Stylon Pilson

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1506507567' post='3379184'] Either you want to be in a band and do gigs, or you don't. Plenty of people like the idea of being in a band but just aren't prepared to put the time, effort and commitment in, for whatever stupid bloody reasons they come up with - and I've heard plenty. [/quote] I think that you can't really generalise on this. Some bands are about gigging multiple nights per week, travelling all over the country if necessary. Some are about just chilling in a rehearsal room, drinking beer, and making noise. And there's a whole spectrum in between. The only problem is if your band contains a mix of some people who want to do it full time, and some people who want it to be priority #3 in their life, below work and family. That's one situation that isn't going to end happily. S.P.

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1506507543' post='3379183'] What we do is create a group chat for each gig. [/quote] That's a good idea. What I did in a previous band was have two separate chats - one for urgent, one for bollocks. The problem is that the line between them gets blurred. Your approach is much more rigorous, which helps to define that line. Nice one. S.P.

I've recently joined a band and, at one of the other members' request, we're using a private chat group to coordinate various matters. I expressed a slight reservation at the time, saying that it shouldn't be used for important messages or questions, because the "unthreadedness" of it means that it's all too easy for something to scroll off the top of the screen and be forgotten about. The chat is certainly turning out to be lively, but only a small subset of the band are active on it. There could be a few reasons for this. Maybe some members find it overwhelming and so are ignoring it. Maybe they are only able to check it infrequently, so by the time they look, they discover conversations have started and ended and moved on to something else, so it's too late to contribute. Or maybe they're happy just to see what other people are writing but don't feel that they have anything to add. Ironically, one of the members who is very inactive is the one who proposed it in the first place! I think it makes sense for me to explicitly ask people if they're happy with the use of the group chat and if they have any suggestions for how we can improve our communication, but I want to put the question out to you - what do you use for communication? Do you feel that some band members get more influence than others, and if so, is that a cause for concern? S.P.

I just click the "View New Content" button. I must admit that I very rarely go to a specific forum. S.P.

Word of warning - the drummer may forget that he quit the band, if he hasn't put it in his diary. He might show up at the Railway Bell after all. S.P.

You don't need to create a WP account if you are using your own hosting. You'll want to download the application from wordpress.org and upload it to your server using FTP. Once it's running, there's a page within the admin panel for browsing themes - if the one you want is in there, then it's quite easy to install and activate, but if not then you have to go through a similar process to installing WP in the first place - ie download it from the theme author's site and then upload it to your own server with FTP. Generally, you shouldn't need to edit themes, but if you do, then it's generally easiest to FTP the files down, edit them on your machine, and then re-upload them. S.P.

[quote name='SimonEdward' timestamp='1505929396' post='3375330'] I use a free Wordpress theme called "Tracks" by Compete Themes: - [url="https://www.competethemes.com/tracks/"]https://www.competethemes.com/tracks/[/url] [/quote] Okay. Does that have built-in features for bands, like a gig calendar etc? I couldn't see any mention of it on the site. [quote name='SimonEdward' timestamp='1505929396' post='3375330'] Have you decided whether to go Wordpress .com or .org ? [/quote] Self-hosted, definitely. I've already got my domain registered and hosting lined up. I've set up a dozen or so WordPress installations in the past, so I'm perfectly comfortable with self-hosting. S.P.

Simon, that is absolutely perfect. Thank you! Which theme do you use? S.P.

At the moment my new band's website is just a single page, but in the medium term I'll be wanting to make something a bit more full-featured. I've used Bandzoogle before, and while it's obviously a very user-friendly way for non-technical people to get a website up and running, I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty and so don't really fancy getting locked into the monthly charge. For those people out there who have built their own band websites using WordPress, what plugins do you use to add "advanced" functionality - I'm thinking gig listings and such like. Thanks in advance! S.P.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1505314688' post='3370974'] there's a few songs about w***ing that people don't get, Teenage Kicks is another [/quote] Yep, and [i]Gelatinous Ropes Of Curious Yogurt Splashing On My Stomach [/i]is another one. I've never understood why people so commonly use that for their first dance. S.P.

The Birdie Song is actually a lot more deep than most people give it credit for. S.P.

Here's an interesting challenge - can anyone name a band that all of basschat will agree are NOT overrated? S.P.

My current band's website is really a glorified holding page at the moment. Our first gig is in 10 days, so we don't yet have any photos or anything like that. The website is just a single page with links to our Facebook and Twitter pages, and details for the upcoming gig. S.P.

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1505114314' post='3369477'] it wont have a guitar plugged in to it so i expect it will based on key only. [/quote] Without a guitar or other instrument, how will it know what pitch to harmonise to? Or will you just set it up to do a 5th or octave? I was in a band where the singer used one of these. It can sound good, as long as you don't overuse it, but the main problem we had was just the number of technical problems it created on a gig. The singer was always having problems with getting it set up right, and sound guys often didn't like it, so as time went by we used it less and less, until we ended up not using it at all. I think that as long as your singer is technically competent and is able to learn how to operate it, and more importantly knows when *not* to use it, then it's worth giving a try. S.P.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1504258093' post='3363682'] Bottom cab (assuming the impedance is the same) will get the same power as the top cab but its distributed between two speakers instead of 4. By having the 4 on the top, the speakers closer to the players ears are all going to be operating identically. If you have the 2x10 on top of the 4x10, the top 4 speakers will not be operating the same and there will be a slight imbalance in volume (albeit slight). This imbalance will be less noticeable down by your feet. [/quote] If we continue to assume that the impedance is the same, the speakers in the 2x10 are being pushed twice as hard as the ones in the 4x10. Which means that having them down by your feet means that you're less likely to notice if they're struggling. In fact, maybe that answers the question. The reason why the 2x10 is down at the bottom is because it's broken, and is now just there to make the stack look bigger. S.P.

Eh, I think it's still good. It's not like guitarists use those top frets anyway. S.P.

Yep, I'm using a Warwick Rockboard Power LT XL on a board with 5 pedals. It's awesome. The only small gripe I have about this particular model is that there's no on/off switch - the only way to turn it fully off is to disconnect it. S.P.

I took some photos of your shoulder, They're on your desktop, in the "Shoulder" folder. S.P.

There was a young man from the west, Who, in comparing amps, was obsessed. Despite looking at watts, and ohms, quite a lot, Cacked his pants when he tried to count heft. S.P.

Roses are red Violets are blue Can you test the mic, mate? One, two? One, two? S.P.

whats better a squire or a percision base S.P.

I use eneloop AA/AAA batteries with a Technoline charger. I don't use rechargeable 9V batteries, but then that's because I don't really use 9V batteries much at all (my bass is passive, and I power my pedalboard using a Rockboard Power LT XL). S.P.

Cute coincidence, I was in Bath at the weekend and stumbled into this place on my way back to the car. As OP says, the range of basses on the wall is very "safe" but that's par for the course with music shops that don't explicitly specialise in bass. S.P.

Big Baby with a rack? S.P.

My suggestion for its name is: Ghost. S.P.