casapete

I was lucky to see an amazing band last night at a private party for a friend’s birthday. They are ‘King Pleasure and The Biscuit Boys’, a rocking six piece swing / jive / boogie outfit from Birmingham. Band has being going for around 30 years, and entertained a large group of mainly local musos and partners really well. Consisted of a truly superb frontman / vocalist / baritone sax player, tenor sax, crazy upright bassist, pianist, guitarist and a drummer who swung like f*ck. I haven’t been so impressed with a band so much for a long time, and talking to the guitarist afterwards he told me they’ve done around 6500 gigs in god knows how many countries, and opened for Ray Charles and BB King amongst many others. If they play in your area I can’t recommend them enough - they’re coming back to a theatre near me in November and can’t wait to see them again.

Second of our 3 gigs this week was at The Fairfield Halls in Croydon. Interesting venue with great crew, and an enthusiastic audience. Had some lovely food before the gig at The Boxpark too. Finished up our gigs with a festival at Madehurst near Arundel. Organised by the local cricket club, it’s an annual event which funds the club itself as well as various local charities. Around 3,000 tickets sold meant the organisers were happy. We were on with 3 other bands, who were all really good. Great to see young musicians knocking out recent chart stuff for the audience dancing - also made us wonder if we could follow them with our 90 minute set of ELO stuff. Needn’t have worried though, and I was amazed that a lot of the younger people actually knew most of the songs.

Still got mine - 4x10 / 8 ohms. Sounds great and it has gone walkabout occasionally too. Had a couple at one point, as well as a 1x15 one which wasn’t as good IIRC. Used the 4x10 on and off for years, and was a revelation after heaving Peavey / Trace / Ashdown 410s around. Then I got an early BF Compact and the same revelation again, only more so. Once you’ve gone lightweight there’s no going back!

Interesting! I still have my 800RB which is one of my favourite ever heads. Never ran it in bi-amp mode, but into two 4x10 8 ohm cabs ( by ‘Loud Inc’ - remember them?) it was phenomenal.

Totally with you on this! I had a 410TVX cab for a few years and remember it being fantastic. Despite only being rated at 350 watts it handled some big amps I had with ease, great bottom end. As you say, the only downside was the weight, but to be fair other 410s were nearly as heavy back then. Also used mine every night for 2 months in Morocco paired with a big Trace head and it never missed a beat and survived being transported over there and back. Eventually sold it and the Trace to get an early Ashdown rig (ABM 500 amp with matching ABM 410) and regretted it. Soon after I got a Peavey 210TVX which again was a great sounding cab. Curiously only available in 4 ohm rating, meaning many amps could only use the one cab which was a shame as it was only 175 watts RMS. Some Peavey amps ran into 2 ohms though, so guess that was the plan. Like the 410, it was a weighty little thing but I loved the sound.

First of 3 this week for us at Bournemouth Pavilion theatre. Grand old place, with a very interesting room backstage (see below). Good to meet up with @Mickeyboro and his wife before the gig too.

You win Mick, looks a wonderful venue!

Bums on seats! A full theatre is always a great start for a good gig, especially when they applaud as the band takes stage. That’s usually a sign it should be okay for us. I’m always scanning the crowd for any issues during the first 2 or 3 songs, and then it’s fine - we do get the occasional drunks and hecklers but usually good natured. I never lose sight of the fact they’ve all paid to get in and hopefully leave feeling it was worth it. We’ve gradually built up our audience over many years, and it’s always great for the band when people return the next time as we then know we’re doing something right. On the actual gig itself, for the band it’s down to all the usual stuff - good health/mental state, getting to the venue with time to spare, no equipment problems, nobody messing up badly etc. For me in particular I love it when it’s a good sounding room. (The rest of the band are on IEMs so it doesn’t affect them.)

We do a few songs, each one for as long as the sound tech needs to get things right. Songs chosen to fine tune bass and drums / guitars / keys / strings and then vocals in that order. Can take longer if it’s a bigger venue which means the tech going all over the theatre with his iPad to make sure there are no areas where it’s dodgy. Always do stuff from our set, and finish the soundcheck with our opening song. Usually takes around 20 mins, longer if the IEM’s are not behaving. And then of course it all changes once the punters are in……😆

Just finished watching Elton now, and as already said, great bass playing and sound too ( SWR Goliath 6x10 lurking around). Elton’s voice better in some places than others, especially when he didn’t clip his phrasing but overall pretty good for 76. Never been that keen on Davey Johnstone’s guitar playing TBH - bit too distorted and ‘rawk’ for some stuff - ‘Are you ready for love’ for example, which was also too fast and devoid of any of the original recording’s wonderful groove. Partially saved by the great choir though. Even so, glad we watched it - Mrs CP has always loved Elton, and we were hoping to catch him live at some point which sadly wasn’t possible, so this was the next best thing. ( Wish he’d also had Kiki Dee on for the duet - she’d have made a better job of it and would have been a nice gesture on EJ’s final UK gig).

