Bluewine

1 hour ago, Doctor J said:

I always enjoyed purposefully antagonising them. That could be done a number of ways but, usually, it would involve musically heading places they were not expecting to be taken, which kept it exciting for the musicians, too. It also allowed more room for self-expression, which was always nice. I understand this is different for the covers game, though. If you're playing for the money, you can't really do much outside the well-worn tropes for fear of alienating your brand and affecting future bookings, so I suppose you're relying on one of the group with charisma to continually work the crowd to keep them engaged and that energy should feed back to the performers. Everybody should play some part in that, however, and take their eyes off the neck dots now and then to look at, and remember to perform to, the people they're playing in front of. There are few things duller than a band with eyes glued to the necks of their instruments.

After all these decades of doing shows,  I'm still struggling with smiling and looking like I'm having a good time.

Daryl 

I've been to see a few local bands recently.  Mostly bands with senior members. Some are very good musically but outside of that I've seen some real snooze fests. Bands with very little interaction with the crowd and not many smiling faces on stage.

Our saving grace is our lead singer who does a great job telling stories and engaging the crowd. 

What are you guys doing to engage your crowds?

Daryl

On 05/07/2025 at 20:32, dmccombe7 said:

Blockbustarz Glam covers at The Dreadnought in Bathgate. One of my fav gigs to be honest.

Sound check went well and everything sounded great.

Then for some weird reason i started to struggle to hear the bass out front. I had deliberately kept my on stage volume low and assumed the SE was on top of FOH. 

Unfortunately i spoke with my wife at the end and she said she struggled to hear the bass at times. I'll have a word with SE next time we play. He was experienced a deep feedback ring that we couldn't identify and maybe he's dropped the bass FOH to help and possibly forgot to turn it back up. My wee fingers are aching tonight as i automatically play harder when i'm struggling to hear myself. In future i'll be setting my stage volume to suit me if FOH are just gonna turn me down. I always set my stage level to balance drum levels.

Other than that we had dancers from the get go. Only sold 40 tickets but a lot of walk-ins which the owner said was pretty normal these days.

Ended up reasonably busy when we started and the audience remained. We had folks up from Galashiels and some came over from Livingston to see us so we have a fan base out there 😂

2x1hr sets or thereabouts. 2 encores which was nice. 

Odd thing was we had a crowd of Goths in and they were loving it and dancing virtually every song. At the end while loading car I overheard one of them say he's not danced that much in ages and loved it. So that was nice.

It was an 80-20% ticket deal tonight and we did OK with that as we usually do. Back again Sat before Xmas which is always a fun party night and very busy.

Usual gear :-

Sandberg VM4

Shure GLXD+ wireless

Keeley Bassist Comp.

Handbox WB100

Barefaced 212 cab

 

Loving this bass cab. Its lightweight and easy to lift but retains so much depth and the wide angle dispersion means i can clearly hear it if standing right next to it. Only downside is i always find 12's lack the mid punch of a 10" speaker but its still a superb cab and i just need to tweak my EQ  abit more. I am loving the tone i'm getting with this rig.

No more distortion when i play slightly harder now since i dropped the P pick up a touch on the VM4. I can still trigger it if i dig in really hard but i'm trying to play a bit lighter these days to save damaging my wee fingertips on plucking hand.

 

All in all a great wee night and the Pizza from next door was pretty good too.

50min drive home on quiet roads and a nice wee toasted pancake and coffee and now time for bed.

Night night guys.

Dave 

Hi Dave,

I put a lot of effort into my stage sound. If we keep the stage volume low things always seem to go well. I don't get involved with FOH stuff. There's too many other things I'm concerned with. Mainly that the band isn't boring people. Actually that's the topic for my next thread.

I'm glad you had a good gig.

Daryl

On 01/07/2025 at 05:41, NancyJohnson said:

Oooh, 19 pages in.

 

I watched for about 15 minutes on the BBC, and that was it.  Alanis Morissette.  Honestly, I can't stand her.  Never could.  A voice like nails on a blackboard.  There are phrasing and inflections in her voice that just make me want to listen even less.  Next day I just read comment after comment about how wonderful her performance was and I'm thinking are these people insane?  Is there something wrong with their hearing?  Do they not actually like music?

