TrevorR

I lived for the first ten years of my life just outside Belfast before moving over to England. When I came over kids in my class at school would keep asking "Trevor, would you say 'I had to wait at the gate because you were late to see a film at eight...' please." Roll eyes. "Oh Kayee, Aye had to wey-yut at the gey-yut because you were ley-yut to see a fillum at ae-yut... [sigh]"

‘Aass roit moi luvver. Prawper job!

I think you’ll find that’s spelled Maruszkgtqghxkkypztck, Mr Buoy...

Missed that boat but I guess I’d go... YOB Jazz bass - preCBS natch Overwater of some type Maruzcrhbikggcdytk Elwood with MM and J pickups or twin soap bars Sandberg of similar spec I'd have said Wal 4 string but that would be greedy... mind you, a Mk 3 would be nice!

@Happy Jack those anecdotes were brilliant. Can’t wait to read the blog when it comes out! So I thought I should join in with my most embarrassing audition... Staines 2003/4-ish About 15 or so years ago I decided to get back into gigging after a few years off. Did a couple of auditions which went OK but by the end of the session I'd pretty much decided the respective bands weren't for me. Then I saw a card in a local guitar shop looking for a bassist in a new-country covers band. And they were local. Phoned the guy up and he seemed really nice and easy to get on with. He said that their regular player had been whinging for a while about wanting to take his playing more seriously and do some proper session playing up in town and the band was getting in the way of getting proper gigs with pros. So on that basis he'd decided that he was leaving the band. In fact he’d told the whole band so in no uncertain terms after their last gig. I thought, “fair enough” and got the names and keys of a few songs to learn for the rehearsal the following week. It was mostly stuff I had on CD and pretty straightforward to get on top of - Mary Chapin Carpenter, Steve Earle, Eagles, Nanci Griffith... Anyway, on the following Tuesday I set up at the local scout hut and was introduced to the rest of the band. We ran through a few songs and I did a bit of backing vocals with the two girl vocalists and all was going swimmingly. I really liked all the guys, they played really well, I liked the music and we were all getting on like a house on fire. Anyway, after about 40 minutes this figure appears at the door while we’re mid-song, lugging a bass amp and a Fender MM bass and then freezes, looking at me. The band all did a double take, looked at him, looked at me and then looked at the bandleader. There was a quick huddle next to the door after which the bass player set up his amp at the opposite side of the room while shooting me daggers... We broke for a cuppa while more conflabbing happened and the bandleader's wife calmed down the stroppy looking bassist like the veritable “band Mum” while I chatted to the drummer, keys player and other singer. It was at that point I suddenly recognised the guy. About three months before I'd seen him backing a girl singer/piano player at a really good songwriter event a friend ran up in Shepherds Bush. I recalled that both he and her had been right prima donnas: properly unpleasant, up-themselves, sour and stroppy t*ts to all and sundry that night - organisers, crew and other acts. Fair enough, he was a very good player but my friend said afterward that neither him nor her were ever playing there again. I decided that discretion should be the better part of valour. I toddled over to the now very worried looking band leader and volunteered to pack up and toddle off leaving the other bassist to do the rest of the rehearsal... to much protest from the drummer, keyboard player and other backing vocalist (this made me wonder if the bass player was regularly fractious and they were seeing their chance of finally being shot of him evaporating). The poor bandleader just looked really embarrassed but gratefully accepted my offer; so I packed up and went home. He phoned me the next day and invited me round to his place for a chat, to explain and to apologise. Turned out that at the last gig when the bassist had thrown his toys out of the pram, yelled “I quit” at them and stormed off, the entire band had taken him seriously and thought he'd actually left the band. So it was a bit of a shock to them when he turned up at the rehearsal and they learned that he'd not actually meant it. The bandleader felt that he sort of owed it to the guy and so had accepted his apology. As it was he offered me (as a consolation I guess, or maybe as an insurance over the guy's next strop) a place playing rhythm acoustic with the band. Unsurprisingly I felt that might be a tad awkward and I was really looking to get back into bass playing. So regretfully I respectfully declined...

How did it go?

Paul and Fiona have spoken and sung at our church several times. Lovely couple and a great evening of music and testimony. First time they came we backed them for the worship session so they came along to the rehearsal/soundcheck on the Sunday afternoon. That whizzed through no problems so when our regular Worship Leader said, “All done” there was plenty of time left. Paul looked round at the rest of the band, drew a harmonica from his back pocket and said, “Well, anyone fancy a little blues in G then?” Etched in my memory as one of my best ever playing experiences!!!!

You might be surprised just how many actually DO need the money. Those lifestyles and alimony cheques don’t pay for themselves. LOL!

