Monkey Steve

I remember Meatloaf limping around. And the Scorpions were main support and superb. I remember Mountain playing Nantucket Sleigh Ride, and I vaguely remember Blackfoot and Mama's Boys. But my main memory is standing around for two hours in the pissing rain waiting for Deep Purple to start

I think it comes back to eBay and PayPal's bias towards the buyer As I understand it, there's no right to return items for private sales on eBay. However, the Ts & Cs require the seller to accept returns if the item is different to how it was described. So if you change your mind and you want your money back you claim that it's not what you paid for and eBay and PayPal are on your side It's not my argument but if I was the OP I think I'd be putting up a fight here and refusing to accept it back...but I do accept that it may not be a fair fight

yes, this long pre-dates eBay - 35 years ago I loaned a mate a new record and he scratched it. So off he went to Our Price to buy himself a copy...then took back my scratched disc to be replaced

I take a slightly different view, which is always go for the best you can afford, so the £1,200 bass doesn't need to be "£1,000 better" than the £200 bass (whatever that means to you and however you measure it), just that for you it's a" better" bass (again, whatever that means to you and however you measure it). Clearly if the £200 bass is just as good as the £1,200 bass by whatever your measure is then you'd be an idiot to spend the extra £1,000. Unless it's really pretty

great minds

I'm increasingly the same - some bands I remember seeing but can recall very little, if anything, of the actual gig, some I cannot recall seeing at all but am pretty sure that I must have done based on when and where they played, and some I am confusingly reminded of by Wikipedia. Festivals are particularly bad For instance, my head tells me that until seeing them at Download a few years back, the only time I'd seen UFO was on their utterly dreadful Misdemeanours tour in '85 or '86 Wikipedia tells me that I saw them a few months earlier at Knebworth as one of the support acts for Deep Purple's reunion gig. No recollection whatsoever, despite me having clear memories of seeing the bands on before and after them, and in the days before a second stage there wouldn't have been anything else to do but watch the bands I put it down to that Sherlock Holmes thing of only having so much room in my brain, so every time I go to a new gig the memories of an old one get pushed out that and the amount if booze I drank at those gigs...

I saw Primus as the support band for Jane's Addiction back in the 90's. they had just released Frizzle Fry - still have their T-shirt somewhere. I remember thinking that they were very impressive, but a little difficult Also saw Bon Jovi touring their first album as support to Kiss in 1984. They were very good Muse supporting Skunk Anansie at Brixton - I don't think their first album was out then, just a couple of singles (but I may be wrong on the exact timing) Saw Cliff Burton twice, the last time at Hammersmith Odeon the week before he died Faith No More at the Marquee in Wardour Street Moby as the support act for a couple of bands - I thought the Rollins Band were one, but Wikipedia tells me that the Chilli Peppers and Soundgarden are more likely candidates Talking of whom, the Chili Peppers with John Frusciente the first time he was in the band (a few times actually) Megadeth with their original line up Status Quo's first farewell tour in 1984 Black Sabbath's first farewell concert at the NEC in 1999 Motorhead's 10th Anniversary concerts (still sad I didn't get to see them on their 40th) I'll stop now...feeling very, very old

I'm a Pensions Manager for a large Environmental Services company. Strictly speaking I'm the Pensions Technical Manager, and while I do a lot towards making sure that our employees get paid when they retire, most of my time is spent on M&A work and bids for new business, checking legislation, etc. There must be some sort of prize for the dullest day job, surely?

I am very happy to share with the OP the secret of being able to save the money for an excellent custom made bass: Order a Wal You will then have at least two years in which to save up the money to pay for it (*) I should be getting mine in April (*) OK, you will need a couple of grand up front...

I'm probably now more aware of the signs to spot - lack of details about the set up, no work being done with the bands to see who's bringing which bits of the backline and can they all share, that sort of thing. But I've played a couple of gigs, midweek in pubs that are not well known as live venues, where there isn't so much as a poster up outside telling the general public that there is music on that night.

