Leonard Smalls

I've never been overly impressed by anything he's done; never really liked the Beatles, and definitely didn't like Wings! He didn't play bass the way I liked it - which is mainly about the rhythm rather than being mainly about a melodic underpinning. However, enough bass players who I do like cite him as an influence and seminal to their playing - which is good enough for me! So while he certainly isn't a direct influence on me he is indirectly...

But nothing sounds better than playing On The One!

That's why I always preferred Chillis from before BSSM. There were fewer attempts at singing, and I like Hillel's and even Jack Sherman's guitar playing more than Frusciante's...

My favourite Flea moments were at the Mean Fiddler gig in 1988... Hillel Slovak left the stage due to being "tired and emotional" leaving Flea, Keidis and Jack Irons to continue. Lots of over-playing ensued, which was nice.

It's funny how so many bass players absolutely hate skilful bass playing, and seem to have the idea that bass should be sitting in the background doffing its cap to the "lead" instruments while respectfully muttering "yes sir, no sir"! Bass is whatever the player wants it to be. If you don't like what the player's doing, that's fine; but that's just taste, not what should or shouldn't be played...

The Wounded Paw blender was originally at the front, but I found I didn't switch any of the loops off, just individual pedals. And it was much more difficult reaching them behind that big ol' thing... I also use the Polytune as a kill switch - don't like the audience to hear tuning. Might turn it for aesthetic reasons once I've got more suitable leads. And I could move stuff around to get more pedals on there - used to have 3 envelope filters in different loops but the FI adds so much squelch I don't need them, and I've discovered that using the Microtubes on the main output seems to be more pleasing than in one of the loops. Also not too worried about the FI's size - it's not as big as the wireless receiver...

Had a bit of a re-jig to give space to the Future Impact... Have to decide whether to sell 3 Leaf and DOD envelope filters, plus Boss bass synth and bass overdrive.

Anyone got any ideas about cheap means of connecting the FI to my laptop? I've got an Alessis midi-usb interface that doesn't work at all... Or do I need to upgrade my Scarlett 2i2 to 8i6 or more?

What's your band? We're Choked....

Was that with Terminal Rage? Their bass player's girlfriend is our singer... And we played with them last week in Leominster.

The SYB5 is a bit limited... But having one of those made me decide I wanted a proper synth! And it cost me £351 including shipping and tax. Don't know how long Mr Postie takes to bring it from Hungary though.

I hope that "FI is still king"... I've just ordered one from Panda! Now which of my pedals should I sell - 3 Leaf envelope filter? DOD envelope filter? FwonkBeta? Darkglass microtubes? Digitech Bass Whammy? Definitely Boss bass synth!

Ta! Next time The Weeds have a Sheffield do I'll give you a shout... Last time was for Tramlines. Not convinced by the Enzo - perhaps I just haven't seen a good demo but seems to be very much about synthy textures rather than phat'n'pfunky-ness. And it seems to be a bit lacking in switchable presets?

Despite all this, I'm still tempted by the Boss, if for no other reason than polyphony... Might have to take a trek to somewhere that's got one to have a play. Shame the Future Impact is so hard to find, which makes testing a bit difficult.

In that case could a full fat Helix do the PFunky stuff that an FI or SY300 could do? Though I like the sequency stuff available on the SY; but either would freak out the band - I could imagine their little faces if I start producing noises like that Gundy Keller on his FI and SY reviews!

I've been looking at the Boss SY300 as well as the Future Impact... The Boss looks like it could replace all my pedal board as well as give me access to sequencing and phatphunky stuff too. Looks like it does more than the FI, but never tried either and there's no means of trying them here in darkest South Shropshire. I assume both can be edited via USB, but I like those Tamas Barabas sounds for the Boss. Which to buy?

Photo from Reet Petite last night...

First gig for Choked last night at a teenytiny venue in Leominster... The place was full (though being teeny that meant maybe 30 people!) as we were supporting 2 local bands. And despite the fact that there was no monitoring so we couldn't hear the vocals, and the drummer couldn't hear bass or guitar as we had to be in front of him, in went OK - too fast obviously but hopefully that'll calm down. No major woopsies, tight and in tune - couldn't ask for much more! Apart from monitoring, less drum speeding up and louder bass out front (or that could just be phone video didn't pick it up - though octave up plus down, 2 envelope filters and bass synth usually cut through; never sounds the same playing through someone else's cab - a 4x10 Trace just doesn't cut it compared to my usual PD 15 and Markbass 2x10). Next one 23rd March, at Paradiddles in Worcester.

[Pedant mode]Or possibly even Elias and his Zig Zag Jive Flutes[/Pedant mode] I've got the original single; bizarrely, it used to go down very well at a funk disco I did in Leeds in the mid80s as the penultimate song, followed by Edie Gorme's "Yes My Darling Daughter"!

Yesterday's rehearsal - ready for Reet Petite 2nd March with local punk heros Terminal Rage and Alvin and the Angry Barrels:

There would be a whole heap of extra confusion for the band if audiences had actually shouted "Craddock", or perhaps the more conventionally trained musos might have chanted ""Waterman".

I saw an interview with them a while ago... They said they were very surprised that British audiences knew them, and wondered why the audience would all chant "craddock!" as soon as they came on stage.

An excellent intro to music not conforming to the bourgeois notions of melody and rhythm. This is where it gets hardcore...

I like music with cojones, so long as they're not just wrinkly, but also groovy and pumpy. And preferably much more rhythmic than tuneful. Even better if that rhythm is crazy, daddy-o. And if everybody is playing far too many notes, I'm even happier. For full nirvana, any singist has to be part of the music, as opposed to backed by musicians in order to bolster the warbler's ego, unless it meets the groovy pumpy cojones condition. So Screaming Headless Torsos, yes. Coldplay, no. Kenny G, no. Ornette Coleman, yes. P Funk, yes, yes, yes. Van Morrison, no. Metal, usually no, but: Suicidal Tendencies, yes. Etc.

In my other band we have a sequencer, plus drummer on e-kit. Funnily enough we're Right On Time!