12stringbassist

I run a Slade forum and I'm extremely worried that the talk of mirrored top hats on there breaks some Ofcom rule or other.

The Dels in Manchester.

In 'my band' we have three people, two of which have no particular IT skills to speak of. That means that one person (me) looks after http://www.the3.co.uk/ and does the vast majority of our Facebook stuff, posters etc. I don't mind as I have a hobbyist attitude about web stuff and quite like getting results. Our drummer does the upkeep of our weekly jam night page at https://www.facebook.com/TheThreeJamNights and puts new video on it, as I decided something had to go. I'm also busy doing books and the occasional CD release. Usually I do all of the band bookings through Facebook messenger (which keeps a handy audit trail for any disputes), or I sort them out when we are actually there. One message cut and pasted to umpteen venues every now and again and the diary fills up nicely. I won't use agents, as I have found that mainly they are useless and just parasites. Our guitarist passed us a gig the other day for next August next year after a venue had messaged him. He used to be a bit of a gig magnet, but he's stepped back from it a lot. Every little helps. My wife occasionally says I shouldn't be doing it all, when I have a small hissy about a venue suddenly mucking us about. If I didn't do it though, we probably wouldn't be out. I have set myself just over another year of doing this, as the band is coming up to its 10th anniversary in Jan 2026. I have blocked off a couple of weekends a month in 2026, though that page isn't openly visible on the website yet. I'll be 67 and a bit then and I hate going out gigging in bad weather over winter.

The thing is that there is an enormous divide between the former Pistols, so any of them refusing to do something or not being invited shouldn't be a surprise. If John Lydon actually was bothered enough, he would have put an injunction on them to stop them playing. Once he hasn't done that, the rest can run with it. But it will always be a man short.

The Sex Pistols is Lydon, Cook, Matlock and Jones. Or with Vicious if you don't care what it sounds like. On his talk tour Lydon gently rubbished the notion of a group without him. However, that doesn't stop the other three putting on a show without him. It's just the same as No Freddie, No Queen - YMMV.

There's a lot of us, I suspect, who would like to go back and give our younger selves a good slap. My ears would be ringing for years to come if I got the chance..

The thing with 5-string basses for me is that I get lost on them because I don't persevere with them enough. I have had two that I've sold (my third made a second one redundant). I haven't opened my 5-er case for a few months. It's an Ibanez SR1405 and it's great to play. I may have to break it out this weekend and make myself get used to it again. The bottom B is really good on it and the tones are fabulous. I have some lovely basses and wouldn't stop playing them for the extra few notes on a 5-er.

Paul McCartney Sting Lemmy Mark KIng Phil Lynott John Entwistle Sid Vicious Oh yes it's hard to name 10 bassists that the man on the street would easily come up with... Some of mine are probably a bit obscure to the younger end now.

THE WHO BY NUMBERS. A less than cheerful listen...

Cheers, snagged a pair of sets.

We just picked a few songs from our set and some extra bits and sewed them together....

The bass section at PMT in Salford is rather sad these days.

I very rarely go into a musical instrument store these days, as I have decided to thin the herd rather than adding to it. With only a couple of years or so of playing, I am unlikely to buy a guitar or bass now, as I have what I need.

Slade are now in that situation, with only Dave Hill from the original line-up. I haven't seen the Nod and Jim-less version of the band since 2000. I just can't bear it. When Dave and Don parted company, that made it even less attractive.

My band's got an album out - all original songs - available here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305838185616

Did anyone actually manage to get any of the Rory Gallagher items sold yesterday? I assume an amount of it will be in bank vaults.

You get bands who continue and evolve over many years - I'd cite Dr feelgood as a band that has shed original members gradually and once the last of those left, the question obviously arises - should they stop? Obviously not. They have kept an audience (maybe smaller than in their heyday) and serve them. I liken most bands to WH Smiths. Some one leaves, it's still WH Smiths. I have to hold back a snigger at a certain band in the North West who BOUGHT a band's name for £1500 and trot out some 60's clunge... introducing the songs as THEIR hits... (the bit I find funny).... but they are keeping working and making some people happy. Their website has an honest band history and you can see that the current line-up is nothing much to do with the originals.

I wouldn't be without my BDI21. A little bit of drive and the tone boost are fabulous.

We take between 110 and 120 a year (including a regular Sunday jam night). Our gigs are on the front page of http://www.the3.co.uk

From the other week in Wolverhampton...

My SR1305, during recent recording duties.

The SuperDeluxe editions of some albums have been really welcome to me. The recent Ultravox box sets have been a total delight. The Be Bop Deluxe boxes were wonderful too. The Who's Next / Lifehouse box, while overly-expensive, was certainly the way for a fan to get all of the related content. XTC's reissues were of model of how to do it. A shame the videos have stopped. The Thin Lizzy boxes I have - Vagabonds / 1976 / L&D / Rock legends - are all excellent. The demos in the 1976 box are pretty special, as is the live disc. The 2024 mixes of Jailbreak and Johnny The Fox use some guitar parts that were previously buried in the mix and a spoken word part that was abandoned in Emerald - that was a REAL surprise to hear. The demos as bonus content at the time of original release wouldn't have worked, as the band wanted us to hear record in only ONE way, how it was intended. Elvis Costello's back catalogue is on its umpteenth expanded reissue now and it's too much to expect fans to keep buying it. It pains me to say that Suede are guilty of putting out a slightly amended reissue of their back catalogue every few years. I wish they would stop it. If you can find the Edsel 3 disc sets, get those. They are definitive. They also try to get you to buy a special expanded edition of each new release with b-sides and live stuff added. A visible cash-grab. Having been involved a little in the Slade reissues, I know exactly how difficult the process of unearthing and getting additional content approved as bonus content can be.