Leonard Smalls

Good'n'rockin'n'groovy, sort of like B52s play XTC!

still smokin - trouble funk

We had a 0929 Saturday rehearsal too - 2nd one with our new guitarist. We told him not to worry about playing what our old guitarman did, to make it his own, and it's definitely got punkier, though in a good way! His rhythm playing is excellent, he improvises little bits of twiddle here'n'there where before there was nowt, and now there's a bit more sparkle. He's young (well, 30s!) too! Not only that but I've got him to duplicate some of my linking bass runs that were previously lost under a power chord - it'll add to tightness and interest. Though when I asked him how well he knew his modes as we had a tendency to slot in (more than) the occasional Phryge (😁) he said " I thought I was joining a punk band!" to which we all chanted in Gregorian "punk is in the eye of the be-ho-ol-der!".

Androids of Pu Ass Grass Eddie and the Hot Sods The Ball Mega Tity Four New Modal Army The Nuts (and Nuts D.C) Spizz Oik Stiff Little Mingers Swell Paps Nice Squad Wreckless Pric

Howling at the Moon - The Ramones

Dog Bite - Dead Kennnedys

We've only got three gigs booked, all on consecutive weekends... National Mountain Boarding Festival, a joint show in Hereford with Brazilian punks Anti Virus, then Rebellion Festival in Blackpool.

Night Watch - Guana Batz

Canoe Dig It - The Mock Turtles

Sharp-Dressed Ahriman -ZZ Top

I'm forever blowing Beelzebubbles - West Ham

Wipe worry - Dire Straits

Louie Louie - the Kingsmen

That's not exactly free-form jazz! That's playing by ear... This is a touch more free-form, but not quite free-improvisation. If you need some of that. try Han Benninck, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill (*) or Derek Bailey! * I briefly played in a free-funk-jazz thang with some of Lol's sidekicks! Though we aimed for extended relatively straight funk jams over variously sensible and crazed saxes.

Doh! That's our band busted...

Hiding In Plain Sight - Manic Street Preachers

The Monochrome Sex The Belt A Curtain Ratio Lloyd Hole and the Commotions The Frying Lizards Bevel 42 Men Without Rats The Perves The Pole Fountains Sigue Sigue Slutnik Splif Enz

I feel that "musically boring" is something that's highly debatable... It's like saying that a discussion of surface tension is chemically boring (*), or set theory is mathematically boring! For those that relish complexity in their music, playing modal progressions in 13:8 time is musically very interesting indeed. Those same people, when hearing a simple 3 chord ditty in straight-ahead 4:4 might say it's "boring" - but that's only to them. Others may find that simplicity is what they like, and complexity is, to them, boring. But at the end of the day it's all subjective; I personally find Oi bands to be deeply dull and like a bit of crazed widdling though an Oi fan would be the opposite to that. Same goes for "decent tune". I mean, which is better, Donna Lee or The Birdy Song? As for backing "tapes", we shall continue to use 'em - though in our case it's a laptop playing Logic; our guitarman fiddles with fx and stuff on the fly. * to be fair it's a bit dull, after all, the Langmuir Trough experiment was what Thatcher worked on!

You've lost that lovin' Feline - Righteous Brothers

Sinister Porpoise - Creedence Clearwater Revival

In that case you're done! You never need more than a riff, unless it's 2 riffs and a widdley bit.

Aye... I find the best thing to do if you haven't got an immediate brainwave from the pic is to make whatever you like and call it something linked, or even invent an elaborate justification. I suspect many of us do that!

Copycat! I've got a gap! And two superimposed time signatures! I didn't, however, go so far as to change key. I'm a gentleman after all! Currently rolling it in glitter and adding far too many effects.

Filthy guitar!

Shot By Back-Sides - Magazine