Frank Blank

Gear For Sale List: 01. Mesa Boogie Big Block 750 Amp, Footswitch & Rack Case, £550 o.n.o. - Silverfoxnik 02. Schecter Diamond P5, 5 String Bass & Gig Bag, £350 o.n.o. - Silverfoxnik  03. Behringer 5 Band parametric 19" Rack Unit, £25 - Silverfoxnik 04. Fender Nate Mendel Precision, £575 - obbm 05. USA built 4 string in a 'glo' finish, £1300 - ezbass 06. EBS Compressor, Chorus & Octave, Dr Green Bass reverb & Joyo D-Seed echo and a small Pedaltrain board & bag (Mini I think), £TBA - WalMan 07. Fretless Fender Modern Player, £250 - Frank Black 08. Mesa MPulse 600 (flight-cased) and a Mesa Powerhouse 1x15 cab (+ authentic Mesa cover) - £750 the pair - TheGreek 09. 3 Pin (female) DI plugs - The Greek 10. Hipshot Bridge, £30 - obbm  11. New Chinese Rosewood/Maple Jazz neck, £35 - obbm  12. Fender Jazz (Mex), in a very fetching blue, strung with flats - £450  13. Harley Benton Progressive 5 Fretless - £100

It’ll be disorganised behind me...

Man I’m really interested in trying this out!

You are right, what were we thinking...

I drove a band (who shall remain nameless) to their first European gig at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. Having set up and soundchecked I gave the band the usual warning (that probably doesn’t apply these days) about being wary of the higher quality weed there than back in Blighty and said I’d meet them back at the venue before on stage time. I get back only to find the drummer has a) over indulged in said weed and b) managed to bring a very old bottle of Kaolin and Morphine with him. Now Kaolin and Morphine, if left alone for many years, will separate out and the clear liquid at the top is (I’m led to believe) the morphine. Apparently the drummer had ‘had a swig or two’ of this clear liquid and was now on a sofa in the dressing room and in a deep sleep. I managed to get him sitting upright and conscious (barely) but his reactions and responses were massively impaired, as if he were in slow motion. At this point I realised I was going to have to be the drummist for this gig, I had a general idea of how all the songs went but lacked the knowledge of the finer points, but it was a punk band, how many finer points could there be? Anyway I did the gig and it was ok, I just hit everything hard and started and stopped in the right places. The next day on the way home the drummer finally regained his senses somewhere near Ghent, he thought we were still on the way to the gig and was actually quite angry that I’d taken his place. I pulled over at a rest point and dragged him out of the van. Held up against a tree by his throat being assured he would be left there if he carried on seemed to restore a modicum of democracy to the proceedings although he did kick off again when he realised I got paid his cut. I’d like to say it was a good lesson not to over indulge but if it was then it went unheeded, this behaviour continued and eventually he was kicked out. Little did I know that this lesson in dealing with idiots in bands was just a taster of what was to come!

Just had an email from my luthier who has completed the work on the RA Mouse to extend the fret lines, here’s before and after shots... Before... After...

Not my favourite bass line, not even my favourite Stranglers bass line, but, the best bass intro to a song and the best bass sound too. One of my favourite album covers as well...

In my twenties I was a complete c*** but I managed, somehow, to doss around having a gas. As I’d been kicked out of ‘home’ at the age of sixteen I’d had to very quickly become adept at living without an income, I became very good at it indeed. I was a drummer at this point but was always sneaking a go on the bass during rehearsal fag breaks. By the end of my twenties I was a drum and/or bass tech for touring bands. I didn’t get a full-time ‘straight’ job until I was thirty eight. I realise I was a complete c*** in my youth but I was too ignorant and selfish to care. Now, in my mid-fifties, I am still a c***, albeit a much wiser one but, having scrutinised and analysed myself quite critically, I find that I really just don’t care about anything, none of it. I play bass badly, pick my nose, take a lot of photographs that invariably don’t include people and write bleak abstract lyrics that would depress a Norwegian death metal crowd. I never had any illusions of ‘making it’ as a musician, I never made mainstream music and I quickly learned what a trompe l'oeil successful rock and roll was during my years as a tech. The two constant threads throughout my life have been ontological nausea and train spotting. in summary... 20s - deluded participant. 50s - informed, ambivalent misanthropic observer.

