Live Music, Upstairs @ O'Neill's, 119a High Street, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1LH. Tickets are £8 and are available either through the link on the Riga website or from me via PM. It would be great to see some of you there.

All valid points once again, but I would like to say straight up that I'm not going to invent any circumstance that gives the impression that I'm otherwise engaged or unavailable. I've been straight down the line with this and have told him how it is. If he bails because he can't be bothered to have reasonable discussion around it, then it's all on him, not me.

So I've spoken with the guy in the band who this gig request has come through and it didn't go particularly well. I've basically said I'm not travelling all that distance for an early afternoon slot playing to two blokes and their dog with no expenses covered. I'm reasonably happy not to profit out of it if it's a decent evening slot, but I'm not going to do it at a loss (barring the leave issue). He said he couldn't go back and negotiate without knowing the band was definitely available. The term conditionally available was lost on him. I feel bad for the rest of the band as they are truly lovely people and it turns out that not all of them knew about the gig anyway. Essentially I've put the ball in his court and made it clear that if he pulls the plug its on him, not me.

I'm seeing a few of them later, so I'll have a chat and see what develops.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1441012073' post='2855229'] Question : Do you want the role of being the regular bass player in this band? If the answer is "yes", point out to them that you play more often than the "regular" and give a condition that if you play this one You become the regular and the other guy becomes the dep. [/quote] I don't think I need to point that out. They know already. My view is that it's his band. He helped get it off the ground. I would step in full time if he left, but that's as far as it goes.

Very good points raised by all and I thank you. I haven't spoken with their regular, but I'm sure he wouldn't turn it down unless he genuinely couldn't make it. He plays all over the country in a well regarded tribute act. The deal with me is that he bails if the phone rings as long as I can backfill. It's worked very well thus far. This band is a very enjoyable one to play in and they are all close enough friends that I socialise with them outside gigs, so it's a tricky one. It just turns out that the sole wind player's brother is on the organising committee for this little outing, so you can see why this one grate's a little :-)

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1440978697' post='2855125'] So you are actually considering driving 250 miles and taking leave to do a gig as a favour for nothing? I wouldn't even have the balls to ask someone to do that, let alone expect it! [/quote] It's not expected as it's an enquiry only at this stage, but everyone else is on board apparently. I enquired whether it was paid or not, expecting what the answer would be and was told it wasn't as it is a "free to the public, not-for-profit music festival". This is despite having a "known/name" band as a headliner this summer. I'm sure they didn't do it for free!

The regular bassist for a band I dep for is unavailable for a freebie music festival type gig they have been offered next summer. It's a fair trot away for a freebie (250 mile round trip) and as I work shift work, I will also have to take a nights leave. I've done freebies for them before, but they've been close and have landed on a day off rather than a work day. I have a feeling that the band see me more as the regular than the dep as by the end of this year I will have played more gigs with them than their regular. I'm normally an "anytime, anywhere" type player, but this type of sacrifice for zero return is beginning to wear a little thin. Do other bands who employ the services of deps pay them no matter what, even if it's a freebie?

I bought Sam's TC Electronic Blacksmith from him. We met up half way @ Bluewater to exchange. A very easy transaction and a thoroughly nice bloke. Thanks again

Our web site has now been updated with some audio files. Two more tracks from the same gig have been mixed, so as well as the aforementioned Stay, you should now be able to hear Ashes to Ashes and Rock'n'Roll Suicide. Here's the link - http://www.changestwobowie.co.uk/sound.html

I still can't get my head around how I avoided coming into aural contact with Clutch sooner than I did. Given that they have been together now for nearly twenty five years and have had a album out every two or three, the first track I heard was the live pre-release of Earth Rocker..... http://youtu.be/vYcbEidtK5c That was as a result of seeing a photo of the band on one of those Live Nation ticket promo emails. There was something about that photo that had a relaxed air of confidence that said we are what we are and we do what we do, take it or leave it. I've been hooked ever since. From Track 1, Album 1 it's all good to my ears. Roll on December. Tickets for Shepherds Bush in the bag already. Can't wait.

The first single from new album Psychic Warfare is up on You Tube. I know the guys played it, along with others from the new album, during summer festivals, but it's nice to hear the studio version. There's a really nice groove going on in this one and I can't wait to hear the rest of the album. http://youtu.be/X8cmbmwFAl8

[quote name='Mr Arkadin' timestamp='1438378182' post='2834181'] Stay is f***ing brilliant. I would pay to see you just to hear that, so keep it in the set. Now if you could pull off Sue (Or In A Season of Crime) I'd be mighty impressed (probably not a crowd-pleaser that one). [/quote] Very kind of you Mr.Arkadin. Stay is going to stay. We have had conversations around Sue, but as you say, it's not without its problems. I think the only bar to us giving it a go would be getting our collective heads around how we would do it, not if we would do it. We decided early on that we would try and throw a curve ball in each set we do. For this gig it was Dead Man Walking and we're working on the it's replacement. I don't think its Sue's turn just yet though.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1438246858' post='2832791'] How did you record it btw? [/quote] It was taken straight out of the desk into a Mac. The problems we had were that it's not the biggest venue in the world and the drum kit was right on top of the main vox so there was a lot of bleed through. On top of that, the drummer also does backing vocals so had a similar issue with his mic. The kit was captured using only two overheads and a bass drum mic. The rest of the back line was fairly straight forward, but it was time consuming to get to something we were all happy with. Thanks for the kind comments. My wife says that Stay is not one of her favourite Bowie tracks, but we all love playing it, so I think it will be a permanent fixture :-)

It's taken a while to get this done due to various issues around the sound files we had from this gig. The recording was very much just for posterity and not intended to be used by us for any sort of promotional effort, but it turned out so well we thought we would have a tinker around with it to see how good we could get it. Anyone familiar with the Bowie catalogue will know that this song has been performed in various guises over the years. Our version is a heavy nod towards the BBC gig from 2000. Given that it was our very first gig, I'm fairly chuffed with it. More songs in due course. [url="https://soundcloud.com/warren-byatt/stay"]https://soundcloud.com/warren-byatt/stay[/url]