tvickey

My band 'Shreds.' is heading across the channel for the first time this weekend, to play 3 shows in Belgium.  

Should be fun!

My band Shreds. (punk / hardcore) are playing Sheffield on Saturday September 6th. 

Tickets are only £5 and can be booked here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/terraphile-promotions

10 minutes ago, uncle psychosis said:

Never seen those before. 

 

Cool bass, even cooler story! 

Fender only made them from 1990 - 1993.  

I just returned from a trip to the USA, and brought my very first bass back to Europe with me.  I'd not held or played the bass in 20 years, and had sold it to my former PhD supervisor just prior to moving to Europe in 2005.  He kept the bass all these years, gigging it, etc., and then recently offered to sell it back to me when he learned that I started playing in a band again.

The bass is a Fender JP-90, s/n 001999 (or 666-100, as I like to say 😈), and was purchased as new by me sometime in 1990.  The bass has both P and J pickups and is the fundamental reason that (even today) I like the J/P configuration of Warwick Streamers, as well as the neck/bridge configuration of Rickenbackers). 

The bass chose me, and the story goes as follows:  My cousin visited me summer of 1990, bringing along his P-bass.  He let me goof around with his bass for a bit, and I decided that I really liked the instrument (I played piano and alto sax at the time).  I thought about buying a bass for myself, and asked my cousin what brands are good... he said 'Fender'.  I visited a local music store and started looking at basses, ultimately plugging in this Fender JP-90 playing on it for a bit.  The bass wasn't super expensive, but a good chunk of change for me at that time.  I decided to give the purchase a bit more thought, and hung the bass back up on the wall.  I turned around, walked away, and heard a loud 'CRASH'--the JP-90 had fallen off of the wall.  The finish chipped in one spot near the strap button, but was just fine otherwise.  I asked the guy in the store if I had to buy it now, and he replied, "No, but but if you do it will be greatly appreciated and I'll give you a discount."

This remained my only bass for a long time, and was gigged by me while playing with my first band in the early '90s.  Then I got busy with university... life happened, I moved abroad, etc.  I just played this bass again for the first time this morning... after 20 years.  Thin / fast neck, and super light.  The J pickup still sounds great.  I'll gig it again at some point, which will be pretty amazing, considering how much time has passed.

Still available... not open to trades though, as I already have too many basses. 😂

37 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

 

What bass do you play? 😉

And @PirateSecurity please, _please_, tell us that you're PAT testing your amp!  Remember, a red "FAILED" sticker means that it should not be used by anyone (even your customers).

3 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

 

We were taught as kids in the 70s how to search for a fire. Is this no longer taught? 😕

It's still taught, but only down in South Africa... which is the reason why the fire alarm response call center is located there.

And welcome to Basschat @PirateSecurity

3 minutes ago, PirateSecurity said:

You know that same staff member then emailed you to say she wasn't aware of your language on previous calls and couldn't lift the supension. And that I then emailed you a full response, explaining the ban. Please stop making misrepresentations on here. I'd appreciate it if you didn't call staff out by name either, as I've taken care not to give out your details.

That's not quite what your staff member wrote.  

Anyway, asking a customer to deactivate the fire alarm is incredibly dangerous.  It doesn't matter if your call center in South Africa saw vaping, or thought they saw vaping.  What if the alarm was triggered for another reason?  What if the source was something smoldering away in the walls?  

I hope that Pirate improves... you're risking people's lives.    

47 minutes ago, PirateSecurity said:

Hey, so I look after security at Pirate Studios and as you know I've already messaged you about this. As I told you, clearly and in writing, I didn't ban you for swearing at AI or the person who you thought was AI. I banned you for swearing at the artist support staff members who spoke to you on the phone and were trying to explain the situation to you. You talked over them and swore at them. The calls were recorded, I listened to them; and I'm not sure why you think then misrepresenting the matter on here is the appropriate response. 

