Cat Burrito

I quit for 4yrs at the tender age of 27yrs old, because I felt that I was getting too old. I cringe thinking about it now but I needed to get my career and life in general kickstarted a lot more. I had always promoted my bands so had less time than band mates who were getting on with their lives away from music. 
 

I felt invigorated coming back. The pressure to “make it” was off and I have since worked in groups where someone else does the behind the scenes stuff. Ironically, I feel that I have had far more success in my later years. 
 

It is never wrong to stop or have a timeout when the mood suits. I have scaled back in the last year or so as the multiple band life was causing me a mild amount of stress. So, a soft reboot, of sorts. 

Thanks to everyone who supported this. Just shy of 1000 views in under 2 weeks 🎉 It would be great to get it into 4 digit numbers 🙏

It's a thankless task but bands need a leader who has final say. I thought Chris B's post was spot on - I hate spending my evenings learning parts, only to get to rehearsal when somebody hasn't even listened to the song. A bad rehearsal is where you go through the set and learn nothing. I've had a couple of rehearsals where we have spent the whole session on one song - and it makes for a better band. We couldn't have done that with amateurs who don't learn material. The only excuse for not learning a song is when you are so good that you pick it up straight away and don't make an issue of it. 

Personally I like the tones of Simon Gallup (The Cure) and Craig Adams (Sisters of Mercy era), and both helped shaped my early playing days.

I find Gear4Music absolutely superb. I had a bass arrive with damage (couriers fault), they gave me several options regarding replacement / returns and allowed me a month to think on it (which I used) before returning it with no quibbles. 

1 hour ago, Aidan63 said:

 I couldn't make out the lyrics at all

The way it sticks to your lips

In shades of toffee apple red

It covers up the cracks and hides the chaps

Puts a glamour on the things you've said.

That staying power, last for hours 

when you're kissing me

And you ignore the cancker paint  

that sculpts my masculinity 

To spare our blushes every brush stroke shimmer shines 

Removes the laughter creases 

Powdered confidence fills out the lines

U Got the look 

On brand On trend once upon a time 

We’re water proof kiss proof bomb proof 

Sunken eyes are underlined 

The way it sticks to your lips

In shades of toffee apple red

It neatly glosses over all the past

And the knowledge that you’re nearly dead.

3 hours ago, Franticsmurf said:

I liked the bass drone and the sound used for it - bass guitar plus pedals or bass synth (or both)? 

Thank you 🙏 The bass guitar has added distortion and chorus. It’s from the producer’s sound bank rather than my board - he thought it sounded better and I am happy to be guided here. I added the drone note on the synth but that’s in a slightly higher register. It does all add to the mix. 

As the Basschat community has always been fantastically supportive in checking out new music, we released our first brand new music in over a year. “Gloss” is out today via Ray Records and streaming on all the usual platforms. As always, we collaborated with Haunting the Atom to make this fun video. 
 

For anyone wanting a bit more background, it’s influenced by the post punk bands of our youth. I wanted a Stooges / Velvet Underground simplicity to the music (one note solo and bass line) but with an intelligent lyric. It isn’t typical of next year’s forthcoming third album and is probably the rockiest track we’ve written. Filmed in my house (which stunk of incense for several days afterwards), we had a blast doing this. 
 

I probably didn't but playing several instruments, co-writing and co-producing, I think I do more now. I know what people mean about it being a bit pretentious sounding, but it's less pretentious than a lot of the terminology in most day jobs these days! 

We got a couple of pro shots from the night before, courtesy of Pacific Curd, so I thought I’d share one.

Moving swiftly on to last night, we did a home town “Early Halloween Special” at the Cellar Bar in Devizes. Ahead of our next single, “Gloss”, coming out this Friday, we went all out on the makeup. At the risk of looking like a Temu Pennywise, I liked this pic…

We were supporting the fantastic JP Oldfield who does a Johnny Cash type thing. I had my 57Ri P-bass through my board with a Boss IR2. Again, we played well and I enjoyed it. We did £70 in merch sales, which is a record for us. 
 

An hour of mostly original music, it rounded off what has been a really great weekend. 

45 minutes ago, Thor said:

Was it Jeff that said about your strings? 🤣 Great service from them, but as you say, a bit stuck in a time warp.😁
 

 

Yeah, he’s a real character. Been going there since 1988. 

