Leonard Smalls

Anal - Robbie Williams* * I remember hearing a version of "Robbie's" song with this lyric in a biker pub in Swansea. Twas filthy and tickled me just so...

75% of Bluesfunk band coming on nicely. So bass drums and new vox are working pretty well. However, our guitar player has terrible trouble a) not playing all the time b) not doing out-of-rhythm unimaginative blues noodles when we're doing funky syncopated stuff. He just gets his head down and neither listens to or watches the rest of us... And despite months of suggesting stuff for him to play along to he rarely bothers. Seems obsessed with finding some sort of magical Funk Formula - I've sent him Bootsy's one but he appears to have missed the point entirely, that you've got to feel it and if you don't, you won't funk! And being in the middle of nowhere means not many guitarists available, plus he's a bit vulnerable...

Wreckin' Crew - The Meteors

Red Frame White Light - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Again and Again - Quo

I wanna dig it - Beach Boys

Gneiss in Nice - Stranglers

I played Morecombe punk fest a couple of years ago with my ankle broken in 2 places - even managed to drive there (left foot in plaster, electric car with one foot driving!).

Bedtime - Weeds https://weeds2.bandcamp.com/track/bedtime

Johnny Hates Jizz

Twa' Corgis - Steeleye Spaniel

Silver Machine - Hawkwind

Raspberry Beret - Prince

It's funny, I've only ever played with two drummers who did this... All the rock drummers have said "I've got to hit it hard or I don't play as well!" with very little idea that light and shade can be a good thing. The two towelists (one is in my current funkyblues band) were/are both funk and/or jazz drummers and are/were far more capable than any of the noisy beggars!

Pushit - Stool

Currently working on the moves for a Weeds dance routine... https://fb.watch/z-V2O2C-nN/

Pictures of an Exhibitionist - Modeste Mussorgsky (and ELP!)

Is Audacity available for Android?

Wanna buy a 1974 Raceco tuned 850T, now 1000cc? 😁

No More Excuses - Conflict (RIP Colin!)

I was buying lunch in the BBC canteen a number of years ago when a big bloke came and tapped me on the shoulder and said "I see you're into Guzzis!" (the t shirt and belt buckle gave it away). Turned out it was Josh Homme and we ended up having lunch together and talking Mandello Stuff! Another time (beeb canteen again) I bumped into a guy who was in the Weeds with me back in the early days - Chris Haskett. He said "Come and sit with us"... So I did - "us" turned out to be Henry Rollins and Melvin Gibbs. We discussed Sonny Sharrock and Defunkt. None of 'em were at all grumpy, though I was a bit in awe of Melvin!

Aeros - M&M

I nearly spent three grand!

Whether it's major (Ionian mode) or minor (Aeolian) it's a semitone above the root. There's a couple of modes where the second note is a semitone above root - the Phrygian (altered version sounds very gypsy or even flamenco) and Locrian (more rarely used, though it is in Bjork's "Army of Me") - and I found adding those notes (and those from altered versions of those modes) can help with texture and interest, same as the Hellborg book. I never found the other modes to be quite as exciting though ymmv! I found this helpful: https://themusicambition.com/phrygian-mode/

Difficult to say without hearing what's on offer... But I find runs and widdles involving diminished second and diminished fifth work well in many situations ( see Phrygian and Locrian modes). And octaves work in everything from disco to punk, perhaps with fifth to make a chord. Talking of which, a chord higher up with root, major third and diminished seventh works well in many situations as a sort of jagged punctuation... Also recommend the Jonas Hellborg chord book - I found I couldn't reach half of them but the notes contained in 'em inspired lots of bass lines.