Newfoundfreedom

I'm glad it's not just me.

Well we've got our first ever festival coming up a week on Saturday, so I'll see how things go there, and whether or not I can find that elusive "buzz".

Have a look in the sale section on here Chris. There's some cracking stuff going at silly prices. I think there's still a Warwick stack going for about £250. Silly money. If all else fails and your back is up to carrying it, have a look on eBay for some old Trace Elliott gear. It goes for next to nothing these days, and you can't go far wrong with it.

True, and I'd absolutely agree if I was doing it for a living. But still having to earn a living and giving up every weekend to play for nothing is a different matter.

Yeah it may well come to that eventually. Although it's a bit more difficult than that. While no one in a band is irreplaceable, my wife is the singer, we own the PA, and also have the practice space. So bowing out quietly wouldn't really work and would l leave the rest of the band well and truly in the lurch.

Already done. As we're primarily all good friends and the band is secondary to that (at least as far as I'm concerned) there's no real communication problems as we regularly socialize outside the band. I've agreed to stick it out for the time being as we're pretty much booked every weekend for the next couple of months and it will be good practice / experience. As I said, we're a new band so this will help settle us in. Then I'm hoping with the onset of winter things are going to slow down naturally. If not I'm going to have to put my foot down.

Yes we could probably earn as much as any other other bar band in our area, maybe even more with a few more gigs under our belt as we're already building up a bit of a flowing. But it's usually just the takings from a small door charge. With 6 band members to split it between it's not even worth worrying about. To be honest, it's probably only the charity aspect that keeps me going. If we were doing it to earn a few quid I don't think I'd even bother. I could put my time to far more prosperous use than being a musician if I was in it for the money.

True. But if president is anything to go by, I've seen loads of the old Trace stuff go for peanuts.

Groupies would be great, except my wife is the lead singer. 😂 Roadies would definitely be better, but as we don't even earn anything I can't see anyone doing that for free. Unless they're working at Edinburgh Tattoo. 😜

Having read some of the responses I now feel like a bit of an imposter and maybe realize how lucky I am / we are. A bit of background. Our band are all UK expats now living in Bulgaria. We don't earn any money from gigging. A monthly salary here in Bulgaria is about one sheckle, three grotes, and a salted peanut if you do plenty of overtime. So we're definitely not in it for the money. In fact any money we earn from gigging is given to charity. We also don't have the hassle of getting gigs. We have a manager who does all that for us. When I say manager, I mean a drinking pal who doesn't play an instrument but wanted to be involved in the band. The biggest problem is he's probably too good at it. We're in a position that I suspect many bands would envy. We've got gigs coming out of our ears. We've gone from playing our first ever gig about 4 weeks ago, to being booked up every weekend until a fortnight after I die. Including 2 festivals coming up in the next 3 weeks, having never even played on a "professional" stage in my life. We also have the possibility of a newspaper interview and a radio spot coming up in the next few weeks. I suppose most band's would kill for an opportunity like this. The problem for me is, it was just supposed to be a few mates larking about and doing the occasional gig for a laugh and it's all gone a bit too full on. I might have wanted to be a rock star at 16 but those days are long gone. Maybe I'm just a miserable stinky poo. The other problem is, I still need to earn a living, where the rest of the band have a passive income, so I just can't afford to give up so much time. I think part of the reason I don't / can't enjoy it is because for me it's just not sustainable on the long term. So I'm just waiting for it all to implode.

Cheers TimR Good advice there. We're a new band and still finding out feet and I must admit that setting up really stresses me out. In fact the whole apprehension of gigging stresses me out. I find I'm like a bear with a sore derriere before a gig.

Well I've subscribed too. I'd rather listen to someone else play than myself. 😂

The best response to that is, I live in Bulgaria and it's better but to ask questions. 😂

Weirdly until you and Teebs mentioned it I'd never noticed the background. Even more weird, is it's not wallpaper. It was an outdoor gig. 😂

I absolutely get that when it's something you've been doing for years, it's probably quite normal to become a bit jaded with it. But here's the weird thing. This is a new band and we've only just started gigging. We're maybe 6 gigs in (including one later today) and I hate it already. I haven't played in public (or much at all) since I was 16. I'm now 44. When I played in front of an audience in my teens I felt like a rock God! Now it's more slight apprehension beforehand, go through the motions during, and glad it's all over with in the end. Kind of how I suspect Mrs NFF feels about my conjugal visits.

One of me from a recent gig. Please forgive the lairy shorts, but it was well over 30 degrees.

I can't be the only one, can I? Don't get me wrong, I love being in a band, hanging around with my mates making music, that's where the pleasure comes from for me. I know public performance is the pinnacle of being in a band for most people, but I'm just not feeling it. The way I feel at the minute, I honestly wouldn't care if I never played in public again Lugging gear around, trying to fit it all in the car. Spending the best part of an hour at the other end unloading it and setting everything up. Standing round like a spare part waiting to go on, then performing to a load of annoying, well lubricated people, who, in many cases aren't even interested. Only to have to break everything back down while the audience who haven't shown a bit of interest all night, start demanding "more". Then lug everything around back into the car, drive home, lug it around again into the house and finally get to relax about 3 hours after the people you've been "entertaining" have gone to bed. The only part I actually enjoy is if we get time for a couple of cheeky pints after the gig. Why do I do it?

Doesn't that apply to most basses?

They're so cheap I'd even consider paying to have one shipped all the way over here to Bulgaria and I'd still be quids in. Sadly ( and somewhat understandably ) no one ever offers shipping due to the weight.

I'm actually the opposite of that. I had one to one lessons a few years ago and just found it a really uncomfortable experience. I just didn't take anything in. I actually much prefer video lessons so I can "rewind" and revisit a subject as much as I want until it makes sense. Like you say, everyone is different. We're lucky to live in an era where there's so much choice.

I've been looking at it and I'm extremely tempted. I like Mark. He's a straight to business, no nonsense teacher.

Are these things actually any good? I had a Warwick Thumb some years ago which was nice, if little on the heavy side. I'd love another Warwick but the days of spending 4 figure sums on a bass are long gone.

That would have been my dream rig when I started playing back in the late 80's. I've never owned a Trace rig and they're giving them away now. I'd be all over it if I was in the UK.

Play that funky moooosic black and white boy.