Deadlight Dance returned to the stage last night, supporting the excellent Sun Machine at The Tree House in Frome. Prior to the show, I took my 57RI P-bass into Kempsters in Swindon, to replace some dodgy pots. Amazing service as always with 80s style pricing, although he did “have to tell me” that he didn’t like my neon green strings! 😹

I also picked up a Pennywise stage mascot at HMV. Despite the AD200 Orange bass rig, I am actually running through just a board with the Boss IR2 as my “rig”. The Orange sounded incredible when Sun Machine were on and having owned the exact same setup, I didn’t miss it during the first floor load in. In fact I had 4 separate people ask me about my bass sound! I was also compared to Peter Hook and Simon Gallup, which for an originals based set is either a massive compliment or I need to get better at stealing!

The sound guy Chris was amazing, Sun Machine were fantastic and there was not one diva style ego in the house. A respectably full room and everyone showed up to watch both bands. Coupled with the age friendly 10.30pm curfew and the competitively priced Guinness 0%, a superb evening. Nice to be back “home” on the bass too 😎

When I was 20, I joined a band where everyone had stage names. I was told I had to have one so I just kept my first name and used my middle name as my surname. After that band, I vowed to use my real name and have done for the last 30yrs+.
 

My middle name is James and I thought with Brian James, Tony James, Steve James, Wendy James etc, it was suitably rock n roll sounding. Changing my first name always seemed silly as I have never had a nickname or really been called by my surname so always wanted just to be known by my first name. 

I do the majority of the onstage banter in my duo. I have always had a quick wit and as our music is definitely darker in tone, it lifts the mood. I worked with a singer a few years ago who was naturally effortless at this onstage (not so good without a mic, ironically) and I learned a lot from working with him. 
 

The best line from our last show was as we finished the set, our backing track started up again. I stopped it and said down the mic, “So sorry, you’d not asked for an encore!” 
 

I think it is a difficult balance between not being too full of yourself, not putting your act down, not going on too much but keeping people entertained. I think I usually get it about right but don’t sweat it too much if I don’t. 

We normally practice on a Friday after work in our self christened “Bela Lugosi’s Shed”, but due to a child related commitment, pushed back until Saturday. This meant promotion to Nick’s house as the whole family were out. We demoed two tracks for the new album and worked up a song idea of mine. Nice to bust out my big board in what was generally a very productive day. 

I had one and used it for years. It was during my time playing on the Americana circuit, as well as doing a bit of old school rock 'n' roll. In fact, I seem to remember I used it in a CCR tribute band too. It held up against the loudest drummer & guitarist that I have ever worked with. In the Americana band I tended to be on volume 2 1/2 and coming through nicely and with the louder guys I was nearer volume 5 or 6. I tended to put Fender basses through it and run it through the matching PF cab (the 4x10, 2x10 or 1x15 at different times). Plenty of old school thumb. It's heavy for what it is but because it is small, it is light - if that makes any sense!?! I sold mine on here a few years back and mine would have been when they first came out. 

Looking at my Basschat pics, I must have had it for years as this was around 2018 so I must have run it for a good 4yrs. 

A double whammy of a weekend in the first half of October. We’re coming to Frome

before returning to our new adopted home town the next day. 
 

We opened the Swindon Shuffle’s Friday Night at The Castle in Old Town last night. Arriving in good time to see the headliner’s soundcheck, I was immediately taken by the bassists sound. Very dubby. He had his back to me and when he turned around, he was playing with a pick, right up by the bridge! It was a Genz Benz amp and every time I hear one of those, they sound fantastic. 
 

We were the first of five bands and I think were given this slot as we’re just a duo. I would be too polite to argue but a few people suggested we should have been higher up the bill. In many respects though, it was one of the better slots. I had my 2008 USA Fender Jazz that was going through my board. Doing as the soundman wanted, he had me go through the Genz Benz amp and it sounded great. 
 

We did an all original set with the keys / drums on the iPad. Some soundmen struggle, with this set up but the guy last night clearly knew his way around the desk and the sound both on and off stage was glorious. 
 

We let the music do the talking but still had a bit of banter with the audience. We held the audience throughout our 30 minute set, something some of the other acts didn’t manage. Introducing two new songs and a few favourites, the time flew. At the end, I thanked everyone, only for the track to loop and start up again. I quickly stopped it and said “So sorry, you didn’t ask for an encore!” which I think endeared us further. 
 

