dmccombe7

Think the guys from Lateral Flow have had a rough time recently with Brian their bass player suffering from a very serious illness. Because our gig in Dundee got cancelled Lateral Flow and The Dreadnought venue offered anyone with a ticket for our gig would get free access for the Lateral Flow gig on Sat night. What a fantastic gesture of goodwill from both the band and the venue. Seriously thought about going along but having a badly twisted ankle from Xmas day i decided best to stay at home and rest it. Think the Wheatsheaf is worth avoiding by sounds of it. @grapefruitmoon At least you had a great night out in The Dreadnought to take your minds off it. Take care and hopefully get to see you guys at some point. Dave

I've now trained my wife to roll up leads at the end of the night plus she helps load the gear into the various cars. Have to point out she can lift the same weight as me at the gym. Dave

My dream job. Dave

Yes that's where i am with it at the moment. Its the best i can get at the moment. I did consider sending my bass to one IEM channel and possibly an on stage mic to pick up what i would hear on stage to the 2nd IEM channel. Think the mic would need a pre-amp of some kind tho and its starting to get costly. Think the desk signal is the way to go for now. The guitarist has also agreed to look into doing it this way.. Have to say if we had everything thru the desk we would have full and better control of the overall band sound. Dave

It was the obvious answer. Afraid our drummer who owns the PA isn't happy putting bass thru it unless we have the subs which means van hire and more cost. I've tried explaining the QSC 3-way 15's are more than capable of taking bass but he won't budge on it i'm afraid. It would make life a lot easier. Would save me carrying bass cabs about and set up and down would be far quicker. We have talked about putting the bass thru the desk but not out front and i could get a signal back for IEM. Only benefit i see there is protecting my ears of course plus on stage volume would be lower all round. I'll keep working at it. Dave

IEM was my first option however we don't always put guitars and bass thru the PA so that would be an issue unless you can offer a suggestion to get around it other than the obvious. Dave

Due to Singer losing his voice today we have had to cancel our BLOCKBUSTARZ gig at Beat Generator in Dundee. Also just found out today that one of the band member's daughter in law committed suicide on Xmas night after leaving the family get together. Not a good time for the family and our thoughts are with them all. Put a bit of a downer on today. Can't quite get my head around that. Dave

So sorry to hear of your loss. Our thoughts are with you at such a sad time. Take care. Dave

Did a surprise birthday party on Sun last week same venue as our Sat night so all the gear was left in situ apart from taking my basses home but to be honest it turned out a great gig. Just have to make the best of it and just think about having fun with it. Enjoy what you do and the audience will follow suit. Have a good one Daryl. Look on the bright side, i have a gig 2hr drive to Dundee, up 3 flights of stairs and its a ticket deal so depending on numbers that turn up will determine my fee. All that with a badly twisted ankle from Xmas day. So bad i'm gonna use the venues bass cabinet to save trying to lift heavy gear up and down stairs. Got it strapped up for extra support. Good news is its an 11pm finish (2 x 1hr sets) so should be home by 2am. Thankfully my wife will be there as usual and will give me a hand with the little gear i'm taking. Dave

Its all about the prep Daryl. Good prep = confidence. Dave

I envy and respect guys that can work like that. The stress of learning full sets at short notice has been enough that i tend not to do it these days. Its a hobby for me and i'd prefer it not to become a job as such where i feel i have to do it. Dave

That's a good observation and i agree up to a certain point, however i've left bands and when i was persuaded to return the comments were that i was providing a drive that other bassists weren't. What i took from that was down to confidence in what i bring to a band. I learn my parts well enough i can drive a rock song with a bit of aggressive attack. I think other bassists were what i call more "club" bass players. Other things that may affect why i am asked to join bands is that i learn my bass parts note for note or as near as possible. Our guitarist has regularly commented on the fact he has never needed to show me any bass part and that's a first for him. When i turn up to a rehearsal i make sure i know my part of a new song inside out that i'm confident playing it. To sum it up i guess i'm quite a confident player but that comes with a lot of time and effort learning things. Dave

WOW Chris 18 band / projects in 2024. That's impressive. No idea how you can find the time. I struggle finding time for the 3 bands i'm in let alone 18. Appreciate some are projects tho. Are some of them depping ? Depping is an art form in itself. Dave

Its amazing how just one personnel change can make such a dramatic change in a band but its good when it does and works out for the best for everyone in the band. Dave

Yep i like that too. Not the part where you got replaced tho I did replace a guy recently who was continually showboating even tho he apparently wasn't that good at it. A Death Metal bassist doing 80's rock really isn't a good combination IME. Dave

Remember age is just a number. Its a life hurdle so just get over it and enjoy what you're doing for what it is. Appreciate its a bit more for you Daryl. To be honest i have become accustomed to the extra income from the Glam band these days so i understand your point of view a lot more now than when i first joined BC many moons ago and was full time employed with a good salary and bands were a hobby where money had no baring on it at all for me. How things change with retirement 👍 Dave

You do need to keep a documented register of the equipment. Lucky enough our singer is PAT trained thru his work but we've never been asked. Dave

Think that's the mature and sensible way to go about it. Dave

Both my current bands work as a "family" unit so depping has never been an option. We enjoy what we do and working together. Dave

Would depend on how it was put to me. If a valid reason for replacing me then i'd walk away and offer any help i could. If changing direction and i didn't agree with it i would walk away if it didn't suit me. Dave

Depping is something we've all agreed not to do. If someone can't make it we would cancel the gig and offer up another date possibly at a reduced rate. I think that might mean the band wouldn't like to play with a different bass player so i guess i'm safe Dave

That just pisses me right off when i hear about it. Dave

Its not all about your ability on bass and what you bring to the band musically. There's more to working band than the mechanics. Its how you gel with the others, sense of humour, knowledge on gear, how you cope when there's a problem, so many other little things that come into it. Don't get me wrong if a band is solely in it to make money and nothing else then you are probably just a paid employee and they won't bat an eye-lid in replacing you but for most of us on BC its not a contracted band and a big part of it is friendship to a degree. If the band are all relaxed with each other it just seems to work better. I quite believe i could be replaced. I'm just a bass player, its not rocket science. I'm good at what i do but there are better players out there who could easily do what i do. In the glam band there is the image thing that i bring to the band. The band might miss me as a person and how i play but they'd get used to someone else and just carry on i reckon. They wouldn't have anywhere to store the PA right enough so i'm safe The punk band has gone thru so many people i'd be easily replaced there too. The one thing they did say after i joined was that i have a more aggressive style and that comes thru in the punk so that's a bonus. Dave

Dodgy oven element somewhere by sounds of it. Have a wonderful Christmas. Dave