Cat Burrito

First show of 2026 for me 

Only just seen this thread. I've definitely noticed with bands being more in control of their careers, new artists tend to be pretty clean living compared to when I first started. Even down to diet, exercise and not smoking. I always felt the drug side of things was very romanticised and there will always be examples of acts both clean or high that make good and bad music. I remember even back in the 90s there was the start of a push for acts to be much more savvy on the business front and that's hard to do if everyone is wasted. 

I don't doubt that there are still huge pockets of the industry where drugs are rife but it's nice to see artists looking after themselves a little more. 

I am two or three sessions away from completing the next album with my duo, so that’s been the focus.

Away from that, I was humbled to be approached about joining an established tribute band (sorry to be cryptic but it’s not official yet) so I really need to pull my finger out and make a proper attempt at learning the material. 

Owned from new for around 12yrs, I bought this from Thomann and had it set up for Rockabilly. It definitely feels a step up from the entry level basses and I have used it live a lot. Most of its life has been more of feature in my living room though. The last couple of years I have been coming to terms with the fact that I need to sell it. Space is at a premium, it rarely gets used and I am of an age where the EUB seems the easier option. 
 

The specs are here Thomann link if anyone is interested. I added a pickup which has been useful - a David Gage Realist. People often call it a copper head. They’re industry standard and normally about £120 used. Mine is included with the bass at no extra cost to you. There is a tatty (by my high standards) gig bag and the strings are currently Gut-A-Like vintage ones Gut A Like strings

You’ll see I added a few stickers. These should be fairly easy to remove. I’m happy to do it, or I can leave it. Equally I am happy to add more pictures.

It’s currently lent against the wall in my place in Hungerford, where I am Sunday to Thursday evenings. Postage looks too hard to do so it would be a collection. I have gotten it in a Peugeot 107 before - not comfortably, so perhaps don’t bring the family if collecting! 

As a long time user of my long scale Hofner Verythin bass, this is sad

My final show of 2025 was also a debut at Devizes’ White Bear, a famously haunted 15th century coach house. Dubbed as “The White Bear before Christmas”, our visuals guy had declined doing a Jack Skellington type poster design due to copyright. I admire his principles. Having lost our other regular payer, I had high hopes to make this a good show. 
 

The vibe was very friendly and our hard push across all of our social media platforms paid off. Loads of familiar faces showed up. I did a walk around prior to going on, giving out band badges. I was playing mandocello, my Precision bass, mandolin and guitar. 
 

We decided to dress extra smart to make it more of an event. Nick’s legendary 86yr old mum came down to support us (again) and told me afterwards that we just get better. The landlady was extremely happy and said the whole pub was blown away, even the people in the back bar that I wasn’t convinced we’d win over. 
 

We have a couple of super fans who have been to the last few shows who showed up. It looks like we’re back for our 2026 album launch in the spring. A definite success. 

Steve bought a 1970s tenor banjo from me. Great guy, making it an effortless experience. 

We played the Wheatsheaf in Calne last night with the drummer from our first band, 35yrs back. We’ve reunited a handful of times in recent years and it’s both nice to have a real drum beat & good to have 60% of my Sixth Form band back together. We’re just so comfortable in each other’s skin.

I thought we played well. I was on my mandocello for 90% of the show and there were flashes of us all being really on it at times. The two bands who were on after us both came up after and said “how are we supposed to follow that?”, which was typical of the ego free and friendly nature of this multi band gig, raising money for Bristol Children’s Hospital. For the record, music has never been about competition and both bands did their thing well. I was particularly impressed with some of the earlier bands who were so young. I was talking to some 17yr old bassist who really impressed me and it’s so good to see that generation getting out there and doing it. A great day. 

We use drum and keys that we played ourselves in my goth duo. It's a different type of challenge and tracks are unforgiving as they can't cover mistakes (or creative interpretations, for those who don't make errors!).

Getting a drum machine is one thing, having someone who can programme it is another. We use GarageBand and we're both pretty good at writing drum tracks.... Now! It's like learning another instrument. My bandmate uses GarageBand for work, whereas I have really had to up my game.

And I can't really argue with the "there's no substitute for a real drummer" argument. We're playing with our original drummer from 35yrs ago tomorrow and it's a nice occasional treat that we enjoy. I do think I have become a better musician for playing to drum tracks. 

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.