 

As the artist support team tried to explain to you at the time, and I then did in writing, the alarm had been triggered by a previous customer vaping and this had been confirmed by our CCTV control room. We had called out a mobile response guard to reset the alarm but they were delayed. That was the situation you walked into, which you have every right to complain about - but lets keep it within the realm of the factual. I'd never ban someone simply for raising a legitimate concern, but I don't think anyone listening to the calls would disagree with my decision. I've now spoken to South Yorkshire Fire Brigade who referenced receiving a number of emails from you, our CEO, investors, our marketing director you started messaging on LinkedIn - so you can be assured this has indeed been flagged and looked into.

Thanks Pirate.  Actually, XXX listened to the calls and disagreed with your decision.  She even reinstated my account (see attached).

I apologized.  I'm not perfect, and Pirate isn't perfect either.  I hope that we can both improve ourselves after this incident.

8 hours ago, Wombat said:

Loss leader owned by Russian (insert county of your choice) billionaire?

4/6ths of the owners are resident abroad.  Hong Kong and Singapore.

40 minutes ago, Jackroadkill said:

 

 

If nobody turns up, how will they know if you're there or not?!

When my charred corpse is identified using dental records? 

Just confirmed:  I'm permanently banned from Pirate, but they will refund me for the session.

Actually, I found the names of the board members online... and from there it was not difficult to give a good educated guess as to their individual corporate email addresses. 

Now they will not be able to say they were genuinely unaware of the fire risk.  I've written to each of them, and nothing bounced.

I also sent a message to the CEO of Pirate Studios, David Borrie, via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-borrie-33858819/

4 minutes ago, ambient said:

They sound like a right bunch of pirates.

Well then they really shouldn't be offended by my sailor mouth!

We used to use Practice Sheffield, until that place closed down due to development.

Honestly, my favorite rehearsal space is Playing Aloud in Lincoln.  If we rehearse late in the evening on a weekday, we will go there every time.  However, for half of us it is a bit of a drive... for our drummer it is perfect, as he lives in Lincoln and can pop in there to meet us immediately after finishing work.  It is staffed by some really amazing humans.  No AI bs.

Okay, I apologized to the AI chatbot too... 

28 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

I'd definitely dob them in to the fire service and the environmental health department of the relevant local authority.

Thanks!  Now reported for environmental noise with EPS Sheffield.  Fire service already contacted.

SumUp has a transaction dispute form.  This has now been completed and submitted, together with all supporting documentation.

7 minutes ago, Dood said:

Did you pay by credit card for the (dis)pleasure? I'd have requested a charge back for failing to deliver the service you were paying for, language or otherwise. 

Debit card... from the group band account.  I'll have to check with SumUp if we are able to dispute the charge.

1 minute ago, Magister Ludi said:

Why did no one phone 999 ?

 

Brigade would not have happy for that call-out!

In retrospect, we absolutely should have called 999.  Had we seen smoke or flames at the time, we certainly would have.  

10 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

I've also had some piss-poor experiencs in other rehearsal spaces - recently the guy who ran one didn't make eye contact with our drummer or speak to her, he'd only talk to me and the other guy there. She found that creepy as f*cK and I agree.

Was he possibly just AI wrapped up in an android body? 🤔  (sorry for your experience)

1 hour ago, dave_bass5 said:

The Pirate studios we use have CCTV in every room, as well as the kitchen/Toilet areas. So we assume things are monitored. 

Yes, there are a lot of cameras...   sure, if there was a raging fire it would be obvious, but I guess if cameras made good smoke detectors, we would have cameras instead of smoke detectors?

31 minutes ago, chrisba said:

 I think a ban is entirely appropriate.
 

Okay, yes, I likely deserve to be banned for life.  I'm certainly not perfect.  I might be a bad person, or even on the spectrum.  My dad regularly yelled at me when I was a small boy and so deep down maybe that has something to do with it. 

BUT my interactions were with an AI chatbot, and to be totally honest with you I suspect the chatbot initiated the ban automatically based on keywords.  I probably shouldn't be abusive to AI chatbots, but they have no feelings or emotions.  A human only came on to the chat after the ban was announced, and at that point they clearly identified themselves.

I did sincerely apologize to the human, and I have now also formally reported  Pirate Studios for disregarding the fire alarm and for providing a customer with details for switching it off.  The way that I see it, I am completely obliged to report this... they could ultimately kill people.