RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

On 27/09/2023 at 12:27, WinterMute said:

I have tickets for the Barbican date, don't much care about the prices and I'd buy the book anyway. I've heard Geddy Lee speak on a few occasions and he's excellent, I'm looking forward to it.

I was lucky to see him promoting  the Rush film at the haymarket  . He is a very good speaker , and you'll enjoy the Barbican 😼👍

43 minutes ago, Skybone said:

It's been a tale and a half here...

 

I'd thought about going, but then decided not to, due to the cost of getting there, staying over, etc. Then I was informed that my son's College Music Course were having a "show gig" on the same night. Being his first gig, I could not miss that.

 

Then I was speaking to our guitarist, who's also a big Rush fan, who said he'd drive, result, so I booked 2 tickets, only remembering about my sons gig directly after booking them. Oh Foxtrot! Sent the venue an email, asking if I can cancel the booking & get a refund. Thankfully, they obliged (phew, TFFT).

 

Fast forward to yesterday (13th Dec.), when my son texted me to say that the gig had been cancelled due to a lack of Staff. Gutted for my son, but then thought to ask our guitarist if he was still up for it. Not surprised at his answer, so booked some more tickets.

 

Guess I'll see you there whoever's going to Glasgow! 

 

"Giddy for Geddy"

Well done on actually manage to rebook tkts !😼👍 

40 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

No problem here; at the end of our concerts, I usually stagger away to a bit of free space, often outside, to lie down, flat on my back, limbs outstretched, trying to breath. Kind folk bend down to inquire as to my health, and my band mates reassure them that it's all OK; 'He always does this; just let him recover for a while...' So far, I've always recovered; maybe one day... 

Thanks for understanding Dad😼👍.  Hope all is well with you . As you're the drummer, you are allowed to be the most knackered after a gig 😺

Totally agree with yoga and Pilates .

From 2004-2006 I was seeing a personal trainer ( costly and a struggle financially ) who gave me a yoga/ Pilates weekly session , plus weights and some boxer size  . Session was once weekly, and I used the gym 3-4 times a week . 

The feeling after each PT session was fantastic . The only issue was having to go back to the office / band practice/ commute home.

Feeling relaxed and rejuvenated is an understatement . 
 

When my job was made redundant , I purchased a Pilates reformer ..big mistake ! Only because it was too big and awkward for my previous abode . 😬. Very noisy too .  Having said that , I gave it to my builder for his missus when I moved home , and he gave me a discount here and there .  There are places with reformers ,and they be worth trying out .

Lots of stuff on YouTube these days.  

26 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Ooo I do soooooo hate it when that happens. 

Oops ! Just realised that my post was a bit insensitive .😬. Apologies ..and edited .

Just saw a YouTube review  from Keithron Powell .  I'll not invest when I can afford to .  
 

Before that , my initial thoughts were that somebody like Mike Portnoy  would demo this for fun..

Of course my other thought was , that the punters wouldn't be impressed at 5he dog and duck due to the drums not being actual drums .

Pm 'd😼

If my Warwick sold , I would have had this . If my Washburn status sold ,I would have had this ... 

Tough times at the moment . Plus 🌲is around the corner . 
Anyway , bump for a great price and colour 

Back in 1992 my first ever gig ; me , guitarist , vocals , keyboards ..which incorporated drum machines . 
I have no idea what he was using . I know  that there was an Akai sampler involved .  It was the era of many, many plugs  crammed into as many sockets as possible . That as just for him . I'll ask him more when I see him tomorrow over a couple of ciders .🍻

There were only a couple of hiccups but thankfully everything worked out fine . We did another 3 gigs with the same setup 🙀

An odd selection of covers , but we never did Phil Collins in a gorilla suit .

I like electronic drums . Playing in a band situation though , I'd say that you have to be 'precise' and not much room for human mistakes if that makes sense . Not reall ideal for mustang sally ..

These  synth boxes seem to have improved a hell of a lot over the years . 
Having said that , they still have the usual off-putting traits to them with the GK Pickup and latency on lower notes.

I often thought of ways to get a fairly good selection of synth noises for bass that don't  cost the earth . Electroharmonix  released the synth9 among others for example . 
 

