12stringbassist

From the other week: [i]I WANT TO SING A COUPLE OF SONGS WITH YOU.[/i]' Quite tall, very drunk young lad says to me. His eyes are not focussing on me properly and he is slurring his words. Trouble. I tell him that we aren't insured for that and if he hurts himself onstage, the insurance claim could close the pub. [i]'IT'S MY EIGHTEENTH DO AND I WANT TO SING WITH YOU. GO ON..'. [/i] He wobbles uncertainly again after having too many first ever legal pints. Goes away and wobbles round in a semi-comical manner on the so-called dance floor. He is cross-eyed drunk. We watch him staggering around while we play and fret that the PA speakers might be coming off their stands shortly. 20 minutes later, between songs, he comes up and walks over to my microphone again. [i]'I WANT TO SING WITH YOU..[/i]' By this time he is in such a bad way that his mate see it and they come to take him back into the audience. Too late. He isn't having any of it. Neither am I and I say so, but he still goes to grab my microphone. Down he falls. Predictably. Over my monitor. Onto my mic stand. Knees straight down into my floor pedals. My microphone stand is now threatening to hit £2000 worth of Rickenbacker bass on a stand, so I square up to him with a custom-built bass still hanging round my neck, pushing both him and the dangerously falling microphone stand back. He crawls all over my work area and I resist the severe temptation to kick the f*** out of him. A couple of his mates pick him up and drag him off. My basses are luckily unharmed. My mic stand needs setting up again. My pedals are all disconnected from the power supply and ripped out of place from where they have been fixed on my pedal board. I feel murderous. A bit of getting down on my knees and re-patching cables and fixing my mic stand for five minutes and then we do the much-practiced [i]'smile and carry on as if nothing has happened' [/i]act. We do what are now certainly going to be the last two songs and then we pack up. The drunken lad is shepherded out of the pub by what is probably his Mum and so he misses them. The lad's dad comes over when we are done. He apologises. [i]'No harm done'[/i], he says. I scare him by pointing out that I had told his son repeatedly to keep back from the stage and that a new Rickenbacker bass would set his son back £2000. I valued the custom built bass I had on at £3000, just to terrify him. I said he would have needed another student loan after he had paid me up. [i]'But it's his 18th and he was just having fun' [/i]says his dad slinking off, relieved that his waste of sperm hasn't actually broken precious things. He has no idea at all. The lad's mate then comes over and apologises profusely for him, saying [i]we should come and watch the lad's band[/i]. I suddenly picture stage invasions with crossbows, but say nothing. [i]You must have done the same thing when you were his age?[/i] (Says his mate). I am almost speechless. No. I never ever made a prat of myself by falling into another band's gear. That was not something that I have ever wanted to do. Your mate may be just 18 and a good lad etc, but I take a dim view of some drunken **** nearly doing about £5000 worth of damage. His mate is taken aback by my somewhat annoyed tone. No-one seems to get the fact that this clown was a danger to us and the people around him. He kindly offers to buy me a drink which I politely decline. I just want to go home. The next person who invades my stage will wake up in hospital with surgeons wondering how to get my boot out of his arse. Promise.

Virgin Australia baggage handler shows us how it is done... https://www.facebook.com/milesawayhc/videos/10153979203541842/

Nice and tidy. Well done.

Pimping now complete. Thanks to two guys in particular...

The one I use now (just half of it 99% of gigs)

I stuck with it to the end, but I wish they had just slotted in more Feelgoods and Wilko concert footage instead of all the Shakespearean drivel. Overjoyed he's still with us.

Saxon 1979 supporting Slade. Vardis 1982 supporting Slade [b]Slade[/b] were of course [b]magnificent [/b]every time I saw them. Those two support bands got booed off.

http://www.originalscratchplates.com/

The TASCAM DP24SD is a fantastic 24 track recording unit. I have been using one at my mate's house and we are getting fantastic results. Inspired by our success, I bought one myself on October 10th and, a couple of emails later, am still awaiting a suitable UK power supply as it comes with a two-prong European supply. I am bothered about trying to use it with that. To cap it all, yesterday I was sent a kettle lead - which doesn't fit. They are appropriately apologetic about this. My mate went through the same process to get a UK supply for his. I know that DV247 are doing their best, but this is not really good enough. I would recommend that you buy one from somewhere else and note in your order that you need a UK power supply with it. I can't remember the last time I spent this much money to sit fuming at a new product.

After a number of years playing, I worked my way from being embarrassed to try a backing vocal up to 50% if the vocals in my band. With the band I am in now, I am lucky to get a quarter of the vocals as the drummer considers himself the singer until his voice starts to go, then my songs tend to get called a bit more!!!

Andrew Gill from Slade UK is on Facebook.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1435588928' post='2810318'] The Who may not be the band they were back in the 60's / early 70's. But they're a better proposition [i]now[/i] than when they were during during the Kenney Jones era. [size=3][b]1982[/b]: Worst Who Ever[/size] [color=#ffffff][size=3].[/size][/color] [/quote] The Who with Pino Palladino is not The Who. They are allowed to call it The Who, of course, but they won't ever get my ticket money again. That's my problem not theirs, but the 1982 Who which I saw a couple of times had John there.

Come to the North West. Everybody's in a Floyd Tribute Band.... I know of ONE really good one... (I am NOT in it, by the way).

I really can't work out why they aren't HUGE by now...

Pino is not the man for The Who..

If they are happy enough with their current dep bassist, they don't have to apologise to anyone for continuing with him. It may not be the same, but if they have a legal entitlement to use the name they may as well.... I also agree that Pino Palladino was a totally wrong choice for The Who......

My experience with Reidys involved checking by phone that they had a Modern Player Telecaster in stock in a partcular colour. Yes. They agreed to keep it at one side for me Then I drove from Bolton to Blackburn to try it. It was not behind the counter. It was in the warehouse. Half an hour later someone goes to fetch one. Back it comes. Gorgeous guitar. Small issue with fretboard. First fret is really smashed up. Guitar is totally unplayable. Tell member of staff who is apparently struggling to stay awake. He mutters about getting another guitar from the Reidys wacky warehouse. It won't be the shop until tomorrow. Normally I would kick off at being made to drive 30 miles each way to marvel at a f****d guitar. I had to go to Blackburn the next day anyway. Otherwise that would have been that. He puts the damaged guitar back on display. I mind him that the neck is beyond repair. Grunt. Next day. I have come to try another MP Tele Grunt. Guitar appears from warehouse an hour after I arrive to check it out. Particularly horrible instrument. Tell salesperson that the other damaged Tele is still on sale. Grunt. Exit Never been back. Grunt.

I will change to my spare if my hands are getting sticky mid-set. Otherwise I just change to it second set. Sometimes I take the 12 string bass out and there are only certain songs I use it for.

Very fond of mine.....

My avatar pic is the 12-string version of this bass.

The 8-string bass was one of two on long-term loan from Hamer. He also used one with a clear yellow finish for a short while. I think he still has the red one, which later had his name added to the headstock.