Bluewine

17 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Superb @cetera, so many great songs to choose from.

Once toyed with the idea of a Doobies tribute but couldn't get the right musicians up this way.

That band is so good. Fantastic FOH sound too.

Well done.

Dave

Agreed. What a cool opportunity 

Daryl

5 hours ago, peteb said:

 

To be honest, that really isn't my experience! Modern Class D amps do not seem to have the response or attack of hybrid amps or, from what I understand given my limited experience of them, valve amps. That's the reason I got rid of my Class D Mesa amp - sounded great in a room on it's own, but didn't have the response I needed live. This was particularly noticeable when I was playing onstage with a band with a lot of keys and stuff going on, less so in a blues / boogie band with two relatively clean guitars! 

 

 

The advantage with a para EQ is that if you are in a room with sound issues, you can find what frequencies are causing the problems and sweep the EQ centre for that band until the issue goes away. I used to find that with my Mesa mpulse that in certain rooms, it was often the low-mids that caused a problem. If you changed the frequency then you could usually get around the problem with the sound of the room pretty easily. The problem with para EQs is that you can get a truly awful sound if you don't understand how the various frequencies work together! I used to follow the manual's suggested settings (for 'Driving Rock', if I remember correctly) and then tweaked until I got the sound that  I wanted. As ever, you don't necessarily need a perfectly flat EQ, remember a little goes a long way and you probably don't want any massive boosts or cuts so that you can hear a coherent representation of every note that you are going to play. 

 

Great information,  even if it is over my head. I'm way out of date. I just dial in a low stage volume and enough high and low end I can hear. Then I just hope the sound engineer has me where I'm supposed to be.

Daryl

9 hours ago, Raslee said:

It was a pretty great gig lastnight on the ska scene, first outing for the Sandberg VM SL - interestingly, I ended up playing it passively with a Sadowsky Pre and Tonerider Duke installed. The bass was light, but by god those Dr Martins were heavy! 

 

 

Great crowd photo and I love the way they band is lit up.

Daryl

35 minutes ago, Norris said:

You could try the Chappell Roan dress. That would be quite an obvious AI image 😄

I am not posting the image of me in a dress.lol

Daryl

I think the way I'm looking at it  like this. 

First, maybe it depends on the image and how it's used.

2nd, I look at like this. A lot of us use cool lighting and smoke machines because it makes the band look good. AI depending on how it's used is just another marketing tool.

I don't think we can fool anyone.  I never look like this. Lol

Daryl

8 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Love the pic Daryl.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I'm interested in everyone's opinion.  

Is it ok to use AI images to promote your bands gigs?

Daryl

My last gig was NYE. We don't have a gig until February 19. It will be my first gig at age 72.

This stretch of no gigs is driving me crazy.

Daryl

4 hours ago, neepheid said:

Some video emerged from last weekend's gig.  Just in case you thought I just set up my rig in random places and photograph it every other weekend

 

 

 

Nice crowd!

Daryl

7 hours ago, martthebass said:

After our usual few weeks off in January, we were back at it at a fairly local WMC, Maltby Catholic Club. Despite being local we’d not played this venue before. The gig was well publicised resulting in a packed house. Both spots were well attended by dancers and a promise of a further gig, love it when a plan comes together. 
Talking with the proprietor, turns out the place wasn’t doing too well when the took it over last year but since investing in better live music acts the place is now thriving which was great to hear.

EBMM shorty stingray, Boss pedals, Markbass little Marcus 500, 2 x Markbass NY121.

 

Silver Converse Chuckie Ts.

 

The room looks packed. Nice

Daryl

12 hours ago, Rosie C said:

Not my gig, but I was in the studio yesterday recording the first couple of tracks for my second album. The studio engineer, who is also guitarist and sometime backing vocalist on my recordings, casually dropped into the conversation that he opened for Planet Rock's "Winters End" festival on Thursday... and I get this guy whenever I need on my amateur recordings! 

