Doctor J

You shouldn’t complain, though, the UK is in a cabal of five or six countries which don’t have to pre-qualify and always get on the main show regardless of how weak the song is. It wasn’t a great song, let’s be fair. There were similar sized shows on Tuesday and Thursday in order for everyone else to attempt to get onto the bill for the main show. Around 40 whittled down to 20? Is coming last on the main show worse than not even making the cut? Imagine spending the time and money and not even getting through to the main show. Then Germany, another who don’t have to pre-qualify didn’t get a single public vote. Ouch. I actually enjoyed the whole thing. The Czech Republic had a genuinely catchy, decent pop song. Iceland, BDSM schtick aside, did something musically different from the usual bland club fare and holding up Palestine scarves took some balls. One thing we can be sure of is that Madonna’s voice is shot and that new song is dreadful. She also had Palestinian flags feature in her performance, though, there’s still some fight in her.

There is a particular site over here in Ireland which is notorious for attracting tyre kickers and lowballers. I dread putting something up because, more often than not, you’ll be bombarded with bizarre trade offers, even if you clearly specify no trades, and derisory sums of money which would make Trump blush. You usually have to price items expecting most offers you receive to be about 60% or less of your asking price. Recent offers I have received include: - trade three crap, cheap guitars for my single, good and expensive guitar - motorcycle parts as trade for a bass (I don’t have a motorcycle, never mind the particular model these were for) - a tattoo for a bass - I was recently offered €325 for a USA G&L L2000 There are great buyers and sellers on there, too, but it’s heartbreaking at times. Such is the fun of trying to sell, regardless of the platform.

I’ve been there more than once. It’s a lot more work to put something together than slotting in the a pre-existing setup but is infinitely more satisfying. What works for me, before starting the search, is to have some music written in the style I’m aiming for. I can then give that to any prospective bandmate so they have a very clear idea of the direction I want to go in. It’s much cleaner than a list of bands or a verbal description of a musical style which is so easy for someone to misinterpret. Even then, you might find people who like the music but struggle to play it, or your personalities don’t quite gel, but that’s all part of the fun. I think it’s important to push towards what it is you want to express, if you feel you have something to say. Don’t sit back and just go along with someone else’s vision. If it’s in you, let it out.

Slapping the bass is a lot like like making love to a beautiful woman. There's a time and a place for it. Get it wrong and you'll never get a second chance. You've got to build the mood and, only when it's absolutely appropriate, do you make your move. You can't just whip it out any time you feel like it and whack it off everything in sight.

Fender announce the new Kitchen-Table-Butchery Tribute Series. In honour of the disastrous home-made relic craze of the early 21st Century, Fender is thrilled to present a new line of instruments crudely attacked with belt sanders, food processors, rusty spoons and mouldy tea by our least skilled artisans in an effort to recreate the blatantly artificial wear of days gone by. You, too, can have an instrument which looks like it has never left the house while trying to look like it has lived a hard life on the road. Order now!

You must have strong elements of taste in your DNA. Thank your parents, I reckon 😉

I started in late 1989 with an Aria Pro II XRB-2 from Goodwins on Capel Street in Dublin and a 10W East German transistor amp whose name I cannot recall. My Dad picked it up somewhere. The Aria was a plywood body but sounded really good, to be fair.

Hello from Tipperary!

I bought a GMR Bassforce from JK, a pleasure to deal with, very easy transaction. The bass arrived well packaged and in great shape. Top man, thank you!

I have a 5-string with a .135 B, and a regular set of Elixirs .105 to .045 E to G. I've recorded with it dropped to A and, while it sounded ok, to be honest it's a little too flappy for me. I think you'd need something around a .145 at least. There's a company called Newtone who allow you to build custom sets - https://newtonestrings.com

Great work, fair play!

"Made from actual organic wood! Unfortunately, it is now unlawful to play, transport or display this bass in public. Buyer arranges delivery."

"This is Pre-FMIC CBS era so you know it has all the mojo"

"I need to leave this bass with you for a short period of time..." 😂

I'd recommend "Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More" by Adrian Harte for anyone with an interest in them. It was a very enjoyable read with lots of things I had no idea of.

You're telling me!?!?!? I hadn't been here in a good while as I had to sell a lot after splitting with my missus. I'm back a few weeks and already there's a GMR in the back of a van on its way to me as we speak. 🤣

I had that t-shirt too, got it when they played with Prong on The Real Thing Tour. I sold it on ebay a few years ago. It's quite desirable, it would seem.

It's a pain which never ends.

A production which breathes, not under the weight of click-tracked clicky close-mic’d drums, where you can hear the sound of the room it was recorded in, where the guitarist sounds like he’s trying to control a feral beast, it’s a beautiful thing 🙂

The production is perfect, it's authentic. It has balls. That brief squeal of feedback every time Jim turns up the guitar... ah man, it has got such wonderful grit. You can hear depth around the drums. Bill's tone is sublime. It's a great production.

Marcella would put a US National Anthem singer to shame, there. That was textbook over-singing, delivered with as much emotion as ordering takeaway on a Friday evening. Other than that... not too bad, I suppose.

Have they split up again?

I split with my missus a few years ago and the resultant legal bill resulted in me having to sell quite a few really nice instruments. Once I made the decision that many had to go, I found it quite liberating, to be honest. I still miss some of them (a battered but very playable Stingray and an irreplaceable PRS EB spring to mind) but life goes on. I still have my old ESP 400 Series, which is the one I truly don't think I could do without and remain a bassist, as well as a few others. Now that all that business is behind me, however, I find myself browsing the For Sale section as a potential customer again thinking "Ooooh that looks nice!", digging the same old hole for myself 😂

Essandess has been in Kilkenny for a long time. My first experience of customer service there was so bad I never went back. A new place opened in Kilkenny a few years ago but didn’t last long. In Clonmel, Premier closed a couple of years ago. Again, a new place has opened up but the stock isn’t great. I was in Musicmaker in Dublin a few weeks ago and they have barely any stock. I haven’t been into X-Music in a long time, they seemed to cope with the Thomann arrival better than the rest.