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Posts posted by ubit
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Loving this!
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11 hours ago, Graham said:
In all honesty, I think most couriers are much the same and positive or negative experiences have more to do with your local depot for that courier than the overall quality of individual couriers.
Yup, this is the definite case up here. No matter who I want to use Menzies are going to be the first port of call, so if a parcel is going down South they take it to Glasgow and from then I have no idea who takes over, Coming the other way no matter who takes the parcel to Glasgow, it's Menzies who take it to me.
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1 minute ago, martthebass said:
It's about 5 years since I left the 'jeans and T shirt' approach. Not that there's anything wrong with that but, certainly for a band or genre tribute, you have to at least look and act the part. I think that's the difference between 10 and 50 gigs a year.
I get what you mean for functions or tribute bands but for the band doing covers in a pub in a small town you can't look too rock star'ish or you get labelled a twatt.
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7 minutes ago, martthebass said:
I think another consideration is the effort that needs to be put into tribute bands outside of the music. We probably spend as much, if not more time on the marketing, choreography and 'the look' of the stage and band members as we do on the music. This level of attention to detail has probably made the difference in terms of getting in work as we get lots of positive comments and generally no problems on the forward bookings.
I used to say this to my band mates all the time. We had one guy who was our acoustic guitar player who was the most miserable bugger ever when he was playing. I used to say try to at least look like you are enjoying yourself. We stopped short at dressing a certain way but I honestly think a band that looks like they are enjoying playing rubs off onto the punters.
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Death From Above 1979. Bass and drums.
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12 hours ago, peteb said:
I never really thought that you needed chops to play in a function band. For every top band playing the high end of the corporate circuit there’s a couple of dozen acts playing tired versions of Mustang Sally for middle aged aunts to dance to at weddings at mid-priced venues.
If that is your audience then that's what you have to do. What's the point in playing complicated musical pieces of original material if no one is going to bother coming?
Lots of people slag off cover bands for doing certain songs but sometimes they are forced to. We started playing music WE wanted to play and soon found out the hard way that we had to play what THEY wanted to hear.
I happen to think we were good at it too as we were not short of bookings. This snobbery at cover bands gets right up me.
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I saw a band years ago in a bar and the group of people I was with were saying how good they were. I pointed out that it was a guy on guitar and a singer but all of the music was backing tracks so they were not particularly good at all. Strumming along to a song does not make you a decent musician.
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We used to rehearse regularly but back in the 90's and early 2000's we never rehearsed as we were so busy all the time. Now and again we would get together for learning new songs but the set took care of itself.
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2 hours ago, Nicko said:
IMO there's also a small section of BCers that appear to dismiss people playing pub covers as somehow inferior to other gigging musicians. Something along the lines of pub covers = bunch of amateurs pumping out the same old shite every week, vs function bands = semi pro and play a wide range of styles.
I am willing to bet there are loads of bass players (and other musicians) who have no more talent than the weekend warriors but have landed lucky by being pally with a decent guitarist or singer who writes decent songs and are doing ok on the professional circuit.
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There is no " I used to gig all the time but now due to job constraints I can't but I hope to again in the future" option
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We used to play Wagon Wheel. I despise that song and it's no challenge whatsoever but do you know what? Everyone loved it and sang along so it was worth it to play it.
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3 minutes ago, ezbass said:
Left both of my basses in a pub but, fortunately, realised before I’d got too far. Left my pedal board in another, fortunately (again), the guys in the band picked it up for me.
Back when we were really busy with gigs we used to leave our gear stacked in a corner and pick it up the next day. I've seen me leave it until Monday after a Saturday gig. Trust worthy people round here plus we knew the bar staff would never let anyone else take the gear.
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4 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:
Afterwards, I had several people approach me, including the bass players from the other two bands, saying how great the bass sounded.
In my experience you always seem to like other peoples sound more than your own. Other people will say to me it sounds great but I always think it doesn't and they sound better.
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Slammed the hatchback door shut on my old Vauxhall Astra GTI when I had the gear in the back. Smash!
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Don't ever rely on idiot sheets for lyrics. Learn the lyrics. I had an episode once when we were playing a dance and a drunken idiot thought it would be funny to steal my book of lyrics and refuse to give it back. I was all for kicking seven bells out of him as the bouncers didn't seem to care but I was talked out of it. Eventually it was returned after being dropped and all the sheets falling out. I had them in order of our set.
I used to always learn lyrics but for some reason latterly I didn't have time. Lesson learned.
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44 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:
To play a wrong note is insignificant.
But to play without passion is inexcusable!
That has to be the best quote ever!
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It was a case of mic up every drum, bass and guitars all through the p.a. Even turned down we were loud. To be fair when the pub is rammed with noisy punters you need to be a bit loud otherwise you are as well not being there.
The bands I saw with a lovely balanced sound and a small vocal p.a. usually got lost later when it got busier and rowdier.
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On 07/04/2022 at 09:11, binky_bass said:
When you say 'look this one up' you really mean you had to peel the pages apart of your laminated stack of vintage 'gentleman' magazines to find this particular edition...
There, fixed it for ya.
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3 hours ago, TimR said:
In terms of PA, there's a big difference to playing a pub or small club vs a dedicated music venue or theatre, or festival.
I'm not sure anyone can generalise what other people should do, based on what they do, without taking into consideration the type of venue and band that they're in.
Yeah we were guilty of using our expensive, powerful Electrovoice p.a. for every venue. It was total over kill sometimes. We would justify it by saying we need a balanced sound. I've heard lovely balanced sound coming from bands who have just had a little vocal p.a.
When I think back we were just using it because we had it.
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I had an occasion once where we started with a song we had been playing for years and I knew back to front. I completely forgot how it went. Couldn't remember the notes, the melody, nothing. Total blank. I quickly said do something else and off we went.
The next gig the same thing happened and the next after that. I had to sit down and re learn the song as I had some kind of memory block about a song we had been playing for years. I don't know if it was subconsciously happening after the first time but it was a strange indeed.
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A lot of Rush die hards are slagging this project off but Lifeson never said he was continuing Rush. Personally I love this new band and I am a Rush fanatic. Curve are another band I loved and I can hear the resemblance.
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1 hour ago, peteb said:
Every gig that I do these days has an in-house PA. Some are good, some bad and some indifferent. Similarly the engineer who's running the PA - some good, some sort of OK and some crap.
Perhaps in cities or larger towns this is more prevalent but certainly up here in the sticks no venue has an included p.a. system. They may have sound systems but these couldn't handle a band.
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What is this 'thing' on stage with Sting ...?
in General Discussion
Posted
It doesn't hurt and gets all of the hair out and leaves the inside of your nostrils like a babies bum. I have yet to find a trimmer that doesn't leave annoying stubble plus it grows back in a day or so. These are much better and last longer. My local Turkish barber does this and its not sore at all.