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Len_derby

⭐Supporting Member⭐
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Everything posted by Len_derby

  1. Friday night at The Old Star, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, with Night Shift the covers band. The pub has a nicely set-up stage with plenty of power sockets and lights in-situ. The disadvantage is that it’s in an outside courtyard area which means it can get chilly plus there’s a 10.30 noise curfew to keep the neighbours sweet. We went down well, with plenty of good feedback even though the hard-drinking audience were slow to get going. On the photo you can’t see the left-side guitarist’s instrument. He has a lovely Vigier that he’s totally obsessed with keeping in mint condition. The only time it comes out if its hard case is when he’s going to play. Between sets - back in the case. I dread to think what he’s going to be like when it gets the, inevitable, first ding.
  2. Keep us posted if and when you move. There’s a few BCers active in the area. Most of my musical activities are in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire border areas, lots of small towns and villages mostly ex-mining and heavy industrial communities. Also plenty of pubs and decent opportunities for gigs, albeit tending to be for covers bands. Not places for the faint-hearted, though. Particularly on Friday and Saturday nights!
  3. Yes - but sadly, it was not across a crowded room 🤣.
  4. I was 15, in 1973. Playing a borrowed German Hofner violin bass. As I remember it, our first song was a thrashed-up version of ‘Some Enchanted Evening’.
  5. This is very much my experience in the small town and village area of the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire borders where my covers band work. It means someone (although we try to do it in pairs to share the load) has to put the time in to do it and have the required ‘people skills’ to be effective. I’ve found that sending out promotional material cold, no matter how good it is, rarely gets any results. There are also a couple of local pubs who use their open mic nights as a way to check out who they might offer a weekend paid gig to.
  6. Thanks. That’s an important enough reason. Also, you’ve saved me from wanting to upgrade my Roland to something ‘better’. Phew, cheers pal 😅
  7. Looking neat there S’manth. I’m interested to know why you chose the Boss Cube over the Roland Micro Cube that you have for sale. I don’t use any pedals or outboard effects so my equivalent rig is bass, cable and Roland Micro Cube.
  8. I’ve just received a Trace Elliot Elf from Roger. Excellent transaction all-round. Good communications, very good packaging. Another top Bass Chatter!
  9. A rare outing for The Daz Kelly Band, playing for a birthday party at the King William pub, Milford Derbyshire. Daz on Guild resonator, me on Harley Benton shorty P and Craig on the boxes. There’s a nice photograph on the wall behind us. The landlord had a ride in the two-seater Spitfire as a special birthday present.
  10. The current bass player player in the band is a member of this forum. Dave Sturt. He lives near me and I’ve seen him around for years. I don’t think he’s been on here for ages, and I can’t remember his user-name. He is quite busy though, he’s the bass player in the current line-up of Gong too.
  11. Known as ‘rubber’ to his friends 😎
  12. Originals band is Diamond Bridges. Formed the year that the two of us who started it up turned 60. Hence diamond in the name. Covers band is Night Shift. I can’t remember who came up with that but I think it suits the covers pub band we are. Blues trio, The Daz Kelly Band. Guess what the singer/guitarist’s name is.
  13. Hope it all turns out well for you and that you and the drummer move on to better things. I think the general consensus here as been; most people can accept some inequality of reward if there’s a reason for it, but secretive and underhand differentials (especially in an ongoing arrangement) are a no-no. If the two rob-dogs see the light and offer to spilt the money fairly from now on, don’t forget to ask for back-pay 😀
  14. Appalling behaviour. I’d be out of that jam night straight away and persuade the drummer to come too. It’s even shares for the bands I’m in.
  15. My originals band, Diamond Bridges, started off by playing charity events. The guitarist is a vet, through him we get to hear about animal charities having a bash or wanting to. We’ve also done things for a local hospice. My advice would be, assume that you’ll make no money. Anything you do get will be a nice cherry on the cake. It’s great fun playing your own music. No one in the audience knows how it ‘should’ sound. 😉
  16. Plus the story about Ike Turner’s band going to Memphis to record for Sam Phillips. According to the legend, the guitar combo amp fell off the roof of the car on the way. The subsequent damage produced the sound heard on “Rocket 88”, often cited as one of the first rock n’ roll records. @DylanB, do you feel the weight of history on your shoulders? 😂
  17. Yeah, nice one. Extra points, too, for none of you being afflicted with the need to wear a hat indoors. 😆
  18. Glad it’s gone well for you. Two questions though. Firstly, was there any resistance to it in the band? It’s a common human trait to be wary of change but whenever I’ve suggested doing something similar there’s been the sound of some heels being dug-in. Secondly, assuming you have a drummer, how have you handled that side of things? I’ve just re-read and seen that you do have a drummer. Did he/she have to rein it in?
  19. Thomann make a semi-rigid case they call the Beat Bass case. I believe it is designed with Hofner violin basses in mind. I bought one for my Fender Mustang. A slightly tight fit for a Mustang, but very good value for money.
  20. Nice idea, that’s something I’ll think about for my locals (Foulds Guitars). I have two questions, but it’s ok if you don’t want to answer them. Compared to what you’d expect to get selling say, on Basschat, what percentage of that do you get from the shop? Obviously they have overheads and a desire to make a profit. Secondly, which shop? I’m only 30 minutes drive from Sheffield so it’s somewhere I could visit. I like patronising music shops when I get the opportunity.
  21. If you’re a Facebook user there is a group called Washtub Bass (Gutbucket). Some entertaining videos. That’s a good book by Billy Bragg - Roots, Radicals and Rockers. I passed on my copy to my 85 year-old mother-in-law. She was a regular at the London jazz and skiffle clubs in the late 50’s. She could recognise quite a few of the people in the photographs.
  22. What about the auditioning process to join a band? That’s an aspect of “music” that usually has a competitive element.
  23. Yes. I love their two albums, For The First Time and Ants From Up Here. But, that was mainly because of the quirky lyrics and vocals of Isaac Black. He’s left now, but still a band to watch.
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