BigRedX

What is generating your click and what else does it do? Backing track? What application runs that? Have you thought about what visuals you want and how they are going to be produced? Remember that anything you don't produce yourself will be subject to copyright and usage fees. What sorts of venues are you playing? Ones where you have to supply the PA and lights or ones where that is provided by the venue? IME most venues with in-house PA and lighting systems also have a projector installed, all you have to do is find out what connection facilities they have and include yours as part of your technical rider. Projection technology has moved on massively from what Franticsmurf is talking about. We supported a band earlier this month who ran video projections with the projector set up on stage just in front of the screen. Here's a photo of the stage set up: The projector is the grey white box in the middle of the stage and was positioned level with the rack on the left and still filled the screen with video. However, if you have a drum kit that might limit your options on smaller stages.

How much synchronisation do you want between the band performance and projections?

We had exactly this problem when we played Whitby last year at The Brewery. Being the first band on and the last to set up with all three bands using lots of DIs we ended up being routed through channels on the desk that were rarely used. The backing was a bit weedy sounding on stage, no kick drum and all very upper mids, so I stepped off to go and ask the PA engineer, if something could be done, and then realised it sounded even worse FoH. Turns out that the channels it was going through had the bass very aggressively rolled off. As soon as the EQ was reset to flat it sounded much better, and we were able to get a much better sound very quickly after that. And it's probably just as well you didn't try and get in touch as I was in the middle of setting up for my own gig and generally don't bother with any kind of social media when I'm gigging. I only carry a phone for emergency calls or texts if there is a problem getting to or back from the gig and since this time the venue was 10 minutes walk from where we were staying and everyone I might want to contact was in the audience, I didn't even bother bringing it to the gig!

Next Hurtsfall gig is Carpe Noctum at The Lending Room in Leeds. We'll be supporting Faces Of Sarah. Tickets £9.05 (including booking fee)

1. In the Terrortones we had a guitarist who thought he could be in multiple bands including covers band. We simply booked so many gigs in advance that he wasn't available to play for anyone other than us. 2. So go to the venue in person early on a gig night and speak to the person who puts on bands. Alternatively have a look at who's playing there in the next few months and get in touch with the bands or the promotor asking them for a support. My band gets a lot of gigs like that. 3. Yes you should. We'll play anywhere within a 3 hour drive of Nottingham (and yes it does help to be centrally located) and we'll get further if either the promotor can put us up or pay enough for us to book a hotel. I'm in my 60s and will only stop gigging when I am no longer physically capable which I hope is still a long, long time away.

New single out now from all the usual downloaded and streaming sites There's also a poptastic remix by Matt Pop:

No. Never. In the days when I couldn't afford much I bought a Burns Sonic Bass because I thought it looked way more interesting than the P and J copies.

A singer with an exceptional voice and range who knows how to connect with the audience. No guitarist. Catchy songs and the ability to put on a great performance when we play live:

Late to report but I've been in Whitby for the April Goth Weekend. We played the Shadow Factory event at The Crafty Cove on Friday night with bright new things Social Youth Cult and local stars Westenra. Sold out gig which wasn't that surprising given the line-up. The Crafty Cove is an interesting venue, being a shop during the day and a night club in the evening. When we arrived to load in they were still putting all the clothing racks away. Sound checks nearly over-ran mostly because Social Youth Cult had been told that backline would be provided and then discovered that what was in the venue wasn't very suitable and neither us or Westenra use any that they could have borrowed. Finally got everything sorted minutes before the doors opened. Despite the sound check hiccups Social Youth Cult were even better than when I saw them in October and their sound is veering towards Bauhaus rather than their previous Joy Division heavy influences. It could have been a hard act to follow but I think we managed it. There were some interesting glitches: I managed to hit my bass so hard during the breakdown in "Adore Me" that the wireless transmitter dropped out of the jack socket. Luckily I spotted it before someone trod on it and was able to plug it back in only missing the first bar of the next verse. Our singer forget all the lyrics to the first verse of "Tilting" and the foot switch for the backing was doing some weird things that required manual intervention at the computer. Despite all of that we went down really well and sold an unfeasible amount of T-shirts and CDs including loads of copies of our brand new single "Robert Smith's Eyes". Obligatory photos: Next gig is Carpe Noctum on 10th May at The Lending Room in Leeds supporting Faces Of Sarah.

I suspect your backing had been put through a rarely used channel on a digital desk which had previous been used for something that needed to be aggressively band-passed. We've encountered this a few times, and re-setting the EQ on the channel in question to flat has always sorted it out.

IME unless it's for noodling at home only, or you have the budget for something expensive with a very large body you are going to have to use it with amplification. This brings with it all the issues of handling noise and depending on the volume required possibly also feedback. Also a lot of the less expensive "acoustic" basses don't sound that great when amplified. I agree that image could be an important factor here, but on the few occasions that I have played "acoustic" gigs I've just used a decent short-scale solid body bass with the treble rolled off and it sounded fine. If image was more important I'd look for a cheap hollow-body with magnetic pickups.

I think that much of the problem with modern electronics with surface mount components is that while they can in theory be repaired at a component level, this is no longer possible for your typical hobbyist with some electrical knowledge and a soldering iron.

We've just had to turn down two potentially very good gigs in May and July due to prior commitments which is a pity. However we do have following now confirmed: 25th April: Whitby Goth Weekend, The Cove, Whitby 10th May: Carpe Noctum, The Lending Room, Leeds 24th May: Re:Vamped Weekend, 1 In 12 Club, Bradford 25th May: Dot To Dot Festival, The Chapel, Nottingham 12th July: Goths On A Field, Bridge Farm, Ellesmere 14th August: Twisted Firestarter (Infest Warm Up), Rebellion, Manchester And several more lined up between now and the end of August that I'm not allowed to announce yet. We also have our next single out on Friday 25th April on all streaming and download platforms and as a limited edition CD that can be bought at our gigs.

The neck and bridge/tailpiece are almost certainly from a Kay/Top Twenty bass. I wonder if the body is off something like a Futurama where pickups were part of the scratch plate and didn't need routing into the body?

I don't get this. I play originals and my band could be out almost every weekend if we took everything that was offered and our synth player didn't have family commitments. As it is we have at least two gigs a month for the next 4 months. In between gigs we are writing and rehearsing new songs or recording for our album.