KevB

On 23/11/2019 at 23:50, Silvia Bluejay said:

HAHA! Exactly. FWIW, I'm currently in control of all the Dynamites' social media, if we include the new FB page. But I'm technically not in the band, which I think is slightly safer for everybody.

It's actually a good point worth raising that in an ideal world it would be a good idea for all bands to have a 'webmaster' that isnt directly involved with the band and would take no sides when someone leaves or is sacked just for the reason set out in the OP but its frequently not very practical.

I'm only chucking this in as it it will be the only non gigging photo of the band in this config, the guys 2nd and 3rd from left have both recently left the band. We will carry on as a 4 piece initially (as we have a replacement for one of them, the drummer) as see how we do.

The Leicester one was better in terms of consistency of gear and it being all present and correct but they have a problem with people being ticketed parking outside the studio itself and the car park they have arranged for people to use doesnt open early enough on Sundays for it to be of use to us so we relocated to Nottm brnach.

I've used them in Nottingham and Leicester reasonably frequently over the last 3 years or so and have few complaints. I've had more issues recently with equipment either not working properly or being absent but it's usually feasible to get it sorted quickly, the most annoying one recently was trying for 10 minutes on the keypad to get into the room only to be told on ringing them 'ahh, yes we know theres a problem with that lock we will have to send you to the spares room for the manual key'. For the money I think the gear provided is reasonable quality and I like the option (when available) of recording the sessions to get half decent versions of songs in your particular band's keys and arrangements to either practice against at home or pass on to incoming bandmembers to get them up to speed (probably wouldnt use them as promotional material though). Thinking back to some of the utter shiteholes I've had to rehearse at in the past in dirtry, damp basement rooms that smell of mould and the gear's been practically held together with gaffer tape and string then Pirate are on another level altogether.

On 19/11/2019 at 16:09, Stub Mandrel said:

Seriously considering driving down to Cardiff to catch them on Friday.

SH is pushing 70, you might not get chance to hear him perform this stuff live again.

Good night last night in Sheffield watching Steve Hillage. Felt for the drummer. As Gong are SH's backing band and also do an hour in their own right as the support act he was playing some quite intense stuff for a total of 2hrs 45 minutes with a short break between the Gong set and restarting with Hillage. He looked utterly knackered at the end of it. As I said in another thread I never thought I'd see him perform stuff from those first 4 solo albums live and having Miquette Giraudy joining him (I know they do System 7 together) was great. It's music that always makes me smile, full of positive energy.

Commiserations fella. I left my previous bands as they were gigging more than I wanted to and the drummer in the current band has recently had to quit due to health issues and no longer plays at all. Hopefully you might find a better balance that still allows you to do some gigs but not at the intensity you were recently faced with. All the best.

Birdhouse in your soul arent nonesense lyrics. They may be a little unconventional in subject matter but they arent nonesense.

That's the one, forgot her name though I meant more the musical style than any similarity in their voices.

Similar to that girl who was around a few years back that sounded a bit like Karen Carpenter?

Going to see Steve Hillage doing all that lovely trippy mid to late 70's stuff next Monday in Sheffield. Gong (who I think are basically acting as his backing band these days) are doing  a set of there own as support. Never thought I'd hear stuff from albums like Green done live so looking forward to it.

A great lyric can make a song, a lousy one can ruin it. I listen to way more songs than instrumentals so they obviously must have an influence on me.

I've played with one or two drummers who do the count in at a different tempo to what they actually go on to play at.

18 hours ago, spectoremg said:

In reply to KevB's observations I found long, dull and weak songs to be tiresome one after another. And the orchestra thing seems to be a gimmick. Also if you're tailoring the set for the classical players isn't the tail wagging the dog? I was gagging for an upbeat song like Uninvited Guest or Hooks in You but they didn't happen.

 

Me too but as I said they did all that sort of stuff during their fans weekend gatherings earlier in the year so presumably picked other material for this tour that fans didn't hear at those gigs.

Saw them earlier this year but just as a duo with backing tracks. I recall them doing one or two Yes & Jon Anderson covers in addition to original material. The new song sounds decent, will look out for album when it comes out.

I was at the Nottm gig too, sound was fine. To be fair the venue was mainly designed to give excellent acoustics for things like orchestras so if a sound engineer can't get a good sound there they need taking round the back and put out of their misery.

