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HengistPod

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Everything posted by HengistPod

  1. 9 or 10 Thunderbirds (2 Gibsons - 1990 and 1991 ebonies - various types of Epiphone and a Tokai). Epiphone Explorer Epiphone SG-shaped thing Schecter 5-string (why will no-one buy this horrid thing off me?) Hohner Jack Custom headless Steinberger Spirit Half a dozen nameless things up in the attic.
  2. Two of my Thunderbirds are like a part of me. I define myself by them, almost. The rest are like cousins that you like, but only have a proper conversation with every so often. The Trace rig I used for 25 years was an accepted part of the family - I knew exactly what it could do and how it would behave. But it got too heavy, and has recently been replaced with Markbass. I'm still getting to know it - haven't played in enough different rooms to know what and how to tweak yet. It's on probation.
  3. Indeed - Santa was swiftly informed and has apparently got it on order for me already.
  4. I purchased a Steinberger bass off Neil a wee while ago and happened to mention FFYL as a particularly interesting line. He couldn't have been more helpful in clarifying it for me. It surely goes down as one of the most fun and fluid lines your average bass player in your average pub covers band can play. It flows beautifully.
  5. Hemispheres is my personal peak Rush, absolutely love every note of it. I might have to spring for this one - mostly for the 5.1 - though I avoided the previous 2112 and Farewell re-issues. Really not keen on the whole "new artwork" thing they're doing with these, mind.
  6. I'm 52 and still out gigging fairly regularly. Guitarist and drummer are a few years younger than me and the singer is in his 20s. To be fair, I probably wouldn't be up for three or four gigs in a row over on the West Coast (Ullapool, Skye, Tobermory and then Dundee on one memorable weekend trip) sleeping in bothies and vans with the drummer's farting dog, and drinking with the locals til 5am any more, though.
  7. Not many mentions for "Going For The One" here. It's one of my Top 5 albums by anyone, ever. Sure, it's a little bit more polished, but IMHO every tune on it is utterly perfect. (Perhaps this is related to my fungi experimentation of some decades ago, to which it was the main soundtrack. )
  8. "Johnny Rotten Got Fat" is surely an obvious song title for some young upstart band wishing to usher in a new age of rebellion by mocking yesterday's rebel-in-chief. Personally, and it's absolutely none of my business, I'm disappointed in John. Following his skinny-weasel younger days, he was always a trim, vaguely intimidating kind of chap with an accusing stare. Now that he's gone to seed, we can consider ourselves in a new Age. Who was it that said "it's no longer the MUSIC industry, it's the music INDUSTRY now." That was the real killer, when businessmen realised how much money there was to be made.
  9. Up to the age of 14 I was the world's hugest Abba fan (still am partial to their pop sensibilities). At 14 a school mate nicked half a dozen copies of Axe Attack from Woolies and sold them to the rest of us for a quid. Then I went to my first gig, UFO at Aberdeen Capitol. Bass guitar became my Obsession overnight (arf). Over the next maybe 15 years I was open to all sorts of new bands, went to loads of gigs, actively followed up leads in Sounds and Kerrang, went to pubs that had live bands on, thought nothing of travelling the length of Britain to go to a gig. Or indeed to pack in my 30K a year job in Kent in 1992 and move back to Aberdeen to play bass in a pub band. That wasn't such a bright move, with hindsight. After that time I've found there's very little new music that appeals to me. Even older bands who I've never really listened to - Nazareth, Gary Moore, and so on. I don't have the brain-time or inclination to get into new music. I do find, though, that classical is interesting me more and more ... from an easy Strauss entry point, it's graduating to Wagner, Liszt and Saint-Saens. As I continue to age, one day I hope not to get into jazz.
  10. Iron Maiden, in Krakow, at the end of July. Don't get to many gigs nowadays - not many bands come to Aberdeen and I don't have the energy, inclination, or money to travel to see most bands now.
  11. I certainly saw Dumpy's there at least once, though would have been late-1986 at the earliest. Perhaps I also so your band on the occasion you mention, though more likely I was still in the Salutation or Trip (thus at least heading the right direction) at support-band sort of time. I loved the Mardi Gras.
