Russ

Give A Monkey A Brain.... didn't come out until 1993, so it was probably supporting The Reality Of My Surroundings (great record). They did disappear for a while after GAMAB came out when they had various lineup issues (including Kendall Jones joining the Moonies and having to be basically kidnapped to get him out). They got dropped by Sony and have survived on indie labels ever since.

Always legendary, fun shows. Norwood is, and always has been, an amazing player, touting a great range of Warwicks, serious chops and groove, one huge dreadlock and a towel. I first saw them in 1993 supporting RHCP (with the Rollins Band also on the bill) at Brixton. It was the classic lineup with Kendall Jones, etc at the height of their power, and was utterly blown away - they blew RHCP off stage that night. I saw them a couple of years back at the Islington Academy too - much smaller show, obviously, and with an almost completely new lineup including Rocky George (ex-Suicidal Tendencies), but still awesome.

Make sure it's plugged directly into the wall, not into a power strip or extension lead. The signal degrades badly if you do - the cheap wiring used in those was never designed to carry data at high speed.

Out of any kind of gig, I'll take originals over and above anything else. But I'll take a tribute band over a regular cover band.

I like tribute bands. I prefer them to regular cover bands, especially when they make an effort with the look and performance as well. Although some of them take it too far. Fake American accents, ridiculous between-song banter, etc. Reminded me of that movie Rock Star with Mark Wahlberg. That was rather well observed.

In the UK, it's "stay-tus". In the US, "it's "stattus" (or even "staddus" with the accent), and in Australia it's "stah-tus". It seems to follow how they pronounce "data" (day-ta/datta/dah-ta).

Love Modulus basses. Quite different instruments to other graphite-necked beasts like Statii, Zons, etc. I'd say there's a gap in the market for similar graphite-necked basses, except there probably isn't much of one - if there was, then Modulus probably wouldn't have gone bust. As Beedster says though, you could put together a reasonably authentic Flea Bass with Status/Moses and Warmoth parts, especially now that you can get Lane Poor pickups again (albeit not made by Lane). I'd love to try it.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1361919123' post='1993205'] That's their Top 50 and there still wasn't room for [/quote] That's me (bottom right) - I thought that old photoshoot had long since been buried! We actually paid someone for those pictures too...

Smallest - The Hope and Anchor in Islington. Great little place, but with the emphasis on "little". The stage was the size of a postage stamp, the PA was only for vocals (not surprising given the size of the place) and there was no room to actually move around. Good vibe though, and we had a great crowd the couple of times we played there. The worst was undoubtedly The White Room in Hull. What a dump. We did a toilet venue tour of various places up north back in 2004, and that was on our itinerary. We got there in the van around lunchtime and the place was heaving, so that was promising. Lots of rock/metal/goth-looking types, which was our crowd. The gig was supposed to come with accommodation, so we got shown upstairs, and it was one big, empty room. No beds, nothing, and with a funny smell and suspicious-looking bits of stained tinfoil lying around on the floor. So we passed on the accommodation and found a nearby B&B instead. Come gig time, we went back to the venue and it was empty. Like, literally empty. Just us and the bar staff. So we didn't even bother. We gave them the album to play on the jukebox, and played pool for the rest of the night, in the hope that someone might show up. Our gear was set up and ready to go, but nobody showed.

I miss gigging. Haven't done a gig since 2010. I love it. And I miss it (did I mention that already?). Although I am at a point now, with a demanding full-time job, a wife and two kids under 4, where many of the practicalities of being in a very active gigging band are nigh-on impossible, so I'm resigned to the very occasional jam with mates, and messing about with composing on my computer and making silly things with my looping pedal. Eventually I hope to get back into it though, but so much is dependent on finding the right people with the same motivations and expectations as yourself. Basically, I'm massively restricting my options by being 41 and only wanting to play originals, but I wouldn't be happy with anything else, so I'm happy to wait for the right situation.

[quote name='woodyratm' timestamp='1396520959' post='2414541'] You should go FNM, soundgarden and soulfly were enough for me! Join me for a pint [/quote] I'm going, but I'm planning on getting there late enough not to have to see Soulfly. Always thought they were dreadful, contrived, derivative drivel. There's only so many times Max Cavalera can recycle Sepultura's Roots album (the last good album he had anything to do with) before it starts to get old.

It's Wal syndrome. Builder shuts down, snob value of instruments goes up, especially when name players use them (Flea's apparently gone back to his Moduli). The Flea Basses are bloody good instruments though. Tried a 5-string with MM/J pickups a couple of years back and it was spectacular.

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1394215777' post='2389285'] I do, don't I? By all accounts he's a super chap and I'm sure his is but he sort of popped up from nowhere to become a tradeshow vet and Warwick spokes-thumper with a seemingly endless reference list of bands and players I like but without appearing on any of the records I know. I'm sure I saw one reference saying he was in the Mahavishnu Orchestra!? I've go all their records - and have enjoyed Rick, Ralph and Jonas tremendously over the years but TM? [/quote] To be fair, he's been around for years, so he's hardly come from nowhere - I was aware of him back when I started playing 22+ years ago, and yes, he still played gaudy-coloured Warwicks back then. He gave up the Warwicks for a few years and endorsed Corts for a while, but then came back to them. I think this is just the first time he's done a show like this in the UK. I own the Pretenders and Vai records he played on - the Vai record with Devin Townsend is one of my all-time faves and it came out back in '93.

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1394002906' post='2386693'] Not on any Pretenders, Steve Vai, Billy Joel I know and I've seen Miles many times, and have many records, with a whole host of bassists (sometimes two at a time!) but not with him. [/quote] He played on Get Close by The Pretenders (I think he was calling himself Shaka Zulu at the time), Sex & Religion with Steve Vai (with Devin Townsend and Terry Bozzio) and Night Calls and Unchain My Heart by Joe Cocker. He also played with Miles but I don't think he recorded with him. There's a fairly comprehensive discography over on Wikipedia.

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1393967948' post='2386486'] Can someone tell me who is TM Stevens? [/quote] Crazy-haired journeyman session guy, played with Joe Cocker, The Pretenders, Steve Vai, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, Tina Turner, even Miles Davis and James Brown. Well known for his brightly-coloured Africa-influenced fashion sense, signature Warwick basses and groovy slap chops. He was seen playing in James Brown's band in Rocky III, doing "Living In America". Top bloke too.

Got to give another nod to Peter Steele's tone with Type O - with that warm, thick distortion and the hint of phaser, his tone was like nobody else's. The ultimate bass "rhythm guitar" tone, in my opinion. And also thanks for reminding me about Love Your Money by Daisy Chainsaw - proper slashed speaker filthy distortion.

The noise was irritating sometimes, but I came away from the show wanting to play more bass. That can only be a good thing.

I was having a discussion with Bernie Goodfellow about the noise thing. We were lamenting the lack of common-or-garden groove playing in favour of gratuitous slapfests at these kind of shows, and Bernie, being a bit of a veteran of these kinds of shows, told me that not only does the groovy stuff not really get heard above everything else, but also many of the more casual visitors don't really want to hear the simple stuff, they want to hear the slapfest! Despite being desperately unfashionable, I guess people still like to hear it when done well. I do like a good bit of slap myself, but why does everyone who purports to play slap only play in Em7?