casapete

WHY is for trades - what have you? Bit daft I know.

Billy Preston must have had the best CV of anyone! Bands / artists he’s been involved with include Little Richard, Ray Charles, The Beatles, The Stones, Joe Cocker, The Funk Brothers, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Sam Cooke and many many more. An amazing talent.

The US band ‘Clover’ provided most of the backing band duties for Elvis Costello on his first album ‘My aim is true’, before EC formed his own band ‘The Attractions’. Clover soon after morphed into ‘ Huey Lewis and the News.’

They also had a top ten UK single called ‘Neanderthal Man’, released under the group name of Hotlegs.

Their guitarist Steve Cradock played on a Weller album in the mid 90’s, and has been his guitarist since then whilst remaining a member of OCS. Great player.

Absolutely this. I’m also in the enviable position of being friends with everyone I work with now. Having had some tough times in the past with great players who were a*seholes , being able to get on with your colleagues is such a great feeling, and makes being on the road so much easier.

Yup, me too. Didn’t find either of them funny, and the B side of funky Moped ‘Magic Roundabout’ was even more excruciating. ‘Of the time’ maybe, but best forgotten.

Bev Bevan (already part of ELO) played drums on ‘Funky Moped’ as he was an old school friend of Jasper Carrot. I think he was the only ELO band member to play on it, although maybe Jeff Lynne produced it IIRC.

Bruce’s band backed Chuck before the he found fame with the E Street Band I believe. Bruce told the story that his band were waiting backstage to meet Chuck before they performed but it didn’t happen. Bruce tentatively knocked on Chuck’s dressing room door with minutes to spare before they were due to go onstage, and asked Chuck what they were going to play. To which Chuck replied ‘ well son, tonight we’re going to play some Chuck Berry songs’. Lots of famous bands have backed Chuck over the years, both live and in the studio. On his London Sessions’ album from the early 70’s for example, the studio tracks featured Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan from The Faces, whilst the live tracks ( including the notorious ‘My ding a ling’) featured Onnie McIntyre and Robbie McIntosh from the Average White Band.

Done.

You’re right of course, I did stop to do such bodily functions, although I’ve had bandmates who didn’t...

I too love gigging. Been doing it pretty much continuously for over 45 years, nearly 30 of them in a full time capacity. Strangely I’ve even enjoyed many of those gigs that were purely taken on to put food on the table, and can only remember a small number which were true car crashes. Like others have mentioned, I see playing bass as a group activity, and wish I’d started playing it sooner - my first few years of gigging were as a guita*ist, which I was competent at but not as good as many other players around me. ( I’m no virtuoso on bass either, but am what people usually term ‘a solid player’.) Even on those days when I may be not so keen on driving up and down the country in our band bus, I never lose sight of the fact that those people who come to see us play actually pay my wages, and also how much it means to them too. That alone makes it all worthwhile for me. If there was no audience then I doubt whether I would continue to play bass, probably choosing to amuse myself playing guitar and piano very badly.

Glad you enjoyed coming to Hull. (I would have been there myself but am away at the moment.) It’s a good venue as you say, and they have some other great bands lined up too. Good luck with your other dates.

The offers from Magazines Direct for Bass Player magazine seem to be changing all the time. Today's offer (Friday 6th May) is £1 for 3 issues, followed by a rolling subscription of £14.25 per quarter (£4.39 per issue). https://www.magazinesdirect.com/categories/musicuk/?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20220506_XMD-X_MAR_ACQ_MUSIC_3FOR1_E1&utm_content=20220506_XMD-X_MAR_ACQ_MUSIC_3FOR1_E1&utm_term=650142&m_i=_ybcYgP6IIPSx3A3cLgVnUxBMbce3gcB75rhnVKWbOylqAYhPaA2Odk0XiraSzy1nPbRF7qfSw3XpFLmNfO5h2WcvWZELk&lrh=2651b88090b05482d74aac9be138c96810faeadbde92f4e7d095d74ef75abca9&M_BT=211442769217

That thing when you’re soundchecking (or even during the gig) , some low end feedback occurs and everyone looks at you because you’re playing a bass! It’s nearly always a PA / monitor issue, invariably down to someone fiddling with desk who is clueless or the singer’s vocal monitor being cranked way too high. Ggrrr....

I did a gig about 5 years ago and 'Mickey Finn's T-Rex' were also on the bill. I believe they're still touring, despite Mr Finn passing away in 2003.

I think the prices have now been altered from what was originally on offer - a 52% saving. 😡

+1 for the Yammy. Easy to use, sounds great and costs next to nothing. I use mine a lot and it’s just what I needed.

I got an email this morning which included deals on subscribing to Bass Player magazine. I don't know the mag or how much it usually costs, but the deals seem reasonable for both print and digital versions. Just thought it may be of interest to some folk on here. https://www.magazinesdirect.com/az-magazines/6936369/bass-player-uk-magazine-subscription.thtml EDIT *** It would seem that the offer of 52% off has now changed to a worse deal - apologies.

Great band although often overlooked. Had so many hits and all featured great playing/singing from the band. Eric Haydock sadly died a few years ago - I briefly met him at a guitar show and he seemed a nice bloke. The band is still active - the current bass player is Ray Stiles who was with Mud for many years. I think the only original members left are drummer Bobby Elliott and ace guitarist Tony Hicks.

I’m like you about supporting local independents. However, when the price difference is more than a couple of quid and with us all being squeezed for everything else right now then it really leaves no option for me. I hate Amazon and have resisted buying from it whenever I can, but must admit that it’s an inevitability for me just lately, especially with free delivery ( my daughter has Amazon Prime). I admit to having used USA company Strings and Beyond, who are great if you’re buying a lot of sets - even with shipping they’ve always worked out cheapest for me. Great customer service too.

Just checked your Amazon link and the EB’s are now down to £16.20. (Free delivery if you spend over £20).

I’ve borrowed one and liked the sound - plenty of bottom end and went as loud as I needed, keeping up with a noisy band. Would have considered getting one for myself but crazy heavy, and the tilt back design ( as per the Ampeg 610 and 810 really) wasn’t ideal for me.

Surprised that I haven’t seen any mention yet of The Old Grey Whistle Test? This was crucial for me in the early / mid 70’s to discover a lot of the music that didn’t get much radio play. Also other things on TV like ‘In Concert’, The Tube and ‘The Geordie Scene’ which I always tried to watch. Most of these featured live bands ( although some of the early OGWT were part mimed) and made me realise who could do it and who couldn’t! Radio wise it was mainly Radio 1 for chart stuff, and before that some of the pirate stations - Radio Caroline and Radio 270 which was moored off the east coast not far from here. As mentioned by others, the music press was very important for me too, mainly Melody Maker and NME ( before it got a bit daft anyway). Melody Maker had the added bonus of the brilliant classifieds section with pages of of music shop adverts as well as all the ‘musicians wanted’ columns. Sounds was okay but I gave up when it went too rawk. When I was 18 I got a job in a large record store, and that widened my musical tastes beyond belief. The manager was very knowledgeable about soul music in particular, and through him I got into a whole new world of stuff. It was also around the time of the birth of punk and I learned so much about that too. We also got tickets to see gigs for hundreds of gigs, so I took advantage and went to see anyone who remotely interested me. Great times.

The FNM cover of 'Easy' has me running for the off button if it's ever played on the radio. I'm guessing it's supposed to be ironic/ tongue in cheek and the vocal is okay, but I can't listen to the attempt at the guitar solo and the overall wooden feel of the song compared with the original. It's like it's trying to be the same and missing by a mile. Exactly! 😄