Leonard Smalls

Our guitar player in the blueseyfunky band still doesn't do this... He sets what he thinks is the right amp level and woebetide if it isn't. If you say he's too quiet (it happens with this guy!) he changes his level by fiddling with pedal settings, which completely beggars up his sound!

I'm a little Airplane - Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers

Big Spliff - Black Uhuru

Mr Blue Thigh - ELO

Norwegian Woodlouse - The Beatles

Insecty Boy - Air

Or a bit more obscure, Prince Charles and the City Beat Band.

Or Jethro Tull...

Good enough for my old mate Jaco!

Human Fly - The Cramps

Countracula - Bootsy's Rubber Band

Having just looked up Papa Shango I see they're completely different... Punky ones don't have face paint. And if you're careful you may see me in the crowd here 😁

Was it The Papashangos? Singer strips down to bodystocking and suspenders - stocky baldy fella? Merch included branded Buttplugs? If so they're relatively straightahead punk - they were on at Rebellion right before us, they were tight as and lots of fun though some may think them a touch frivolous. I liked 'em!

I invariably just get a little dribble of disappointment... Unless they're doing something interesting like The Cramps "The Way I Walk" or Magazine's "Song From Under The Floorboards" or Morglbl's "Tea Time for Punks".

Computer's done a pretty good job here!

To be fair, I haven't played (or wanted to play) a violin bass since 😆

Aye, that is what age does to you! 😁 But to be fair, people's favourite musical moments are often based on how they were feeling at the time they first heard it. So all Mr D is saying is that he prefers "Smoke on't Watter". Doesn't mean it's better or worse than owt else, just that it's more to his taste and it obviously moves something in him. And why not! For me, I love the bit in Rollins Band's "Liar" after Melvin Gibbs' wonderful phased bass intro when it comes in, completely in your face. Or when the crazed guitar comes in in You've Got Foetus On Your Breath's "Wash It All Off". (though the original single version is far better than the album) Or in Jamaaladeen Tacuma's "Let's Have a Good Time" off the Dreamscape album where, after a bass solo and long repetitive Harmolodic section it becomes unexpectedly and impossibly funky...

Say What? - Trouble Funk

Statue, Mo-dean? - B-52s

We had to sack a guitarist because of a combination of serious substance-abuse problems (*), poorly cared-for gear (we never knew if it would work!) and erratic playing where sometimes he'd completely forget what he was meant to be playing, or launch into a loud and unrelated solo in the middle of a verse. After quite a while of tolerating this and attempting to get him to change his ways we saw nothing was changing and had to boot him out. He still doesn't understand what the problem was, despite having been told numerous times! * once we were playing in Manchester... About 30 minutes before we were due to go on there was no sign of him. I rushed out, and knowing what he was like, searched the nether-regions of Piccadilly station where I found him sniffing white powder with some ne'er do wells. He didn't play well either!

Don't you rock me, Daddy-o! - Lonnie Donnegan

No! Never been. Fell over 100' near Holyhead once though...

My mum was a piano teacher, so from about the age of 6 I played piano... Then I heard "Hit me With Your Rhythm Stick"... And a bit later I went to my first proper "big" gig, Ian Dury and the Blockheads closely followed by The Clash on the London Calling tour and realised that bass was cool. Then in 6th form we got a band together (me on keys) with our RE teacher to play some Barclay James Harvest and Dylan stuff as a pre-amble to a school showing of "The War Game" and Mike played on his brother's violin bass (it's your fault, @lurksalot!), which was the 1st bass I got to play. I gave up the piano, went to uni and got into The Funk; my flatmate had an old acoustic guitar with the two top strings broken so I used it to jam along to Bootsy and Parliament. As soon as I could play something vaguely funky I got together with the boys from Chestnut Avenue and we formed A Band - Dredd and the Badass Weeds and within a week we were gigging, me having borrowed a short-scale Gibson off Jez (later of MDMA then The Utah Saints). And the rest is history! They went off and had lots of musical success, while I moved to London and formed a bizarre punkfunk band who liked to dress funny.

Haven't got any photos of early Weeds with borrowed Gibson short scale... But I do have Barf Roco stuff from around 1987-8. I no longer own the babydoll nightie as that was forcibly removed during the gig by singer and guitarist. luckily I had a codpiece on. Then a couple of weeks ago at Rebellion:

The drummer in our band gave us notice that he wanted to leave because we weren't making any money; he had previously played in covers bands and made a few quid every gig... So we got in touch with an old mate who was between bands, he was very happy to be asked to join, so we told old drummer who was pleased, and we agreed that our next gig would be his last. On the night of that gig, while we were on stage actually, we got an email saying we'd been accepted for Rebellion. And old drummer threw his toys out of the pram - accused us of knowing in advance and forcing him out, then stormed off and immediately unfriended us all on FB as did his wife and daughter. He's recently re-friended me, wants to know how everything is going with the band, possibly in the hope that everything's worse without him. Which it isn't - different but not in a bad way, in fact better in some ways, and slightly worse in others... Still, life's too short for ridiculous grudges!