Leonard Smalls

I remember going to see Bootsy's Rubber Band at the Clapham Grand and he didn't come on till about 2330, despite being billed as 2100. Everyone missed their tubes... And I went to see Jonas Hellborg at the Blue Note - due to an alleged difficulty getting hold of some fancy amp (you'd think someone would organise these things!) he came on about half midnight!

(I bit my) Mother Tongue - Weeds

Lost in France - Bonnie Tyler

Bonin' in the Boneyard - Fishbone

Not a miss-press, but I remember getting a copy of Joy Division's "Licht und Blindheim" limited edition single on Sordide Sentimental records. My French penfriend bought it for me in exchange for a UK Subs single... So stupidly I sold it for £40 back in 1981. They're now going for about £1500!

We're going to Ibiza - Vengaboys

Backdoor Love Affair - ZZ Top

I suspect that middle-men are in some way to blame as well... I've got a mate who works for a major artist agency - he has a number of bands he books tours for and stuff. One of them - a well known UK band - gets around £25k/gig. From that, he gets £5k! He's now in the process of retiring to a lovely villa by the sea just north of Biarritz.

Better Than You - Cardi B

Our drummer in the EDM dance-rock band is bowing out due to painful tinnitus (from another band, I hasten to add) so we'd like to find another electronic drummer. It could be pads, triggers, e-drums but not acoustic... We have a sequence on laptop plus bass, 2 guitars and vox. As we're currently spread between the west of Ireland, Manchester, Shropshire and the South of France the new recruit could be from almost anywhere, but must be willing to get together roughly annually for a couple of gigs and rehearsals before - next year we're aiming for very close together gigs in Chester and London. We're also putting together new material for another album - this is collaborative and invariably remotely done...

Aye... But I looked into buying Kraftwerk tickets recently - seemed they were doing the same dynamic pricing nonsense. Tickets at £50odd suddenly leapt up to £100+ for no apparant reason. I wouldn't mind but Kraftwerk haven't done any new music for 30ish years and are now not much more than a tribute band!

I would never pay £BigMoney to see a band at the Enormodome - firstly you can barely see 'em, sound in a huge hanger is usually terrible, there's no sense of intimacy and there's 20000 other people there who've also paid well over the odds. But unfortunately, while people pay stupid prices (Oasis!) the stupid prices will exist.

I would never pay £BigMoney to see a band at the Enormodome - firstly you can barely see 'em, sound in a huge hanger is usually terrible, there's no sense of intimacy and there's 20000 other people there who've also paid well over the odds. But unfortunately, while people pay stupid prices (Oasis!) the stupid prices will exist.

In a Silent Way - Miles Davis

Walk The Dinosaur - Was Not Was

No More Hirohitos - The Stranglers

Pee-Funk (Wants to get funked up) - Parliament

My Blue Heaven - Fats Domino

We done a gig last Satday in Hereford... I was a bit disappointed to see that we were headlining - simply because I was still dribbling from a cold, had been at work all day and had to go in for 0900 the following day as well. And we were due to go on at 2250, which meant after a hour's drive , home by 0100 and up at 0630... After we'd soundchecked I found a lovely leather sofa next to the fire in the pub's main bar, so I sat there with a Guinness 0 and read my book, which was rather nice. I was then able to recover sufficiently to watch the other bands; Hurricane Tapes - sort of Joy Division-ish with decently played Ricky bass, A Noise, who we'd played with quite a few times before, who dress in bizarre costumes (glitterball on bass player's head - he played a fine 5 string Warwick - drummer in yellow cheese-string-tube-thing, singer in multiple teletubbie/rabbit/bear/wtf outfits). They're huge fun and play sort of rave-punk bangers - recommended! And finally, MC16 who we also know - great Clash-inspired agit-punk with reggae overtones. Always excellent value. And it appeared that 10 minutes changeover between bands wasn't enough (I told him, I did!) - we finally came on at 2310. Luckily, despite not having rehearsed for a month we played well and even managed the tricky end-on-three of Knockout for possibly the first time ever! Folks jigged about, police weren't called, no punch-ups and no vomiting in my bass case, which was also rather nice. Managed a near record 42 minutes to get home for 0100, quick Woodford Reserve and kip ready for work. Kit was ACG bass into Helix (modified Aguilar tone with a touch of envelope filter and variable drive on the pedal), into BBE/Crown amps and DBX compression into Markbass 4x10. Boots were 12 hole Martin bike boots.

The Light Pours Out of Me - Magazine

Featuring our own @cheddatom on drums! They're always excellent value...

Some crazy stuff wot Iggy Pop was playing on 6Music...

Brand New Ski - Melanie

Bit worried about the Splintered Testicle chorus! And on fire!!! Do we have a wince emoji? 😧

I remember as a young punky teenager waiting with bated breath through Doctor Hook, Hot Chocolate and a whole host of other MoR pap for a glimpse of Proper Music (eye of the beholder of course!). And sometimes we'd be rewarded with some Siouxsie, or perhaps Ruts, or at a push, Sham 69... And sometimes even 2 or 3 in a programme! Though I got far more joy from the other music progs as they were live and often Proper - there's just no replacement for these (apart from lonely old Jools); instead it's a diet of fake reality shows and appalling game shows with the incredibly annoying Michael McIntyre.