super al

Quite a phenomenon back in '93, I went to the 1st Phoenix Festival and Jamiroquai were in the Jazz tent. There was a big crowd all trying to get into this marquee so we didn't get to see Jamiroquai, just sat outside and listened 🤷🏻‍♂️ Jay Kay story. My ex Bro-in-law was part of the catering team at the Brit Awards one year. They were finished and started clearing up and Jay Kay was the only 'star' to come by and thank them for the spread. Not saying he's brilliant or owt, just saying what I heard.

That's a pretty good week and I've listened to those albums many times (Quest's TLET being the current fave but wearing my BSSM tee shirt today for some reason!). But... Jellyfish's Bellybutton and Dread Zeppelin's Un-Led-Ed released in the same week in July '90... Absolutely ffffffflipping brilliant, both albums! In the same week, I kid you not 😃

Friday night was my last gig with the Flotonics, the photos are from soundcheck. It was a birthday party on a farm (hence the trailer stage and outbuilding backdrop 😃). I followed Google maps directions getting there, luckily I drive a pickup truck! The tarmac quickly vanished when I turned onto 'duck street', I didn't see many ducks but plenty of geese, chickens, pheasants and partridges on the dirt track. The set up was a rectangular patch of grass surrounded three sides by farm buildings. Hog Roast, horsebox bar, couple of fire pits and bales to sit on...right up my farm track! (That doesn't sound right 😆). It was the new guitarist's 1st gig and he sounds great, it was good to meet him and play alongside him. Hopefully I'll get to play with him again soon, I'm still going to dep when needed. The actual gig was beset with one major problem...the singer had a cold and we only managed about a dozen tunes over two sets! Shame that my last gig was a damp squib! I'm going to miss playing with these great musicians and I've certainly learnt a lot and improved as a bassist and as a human I guess. I'm looking forward to the next project whatever that is, I haven't decided yet!

This weekend I played my last two public gigs with the soul band (work and family life pressures mean that the gigging has to stop for a bit ☹️) Sunday the five piece played the New Inn, Amesbury and that was a fun gig. Bit strange being put into a cubby hole corner of the pub but it was probably the best place to set up in the bar. The band played great as usual 😎, seems a shame to leave when we're so slick right now. Early on some young drunk wanted to play drums (is there always a drunk drummer or singer at pub gigs?) Monday night we played the Bridge Inn, Upper Woodford (not far from Sting's lil' country mansion). This was their inaugural weekend of live music in the beautiful setting of the green opposite the pub. This is a rural location next to the river and just tractors, pick up trucks and 4x4s driving past the pub! For this gig we had the horns so there was 8 of us and the band sounds effing awesome once you add brass (plus they are so funny, horn humour!). The night was great, the sound on stage was superb, the crowd were fantastic (we always get people up dancing). I could hear my little Barefaced cab stack so clearly so when my fingers were feeling sore I could reign it in a bit. I'm a player who ' digs in' but with 36 soul and funk tunes to play, that's gonna hurt! One more gig to go but this one was quite emotional for me, last with the horns and Chris on guitar (he's the new bass player but can't play the next gig)... I kept it together well, got a big hug from Dave the drummer, we've been locked together tight on stage since he joined, the perfect drummer for me. Sorry for the long, rambling post but I'm gonna miss playing the best basslines ever with the bestest bunch of musicians I've ever played with 😭

Ah yeah... I saw that advertised on Instagram...loads of gigs in and around Salisbury on the bank holiday, we played two gigs and the crowds seem bang up for it...live music is back 👍

Not the Winnie Gate was it? They love Ska there.

I got a feeling you can use pretty much any 3 button switch. I have the bh550 and I did some research way back when I bought it into buying/making an alternative 3 switch pedal. I'm not too confident about my soldering skills so bought the TC switch in the end...turns out a neighbour, 7 doors down, builds his own pedals! D'oh! I bought the bh250 first and really liked it. Great for home practice and powerful enough for rehearsal too. I hate carrying pedals about and all that fiddly, time consuming setting up so the toneprint suits me plus found the 'in built' tuner a boon too! I was worried that the bh250 might not have enough beef for the function gigs I was doing so bought a bh550 as well. I play a 5 string Lakland through the bh550 and a pair of Barefaced one10s and I'm happy. I use the Spectracomp compressor and MK's Sweet Minger on the toneprint. I'm currently playing a lot of funk and soul from the 60s, 70s and 80s and I would say I just about get a sound I like with a little growl when I need it 😊. £199 is obviously cheaper than what I paid for my bh250 so if I was looking for an amp that was a bit Swiss army knife, this would be top of the list (in fact I'd probably go for the bh800 😄)

Couldn't find any bassists but Charlie Watts and the drummer from the Strokes! Also Elgar, Thomas Hardy and the Marquis de Sade!

