Deep Thought

The Stranglers, having seen them first in 1980 when I was 15.

Vintage Tony Butler is a fine bass-they had one in our local second hand/pawnbrokers for £100 back along.

I've had a few bottom E's break in rehearsal or at home, but usually really old strings. I have seen a bloke break a bottom E on stage, on a Thunderbird, and it took forever to change it, so I always have a spare bass with me, although not necessarily on stage. I once heard JJ Burnel telling Jason How, CEO of Rotosound, that if he doesn't change strings every gig, he'll break the bottom E for certain.

[quote name='Skybone' timestamp='1470074680' post='3103097'] I you haven't heard I, check out the Coloursound album, Mike Peters, BIlly Duffy & Crag Adams. Superb, and very underrated. IIRC, Craig has been playing with The Alarm for quite some time [/quote] I will! I wasn't aware that Craig was playing with the Alarm, (my first thought was that it was The Bass Thing from the Wonder Stuff-unlikely as the poor chap died in 1993!), mainly because I never actually liked the Alarm. I was actually pleasantly surprised when I caught the tail end of their set. He had a lot more hair the last time I saw him! I have a lot of time for Billy Duffy, loved his work with Spear of Destiny and the Cult.

Loved the Sisters, saw them 4 times in the mid-eighties, including the ill-advised Leeds festival gig. Was interested to see Craig Adams supporting the Stranglers with The Alarm earlier this year. Hooky is on record as saying he was heavily influenced by JJ Burnel incidentally, although he doesn't use much chorus!

I'm the lead singer in our band, I've been lucky so far but live in constant fear of getting a throat or chest infection before a gig-I'm quite sure I couldn't have sung on numerous occasions. It's just not physically possible, I'd hate to blow out a gig but if I can't do it, I can't do it. I did a gig while back whilst getting over a cold, a week earlier it would have been out of the question, as it was people were asking if we had a different singer to last time.

My sound was once compared to Burke Shelley of Budgie, which I had absolutely no problem with.

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1467195313' post='3081772'] Ha ha. I assume you are referring to The Resistance? Fairly shocking in my book too, but I don't they will produce anything better than Origin of Symmetry which is an almost perfect album IMHO. My favourite track across all albums is still Fillip which rarely gets played, which I think is a shame. Even so, I saw them in London on the Black Holes tour and thought the show was outstanding. Should have gone both nights and I would have had both a CD and a DVD of gigs I was at! The guitar thing I just cannot get my head around. I just hate wastefulness like that. I says a lot about a person. [/quote] Yes I did mean the Resistance. There you go, shows how highly I regarded it-I knew it started with R!

Seen 'em live three times, always incredible, lost interest after 'Revolutions', but love the new album. I guess each to their own, but it always surprises me when people complain about Matt Bellamy's vocals. Personally I would kill to be able to hit notes like that, but then there are vocalists that get on my wick too. I'm told that on tour, in Germany I believe, he ran out of guitars because he'd smashed them all. So they flew out Hugh Manson, who builds them for him, with six new ones! We once did some recording at Sawmills, where they recorded their first album. Our engineer said he'd never seen a better rhythm section than Muse.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1467106581' post='3081168'] I was there in '87 too and specifically wanted to see Husker Du. They were on Saturday afternoon as I remember and didn't disappoint even in the daylight. Other stand-out's for me were Gaye Bykers, The Soup Dragons, Hank Wangford, Billy Bragg and Stump. Over-all I didn't really enjoy it. Lots of anarcho-punk types being w***ers in the camping areas. I remember sitting up on a hill looking at this massive shanty town thinking that this must be really bad for the local eco-system despite all the hippy posturing. You can keep it I thought and have never been back. [/quote] I recall it rained like Hell on the thursday, resulting in Somme-like conditions, but the Sun came out after that making life a lot pleasanter. It did leave a giant lake next to the Pyramid Stage, in the middle of which a Transit van was abandoned. Whilst Elvis Costello was on somebody torched it. I had done some acid, so the sight of a blazing Transit in the middle of a lake, plus Costello's laser show was pretty mind-blowing! I remember really enjoying That Petrol Emotion but not a lot else, and I too have never been back, despite the fact that I could get in for free via work.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1467072574' post='3081043'] Exactly my experience in 1987 - except for the Husker Du bit, obviously. A friend in our party took a LOT of Immodium to prevent any crapping, but his weekend was spoilt somewhat as he did [i]not [/i]feel well for some reason... I did what you did and exercised the power of mind over (fecal) matter. [/quote] I just checked the Glastonbury history and it turns out it was 1987 I was there as well.

