Len_derby

Took part in a 4 band charity evening at a local pub. Due to other folk’s commitments we had to play with a scratch band, me and the drummer from our own plus a guitarist we know but have only played with at jam nights. We shared vocals. We chose a 40 minute set of songs we all knew and managed one rehearsal. It was good to play in a trio, Robin Trower’s Bridge of Sighs being a particularly fun one to do.

The best part of the evening for me concerned my rig. The bassist of the Tomkatz used my Markbass LM3 and Barefaced Midget T. Playing a Fender Sting signature precision with a pick he sounded really good. The setup more than held its own with a vigorous drummer too.  The photo is me with my Harley Benton shorty.

Sad to report that the only people who felt it necessary to wear hats indoors were in my band.  🤔😆

Great. That bloke with the narrow boat is a real hero. I played on it about 4 years ago with 5 Hills Out, the punk-folk band I was in at the time. There was five of us playing in there, including an accordion player who needed to move her elbows in and out. Mostly into my ribs. I don’t think I’ve complained about a small stage since then 😆

Where are you living? I’m sure some Bass-shatters, me included, would be happy for you to come around and try a few immoderate purchases we’ve made.

27 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Always keep a pair of fingerless gloves in your kit bag if you're in the habit of doing outside gigs ............... just in case.

I keep a pair of very thin gloves in my bag but its more for protecting a nerve ending on my left hand index finger that occasionally plays up. For some odd reason a thin glove seems to help. Its like someone stabbing your finger with a needle.

 

Dave

I keep a couple of the reusable handwarmer pouches in my kit for those situations. 
 

Back on topic, we had our first gig with the new drummer. Guido, originally from Sicily. It all went well, a few hiccups but no one but the band appeared to notice.

Guido is considerably younger and better looking than most of us in the band, which is another bonus. 

30 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Cheers for the heads up on this one. Just ordered the paperback from Amazon and will be one of my holiday reads. I love autobiographies when i'm relaxing on holiday.

Dave

I'm sure @Mickeyboro won’t mind a slight derailment;  if you haven’t read Deke Leonard’s autobiographies starting with, “Maybe I should have stayed in bed?” you're missing a real treat.

Very nice! Did you sell your short scale Danelectro? You had it up for sale here, I was sorely tempted and then you decided to keep it if I remember correctly.

5 hours ago, ubit said:

Functions are usually  filled with a varied age group so you have to think what's inoffensive and catchy. What goes down well in the pub to a bunch of young, pished revellers might not do so well in front of their Auntie Joan and her husband George.

We used to have almost two sets. One was for gigs and one was for functions.

Yes, know who you are going to play to and what their preference is.

As an example, my covers band have been booked to play at a celebration evening for an amateur choir. We’ve been specifically asked to play nothing newer than 70s songs. Apparently the average age in the choir is 80. The members I know are lovely people,  it’s going to be at a nice location and pays well, so it’s all good.

35 minutes ago, Sardonicus said:

 

@Richard R It feels like I've been playing for a lifetime.  In my short tenure, I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that somewhere, there is a list of golden rules that everyone apart from me, must abide by. 

 

Other members of the Worship Team must;

• Never learn the songs.
• Never answer a text.
• Never arrive on time.
• Never give a f**k.

If I started listing everything that's happened over the past 12 months to cause me to nearly leave, it would be pages and pages long.

 

Hi guys, I follow this thread. However, I haven’t commented yet because a couple of years ago I retired from the church music group I played with. So, I didn’t feel I had much to add. 
The last couple of post, particularly the one above, bring back shudders 😉

Over the period I served we had singers, and occasionally instrumentalists, who thought it ‘un-Godly’ or ‘too professional and slick’ (their words) to try and improve or even rehearse.

It’s a tough gig, hats off to all you who persevere. 

6 hours ago, AScheck9 said:

Played in the Latch Lifter in Ilkeston for the first time on Saturday. I was a bit on edge, as I do a lot of ...community... work around there, and I REALLY didn't want to be recognised, however even though I was tense, I played well and the whole band sounded really quite tight. 

 

Set up was a doddle, and the stage there is excellent. The entire pub is exactly what playing in covers bands or tribute bands is about. The stage looks over a large dance floor and bar which was packed, and even the balcony on the first floor that circles above the dance floor was full by the end. 

 

Our friendly bands told us that its quite a tough bar to get moving, however we had people dancing and singing right from track 1 all the way through to the encore's encore. Things started to get interesting when we had a stage visitor take over the lead vocals for "Dakota" (you have to play it, right?). She was utterly terrible and barely knew the words but appeared to be a local hero as the crowd- they were loving it and were recording her. .. so there she stayed for the song. For the last few tracks, we had some younger ladies on stage trying to dance with me or the guitarist too. I kicked my pedals away from under their feet, and enjoyed the show, to be honest...

 

Fun crowd. 

Great place, always enjoined playing there. I know what you mean about being recognised, the last time we played our drummer was a trainee copper. Luckily, she didn’t have her uniform on 😆 A different kind of place nearby,  but with a similar atmosphere, is The Crossroads Tavern at Alfreton. Worth a try to get a gig if you’ve not been.

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

For anyone who cares or is interested, Anderton's have a number of the Indian made, Chowny SWB Pros in stock, at £850.

They look lush. If I didn’t like you so much I’d say you were evil……😆

5 minutes ago, jezzaboy said:

Thanks Len. Found what I`m looking for there and the price is not to bad.

