KevB

If Muse released that people would be wetting themselves. I have the previous 2 albums as well as the latest one and they seem to be improving with each release which is very encouraging. I'd go see them if they played somewhere local and I could make it for sure. Anyone wanting to check out the rest of The Mountain it's here; [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIY4X8yi5Oo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIY4X8yi5Oo[/url] And the other 2 are also on youtube as whole albums

One of those bands I'd heard about and thought I'd probably like and then I got round to listening to it and just went er....no.

Completely lost track of what Tony McPhee was up to and didn't know about the stroke, just checked up on wiki. I only saw the Groundhogs once in the mid 80's when most of the bands of that ilk were falling on tough times. Small club gig in Nottingham, small but appreciative audience and the band were real pros and gave it their all, McPhee just ripping through stuff and showing why he was so highly regarded in his heyday. Glad to hear he's still getting up and playing despite the health problems, it would have made more than a few retire.

I take a spare set to gigs but at present have stopped carrying a spare bass despite having perfectly capable backups at home. Never broken a string whilst playing though I vaguely recall one breaking on me when I was fitting a new set (probably Rotos) years ago, retailer replaced it with no quibbles as I recall. Had no issues with the cheap as chips ones I've been gigging with regularly this year. If anyone else fancies a dabble with them they are these; [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Guitar-Strings-DCG3-45-105-Coban-Deluxe-Range-Wonderful-Reviews-/161085017849?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item25816a4ef9#ht_3856wt_1077"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Guitar-Strings-DCG3-45-105-Coban-Deluxe-Range-Wonderful-Reviews-/161085017849?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item25816a4ef9#ht_3856wt_1077[/url] At that price its worth having them in the bag just as back-ups I reckon but I get at least 6 months regular gigging from these and I like some 'zing' in my strings. Anyone happy with a less 'edgy' sound could probably get a lot longer out of them.

I'd forgotten places like last night still existed, proper old style wmc but now reinvented as just a 'social club'. I really was expecting bingo and a meat raffle during the half time interval but it never happened. It was actually some works xmas shindig who had just taken the place over though it was also open to general public. They had a wrist band system in place so those there for the official party could get a free bar and food. We were given wrist bands too as well as being fairly generously paid so a big thanks to them for treating us so well. Played from a high stage to a big room so not easy to get a rapport going with the crowd who were mostly happy to sit at tables and chat rather than dance. We got a few up in the second set and had more than a few positive comments from folks as we were packing up at the end, played till after midnight, struggle for me as I still haven't shaken off the cold I've had all week. Now I've got a load of stuff to learn for the jam session I'm doing in 3 hours! [URL=http://s30.photobucket.com/user/KevB64/media/valexmas13_zps43c32631.jpg.html][IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/KevB64/valexmas13_zps43c32631.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

The thing I found odd about the Blackmore clip is that it looked like they had gone to the trouble of scalloping the frets on the cheapo instrument destined to be destroyed. Can't believe they came out of the factory like that did they? I suppose some manufacturer might have done it if they had ordered a job lot to get through an entire world tour or something but then you'd think they would have made a better job of the headstock shape.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1386249716' post='2297674']Then I discovered Yes and that was the end of ELO [/quote] Just as well no one told me I wasn't allowed to like [i]both[/i] of them then

ELO were one of the first bands I got into of my own volition rather than it being absorbed as a cross-over from my older brother's collection. My first album purchase was the 3-LP box containing On The Third Day/Eldorado/Face The Music. Some quality stuff there but then worked back and listened to their very early material whilst also catching up with the more recent releases (they were up to about Out Of The Blue by then so I guess we are talking '77-'78). They started to lose me a bit with the overtly disco 'Discovery' but did rally a little toward the end with interesting conceptual stuff like 'Time' which is well worth a listen. If you are looking for a more extensive compilation try the 3-disc 'Afterglow' which can often be picked up for peanuts second hand.

Actually I quite enjoyed it on Saturday when we decided to throw in the Arctic Monkey's version of Drake's 'Going Home' as a final encore. Considering we'd only briefly discussed doing it after the previous gig and didn't rehearse it at all in advance it didn't sound too shabby and the audience got into the groove with it.

I have to admit when I'm hosting jam sessions I don't take an alternative backline with me, what people play through is my regular gigging set up (which admittedly isn't hugely expensive) and sometimes using my bass too. You start getting better at reading people and if I thought someone was thrashing the gear I wouldn't think twice about getting up on stage and turning them down if it was getting out of hand, in fact the pub would expect that of me to show some sort of control over the event. I appreciate full-on gigs is a different situation and I feel for the OP if his speaker has been genuinely damaged by unprofessional use by someone who by the sounds of it should know a lot better.

