Toddy

We carry an HK actor system and its a great piece of kit,, we often use the in-house stuff too as loads of venues we play have a decent system,, but of all the pro engineers we use like and trust the HK,,

hey hey Guys,,,some amazing stories , just an update on the OP,, bless she did us proud and made it to Wales for the weekend,, will load some pics when time,, the old thing is currently holding her own and covering approx 600 miles a week on gigging duties,,, good ol sprinter...

Thisnameistaken, I have no idea who you are,, but you are officially my new hero.....

Oh gosh,, really sorry to hear... Met Jim at the opening of a music shop in Grimsby donkeys years ago,, everyone was drinking champagne,, and he asked for a cup of tea,, classic.. Sadly missed

Pubs slightly different game,, a lot drying up,, boo hoo venues like the Crosby, must admit come across the divide problem myself,, seems especially in London, (probably get some flack for this,, hey ho,, no offence meant or intended) that most acts are trying to promote themselves hence all original material and being cool,, where up the north if you don't entertain "you aint comin back" and covers bands get the gigs.. If you really wanna earn some cash for covers the Holiday camp circuit are the best paying gigs,, however, that another thread completely,,, Most busy pub bands around my area are out most Saturdays tho.....most area have a forum (like this one) advertising gigs and bands wanted the Scunthorpe Entertainer Forum, for example works exactly like this one and is where most go for info about stuff,,guess you need to think about where you wanna live an have a look...

Dude,, yeah,, still a lot of WMC work around the northern area your thinking about.. doubt there has been many changes since you last saw them,,bless the Moorhouse empire, Northallerton WMC, and Sheffield area clubs,,etc Most seem to book through agents, tho not all, tis the standard set up. couple of 45 min cover sets, bingo, disco at the end stuff..and hell yeah you will need transport of some kind,,, no buses round these areas at 1am lol,,, can give you some contacts if you wish,, best of luck with it.

Ha, thanks guys,,, you've done me proud,, almost forgot how many times we ran out of Diesel,,,luckily looks like the sprinter will live again,,, we dont need the air con pump anyway,, ha,,if we get to wales will post a pic to prove it and thanks for making me feel a bit brighter...

Do you have humorous band van stories to cheer me up, Bless our Sprinter, today the power steering pump has fallen off, dunno how the heck to get to Wales for Fri ! and I'm sat ere feeling pretty fed up,,last month the alternator packed in,, door fell off in Yarmouth a while ago,, ignition packed in ,, wipers flew off the other night,,, arghhhhhhhh,,,,, to be honest she does pretty huge mileage,, actually reading this back sounds like a clown van.. Saying that, we have had hours of fun on the road,, plenty of water fights on the A1,, oh but we do have to carry tomato sauce,, cos the bleedin sat nav has a chip on its shoulder,,especially the last ten miles to the venue and takes the country route. Please tell me its not just us !!

Guilty as charged of most of the above offences,,,hey on more than one occasion we even forgot the audience

Nah,, the drummer shouldn't keep time,,, the SPDS machine keeps the time and sends the click to the drum stool....

hey gang, like it or not playing with a click and having keys, and additional bells and whistles etc is now industry standard,,, We are now using a sample pad (SPD-S) as are a lot of pro bands, i know for a fact a great deal of major touring bands have a dual system running side by side,, More interestingly tho is where are we getting the tracks from !, I suspect like us, most bands are producing their own in a studio set-up and creating WAV files, however I did find a french website which produces backing tracks which you can customise before downloading (and can alter afterwards) which is pretty cool,, you can just click to lose the drums or vocals etc,, even alter the key.. Tracks which we have to produce are now taking a long time due to studios busy SO my question is,,,,do we know anyone producing pro quality backing and is this a resource which ought to be shared??

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1331575147' post='1575151'] A colleague of mine is an English teacher. He knows all about sentences, grammar and stuff like that. In other words, he has great technique. When he speaks though, nothing but dull monologues come out. Nobody wants to listen to him... Is this relevant? [/quote] Best post ever ,,,,, awesome...............YES

FFS,,, everyone who plays in a pro band nowadays knows its the click line going to the drum stool that sets the pace !!! only saying like lol......ha,,,, its a laff init..

[url="http://www.brain-salad-surgery.de/zemaitis_guitars.html"]http://www.brain-salad-surgery.de/zemaitis_guitars.html[/url] Ha ,, found it!

Many many moons ago,,,seem to recall a Zemmy double neck bass and six string in music ground in Doncaster,,,with an ex Greg Lake (ELP) sticker on it,,, thought it looked awesome...........

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1323946518' post='1468918'] I wouldn't use them..... Never had a good experience, even with some of the very well known ones. Based on this years gigs..... We would have given away nearly £17,000 in commission if we had been using one..... rather split that between the band members or put it back into the business. [/quote] sigh..............ah well,,,just thought someone might wish to learn how agents work etc,,

Dudes,,, seems there are agents and agents,,all depends on your level of commitment and ability to travel,, ours has landed us over 80 bookings for next yr, so expensive as they are, they really can be a good thing,, I personally have been with bands which wouldn,t touch them, which is a shame,, cos knowing what i know now etc,, Most smaller venues do seem to prefer dealing with the band direct,, so it can have an opposite effect,, again,, all depends on your goals really, Feel free to send me a message if you really want me to rattle on bout this ,, ha,,,, Regards

Dude, only bleedin frustration of camden etc is parking,,,then the sat nav takes you thru central and you fall foul of the congestion zone , arghhhhhhhhhhhh,,,, Although the major of London just sent me a nice letter saying now they are setting up a low emission zone, and our non-catalytic van will be an extra £100 per day,, rant over,,, tried the venue, new cross I believe,, dead easy on the tube.........only a thought.....