Not too worried about the fee, unless it would put the band seriously out of pocket Especially for originals bands, it's never been a "won't play" policy, more a "won't go back"policy, usually related to the promoter, not the venue. The ones that have got a pub for free on a Tuesday night and don't do any promotion, don't curate the bill and just put on anybody who says yes to their e-mail about playing the gig so acoustic soul duos are on after death metal outfits, and expect the bands to bring people. None of which may be apparent until you've arrived at the gig If we're only being watched by the other bands then it's very unlikely that we'll agree to play for those promoters again, because they have failed at their one job - promoting the gig

yeah, another one who uses a TU3 and has had no problems with the low B on a five string. Same for clip ons - currently use a D'addario eclipse and no issues like others, the tuner is always the first box that my bass goes into on the pedal board. If it's not picking up the signal then there must be something wrong with one of the output from your bass, your lead, or the pedal

Currently awaiting delivery of my second custom built bass (first a Warwick, awaiting a Wal) and wood choice was very important for me. Partly to do with the (perhaps perceived) sound, partly to do with the appearance. Certainly I'm not expecting my new Wal with birdseye maple facings to sound at all different to one I had 20 years ago with walnut facings, because that Wal sound is all in the electrics It's probably no coincidence that my non-custom Rickenbacker 4001 has quite birdseye'd maple on it, and that of the 10 (soon to be 11) guitars and basses that I own, only one has solid paint on it (which was the only option for that model). So, yes, having the option of exotic, figured wood would certainly appeal to me, although I do also like non-exotic, non figured, plain wood. In my experience of placing custom orders, there is usually an extra charge for the fancier options, with a less exotic wood included for the basic price, and I'd suggest that beyond the usual suspects which have distinct tonal characteristics that people know about (ash, maple, mahogany, etc) most of the fancy, highly figured woods are chosen because they look pretty. For the ethics of it, this is very timely - there was a report on the World Service this morning about how African forests are being illegally stripped of their rosewood trees which ends up in containers to China, who have long exhausted their own forests. CITES being largely ignored at both ends because the local economy means that nobody is very interested in enforcing it For all that, a bit like @CamdenRob I sort of take it as read that the luthier will have done the due diligence on this...and as I type it I realise that it should really rest with me to do more research and make sure that the wood is ethically sourced and not from endangered species. It would bother me if the wood I wanted came from an unethical source...but I might not ask about it so I think that doing this for the customer would be an excellent move. In my professional field (pensions) there is a new requirement about ethics and sustainability for pension scheme investments, and you'd be amazed at just how ethical all managers claim that their selections of investments are *cough greenwashing cough*. It's largely a value judgement because there is no clear definition of what "green" actually means for investments, and similarly, you will have to decide for yourself (and your customers) what "ethically sourced" means for woods. In my defence, none of the wood on either of my custom instruments is on any endangered list, and I specifically excluded rosewood, no so much because of it potentially being on the endangered list per se, but because of the potential CITES headaches (which were being much debated and little understood as I was placing the Wal order) So how do you feel about it @dannymaddock? Are you asking because you want to use ethically sourced wood and want to understand how that will affect sales, or do you not really care but don't want to do something that might affect sales? No judgement either way - if it helps saves the environment in even a small way, it doesn't really matter what the motivation is What I would suggest is that if you are going to make a stand on which woods you will and will not use, make a big point of it up front - tell everybody what you will not use and explain why. Have you looked at what other makers are saying on the same topic? I'll repeat something from a well known custom guitar maker who makes extremely expensive guitars and is a friend of a friend - when CITES restrictions on rosewood came in he immediately responded. By telling non EU customers that he couldn't be @rsed with the CITES paperwork so they either have to place their order without rosewood, or they'll have to fly to London to collect their guitar in person and he would include the cost of the flights in the purchase price. Hasn't affected his order book at all, so if people want your instruments, they'll put up with the choice of woods that you give them (in fairness he doesn't do much/any work with very exotic woods that I'm aware of)

