KevB

I didn't get round to recording the one with Beady Eye etc on so I'm just watching it now. Is it my ears or did Jools refer to Liam as 'The Wonderful NOEL Gallagher' after they played the first song in the 60min version of the programme? Check it out on iplayer, abou 4:10 in.

I posted on the 'gig last night' thread but just a quick update here too. There is NO WAY of getting any gear down to the beach other than the 130-odd steps (concrete, not very wide and quite steep). Apparently all the building materials to build the restaurant/bar came that way and any bigger acts (Reef, Feeder etc) have had their gear down the same way with a lot of roadies involved. To load in I did 4 or 5 trips up and down them and another 3 or 4 at the end of the night (and that included some help from guests at the wedding). On the last trip back up after the gig my calves were cramping up and going into spasm. The owners/managers are very strict with the 11pm curfew on music. We finished pretty much dead on 11pm and the wedding guests were baying for an encore or two but no dice, we were told that was it. So we said we'd just put some background music on the ipod quietly while we packed some gear up. No chance, not even prerecorded music allowed after 11pm. Some of the wedding guests then started a voluntary acapella singalong in protest. It was obvious that they were using shutting the music down as a crowd control measure to encourage guests to start leaving and that's exactly what happened. It gave the impression they'd had their wedge of money from the wedding and we could all sod off home basically.

4 1/2 hr practice seems a hell of a long time, surely you have some breaks during this where you can put the bass down for a bit?

I was like you, really wanted to wait until the absolute right vehical for me came along after the last band split. I was still looking over a year later. Eventually bit the bullet and joined a band that weren't necessarily playing my preferred choice of music but jut needed to get out there playing again. Met all sorts of people who have depped for the band I joined and who are in other bands so it puts my name about in a networking way and been asked to join other bands whilst in the current one, don't think it would have happened any other way. Ideally I'd like to fit in a 2nd band who are less busy than the main one but playing music I get more of a buzz from. However there just aren't many of that type around, hence my initial 'picky' year of sitting at home scanning the want ads and only playing a note in anger at jam sessions. I was sent a 33 song list to learn, except the 'audition' was actually a full paying gig with people I'd never met and I somehow still got the job!

Yep, practice and take it slow. Done some lead vox with bass but mostly it's been backing vox. Even then I don't subscribe to the 'do it often enough and you can do anything' any more with vox-with-bass than I do bass on its own. There are some basslines that are technically beyond me and always will be and the same goes for some vox with basslines. It's getting the balance right of putting in the work on things that might pay off and letting go those that will take a disproportionate amount of work with poor odds of getting an acceptable outcome.

So the gig I was a bit apprehensive of finally happened last night. I'd started another thread about lusty glaze beach in Newquay elsewhere in case anyone had played it. The issue was with access. It looked from what I could thread together from the website that the only access to the venue (wedding in a big decked marquee type structure overlooking the beach) was via 130-odd steep steps from the top of the cliff overlooking the beach. I can tell you now this is TRUE. My legs are still recovering. Even taking modest amount of gear down for a 4 piece band and with some guests chipping in with help I did that flight of steps 4 or 5 times to get the gear down and 3 or 4 times after packing up at the end of a gig. It's a killer and a band member filmed part of the journey on his phone so I told him to put it on youtbe as a warning to other people who might be asked to play there. It is an established venue, Reef and Feeder have played there before. How do their road crew get all that full pro rig down there? I'll tell you - a LOT of people and down those bloody steps!! The happy couple and several guests came to tell us how much they enjoyed the set, we went down especially well as an ex band member came back as a guest for the gig and he was a close mate of the groom which is how we ended up with the gig in the first place. Given the travel costs (5 hour drive each way, me and the singer took a van down with all the gear) I've actually ended up with little more money in my pocket at the end of it than I would from a local pub gig. I won't forget those damned steps in a hurry though. If I get any photos I'll edit this post to include them at a later date.

Depends what you class as cheap. I like GuitarPro personally, I learn about 3 songs using that in conjunction with the recorded version in the time I'd learn 1 song using ears and recorded version alone. I expect if you went to illegal download sites there would probably be 'free' versions of GP available to download for nothing but I bought it, think it was about £40. I had v4 and am now on vs5, they are at least up to vs6 by now. Edit, forgot to ad that for each track of the song there is the standard notation equivalent as well as the TAB version so it could easily be used as an aid in making the transition from tab to full on sight reading.