At the end of the day since getting into synths a few years back  ( moogs and Waldorf  with more to be added) , I think that it's best to keep polyphonic synth sounds away from the bass guitar. It is obviously ok for guitarists though . I found the synth 9 limiting , so I sold it . I love the Digitech Bass Syth Wah, and the Bass Whammy , although the latter is too big for my liking .

I have a boss Me-8b , and Zoom B3 which which are ok in moderation . 

Not sure if the GK pickup damges the bass or guitar you may be using . 🤔 If so, then a back up should you have one would seem to be the way to go imho. 
 

What about menu diving ? It was bad enough trying to understand the Boss Me-8b when that came out 

I'll not invest . Times are hard , but it does seem you do get a lot for the money 

The partridge family 

Well, I saw John Mayall at the Hammy Odeon  in the early 2000's . It was on a Tuesday , and not a stormy Monday .

A little before my time when he was at the peak of his popularity . We were upstairs, which was very quiet and spacious .

The people I went with were more into the older bluesy stuff than me , but I obviously had an open mind .

We went for Stan Webb who was supporting . He was really good, and I saw him once before .

Tbh ( and sorry if it offends) , but we were disappointed with  John Mayall ..

He seemed to have a touch of arrogance about him . Changed costumes a couple of times . Track suit bottoms ?!? 
The best part of his set imho  , was when Mick Taylor joined him onstage . Mick Taylor.played on most of my favourite stones albums .

In all honesty , the gig would have been better at a smaller venue / large pub on a Sunday . 
 

Anyay, fair play to him and a belated happy birthday 🎂. 90 impressive for sure .

While still at school, my sisters boyfriend gave me an acoustic guitar which was firewood really . He as trying to show me how to play Dr who riff . No plectrum, but a sixpence .

As I got older I met with some new friends who had les Paul and strat copies . I I managed to persuade mummy to get me a nice black les Paul copy from the catalogue , along with a jh s practice amp . That never really worked out ..

I was practicing feedback technices  like Ted Nugent and jimi Hendrix . I even purchased a glass bottleneck for blues slides.

Oh, and I had a large orange fuzz box . I sounded like Tom morello torturing cats . ( ok he wasn't around then ,but you get 5he picture)

The amp didn't take long to have permanent distortion ,whether it was required or not . Sounded intermittent , but Metal.

Said nice friend advised me ; " you have big hands , and a bass only has 4 strings ..try that". So , I got mummy to exchange guitar for a Hondo ii precision copy piece of heavy firewood  from the catalogue . That pretty much got me heading into the right direction .

All these  episodes were done before I went to my first gig . Lemmy , and geezer were the artists on record that immediately wanted me to be like . However, being crushed at the music machine and the marquee and being right infront of stevie Harris ,  he as the first live bass player who I thought was phenomenal ..

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

Agreed, there is no such thing as a "simple DAW" in my limited experience.  Quite daunting on first open...

This is true . It seems lbest to don't fear the reaper ( or one of the others ) 😬

4 hours ago, Munurmunuh said:

Short but very intense love of Maiden when I was 13–14. Then moved on, and then moved on some more. Many, many years later, found that the Killers-era line up (Di'anno, Smith, Burr) still does it for me, unreservedly.

 

 

 

I was at this gig . A few of the songs had to be done again for the video . I ended up taking a padded seat from the venue back with me on the underground .😬 Good times 

Thanks for the heads up . I don't have Spotify , but will download on Audible 

8 minutes ago, 12stringbassist said:

MeatLoaf.
He sued a local tribute act in order to get a domain name from him.
The thought of listening to him now makes me itch.

Thankfully never got into him . However, he showed his true colours at knebworth  ('85 supporting purple etc) and suffered that day for his attitude 😆

3 hours ago, Harlequin74 said:

I have one like this. Now my go to bass.

 

Dont sell it! 
 

just DONT sell it! 😁

You may be right 😹. I'm really really really trying to find a reason not to reduce the number of basses I have .

Thanks for your kind instruction 😺

12 hours ago, musicbassman said:

Well, I wasn't quite sure when the band had actually started 'playing', but I think it's a couple of minutes in from the beginning.

 

No bass player, so there's obviously a gig going there............ 😳

 

 

Wow ! That's very professional 😃. Sounds like Lulu outtakes ...

I tried to like Therapy, but just couldn’t get on with them . I had the short sharp shock ep , but only played it twice . Sold it last year . I saw cop shoot cop support then at the town and country club who I much prefer . 
Now I may have to dig out some of their stuff. A friend of mine was big into sup pop. He did me a cassette of tad and mud honey amongst others. Touch me I’m sick is one of the best sup pop imho. 
Front 242 are a band relevant in this thread for me ..

