cheddatom

We did an all day multi band gig on Saturday. It's my favourite local venue (The Rigger) and I always love the sound here (I hope Matt's not reading ) so I was really looking forward to it. It's not the biggest place and it was packed with people who were well up for it, so really it should have been ace, and it was from the audience's POV, but I was going crazy with my bass drum. I'd supplied the kit for the whole day, but couldn't get there until 6ish as I was recording a band in my studio. I don't know who'd set up the bass drum but by the time I got there the nut had stripped entirely on one leg. I didn't realise what was happening until right near the end of our set. A compadre (with ear plugs!!) came to hold it in place for me for the last song, so that was great, and then Matt the sound man figured out what had gone wrong, and we replaced the nut with one from my tom-mount, so it was fine for the two bands on after us... Maybe it was the fact I'd been loading gear at 8AM and know I'd be hanging around to get it out until at least 11:30PM, followed by a session from 8:30AM Sunday. I need some sleep! Anyway, all the other bands were great and it seemed like everyone was having a great time. Hopefully we'll do it again and I'll be able to make sure my gear's OK for when I play

Well I'd like to nominate Bastav for this beauty

Beautiful, very impressive!

brilliant!

Alfa Mist last night at the Soup Kitchen in Manchester. Absolutely brilliant! Kaya Thomas-Dyke opened up singing mostly original jazz and playing guitar. She seemed really nervous but we couldn't figure out if that was an act or what. Her voice was incredible. I was surprised that the crowd were very quiet and appreciative. I used to rowdier gigs! Anyway, she then went on to play bass for Alfa Mist's band and really held it down. She was the only member to not take a solo, but then if she had I think the whole thing would've fallen apart. The guy on trumpet really stood out for me - awesome solos - and Alpha Mist on the keys was brilliant too. Fantastic clear, but full sound, no need for ear plugs, appreciative audience... I should really go to more jazz gigs.

no need to bail, but definitely start looking for other opportunities

Bill Kelliher from Mastodon switched from Gibson to ESP for entirely the right reasons. There are a few articles about it but basically they were shipping his signature guitars with the wrong gauge strings for the tuning he plays in, so his fans were buying his signature guitar, and finding it unplayable when they tuned it to the tuning he plays in.

Blatant scousism

brilliant!

I always feel a bit self conscious around "real drummers" with their double strokes and their fast fills and double kicking and all that. I've been watching quite a few funk and jazz (and jazz-funk) bands online recently and I realise, a lot of these guys with "chops" really don't have the timing you need to be a great drummer. Speeding up and slowing down, the odd weak hit or out of time kick drum. I guess I'd rather have good time and average "chops"

What you described is a very low level tour though. I don't have what it takes to tour at that level either!

I guess when you said "a pro bass player touring the world" I imagined more professional tours, playing as a session player with big shows etc. rather than the "lower level" tour you describe

I'm not sure why you've decided that? Say your musical skills are up to it (and they almost certainly are) then you just need to work on your networking and self promotion skills, then you'd have what it takes.

I'd say they key to that is a drummer who actually sounds good in the room. So many drummers play their cymbals louder than their drums, and if they're doing that, you really need to close mic everything

I'd say in most live contexts, it won't make any difference. In the studio it can make a significant difference, depending on the sound of the bass/player/amp/effects/bassline but then in the studio you can just drop in with the fretted note if it's a difficult jump to make

This sounds a bit depressing to me. If I didn't have a day job I'd spend hours every day practising bass, drums, and guitar, and I would without a doubt improve my skills. I'm always improving despite the fact I have no time to practise. This isn't limited to my abilities on my instrument(s), I hope to improve all of my skills, continuously, for the whole of my life. I'll still be getting better when I'm 60, and if I ever manage to retire I'll be getting better at a faster rate as I'll have more time I think the expression is "Every day is a school day"

For me, if I can enjoy the art without contributing the the disgraced artist, IE pirate the gary glitter back catalogue, I don't see a problem with it. As someone said earlier, you don't want to be sponsoring one of these horrible bastards. If someone still enjoys listening to the lost prophets CD they bought years ago, I wouldn't judge them, but if they're streaming it off spotify or the like then they're guilty of at least ignorance. I was talking about Kevin Spacey the other day - has he ever had a role that wasn't creepy? I can't think of one. The first film I saw him in was American Beauty, in which his character obsessed over a school girl. He played it pretty convincingly. It's a truly brilliant film, and I wouldn't blame anyone for watching it, but hopefully they can find a way to do so without giving their money to Spacey IE nick it off the internet.

Brilliant! Thanks!

Hah, A LOT better, yes. I'm in a band with a guy who is very nice. If there's ever any sort of debate or confrontation in person he can generally deal with it calmly, but he'll often bring up his own gripes in massive emails to the whole band. It's led to big arguments in the past as his email tone is so obnoxious and thoughtless. After a while we learned, so now when he sends them the rest of us either refuse to reply, or just say "OK". It's working so far

cool!

great interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO12j2-ga4w

We used to do pubs taking our own lighting and PA, and in that situation we'd be soundchecked and ready within 45 minutes of arriving at the pub. When I said 5 minutes for my kit I'm talking about multi-band bills where you're supposed to have quick turnarounds. I prefer to skip soundcheck at these types of gigs as more often than not the "headliner" will overrun on their check and none of the other bands get chance. [quote name='steantval' timestamp='1510075798' post='3403807'] Is your drum kit carried in pro flight cases, if so it would take well over 5 minutes just to take the full kit, stands and cymbals out of them before actually putting the kit together. [/quote] I have soft cases. Unzip the case, take the drum out, put it where you want it - about 20 seconds! Multiply by 4 and this is not the most time consuming operation

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1510064426' post='3403658'] I drum in a band and I use a marked rug, memory locks on the convenient stuff and tape on the tricky stuff. Takes 10 mins start to finish. Thats for a 5 drum kit, hi-hat 4 cymbals and a couple of cow bells. [/quote] Very professional! I tend to set up my cymbals on their stands before I get to the stage if possible, then just whack them on there and I'm ready to go I know a drummer who calls himself a pro, and is "endorsed" by a cymbal company and a stick company - he takes between 1 and 1.5 hours to set up. Granted it's a big setup but FFS he tweaks and tweaks and it's still not right! He clamps his side snare onto his hat stand it it falls over multiple times before he gets the legs right. Drives me nuts!

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1510054961' post='3403542'] I'm sure some do, but I haven't played with any drummers who don't take at least 30 minutes to set up, and the current one takes about 45 minutes. Me? about 5 minutes. [/quote] See the drummer taking 30+ minutes to set up his kit seems pretty standard and generally tolerated. I don't understand! If I have to stand there waiting for them it's a real wind up. Thankfully there's normally a pub I can escape to

How long does it take you to set up? If I'm on bass I plug my pedalboard into a DI and tune up. It takes abut 20 seconds. I play a lot of drums and can set up my full kit in about 5 minutes. If I'm on a "shared kit" it's about the same as every other drummer seems to sit about a foot lower than me. My main band is generally ready within 10 minutes. Most bands seem to take significantly longer. I've waited over an hour for the "headline" drummer to set up for soundcheck at a multi band gig. It really winds me up!