Great. Just a tip from me, when I got one for my Barefaced Big One I opted for the sleeve inside the front part which allows you to put in some rigid protection. I slipped in the cardboard base from a large fruit&veg box (it’s tough stuff) and I’ve now got extra protection for things going into the speakers. 

1 minute ago, jezzaboy said:

Any idea who could make me a cover for my Ashdown 4 x 10 bass cab that I have recently bought?

I’ve used Roqsolid several times. Probably not the cheapest but, in my experience, good quality and certainly durable. 

I’ve got sad love for gigging at the moment. Terry, one of the guitarists in my covers band, Night Shift, has stage 4 cancer. He’s undergoing the treatment and has been told it’s controllable but not curable. He wants to gig as much as he can, while he can -  music means so much to him. The previous two weekends to this one we gigged three times in each. He’s shattered after each one and sleeps for 12 hours. We carry and set up all his gear for him. We are having some great times, but it’s bitter-sweet.

2 hours ago, meterman said:

I used to get Carol Kaye to bite my nails down to the quick for me, but when she put her prices up I had to do it myself.

 

Shame, because she had a real flair for it. But I’m not flipping made of money. 

 

 
Bob Babbit did mine; but then, in an interview Carol claimed she did them, not him! To be honest, it’s all a bit hazy now.

I’m not sure how important the line-up is. Of the people I know who go, all in the affluent 35+ bracket, who they are going to see doesn’t seem to be important. Most of them, to my my knowledge, hardly ever go to any other live music. They’re  going for “the Glastonbury experience “, and would shell-out the money whoever was playing. If their attitude is common, sad as it may be to us on this forum, what point is there putting much effort and imagination into booking acts? There never seems to be any difficulty in selling the tickets.

16 hours ago, solo4652 said:

I put a post on JMB in December 2018. Had a reply today!! Playing cajon and bass with an Americana/soul covers band. J J Cale, Black Crowes etc. Right up my street. But.....I'm due to move out of the area in 3 months time and wouldn't want to commit to a band and then announce I'm leaving.  Bugger. 

 

Well, congratulations on getting a favourable reply, eventually!

Have you considered taking it up for the three months? If you’re up-front about moving away it may be a temporary win-win for both sides. Obviously, you’ll probably need to bow-out if a permanent bassist comes along, but for three months they get a chance to work on arrangements etc. with a bass and cajon  - plus, you get the experience. It’ll be good for your ‘cv’ when you’re in the new area, too.

Yesterday was something a bit different. My originals-only band, Diamond Bridges, took part in The Rebel Ramble. This was a celebration of the 1817 Pentrich Uprising. A motley band, some dressed in period costumes, walked the route of the rebels from Pentrich in Derbyshire to Giltbrook on the Nottinghamshire border where they were stopped by a detachment of Hussars (in 1817, not 2022 😆). The organisers arranged entertainment at pubs and cafes along the route and we were invited to do The Crown at Heanor. There was a great atmosphere and everyone seemed to be having a good, if foot sore, time.

We did it as a freeby, but we made lots of new friends and plenty of cash was going into a jar for the local food bank.

23 minutes ago, NJE said:

I had exactly that with an Overwater Jazz 5 string. “What’s that then? Fenders a bit expensive for you”.

 

My response is, “Well, it’d be a waste of money playing with/for* you lot”

Said with a deadpan face.  Not with an Overwater, but my Swift Lite made by our own @Andyjr1515. Just to add balance, I also gig with my Harley Benton short scale P. Similar comments  happen😆

*delete as appropriate 

I haven’t yet owned, or even tried, a Ray but it’s an itch I’d like to scratch.

These days my preference is for short-scale bases. Can anyone tell me, from their own experience, if the lauded characteristics of the Ray also live in the 30” neck version?

The unexpected.

I heard an interview with one of the production team, yesterday morning on BBC R4. It might have been the director, I missed the very start. From the amount of work the band had to put in to create the show, it didn’t sound like an easy option for them.

It can be argued that it won’t be a ‘real’ performance but they’re upfront and not trying to fool anyone.

I don’t know if it’s an unpopular opinion but it’s caused a few ‘discussions’.

There’s no such thing as good music. There’s no such thing as bad music.

There’s just music you like and music you don’t like. That’s it.

I’ve always found that if you want to make a lasting effect on somebody’s day try singing the chorus of Shaddap Your Face to them.

Ok, I’ll start.

Why do the band want you to play one bass? If it’s to avoid you spending time switching instruments during a gig, then it’s a good thing in my opinion. The momentum of a performance is easily lost if there is down time while someone changes an instrument. 
As for which one to choose, my experience is that if you are playing the right notes in the right places and have an audible ‘bass’ sound the audience won’t give a damn what bass you’re playing. If you really can’t choose, why not take turns with each bass? Take the Ibanez to one gig, and the jazz to the next.

45 minutes ago, Bleat said:

 

Don't move down to Herefordshire. I can't even find any decent musicians or bands to join! 

Interesting. I was down your way last week, went to Ross and Hereford and was pleasantly surprised that both still had reasonably well-stocked music shops. In my part of the world all the music shops have gone in places of similar size.

Having said that, none of the pubs I went in showed any sign of ever having live music on. But there must be something going on……

Ps, no gigs going at the Credenhill camp? They’d be a tough crowd to please 😆