inthedoghouse

Congrats on a lovely find 🙂 But I sort of wish I hadn't seen it ... I'm sure you all know what I mean :-))

Hendrix - 'Band of Gypsies' (by a very long way) Very honourable mentions to; Deep Purple 'Made in Japan', Hawkwind 'Space Ritual' and Rory Gallgher 'Live in Europe',

Motorhead without a doubt Also Black Sabbath when they were touring Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - but I was standing almost directly in front of one of the PA bins.

Sassafras. They were supporting Black Oak Arkansas at the Heavy Steam Machine in Hanley. Black Oak didn't go on despite seeing them enter the building and the gear being set up. I suspect if might have been because they didn't think the audience was big enough. Anyway, Sassafras went on again in their place and played another set which I didn't fancy staying for.

Lots of gigs I've wanted to leave early from, but it's generally frowned upon if a member of the band doesn't complete the set 🙂

Supertramp in Manchester. A couple of friends said they'd buy me a ticket if I gave them a lift. I knew it wasn't really going to be my cuppa, but after about 30 mins I was so bored and went for a wander around and arranged to meet my friends back at the car later. I seem to remember that Joan Armatrading was supporting and I enjoyed her set. She had a heckler that she dealt with very well, if my memory serves me correctly. Isotope at The Winter Gardens, Penzance. Absolutely brilliant musicians, and I thought very Mahavishnu influenced, who I had recently seen and loved. But there was only so much jazz fusion I could take that night.

I had always wanted to see Spirit, so when I saw they were supporting Wishbone Ash I bought a ticket. They didn't disappoint 🙂 We stayed for the WA set and enjoyed it, but iit was Spirit who were the attraction. I suppose another thread could be bands you started following after seeing them support.

I played the single 'No Matter What' almost smooth when it was released 🙂

Not what I expected to arrive when I ordered a Corvette 🙂

Googling "songs that wouldn't be allowed now" brings up lots of examples. I'll bet 'Jail Bait' by Black Oak Arkansas would have some people tutting now. (Tommy Aldridge on drums and one of my favourite players on bass)

I've got a Creamery pickup on one of my P and set on a St**t Talking of spoons - who remembers this? 🙂 http://www.sidthemanager.co.uk/sound/mrspoons.mp3

Mitch Mitchell would have kept me somewhat on my toes

Yes, for me getting the song stuck in my head is the hard thing at first. The last drummer I played with had been with the band for 2 years playing the same originals and still every week he used to have to look at his notes - even then he obviously didn't know the songs and played like a beginner with us two ex pros. I called time on it because it was a waste of time and money even though I enjoyed hte music and playing with the other guy. Of course, that makes me the 'bad guy' for calling time on it and thte drummer hasn't spoken to me since, despite having known him from where we worked for about 20 years.

Thanks, Kev Sound is a very subective matter to everybody, as you know, and depends on the amps, style etc. But you already know that. I've never been great at describing how something sounds but if it helps at all, I usually play in 3 or 3 piece rock bands and the Flashback sits very well where my P would usually sit, but a tighter bottom end. I have something akin to a SVT sound with a touch more top and it does that perfectly. I'm sure I'm not getting anywhere near the full potential and range of the Flashback but for what I do it's perfect and a joy to play, if a little heavy. Here are some vids from a band I was in a few years ago. It sounds better(?) through decent headphones or speakers, as always on Youtube. I was playing through a TE 500 head, 4x10 & 2x10 with Sansamp BDDI. Shame I'm hidden behind the PA. Dave the Bass - YouTube

Yes,, the 2 Tek bridge is certainly a weighty piece of engineering. I read on the Warwick forum that there were only about 70 something of them made with that bridge. The Pro II is a very dark brown, very similar to the Fortress One in my pic above, perhaps a bit darker. I boiught it off someone on here last year and really like it.

My Fortress family - one of each I've also got a '96 Corvette and one of the early German Dolphin Pro II that made it thought quality check with a serial number.

Arrghhhh!! It drives you crazy doesn't it! And drives me out of bands ... When they hold their phones to a mic so they can listen to a song over and over when everybody else had learnt it inside out at home!

Very true - which is how I got the job in the last band I was in.

100% with you there, Billy. I don't spend countless hours at home perfecting whatever it is I have to learn only for others to let the side down. That's exactly the reason we decided to disband our originals band before Christmas - two of us had total commitment and the skills to go with it, the other ('drummer') had neither.

+1 I always make a point of trying to be the most well prepared person in the room. I learnt that hard lesson when I was a teen and sometimes didn't get the job, so promised myself to always be in top of what I've been given to learn. I don't know how many 'auditions' I've been to where I know the material I've been given to learn much better than the people in the band. So it's a 'no thanks' from me.

I am someone who has to 'shield' so I have had lots of time off work, as I am now. For me it's purely down to the lack of a band that makes me not bother playing bass or guitar. Being in a band is the reason I started playing in the early 70s, and it still is. If our band hadn't folded due to a crap drummer and no suitable replacement for a good originals band I would have been happily revising and refreshing myself on the set, which is what I was doing through lockdown 1 and 2. Should the seemingly impossible happen and I find a top quality band to join I'll be going at it again with my usual 100% commitment and enthusiasm.

A huge Sabbath fan here, mainly the first five albums for me though 🙂

Lol! 🙂 The drummer wasn't called Dan, by any chance? Sounds just like the drummer who was the reason we decided the band wasn't worth carrying on because of late last year.

I didn't even know who Cliff Burton is 🙂