casapete

22 minutes ago, police squad said:

hi mate, not really. It isn't weight issues I'm having atm. I think I have a disk out of place and it's pressing on the nerves. It's more a positional thing.

ATM I can't get out of bed in the morning and stand up until I've taken the cocodamol and waited about 15 minutes because of the pain. Then I could get up and hobble about. (it's actually quite scarey not being able to stand)

Physio tomorrow but lots of rest today/ tomorrow

Sounds horrible - hope you get it sorted soon. 

24 minutes ago, martthebass said:

Next Saturday Pete, Service Station - not played there before. Apparently a bit of a rockers place so we’ll see how Glam goes down 🤣🤣🤣

Damn, I’m in Shrewsbury that night Mart - I will get to see your band soon though!
Service Station isn’t a big place but they put on lots of bands, as you say mainly rock

so hope you shake them up a bit! Am sure you’ll be great,  all the best. Pete. 

As is often the case in these discussions, I’ll get the elephant in the room out of the way before 

anyone else chips in. I love this design, beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc….

15 hours ago, martthebass said:

Next week it’s the middle of Hull….

Where / when are you playing Mart?

Our acoustic duo played another gig at The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough last night. 
Usual full house and dozens of requests, this time including ‘The thrill is gone’, ‘Moon river’,

’Unchain my heart’ and even ‘Waterloo’ which I don’t think I’ve ever played before.  Nice 

bassline too, although a bit more limited due to dropping the key so two blokes could

sing it! We have one more gig there at the end of this month before a bit of a break until

July. Picture taken as we were loading out, a beautiful evening over the bay.

Amplifier now sold, so just the speaker cab still for sale - £325 including flightcase.

Cheers.

Just back from seeing Tommy Blaize at Ilkley Kings Hall.

Am guessing not many folk on here may know Tommy - he’s one of the singers in The Dave Arch

Band who perform each week on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. Certainly one of the best singers I’ve 

seen in a long time, he has worked with so many other people ( Stevie Wonder, Amy Winehouse,

Queen, Diana Ross, Beach Boys ) and also plays piano, guitar and ukulele! A great selection

of songs with truly amazing vocals and piano playing, and a few stories too. Cracking gig,

highly recommended if it’s your bag. 

In my old function band we had a 3 piece brass section, some of whom were teachers and 

couldn’t always make the gigs so we got used to having a fair few deps in.

If the gigs were in London we’d have deps who could only do the gig if near a tube station,

and they would turn up already dressed in a dinner suit carrying their instrument. No mic

or music stand etc, and would never help with anything other than just playing the notes.

They’d be off like a shot after the last song too - became quite funny really. Had some 

great players though, absolute pros who probably gigged most nights. 

When we were doing 3 or 4 sets during long days at weddings, we would change our

stagewear. We had some pretty loud suits for the evening sets, and when having them made

we thought we’d better get a spare for any deps. As most of the brass guys were often shall

we say on the more generous side, the dep suit was made as an XXL. I shall never forget doing

a society wedding in Ireland with the dep trumpet player (5 feet 6 tall and skinny as anything)

dressed in this suit, looked like we had a schoolboy standing in. A few days afterwards we saw

him playing with a band on Later with Jools Holland, looking very cool and hip. Could have

made a fortune if we’d had some pics of him playing with us. 

Started my final run of gigs last night with The ELO Experience at Milton Keynes Theatre.

As you’d expect, a large modern theatre with great staff, load in and backstage facilities.

It has a capacity of 1400, think we had just over 1000 people in so felt quite full. 
We haven’t played for 3 weeks, so were all a bit on edge hoping we would be okay.

Didn’t start well at soundcheck with a few tech issues, but with the help of our guys

we got it sorted eventually. We were just leaving the theatre to find somewhere to eat

and bumped into Warwick Davis passing by -nice bloke and a favourite of our lighting

maestro Rob who got a selfie. 
The gig went well, lively audience in good voice. We all got through it without any major

problems, although I was quite tired. 170 mile drive back home as the gig was a stand

alone, have been having a quiet day today. 
 

