Newfoundfreedom

A living?! I've never made a penny. 😂

Great setup. 👌

I could never figure out why Classic FM has a much stronger broadcast signal than anything else on the planet. You could get it in your car, in a cave underground, with the aerial snapped off. Yet Radio 1, which has 6 times as many listeners, you have to re-tune every three streets, and if you drive past a wasp you lose the signal.

Thanks Dave. We're still pretty new on the scene and have only played about 4 gigs, but we seem to be going down quite well whenever we play. I've been surprised by the response to be honest as it's the first time I've been in an originals band, and it's a totally different ball game to doing covers that everyone knows. We've even been invited to play a large festival at the end of May, by the organiser who's been to a couple of our gigs. Sadly can't make it, but it's nice to be invited.

Great gig last night, for a somewhat unexpected reason. We supported another all originals band at a local guesthouse. An extremely low key affair just for the fun of it. As anyone in an originals band knows, it's pretty difficult to get people to really listen to what you have to say. I've always been of the opinion that making people dance is easy, making people cry is another matter entirely, and means they're truly listening. Last night we had our first crier and it made my night. I should probably add, it was at the appropriate time after an extremely emotive song, and not just coz we were cr@p. 😂

I can't even get my head around how someone breaks a bass string.

No chance. I've never had a bass or amp fail. I exclusively play six string bass, of which I own only one, and I only own one amp. If amp fails I'll plug into the PA. If the bass fails (I don't know how it ever would) I'll go home. I flatly refused to buy, and lug a whole load of extra gear around just in case.

That's a gateway drug in the same sense as taking crack for a mild headache. 😂

I take an extra battery and an extra lead. That's it.

I agree. Probably not something that would be at the top of my playlist on a daily basis. But exceptionally talented songwriters.

I think it can get a bit creepy and arguably exploitative when they use the avatar of someone who's dead. But in this case, with the whole band very much alive and actively a party of it. Fair play to them I say. It obviously has a massive audience, so why not? I'd rather see a virtual ABBA than the real version of 99% of what passes for music these days.

It's about the ABBA tour Stu, and them using CGI VR version of themselves on stage. Hence ABBAtar (Avatar).

I'd go as far to say that I absolutely disagree with this on a fundamental level. If this was the case, we'd all still be playing classical. As musicians, we should follow our passions and instincts and create. People following what we do comes later, or doesn't at all. Either way, creativity is king. Rehashing what people already know is absolutely pointless in my opinion.

Not much different from what that Deamon Allbran fella was doing with Gorillaz years ago really.

I'd like to have been able to watch it long enough to see them get to the bridge..... Then all jump off.

Yeah I totally get that point of view. But I don't listen to music because I'm a musician (barely). I hate to listen to anything with the musical analysis part of brain engaged. That just ruins it for me. It's like watching a magic trick when you know how it's done. I listen to music purely for my own pleasure, and in that respect, there's definitely a lot it I don't like. Or, at the very least, genres that I much prefer.

I don't think I've ever even picked one up.

Nah! Still involves leaving the house. I'm out!

They never grew on me. I've been with my wife for 20 years and it's all she ever bloody plays. In fairness. I quite liked "Astronaut" after it got stuck in the car CD player for a while. But not to the point I'd actively seek it out. Everything else is just a bit meh.

My wife is a massive fan. I don't get it myself. Very mediocre to my ear. Maybe you had to be there at the time. Apart from hearing The Reflex when I was about 8, I was largely unaware of their existence until we met.

I've opened "brand new" strings from a sealed packet before now, and they've been rusty. (Not bass. Good ol' Ernie Ball guitar strings)

You can take bass strings off? 😲

The track's called "Of Wolf and Man". 😉

Yeah it's definitely not a range thing. His voice has a richness and a tone and timbre which is absolutely superb (although granted, subjective, when you start taking about tone). On the other side of the coin, you have people like Adele, who has a huge range, and can undoubtedly hit all the right notes, but it's like nails on a chalk board. Kind of like playing a flute solo on bagpipes. The notes might be there, but it sounds bloody horrible!

Sadly it's not an option for some of us. The closest, half decent music shop to me is three hours drive away, even then, they couldn't even dream of competing with the likes of Thomann on stock, price, or probably even customer service. I can get stuff delivered to my door from Germany cheaper than I can drive to the city, park to go and pick it up. Online is the only way to go as far as I'm concerned.