Led zeppelin , Ozzy solo stuff, metal church, 

Tbh I haven't played either of those artists stuff for many years . I did have The Dark album by metal church , and that ended up as part of a large vinyl sale last year . 
It could be easy for me to add  more to this list ( classic motorhead and the stones for example  ) , but I know that I will  get round to playing said bands at a random time and would be a tad disappointed if I sold those albums. 

 I saw a few  live festival  gigs on you tube  over the last couple of years ( Bloodstock / wackem / hellfest ) and I saw this quite live, energetic French punk band . They were really good . I thought that they seem really good for a newer ban£. 
Tagada Jones have been around a lot longer than I thought . 😬 . Some bands just slip through the radar ..

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

I've got a different problem - being stuck in a rut of listening to the same stuff I've always listened to.  So it's not that I can't listen to stuff I used to like anymore, it's that I can't stop listening to stuff I used to like (and continue to do so) at the expense of new stuff.

I hear you ( musical term  meaning I understand 😬) ...

In a slight comparison , I find it hard to see anything that grabs me as much as things did in the '80s and '90s especially .

I tried to listen to planet Rock for example in lockdown  , and in all honesty there were a couple of what I call newer bands ( massive wagons and I forgot the others ) , but there was nothing there . ( except for constant repeated commercials and music as old as JR Harley ) I tried , then switched off and can't see me going back .

I will look into Haestorm more though , as they have rreal talent and looked good on a clip I saw on Download on TV.

I got back into sparks and think the Hippopotamus album is one of the best albums I purchased in years. 
Although ltd in talent , I purchased the Celtic Frost box set , and love it . Same with both Tangerine Dream box sets of late.

As for Hawkwind and seeing them multiple times , I can only really listen to Levitation now . Love Rush, and snakes and ladders and Exit stage left are the only ones I don't bother with so much. 
 

I mentioned Roses above , but I only have the Lies EP ..and I don't play it . Got bored of them very quickly . 
As for RATM mentioned above  , I purchased the 1st album , and downloaded the rest . Apologies in advance , but they sound very samey and whiney. Not a band for party classics . can't tolerate them now .
Soundgarden I don't bother with anymore . When they played Hyde park with sabbath, they played the whole of 5he superunknown album and the last couple of songs were really depressing . Not exactly bad motorfinger . I don't bother much with them now..

,janes addiction , foo fighters , buns and roses .

Interesting topic ..

I purchased so much music mainly in the '80s .Mainly metal .  Over obsessive those days .

So, off the top of my head ; Nirvana , Venom , Motley Crue , Danzig, Ted Nugent ,Hendrix, Atomic Rooster, Angelwitch ,Groundhogs,Stray, Wolfsbane , Di'anno era maiden . Saxon . 
Probabky others that may cross my mind ..

When I was 15 met some new local friends who were into metal ( or heavy rock as it was known then ) .

Those kids were cool and had electric guitars . Copies of les Paul's and strats etc. so I got a nice black Les Paul copy .

Or rather , mummy got one for mr from the catalogue . 
Unfortunately , I was worse than awful . So mummy managed to get the guitar exchanged for a piece of heavy firewood called the Hondo II . Well, it got me going . The large OHM Bass Head and Cab caused lots of vibrations to toilet seats when family members were in there ..plus of course vibrating windows ! 
 

Nevertheless I was determined to do something . I found a phone no. In melody maker ,and phoned from the phone box  and  the 'tutor' said "you don't need lessons on a bass guitar " 

So, into the mid '80s I found some great fronds at a place of work . One of those friends used to give me lessons for £5.

sometimes I'd give him some metal albums instead as I had them on cd . Awesome guitarist and one of my best mates .

He was in a band with ginger from the wildhearts and apparently was a level or 2 above him .

So , me the guitarist a keyboard player  with drum machine ,vocalist ( we all used to work in same company ) managed to do a private gig in pub in central london infront of 200 people 🙀.for my 30th birthday in 1992 .Me and the keyboard player were extra nervous being our first gig . After 3 songs all good .Fantastic ! 

We did a few more birthday gigs with different lineups for different people etc . 
That started me joining a band 2 years later .