3 hours ago, rushbo said:

I can't see it being an issue at all. My only concern would be that I'd probably bring my own stool as I'd be a bit nervous about relying on what a venue can provide. I've seen bar stools in pubs which look a bit like they've been nicked from a primary school to chairs which need a step ladder to mount successfully. You can get stools combined with a stand if you don't want to go down songofthewinds DIY route. Here's an example from Gear 4 Music:

There are a bunch of these things available and they start from around £40. Some have backrests for extra comfort/swankiness.

 

If it's a choice between a great bassist playing sitting down, or a dodgy dep, pogoing themselves to death, I think most bands would choose option A.

I use a stool just like this one, works well and the guitar stand bit is very handy.

Most of the acoustic duo’s gigs I do are seated, although some do get to that point where

standing may be more appropriate. 

15 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

My last gig was pretty much sitting (jazz) unless I was having to balance on 2inch square of stage.

 

For a more active band I think I'd want a chair that I could get up from when I felt good enough for it. If the set is planned in a fairly conventional way - first 3 tunes being high tempo, then next 2-3 a bit slower etc etc then I'd probably stand for the first ones, then sit down for a bit - maybe even up to the finale.

 

But that depends on the extent of injuries of course.

You could then stand up for the key changes, Westlife style! 

I’d say if none of the band members mind then just do it - am sure they appreciate you being 

there whether seated or not. Possibly set up closer to the drummer so at least there are two

musicians roughly the same height?

4 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

What I didn’t expect about Band of Friends was that not once in the evening was Rory’s name mentioned! Any idea why?

Not sure Mick - Gerry did mention Rory a couple of times, and from what we were chatting about

in the restaurant before the gig I’d say he still has immense respect for him.

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

had this last night, lovely small bar in Kent which was unexpectedly rammed for our gig, fixed fee agreed, owner comes up at the end of the gig to tell us she's adding some cash to the fee as we went down so well. Confused the singer who now couldn't do the maths for the split  

 

Yup, we get this sometimes. A nice gesture which doesn’t go unappreciated.

The OP’s venue sounded like they would never do this though, if they’re trying to underpay bands

due to their drinks sales. Wonder if they try it on with tradespeople - ‘sorry mate, can only give you

half the money for fixing our plumbing as it’s been a bit quiet today’? 

1 hour ago, Paul S said:

Mcavoy!  I'd have been a bit start struck!

I was too Paul! An absolutely lovely bloke though, really grounded and funny. 
He likes a glass of wine too….

Wonder if they’d taken more than expected on the bar they then would have paid you extra?
Absolute tw*ts.

Just got back from seeing Band of Friends at Howden Shire Hall. A friend of mine asked if I could

supply Gerry McAvoy with a bass rig for the gig, so I took him my GK800RB and a 4x10 to go

with an Ashdown 1x15 that was there. The band are based in Europe ( Gerry lives in France),

and they were only doing two UK gigs so wasn’t worth them bringing their backline over.

My friend Ian Bolder ( Trevor’s brother) brought along a Fender Vibrolux for the guitarist

to use, so all good.
After the soundcheck we all went for drinks and some Italian food, and was great listening

to Gerry’s stories. I told him last time I saw him play was with Rory Gallagher

at Hull City Hall in June 1974. I was 16 and due to take my Maths O level ( GCSE) the next

day. My mum told me I should stay in and revise, but I convinced her I was up to speed and

went to the gig, which was ace. I got an ‘unclassified’ grade in the exam, so I blame Gerry

for my lack of qualifications! 

Gerry was great again tonight. He was using his 63 Precision and it sounded mint. Shame

there was only around a half capacity crowd, but the band still performed 100%. Cracking gig!

