cheddatom

This is on Facebook so not sure if it'l show here but it's a quick jam with the best drummer I know, Sam Ogden, in my studio https://www.facebook.com/SamOgdenDrums/videos/371671366934429/

Friday night I played my favourite local venue again - The Rigger. It was packed, a great atmosphere, and loads of compliments afterwards even though I thought I was below par Saturday night I played the bigger Sugarmill with my "Disco Punk" band Dandelion meow meow. Our singer really stepped up her stage presence and this fuelled the whole band, everyone playing great, and plenty of audience dancing along. Great fun!

I guess I just thought that they might have been overstaffed based on the lies they'd been told so they might have been out of pocket. Of course venues should protect themselves but the fake promotions company and record company looked OK, not really comparable to secondary school kids I kind of admire it anyway. My first band made up a PR company and a record label, did fake websites and sent out press packs etc. It never worked for us but I'm sure more people looked at our "professional press packs" than would have listened to a demo CD sent directly from an unknown band

The venues were told that there had been X number of tickets sold in advance, and they staffed accordingly, but no tickets had been sold

Friday night was New Cross Inn in London. It took us 5 hours to get there. We played 40 minutes to about 30 people, then the headline act went on and suddenly another 30 people appeared. 4 hours to get home. We played well and the other bands were good to watch, but it was a very long outing Monday night I played with my weird funk/dance band in Chester. I was told it was a 3 band night and we were headlining. It was actually some sort of assessment for about 30 music students, who performed covers in various bands and to various levels of proficiency, for TWO HOURS. Predictably, as soon as we got on stage they all left, leaving us with an audience of 15 people. I got to bed at 2:30AM and was up for a recording session at 7:30AM. I'm hoping this weekend will be a bit more fun. Two local gigs Friday and Saturday

I play drums in a heavy band. A friend of ours is an awesome drummer, really world class, and he wanted to come and play 2nd guitar in our heavy band. We had him in for a jam last week and I felt like a total impostor sat behind the kit while he was in the room. I made loads of mistakes I wouldn't normally make

awesome! Can't wait for the full album!

awesome! That sounds like fun I'm surprised the guitarist produced, the bass is really up front in the mix, I love it!

No need for that, I buy most of what I listen to! I've just listened on headphones. I really enjoyed it, very different to the other stuff I hear at the moment. It has a bit of a throwback to the 90s with all the distorted vocals, samples, and electronic noises mixed with the band. I recognised the samples on "Light 'em All Up" straight away - I actually used them in an instrumental band I used to be in! There are some awesome bass tones on this album! Did you produce it yourself?

nice one, I'll get it from bandcamp and check it out, always like something new and different

I'm pretty sure our human ears are incapable of hearing 26Hz anyway, so I wouldn't worry about trying to create the fundamental

Nice one! Where can I hear the album? I googled "lutz band" but not sure which to click on

On Friday I spent the whole day recording a mate of mine on drums in my studio. He's only 19 and he's the best drummer I know. Limitless creativity, all the chops, but totally musical. Anyway, after 8 hours of watching him I was totally inspired to go and get behind my kit at The Old Town House in Warrington. We'd never played in Warrington before so didn't really know what to expect, but this venue is ace! Really lively crowd too. It wasn't packed but there were enough in for a good time. My mate had given me some of his sticks to try, really big things like 2B or something (doesn't mean a lot to most of you I know) and they were brilliant. I hadn't played that well in ages. I don't know if it was watching this amazing drummer all day long, or the sticks, or the venue or what but we were super tight Saturday was a small indoor festival and to be honest I wasn't really looking forward to it. I always like to play, but I know this venue and crowd a little too well. It was way better than I expected. The sound man looked like the same guy, but he acted totally different. He was chatty, friendly, and did a brilliant job! Not sure what was going on there but the sound was ace! The crowd with extremely inebriated, sang and danced, and we generally played well despite some very amusing distractions. I wasn't driving so had chance for a couple of beers, and I was home by 9pm! Brilliant weekend

Katie Fiztgerald's in Stourbridge on Saturday. It was our first time there but hopefully we'll be back. The sound of the room, with no PA, was just awesome. Everything was loud and clear. Unfortunately we do have vocals and DI'd guitars so we did need the PA, and there was no-one doing sound during our set. As a result I couldn't really hear the guitarist, which is fine for most of the set, but there's one bit where he leads and I then join in on drums, building it up over two bars before the bass joins us. I guess I came in on the off beat, in relation to the guitarist, but then the bassist stuck with the guitarist leaving us in an almighty mess once he kicked in. God knows how we sorted it out. Obviously it looked to everyone like it was the drummer's mistake, and the frontman gave me a proper "glare". It put a big downer on the night for me. I'm sure the audience didn't care but I did!

