super al

Was it one of these @Gasman? I'm guessing if you were that local to me it might've been an old band mate's company All The Kit. I've never had the pleasure of playing under the half 'igloo'.

I'm a lil' late with this but my main squeeze (Felis Leo) had a gig on Saturday afternoon. A bit of background...the only promoter who will offer us a gig in town offered us a gig at a village pub, seven bands starting at 3pm. The gig was offered and Paul deals with it, we all say yes after a day of back n forth. Paul gets back to the promoter with a yes and gets told the gig's been offered elsewhere as we took too long. Paul takes umbrage at this and we get the gig, we're the first band on and we've got 30 mins! Paul is a quiet fella and slight but he don't do flaky. I've promoted the hell out of this one as I always do and we get the occasional comment about how much we promote our gigs, I usually have a day off work during the week and post loads. I get to the venue and the rest of the band and our 1 fan are there saying "we're not sure if we're playing" 🤔 they then show me the poster and our logo and the band after us have been removed and these posters are all over the pub! Jon, our singer, said we're not on the Salisbury Gig Guide either! Brian the SE said our name was on his list so we started to set up under a tiny gazebo (the only shade in 30+° heat 🥵). The 3pm start time also came and went as the guys were still setting up, there was a pile of cardboard next to their van and it was pointed out to me that the PA speakers were brand new (and big!). Quick soundcheck, everything good and away we go! The sound on the tiny stage was just mash potatoes, I was stood next to my cabs so found it hard to hear myself. There seemed to be a humming noise coming from a new speaker and Brian was fiddling with the back of it. I looked at the (sparse) audience and they seemed to be enjoying it, nobody was covering their ears or wincing so it must be ok. About 10 minutes into the set Brian goes to his van and comes back with the instructions for the new speakers! I kid you not, proper Spinal Tap moment... I'm looking at him reading and then looking at the band and...it was just a weird, tense gig, difficult to explain but you don't know if there's a problem or not and you're just trying your best to get through it 😂 Anyway, the gig went great! There were some small teething problems but our 1 fan who filmed some of it said we sounded really powerful (big, new speakers), the bassist of another band said we were really tight (should've bought him a drink but didn't 😄) and other comments were really positive. Maybe the tension and playing by your wits is the way forward 😬 We broke our RnR rule by wearing shorts I'm afraid, Darrell the drummer is allowed shorts but we're not...it was hot though! I used my lakland 55-02 through a TC electronic BH 550 into a pair of Barefaced one10s propped up on one corner due to an uneven stage surface (dead grass 😂).

Probably just another guitarist 😄

Yes, the rather cute but very fiddly switch... Buying the footswitch helped me with that, the other option was to employ a person with tiny hands 😂

I agree with @lemmywinks , I use the Spectracomp mostly but I've been using the comp'n'drive in the rock band lately. I bought my bh250 around 10 years ago now and I loved it so I purchased the bh550 for gigging and use the bh250 home practice and rehearsals if it's required. As a lazy bassist, the BH series was invented for me...built in tuner, aux input and headphones socket plus loads of pedals on my phone to try out 👍🏻 If it could set it's own volume up to be louder than two guitarists it would be perfect!

The wonderful Colin Holton seems to be the only guy in Salisbury who gives us a gig, yet another Salisbury Live thing for us! If anybody out there in Bass Chat land has a spare half an hour on Saturday afternoon, we're on from 3pm til 3.30pm at the world famous Wiltshire venue - The Barford Inn (I made that bit up about it being world famous, it's 2 miles from me and I've never been there 🤣). It's just off the A30 about 5-6 miles west of Salisbury, I'm looking forward to seeing a couple of the bands after us so I'll see you all there for a pint 😉... it's your round 🤘🏻

Exactly my point re Roy Harper...the man is synonymous with the Stonehenge and Glastonbury outsider/hippy thing, a cornerstone of that 60s folk troubadour scene and yet overlooked by the BBC. I guess there's so much going on at Glasto that they can only shed a cursory light on the darkest corners of the vast site with stages everywhere. If you want to see an act not covered by the beeb, try that act's Facebook page or a fan page. Like myself you might find that audience members have posted their video footage of the gig.

Was a bit disappointed that the BBC didn't have Roy Harper's performance on the iPlayer ... either they thought he is irrelevant or he'd cause more trouble than Bob Vylan! Luckily we live in an age of smart phones so I can watch Roy's set from every single angle on Facebook. Some of the footage I'd say is better than the BBC's own work... especially that annoying shaky camera during Neil Young's set. I rarely enjoy Glastonbury on the box these days due to the onset of musicwasbetterinmydayism in my mid 50s but after watching Neil Young/Old the beeb put Doecii on (hope I've spelt that right?) and she blew my greying grey matter. Great staging, choreography and a couple of "how is she doing that?" moments. I avoided Rod the silly old sod on Sunday, I jumped in the river instead... perhaps I'm not as old as I thought I was 😁

IAfter last week's depping gig with the soul band normal service resumed on Friday with my main squeeze - Felis Leo. We played a Salisbury Live gig in a pub in town. No support, no sound guy, just us for the whole evening! As well as our tunes we played a smattering of covers plus our new song about the guitarist's great, great, auntie! (She was a witch, true story 😄). We had a great time, the band is fairly tight, the sound was great...no sound engineer, that's weird 🤫. We rocked it basically. I've been using my ibanez over my Lakland 55-02 in this band lately. Playing thru a TC Electronic BH550 and a pair of Barefaced one10s. Wearing Airwalk The Ones 😁

Did anyone film any of it? Is there any bits posted on social media... I'd love to see it 🤩

Just been trying to have a little fun promoting our gig this Friday, loads of bands on plus festivals this weekend so we're not expecting a big crowd...but one can try as hard as one can 😁 The pub's called the Avon and it's right next to the river Avon so why not?