3 hours ago, lurksalot said:

I suppose it’s not that odd for an Indian though , if I have a dish I will normally have a bread with it, why not slap it on top of the bread (obviously not a chicken curry though 😂 )

I think types of Asian bread ( naan etc) served with curry etc are completely different from the exotic pizzas

mentioned on here . Pizza is by definition ( for me anyway) a doughy base topped with a tomato sauce and mozzarella,

and then adorned with various other items. I dislike pizza without the tomato/mozzarella combo, and those with

toppings that any proud Italian would refrain from eating. 
Blimey, people will be having curry sauce with fish&chips next - oh, wait a minute………😆

Tonight on BBC4 at 9pm - Marvin Gaye Live at Montreux 1980

14 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Oh ... and  a Frijid Pink style House ofvthe Rusing Sun.

That was one of the first 45 rpm records I bought, haven’t heard it in ages. On Deram records IIRC.

13 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Nope, we honestly didn't.

The music shop my teenage self used to hang around in during the early/mid 70's meant I used to pick up useful tips that

I've never forgotten. Some were probably bollocks, but many have stuck with me.

I remember making speaker leads from the orange cable that came with many Black and Decker type products.

The good thing was that you couldn't mistake them for guitar leads which back then were mostly black (or coiled!).

Still got some somewhere.

7 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Just throwing this out there, I've been playing for more than 40 years and while my (current) preferred amp to speaker connection is Speakons, for the intervening years I just used a regular jack to jack cable.  When times were particularly bad (as a teen) it wasn't unusual to have hotwired cable using bell wire, electrical cable or whatever was on hand.  You know what?  Not one blown speaker or damaged amplifier.  Nada.  

 

At one point early on, I was running a particularly cheap and nasty bass combo and decided to connect another speaker to it.  In the spirit of Eddie Van Halen, I cut a 4" hole in the back of the combo, had about a yard of hi-fi speaker cable and hooked everything up sight unseen with little crocodile clips and electrical tape.  I suppose that 4" hole would now be considered a port.  No soldering, no idea what out of phase was.  Worked fine.

 

We really do need to stop getting our panties in a twist about what's right (or wrong), eh?

Agreed, although even back then we knew that using guitar leads for connecting speakers wasn't a good idea.

4 minutes ago, Gasman said:

Last night’s gig was one I never anticipated, wanted, but felt compelled and eventually pleased to do. My son died three weeks ago suddenly from a second heart attack a week after having stents for the first one, seems the surgeon did half a job. Julian was 46, three kids, fitness fanatic, my best friend, top DJ and drummer

 

Today was his funeral. His widow had booked an acoustic duo for the wake in the local pub. However, the girl singer had to leave early for some reason; the landlord knew I played and pointed me out to the remaining guitarist/singer suggesting I might help, so as my gear was in my car I played bass and sang with him for the second set.

 

It was good therapy, busking 15 numbers I’d never played before with a guy I’d never met. Despite this glimmer of light in a dark, dark day I’ll never be able to rationalise why I’m still here at 74 to write this while he will never read it. 

 

Parents shouldn’t have to bury their children...

How awful for you. My sincere condolences to you and your family.

@Chienmortbb on here is good for cables.

Look for those with good quality cable ( Van Damme , Sommer etc) and Neutrik connectors.

IMO avoid stuff like cheaper Fender, Planet Waves, and pay a bit more for good stuff - if

looked after they will last years. 

6 minutes ago, Cliff Edge said:

I had this very conversation recently with my household insurer. The upshot was everything is covered in the house, and out, for items under £2000. Anything over that figure should be itemised. There was no extra premium involved. But as mentioned above, not covered if left unattended in a vehicle. 

I think there isn’t a ‘standard’ policy i.e. all insurers will vary in what they will or won’t insure so best to check.

Mine covers stuff that isn’t being used to make a living, but not items which are for instance. Just like

motor insurance for musicians, it’s a complicated scenario.