tauzero

Oh yes. Packed dance floor and got told we were the best band ever to play there by a few people.

Took a couple of photos from on stage while hammering out the notes, so they were rather blurry. You can see our fans wearing the T-shirts though. Ticket only do and the first time we'd played there. Apparently the landlady was concerned that we wouldn't be enough of a party band.

Just had a listen to it. Rather good, it was, perhaps a bit dodgy around the chorus where the harmonies didn't quite seem to work. I'm surprised that none of the pitch-perfect BC members noticed the out of tune guitar though. They'd have sounded a bit better with an acoustic guitar or at least an acoustic emulator, Billy Bragg can get away with it but it didn't suit their vocal style so much.

We do mainly 80s, with a fair bit of ska and reggae in the mix. So our first song is always "Space Oddity", which is from the 60s unlike anything else we do and is also the song with the most chords in.

Buggles and "Video killed the radio star". Eludes the Guinness records as there was a subsequent number 16 and a couple in the low 30s. I was going to suggest Sonique and "It feels so good" but a quick bit of research showed that the single after that hit number 2.

The lyrics make a lot of sense when you consider what it's about. The sleeping satellite is the Moon. I shall leave it to the reader to research the relationship (for example) of the eagle. Owen Paul didn't quite hit number one with "My Favourite Waste of Time" (got to number 3) but didn't do much subsequently.

Speaking as one who made the transition 45 years ago, I'd say that if you play (say) A B C D by moving your index finger up three times from the 5th fret rather than playing either open 2 3 open or 5 7 8 5next string, you've come from guitar and you're effectively doing barre chords. I started playing guitar classically, then went on to play with a plectrum, and when I took up bass, used my fingers. I have occasionally played with a plectrum, and when I play guitar, I play finger picking or plectrum as required. Due to the carpal bone of my right index finger being broken when I was beaten up 40 years ago and not being set properly, my forefinger and middle finger are a bit out of line and that (even now) makes even picking tricky, so for what would normally be fast alternating picking, I may use a plectrum instead.

Revolution by the Beatles. A few driving seconds, then drop to dirge mode.

"The Begotten"

In honour of the late great Clive James, "Black Funk Rex".

Ancient Beetles. Hmm, has a certain ring to it.

One local band from a few decades ago was "Emma Gibbs loves badges", which was the headline to an item in the local paper. One band I was in was looking for a name, and the keyboard player came up with "Naked Touch". The rest of us tried our best to think of an alternative, but we didn't manage to come up with anything. Another local band that a fellow BCer was the bassist for called themselves "Good Question", which I thought was inspired.

The neck on my Sei Original needs adjusting on a fairly regular basis as it seems quite sensitive to temperature changes. It's headless though, so access is dead easy and it takes me under a minute to do it (including digging out a capo and allen key set from the gigbag). Just another of the ways in which headless instruments are superior to headed ones.

Ditto, except that all the covers are obscure. I was until recently in a covers band, an originals band, and a tribute band. I'm no longer tributing, but I did have all bases covered for a while.