12stringbassist

MeatLoaf. He sued a local tribute act in order to get a domain name from him. The thought of listening to him now makes me itch.

Bands should stop when they want to. Usually that is either because they lose members or people stop coming to see them. If a band has an audience then they are able to carry on.

Give Us A Goal Slade

Blackstar looked after me very well, couriering them back to them free of charge when they broke down at gigs. I got so I couldn't trust them.

If that's a Unity 500 and the extension cab, that's what I had for a few months. Sounded great when it worked.

I've been using my Hartke rig since 2004. A 350w HA3500 amp, plus a Transporter 4x10 and 2x10 cabs. Or a pair of Transporter 2x10 cabs. I doubled the rig up to 2x HA3500 amps, plus two lots of Transporter 4x10 and 2x10. I sold the duplicate rig because I was in a band with two wimps. Mistake. Prior to that I was using a pair of Trace Elliot 715 combos, which I still have and am happy to take out occasionally. I did defect to a Blackstar Unity rig, but that only lasted a short time before i returned it as it failed on me 3 times in about 4 months. The Hartke rig has never ever let me down.

Gett off Prince

Friday evening's gig suffered somewhat attendance-wise from people wanting to see bangs and flashes. We played well and it was good to see a number of friends turn out specially to see us. We threw in a couple of requests we don't usually do, as crowd pleasers. After last week's adventures of having a smoke machine enforced on us (which a lot of people were very unhappy about), my voice has done what I feared it would do most of the week. Yes, it started to go. Saturday evening's gig was interesting, as the booking turned into a joint birthday bash and they asked us to turn up and be ready for 8pm, at which point they would do karaoke until 9pm and again from 11pm. The early karaoke didn't happen. We started at 9 and did 45 mins and made way for a buffet. Back on 10.15 to 10.45 and my voice simply disintegrated. We have our jam night tomorrow and I'm dreading getting through that. We don't cancel things as a rule and our guitarist can get us through it with the stuff he sings, as long as we have a good turn out.

In the very early days when they were still playing clubs and bars 69-71, that would have been an ok price for a secondhand old model Fender bass in America. They were a bit cheeky with the case, maybe, but the rarity of such instruments then was nothing like it is now. You do have to wonder where all those old basses are today? Under beds, in garages and lofts.

The video is tremendous. The song on its own doesn't jump out as being a single (for me). If they were still a functioning band and had more songs, that probably wouldn't have been one they'd have chosen. It's a bit 'filler' but I am happy that they have done such a good job of rescuing it.

Photograph Ringo

When should a band call it a day? I don't feel that I am in any position to say when any other band should call it a day. For example: One of my old favourite bands, Slade, is down to one original member and I haven't been to see the end-of-the-pier version (now with just Dave Hill left) since 2000. If Dave Hill wants to work and people want to see him do it, I've absolutely no right to think or say that he shouldn't. As for me, I will call it a day when dealing with venues, other musicians and my health just makes me snap. There will be a brief explosion and that will be it.

Don't get me wrong. I love seeing a smoke machine at work, but not when I have it pumping cr@p at me while I have to sing for two hours.

Last night was our jam night. As the venue was being used for another event earlier in the day, we were asked if we wanted to piggyback onto that band's extensive PA system and backline / drums. We gratefully said yes, thinking that it would save us a lot of carting of our own gear. Our guitarist and myself ended up bringing our own backline. Saves worry about what you're going to get. The lights were really good too. The only problem I had was that on our part of the night, our jam night, they insisted on using a smoke machine that was close to my bass rig. It makes the lights even more impressive. Yes, but it f***s my voice up and we've got 3 gigs next week. I asked them to not use it. But the lights, they said. After a while, I switched it off, as I could feel the tell-tale signs of my throat getting scratchy. Other people weren't happy with the smoke machine either. I switched it off. After a bit they came up and said had I switched the smoke machine off? I said yes and told them why I had. They weren't happy. It went on again. I went across the road to watch another singer in a pub across the road. I sat outside in my car until I was required to finish off the night. Afterwards they said something else about switching their smoke machine off, along the lines of it won't happen next time, will it? I cheerfully said there won't be a next time. They will have to clear their stuff off the stage and out and they will have half an hour to do it in. I know they meant well and that it was a very generous offer, but to cause someone to feel unwell at their own event by forcing them to put up with something that they have told they do not want to be used while they are onstage is not on. My throat is like s*** today.

Money For Nothing Dire Straits

Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton in Manchester on my birthday. One of the best gigs I have ever been to.

Last Sunday was our regular jam night. We're in our 7th year at this venue and we've got a good little scene going and it's well-supported. It's also very orderly. we get new people sometimes and that stops it being groundhog day. We're getting some promising younger people along to take part and it's all good. We rehearse new songs at the jam (by learning them at home and rattling through them to get them together. We haven't done that for a short while. I'd like to get a few new things together. We HAVE been playing things that have fallen out of the set list, so we can slot them back in. After the jam finished on Sunday, we were packing up and I fell over some mics stands in a carry case in front of the drums and fell down hard to the stage floor with a very loud crash. Ii hurt like hell and I felt bruised for a few days and was knocked sick at the time. What I really couldn't get my head round was a weird woman who's there every week, acting like she owns the place, who laughed and clapped when I fell over. She saw how annoyed I was with her and she said she 'thought it was part of the act'. Lame. I said 'keep digging'. I was furious. I'm not looking forward to this Sunday.

Black boys on the corner Thin Lizzy

I find that after playing since the mid-70's, I'm definitely stuck in some sort of rut. It's a comfortable enough rut and I mainly play along with music that i like at home. I occasionally find something on Youtube (like Scott's bass lessons) and will have a go at that to make sure I can play it. With my band, we haven't messed with our set list in a short while, so I'd like to do that, because it's becoming a bit like groundhog day.

When my old band folded in December 2010, I felt I'd never ever get anything as good ever again. And maybe I didn't, but I got something else good in 2016 after a couple of years dealing with idiots and playing the odd thing with a couple of friends to keep my hand in. Now we do 120 - 125 a year.

Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton in Manchester. Last night. One of the best gigs I've been to in years.

Get them down to our jam night.

I've left the Bass Players group on Facebook. I didn't let the door bang my ar$e on the way out and it's no loss at all to them. It seems to be full of kids who either think; * people with only 4 strings are inadequate. * people with 5 or 6 strings are superior. * various bass players who have sold millions of records are cr@p because they aren't in Slipknot or whatever band. * putting oil on your strings is the way forward. * demonising pick players I could go on and on. Quora is as bad. I try to avoid that, or it's a couple of hours down the rabbit hole looking at people saying 'why is such a bass player so popular' etc etc.