bassbiscuits

Headlined an event called Picnic in the Park at Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire yesterday as part of the Elton John tribute band. Nice afternoon out, good crowd, didn't rain (yay!) and a big stage to throw rock star shapes on. All boxes ticked really.

Done Butlins at Skeggy and Minehead. Big stages, nice house rigs (SVT and 8x10 cab) and the staff took good care of us each time. Good crowds at these weekends (I think ours have been 1970s weekends) and people right up for a dance and sing along. We were on just before Stan Boardman last time! Cool gigs.

Aye I always drive too. I don’t drink so it’s easy for me to be the driver. I’ve walked to a couple of gigs before now with bass on my back if I know there’s good backline provided (or I’ve had to set up earlier and can leave kit there etc) but that’s few and far between. When I used to drink we’d have all sorts of complex travel arrangements to avoid driving at all costs but I much prefer to pack down, load in and get out of there at the end of the gig.

Same. I learned from Harvey Vinson and Jim Gregory’s books which had the floppy 7” record in the back. Got about halfway thru the book and then learned the rest from listening to Iron Maiden and Kiss albums from the local record library. Been winging it ever since, rather effectively it must be said. Still can’t read a note of music but after 38 years of playing I think I’ve probably missed the boat on that one.

Sunday afternoon gig at a very hot, humid, steamy Donkey in Leicester with the Andy Wales Blues Band. Outside was about a zillion degrees and we were roasting to death in our tight black jeans and Chelsea boots. But the decision to play inside paid off when a massive downpour and thunder arrived a few songs in. The whole vibe suited our swampy blues and soul music thing tho. The only downside of all that humidity is that I now have exactly the same hairstyle as Gene Wilder.

Bravo - it’ll be your last chance to see him. And well done on playing at Glasto too! What’s the band?

I think it's fair to say almost all cheap/mid budget instruments are far far better than they were when I started playing in the mid 1980s (when plywood bodies, terrible hardware, poor electrics etc were the norm). For £500-£600 you'll have no problem in finding a really decent bass. There's no right answer as to which one to get, as everyone has their own favourites. As the others here have said, try out as many as you can and get a feel for which aspects of them you like or don't like (I've lusted after a Thunderbird for years until I tried one and realised its totally the wrong shape for me!) But most of all enjoy it - the fun is in the journey of discovery!

Went to see Elton John's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour at Birmingham NIA (now called Utilita Arena) on Sunday night. He seems like a very cool old granddad now, rather than the strident, bullish rockstar diva I'd half expected - more an impish, delighted old man enjoying the fun of celebrating a look back his life and music one more time. He can still play the b*llocks of his piano though, and his band were great. Loved how he came on for the encore in his dressing gown, and then got whisked off by a sort of stairlift which took him up and away into a little trapdoor high in the backdrop, from where he waved us farewell. Quite poignant and really glad I went.

If I'm adding backing vocals it's generally because they are needed. If the aren't needed, I won't do them.

For years and years it was just one bass without any problem. Nowadays I’ve always got a spare even if it’s just in its case behind the backline. The only exception is pub gigs in hard to access city centre venues where i travel as light as poss.

Just back from seeing Kiss at the NEC on Monday night. Absolutely awesome gig. My first and last time I’m going to see them, so I’m glad it was everything I’d wished for. And also what a brilliant venue the Resorts World Arena is. I was expecting to grab an overpriced hot dog in a corridor somewhere for tea - instead we parked up and went for a Pizza Express before the show.

Kiss tomorrow night at Birmingham Resorts World Arena (or the NEC for the rest of us). Going for old times sake - back in the day, Kiss and Iron Maiden were some of the first bands I ever really connected with and thought “wow i want to play in band too!” My dilemma now is whether to wear face paint to the gig. It’s gotta be done right? Or will i look like a tool?

Cool. Yeah on a good night the O’Neills crowd are well up for a singalong and dance about. I do a lot of wedding/theatre stuff at the moment but loud sweaty pub gigs are still sometimes the best ones!

Nice one! What band was that? I’m down there next Saturday. Glad it was a good ‘un!

Played a party in the lovely surroundings of Belgrave Hall and Gardens in Leicester. Beautiful summer evening here, and awesome vegetarian Indian cuisine. Mint.

Played barefoot at a festival a few summers ago. Went the whole hog and painted my toenails too. Very liberating and comfortable. Feet were filthy at the end tho as the stage was so dirty!

Bought a Mike Lull PJ4 and traded in both my main basses at the time (a 1995 USA precision and 2008 USA Jazz) plus about £900 on top. One gig later I realised the Lull wasn’t my kind of thing at all. The two Fenders were gone by then, and then I sold the Lull anyway in due course, at a considerable loss, leaving me without any of the three basses involved!

This is my old rig. Awesome but too much to lug around.

Prior to this I ran the Little Mark head into an Aguilar GS410 and/or a Schroeder 1210. Both were great. The Aguilar in particular was a better sounding cab than the MB ones I think. But the size and weight of it did my head in and I got fed up of hurting myself trying to move it around. So this is a much better fit for me at the moment.

The car names were based on the number plates (Rio was R10, Pixie contained PXY etc…) We just refer to the current cars as Bluey and Silvery to save any confusion

I made the mistake of naming my previous cars (Rio and Pixie…) which made it much harder to part with them! So no. Basses don’t need names. They don’t come when I call them anyway.