  12. Thinking about biker gigs reminded me of another one, again 20-odd years ago. This time, they'd set up a marquee beside a hotel out in the countryside near Peterhead, which was eventually closed down for actually being a brothel. The stage was an array of pallets placed on the grass at one end of the dubious-looking tent. Not covered-up pallets, mind, just pallets. Once our drummer had scavenged a sheet of hardboard on which to set up his tubs, we got started. After adjusting our volume upwards to drown out the generator in the corner, everything was going pretty well and much fun was being had by all concerned. Then the rain came on and, before too long, a howling gale started blowing in off the North Sea. It soon became apparent that more stringent pegging-down efforts had been required. What started with a flappy corner of canvas up at the far end soon became an entire collapse of that end of the tent. As we played on - and over the course of maybe 3 tunes during which frantic efforts were made to re-erect poles and guy-ropes - it gradually fell in, burying bikers, tables and beer kegs. Fortunately, our end stayed standing. Before long, though - and given that we were now playing to a sagging wall of canvas filled with flailing bikers having a great time of it - we were forced to bring an abrupt end to proceedings and swiftly throw the gear in the van via a human-chain of soaking and muddy motorcyclists before the whole thing collapsed. I drove past the next day and noted that somehow they'd managed to burn the marquee where it fell.
  13. One of my old bands used to regularly play a local biker pub, and it was always an absolute screamer of a night - bikes doing donuts inside the pub, general madness, lots of beer and noise, and everyone having a great time. I was, therefore, delighted when my new band got booked to play their MCC Rally a couple of years ago. Different pub (the original one had closed down), same village, same MCC. A nice big function hall. Well, the passage of 20 years appears to have taken its toll. Same guys, many nursing motorcycle-crash type infirmities, most incapable through drink by the time we start. All of them 20 years older (not a single youngster to be seen) and correspondingly less enthused by a loud rock'n'roll band. By the end of the first set, only about 20 them were left - the rest had crawled off to their tents in a nearby field. By the time we finished, there were only half a dozen hardened drunks at the bar at the far end of the hall, the guy who'd booked us - absolutely trousered - and his girlfriend who was doing her best to keep some semblance of organisation about the prize-giving for furthest travelled and stuff to which little attention was being paid. She squared us up, we packed the gear away and naffed quietly off into the night. Most disappointing gig for many years.
  14. It's only recently that we put this in our set - our latest singer is from a more ... mainstream ... background than the rest of us. Can't complain, it generally goes down a treat and is one of the ultimate barometers as to whether your audience is entirely flat-lining or not. If you can get a couple of them dancing to this old tosh, you get a chance to keep the momentum going. Also, it's so easy to play that you can fiddle with your knobs whilst playing - which has to be a bonus. I thought about Drop D briefly when I listened to it, but figured that not a single punter would give a damn. So I play it 5th fret A string. Sounds fine to me. Occasionally I get informed by some spotty oik that this or that tune would sound better in Drop D. These fellows often simultaneously tell me that I'm not playing the bass right because I use a pick, thus allowing me to thank them for their advice and get on with my life.
  15. During this broadcast my Mrs exclaimed unto me, "hey, come and listen to this guy playing bass ... it's Kylie Minogue's band!" I ventured forth to the living room and watched for a minute ... "Quite impressive!", I thought. Then I wondered out loud where Ms Minogue was in all this, for she had not appeared after a couple of minutes and I found it remarkable that a Kylie audience would put up with a lengthy and un-dancey instrumental workout. At this point, the Mrs remembered that she'd actually switched channels and we were watching Paul Carrack's band. So, hey, Paul Carrack's bass player is worth the watching.
  16. I have a cousin who makes a very tidy living in London singing French jazz and playing accordion. Residencies in brasseries , gigs on the Orient Express and the like, playing with top-notch po-faced jazz musicians in dinner suits. She absolutely refuses to acknowledge me, with my 38 years of playing bass in rock cover bands, as any level of musician whatsoever. Which is probably fair enough, to be honest.