I had to go use a rehearsal room for the first time in over a year just the other night. I don't know how many of these I've used over the years but the thing that sticks in the mind is that they [i]all [/i]have the same smell of damp carpet. I recall one I used years ago I went down on one one knee briefly to try to coax some sense out of the awful bass combo provided and when I straightened up there was an actual damp patch on the knee of my jeans.

I'm doing a wedding gig on Saturday and I think the groom may be a musician. Maybe I should tell them the odds are really stacked against them between a couple of the songs? Then again I would like to actually get paid at the end of the evening...

That's part of the problem with Rush now, it's so 'big' a show that they probably can't get their heads round the concept of popping in a studio with minimal kit and knocking some songs out. It would have to be the full on entourage taking over massive amounts of space, BBC studio probably couldn't handle it. These sorts of tours are also very highly organised so a performance probably couldn't be fit into the schedule. They might get one or two band members to turn up for a quick interview (as happened with Deep Purple the other week) though.

Lee Pomeroy and the guy from Doves are other lefty upside down string offenders. Pomeroy actually uses a LH bass but presumably has got so used to the stringing from previously playing RH basses upside down he won't swap back to conventional stringing. Looks well weird onstage but doesn't seem to compromise his playing, still seems to eke out a living

Not even got round to watching the recording of last Friday's program yet!

I recall Beedster creating a thread on this maybe last year? Not sure how far he got and he doesn't post so often these days but could PM him,if nothing else he might be able to point you at the original thread.

Body looks like a miss-shaped potato recently unearthed with bits of mud still clinging on.

In some bands it has been the case and in others not. Current band? probably not.

It's a very long time since i did it but i made 2 claims to Endsleigh whilst still with them, one on the property itself (snow coming down off roof ripped the guttering off a bay wondow) and one on contents (dodgy electric blanket burned a hole in my mattress) and both times they paid up no questions asked.

Did a depping job favour for a mate at a charity festival thing a year or two back and was told all back line would be provided, just turn up with a bass so I did. Got lumbered with some old laney combo that was clearly faulty and no one in their right mind would have let it up on stage if they'd checked it for 5 minutes in advance. As it was the acts before us hadn't required it as they were acoustic sets. The combo kept generating bizarre random harmonics squealing all over the place. I might have been able to get it sorted if I'd been allowed any time with it in advance but we were just chucked on and told to play. Interestingly I noted the band after us brought ALL their own backline with them, I guess they had done this gig before!

Best of Omega vol.3. Not as good as vols 1 or 2 but that was pretty much as I expected.

Must resist....must resist....

I did worry a little when it was announced a while back that he would be missing some UH gigs, hoped it might not be serious but clearly it was. RIP Mr Bolder, saw him play with UH and he was excellent.

Plus it's also got a bit cliche'd, lots of bands have done it over the last 10-15 years.

Could afford it but not prepared to pay it, got to draw a line somewhere just like I do with music gear or anything else. CA still hasn't really gelled with me either and if they give it the sort of promotion that they did with S&A then I'd probably find myself looking at my watch a bit too often during the gig. Probably see the inevitable tour DVD at some point, think it is due out before end of this year.

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1369089739' post='2084833'] Where as I would put up amongst the greats. Ah well, "vive la difference" eh. [/quote] I'm with the Count. One of the best covers ever for me. I usually prefer the originals (with the exception of most Dylan songs that have been re-done) but I think the Cocker version is better than the fab four. Wet Wet Wet on the other hand did nothing extra with the song at all and it makes for a truly lacklutre cover as a result.

I was fortunate enough to see him play with Robby Krieger (though Densmore had bowed out by that stage) doing their Doors thing about 10 years ago, can't remember who did vocals (wasn't Astbury) but it was a great show. I'm sure all the keyboard players in the various Doors tribute acts around the world will be paying special tributes to the man at their next shows. Not only an excellent player but always came across as quite humble and personable when interviewed. Another sad day for music.

[quote name='Urban Bassman' timestamp='1368906257' post='2082953'] Absolutely, a great sound. Been years since I listened to that Album. Used to have it on Vinyl but didn't get round to buying on CD when I (foolishly) sold all my LPs.... I'll be getting this and the other Greenslade albums as soon as I can [/quote] There's also a very neat compilation called 'Shades of Green' which covers the first 4 albums if you want a ready made collection for in the car.