Combed20

This sunday was my bands first gig this year. A nice three band matinee, at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden with us opening the show. Decided to take the tube, so went as lightweight as possible, my bass (mendel Precision) and my tech21 dUg, going through venues Fender Rumble. Stage sound was great, audience was very receptive and we had a nice little suprise...  We are an originals band, but frequently throw in a cover of Staring at the Rude Boys, by the Ruts. As were playing it,  the Ruts bass player Segs walked! We had a nice chat later  - great chap. All in all, a very enjoyable afternoon!

I love Alice and Motley - I'm in! And love the fact it is his band and I'll just be a hired gun! I expect petrol and rehearsal expenses covered as well as strings, picks and stage wear. We can negotiate on my fee for gigs and recordings. As I'm not really in the band, I won't be spending any of my own money...

Selling Ashdown MAG300 amp with the MAG410 Deep cab. Both have been used to both gig and rehearse , but are in working order. Cab is showing wear and tear. Will sell separately and am open to offers

Collection only

Possibly looking to sell my Gibson Nikki Sixx Blackbird and 2 ESP LTD Deluxe  Phoenix 1004's.  Is there any interest in these?

Would be collection only, from South Bucks

Gibson Blackbird- £1750

Phoenix 1004 £600 and £550 (couplr of blemishes)

So my band is on it's 4th drummer. Current guy is very new (3 gigs in) and has been taken ill. I'm wondering what options we have to playing to drum tracks from the album live. Is there a pedal type gizmo where we can trigger the drum tracks from the stage? Presume we feed them to the PA and use monitors to hear them. We don't have in-ears...   Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated

Apologies if this shouldn't go here...

 I wondered if anyone had any experiences selling basses through Andertons. I've a bit of paranoia about getting ripped off,  so paying commission gives me peace of mind and saves me the faff of placing adverts and dealing with time wasters...

Interested in how other found dealing with Andertons....

At that price, I am really interested. Not expecting much, but the bluetooth makes it very useful. 

Fantastic gig at  Suburbs at the Holroyd in Guildford last night. A wonderful human being got 7 bands (including his own) to play his 60th birthday. We played 3rd to a very busy and enthusiastic audience. Our drummer has just retired due to tinnitus issues and we had a dep stand in on very short notice. Could have been a car crash, but I think he did brilliantly. Rig was my trusty P Bass, going through house combo and the debut of my new Sansamp DP-3X, purchased off our very own @NancyJohnson

3 minutes ago, Tim Chapple said:

Track added - thanks for the message.

Thanks Tim!

https://open.spotify.com/album/1bItbxcd2htzspzKJRAmKH?si=reJYNyt0T5GRFnbwDxx8sA

Public Service Announcement had a show at the iconic Hope and Anchor in Islington last night. A drive through London in rush hour traffic certainly wasn't something I was looking forward to, but it was actually a surprisingly smooth journey and parking was easy.

Hope and Anchor has played host to some amazing bands such as The Damned (where the New Rose video was filmed) and The Stranglers. Ironically, both bands are playing this weekend at the Stone Valley Festival, which meant a fair number of our target market were unavailable. Baring that in mind, it was a decent turn out, including former England footballer Stuart Pearce. The band played very well, were very well received and shifted a good amount of merch. All in all a very enjoyable evening.

We were  opening a festival, so we cleard off stage as quickly as possible (really grinds my gears when a band hangs around on stage after their set, with no consideration for the band next on stage) and stored our gear. We have a new album out, so we went to the merch table so see if we could flog a few cd's and shirts. After that we I enjoyed an alcohol free Guiness and enjoyed a couple of bands, before joining my family on holiday.

Last night we (Public Service Announcement) opened the Undercover Festival at the Holroyd in Guildford. Set time was 6.10, so we fully expected to play to an empty venue - wrong! Great crowd which just got stronger through the 30 min set.

 Great stage sound, and the band played a really tight. We gave a really good account of ourselves, feedback from the crowd was superb and we sold a good amount of copies of the new album. Very happy band this morning!

7 hours ago, King Tut said:

Played in Ramsgate last night with Verity Bromham. Had Kev Hickman depping on drums who did a marvellous job. I tried an XVive in ear unit that John lent me along with my rig. The engineer pointed me to an app to put on my phone and I set up my own monitor mix - bloody amazing. Journey home was a nightmare due to road closures, road out of Ramsgate was shut as was the M25, A1 and M1. Bolleaux! Got halfway home and realised I’d left my house and car keys at the venue. So I had to leave my car at Johns, get Del to go right out of his way to drive me home then wake the misses up at 3am to get in! Why the funk do I do this?!! Was a cracking gig though!

Can I ask what the app was, please @King Tut

When my band were looking for a new drummer, one potentially applicant was a big distance away. Our solution was to find a rehearsal room mid way. Meant everyone would have a roughly 50min journey. Would have been worth it for the right person.

Thanks for all the replies. I previously looked at sumup, but the band don't have a business account, so sumup wouldn't work for us. I do a lot if the 'office' stuff for the band, and loathe the thought of setting us up as a business in my name and add more 'work' - but I don't think it'd improve sales.

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

One of my bands has a SumUp. There are nearly always deals available where if you get a reference from a current SumUp user you get the device at a discount (half price IIRC) and they get £10 added to their SumUp account.

 

However with the right phone, the latest version doesn't even need the actual card reader as the transaction can be done phone-to-phone which is even more convenient for everyone. You don't need a business account, but if you want to keep the merch funds separate from your personal finances you can always set up one of the those Starling (or similar) accounts that are being advertised and don't actually cost you anything.