I’ve just got NMA tickets as well as loving Charles Mingus.

I want the recording to be me, my bass, my tone along with my playing idiosyncrasies. That having been said I’m not averse to taking a good verse or chorus of Saturday d playing and dropping the good ones in, I doo feel a bit odd about it but I don’t really think I’m good enough, or consistent enough to get the takes in one, by the time I’ve played it enough to get consistency I’m so knackered the vibe has gone out of the song. There’s an excitement live of only getting one shot at it but I want a recording to be a document. I’m not averse to leaving mistakes in if it’s a good take, by that I mean a take that conveys the things I’m trying to impart with the song, to me the technical proficiency of the bass line is secondary to the feeling I want to get over. I’m an old punk so I don’t want to be virtuosic, I’m barely bothered about being proficient. I seem to remember extracting a particularly dug in bogey on stage one evening, no one noticed, I just played open dropped D until the b45t4rd was out, we still rocked the joint. Btw the particular concept I was trying to get over with this track was, I’m an unpleasant son of a Gündersson.

Updated Raffle List 1. EHX Mini QTron - Walman 2. Set of strings - Silverfoxnik 3. Couple of Bass tuition books - Silverfoxnik 4. Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler with power supply but no box - Frank Blank 5. Behringer BD121 Amp Modeller (boxed) 6. A big bundle of roots, blues, Americana ex-review CDs 7. Alesis SR18 drum machine, no box or power supply - Frank Blank 8. Boss BF3 Flanger, boxed, no power supply - Frank Blank 9. 10.

I forget how funky they are in that film.

I watched Stop Making Sense last Sunday and it was so damn good I watched it again today. I dislike concert films usually but Talking Heads are so damn good. Tina Weymouth is an excellent bassist, just like you say, simple bass lines that serve the song, height of the art as far as I’m concerned.

Updated Raffle List 1. EHX Mini QTron - Walman 2. Set of strings - Silverfoxnik 3. Couple of Bass tuition books - Silverfoxnik 4. Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler with power supply but no box. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Updated FOR SALE list: 1. Mesa Boogie Big Block 750 Amp, Footswitch & Rack Case, £550 o.n.o. - Silverfoxnik  02. Schecter Diamond P5, 5 String Bass & Gig Bag, £350 o.n.o. - Silverfoxnik 03. Behringer 5 Band parametric 19" Rack Unit, £25 - Silverfoxnik 04. Fender Nate Mendel Precision , £575 - obbm 05. "I’m thinking of having one of my basses for sale.", £TBA - ezbass 06. EBS Compressor, Chorus & Octave, Dr Green Bass reverb & Joyo D-Seed echo and a small Pedaltrain board & bag (Mini I think), £TBA - WalMan 07. Fretless Fender Modern Player, £250 - Frank Black 08. EHX Hot Tubes Nano overdrive £39, Biyang TR8 Tremolo £25 - JapanAxe 09. 10.

Yes, you have to go, like I did, just be prepared to yawn, perhaps take something to read?

Me too, I’ve seen them twice, the last time being at the O2 last year, both times were lacklustre performances, like they were just going through the motions, with or without Becker. I love SD but do be prepared to be disappointed, I left the last gig half way through.

I will be bringing a fretless Fender Modern Player that’s for sale.

That’s a good saving, I might grab some!

I completely agree.

I do! The bottom Alex is now a bank, the crew that used to inhabit the top Alex are probably more likely to be found in The Railway these days. I’m not a native Southender only having been here for ten years but everyone here gets a bit misty eyed about the top Alex. Where in Westcliff were you?

Good on them!