tonybassplayer

No gigs for me for a few weeks due to holidays with both bands but thought I would post this to bring it to the front page to remind the ones who have gigs to post the mini reviews. I look forward to reading them every weekend. Tony

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='207098' date='May 27 2008, 10:27 AM']just a quick one, I'm going camping for a couple of days in a few minutes. Yesterday we played a big charity bash in Barnsley "Sheik Rattle 'n' Roll", organised by our singer Vikki and the Rock Of The North website. It was a WONDERFUL day and it was great to see TONY SOUL 7 in person for the first time. pics and reports will be available on [url="http://www.rockofthenorth.f2s.com"]Rock Of The North[/url] very soon I'm sure. [/quote] Yes, it was a cracking evening of brilliant music and I got to meet Jon ( above ) and lots of other guys that play in bands that I had not met before. Tony

Go for it !! what a great weekend that would be. Tony

Apologies that this is a bit long winded but bear with it. A few months ago I attended ( through work ) a strategic management training course. The idea being that we all take a longer term "strategic" vision about the companies we run. After a day and half of surprisingly interesting discussion we had to write our own personal 10 step 10 year plan as to where we see ourselves in ten years ( obviously ) and the journey we had taken. This had to be done in total silence as it was to be your very own personal vision ( albeit with a business influence ) When we had written our plan out we had to physically "walk" using ten pieces of paper though these 10 steps visualising what we want to happen. We were asked if we wanted to disclose our thoughts and everyone agreed that they would. Without boring you too much most of the other attendees wanted to progress on to bigger and "better" things, perhaps ownership of companies etc and then it came to my turn. I told them that in ten years time I wanted to play golf during the day and play in a band at night !! As expected this brought some laughter and a bit of light hearted banter but the lady running the course, a very well respected management consultant, came to me at lunch and told me that if that is what I wanted to do then I must "go for it". That night I told my partner and she agreed. I placed an add to join another band and now play more gigs and practice more than ever ( I was a late starter ) Will I ever make playing music my job ?? Who knows and the answer may be no but I will have a bloody good time striving towards it. Hope this helps Tony

Wedding gig at Thorpe Park Hotel near Leeds last night with a very easy load in and set up. I videoed the gig and it sounds pretty damn good so will get some on the website, myspace and youtube later today. Nice lively audience and really friendly DJ so it was a very enjoyable evening. Chilling in the bar afterwards we were surrounded by a hen party who had given the bride many tasks, one of which was to get a man wearing brown shoes to buy her a drink. We have a self imposed "wear only black" policy for functions so no problems for me however our guitarist may stick to the policy more rigidly after the hen party spotted he was wearing brown shoes so he had to do the honourable thing and buy the "hen" a very expensive Tequilla Slammer from the hotel bar lol A lovely and highly amusing end to the night for the rest of the band

When I auditioned for SOUL7 three years ago I had very little live experience and that was in a sixties band and a seventies classic rock one however I asked if I could say a few words before we started. I told them that I was not the most accomplished player BUT I would play solid uncomplicated bass in time with the drums, I would always be first to arrive at gigs and rehearsal and that I would ensure that any songs we had agreed to do I would have ready for the next practice. I got the gig and a few weeks later two of the band told me that they had made their decision that I was going to be a good band member on the strength of the speech before we had played a note !! Tony

[quote name='lee4' post='201000' date='May 17 2008, 12:55 PM']40th Birthday party last night.Big hotel,suprise gig for birthday boy who clearly wanted to be at home with a pizza and a dvd. Played 3/4 of our 2 set show and was asked to stop due to lack of audience interest.Most of them had left by 10:30 pm because they had young kids. We played well,tried out our new lighting rig,got fed and still recieved our pay at the end. We were the wrong band for the wrong party in the wrong venue.[/quote] Had a similar thing happened to a band I played in a few years ago. Mother booked us for daughter's 21st after seeing us in a pub and thought we were perfect for the party. The daughter wanted Take That and Boyzone. She got Free and Deep Purple !!!

Friday night we had a function but when we arrived at 7.00 we were unable to set up as the area we were playing in was full of prizes for the presentations etc that were following the meal so it was 10.30 before we played a note ( after a very hasty set up from 10.00 ) However, 4 bars in to Valerie and the dance floor was full of ladies from the Yorkshire Hockey Association who danced for an hour and a half solid so it turned out excellent. Saturday night was the first gig with my other band and we had taken the gig to help the football club who let us use the club for rehearsal free of charge at their end of season presentation night ( bit of a theme developing ) We are still a month away from being fully ready but with a very enthusiastic audience following a game during the afternoon that secured promotion we had a cracking night. High point had to be Dakota with most of the male audience up dancing topless swinging their shirts around ( some sort of tradition !! ) shame that their partners were more reserved in the clothes shredding department but life's not perfect !! ( NOTE...must play Dakota at next year's Yorkshire Hockey presentation night.....worth a try !! ) Just sat chilling now before loading up again later on as we are out for an early evening pub gig in Huddersfield. Playing music live....................don't you just love it !!!!!!