 

 

Great pic! Really nice.

Daryl

5 hours ago, Gasman said:

So I answered a JMB ad last week for a bass player - seemed interesting with an emphasis on funk n soul, with a female vocalist, so I was thinking Jocelyn Brown, Dawn Penn, Colette Kelly maybe, yum! I responded also mentioning that I played sax. The guy replied that he already had a bass player (a friend, who’d’a guessed, so why advertise?) but would like a sax player as well. So he sent me charts for ten tunes that they were rehearsing, mainly by male not female singers, very little solo sax, a few with brass section stuff, alarm bells already ringing but I  invited him to my place one evening for a chat and a guitar plus sax tryout. It soon became clear that a) he was a very reasonable guitarist but b) he had very fixed ideas about what and how much sax he wanted in each number, eg one 8 bar solo in Moondance in a five minute number, and a few chorus punches in the Graham Parker version of Hold back the night where the original had a three piece brass section riffing all through, you get the idea. I played him some video of what I’ve been doing in other bands, where the sax was used more, but got nowhere so I stopped the session and told him that I didn’t think they needed a saxist, I couldn’t justify 50 mile round trips for rehearsals playing just a few notes with no gigs in the book, and BTW why did he advertise for a bassist if he already had one? Answer came there none… thing is, I took up bass two years after the sax because I’d learned that while bass is pretty essential in a band, sax is a optional extra that needs a careful curation of setlists to get maximum value…grr! Was I being unreasonable?

I don't think so. As long as you knew what you personally were looking for in a band. 

For me the 50 mile round trip would have been an issue.  The deal breaker for me would have been the no gigs on the books. My question use to be how many gigs has the band played in the last 6 months and how many new gigs are booked. It sounds like it was a start up band.

Daryl

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

First time i've heard of a Cheap Trick tribute band. Well done and sounding great.

Dave

I've always been a CT fan. They're hometown boys. I was going to their shows when they were still playing bars. Stood right next to Rick Neilson at a Jeff Beck show at Turner Hall.

Daryl

9 minutes ago, Wombat said:

I’m taking an educated guess that you mean Fahrenheit which most people here wouldn’t ‘get’. So that’s MINUS 20!

I was in -23c in NYC once, with windchill, and I was able to break off bits of the moustache I had at the time 😂.

Yes, Fahrenheit. 

Daryl

On 18/01/2026 at 09:01, dmccombe7 said:

I've never actually seen a band use a tip jar here.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Here’s a little more info on the tipping culture over here.

While we command a nice fee for a 4 peice,  the tips just make the gig a little more lucrative. Tips can turn a $150.00 a man gig into a $200.00 a man deal. Tips are acceptable,  actually expected by the venue and the punters. 

Here are our exceptions.  We don't use the tip jar at Theatre gigs, charities or private events events.

Obviously the Tips are much better when you're playing to the more affluent clientele. If you’re playing at Freddie's on Martin Luther King Blvd and Cherry St. there won't be any tips. You'll be more worried about if your car will still be there at the end of the night. Lol

I'm getting my hair cut today and trying to figure out how much I can afford to tip my barber.lol

The pic is my new AI band . Lol

Daryl

8 hours ago, Wombat said:

Well, us oldies feel the cold!

It's  -5° right now and will be colder by Friday.

Daryl

On 19/01/2026 at 17:48, Bluewine said:

Acoustic gig Friday night.

 

Guys, I'm not good with Legion Halls. I haven't played one in awhile.  In the past they've always reminded me of an Assistant Living Facility or what we use to call Old Folks Home.

 

OMG, and it's a 7-9 show.

 

Daryl

They canceled the Legion Hall fish fry acoustic gig this Friday due to cold weather. 

Daryl

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

British Legion/Ex-servicemens clubs are a mainstay of local music these days, many are open to all. 

I plan on going into it super positive and staying there.

I just hope we're a match for the room.