Jellyfish's Bellybutton is probably in my top 3 all time, not a duff track, always gets a play now and then, albums. Spilt Milk I just couldn't get on with, didn't fill me with that feeling of 'eternal summer evenings' until last year. Listened to it in it's entirety and got a little love for it at last...Full circle Jellyfish love complete. Will always buy - Jim White Level 42 Funkadelic/Parliament/Bootsy/etc. Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club/ DB Richmond Fontaine

That is genuinely really impressive, either you play guitar and have 30 various makes of those or you are happy with what you got. I've bought 8 basses since '87 (we started the same year!) including a EUB. After I joined BC about 6 years ago I also started playing in a function band. This required frequently different tuning (Eb, drop D as well as E). Ended up buying 2 five stringers in the last 3 years (25% of my basses since joining BC!). To find someone more restrained than myself to GAS is a novelty, I always feel like I haven't 'bassed' around like some of the chaps on here.

Hold on a minute! You've only ever owned 4 basses...4!?!?...one of the mods might have to hold an inquiry over this. Is that possible? My first bass was a Marlin Slammer P bass copy (a very bad copy) and I've never owned or played any other P bass. Put me off a bit I think, preferred jazz basses for years.

I love my SR 1205, my 1st 5 string. Lovely woods, so tactile. I don't take her out gigging much since I got a Lakland but took her to rehearsal this week and she was a joy to play and sounded great through the studio's bass amp and 15" cab. The Lakland fits in with the soul and funk we play and I get on better with the string spacing but the Ibby just looks and feels a bit...you know, sexier. Think I might have a lie down. Enjoy it Dave.

I take spare everything to pub and club gigs. Both my basses are active and I check how much gas is left in the battery but always feel safer with a spare. The problem I have is that we are a 5 piece or (with horns) an 8 piece band and that I usually get a postage stamp of stage space between the keys and the drummer. No room for a spare bass usually so if I needed to change bass I'd have to leave the 'stage' and go to the pile of kit hidden away somewhere 'off stage'... mumble grumble...pub gigs 🙄. I always end up hitting a cymbal and Dave (drummer) goes all dead pan and tells me off... bit of a running joke, at least I think it is! Haven't managed to clock the keyboard player with me headstock yet.

I was thinking about '85 recently... I too bought 'Dream into Action' when it came out. So many other great albums and hits that year that I remember well, I was 14 and I guess we all have one of those years where music becomes so important. Hounds of Love, World Machine, This Is The Sea, Our Favourite Shop...Live Aid...first kiss, that's it, my first kiss was in '85. Definitely a good year for me to reminisce about 😊

Steve Lawson uses loop pedals to great effect, I would say he has probably experimented with a few and has a good knowledge of what's good n bad. Check him out. I borrowed a Boss rc-20 for a while, it was good fun but I didn't really get on with it. It might've been my stupidity but it didn't seem that user friendly 🤯 I've heard the rc-30 is much better.

Some call me Big Al (it started after Eat the Rich) so when I discovered there was a bass with the same moniker I thought I need to check this out. They say never judge a book by the cover...I say never play a bass that looks like a thirteen year old's woodwork project! Having said that, give me a Squier Katana any day 😊

Apparently you can get a MM signature pork pie hat too!

That's exactly what the wife said when we ran over a giraffe at Longleat 😆

You missed out the Soup Dragons' 'I'm Free' (loved that tune!). I remember going to Reading Festival and seeing Ride, Living Colour, Buzzcocks, Pixies, FNM, Iggy Pop (or was that '91?)...I think I stopped watching TOTP about then so watching them now feels like I missed a great chunk (or not so great 😆) of music from that era.

I think Overnite Sensation was part of that sweet spot of Zappa's that I love from the mid 70s. One Size Fits All is my favourite (Inca Roads... what a tune to start an album with!). For his live albums I love listening to Roxy & Elsewhere and The Best Band You Never Heard (inc Bolero). I think some of his albums blur the lines between live and studio output, Sheik Yerbouti is a good example. Anyone here listen to Lumpy Gravy much though? 🤔 This film sounds right up my street 👍

Your wife sounds like a keeper... I'm fast approaching 50 and no mention of any bass guitars let alone a 5 string from my missus! I think a stingray 5 would be my choice if I was allowed a lovely new bass on my birthday... actually it would be nice to have a day or 2 just going to music shops to try a few basses out, that in itself would be a novelty these days! I hope you get what you wish for.

I agree with Let's Dance, I was sat watching it and thinking to myself "that is a really cool arrangement" and then the Mrs pipes up "I know this", followed by 30 seconds of guessing and then "her voice is awful for this song" Bubble burst, moment gone! Really enjoyed the live studio stuff, it seemed like they all put in a "I really miss doing this" shift... I know the feeling!

One of my clients is a mate of Trevor's, he told me the story about his wife's shooting accident, horrible family tragedy. I wish I could get as much for my worst bass...maybe half that for the other one too!

So many great singers that aren't classically great singers already listed here. I love Julian Cope's style and Tom Waits too...Nick Cave is quite new to me (only become a fan in the last 5 years!) but I'd say in similar territory to the first two. Richmond Fontaine frontman Willy Vlaughtin has a voice that suits the little stories in the lyrics of their songs, a classically trained singer couldn't couldn't pull off the honesty and the emotion that Willy's voice gives every line.

Anyone near Southampton? There's 19 Premier League clubs below them at the moment 😆