I thought we played well. My lead vocals (I am not the main singer) are definitely gaining confidence and I am falling in love with my Jazz bass all over. A great night. 

We're kicking things off at The Castle in Old Town, Swindon this Friday, as part of the Swindon Shuffle. 

With my main duo, I am very heavily involved, from booking / organising through to choosing the majority of covers and co-writing music together. I think all the lead tracks / singles have started from me. Aside suggesting lyrical themes, I let Nick do the lyrics as it's definitely his area. I think we both acknowledge that it is all very much a partnership. I think we both bring something to the band that the other one can't and are hugely respectful of one another. Oh, and I run the social media too. 

My other band, I co-produced the debut record but now we're on album #2, I just write my bass parts and show up when asked. I practice my parts prior to getting together but my involvement is a fraction of what it is for my main venture. I think we value everyone's contribution and I have worked with them since 2016.

Back with an enhanced version of Deadlight Dance yesterday, and once again we were joined by our drummer from our Sixth Form band, Mike. This was for a street party in the road my band mate lives in.  
 

I had my trusty long scale Hofner Verythin bass but was mixing it up with several on the Gold Tone (AKA Goth Tone) Mandocello and even a couple on guitar and a couple on mandolin. I was going through my Boss BCB60 with the Boss IR2 at the end of the chain. 
 

I was telling the story of how we filmed our zombie apocalypse video in this very road, in a very light hearted way - see Infectious for details - when that Government text alert went off! You couldn’t make it up and it was a genuine comedy moment. 
 

We played well. We picked up some travelling fans from the last gig and even sold a few CDs. It was also an absolute pleasure to hang out with two of my oldest friends. 

Saturday night was a trip to London to play the legendary What's Cookin', for my friend Rich Davies and his band The Dissidents. I've been part of the band since 2016 and we have kept the same lineup throughout. They are all insanely good players and I like the fact that this keeps me on my toes. We had one rehearsal and I spent the week going through the set at home as we don't play live often and Rich had changed some keys of songs. I'd initally thought of bringing my Rickenbacker but midweek decided to change to my long scale Hofner Verythin bass. Rich wanted me to bring my Blackstar rig but I hate London load ins so when I found out there was a house rig, I was happy to use that.

Having travelled up with the keyboard player, we arrived in good time, only to find out our drummer was not so fortunate. We wound up sound checking without him whilst a kit sharing support band quietly twitched! Thankfully he arrived and we got all set up. The nice thing was I had a bunch of old mates show up, including a singer I worked with for 10yrs, a roadie from a previous band and the guy who does the videos in my main band. 

We went on and just killed it. Due to the tube strike, the venue was quieter than usual but respectably half full and all eyes were on the band. Props to the support act who danced at the back throughout our set. The downside was that an accident on the M25 meant I got in at 3.15am but it was a superb evening. 

We’ve let this run for 10 pages with the majority of posts being respectful but it’s clear from reading through and looking at our reported posts that this has now run its course. 

40 minutes ago, SimonK said:

 

It's a nice sentiment that social media makes people sound more extreme, but I made the mistake of listening to a LBC radio phone in yesterday while driving... breathtaking both the views of the presenter and the people who called in.

I agree. To be clear, I was referring to everything online, not just social media. It stands to reason that if someone only watches GB News or only reads the Guardian, they are getting that one perspective. Whilst I am sure that most intelligent people get their information from a range of sources, there are plenty that only get fed stuff from Facebook or the Daily Mail. 

I'm not ignoring the original post but I do worry that with algorithms, we are fed our own narrative and this has in some way contributed to a huge divide amongst people. I have friends who hold the polar opposite of my views and I genuinely value the banter we have. 

In terms of somebody being racist, sexist, homophobic (& I would add prejudice against the disabled), I couldn't be in a group with them. Especially as extreme views often come with the "everyone is entitled to my opinion" view. Given the lyrical themes of my originals band, I think it's unlikely those sorts of people would be knocking down the door to work with me. 

I have made music with people who vote very differently to me and I have focused on the overall person, their musicianship, enthusiasm, passion and whether they are good company. Generally though, most of my band mates seem to hold similar views to me.