12stringbassist

Our last one before Christmas was at The Jubilee Club in Ashton in Makerfield. A good friendly and appreciative crowd, lots of dancing, mainly in the second half. They filmed us and have put one song up...

It almost looks a little more liek a Montezuma Brown finish. https://reverb.com/uk/p/rickenbacker-360-color-of-the-year?hfid=91724846 or maybe an Autumnglo https://www.andybaxterbass.com/products/2022-rickenbacker-4003cb-autumnglo

Our Sunday jam night ended last weekend, after 387 sessions (almost 10 years) as the venue is being sold. It was an emotional evening. We are casting the net for another venue, but if we don't get one, it's not the end of the world.

New Rose The Damned

You got it bang on... As for the smoke machine, I made it clear that it was NOT to be put on while I was near the stage.

We played a club near Bolton for the fourth time. The Concert Sec there lives in the 1960's and puts some real clunge on. He's been ignoring my whatsapp messages about next year. He came up to me before went on and tauntingly reminded me that I had gone up to him and shown him a fake Rickenbacker the last time we played. I had two with me that night, plus a P Bass. He wouldn't have it that the Ric I brought last time was real. It was a 2002 4003FG and it was on my stand. He very grudgingly admitted it was real. We always get told what a breath of fresh air we are when we play there. We went on played our two spots, went down like heroes with a 1.05 second spot with dancers throughout. When he came to pay us at the end, I reminded him that he hadn't responded to my Whatsapp messages and laughingly said that I thought he'd died. He told us that though he really likes us we aren't right for the club. Some people left. Like they do when it's cold and dark out and not far off Christmas, etc.. I remined polite and cheerful, as we aren't short of work. Instead of losing my sheet, I just said, we will go down far better than some of the acts you've booked up to June next year. You should've seen his face. Permanent worry-lines forming. He was beyond horrified and demanded to know which ones would frighten their punters and clear the place. I was too much of a gentleman to tell him.

I'm 67 and have been thinking about how long I have left of doing this. The last few years have been very very uncomfortable at times band-wise, due to a band member who was arrogant and awkward, but who has now thankfully left. When that happened, I questioned whether to carry on or not, and after a day or two I decided to not let the situation defeat me. We auditioned a new, much younger, guitarist and we are playing with a new-found excitement and chucking lots of new material together and playing what we hope are very good shows. Where this becomes very relevant to this topic is that our drummer is unwell and has been out of the band since July. We have a reserve drummer covering, but it seems more and more likely that our own drummer will not be returning to the band, except to maybe do a couple of occasional short 'guest spots'. That is something that we haven't been able to discuss. He's been very determined to play, but sadly his mobility and medication have interfered with everything. That is an enormous stress for me as he's my friend and we have been in the same band for ten long years, persevering and supporting each other through some rather awkward times to keep things together. 'Do it while you can' is very much my motto these days. You don't know when it's going to be taken away from you.

Last night we played in Heath Charnock between Bolton and Chorley. A brilliant landlady and nice crowd. One of the punters gave us a £30 tip and the landlady did too. We gave this song a second outing. Played for the first time on Friday...

We had a really good night last night, with lots of friends there, at a venue not far from me where we have celebrated various milestones with my bands over the years. Just what we needed really. This year's been really difficult for the band with a change of guitarist and all the things that led up to it, plus our drummer's serious illness and us running with a replacement. The band as it is now is really enjoying itself.

It is a very unsettling situation and I've never been happy with bandmates going plotting behind other people's backs, having been the victim of that kind of thing, after playing with a couple of very slippery people in the past. Gettng your bandmates to be open and honest about this could blow the whole band apart. Could your existing member improve? Why the wait until the new year to replace him? I would at least say you're not entirely comfortable with the way it is being done and that the wait to try the new person makes you nervous. Good luck.

We had a good night last night.