 

IMO the tiny fees charged are nullified the first time you make a sale to someone who doesn't have cash on them, and these people are becoming more common with every gig. The other band I'm in haven't yet sorted themselves out with a card reader and consequently they have not been selling as much merch recently.

Thanks, that's really useful. One further question - will I need to open a band bank account to use it?

Hi all

 Looking for peoples thoughts on investing in a card machine for merch sales. Can they be linked to a personal account? - or do we need to open a band bank account?

Do these increase sales enough to nullify the fee's you incur?

 All thoughts/experiences greatly recieved 

Friday 8th, we (Public Service Announcement) played the Queens Head in Aylesbury. We have played there once before and it was a great evening - we were really looking forward to it. We would be providing backline and promoter supplying PA/Soundperson.

 A couple of days before the gig promoted messaged us to ask if we could supply the mic's and stands. This set alarm bells ringing. We also then saw online that a second band has been added to the event...

 The gig came, and as expected,  there was the most basic vocal PA, only 2 monitors and no sound person. 

Vocals only through the PA (I normally like some kick drum in my monitor) and no monitor for the drummer meant this wouldn't be the easiest gig - but we've had worse.

Once we completed soundcheck, the second band took the stage. A anarcho-punk band made up of three 15 year olds who hadn't thought to bring any amps or ask us if we could kit share. Just some cymbals and gutiars. Ordinarily, I'd refuse to loan my gear in this situation. I'm happy to kit share if arranged in advance,  but my thoery is if you haven't the manners to arrange in advance, how do I know you have the manners to respect my equipment?? Anyway, we were all young once, so I plugged up my little Warwick gnome, and let their bass player use that. 

 Once they finished we set up, and as we were about to go in, former England football player Stuart Pearce came in. We knew he was planning to come, but part of me hoped he wouldn't show once we realised the sound wouldn't be great. Anyway, we did our best - and the crowd loved it. At the end of the day, we can't really ask for any more. Mr Pearce came to say hello at the end - unfortunately,  we were unable to get a band pic with him. Next time...

Mine top 5 artists were

1 Skids

2 Motörhead 

3 The Damned

4 Alice Cooper

5 UK Subs

First time it hasn't been Motorhead at no.1  

Shocked UK subs are in top 5!!

Two gigs with Public Service Announcement this weekend. Saturday night was at the Trinity Bar, Harrow. Originally, we would be opening the show, followed Damage UK (who organised the event) and headlined by Eddie Roxy and the Adjacent Kings. Unfortunately Eddie Roxy had to cancel, so Red Anger joined the bill as opener and Damage UK headlined. Venue had an Ashdown combo to use and knowing bands play upstairs, I decided to use house rig as frankly, I couldn't be arsed to lug my rig up stairs! Something in me said to have my little Warwick gnome in my bag and my Orange SP212 cab in the boot - just in case. 

Good job I did, as arrived at venue to find the house rig wasnt working.

 Back up rig sounded great. Onstage sound was definitely one of the best we've had.

All thee bands played well to a very receptive, but small crowd. Not sure the line up change at fault or just a slow night. I find originals gigs really can be hit and miss attendance wise. Drive home was just 30 mins, so home well before midnight

 Sunday we headed down to a rainy, windy Brighton for the Punk 4 the homeless gig at the Pipeline. We had a 5pm slot. We parked in a multi story and then three of us lugged guitar, bass, pedal boards, cable bags, mic stand, cymbal bag across Brighton in search for venue. Why we didn't pull up outside venue, drop off gear and then park, I don't know...

We got to venue in time to rest our achy arms and enjoy a pint while we waited for the drummer, who'd headed down earlier with his wife. We waited, and waited and waited and then we got nervous, and then we got anxious. As the band on before us finished their and started to pack up, in he strolled, looking a drowned rat. He wiped the rain of his glasses so he could see, took his wet coat off and rushed to the stage.... House rig was an Ampeg head through an Ashdown 4x10. Sounded great! Wish I noted what model the head was - not that I have need or money for any more gear.

we played really well and went down a storm. Calls for a encore which we had time to fulfill and some great moshing from the younger audience at the front.

We then grabbed a beer and enjoyed Watching Rage DC before lugging the gear back through the  now dark streets in the wind and the rain, loaded the car and then sat in the traffic jam on the M25

And exhausting weekend. Loved every minute

Hi, is the DP-3X still available?

Thanks 

6 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

So following the euphoria of last week's festival appearance, lase night was very much a back to business affair.  Getting hot and sweaty to 40 people upstairs at The Pipeline in Brighton.

 

Succinct review from promoter Andy Cavendish (who said he has '500 bands in my Rolodex').  We actually ran out of songs and played our opener again!

 

Spector EuroX/Darkglass AO900 through house Ampeg cab.

 

 

Andy has put my band on a few times now - jolly good bloke!

King Billy Rock Bar in Northampton last night. Split the bill with Voodoo Radio. Played with my full rig, Orange Bass Butler through Orange LBT and Orange 2x10 and 2x12 cabs. Crowd wasn't as big as we hoped, but we went down well and Landlady said we'd be welcome back next year. Managed to race through 16 tracks in 50 mins. Bloody knackered today.

1 minute ago, Lozz196 said:

I’ve not but I’m local, it’s less than a Mike away from me, and Steve the guy who does the sound is a mate of mine. 

Steve did the sound last night. I made sure to let him know ( and thsnk him) it was best in stage sound I've had. He was brilliant last night.