casapete

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. 

3 hours ago, mowf said:

Indeed. I believe Toploader themselves are still playing it somewhere as they neglected to write an ending.

The Toploader version was actually a cover -previously a hit in the early 70’s for King Harvest in the US,

with the original being recorded by Boffalongo . Both of these had fade outs too! 
I don’t mind the song, Toploader version. In my function band it always went down well when we did it.

I can think of a lot worse. 😊

1 hour ago, BassBunny said:

If it's just home cover, speak to your home insurance company. Might be better than a specialist company.

This ^^^
 

I have cover for my gigging instruments, and have my stuff I don’t gig with down

as named items on my home insurance. Works fine for me, although ( as is the norm

with any insurance cover) be sure to check all the small print.

On Saturday I’m going to see ‘Band of Friends’ featuring Gerry McAvoy on bass. 
Saw him with Rory Gallagher in the mid 70’s, so hope it will be an interesting evening. 

2 hours ago, ossyrocks said:

 

I have a lightweight PA that I haven't used in about 6 years. I was looking at it today and thinking I should sell it.

 

It's a Fender Passport series. Not sure of the exact model, but I think it's about 500w. It used to be completely adequate for my little 3/4 piece band in pubs and small venues. I have stands for the speaker too. I'm sure we could come to an arrangement.

 

Rob

Thanks Rob, but we are currently using a Yamaha EMX512SC mixer amp which gives out 2x500 watts.

The cabs are Bose tops and some bass bins.

We’d be looking at something at least that output again, possibly class D powered cabs such as RCF / QSC etc.

I have an Allen and Heath mixer with FX that we could use with them.

You could maybe try listing your Fender PA on here? 

7 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

We used a pair of RCF 310As for years with a full band when I was still using backline for bass. Great sound and very lightweight - maybe worth checking out?

Cheers, will do.

I was absolutely done in after our acoustic duo gig at the weekend! I'm 66, and lugging a PA into a venue is getting more of a PITA for me, ( especially as don't have to do this in the theatre band I'm in! )

Although a seated gig, I found it very full on and a touch stressful, which isn't what I was thinking of in my pending retirement! 
Most of our gigs are quite laid back, so a rammed pub on Easter Sunday was probably an

exception. I can't blame my own kit (Fender Rumble 100 combo) either!

Think we'll be looking for a more lightweight / easier to manage PA soon. It's crap getting old!!

Our acoustic duo played last night in Beverley at The Sun Inn. 

We weren't sure if it would be busy with it being Easter Sunday and all, but when we arrived at 4pm the 

place was getting quite full. It's a lousy get-in with parking difficult, and the pub is on a blind corner which

makes unloading a bit scary but we got it all in just before the heavens opened. It's an old pub dating

from the 16th century - stone flagged floor, beams everywhere etc (see pic) so the sound can be a bit

challenging. Due to the number of people in we didn't get a good soundcheck but just cracked on

anyway. Did 3 x 40 min sets of requests, usual broad range of stuff from Ray Charles to Taylor Swift!

At one point they had someone on the door having to turn people away as the room was rammed

with punters. Plenty of faces we hadn't seen for a while, so great to catch up. Gave away a 

few business cards so hopefully will pick up some other work too.

Landlord Paul is a top bloke, and we've just agreed to play a monthly gig there now for the rest of 2024. 🙂

http://suninnbeverley.co.uk

Just back from Scarborough where we saw ‘Fire and Rain’ at the YMCA theatre.

 Some friends of ours put the band together to play James Taylor material ( with

a smattering of Carole King tunes ) and they were absolutely brilliant! A near

capacity crowd loved every song, and the band played them just superbly. Vocals

were sublime, and all the players performed so well, especially Tom Townsend

on guitar and vocals, and our friend Bob Walker on bass. A great evening of

classic songs, highly recommended.

Although I don’t have anything to do with it, our band has used Facebook quite successfully

for marketing our theatre gigs. We’ve used national newspapers in the past, but have found

using FB is more cost effective and easier to target our demographic. Whether that works

for younger bands / audiences I honestly don’t know though. 

2 hours ago, scalpy said:

My friend is in guitar for that tour. Did the last one too, the infrastructure for it sounds incredible.

Is that Chris Spedding? He’s doing the WOTW tour I believe, great player. 

24 minutes ago, ezbass said:

My Boy Lollipop makes my skin crawl

It does the opposite for me - a wonderful joyous record, that was so important for being the first 

time many people in the UK were aware of ska/bluebeat. Great feel, I love it. 

4 hours ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

Dancing in the street - all versions I've heard of an awful song 

I’d probably agree with most of your other choices, but have a listen to the original version

of DITS by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - pure pop magic, and 60 years old this year.

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

I certainly feel that post lockdown audiences are different to pre-lockdown audiences in a negative way

I agree, something definitely changed. I don’t expect the audience to sit there in deathly silence - 

it’s a pub after all and their drinking pays my wages! It’s just the few who spoil it for others that 

get to me, and then at the end they even come over and try to be your best mates. I can’t help but

think we won’t be there much longer, which is a shame as the nutters win. Probably best we start

looking for an alternative venue, and hopefully our core audience will go with us.