Played a dep gig for my old soul band. The set had changed slightly since I last played with them, Boogie Nights, Never Too Much and Let's Groove had to be learned and polished and then rejigged again with all the mistakes/changes the band have added 😂 Boogie Nights intro and outro had become my Achilles Heel, the bridge I needed to cross to enjoy this gig fully. The gig was a wedding reception at the Stones Hotel near Amesbury (more than a stones throw from Stonehenge, which seems a blessing on Solstice). We did 3 x 40 mins sets with 40 min breaks which were filled by a DJ. I was a little apprehensive due to the heat that afternoon but the room was large with a high ceiling and a couple of stage fans plus the fire exit was open...cool as a cucumber! Gig went well, the long breaks between sets was welcome and I was pleased how the new stuff went even if they didn't go quite to plan, any bumps in the road were dealt with calmly 😁. Even Boogie Nights went well! The big plus playing in this band is that I get to sit in the engine room with Dave, probably the best drummer I've had the honour of sharing a stage with. He is my rhythm version of an old pair of comfortable slippers, it all clicks with him (lovely shirt too!). Overall a grand night and a good pay packet at the end of it 👍🏻

Any chance you can bring this to Salisbury? I'd love to watch this 😍

During the peak of Britpop and whilst at Edinburgh festival, my girlfriend at the time and I met up with her posh family (over from the Cayman Islands!). Her posh auntie said to me "are you a fan of Blur or Oasis?" "I'm more into Supergrass really" I say...a great conversation killer 😄 I'm glad @Bagman found a copy, I was about to crawl into the loft space where there's a pile of Bass magazines and spiders 😂 I'm sure Mick Quinn is in there somewhere.

Nah, just a diet of Wotsits and Cider 😂

Yet another Salisbury Live gig but proper old school Salisbury Live...we're playing the same night as a bunch of other bands are playing boozers around town. Not sure but we might be the only originals band on that night so we'll have to push a little harder to get an audience that usually want something familiar sounding. Hopefully the Muppet image will help 😂

Rehearsed with my old soul band as a dep on Friday. Last time I depped was 18 months ago so a few new songs to learn. I've not had much time to learn or practice their set so I thought Friday was going to be a struggle and occasionally it was! On the whole though it was a very positive experience. Plenty of muscle memory kicking in and some of the new stuff like EW&F's Fantasy and Let's Groove sounded great (for a first time run through anyway 😄). It was great to see the guys again and meet the new guitarist, their positive and kind words during the rehearsal definitely gave my confidence a boost. The rehearsal room is in the singer's garden and he has a nice little spot by a river, the house was built in the 1600s I think so it has a lovely ambience. As it was a warm evening he had the bifold doors open and at one point there was cheering when a song finished. There was a slight pang of regret on my drive home but it was the right decision to leave when I did...just maybe wishing the dep jobs came around more often 😄

Reminds me of my old band. We used to write and rehearse in the drummer's spare bedroom which was set up so we could plug in and use headphones. He used an electric drum kit so the only loud noise was the thud of the rubber (and he was a hard hitting drummer!) and the singer. The house was semi detached and he said an old lady lived nextdoor, gawd knows what she thought of it. Quite nice on our ears though.

Nice looking PA, I inherited a 90s Peavey (I think)...scares the beejeebers out of me when I switch it on. I reckon when humanity gets wiped from the planet only cockroaches and Peavey PAs will remain...I wonder if cockroaches make good sound engineers 🤔

I didn't notice half my G string missing 😂

No sniggering at the back please!

Looks like the option is "we'll make you look like a Muppet but you're gonna lose a string" (my 5 string Lakland got turned into a regular old Jazz bass with an extra pick up!). I definitely look better and happier as a Muppet but can I have my string back please?

VID-20250503-WA0001.mp4 Played a Salisbury Live gig on Friday at the same venue as @Cat Burrito played last weekend. The room is quite big with a dancefloor in front of a low stage and there are tables and chairs on a gallery area up some steps (this is on the same level as the rest of the club). There were three bands and we were headliners. Our drummer was drumming in the first band and singing in the second band so it was a little weird but we got to see another side of him and both bands were good. There wasn't a lot of audience throughout the evening but enough for it not to be embarrassing and consider it a 'paid rehearsal'. I'd say the fact that there seemed to be very little promotion apart from what the bands put in themselves, the venue is out of town and there's loads going on in Salisbury this weekend contributed to a low turnout. Having said that, the evening was great fun and we got another gig out of it later this year...with a guaranteed audience 👍🏻 Back to my Airwalk Ones (worn out soles but comfy!) Spoke to the other bands' bassist and we had a connection to a local band from the early 90s so that was cool. Short video from the outro to Butterflies (slightly cut short 😬)

John, who organised it, has posted pics from the night. There's a video and a couple of pics of your band. John was a sound and lights man at one of our gigs and said "where have you guys been hiding?". He's been very supportive and came along to our last gig. He's a good fella.

Our drummer went to that gig, his mate was playing in Folk'd About. He was also checking out the venue as we're playing there this Friday. That is a very cool pose, I have hat envy too!