  17. We started a new band at the beginning of the year. After finding a drummer and singer, we all got together and decided Wednesdays were the most likely day we could all make an evening rehearsal. Did that, and a few Sunday afternoons, to knock a set together and were out gigging after about 10 weeks. To make it easier, we used a lot of stuff me and the guitarist had played in our last band but, 4 months down the line, a lot of that has been replaced with new songs. Wednesday still stands as rehearsal night, but if we miss one here and there we're not that fussed. We have a go-to set now, and rehearsals are mostly used for getting new tunes together (and reminding the drummer how we agreed this or that song is going to end ... ).
  18. Pub on the south side of Aberdeen, first time I'd ever played there a few weeks ago. Waited a good half an hour on arrival before anyone would stop serving beer long enough to speak to us. One double power socket in the setting up area. Less fee than usual, and further away from home for us - we were treating it as a loss leader to get more bookings. World Cup 1/4 final left on on the TV just past stage left. Pool table left set up and active just past stage right. Full of the sort of people who wear white T-shirts, knee length shorts and no socks. One guy in particular shouted "You're Stinky Poo" all night, and even went on the FB page afterwards to reiterate his opinion. Punters (with a couple of exceptions, as always) ignored us completely. Then, when we were finished and packing up for a swift getaway, some bint advised us that the juke box was broken and could we leave the PA set up so she could play her Spotify through it? One of those off nights that's no fun at all, happens to us all. At least we know not to go back.
  19. I loved (most of) Heaven & Hell, and still think Die Young is absolutely one of the greatest rock songs ever. I wasn't too fussed about Dio when he announced his solo band, but made the train journey down to Glasgow to see Waysted support him at the Apollo. Stayed on to watch Dio's set and was suitably blown away. Bought Holy Diver the next day and loved it. Nowadays, though, I just can't listen to it. Comes across as simplistic repetitive heavy-metal-by-numbers, with uninspiring guitar playing and cod lyrics. I think Last In Line has stood the test of time better (caught that tour in Aberdeen, eardrums nearly burst by Geoff Tate's screeching in QR's support set). One Night In The City, though, eh? That'll do for me.
  20. Thought they were Californian? I read a story once about some of Iron Maiden going to see them and discussing whether they'd be willing to have physical relations with "themselves".
  21. Hogarth-era Marillion. As a confirmed lover of Fish-era Marillion, I totally lost interest when he left in 1988 or so. Recently, though, I figured I should give them another chance because I was probably missing out. I took recommendations and listened intently. In the car, in my room, with headphones and on the stereo. Loudly, quietly, through the PA during breaks at gigs. Then I stopped. Life's too short to try too hard to like something that you just don't. (See also: Led Zeppelin. Meh.)
  22. There's a very good Hungarian Iron Maiden tribute band called "Iron Maidnem". Various punnery involved, as "majdnem" means "almost" in Hungarian, and "nem" means "no". They go the absolute hog, too, with their own Eddie and everything. http://www.ironmaidnem.hu/eng 02 band.htm
  23. Only time we rehearsed without a member (me) was when we had our first gig coming up on the Saturday and the singer wanted to run through the tunes. I, of course, had dutifully nailed all my parts and so wasn't missed at all. That's the reason I have in my head, anyway.
  24. Last band I was in we went through three or four singers. First one drank way too much and was trousered before gigs started. Second one was a great singer but an unreliable derrière of a man. I wondered why he'd been in so many bands locally - until he we turfed him, and other musicians started sharing their stories about him. Then we got a girl in to sing. Our drummer, a great player but somewhat starved of romance for over a decade, instantly fell for her. Should've seen that coming, really. Eventually they formed a little clique and refused to compromise their now shared opinions on tunes, gigs to refuse and so on. So they had to go. Now they travel round the area doing "sound bath" evenings for the spiritually gullible, with Tibetan bells or something. Me and the guitarist got a new outfit together, borrowed a drummer and found a bloke who was a bit of a karaoke nut, but had never sung in a band before. Turns out he has a tremendous voice and always learns new songs before the next practice. He might still suggest Don't Fear The Reaper, Layla, and other things which apparently go down well at karaoke evenings (who knew?) but we hope to have him educated soon. In short, the atmosphere has lightened considerably,and the first few gigs we've done have been fantastic fun.
  25. "The Boys Of Summer" by Don Henley, and wondering how we're going to re-arrange it seeing as we don't have a keyboard player. Reckon I might get away with playing the main keys motif high up the neck while the guitarist does the noodly bits.
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