Japhet

I remember listening with great interest to the basslines of James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt which probably piqued my curiosity. I think there were 2 players though who really pushed me over the edge on 2 particular records. Firstly was Trevor Bolder on Aladdin Sane and secondly was John Entwhistle on Quadraphenia. Both came up with some exquisite and unusual lines to such an extent that I wore those records out and am still blown away by them decades later.

Mike Kerr - Royal Blood.

If given the chance, I tell people that never watching any reality TV is the only realistically attainable ambition I have left in life. I remember the very first outing of Big Brother and thought it was like a fly on the wall deal, only flies on the wall were much more interesting. I've pretty much managed to avoid all of it since then. I also remember Clive James on TV. The Japanese show called 'Endurance' where contestants were made to do revolting things, eat disgusting things, were humiliated and tortured made compulsive viewing because it was so wierd and so cruel. You can see hour after hour of that kind of dross every single Saturday night now on British TV. It's all a bit sad really.

Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus.

I absolutely hate all forms of reality TV. Had some of this garbage inflicted on me by the Mother in Law who was telling me that 'this is proper entertainment blah, blah, blah'. This really is plumbing uncharted depths of shite.

I would say, find the last thing you absolutely had to have. In my case, that is a fairly expensive effects pedal which now lives in a drawer in my office. Prior to purchase, it was something I absolutely couldn't do without and now it shares the drawer with umpteen other examples of the same madness.

Haven't bought much this year but one item stands out. I picked up a Valeton FET Preamp pedal for peanuts off Ebay and it's a tone monster. Works great as a booster too to drive the front end of my amp. Think I paid £19 for it and I've had pedals that cost £119 that couldn't hold a candle to it.

I'm pretty sure you can add an extension cab to the Rumble 200 but not the 100.

You're opening up a whole can of worms here. Firstly, watts are really pretty irrelevant when the efficiency of the cabinet and drivers are equally, if not more important. Broadly speaking, cheap, badly made stuff will advertise as very high wattage but doesn't convert into a good, or loud sound. Quality gear will achieve way more with much less advertised power. A decent 300 watt amp will melt your face but a cheap 1000 watt one will invariably sound crap at any volume. You then have class d versus analogue or valve amps but we're now disappearing down the rabbit hole.

3 from a long, long list. The Pretender - Jackson Browne Stratus - Billy Cobham When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin.

Ampeg SVT and 8x10. Of course, that is disregarding the logistical prblems of movement and storage.

Can't imagine the misery of paying through the nose to slosh around in mud and other people's body fluids for days on end on the odd chance you might hear something that wasn't utter pish. Last one I went to was Knebworth in 197? and that was pretty abysmal even there were some good bands playing.

My back problem seems to be more related to the amount of time standing relatively still during a gig. I'm OK until we start packing away and then the much greater range of movement required triggers some really painful lower back issues. I'm sure a lighter bass would be of some benefit but I'm not sure how much.

Speaking of detectives; (from the mad mind of Alex Harvey) I got the call on a rainy Monday Business was uneasy So I turned up the collar of my coat and Considered the situation. Now was her Daddy bad? Or was it good for my Baby? But there's one thing bothering me.....Who was the man in the jar?

Radar Love would seem to be extolling the virtues of driving under the influence of biblical quantities of whizz. Very un-PC in these days of 'no half of shandy for me - I'm driving'.

It's good but lacks the prosaic gravity of 'All we hear is Radio Ga Ga, Radio Goo Goo, Radio Ga Ga'

Cool For Cats. 'I'm invited in for coffee and I give the dog a bone...'

At the Red Rooster Festival near Thetford this weekend. Last night was very impressed with William the Conqueror (especially the female bass player who played some really nice stuff and had a great tone). Here's a YT offering.

I blame Simon (effing) Cowell and the brainwashed British public who sit on their backsides and lap up whatever garbage he dishes up to them on a Saturday night. The demise of live music is in direct relation to the rise in Saturday night 'talent' shows.

It's only finished when there's nobody left who wants to listen to it. Can't see that happening for a very long time.

The Godlyke Great Divide has always sounded good to me but very hard to find.

Don't suppose anything that sensible would occur to a drummer. Certainly wouldn't occur to our's.