I slightly disagree with some of the above, but only slightly. Depending on the band, the choice of instrument can jar with the image - I remember seeing a very good Blues Brothers style R 'n B band back in the '90's - horns, everybody in matching suits...and the guitarist had a garishly coloured, pointy headed guitar which stuck out a mile and ruined the whole look and image of the band. The audience (not just me) definitely noticed and disapproved So it depends. Personally I wouldn't speak to him about the guitar just because I didn't personally like it, as long as it sounds OK, and like others have said, if somebody asked me to join their band but told me I had to buy a different bass I'd tell them where to go. If it really doesn't fit, tell everybody he's playing it "ironically"

I another one who cares about the whole aesthetic of the bass, not the finger board per se. None of my basses have a maple board, but my favourite electric guitar to play is a Fender Tele with a maple board and that looks great. I'm more fussed about inlays (oddly - I don't like dots, but have to concede that there are some instruments that suit them - the Tele being one, and a Les Paul DC Special being another - they seem to reinforce the non-fanciness of the guitars) That said... A couple of years ago I got a Lowden acoustic that has an ebony board, and I've been mildly obsessed with ebony fingerboards ever since. There's just something about the way they feel. My soon to be delivered Wal will have one, and in idle moments I start thinking about how much it might cost to get the wenge board on my Warwick replaced with ebony... Not because of the look (well, not entirely true - the rest of the Warwick is black so an ebony board would slightly improve the look of it) but because of the feel

In second the notion that you learn more from playing with other musicians, well, I certainly did. Doesn't need to be a full band and top of the range gear, maybe just a guitarist playing together in your front room. Most fun I ever had in a band was a load of blokes that a (very good) drummer of my acquaintance worked with who'd never played in a band before but fancied having a go. A drunken chat at a works do turned into a band.

I must be a similar vintage to the OP, but the way I've taken advantage of not understanding anything the kids do is that I pay no attention to social media. There's a whole generation who don't think something counts unless it's getting likes, and a new income stream from posting these videos, so posting videos of their bass playing is to be expected. From talking to mates with teenage kids who are very promising musicians, they have little interest in playing in bands, playing gigs, writing and releasing music, etc because they don't see that as a viable source of fame or income, whereas posting videos does get them instant attention (and there are studies about the damage that this sort of mindset is causing to kids' mental health...topic for another thread). One very good young guitarist wants to write music for video games, because that's where the money is So I take it philosophically. When i was learning how to play the bass there were always players who were better than me in other bands, but I wouldn't see them outside of a gig. Unless they covered it when I saw them, I'd have no idea if they could play a note perfect version of La Villa Strangiato. If they did unleash it at a gig then that would probably inspire me to try harder, or I'd dismiss it as something that I'm not aiming to do (not always true, but that's what I would tell myself). Now that I've hit 50, while I still like to improve my technique and broaden my playing horizons, I'm OK with not being the best player on the planet, I'm fine with what I can play and what I can bring to a band If it does bother you, keep telling yourself that of all the thousands of bass players on the planet. most of them haven't posted videos of them nailing a Jaco tune. You're in a very hefty majority

If you're at the Surrey end of Berkshire, I'd recommend Knight Guitars in Byfleet/New Haw. Rob knows his way around any electrics and wiring issue you might have

