bassbiscuits

Yeah the bright lighting is contributing a bit but it’s quite an old faded sunburst anyway. Here it is in normal conditions.

The songs I couldn’t get away from 1987-1993 when I was a teenager, meeting likeminded musical mates and just starting playing in bands. Guns N Roses - Paradise City Extreme - Get the Funk Out Iron Maiden - The Trooper (ok this is from 1983 but I didn’t know about it until later)

Just driven back thru appalling conditions on the M1 from playing a dep gig with a blues player called Ian Parker and his band at Diseworth Village Hall. Top bunch of people in the band, and a full house despite the weather. It was also my first gig using the Barefaced Big Twin 2 which certainly shifted some air. Sounded very different from my previous “big cab” (an Aguilar 410) but reassured by a couple of bassists in the audience that it was thumping out front, as it should be. P bass and thuddy fingerstyle all the way. My work is done.

The Mary Rose is just a boat too....

Paid gigs.

Just finished reading Acid for the Children and thought it was great. Not a rock star memoir at all, but a really insightful ride through his formative years, disrupted childhood and finding meaning thru books, music and art. He's pretty candid about being an idiot sometimes and addresses some really mean things he's done. I've really enjoyed the ride and the storytelling tho. Recommended for sure.

I'm a professional musician. Just not a full-time one. I also don't do my desk job full-time, but that doesn't mean I'm amateur at it. It's just semantics.

I love Mustangs. Well done!

A bad gig is a paid rehearsal at the very least, and if you're part of a band, then a night out with your mates. A good gig is a cool experience as a musician, and if its a paid gig so much the better. Both are better than not doing it.

I've always thought it's worth spending vast amounts on a piece of gear if you can appreciate the difference it has over cheaper stuff, and that makes you happy. Sometimes I've found this to be the case, but other times not. I regularly gig with a £200 s/h Yamaha BB604 which sounds as good to me as numerous more expensive basses I've owned and sold. I appreciate that isn't the case for everyone, and people have different reasons for owning what they own.

Band members who borrow items of your gear once or twice, and then assume thats the norm instead of bringing/fixing/using their own.

I’ve got no idea to be honest! It was one of those “seemed a good idea at the time” things which then languished in a cupboard after the fleeting initial enthusiasm wore off (which took about half an hour). In hindsight Quilly you may well be on to something there...!

Yikes

Played once in a marquee in a garden into the pouring rain and howling wind. The marquee carpet was so soaking and muddy I ended up grabbing a rubber car mat to put my plugboard on. Nearly froze to death during the gig itself. Went back to the car and realised I had a flat tyre. And then realised a dog had done a massive poo right next to the same tyre right where I was gonna kneel to replace it. Great night all round.

An EBow. I couldn’t make head or tail of it and off to the parts draw it went until I sold it.

First concert - Dio, Newport Centre, 1987 Last concert - Ginger Wildheart, Y Theatre Leicester 2019 Best concert - Stereophonics at Morfa Stadium, Swansea, 1999. (Followed closely by Rage Against The Machine, Download 2010) Worst concert - Ryan Adams, De Montfort Hall, Leicester 2015 Loudest concert - Motörhead, De Montfort Hall Leicester 2005 ish. Seen the most - Karine Polwart Most surprising - David Ford at The Donkey, Leicester Next concert - Michael Kiwanuka, March 2020 Wish I would have seen - the Kiss tour that Alive ll was recorded on

I’ve done the band with married members in it, and yes it did all go a bit ABBA and fell apart. Which was a shame cos it was a really good band.

I cut right back on my playing and consequently my amount of gear three years ago when my youngest lad was a baby. The idea was to sell anything that wasn’t essential, so out went some good instruments. A few years on and I’m gigging lots more but I’ve realised I can still do it all on the limited range of mostly pretty modest gear I’ve got. I guess I’ve worked out what I need.

My Fender P was playing up last year at a rehearsal (some pickup soldering had come loose) so my mate dug out a cheapo Squier P he’d been using for teaching. It sounded absolutely fine - plenty of bassy noises and perfectly good to play too. I’ll be borrowing that as a spare in future.

Band members who like bluegrass.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-51402225 Just spotted this on the BBC website.

Don't forget the sublime Justin Currie, sideburned frontman of Del Amitri (very underrated band if you ask me).

Oxwich is lovely - I’m originally from Swansea so I’m biased tho. Wasn’t me this time, but glad you found a fellow bassist.