casapete

The ones who always asked me for a spare cable were the guys who spent next to nothing on theirs but laughed at me for buying quality ones, which last forever if looked after. I've also depped with a band that kept all their cables slung into a big trunk, and if you didn't get to the gig in good time you got the duff ones! I've always preferred to buy and look after my own cables, not to be anal about it but just to have that peace of mind in knowing they're all good. Having said that, my mate in my acoustic duo goes even further. He not only has a spare everything, but even a spare ipad (with all the parts on natch) and spare shirts / black suit in case of a drink / dining related mishap on high end function gigs. Needless to say he always gets paid for doing a top job.

Same here Stew. I actually have a spare of everything I use, apart from a cab. Think I would be really unlucky to blow all 4 speakers, hope I haven’t tempted fate though! Keep a small road trunk with everything in (apart from a bass obvs) including my 2 GK amps. I’ve always been the guy other band members come to when they need a spare item, but then again I think that seems to be the norm for most bassists ?

Yeah but you’ve got a Dano too so no problems. 😀

Always have a spare bass on every gig with my main gigging band. It’s a cheap and cheerful passive P-bass which I’ve used on a couple of occasions when my active bass didn’t like the wiring in old theatres for some reason. Not an ideal instrument for me ( bit heavier than my usual bass etc) but so glad it was there then. It usually lives in our van most of the time so I take it out every now and then to give it an airing and check it over.

I think Kevin McCloud from Channel 4’s Grand Designs was / is a bassist.

Reading a lot of the posts on here has made me realise I generally dislike music that is predominantly male orientated! I have tried to get on with heavy rock / all forms of metal / prog / jazz rock / anything else that is shouty or stupidly angry etc etc. Of course these genres are not exclusively 'male' but do seem to attract a larger male following than female. I've always been drawn to stuff with a groove and a 'tune' - something basically singable and/or danceable too! Fortunately Mrs CP likes pretty much the same stuff that i do, so no real problems there - she has even enlightened me to Leonard Cohen! If I played a lot of the songs at home that I've listened to on this post I would certainly now be single. 😁

Jimi Hendrix - played bass on some of Electric Ladyland album, including ‘All along the watchtower’.

New York always makes me think of these bands / artists - Lou Reed, Velvet Underground, Television, New York Dolls, Blondie, The Ramones, all the Brill Building stuff (Carole King, Neil Sedaka etc), Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Nile Rogers and a lot of the Phil Spector stuff (Ronettes, The Crystals etc). Not sure if they were all NYC born and bred but certainly earned their reputation there.

Another of Mark's projects I loved was The Notting Hillbillies, a band he helped put together in mid/late 80's. Their version of Charlie Rich's 'Feel like going home' is just wonderful.

I always loved this version of 'Why worry' by The Everly Brothers. Comes from the Chet Atkins and Friends special with Mark Knopfler, - both play on it too. Apparently MK wrote the song with The Everlys in mind.

You wouldn’t, I’d be in front of you.......🥴

I was working in a record shop when ‘Sultans of swing’ first came out. We used to stock pretty much every single that was released, and I remember reordering this one regularly over quite a long period - only sold a few copies a week so went under the radar a bit. Then one day I thought I’d listen to it to see why it was selling and being quite surprised - this was after all around the height of punk, 1978 and it went quite against most of the type of stuff new bands were releasing. Anyway, it gradually became a hit, and so did the album. I never really got into DS that much, although have always loved Knopfler’s playing. One of those guitarists you recognise instantly, and a top bloke too.

I’m way more offended by the curtains......

Me too! ‘....superstar but he didn’t get far......’

Pretty much most of the music I love contains vocals / backing vocals. If you want to see more of what makes hired backing vocalists tick, try and catch '20 feet from stardom', a great documentary. Trailer here -

There are plenty of singer-songwriters who have had their work arguably covered by 'better' singers - as well as Bob Dylan you could also include Burt Bacharach, Kris Kristofferson, Brian Wilson and Jimmy Webb for example. However for me there is always something about hearing the originator of the songs performing them that cuts through somehow.

A friend of mine conducts funerals as a civil celebrant. He's often asked for some 'wacky' tunes for the occasion, including - The Jam - Going Underground, The Traamps - Disco Inferno, Queen - Another one bites the dust, Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the sky, Monty Python - Always look on the bright side of life, Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire, Morecambe & Wise - Bring me sunshine, Simple Minds - Don't you forget about me, and also the Match of the Day theme tune! Most popular songs are - Angels, My Way, Time to say goodbye, Wind beneath my wings, You raise me up, The Living years.

Good call, was causing me some OCD related issues.......😆

Her version of 'Spooky' gives me shivers. For some strange reason I can't seem to embed YouTube videos any more - SORTED!

Dusty was amazing. Without doubt one of the finest female vocalists of our time. I love pretty much everything she did ( with the exception of the Pet Shop Boys collaboration ), especially her wonderful cover of Carole King’s ‘Goin Back’ . Unfortunately never got to see her live though. Absolute legend.

We play theatres all over the UK, including smaller ones. Even with the larger venues we do, the idea of social distancing in a seated auditorium is pretty much impossible, both practically and economically. Say every other seat only could be sold ( and that probably still wouldn’t allow enough distance between punters ), we couldn’t make playing many venues worthwhile at 50% of their capacity. Likewise, how would long rows of seating work? We know from experience that only after a few songs into our first set some people need the loo ( or maybe a smoke?) and squeeze past people in their row. Same goes for cinemas too of course. Already we have lost a couple of our regular venues for good, and I especially have fears for the smaller theatres in the longer term who need well supported gigs to survive.

Me too! My main band plays (or should that be 'used to play'...) mainly theatres and arts centres etc. Nice gig, with great people and no hassle. But it's the other gigs I play that make me feel more connected with what I do. I'm in an acoustic duo and we have (maybe 'had') a weekly Tuesday night residency in the back room of a local pub. Lovely crowd and atmosphere and a gig which I genuinely love and look forward to. Sure, we get the odd nutter / drunk in but they don't give us any grief. Already this seems like eons ago, and I really long for a return to a pre-lockdown scenario although fear / accept that this won't be for a long time, if at all. 🙁

If you decide to go down the route of getting a separate DI box, you really can't go wrong with one of these - https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Behringer-BDI21-V-Tone-Bass-Preamp/6LV Based on the Sansamp Bass Driver, but over £200 cheaper! I bought one to back up my Sansamp and it's fantastic. For £22 it's a no brainer to stick in your gig bag.

Me too, and that’s coming from someone who’s not a big fan of ‘The Shads’. Probably due to backing too many guitar vocalists who always insisted on doing an instrumental to show their versatility and it usually ended up being ‘Apache’ ( or possibly ‘Albatross’). I thought Hank, Bruce and particularly Brian Bennett came across as being decent blokes, and was amazed how popular they were in the early sixties. Pete Townshend’s comments were amusing! Always thought ‘Wonderful Land’ was their best tune rather than Apache though.