I'd say I much prefer being in an originals band and think of myself as a bass player for originals...but I've had a lot of fun over the years playing covers. Bit like @BigRedX, when I got into music covers bands were looked down on. This was well before tribute bands, and everybody knew that real bands wrote their own music. So apart from my first ever band with mates at school playing our favourite songs as we learned how to play, it was originals all the way. The fact that some of the originals bands slipped in the odd cover didn't change this. And the musical landscape was different - pubs wanted to put on bands playing originals. Also a time when you were only in one band at a time and if you wanted to play with anybody else you'd have to quit. Then about a decade or so ago, a mate asks me to join his punk covers band playing guitar, on the basis that their (pretty bad) guitarist had left, I owned a guitar, and it was punk rock so how hard could it be? I was in an originals band at the time but it was no longer regarded as cheating. the most fun I've ever had in a band - mostly because of my band mates, but a lot to do with how regularly we played and got paid actual money Since then I've been in a series of overlapping covers and originals bands, and while my preference will always be for playing originals I'm not averse to playing covers with mates...though the last originals band I played with was depping for a mate's band, and despite the fact that all of the other band members had recorded the original versions, really I was playing covers of them YMMV, but things I have learned: Originals bands can play the odd cover, but they should be used sparingly, and work best when it's a song from a completely different genre played in your style Covers bands should avoid playing originals - nobody wants to hear them You can learn a lot about music, songwriting and structure from playing other people's songs (regardless of whether it's in a covers band) You get better at playing your instrument the more you play live - technique doesn't care about who wrote the tune

The last Wal I owned, the guy selling it to me had been given it for free by Ian Waller who liked his playing, and when he brought it into the rehearsal room ahead of going on tour, the band told him that he wasn't allowed to bring it because they didn't want "a f#cking sideboard" on stage. So he painted over the gorgeous bookmatched Shedua, and when he sold it to me it was solid black

The design is part of what attracts me to a bass in the first place, so I'd be happy to put the ones I own onto the list: Rickenbacker 4001, Warwick Streamer and (very soon to be delivered) Wal Mk 2 (much prefer to Mk 1 and Mk 3). Quite fancy one of the new Rickenbacker 4003s fivers - avoided the previous (non 4003) five strings that they do like the Laredo because they just don't look right without the pickguard. Though I'd much prefer a non-s version, with binding and fret inlays Which brings me to the Thunderbird. the one design I love but don't have...because they haven't done a five string as standard. Though I am quite tempted by one of these also quite like an Ibanez Iceman but again, no five strings...so this caught my eye, a Phillipe Dubreuille, like the offspring of a 4001 and an Iceman

Yes. the landlord has no legal need for these details, and frankly should be challenged for this phishing activity! Possibly there's some confusion with the current focus on IR35 and true self employment, but as everybody keeps saying, bands are not employees of the venue, so there is no legitimate need for the NI number

that's how Motorhead ended up with two guitarists after Brian Robertson left - they both ended up in the studio together and instead of starting a fight they were working on arrangements for two guitars so Lemmy thought "why not?" I don't see the harm in inviting them both back if you're not sure, not together, but to see how they perform when they should be a bit more relaxed as they know you and your playing. You can give them some notes (so, #2 could be told that he's overplaying a bit) and see how they react

Right, so for clarity, it's not the three bands that I most like, or have the greatest influence on how I play or what I listen to or write, but rather the three that got me to where I am today? Status Quo - specifically the 1982 live from the NEC concert that was on TV. Haven't listened to any of their stuff for decades, don't now own any of their albums and I'm not interested in anything they recorded after I went to their "farewell" tour in 1984, but back in the day they were the gateway drug to heavy metal, and threw open the doors to bands that have stayed with me ever since, like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zep and Motorhead Metallica - specifically the first three albums and the $5.98 EP. Back when they were new and exciting, they led the pack in creating a completely new style of music. Everything became heavier and faster Haven't really enjoyed their recorded music since the disappointment of the Black Album...but we live in hope, and they've always been great live New Model Army - proving that not everything has to be heavy metal. Toss up between them and Killing Joke, and KJ may well have had a bigger longer term influence because they led to Nine Inch Nails and industrial music, but NMA probably got me to KJ (along with the $5.98 EP) and I was definitely listening to them first. Still love them, and they still release fantastic new albums

funny how guitarists are very quick to blame bass players for volume issues when they are making a mess of things...been there