Bassfinger

Did a free gig last night to support a friend of the band who's just opened a pub that does quite nice food. Hes a good chum to all of us, and the timing of his business opening coincided with his house buring down so we all agreed to play for free to help out a mate. We did one longish set rather than our usual two sets with a break in the middle as his entertainment licence was only until 2200hrs. Was good, really enjoyed it. We got paid in free drinks (full fat Coke in my case) and gourmet pub burgers (he's employed a proper chef) which was very nice. Atmosphere was good, a lot of folk from the village turned out so a fair few faces I knew. One chap was a music promoter, a friend of our rhythm guitarist, and he was telling us a few interesting stories about some big name bands. Nothing salacious, just how much they make for playing gigs, festivals, that sort of thing. He thought we were great, our typical middle aged USP of turning 70s and 80s pop pap into hard rock songs went down well with him, although we all agreed the chances of a record deal were zero! 😛 Only Ballache was the usual - couldn't pack the gear away until the pub was sufficiently empty, which meant waiting for closing. Didn't flop into bed until 2am and feel nacked this morning. Don't care how much anyone is paying, couldn't do it for a living.

In our band only one has a proper job. Three of us are retired, one is semi-retired.

One. Behringer because it does the job and is cheap, but I don't especially like it.

Supertramp are my 12 year old daughters favourite band. The lass has taste.

I'm 55 and we did a gig in a huge marquee a few weeks back and the combination of lugging gear miles from car to venue and back, and playing in awful heat left me feeling nacked for days. Even if I could get 6 gigs a week that laid on like that all year round it would probably kill me.

Full fat coke, no ice. I like the grog but as I get older even moderate amounts give me awful headaches so I'm off it for good. It's really annoying, because our regular rehearsal venue is a bar at a football club and we get free booze in exchange for a free gig from us ince a year. They open the bar, lock us in and come back three hours later, by which time our rhythm guitarist is so blasted he has to leave his car there. Meanwhile I might sup a can or two of coke, or perhaps Schwepes lemonade.

Some of my favourite bass playing is from a musician who only picked up a bass to finish the album because their bassist had been taken ill.

Ueah, we do pub gigs a lot cheaper but we treat those as practice rather than gigs. If it weren't for that we wouldn't do the pubs at all. Yeah, personally I'd want 10 or 12 large a month minimum if I were doing it for a living, and with share dividends and bonuses it still wouldn't get that close to what I was earning as European Director of Equipment for a very large petrochemical concern. Throw in my own private consultancy as well and it would be even further apart. Fortunately I'm in the position that I play because I want to, and even if I were 3 decades younger I doubt I'd even consider trying to earn a living at playing, much less a decent living where you've gone well beyond being hand-to-mouth. Even if I did I'd be wanting to coin enough to pay roadies, driver etc, and being realistic that would never happen for me, so I take a few shekels from out wealthy equestrian customer base and that keeps me in Ernie Balls finest.

Ah, that what we get paid but we typically do 2 or three a month. As stated, while we do pretty well for those gigs we do play I doubt there's the work out there to give us enough paid employment to make it viable as an occupation. Individual nights are OK, but it just doesn't scale up sufficiently. To earn close to what I was in my proper job prior to retiring a couple of years ago I'd have to play 6 gigs a week at 400 a go right through the year and there just isn't the demand. Even if there was I reckon being my own roadie six days a week would have a pretty short shelf life - two or three times a month is tiresome enough.

We go about 2 grand a gig for the 5 of us, so 400 snifters apiece. When we do gig we can get the top cash, but getting enough gigs to live on might be tricky, certainly round these parts. You'd need 2 or 3 a week minimum at those rates to earn enough coin to live on, and 5 or 6 to be comfortable and I can't see there's enough demand for it.

Swarfega and a wire brush for me.

If that Jazz plays as sweetly as my Sire PB then I'd say the Jazz.

What about us pipe smokers?

Which is the best tone cake?

I didn't realise you'd met me!

Where do you chaps and chapesses stand on the tone strap-nut debate?

I've seen more scientific method in a Laurence Fox rant.

Not for bass, which I can play by feel alone in the dark, but I do for mandolin and irish bouzouki, at which I'm still a newby.

On an unrelated note has anyone seen that new band, Border Force and the Stolen Instruments?

Depends on the level you're at. We do typically two, occasionally three, big paying gigs a month (two grand a time between the five of us) and we have no website. Between times we do the pubs at 500 a go, but we regard that as paid rehearsal rather than gigs. Word of mouth and social media presence alone seem to keep us busy enough now were known on the local circuit, although if we raised our sights higher a website might well be beneficial.

Usually Learn to Fly for reasons I am unsure of.

Four musical gods descended from Valhalla to bestow this upon my mortal ears. Ever since I was a teenager I've been listening to this, often several times a day, and each time I hear some new nuance, a different musical quirk. Its a manifestation of genius, and it has completely enthralled me from the moment I first heard it.

The one I used prior to that did.

Wheatus.