Daryl

Acoustic gig Friday night.

Guys, I'm not good with Legion Halls. I haven't played one in awhile.  In the past they've always reminded me of an Assistant Living Facility or what we use to call Old Folks Home.

OMG, and it's a 7-9 show.

Daryl

19 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Bloody good gig at the Exchange tonight. Left us all buzzing. It was short notice so unrehearsed for ages. We have a big gig at the Earl Haig in February and two rehearsals to sort new material.  After tonight happy we don't have to focus on the existing set. 

Nice!

Daryl

5 hours ago, BassTractor said:

Someone has to say it, Daryl: your husband looks very ugly compared to you.
😉

Edit:

Oh! I see you've removed the pic. That renders my post defunct.

I think that pic was on my other current thread. I don't remember removing it .

Here's another AI pic 

Daryl

5 hours ago, Rosie C said:

 

The very last pub gig we did with our Renaissance-rock band was 18 months ago - as well as the usual early stuff we had a few of 20th century covers on the set list - Moonlight Shadow, Lightning Tree, All is Found, Meet Me on the Corner, etc. Once we'd played those the audience were asking for more songs that they knew. So we stopped taking any pub bookings as I'm not doing it as a job and I want to play music I'm interested in. 

 

We get fewer bookings, but they've been awesome - historic buildings, medieval fairs, etc. 

I think that's great for those who are not in this for the money. 

I can't afford to play the music I'm interested in . If We did we'd get no bookings. 

Daryl

4 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Most definitely. In my classic rock band we do stuff that we like and which stretches us as musicians. They are excellent songs which are great to play but I’d doubt many audiences would last our set out.

A lot of bands struggle with this. Songs you like vs songs the crowd wants to hear.

At the local regional mid market level fairs and festivals, playing songs the crowd likes and knows is always a winner  

We have a few songs that I think we should drop from our set list.

Daryl

8 hours ago, Sean said:

I'm now playing in a band that has been around a long time (I'm new) and the majority of the gigs come either from an agency or rebookings from venues previously played. There's a few functions in the calendar too.

The band has a good reputation for delivering a good show and the guys are all very personable and no dramas. 

There's very little promo material and cold calling venues to get bookings is a challenge because there's nothing to show them, so it's a combination of reputation and having a good strong loyal customer base that brings in repeat business. 

I get the impression, though I haven't asked, that they don't play many/any venues they don't like mainly because they've been around for >15years and have learned what venues to choose to return to.

How long a band has been in business is definitely part of the equation. 

Daryl

This might be a good discussion.  It's certainly something many of you deal with. Staying booked and getting the higher caliber gigs.

I have a buddy who's in a good 9 piece horn band. They might gig 5-6 times a year. Most members are professionals and play with other bands. My buddy wants more gigs but they have so many things working against them. 

It's hard to get 9 people together at the same time in the same place. And it's hard to pay 9 people. Their real issue is I don't think they have anyone in the band that's motivated to book the band. For some reason the agents won't touch them 

We're certainly not the best band around ,certainly not the most talented.  However, our manager loves the business, he's networked and here's my point. People like the guy. I think that's where our booking success comes from. My position is talent is only part of the picture. 

We deliver a professional product and we're nice to everyone when we arrive at a gig and we're humble. I know bands that arrive with bad attitudes and drama and then they wonder why they don't get asked back.

Let's hear your thoughts. 

Daryl

I'll be 72 in a couple of weeks. I hope I can get into a healthier lifestyle and practice more.

I appreciate that since age 12 or 13 I'm still gigging.  I blessed that I'm working with younger musicians.  These guys are in their early 40s and motivated. They're not emotional like me, everything is strictly business. 

I'm more conscious about the caliber and logistics of the gigs we play. We're starting to fill up our summer schedule . I'm hoping we get some of the bigger festivals and fair gigs with big stage and big sound.

Am I asking too much for a 72 year old ?

Daryl