'High end' is anything over 100 notes for you though Jon

Great to see EF as a memeber, picked up his Blues tuition book a couple of years ago when I joined a bluses rock outfit and wanted to get back to basics. My stint in the band didn't last long but I still keep the book on hand!

Hang on, I'm supposed to be [i]enjoying[/i] this stuff? I'm in the wrong band...

I think if we had someone who regularly turned up to gigs who requested a particular band or song and wasn't obnoxious about it and it fitted in the set we'd seriously look into accommodating them but in general we don't do requests unless its something we really know well and most of those are already in the set. I have some admiration for those bands with such a massive back catalog that can pull off unexpected stuff that clearly wouldn't have been in their regular set to a high standard. It's a thin line though, you do it for one person and they all expect it and before you know where you are the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Sadly I've got to the age and ignored chart stuff for so long now that I've occasionally been approached with 'Do you know anything by...' and I have absolutely no knowledge of the act in question at all!

As alluded to in other posts it's not how many so much as how long you play for. A band doing lots of short snappy 60's or punk, rock'n'roll stuff are going to play more songs in 45 minutes than a band doing involved longer format prog or classic rock. Some songs get artificially lengthened if it turns into a crowd singalong etc.

20-25 for a typical pub gig, like Dave said that usually equates to a first set of 45 mins and the second set around 1 hour. If we get a particularly unresponsive crowd and the money's rubbish we've played just 2x45 on occasion but that's rare.

I like Yes but could never get on with DT, all very soulless for me I'm afraid but chops by the bucketload it can't be denied. I wonder if they have now peaked? I went to a Camel gig in Wolverhampton in October and was surprised to see DT booked to the same venue soon after, I thought they had got to arena shows by now? I did see them at Rock City years ago but I was really there for Spock's Beard as the support. Most dischuffed when we turned up and it was an early show, we only saw SB's last 2 songs then had to endure the whole of DT. Caught up with them again at High Voltage in 2011, didn't even make it to the end of that gig.

Well done Shelly, sounds like a real evening. I know the pub and the village it's in very well, it's actually generally a fairly 'well to do' area but at weekends they get a few rough 'uns in from a neighbouring area which isn't far away but like the wild west in comparison. I'd laugh my socks off if our singer got 'zimmered'.

Reg pub gig, looked oddly quiet for half the first set (we do this venue every month and usually it's pretty busy from the off) and a lot of usual familiar regulars absent. However it soon got up to normal level and by midway through set 2 it was heaving to the point we were backing our mic stands further into the corner to give more dancing room to the 'front row'. We even chucked in a couple of new numbers (unrehearsed) one went fine, the other stuttered to a premature halt thanks to singer not doing his homework. Now I'm as tired as anyone of doing Sex On B@stard Fire but there is something about it when virtually the entire pub comes in on the chorus perfectly and make the windows vibrate. It's almost like being in a real rock n roll band

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1385743370' post='2291791'] thethe Lion at Basford [/quote] That was my local for nearly 20 years but didn't get to actually play it until I'd moved from the area. That was about 3 bands back, not played it with current band. I think they always tended to stick with their 'favourites' even the bands that never seemed to pull a big crowd. I'll ask band leader to see if he knows any background to what's going on there.

Paul, which venue was it that was booked for all of 2014 already?

Having the whole of 2014 already booked seems a bit excessive to me, especially if it's a pub. There are bound to be cancellations, best thing to do is ask to be included on a 'standby' list that can be contacted in case a band pulls out of a gig (always happens). I know my lot are provisionally taking some dates well into 2014 already but in most cases it is places which we have monthly residencies at anyway.

All my 3 Fenders have stock necks, none of them are 'high gloss'. Other than installing a BAIII bridge on the jazz they are all as they came out of the factory too. Maybe I'm just not a natural tinkerer...

Bought one about a year ago from another bc'er in mint condition, hasn't let me down yet and since joining a band in Feb this year that was doing a lot of 90's indie stuff it's become my main gigging bass at present. It's a 2001 50th P bass anniversary which also has a commemorative neck plate but not as fancy as the 60th anniv plate shown on this thread. Nice tweed repro carry case too. I've just checked and there's one like it still for sale on eBay from some music shop but it's wayyy overpriced. Don't think I'd ever buy a new Fender though, plenty good ones around S/H to make great savings on.

Get the Echoes 2CD compilation on the cheap, get an idea of which eras suits you best from that then investigate the original albums from that era, time lines easily available on wiki. Actually you don't even need to buy the thing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK5qOLH-tSk