Just beautiful. That is all.

We’ve done both Warners and Butlins venues in the last few years. Played at a quite a few of the Warner’s hotels, and they all felt rather sterile to me. Also changing facilities were poor, and some of the stages not great. Much preferred Butlins, which just felt more of a band environment. Crazy audiences up for a good time at 70’s themed weekends, most of them well leathered by early afternoon! We hauled all our stuff up some stairs at Skeggy, only for me to find out later that they had a house SVT rig which I could have used. 🤨

Had two gigs with The ELO Experience this week, both at The Core Theatre in Solihull. Capacity audiences on both nights, and great being able to just turn up on the 2nd night with all the gear set up. Really sweltering onstage though, 2 big fans on full all night making it tolerable. Put a new set of strings on my bass last week, but they’re already sounding like they’ve been on for a couple of months! Bit of a naff drive home due to ongoing roadworks on the M42 , but that’s pretty much the norm these days. Last night I was playing at our regular gig in Scarborough ‘The Lookout’ with my acoustic duo. Yet another diversion meant we got there a tad late, and the town was extra busy, due to the hot weather and also Sting playing a gig at the open air theatre nearby to 6500 fans. Luckily managed to get parked by the entrance to the gig, and got set up with time to spare, narrowly avoiding a heavy flash storm. Had a great gig - loads of requests ranging from Louis Armstrong to Santana. It’s my favourite venue, and we’re back there in 4 weeks time.

Brilliant!

Drive myself to rehearsals, always had estate cars to make shifting stuff easy. Small local-ish gigs I either drive myself or alternate getting a lift with my friend in our acoustic duo - he has a small Mercedes van which is great. For my main gigs in UK theatres I always travel in the band’s Merc splitter bus, and drive most of the time. ( I’m a better driver than passenger.) 😆

Louis Johnson played on the track. George Johnson played guitar with him in The Brothers Johnson. Saw them at Manchester Apollo in the late 70’s, incredible band.

A lot depends on how sweaty your hands are! If you’re not a clammy handed person, you’ll get a lot more life out of a set of strings. Usual time to replace them is when they lose their tone and become less stable with tuning. I reckon you’ll get a good year or so on your bass. (This applies to roundwound strings - if they’re flat wound type they seemingly last forever…..)

I’m the same. I did take piano lessons from the age of around 7 till I was about 12, which grounded me with some basic theory I guess. From then on played guitar and piano in bands, upgrading to bass when I was in my 20’s - took me quite a while to get to what was my instrument of destiny! I’ve never received bass or guitar tuition and subsequently picked up some bad habits along the way, most of which I’ve managed to overcome. I think if there had been someone local to me who I knew could give me tuition I may have gone down that route, but at that time bass tuition was almost unheard of round here. Never too late though…….

Yet another reason for cash not being phased out IMO. I do like having options - cash for smaller local deals and bank transfer for larger distant ones.

I sold my car using this method of payment to a private buyer. Like you I wasn’t sure but it was fine. I’ve always stuck to cash only when buying and selling stuff, but this does seem to be the preferred way of doing things now and I can see why - safer than wads of dosh when meeting up in car parks etc, and preferable to PayPal , especially the ‘friends and family’ option. (Will keep an eye on this thread to see if anyone has had a bad experience.)

At last, another Dano user on here!

Crap electrics in old venues have meant me having to use my passive P-bass a few times. Also years ago a battery running flat in my P-Lyte at a flash wedding, resulting in me having to let the band do a song without me whilst I rummaged for a replacement - only done that once, a good lesson learned..

We’ve had a busy week with 3 gigs in Southend, Retford and Chesterfield. Southend was a blast - around 1100 people in and well up for a good night. The Cliffs Pavilion is a big theatre with a good sounding room and great staff, so a good night had by all. Managed a drink or two afterwards, although we went to the wrong hotel at first - apparently there are 2 Premier Inns in Southend, and very close to each other! Next up was Retford Majestic, a much smaller venue but sold out. Again, a great sounding room and and not our usual PA, but it sounded great nevertheless. ( I’m the only person on stage who doesn’t use IEM’s, so the only person who can hear any changes in the FOH sound. ) Then last night we were at The Winding Wheel in Chesterfield. Near capacity crowd and another good one. Local gig for some of our band and crew as well, and I was home for midnight too.

I do B/V’s in my band, and have done in all of the bands / deps I’ve done over the last 50 years. I’m a competent but not brilliant bassist, and being able to sing harmony lines has got me many gigs over better players who couldn’t sing. My voice is quite ‘neutral’ and characterless, which makes blending with other (better!) voices much easier. I also have a good ear, and can sing harmonies after a couple of listens. I’m actually of the belief that if you can play any instrument to a reasonable standard then you can sing as well - understand if you don’t like doing so of course, but it’s always a bonus if you can.