upside downer

I did wonder that. When Martin Kemp was told about Carol's unfortunate situation and the need to find a substitute he said something along the lines of 'bass players are hard to find'. He should have just searched Basschat and he'd have found plenty on here in the right age bracket!

Klaus Flouride from the Dead Kennedys is a fine player who never gets much of a mention, certainly was an influence on me to pick up the bass.

It's more than likely a nod to the lyrics 'Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four' by popular Merseybeat combo the Beatles.

Let's face it, stick any competent pub band of a senior vintage in this show and get them up to speed regarding presentation and stagecraft at a massive festival and you've got a better programme with better music in right away. The series started as a light piece of froth and nonsense and has continued in that vein but with increasingly extra dollops of TV artifice. All that arm waving at the 'gig' on last night's episode, Leburn's angst at getting that complex song Angels bang-on, it's all trifling cobblers aimed at the sort of viewer who has never picked up an instrument in their life. "But, it's never too late!!!" the show is seemingly screaming at those people, avoiding the truth that, if you do grab yourself a cheap electric guitar off of ebay and a copy of Bert Weedon's Play in a Day, the chances of Mica Paris turning up in your back garden to warble away with you to get yourself ready for a two hour set on Saturday night down the Queens Head are slim at best.

Tribute band night at the Roadmender in Northampton later on with The Smiths Ltd, Oas-is and the Clone Roses. Top, sorted, nice one etc.

An enjoyable watch. They've all got the chops required, it's not like they've just grabbed some poor sucker off of the street, thrust a Les Paul into their hands and gone "make some noises with this or Martin Kemp will look foolish", so the mild peril aspect is a bit frothy and will rely on whether the different styles of the players involved can gel into a cohesive unit before they get on stage. Which, I'm guessing, they will. The bands played at the Isle of Wight Festival last year and I can't recall headlines like 'Septuagenarian Rock Bands Bottled Off By Unforgiving Pop Crowd' in the press. Good to see Carol the bass player getting some kudos.

Well done, Skank 🎶 great tune!

45 minutes? 45 MINUTES? Takes me about a week! You're right, it is still good fun though 😁

You can really hear what a fine job Matlock was doing on some of those early live bootlegs like 'Live at the 76 Club, Burton on Trent'. JJ is one hell of a player, too. Simonon just picked it up, ran with it and did his own thing, no doubt inspired in part by his love of reggae. Punk, eh? Nowt wrong with the DIY ethic. It worked out pretty good in the long run for many in that movement.

Have started receiving notifications again, not just reactions. Huzzah!

Here's my effort for February's challenge. This is a jaunty little number with a sense of childlike swagger to it. I needed some small people to help me out so I got three of the grandchildren on vox to add to the vibrant feel that I hope the tune conveys. I don't think it's too sickly sweet but even if it is they had some quite splendid fun yelling into the microphone so all's good. Recorded in glorious lo-fi with Wavepad and Audacity using violin bass, Epiphone Special guitar, Yamaha keys and Looperman drum samples.

Some threads I'm following are still giving me notifications, others are not. I blame Putin.

This is what I believe @Thump is talking about. I've had this one for a few years, it's a fine piece of kit and a doddle to use. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Generic-Super-Portable-Cassette-Converter/dp/B00YQZ521W/ref=asc_df_B00YQZ521W/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309953091299&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7899797203090088465&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007037&hvtargid=pla-564073872608&psc=1

Welcome aboard, @Ebenue

Getting funky with the young Turks.

Ner ner ner ner ner ner ner...H'ANGUS!

Bravo @SH73, nice one!

Two brothers playing oud and saz supported by a drummer. Really talented.

I mean, I've liked it but I also wanted to put a laughing face 😄 Graham Bonnet 'loitering' near a fridge, there's an image that'll stick in my head for a while!

Here's mine. Skank said there's scope to write a tune about absolutely anything in relation to the picture. I was planning to use only samples but that idea died like a louse in a Russian's beard so instead I've written a tune about everything and nothing. It's a tune that exists digitally in this universe. There, nailed the premise. Stuff used - Necarman elektro saz, Westfield violin bass, Yamaha keyboard, Hydrogen drum programme, Samplefocus vocal samples. Roland Cube for amp and all recorded using Wavepad and Audacity.

I used a Westfield copy in my rock/pop covers band for around three years and it did the job absolutely fine. It dealt with the heavier numbers really well and they're so light which is a bonus for those of us with back pain. Slight intonation issue up the dusty end at first but got that sorted. Staying in tune was never a problem.

Here in Northamptonshire it's about the same for pub gigs. I'm not currently playing live so I don't know if there's any post-covid restructuring of the price scale by wily landlords trying to bash down the cash due to bands being desperate to get out there and play again.

I've been more offended* by the barrage of tripe that has come out of shows like The X-Factor, American Idol or Britain's Got Another Identikit Pretty Boy Warbler over the last 20 years than any of the acts mentioned here so far. *offended as in 'felt ennui through repetitiveness' due to other TV shows/TV adverts/shops etc insisting that an anodyne tune by some chancer off of one of these Cowell-approved televisual banalities has to be playing loudly and intrusively whenever and wherever.

Jah Wobble.

Great version and a runaway winner, congrats! 👏