My last visit to Glastonbury was 1986, I went specifically to see Husker Du, and I'm glad to say I did. My most enduring memory is the sh*t I had when I got home, having held it in for 3 days because I couldn't face the festival bogs, a trench with a row of cubicles over it and a hole in a wooden board to sit on. Several times I went in, took one look and retreated, refusing to have anything to do with the foulness I beheld. So when I left I decided to hold on a bit longer until I reached my own toilet rather than stop on the motorway-it was 'hello Mum, hello Dad, see you in half an hour!' Bliss. Doesn't sound like things have improved much in the last 30 years.

Saw 'em twice in their heyday (to my daughter's disgust) and wasn't blown away on either occasion. They did some superb stuff though-'What difference does it make?', 'Panic' and 'Heaven knows I'm miserable now'-especially the way it annoyed all the happy clappers-are my favourites. I love some of Morrissey's solo stuff too, but still think the bloke is a colossal knob.

Bought a Behringer BDI 21 from Liam. Pleasant easy transaction, no hesitation in recommending. No worries!

They're all Japanese made, but some were for export and some Japan-only, however I don't think that affects what sort of jack socket they have-I don't know why some have the strat socket and some don't. I used to know bit more about this when I owned one, but forgot it all when I sold it.

Aerodyne Jazz basses have a strat-style socket-mine didn't, but others do, possibly the Japan-only version? I used to know more about this. My Ibanez SR500 also had a funny, upward-facing strat-style socket. I hate to see straight style jacks sticking out of side-mounted sockets-looks horribly vulnerable to me. Always angled for me, less likely to get bashed on something, of which there is always no end of opportunity.

I always use a foam pop screen on my mike when we play places like this, after receiving the aforementioned mike in the teeth when pissed-up dancers collided with my mike stand. We've had some riotous nights, especially at one of our regular haunts. It's a sea port, and on one occasion there was a destroyer parked in the river! First set was all the matelots, then at ten they all went back to the ship and it was the officers turn-they were worse!

This is why I only played my own stuff when I first started playing-so nobody could tell me I was playing it wrong!

Mr. Brightside, Johnny B. Good and Great balls of fire.

I have used blue washers from posh water bottles for years on my Shuker-never had a minutes's trouble, they have truly been fit and forget-which I certainly couldn't say about the Schallers I used to use. I only use leather slotted straps with no buckles so I just fold the strap over inside the hard case when I put the bass away.

Oh, it had to black, didn't it? Is that one of the black limited editions or a standard one with a black scratchplate? One of a very few basses I'd consider selling my Shuker for-although I've yet to play one.

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1462606542' post='3044274'] A number of years ago I used to live in Findon, West Sussex, and every year I'd go to the Festival of Speed at Goodwood. One year I was there with a mate, in the paddock which is open to everyone to mingle with drivers, celebrities and priceless cars, unlike just about every other racing event you could mention, and I was on a mission to get a good look at Nick Mason's Ferrari 250 GTO I noticed there were only two blokes around it and so we made a bee-line straight for it, one of the two blokes was stooped over, looking into the car, oblivious to everything around him, and as I zoomed in on the car, he stood up and I literally bumped into George Harrison. We both apologised at the same time, me automatically saying " Really sorry George" then immediately turning to the car, not really registering fully who he was, he just grinned and said "It's beautiful isn't it?" and sauntered off, it took a few seconds before I said to my mate "That was George Harrison", my mate, not much of a music buff said " Yeah, but this is a 250GTO" [/quote] The first time I went to the Festival of Speed, my mate and I walked into the nearly deserted paddock to see four 250GTO's in a row-this was a time when one had recently changed hands for ten million. There's nothing like it for seeing historic and rare cars and bikes, It's also not hard to meet famous people just walking around, mainly racing drivers of course-there goes Stirling Moss, there's Emerson Fittipaldi, there's Damon Hill, there's Stirling Moss again, etc. Not seen any famous musicians myself, but I know they go there.

[quote name='markdavid' timestamp='1462396539' post='3042796'] Imo white is only an acceptable pickguard cover if the bass is all white , white pickguards on black basses just remind me of cheap starter basses [/quote] Entirely agree. My US Precision had a white scratchplate, I wouldn't take it home until the shop had put a black one on for me.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1462296526' post='3041904'] None of the above. Tort! [/quote] That, I'm fairly sure, is my Mex Precision. If so, that scratchplate was replaced with a black one within a month of me buying it!