12stringbassist

The Christi Haydon EP (bonus tracks on the deluxe reissue of Sparks' Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins). I had the pleasure of having a dance with her at a Sparks gig some years ago. Lovely girl.

People coming up to me midsong, while I am singing.. If I can hear them, I pretend they are not there til the end of the song. Then I speak to them. However, there should always be an exception: Slade at Manchester Rotters 1979. A punter (me) gesticulates frantically at Jim Lea during a song. Seeing as he knew me to chat to at sound checks he didn't ignore me. "Oi, Jim. Your bass rig is belching smoke". An Acoustic 360 power amp was overheating. One of the crew just pulled it out of the rig.

I use a Zoom B2 bass pod, set to Hartke rig (which is what I use onstage) and go via very careful EQ and compression on the desk into the recorder. I tend to trim off the bottom end a bit. Clarity is your friend, rather than thump.

She knows their bassist.

It was a lot of money to lay out (even with an artist discount for a sh*t product).

My 'expensive' mistake was a few months flirtation with a newly issued range of amplifiers last June, because my guitarist snagged me an artist deal on them. The top amp was a 500w 2x10 combo and I also picked up a 250w 1x15 extension cab. They looked gorgeous, but the amp started to make hideous noises at the first or second gig, so it went back to the maker. They arranged courier collection and got it back to me fairly quickly. They blamed the fault on "a crimped wire." A couple of weeks later, the extension cab failed to power on, so that went back. It was replaced with a new one. I warned the company that the next strike they would be out and I would be asking for a refund. The third strike followed a couple of months later. Fortunately, it was during the solitary rehearsal for a band reunion the next day. I went into the PA for the rehearsal. Thank God it didn't happen at the actual two gigs. I got the rig collected later that week and my refund was processed after a couple of reminders. The company were very fair with me and I cannot fault their superb customer service. I was refunded with no argument. I have been told by a number of friends who work at repairers and stores, upon mentioning that I had owned them, that this amp range is a bit of a disaster and the number of returns is unbelievable, without even mentioning my woes, though I did share my experience after that. No names, no pack drill, but think back to what new model bass range came into stores in July or August last year.

My band played two blindingly enjoyable gigs on Friday and Saturday after a weekend off. We handed our weekly jam night over to a long established and trusted local band, so we could head up to The Talbot in Burnley (always a good gig) . It had been handed over to some friends, who regularly attend the jam, the previous week, without incident. After our first set of three, I saw a message from the landlady, asking me where the stand in band for that night were. I looked on the bassist from that band's page and he had been advertising the jam earlier in the day. I sent her a screenshot of that. We kicked off our second spot... Then he posted, asking around for a drummer, as their drummer wasn't doing it. They have had 3 weeks to sort this out. Shortly afterwards he posted that he was chucking the jam in, as he couldn't find a drummer. The landlady messaged me saying she was going to have to close as people had come in and walked back out, as nothing was going on. I messaged the bassist who was covering and he said he had messaged her and she mustn't have seen it. That was not the point. He let her down. Big style. I just felt sick. This ruined my evening. I know that we are going to get it in the neck next Sunday, as she will be ripping about this - as she is indeed entitled to be. I am normally there first and will catch the brunt of this anger. Ironic, as I didn't want to hand the jam over for a second week on the trot. Pray for me...

Kiss could license the name Kiss to a band to perform using the name, but it wouldn't be Kiss. Not by a long way. They'd probably have to call it THE KISS SHOW. I could never see the show being staged like an actual Kiss show. I haven't read mention of Thin Lizzy without Phil Lynott. Scott Gorham said it felt wrong for it to continue with the Lizzy name after a while. Slade have been continuing without Noddy Holder and Jim Lea since 1992. In the world of Slade fans, this causes either much controversy or delight. Some guys I used to be in a band with joined up with some other guys who had bought the name of a 60's chart band, (who were long defunct) for a couple of grand. The funniest thing I have ever heard is them announcing "This was our big hit in 1965" or whatever, then doing a hatchet job on it. It's a way to make living, I suppose - playing to people who have no clue about the original bands in social clubs and on holiday camp weekend bashes.

Cheap Trick, by the way, parted with their original drummer Bun E Carlos amidst some shouting and bitter acrimony and legal battles. He remains a business partner and still gets a fee from every show the band do, despite not having lifted a stick with them for some years. For me personally, I think it has improved the band. Out with the shorter greatest hits type sets and in with deep cuts and much longer shows. Tom Petersson (optional number of S's) also had a long break from the band (band with controlling ex-wife), to be replaced by Pete Comita then John Brant - both excellent players, but Tom was THE ONE and his return was overdue.