Beautiful, thanks for that! Chilled me right out

Saturday night I was playing guitar with Julia Mosely in a beautiful old church in Buxton. I've always wanted to play some atmospheric music in a church and I finally did it! There were probably only 20 people in the audience, in a church that looked like it held 150+ on the pews, so that was a bit disappointing, but they all sat in silence in awe at Julia's voice, and we got some good photos. I enjoyed it purely for the sound of the room. Last night was Morecambe Punk Festival. I was looking forward to an early night to be honest. I've been a bit run down lately, and smashing the drums for 45 minutes wasn't my ideal choice of activity, so a stage time of 6:30, meaning home and in bed by 10 would have been perfect. Unfortunately they'd had some technical problems earlier in the day and the whole thing was running way behind. We went on at 8 in the end. It was pretty good, we played well and went down well, I think I was just too tired to properly enjoy it EDIT: You might be able to see this video of one of the songs from the Church. Please forgive my dodgy guitar playing, I'm still getting to grips with "standing out" like this, having just played bass and drums for the last 20 years.

Perhaps the lead guitarist has just realised he'll no longer be able to justify turning up to deafening volumes?

Friday night was the Salty Dog in Northwich. They had a house kit that was already set up. No other drummers on the bill but also nowhere to move the kit to, and obviously someone had gone to the effort, so once I again I felt obliged to leave my drums in the van. It was actually a good kit and well tuned, and the stage was a shallow hollow wooden affair which I always like as it adds extra "weight" to the drums and bass. Our bassist is ace and he was pretty loud tonight. For whatever reason, it sounded just right without my earplugs in, and I played the whole set like that, which is the first time in at least 10 years. The venue was packed for the headliners - Steve Ignorant's Slice Of Live - I've seen them loads of times but I always enjoy it. He so engaging, and the band are fantastic. Awesome backing vocals, and the bass player is super stylish with a beautiful vintage sound. He keeps it simple, but plays some very melodic lines, and isn't scared of getting up past the 12th fret. So that was an ace one - I've tried to attach a photo of our bassist with me in the background Saturday night I was still raging from being woken up by Bailiffs. I should have been tired from lack of sleep but adrenaline was firing me up. I was expecting to do an hour long set starting at 10ish but we didn't get on stage until 10:25 and were then told we had to be done by 11. It was a real shame 'cos I was really fired up. It was a weird one really. The "headline" band were on before us. They sound checked before us, left all their gear on the stage, left us with a brief check as punters were coming in. The sound guys had loads of technical problems. The sound in general was just rubbish really but as people were coming into the venue we felt we had to get off - and move our gear out of the way for the headliners to play before us. It all seemed the wrong way around to me and was just a bit of a let down.

Thanks! I was getting a bit carried away as I'd just re-skinned a snare I'd not used for years and it sounded brilliant The drum sound is entirely from a stereo condenser in my studio - no close mics at all

A bit late as I've been busy in the studio for ages! Last Wednesday we played the Star & Garter in Manchester. It's one of my favourite venues to play and it didn't let us down at all, loads of people... I was just too ill to fully appreciate it. I wanted to watch the headline band (Bar Stool Preachers) who sounded great at soundcheck but I was so drained I spent the rest of the night sitting in the corner downstairs. By all accounts it was one of our best gigs too! Never mind, more to come this weekend

...there is a comedy fill at the end if anyone gets that far

I love the latest track, can't wait for the album!

I like the idea of being able to get a synthy octave down on certain notes for a bassline, while playing melodies higher up without the octave down effect. I don't mind playing above the 5th fret though

wow, I didn't know that, that's ace!

Are you saying you want the octave down effect on everything below middle C (for example) but no effect on everything above? And the Boss OC-3 can do that? I didn't know that! I'd have bought one if I did