We have two gigs this weekend so I am sure this will form part of the "between sets" chat. In the main the responses back from the band have been positive and have certainly been as I expected. I will let you know how it goes and see if we have made any progress Tony

Hi John, welcome to the start of an incredible musical journey that will sometimes seem frustrating but ultimately will lead to hours of total pleasure. I would suggest that you try to find someone to complement your bass playing ( ie drummer, guitarist etc ) rather than another bassist so you can start to make some music together. There are loads of very easy songs that will come together quickly even at the early stages ( something like Teenage Kicks springs to mind ) Have fun and keep practising Tony

[quote name='Steve_nottm' post='198234' date='May 13 2008, 08:28 PM']Nowt wrong with the old "2 bands" thing. I'm in a rock blues covers band and an originals band. Both scratch different itches, and don't want to drop either, or say that one is more important than the other. Just different. However, I enjoy both. If I didn't enjoy one, then I'd move on.[/quote] + 1 I am in a soul/funk function band but have joined a rock band as well to have some contrast to my playing

Many thanks for the excellent advice. I am going to sit down with the rest of the band and discuss it in detail as we have talked about this for a while but we never seem to have time at a gig as there is always something else going on that takes precedence. I have a lot of management and marketing expertise and would want to run it as a business ( albeit part time initially ) and envisage taking full responsibility financially and from an organisation point of view leaving the other band members to concentrate on making music and enjoying the evening. I just hope that they see the positive side and how we can move forward if we have a dedicated person pro-actively marketing the band to prospective clients.

[quote name='Ba55me15ter' post='196832' date='May 12 2008, 12:11 AM']As regards PA, I would say invest in finding a good, local hire company. Running a good rig and more importantly getting the best sound out of it is a huge investment in time, money and effort. Since we started hiring we have never looked back. To be 'professional' you at least need a separate engineer, so why not let them hump the gear and get it all set-up for you too? It makes gigs so much less of a chore.[/quote] Definitely something to consider as storing and transporting equipment is also an issue to think about when investing in a new rig. What sort of price do "hired rigs including engineer" come for ??

Thanks for the replies and I will probably contact you both to speak more about it but I am just waiting for the response from the band to see what they think. In an ideal world all six of us would decide to make it equal shares and invest but I know from past communication that will not happen although I can see one or two thinking down this line. I just think that at the moment we give very good value for money but with investment in equipment and marketing etc we can capitalise on our love for playing music. Tony

Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go to get it spot on but the only way for me is to get it on the set list and work until it comes right otherwise it will always be on the "to do" list

It didn't really do a lot for me until I joined a soul band that started playing more funk stuff and when you see how it fills the dance floor because of the notes you are playing it is quite easy to start liking it

[quote name='jakesbass' post='196601' date='May 11 2008, 05:41 PM']The best Groove of theirs for me is 'Thats the way, I like it' Lovely lock with the bass drum, the bass plays two semi quavers after the bass drum on the second and third semi quavers of beat three while the bass drum has just played the first and fourth of the prvious beat. Great Groove!![/quote] I play this at every gig and don't understand a word of the above lol sounds good, though I doubt I play it correct, I have my "own" versions of most songs ( for "own" read simplified )

We seem to have reached a bit of a plateau in that some of the band are happy with the financial investment ( very little ) in the band and the level of pay we are getting. We are a good "pub" band and a decent function band but potentially we could project ourselves much better to a bigger target audience. I am convinced that if we invested in a decent pa/lighting system etc and went to market properly ( pro dvd, proper marketing etc ) we could substantially move forward and I have suggested to the band that I would be prepared to fund this and run it on a more commercial basis ( I am from a sales, marketing, management background ) Anyone any experience of effectively "running" a function band ?? Tony

Major mental breakthrough for me last night as we played carwash for the first time. I think I missed a few notes in the fancy run a few times but in general I was pleased that I had committed to doing it as 6 months ago I would never have dreamt that I could play it. This forum has really got me fired up again with my bass playing and is a constant source of fun and inspiration so a big thank you to you all

Good morning fellow Basschatter's We had another cracker at the Deer House in Rudding Park caravan park near Harrogate with all four of our news songs going down really well. We even had people telling us they are booking specific weekends at the park so they can come and see us which is very nice to hear. What a lovely feeling it is waking up the morning after a great gig !! Tony

Welcome to the forum. Just clicked on your youtube videos, wow, trying to play some of them is going to keep me busy for a few months....excellent is an understatement !! Tony

Some good suggestions so far but please keep them coming as i want to go to Mondays rehearsal with a good choice for the rest of the band to decide on ( I rarely say no to anything we choose )

Excellent, that's one to start with at practice on Monday. Thank you Tony

I joined another band a few weeks ago ( Chasingamy ) playing Lizzy, ACDC etc and we have about an hours worth of material that is sounding somewhere between excellent and "improving" We have just been asked by the Football Club we use as a free practice venue to play next Sat night at their end of season do. We have said we will do it and could do with a few quick gains ( ie easy to learn and hard to get them wrong type of songs ) The lead guitarist is also new ( but superb and a very quick learner ) Hope you can help with a few ideas Tony

No gig for three weeks so chomping at the bit for tonight and we also have four new songs that we have only played in practice. It is at a caravan park so I am taking my 11 year old daughter to see me for the first time so looking forward to that as well Tony