Jean-Luc Pickguard

It wouldn't have been a problem in the days when being in a moderately successful band meant playing regular gigs in your local area, but these days we have websites, youtube, facebook, bandcamp, spotify etc to consider, although of those I'm only planning to use youtube and bandcamp to any extent, plus a website when I have more material.

True story — The band I formed and fronted from 1985-86 was called Nirvana. I guess Kurt had a copy of Love by The Cult as well.

For the last six months or so (might be longer) I have been using a band name for one of my ongoing projects which is fairly obscure reference to something that will probably be meaningless to anyone who didn't grow up in the 70s in the UK. Before the first release I did a thorough online check for any band with the same or sigificantly similar name. For this I searched google, youtube and various streaming services. Nothing came up at that time and no domains in reference to the name had been registered. I did another search this week and a facebook page came up for a band in Scotland using the name. This band was active from 2014 to 2021 when they broke up, but it looks like they might be getting back together. I'm not planning on contacting this other band as I'd prefer to fly under the radar, and I've not promoted the name yet to any great extent, ie the youtube views are in the hundreds at best. I guess I have three options Continue to use the name as my project is the only one with actual releases under the name, and if the other band gets in touch tell them to eff off. Quietly forfeit the name and re-release the existing tracks under a totally different name Pluralise the name - for example if the name was 'silver beatle' make it 'silver beatles' instead (that isn't the name in question by the way) I'm tending towards the second option, but have yet to find a suitable replacement name. What do others think? Has anyone else had encountered a similar issue with their band name?

Thanks But No Thanks — General Crook

Mr Pheasant — The Kinks

I think most people were confused reading it. I certainly was.

The Day That Curly (Wurly) Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee — The Hollies

Up With The Cock! — Judge Dredd

Good job! I made a flap over the serial number on mine so that it is still fully shielded, but the copper tape could be lifted up if it is ever necessary to view the serial. I think I can detect a very slight copper tint on your pickguard, but it looks fine against FireGlo. It would have bugged me on mine, being JetGlo though. I don't know why RIC swapped from the style of knobs on yours to Jazz bass-style knobs for the current model. I had to buy a set of the silver topped ones from Rickysounds to ensure I remember which knob does what.

All When We Were Young — Felice Brothers

It's a bit of a black box with few controls, but its probably doing a bit of eq & multiband compression.

Reflections 1 — Izabella Khalo

It Wasn't Me — Shaggy

CNC Machines#

I use my trusty Zoom H2n to record gigs & rehearsals. I then bring the recordings into Logic Pro and usually just top & tail the tracks to cut out any the faffing about between songs and apply Logic's built-in mastering. Sometimes I split the tracks into stems using Logic's stem splitter so I can apply processing on drums/guitars/bass/vocals individually before mastering, but that tends to make the process a fair bit more time-consuming. Once I have a folder full of mastered MP3s, I upload them to a hidden page on the band website so the other band members can have a listen.

I'd be looking for an original 70s badass II to go on the bass if it was mine. Then the original bridge could be sealed up in a plastic bag before it gets the chance to spawn a load of evil little rusty porridge monsters like something from Dr Who.

Roll With Me Henry — Etta James

My recording is called 'To The Light' As posted above, this is a poem I wrote based on the pic read over a repeated chord sequence. As outlined above the vocal was recorded using a £3.20 USB condenser mic. I had to record it whilst the builders working on the house next door had downed tools for lunch. The bass is my lovely JetGlo Ric 4003 and was recorded using the Rick-O-Sound output to send each pickup onto its own channel in logic where each was processed with their own amp & fx sims. The Drums were from logic's acoustic 'Psychedelic Rock' drummer, made extra tight by setting the kick/snare to follow the 4003 bridge pickup track.

Shoes — Bobby Bland

Trace Eliott Elf

Whiskey In The Jar Jar Binks — Thin Lizzy

My entry this month is a poem recited over a repeating chord sequence of | Am | D | Am | Em | F | D | Am | Em | For the bass I thought it was time to make use of Rick-O-Sound on my 4003, so I DI-ed it into my mac via a RTS => 2xTS cable to record each pickup onto its own channel in logic. I used a warm B-15 with compression on the neck pickup in mono, and a B-15 with a wide stereo tremolo effect on the bridge pickup. It is quite subtle, but I like the result. There's building work going on next door including shouting, drilling hammering and a a huge truck with a built-in crane delivering supplies. Today there has been a lot of drilling into the other side of the wall where my desk is (with my mac & recording setup). As I was in a hurry to take advantage of the lack of ambient noise during the builders' lunch break, I quickly set up my USB condenser mic to record my vocal. This mic cost me a grand total of £3.20 delivered from amazon a couple of years ago including stand & pop shield. This is the first time I have actually recorded anything with it and now I have used it, I think it is easily worth every penny. I should be able to get the track mixed and mastered soon. I also have an idea for a quick & easy YouTube video which may or may not work.

You Are Too (D2) Beautiful — Thelonious Monk

The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny — Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention

The Man Who Loved Trees — The Mindbenders