Frank Blank

2 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

But it's important for a band to have soul - no?

FWIW I voted remain 

Depends, some of the thrash bands I’ve been in required the selling of souls before the first rehearsal.

I too voted remain.

5 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Don't leave us hanging! So what's the backstory and what happened next?!....

Oh don’t say that, it always kills the next chapter dead, but, I must admit I’m Basil Brush eager for then next instalment...

1 minute ago, StringNavigator said:

You have me at a disadvantage. Kettering, you say?

Yes, it’s where us limey guitards buff our monocles before the Derby.

6 minutes ago, StringNavigator said:

I'm starting to believe it! You Limeys are giving me a run for my money, today! 

And to think that after you've all just told the whole of Europe to **ck-off, most are calling me a poor sport (and maybe other things) for retiring from the band biz. Viva La Brexit!

I suppose the same way not all of us told Europe to **ck-off, not all of us have had your experiences with bands. I don’t think such sweeping generalisations help the op, indeed he may experience some of this things but I think he should be encouraged.

Just now, Bridgehouse said:

Speak for yourself. I have two. I even had a pair of shoes re-souled recently. I opted for “slightly cynical but romantic to the core” on my docs..

I’m getting my weary brogues reinvigorated with Canadian *issues*.

1 minute ago, StringNavigator said:

I've seen others get the shaft. I quit when I seen that happening. A band is not more important than a soul. 

Oh right, I get it now, you have a soul...

...just for info, none of us have.

Now for my money @StringNavigator‘s contribution to this thread might be the best reply I’ve ever read on here, seriously, that was an absolute blinder, encore, author, encore...

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I took the Ibanez up to my luthier, by this time I was wondering if I’d imagined the volume disparity. However, we did some tests and the E string was 7dB louder than the rest, we placed 2p pieces under the E on both pickups and it brought the disparity down. We are experimented with various discs of varying size and thickness and I left him to experiment. Years ago he had a customer with a similar problem but the customer sold the bass before the luthier had a chance to fix it. I think he’s going to do a piece in his Workshop Blog about the problem and the remedy, if so I’ll post a link here.

I bought a black Jaydee Supernatural from there in the very late 80s, a bass I sorely regret selling.

Apologies for the lyrics up the side, I dislike that.

Just saw the Go Go Cult at a local pub, great bass sound from a little Fender combo on a chair and a little Fender bass with a skull hanging off the headstock. I was well disposed to their garage/rockabilly but when the singer ended their set with the words, “See you laters, desecrators...” excellent. It was nice to get some dB down me lug ‘oles.

On 10/10/2018 at 20:29, Reggaebass said:

Could you not lower your pickup just one side ,just below the e string  it may only need a few turns

This does affect the A string it appears.

9 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I'd have " blown a gasket"

Blue

Amen.

On 19/10/2018 at 15:32, Witters said:

A conniption? What a great word! Did you know there is a Conniption Gin?

I’m sometimes to be found recovering from a fully Victorian conniption being pushed around the grounds in a bath chair, legs wrapped up in a tartan blanket, coughing gently into a neatly folded hanky, upon which, on closer inspection, one can find tiny specks of blood. I’ll be in the library until dinner.

Words are great. I was feeling a bit under weather once, way back in my teenage years, just the first inklings of a cold, someone asked me if I was ok, to which I replied “Yes, fine, just a touch of ontological nausea” their comeback was a grumpy “In English mate...” My love of words was partly inspired by that incident and my mother’s (spits) habit of cracking me around the head if I asked her the meaning of a word and yelling “There’s a dictionary in the cabinet, go and use it.” I no longer drink, haven’t for many years, but I did occasionally drink gin but on those rare occasions I’d always find myself sitting in the dark at 4am listening to Dead Can Dance, gin eh?

6 hours ago, Witters said:

Bummer, I feel your pain.  I remember one of my gigs from years ago, so embarrassing! I was playing a double neck (pretentious, moi?).  It was all tuned up ready to go.  I didn’t have a stand for it so I laid it flat on an innocent looking black box......which turned out to be the lights. It was so far out of tune when I picked it up to play that I couldn’t rectify the situation as there were 18 strings all out and no reference point!  The shame!

Still, learnt a valuable lesson and didn’t use the double live again, and checked where all the heat sources were at each venue (my favourite being the real log fire just behind the drummer).

i still have gigs that don’t go well but I just swear a bit, play my bass or guitar at home to remind myself why I play, then go do it again (maybe having learnt what went “wrong” and taken steps to avoid it, also accept mistakes happen and are no big deal).