 

Thank you and goodnight.

 

It's amazing to me how a 90s act like Alanis can still get the big gigs.

Daryl

13 hours ago, tegs07 said:

The poster suggests that like the early days of Glastonbury it was a more organic, less commercial, community driven festival. Different times with less of the pressures of budget, health and safety, policing, community relations and all the non musical aspects that dominate music festivals now. I would think more exciting times when there wasn’t a massive industry looking to profit from the consumption of music and youth culture, just people who wanted to get a scene together and have a good time. To a large extent it was started by the hippies, revived by the punks and had its last hurrah in the early days of hip hop. 

 

For now it is the domain of big business. Safer, bigger, more polished and professional. But very different.

Very astute commentary. 

Time goes on it happened and I was lucky to be there. I also get that it's the past. We can't have 1970 in 2025.

I'll say one thing. I could say more but I'll only say one. In 2025 Lu Lu looks fantastic. 

Daryl

On 25/06/2025 at 10:34, KK Jale said:

I think I went about 12 years in total spread between 1985 and 2002. Good times.
 

This won't be news to anyone on here, but the Independent has an informative article about how Glasto is squeezing artists and workers.

 

https://archive.ph/e8ump

We have Summerfest here in Milwaukee, world's largest music festival. 

The music industry has changed a lot since 1985. Summerfest is not the festival it used to be. 

How has Glastonbury changed since it started.

Daryl

11 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Its my pet hate at gigs. 

Dave

It's extremely rude.

Daryl

9 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I love when the volume is just right where the amp and speakers just gel into the perfect tone without being deafening.

 

Annoys me when people come up to me for some weird reason its always me while i'm on a 3ft high stage wearing platform boots and in the middle of a song and expect me to hear them and to stop playing and focus on them while they ask for a song that isn't Glam Rock even tho they've paid for a ticket for an advertised Glam party night.

Some odd people out there.

Dave

I've seen people that do that. You're up there performing and they want to have a conversation with you. It's like they're saying; " You're not doing anything important so this is ok".

Daryl

49 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'm guessing the Gibson is neck thru Daryl ?

I do fancy a white one. Saw the Gene Simmons one for sale in local shop few mths back and was sorely tempted but black basses don't work in a Glam band.

Dave

Isn't there a bass chat member that has a purple sparkle Thunderbird ?

Daryl

46 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'm guessing the Gibson is neck thru Daryl ?

I do fancy a white one. Saw the Gene Simmons one for sale in local shop few mths back and was sorely tempted but black basses don't work in a Glam band.

Dave

Yes, It's neck thru.

Daryl

3 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

As much as i love that purple T bird i had an Epi T bird once and it suffered terrible neck dive until i moved both strap buttons and all good after that.

Just wasn't the best built bass so sold it on. 

Would like to try a Gibson one or even the neck thru Epi version which i've read is a better built bass. Like the sound of them.

Dave

 

Hi Dave,

Here's a pic of my 1994 Gibson Thunderbird. It's a great bass. It's a shame I don't gig much with it.

Daryl

Joanne Shaw Taylor in October.  Cool retro 300 seat theater.  5 minute drive.

Daryl

43 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Most clubs we play have been exceptionally friendly and helpful to us with some supplying sandwiches and soft drinks in our changing area.

This is the first club we've had any issues with. 

We played a club 2 weeks ago just half a mile up the road and it was polar opposite. They couldn't be more helpful or friendly. That was a great wee night. Sometimes i think certain people shouldn't be working in the hospitality business. They don't have an attitude of helping make the venue better. Everything they do is obstructive and against what most know works best for any venue / club. 

Dave

Dave,

Agreed. In my neck of the woods the nicer upscale venues go out of their way to treat bands nice. These places always comp entrees and drinks for the band. 

At The Harley Motor the lady that supervises the place comes up to the band members before the last set to take our orders.

