Norm

At about age 12 (1975ish), My mate had a guitar & I wanted to play the drums but my folks wouldn't get me a kit, too noisy was the reason/ excuse. They offered instead to put half the cash to a japcrap jazz bass that was in the window of local music shop. After many odd jobs & paper rounds, it was finally mine & the rest is history. As soon as I picked it up it felt right & even though I can play guitar & drums reasonably, bass is still the place!

Hi to jimrs2k, Thor, grahamt, dom in somerset, mornats & any other Somerset & dorset lurkers, hope you guys are doing well? Would be well up for this meet up (or another s&d one). cheers, Norm.

I'm central Somerset based, Taunton would be good but Exeter is only an hour so easy too. Went to the Somerset & dorset bash earlier this year & it was an excellent way to spend an afternoon! Would be driving people carrier so room for somebody else. I'd bring EBMM stingray, trace v4 head, barefaced vintage cab & pedals.

Listened a few more times & the vox have grown on me a bit, the quavering style kinda works! Like the organ work on the other track & the whammy bar lead guitar work on aubergine is cool! Nice bass tone throughout too :-)

To the OP, I liked the track, Panamonte, my only criticism (small but hopefully constructive) is that the vocal is a bit weak & wavers off key, the rest is good. I like that post punk/funk gang of 4, magazine, xtc vibe. will check out your other tracks when I get to a PC (soundcloud don't like my phone). To the parasitic hijaker discreet, like your track too, especially the warts n'all garagey recording vibe, its got inbuilt energy, great loud guitars. All in all, thumbs up from me, nice work fellas, look forward to hearing more!

Wow, what an amazing collection, or should say part of a collection. How many more are there? I'd be happy to play any of those beauties! Excellent article & a great blog too!

The simplest sounding stuff is often the hardest to do well. As others have already said, feel & less is more, keep it understated. Have fun with it Dom, sounds like a good gig to get! Cheers, Norm

[quote name='Cairobill' timestamp='1404847112' post='2496381'] 9/10 - thought the bland looking geezer in Coldplay was the bland looking geezer in Kings of Leon... [/quote] Me too!

Got 9 out of 10, missed the ColdPlay bloke, I find them dull as ditchwater & would have trouble recognising any of them apart from the whiney one!

Just had an email from the fleece about upcoming slots available across July, Aug & sept, various nights, various genres wanted. So you should be able to get on a bill there. We (kohiba) only played there last month & will leave it for later in the year before we go back for another gig. Cheers, Norm

Mahoosive Or its a teeny tiny van in the 1st pic!

Hey Bristolians, is the grain barge still going? They used to have gigs, mostly of the rootsy/americana sort of vibe iirc?

Yep, the Louisiana is a good gig if you can bring a crowd or tag on with someone who can. It operates the same quid per punter as the fleece, in fact the "contract" is almost identical! Never had any joy getting a gig at the thekla but it is a great venue & have seen some top gigs there, hope it comes back to the dockside soon. Forgot the Thunderbolt too, they are worth a call. Let us know how you get on?

Try the fleece. [email protected] Good venue, big pa & decent sound man but Its the old quid per head for every punter who comes to see you on a multi-band night or you might get lucky & get a support with a "name" band. I think the exchange is part of the same promo group? Best of luck!

Signed.

Valve amps are not necessarily more fragile than anything else. If you drop them they will break! But look after them, use a flightcase for transport & dont bash it around, no worries. I've had mine (trace elliot v4) for a couple of years now with no problems at all but I'm careful with it & invested in a proper fitted flight case (EPS flight cases ltd). IMO if you want a valve grind sound, get a valve amp that will deliver it, anything else is an imitation, sometimes quite a good imitation but still not the real thing. Mine is not particularly dirty sounding more big & warm, try the orange ad200 much grind available with the gain cranked! The right dirt pedal will sound better driving a valve amp too.

Thats ace!

Done. My band Kohiba are playing there again on June 12th. It's a great venue.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1398270433' post='2432321'] The big problem with these types of gigs is the bands have next to nothing in common other than they all wanted a gig at the venue and were available on the night in question. Consequently the audience for each are generally not interested in the other bands so all that happens is that each one plays to their existing following and that's it. The promoters generally have zero interest in any of the bands and are just pocketing the cash. This is why my band won't do gigs like this any more. It's far better to be playing with bands of a similar genre whose fans are far more likely to be interested in your music as well. Added to that most of the promoters in the genres we fall into have a genuine love of the music and are putting you on because they like what you do and not because you're just another band they hope will bring an extra 20 bodies through the door. [/quote] To be fair some of the venues try to tailor the bills to some sort of theme/genre, not always successful though. Our last offer from one was a choice of 3 dates, an any genre night, an Indie rock night or a funk/blues night. We are fairly choosy anyway & always try to find out who else is on the bill before we commit.

Pound per head gigs are the norm for playing the "name" venues in Bristol. Usually midweek multi band bills of aspiring local bands tagged together into a facebook event. If all 5 acts bring a dozen people it can be a good night & the venue will shift some beer & the bands will get a quid for each punter who has bought an advance ticket (from the bands, promoter gives 20-30 tickets to each band to sell or return) or walk INS on the night who mention your name at the door. Promoter wants all unsold tickets returned or will charge bands per ticket for forgetting them! So get advertising event & promote it & you might get some money to cover petrol but thats about it. You get to play at the "name" venue with stage, lights & big pa & maybe if you bring people & go down well you might get invited back on a better night or to support a touring act there? We do them occasionally for exposure in amongst paying gigs on our own. Most young bands of nippers seem to use them as a free live rehearsal ime. Cheers, Norm

Lesson was great but very hard. It's so different to bass guitar! I think thats the attraction, the challenge is real. Am I, the lazy prevaricator, up for it? It will involve musical theory & reading, which is something I have avoided so far. All this seems to be pointing to go for it, never to late to start. Why not? Got to save some beans to get me a starter doubleb!

That sounds like the list of tools I had drawn up to get. Just trying to save some beans now! Also, following on from the bash, I am having my first double bass lesson tonight! Excited but a little daunted too, as I fear all my musical & technique shortcomings will be exposed!!!! Cheers, Norm

Top effort, that man!

Keith, thanks very much for setting that up, it was really great, learned loads & it was fun too! Ben & apprentice Howard were excellent at passing on their knowledge. It was nice to share the experience with Graham, Jim, Mornats, woody & Chris (woody's bandmate) who I used to be in a band with 27 years ago! Cheers, Norm

Good times by chic, wasn't it?