NancyJohnson

"Fender. Renaming the same old basses every year of so to keep you interested." Christ on a bike, more reinvention. If you look at Fender's UK site, they have 27 different series of bass instruments, and god knows what derivatives exist within those categories. We've had decades of these shenanigans. I honestly pine for the 70s, when it was pretty much American Precisions, Jazzes and maybe Mustangs/Musicmasters, limited colours, limited neck finishes. It just seemed simpler times.

I'm actually friends with Brad Steakly (Screams drummer) on Facebook. Huge Anglophile; I've posted a lot of stuff about London venues around the time they toured here in 1978/79 and he's asked a lot of stuff. He did mention that he was hoping to get the album rereleased at some point as the rights with Infinity have now expired; the plan was to bundle some live recordings from shows they did with Van Halen (there's videos of Angeline's Toys and Imagine Me, Without You). I was besotted with Screams.

Yeah, I know MTV hasn't really been about music for several decades. Half a dozen MTV channels being pulled off the air across Europe end of December. MTV has been more about reality TV shows than music for some time, for me, no great loss, but I do have fond memories of Headbangers and Ray Cokes.

I hadn't honestly thought about Blogspot searches. Found both albums after a bit of trawling. The Zones album is a delight. I'm 15 again.

I was sitting at home yesterday and I had a bit of a flashback about a few albums I'd owned (on vinyl) back in my youth that have never seen CD or streaming releases. Did cursory searches on Spotify (nothing), Amazon (nothing), Discogs (nothing/patchy). Maybe the way I'm wired, but the next day or two will involve intense searching and trying to track down The Zones - Under Influence, Screams - Screams, and another one I can distinctly remember a few songs from but the artist/album (so lengthy Google search under way). Sigh.

Afternoon chaps. Paul and I are having a meet-up midweek. I think we'll be trying to get some timings allotted for talks/Q&A etc. We may need a basic PA of some sort, so if you have a powered monitor that we could use, please let us know. I would like to do a blind test shootout again with Gary @cetera, so if you have a bass that you'd like included in that can you please let me know the make/model/specifics and ensure you have a stand for it (I'd need to print up some cards for marking). You can check the format here:

We live in times where we're afraid to be frank, brutal and honest with social posts, for fear of reprisals/replies in the form of if you can't say anything nice... but this is 100% spot on. It's an absolute munter of a bass. You have to have some love for an instrument you're going to pick up and play, but not this one. The headstock looks like Lego.

A week away from bass is a holiday in itself.

The SE Basheroonie is in Crowthorne, Berkshire in November. There's a thread elsewhere.

At our guitarist's suggestion, in an early iteration of Nancy Johnson, we decided to drop our surnames and go with our first and middle names. From his perspective, Pete James sounded so much more rock'n'roll than Peter Williams.

Say the word 'wally' and leave off the lee.

Bwahaha. The seller always seems to have a bundle of decent kit on sale!

Look, I know we're not supposed to post Gumtree links, so I won't, go look yourself, but there's a very nice, decently priced 1985 one up for £8k in Hounslow. Save yourself a few £££. Look for it yourself.

While I think most people will drive (especially if they're bringing gear), if anyone is coming in by rail, check the route here with their planner: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.

I know there are moans and groans about Royal Mail/Parcelforce, but if you want to view a truly terrible postal service witness that of just about any carrier in the US. There was absolute ineptitude on all three things I bought through Sweetwater (which were shipped to Dallas and Houston), but the best (worst) one was a small package that took nearly ten days to get from Union Square to our hotel on W56th Street; 40 city blocks. We actually walked past the sellers address several times on that trip.

Right now, I'm uninterested in playing irrespective of the circumstances. I don't think it's quitting per se, more just taking a break. I just find doing band stuff exhausting and exasperating in equal measure.

I forgot to include Sire/Marcus Miller basses. Boom.

For the first time in perhaps 25 years, I've packed everything away, not a bass, amp or cabinet out. Honestly don't have the inertia to do band stuff, it's like herding cats. I feel like I'm pretty much done. The little corner if the extension where I used to set stuff up? Might put a woodburner in.

I have no issues this whatsoever. Quirkier the better. My point was more about 'do we really need another budget Jazz Bass on the market?'. You could go to eBay, Marketplace, Gumtree and (arguably) pick up an equally (or better) specced Jazz bass for £500-600, Fender badged included. You can get a new budget Squier/Sadowsky/Markbass/HB/Bass Centre/Eastcoast JBs for well under this, all of which carry more kudos than HB. My take? Brutal as this may sound, the BTW model will be gone in a year or 18 months tops. They'll be discounted to clear by next summer. Nice experiment, thank you and goodnight.

I enjoy the BTW You Tube channel and can understand this desire to work with a manufacturer to produce a signature model, but raise the question as to why they feel it's necessary to bring another Jazz styled bass into a marketplace that's already full of them. Players here will make all the usual points about the hardware, the weight, the electrics, the nut width and (ooh) the tonewoods, but let's face it 99.9% of guys here (me included) couldn't recognise ash from alder or Wilkinson tuners from Gotoh unless they could read the name stamped on them.

Here we go. Quality good, nice fit, lightweight, padded and supportive in the right places. Only downsides are the latch on the right is a little on the wonk (but closes without any issue) and the other is that it absolutely reeks of the manufacturing process; smells like this stuff we use to keep the shower clean, very vinegary. I'm sure it'll subside.

Despite not being remotely into the Rolling Stones, I do have a soft spot for Keith Richards. Been reading this afternoon and have been going through the solo albums. I'm currently on an excellent bootleg of a radio broadcast of the Winos live in Boston in 1993. So good.

Perhaps it's just the way I'm wired, but when someone says they're hideous, it just makes me love them even more.

Triple post. FFS.