Some of the costume errors irritated the bejasus out of me. The sudden excited announcement of a US tour, without mentioning that they were supporting (or that it was Mott The Hoople) frankly was criminal. Making it look like they leapt to instant stardom. Rami Malek peformed superbly. As did the other band members. But the mistakes like those were unforgiveable. With a few simple tweaks and a little care it could have been 10/10. I have absolutely no desire at all to see RocketMan, as it appears to be Elton The Musical On Ice. Knickers to that.

Nothing at all wrong with those vocals. They are from 2006, by the way...

Joe Jackson - Blaze of glory album.

I get your point, but Quo without Francis Rossi couldn't fill a phone box. Doctor Feelgood are trooping round with no original members - they have carried on and have evolved to the current line-up with the surviving former members blessing.

Rossi has been there all the way through Quo and others have come and gone. Andy Bown has been there since 1983 (36 years), and Rhino since 1986 (33 years). Not inconsiderable service. There is currently no reason for Rossi to put himself out of work because he is the last one of them involved. When Rossi retires, though, there is no earthly way at all that a band can call itself Status Quo.

I'm not small, the bass case is HUGE. The tallest case I've got (for an acoustic bass)

Do it yourself album by Ian Dury.

I was talking about going to watch my (un-named) old band while on sick leave from them after cancer surgery. They had a dep who was fumbling his way through the set and at that point, I realised how lacking my band mates were and made up my mind to wait a while, then give in my notice and leave them. The mention of the drummer's personality disorder about various things (I've never seen anybody cry at a soundcheck before and never want to again) and their sloppiness was a continuation and justification of why I decided I was leaving them at that point.

The band's general sloppiness and lack of musicality was the main reason I wanted to leave them (they played a lot of howlers themselves) as well as an OCD drummer who offered me outside for a fight once, when I asked for a turn on the mp3 player thru the PA.

I'm happy with either term.

To a large extent, I try to avoid going watching people I've played with in the past, unless they are great mates of mine. I expect what they are doing to sound at least something like it used to, if they are doing the same stuff we did. My problem not theirs. I got dragged (a while ago) to watch a guy who used to sing with a band I was in years ago, when I was first in bands. His new band are doing quite well, but I don't think, from what I have seen on video and from my brief viewing of them in person, that they are actually that good. They have a brilliant set list, but they are carried by goodwill, rather than a great sound. People have said it to me, which made me look at their videos after seeing a few songs played by them in person. Another guy I used to play with has lazily surrounded himself with his mates, rather than players at his brilliant level of ability, and it really irks me that he isn't playing to his potential and has a rather scrappy band around him. I've seen him wince onstage a few times at mistakes. I did once travel to see a band in Horwich, (only a short distance from me, that I was actually on sick leave from following a serious life-saving operation). I only stayed for the first half, as I really didn't like the venue at all and was glad to get out. I also listened to what the dep bass player was doing to the songs and naturally it set off some sort of an OCD that I didn't know that I had. It sounded WRONG because he was a very different bass player. He made some utter howlers that the band either didn't notice or care about and I was so put off by this mess that I made concrete plans to give my notice in to leave in a few months. Best thing I did in the last ten years.

Following on from the bit of a meltdown I had the other week when I was particularly unwell and my band-mates decided to give me a stern and tediously long lecture on my bass volume, causing me to get all worried about the fact that I was struggling to hear my bass, while they weren't.... I have demonstrably rolled the bottom end off and haven't touched it. I think my sound has lost an amount of balls, but tbh, I'd rather have a thinner sound than put up with those two continually getting annoyed. My drummer would like my bass to have a distinct click to it, to go with his bass drum. He's not going to get that. It's not my style. Anyway, the gigs since then have gone back to us playing properly as a team, with no complaints about my sound. This last weekend, we played in Todmorden at an amusingly named pub, which is the best live venue in the area. We went down really well, as usual. On Saturday, we had taken a gig on at short notice in a brilliant biker's pub in Southport, as the band who had previously been booked by old management wouldn't confirm their gig. So we were rescued from losing out in a double booking situation. We went down really well and are waiting to hear about next year from them. Sunday was our regular jam night. we are working up a set with a guy who's been on Stars in their eyes on TV as a well known rock star, doing a set of his songs. It's hard work as the songs are usually played by a fair old pack of musicians and there are three of us to replicate those arrangements the best we can. If it comes together, great, but it feels like we are rushing it to get songs together. We only really try things out when we do our opening spot at the jam night, so we'll have to see how it goes...

Next up - first album by Cheap Trick

You boyz make big noize album by Slade.

The truth of the matter is that once people start doing other things, it dilutes the original band. Diaries clash and disappointment and dep players get involved. Can't be doing with it.