They need a good Male singer to cover LB’s vocals on a load of their top tunes. Finn makes sense in that context. Campbell playing The Chain though... drool! I’m imagining the band and management meeting... “So, we’ve sacked Linds, any old guitarists we could get back for the tour?” “Danny, Jeremy and Pete?” <pause> “Hmmmm... I can see a few, erm, ‘issues’ arising on a stadium mega-tour...” “What about Rick Vito or the other one... Benny? Bobby? Barry? ...Billy! That’s it, Billy! There were a couple of Bobs and Dave’s too, if I recall correctly.” “Well, if we can barely remember them...” “Hey, what if we got a couple of famous rockstar chums from bands with their own huge global fan-bases to join us for the tour?” [rest of band...] “KER-CHINGGGG!”

Yes, when it first came out I picked up the extended play CD single... Radio mix, alternate long mix (different to the decksanddrumsandrockandroll or David Arnold Bond album versions) plus the “Orchapella” version. All amazing versions. And I’d have to agree wholeheartedly about Moby’s Reversion too! Fantastic version.

#bassurbanmyth 30+ years of playing active basses, changing batteries every 9-12 months whether needed or not. Neither this nor any of the rest of the “I’d never have an active bass...” horror stories have ever happened to me.

Bass Wah would nail a version of it, I reckon. I’ve got a Morley Dual Bass Wah which can get a tone a bit like that with the tone of the bass rolled back to de-accentuate the effect on the higher frequencies. Love The Propellerheads and their takes on Bond themes particularly. Have you heard their versions of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service? So cool!

I love my VTDI which II use as a speaker emulated feed to the desk. I’m not a fan of big OD so I use it as a low gain preamp in a variant on the recommended B15 setting. The SVT settings sound great to but for the music I’m doing I don’t need that much clank in my tone. It’s so much better than a flat DI, really brings the bass sound alive. Gain probably sits a smidge higher these days but only at about 9 o’clock. Now, I don’t care whether it accurately emulates a B15 or an SVT in a way that would pass a blind test or whether it supposedly has a “baked in tone”. What I do know and what is important to me is that the tone it produces sounds absolutely amazing to my ears. Wouldn’t be without it now.

Played in a folk band at college with a viola player about 30 years ago. Had great fun - she doubled (tripled?) on accordion and recorder though not at the same time. Came across some old recordings and stuck them up on Soundcloud the other week... Here ya go if you fancy a listen/laugh!

Oh no, he’s gorn an dun it... ...you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but soon! LOL! GLWTS, lovely bass!

To be fair, we’ve been through this all before with “Yes West” and ABWH - who also wanted to call themselves “Yes” before m’learned friends got involved. As I recall there was even some legal wrangling over calling the tour “An evening of Yes music plus...” even though that’s just a description of what AWBH delivered live. Cracking gig it was too. As was the 90125 line up live. Yes has always been and I suspect will always be a soap opera. Personally with neither Chris nor Jon my appetite to see “Yes” has waned - and you could probably say the same from the Benoit days onward. On the other hand. If I were going to shell out for one “Yes” gig this year I’d probably plump for ARW for no particularly logical reason other than liking Rick’s playing style more than Geoff’s.

I can heartily recommend the Italia Leathers 4” ones!

One could also say the same of Roger’s post-Roger albums...

Hardly trading a boat anchor for a featherweight though... my SB700 weighs pretty much the same as my Wal! PS Keep the Wal!

I’d better throw away my copies of Yessongs, Going For The One and 90125 then... I never realised they didn’t count as they’re just by some tribute band.

To buy one bass or not to buy one bass is still a choice. ...and don’t call me “Shirley”. (Have you people never watched “Airplane!”?)

Bass Bash? I recall standing there open mouthed at the volume and sheer quality of sound being produced by a Ricky, a TE Elf, a Barefaced 1x10 and a smattering of Chris Squire riffs...

It always amuses me that when this topic comes up folks tend to start discussing it in polarised extremes. It's worth bearing in mind that there is a spectrum of different approaches between... ...and... I think Gary put it very well above. It's about the band demonstrably enjoying being there and connecting in some appropriate way with the audience, wherever on the spectrum that is!

Hmmmm... I think you are taking a small and pretty unrepresentative selection of popular music history. In fact, other than the over-earnest late sixties protoprog noodlers (think the early Floyd or Dead head type happenings) or the shoe-gazing miserablists of the late 80s/90s and so on I can’t think many other eras/genres where your thesis holds true. OK, maybe some pretentious chin-stroking bits of jazz... Most people in most audiences in all genres have gone out to be entertained. Show business is, after all, the business of show - and whether you like it or not, bands are part of the entertainment industry. And anyway, I think you’ve also set up a false dichotomy. It’s never been an either/or. It should always be both. And even those bands like the Genesis, Yes and Floyd type (at stadium or local venue level) who needed to concentrate on stage on their complex musicality tried to add visual interest through lights and other stuff... So a good band can have the chops, a good band can put on a show. A great band who really entertain their audience will tend to have a good balance of both. For me, if I go see a local circuit band I want them to have at least better than average musical ability. However, I also want them to connect with the audience in some sort of meaningful, genre-sympathetic, venue-appropriate manner. BOTH! A rubbish band is still a rubbish band no matter the show. A dull band is still a dull band no matter the chops.

Ah, hadn’t clocked you weren’t Uk based...