Leonard Smalls

Indeed! It's gone downhill; I used to book bands for the Greenman Fest in Clun - we had all sorts of stuff, from Wilko Johnson to the Oysterband. But there was always trouble with the Memorial Hall committee; they insisted we used the 86dB limiter (we attached a single 60w lightbulb to it, which flashed repeatedly, but we'd used a spare way in the consumer unit to run a 12mm feed to power the 20kW PA and lights), and when Wilko played, we went to make them some food in the Hall's kitchen - the committee had chained shut the cupboards so we couldn't use their plates! In The Castle, there's only really The Vaults, but the landlord will only allow straight ahead pub blues; 3 Tuns always had great reggae, but that's gone - food more profitable I spose! Knighton used to have a great scene - back in the 60s/70s there was a festival with seriously big names, but barring Chas and Dave and 15 years ago (sold out), Ade Edmondson's Bad Shepherds (put on by me, 3/4 full), and 2 attempts by me and our drummer at a 3 band rock night in the Comm (some quality bands, including Troy Redfern, 50 people came resulting in £200 loss). It seems that folks round here aren't interested in going to gigs unless they already know the songs but won't pay any money to see 'em. This attitude was illustrated about 5 years ago, when the Horse and Jockey in Knighton put on a Dutch prog band (Sky Architect) in the bar (no idea why!). They were completely awesome; tight as, incredible musicians etc but despite not being very loud, the local drink crew just stayed outside blatherin' to the same folks they blathered to day in, day out. One bloke actually asked me what they were like - I said they're great but he wasn't willing to stand and watch for a moment to see. As a result they had an audience of 8 - our band, 2 bar staff and one other bloke. Not only that, but there's a young farmer-type contingent who like to drink as much as poss then punch anyone nearby in the face. So we don't even bother to try and gig locally...

The whole of South Shropshire/North Herefordshire is absolutely dire in terms of thriving musical scenes... Ludlow has a sports bar filled with 15 year olds ignoring the occasional very standard covers band playing. Plus there's the Brewery, which has about 2 gigs a year, exclusively blues. There's Bishop's Castle, where there's music in 1 pub - exclusively blues again. And that's about it until you get to Hereford, or Shrewsbury - (which has Alberts Shed, though that's not exactly filled with live music lovers - mainly big drinkers). You have to go as far as Whitchurch to get to a really decent venue (Percy's) which is about 1.5 hours fast driving from me! Mid Wales isn't much better - Llandrindod has a couple of pubs that do music, but there's always the same 3 bands playing there - not sure why everyone goes to see them as some variety would be good, plus there's the Pavilion, which is mainly tribute acts. Otherwise, it's a bit of a musical wasteland!

I take great delight in making a great show of putting on a record for guests, saying this is some kickin' jazz. Their faces usually fall a bit as they're expecting something smooth'n'after-dinnery, but at least they'll be able to ignore it and have a chat. Then Brotzmann's "Machine Gun starts up and they're usually shrieking and running for the door in seconds, unless they've had many hours hardening themselves with some Gateway Jazz, like Ornette or Steve Lacy.

This was my first proper introduction to jazz...

Bootsy!

Formerly Girlband. But a right angry noisy racket!

Here's Bob's latest:

Currently residing in the "Where Are They Now?" file! 😁

Lots of bass players...

Never! 😁 But 90s "punk" was most certainly not. Though there was a thriving hardcore scene, and bands like the Subs were still playing then... In fact, I remember seeing a Jello-less DKs, and The Damned!

Punk goes 90s vol. 2? I think it should be renamed "90s band completely misunderstands punk"!

That was one of the [positions I remember friends having when I was a kid.. My Raleigh Olympus had it (only 5 speed!) on the frame.

Here's the Helix... https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/line-6-helix-lt Not cheap, but it's incredibly versatile; there's about 5 different Ampeg amp sims, plus GK, Aguilar, Mesa etc. Then there's lots of cabs - you can add guitar amps as well, then there's loads of distortions, overdrives, modulation fx, octavers, synths, compressors, wah and eqs which you can put in any order to create almost any sound. I bought mine 2nd hand off ebay for £750 - as new and in a flightcase. I haven't used my old pedalboard since - this is so much easier and better. And no annoying hums! And the tuner is about the best I've used.

I use a Line 6 Helix LT. It does just about everything - and if you can't work out how to get the sound you want, hook it up to a computer and you can download millions of patches. I've now got a very passable Bootsy distorted mutron sound, and a bi-amped Royal Blood noise as well. It also gives me the excuse of asking a sound man at a gig for 2 channels - one for the bass sound and one for the octaved up guitar autowah screaming thing...

Some young Japanese rockers...

Old? We're in our prime!!! Though it is about 33 years of slappin' poppin' strummin' and bangin'.

Here's my fingerworn Wal... And if you look carefully there's fluorescent paint in all sorts of nooks and crannies.

Garden Centre playlist first threw this up: Followed by a serious slice o'funk! Now we're groovin'!

If you're in Brighton the chalk at Saltdean is close by - perfect ice axe practice for winter mixed climbing. And you know that next time you come back to the route it will be new, as most of it will have fallen off! Still, I prefer a nice long multi pitch, whether that's partially bolted in the Dolomites or Mallorca (check Sa Gubia!) or fully trad in North Wales matters not...

I was being nice! (ish) But I fail to understand all the love they get. Though to be fair, there's thousands of other bands that loads of folks like that are immho somewhere behind the line going from trite to sh1te! That's the beauty of taste...

I've changed my mind! I no longer find them to be like a beige painting in a beige frame on a beige wall in a room with a beige carpet with a beige turd in the middle of it... They're vibrant and pushing the boundaries of music!

Is this the right place to say I really can't be doing with Khruangbin? I find their music to be incredibly tedious, mediocre and wet?

Another climber - excellent! Roaches? Here's me doing a bit of hi-ball bouldering at Nesscliffe, though I won't usually go more than 5 feet off the ground without some bomber pro!

I never realised they were an actual band! Despite having 2 of their albums I always thought they were some sort of producer-led studio project...