Daryl

3 hours ago, Geek99 said:

Yes good bass solo, Daryl. Thought the lady singing could have been mixed a bit higher. 

Thanks Geek99,

Agreed, they had the same volume cissue for the lead singer in the band that played before us .

Daryl

5 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'm with you on that. Most people don't want to witness a complicated bass solo unless they are extreme bassists themselves. I personally don't want to hear a bass solo at a gig unless its RUSH of course.

Dave

Hi Dave,

The Electric Bass Guitar is a support instrument.  Sure, you can take a solo but I don't think that was what it's original purpose was.

Daryl

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

Picks are for guitarists- you’ll go blind

Ok, I thought with the combination of playing a Telecaster body style bass and usind a pick I could trick people into thinking I was some sort of groovy guitarist. Lol

Daryl

On 21/06/2025 at 07:35, neepheid said:

Can't say I'm looking forward to tonight - had a stinking cold for the past couple of days and while it is abating, I'm still only operating on about 75% strength.  Wireless shenanigans may be curtailed - hopefully won't need a chair.

I hope you survive the gig. Get well 

Last weekend when we played in 100° heat I sat down during 2 songs. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, but when I saw some video it was not a good look for the band.

Daryl

11 hours ago, dclaassen said:

Blu…nice job…love how calm you right hand is. Wish I could look that cool when performing! Don’t personally use a pick, but really like your sound!

It seems like in some circles playing with a pick is frowned upon.

As a teen I was " all in " with finger playing. I switched to playing with a pick about 25 years ago. For no reason other than the type of grooves and riffs I play are easier to execute with a pick.

Daryl

32 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

What you played for a solo was perfect for that song Daryl. You don't need to over-complicate a solo to make it entertaining. 

I'd rather hear an entertaining bass than a flash one with no groove or feel to it. You nailed that one for me.

Dave

Thanks again Dave.

I'll leave thoise complicated solos to the jazz guys.

Short, simple and sweet. I say get in and get out before something goes wrong.lol

Daryl

6 hours ago, Huge Hands said:

If I remember correctly, if you watch the new "Get Back" remaster thing of the Beatles that Peter Jackson did, you can see a set list taped to the side of Paul's Hofner, presumed to be from their Shea Stadium gig?

Yes, I think I've seen photos of it.

Daryl

4 hours ago, casapete said:

Sounds fine Daryl - have you joined the Rumble club or was it just a hired in rig? 😆

Thanks Pete,

You noticed the backlined Rumble 500. I've always been critical of Fender Bass amps. However, I was impressed with the Rumble 500. It had a very nice punch.

Daryl

4 hours ago, Muzz said:

A lesson in How To Be Cool In 100 Degrees...loved it; you can see the fella on the left in the sun's suffering the heat...  Great groove and feel, you're making it look easy...which is the hard bit... 🙂

Thanks Muzz,

Like I said, I'm not really a

" take a solo " guy. However, the way Max our drummer lays back makes it tolerable. 

Daryl

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Liking that Daryl. Bass sounds nice with studio headphones on and its actually quite a nice mix. That's a nice wee bass line too.

Maybe vocal could be a touch higher but otherwise its good to me.

How's the ankle now. ?

Dave

Thanks Dave,

The ankle is slowly healing. By the time I had taken the EKG and Chemical Stress Test too much healing had occurred and the Podiatrist called off the surgery. 

To be honest, I've never been comfortable taking solos. I felt like I had painted myself into a corner and couldn't find a way out. Lol

Daryl

1 hour ago, Obrienp said:

Nice solo Daryl! Thought it sounded great overall. I get what you mean about the guitar sounding a bit out on occasions but probably wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t pointed it out. That’s Strats in a hot environment for you though.

Thanks Obrienp,

I'm not sure those guitars were properly mixed. Those guys were constantly tuning between songs.

I mentioned this before. We had an hour break between sets . It was heaven to have an air conditioned trailer. 

Daryl

1 hour ago, Staggering on said:

And here I am at the church looking for a note....

 

 

 

 

Very cool bass and beard.

Daryl