Get together with your music partner and play those tunes again, then drink beer and play some more.  Then drink more and play some beer; tune some beer and drink s9me play, repeat......

Thanks dude, this sounds like the perfect remedy. Christ 17 Strings more than my problem, I’d have had a conniption!

Just home from doing two songs at a local acoustic club. I tuned every string apart from the E for some reason (first song was slow and sparse so able to rectify whilst playing) but that seemed to set the tone for the rest of our little spot. We’d rehearsed those two songs so assiduously as well and then boom, the wheels came off. Disheartened and dejected right now.

15 minutes ago, Marc S said:

Yes, I know. Of course, Kraftwerk didn't "invent" electronic music - far from it. They were among other German bands pioneering the Genre, bands like Tangerine Dream
But for me, Kraftwerk were among the first, if not the first to make electronic music more dance-able, more pop orientated. So many bands, even bands whose style is / was so very different from one another, cite Kraftwerk as a major influence. What I liked as much as anything was that although he's in his 70's he's clearly still experimenting and exploring music and sounds, and he so obviously enjoyed playing that gig. And there were less than 200 in the crowd (It's a small room, in a club with several bars and venues within the same club).

His book was for sale on the Merch stand, but I went for the poster and CD album. As soon as I left the venue, I was thinking I should have got a copy of the book.
I will make sure I get myself a copy in the near future - thanks for letting me know you liked the book Frank Blank

I was driving a band (who shall remain nameless) to the Tribal Gathering festival in 1997 and having settled the band at their tent I wandered into the backstage restaurant tent to be confronted by an entirely empty set of tables apart from one with Kraftwerk sitting around it. I went up to the counter, the chef was one I’d seen at a few festivals, “Kraftwerk over there, you don’t see that every day” he quipped. I was flabbergasted as I love (always have, always will) Kraftwerk, “I haven’t got a pen, or anything to get them to sign” I spluttered “Here’s a marker, get then to sign your T-shirt.” I marched back towards them clutching my marker pen but I bottled it and just stood there listening to them chatting and laughing.

37 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

He has been a guest on the Radcliffe and Maconie show on 6Music - a really entertaining and funny man.

His book, Kraftwerk: I Was A Robot is an excellent read.

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I like The Lemon Twigs. I wouldn't consider them Indie at all!

I wasn’t that into The Lemon Twigs on first viewing but in light of the reaction on here I just watched them again and really enjoyed it.

4 hours ago, Marc S said:

Wolfgang Flur, (ex Kraftwerk) last Friday night, in a small club in Cardiff
He's now over 70, but still full of energy (more movement / dancing than he did in Kraftwerk)
Great songs & accompanying videos, met him afterwards for a signed CD + poster. Nice fella too

Yer actual leg end, there.

6 minutes ago, White Cloud said:

There are no female bass players, there are no male bass players. There are bass players! 😤

Amen.

4 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

My signal chain on stage is DI from preamp into FRFR monitor then DI out (passthrough) from there into the PA. 

Means I have my own monitor all for me that I set volume on independently. Soundman does what he wants with the output then

Let me know if you want to pop over to try some stuff out. 

I seriously might take you up on that, I’ll PM you if so. Thanks for the offer.

8 minutes ago, kusee pee said:

I've gigged and rehearsed with about ten different basses in my current band over hundreds of gigs/sessions. Not one band member or punter has ever noticed the difference 😞😞

That must have taken an age asking every one of them!

16 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

If you were close to me you could pop over and try a range of preamp pedals (I've got half a dozen or so) so you could see what you do/don't like - your bass into a preamp pedal then out into my FRFR monitor (which for all purposes is basically the same as a PA) 

Let me know if that's of interest.

You have pre-empted my next question, I'm quite interested in the concept of FRFR thanks to your excellent Interesting FRFR Story post. So could I plug into the preamp, DI to the desk and have my sound onstage via my own FRFR monitor? Forgive me if this is explicitly answered in you thread.

15 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

Just looked - Southend - I'm Peterborough so it's a bit of a trek but not too bad. Again, you are welcome to come and try some just to see and see how your bass sounds in a preamp into PA type setup.

It is a trek I am very happy to do, I can get some train spotting in as well!