To defend the band a bit they were trying to pick songs that leant themselves to an orchestral backing, it's the whole point of the tour. I've seen rock bands go out with an orchestra as an add on before and just do a regular set and completely drown out the orchestra for most of the song so you need to pick the set list carefully. Also as previously pointed out Marillion now do these weekend fan jollies where they will do 2 or 3 gigs and it's a different set list each night so they cover a lot of ground doing those that they then avoid in the main tour.

All that said I didnt think it looked like my sort of set when I did find out what they were going to play (persuaded to go by a mate ages ago who bought the tickets and I promptly forgot about it until about 2 weeks before the gig). I think this is why I haven't seen them since the Brave tour (which was also a bit hard work from what I recall). They seem to have a habit of  choosing to play songs from albums that I don't think are personally that strong and if they do it for enough albums it's generated set lists which I've found just a bit too weak for me to stump up money to see. As I said this one was always going to be a bit odd because of the orchestra but it was just too dominated by too many long or mid-to-long songs in a slow or medium tempo that don't have enough variety within them to keep up the interest, they seem to get a bit stuck in a rut with the 8-12 minute format though branch out a bit more with ones longer than that. I'd probably have to go to one of the fan weekends to hear the Hogarth era songs I like but would probably have to go to all 3 gigs and last time I looked at one it was a lot of money. I don't expect any fish era songs at their gigs now, that material is better covered by tribute acts these days.

On 07/11/2019 at 13:24, chris_b said:

Can you count these songs in?

I did toward the end of his tenure, particularly the one he got into a habit of starting way too slow. He's had to pack in drumming completely due to back issues and sciatica so I didn't want to get heavy handed with him knowing he was on his way out.

The ouitgoing drummer in one of my bands has had issues with starting both too quickly and too slow on a couple of different songs and it's hard work pulling them into the correct tempo once you are running. It's one of the things I will be keeping an ear out for when we start auditioning prospective new one this weekend.

I'd forgotten (as I didn't buy the tickets) but I'm off to see Marillion on Nov 3rd.

Blind Faith were probably one of the early supergroup fails.

Blue will be along shortly to tell you all you have been influenced by McCartney whether you like it or not.

As I mentioned elsewhere, cheque's in the post.😃

I didn't bother posting about our previous gig, frankly it was sloppy and under par and I made my feelings known to other band members. I think some of it sunk in as last night was much tighter. We all make mistakes and I had a poor second set by my own standards but nothing 95% of the audience would have spotted. It was mostly misjudging where the lead gtr was in his solos as he goes through the PA and his on stage vol can ber very low in the mix when we are in full swing. I usually ask him to put his gtr through my monitor but I don't think he did last night.

Sort of gig you turn up and wonder what you are doing it for. Sunday, a good hour's drive from home and for taff all money to speak of. However, the venue was quite nice even though in a run down corner of Brum. Some pillars in the room make for an odd set up and it makes the onstage sound very peculiar but we soldiered on. What really made it was the audience. Not heaving numbers but twice what I'd expect in a backwater pub on a rainy Sunday. And they enjoyed it, we had people of a certain age grooving down to Peal Jam's 'Alive' and a fella who seemed to be on his own singing the words to all the classics we play. To top it off our esteemed member seashell popped along with a friend to keep a straight face during my 'jazz notes'😁

Last gig with Adam on drums, last remaining original band member so (though I'm very much the new boy) the end of an era for the other guys in the band. We wish him well with whatever he does to fill the time in. Back issues and sciatica were making it too painful for him to keep drumming. We have taken no more bookings for this year and plan to audition drummers early next month with a view to having them up to speed with the set for early 2020.

7 hours ago, Marillionred said:

40 minute set at The Star, Beeston, Nottingham as part of  Oxjam. First full-band gig for a year, but surprisingly tight! Great responsive audience. Played through the house backline, a lovely small Mark Bass combo and got a great punchy tone from it.  Short clip from someone's phone video - thank you whoever you are 🙂

 

Nice to see the keys player really give it his all there... 🙂

Yes, I know Roxette doesnt have any keys. I was hpoing to get out to Beeston last night but time beat me. I'm sure I saw you guys at the beer fest at the Harrington Arms in Sawley years ago but I could be confusing you with another band?

I think I had a little noodle around on that beatle bass too. Only time my hands feel big is playing those things.