Newfoundfreedom

Sexy Badger

They called it Anarchy. It still makes me cringe. It was the late 80's and we were all into heavy metal. But even then the whole Anarchy thing, and name, had been beaten to death.

Yup. That's exactly what happened in my previous band. Sadly I can't now remember the "better" name. Lol

I tried that. Debbie Does Dallas is taken.

I used to have this debate with my ex guitarist all the time. He said the band name wasn't important at all. I personally think it's massively important. Especially in this day and age of social media, trying to get an original Facebook page, Instagram, web page, email, etc. OK, granted, the music is first and foremost. But if you pick a crap name, once you get our and about, you're pretty much stuck with it. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I missed a practice with the first band I was in, and they picked a name while I was away, which I absolutely hated, but they'd already painted the bass drum skin and everything. I used to cringe every time anyone asked me what our band was called.

I actually like Thunderpaws. 😂😠

We're recently an all originals band, having separated from a couple of former member who were only interested in doing covers. So everything I think up that comes from our lyrics just sounds pretentious. Maybe it's just a psychological thing. Even then, almost anything I've tried has been taken.

Just taken this minute in my office. I love the sunburst version, and anyone who's worried about the depth of sound from a short scale. These things sound like thunder!

You just think you've got one. Do a quick Google search and it's already been done. There's nothing new under the sun. (Yes I checked, under the sun had been taken) It's so difficult to find something original that reflects the type of music you're doing, and the kind of message you want to present, without being trite or cheesy. Suggestions welcome.

I like this one of myself and my good lady wife, who happens to be the lead singist.

I've got one. Superb little basses.

We auditioned a Belgian drummer once. He was cr@p! I had to message him and tell him in the most polite possible way that we didn't require his services. He spent the next couple of months telling everyone he met, that he hated the English, and sl@gging off the whole Bitish nation, including the Queen. I didn't even know she was in a band. They're a strange breed. (Drummers not Belgians)

Better than being asked to be the guitarist. 😂

It's difficult to be objective when it's not really your thing, and this is definitely not my thing. As said above, it's definitely got a Jamiroquai vibe to it. Which is another band that's not really my thing, but I quite like in moderation. I would say the same about this band. If all their stuff had this kind of vibe I would tire of it pretty quickly, which is a personal taste thing and not necessarily a criticism of the band. Having said that, I like this track. It's got a cool, laid back feel, and a catchy chorus. It's the kind of thing I would tap my feet to on the radio, and maybe sing along with in the chorus, but I wouldn't go out and buy. I think the above criticisms of the singer are a bit unfair. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with his voice, and it suits the style of music, but the vocals could be much better processed. They come across as a bit "raw" if that makes sense. This track would certainly be enough to pique my curiosity and go and see what else they'd got if they were playing local.

I used to have a constant debate with my old guitarist about covers vs originals. Nothing wrong with doing covers, but I much prefer the creative process of writing and creating original music. He just couldn't get his head around the fact that I wasn't interested in "pleasing a crowd", and for me, the enjoyment came from the creativity involved. He would say I only wanted to play what pleased me and not the crowd so I was being selfish. I would argue that he only wanted to play covers to get the adoration of the crowd, therefore it was him being selfish. Hey ho. Perhaps both were true.

I've never played or learned any of the above.

I don't know much about 6 stringed instruments, but I believe that style of guitar was called a Teletubby or something like that.

A picture of an a$$ with daft hair in sunglasses? No problem!

Ah good old Wakey. My old stomping ground. I used to go there pretty much every weekend in my early teens, jumping on the train from South Elmsall. I went to college there and also worked there for a while. Had many good night out in the town. I even had my 18th birthday party at Rooftop Gardens on 10p a pint night. Good times!

True. As I said earlier, lyrics are probably the most important part of a song for me, but there are always exceptions. As you mentioned, Rammstein. Although I do have a rudimentary understanding of German from school, they're really all about the energy. Another exception for me is nonsensicle lyrics. Which is something I could never write, my brain just doesn't work that way. Yet it can still be extremely effective and clever. This, for me, being one of the finest examples.

I can't stand instrumentals. They do nothing for me at all. I even quickly get bored with a song if the into is too long. Probably why, although rock is my favourite musical genre, I was never really a fan of prog.

For me as a music listener the lyrics are massively important. Probably the most important part of any song. If a song has no meaning, then I'm really not interested. As a "musician" the lyrics are equally important. I like to write songs so they all have meaning to me. When the band plays covers (usually ones I'm outvoted on) with dubious or meaningless lyrics as it makes me cringe. As a realist I would say that probably 95 percent of the actual audience don't give a stinky poo. Give them a good hook and a catchy chorus and that's pretty much all they need. The guitarist in my ex band was obsessed with getting people dancing. Any act playing half arsed catchy covers can get a bunch of drunks up dancing. One of my favourite gigs was when I saw a couple of the women in the audience crying (hopefully not at how bad we were). That's when you know they're really listening.

I understand how practising and playing on your own might be hassle free fun. But unless you're going to play with other people or record, then what's the point of it really? Fair enough if you were playing piano or acoustic guitar and writing songs which you could perform solo, but the bass is not really a solo instrument. If you're enjoying playing solo, then fair play. Personally when I'm not in a band situation or at least working towards that, I lose all interest. I haven't picked up the bass in weeks since I last played with my old band. Although I do intend to spend a large part of this winter practising and working on theory and technique etc, but again, that's with a goal of being able to play better with a band. Also I'm a similar age to you. 44 and I joined a band last year, which is the first band I've been in since I was 16.

I can tell you, the action is so high I could dry my washing on it.

It's not really possible to do one on one lessons anyway. First of all I couldn't afford to even if I wanted to, which I really don't. Playing bass is just a hobby and I have plenty of other things to do which means I wouldn't always have the time to study and practice between set lessons. Learning online is much more flexible. Then there's the problem of living in a remote rural area of a foreign country, with only a rudimentary understanding of the language. Even if I could, by some miracle find an English speaking music teacher here, the local style of music is so far from anything that resembles a melody to my ear, it's even worse than jazz. I'd rather learn a tune from an old dial up modem.