Low End Bee

A chance to entertain, have fun and get ff on people enjoying songs we have written. I would rather be banging them in as Brentford's centre forward if truth be known but gigging is as good as it'll ever get now.

I could probably get away with mittens...

Horrid tarts handbags.

My 2007 Precision sounds and plays better than my old '68 did. I may have had a bad '68 and now have a good '07. Who knows? I haven't noticed a huge aural difference when playing old and new P's. There is something about the wear on well played old instrument plus the inconsistencies in pre CNC manufacture that often makes them feel a bit special. So for tactile and subliminal reasons they will often be more satisfying to a lot of players. Would I like to own a vintage Precision? Yes I would. But only for sentimental and not sonic reasons.

It's a ****er isn't it WalMan. My strategy this year is to con someone into being our 'manager' as an extremely unrewarding, low paid hobby. Failing that I will go back to what has worked before. A promo pack to show venues. Samples of flyers and posters we have produced for previous gigs, a two track sampler CD, a nice graphical page with snippets of positive reviews (you can make some or all of these up ) stating how nice it was to see our band in a packed venue topped off with a business card. I always physically take these in to a venue then ask to see the boss or try at the very least engage the bar staff in conversation and get them to pass it on. It's aggro and hard work but it seems to do the trick. It's even got an originals band like us in pubs.

Good point in the OP. I love playing with my drummer. He's got a reggae and jazz background so even though we are a punky power pop band we do a lot of off beat stuff we enjoy locking in on. I know exactly when he's going to hit that cymbal he knows when I'm going to play in front of or behind the beat I've rarely played with other drummers recently. I have with a couple of 'rock' drummers and they were way too bashy and busy for my taste. Made me just want to play roots and get it over with. I did really enjoy playing in the US a couple of years ago with a 65 year old fisherman who was a country blues player with some missing fingers. He had a very economic and tasteful style that was really enjoyable and easy to lock into. I've been talked in to helping out a mates project band for a bit and the only thing that worries me is what the drummer will be like.

Good luck tonight fellers.

Right. I'm over it now. Temporarily lost my sense of humour with three deals gone bad in two days. 2012 will see bigger, shinier, sexier gigs. You make your own luck. Gig bookers are still generally awkward feckers but that 's the territory. A proper Merry Xmas to all

Clarky. If you're ever 'between bands' you can now become a 'bedroom bubinga botherer' (c) Silddx

I'm happy with my Retrovibe over a Rickenbacker. Doesn't phase me at all. However..... There's still a bit of me that is the teenage gear-stalker who went all weak at the knees over the sight of that almost mythical object. The 'real' American Fender Precision. 4 years ago and a weaker dollar. Bob's yer uncle. I have one. I tried loads before I found it and it's a good one too. There may be Squier's out there as good. They will certainly be better value. But I would know they're not the one I've always wanted. Logic is brushed aside and it makes me feel more confident on stage.

[quote name='Mace' timestamp='1324560084' post='1475581'] Sorry, I'm with Lozz too... have turned away 3 x the number of gigs that we actually have in the diary for next year - this is a huge bone of contention for me and one other member so looking forward to having an early January "where are we going?" meeting! It's more work but if you're struggling to get gigs why not book a venue yourself and put a night on, you can promote it and sell tickets via the websites already mentioned here, to get a bit of a buzz going? It's alot of hard work but it'll give you something to work on and I think you'll be surprised at how many "promoters" will get in touch afterwards if it goes even half well (in my experience anyway)... Merry Christmas! [/quote] Absolutely Mace. I've done all that. It's not getting the gigs that's the problem to be fair, It's dealing with a lot of the 'bookers' that's my beef. Just so happens 3 in a row have blown out for reasons that weren't anyhthing to do with us. Plus we're a choosy lot and don't like playing the 4/5 band nights in Camden/Central London that we could be doing every week if we wanted.

You're not helping Lozz!

I had a thinline a few years ago when I was thrashing away on punky rhythm duties and it never got in the way as far as I can recall. Sam from the Jetsonics used one for years with no problem either until he got his Gordon Smith a couple of months ago.

If venue/pub people weren't so vague and terrible at communication it would be OK. There are only, Ithink, two places we play where it's black & white and straightforward to deal with them.

...The most ball achingly annoying time wastery frustrating pursuit bleeding ever. Discuss... Merry Xmas everyone

Good idea Nigel.

Helicopter Dolphin Submarine - Andy J Gallagher LP Like the Wedding Present meets Buzzcocks. Brillliant lo-fi stuff. Love the vids too. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvEuvtBBG0s&feature=related[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBbLDCQeaBo[/media]

Shame I'm on the road West that night. I do enjoy a JYD night in a Fullers pub. Nice to see a covers band play tunes not on the standard list. If you haven't seen them before you should do. They're well worth the admission......

Well done BG. We're not as lucky. Just had a January and a February gig cancelled. The brewery has 'drafted' in new landlords and the agreement was with the previous management. New landlords are 'probably' not doing music. Luckily We hadn't given the printers the nod. We turned down other gigs to accept these too. Nothing booked until March now We should stick to music specific venues really.But we've had good turnouts at this one and it's a lot of fun.

Seems sensible. To be honest I've gone elsewhere for my general music discussion.

I should post about our last one even if it was a bit painful. After playing to a packed to the rafters Half Moon we do a charity gig in what looks like a phone shop to about 15 people. Happy Jack very kindly supplied the PA and did sound man duties. Levels were lovely and he got us sounding great. It was odd. Like rehearsing with a few people in the corner. Our singer lost his voice a couple of songs in. We made little fluffs here and there that we haven't dione before and we didn't play all that well in truth. It just felt so odd. The few that were there seemed to enjoy it so it can't have been all bad I suppose. On the plus side. We learnt a few things we need to brush up on. The two new songs work live. It was nice to have HJ doing the sound (and making us turn down) as he doesn't swear at us as much as TC our usual PA nman who was away. We know that we'll avoid this place as a venue in the future too! Only one gig booked at the moment and that's for March next year. I should really get on and get some more sorted but it's the only thing about being in this band that I really dislike doing. If anyone wants to promote us.........

I think I'll win the backline award for first gig. At school as a 14 year old. I worked at Maurice Plaquet's music shop after school and Saturday's at the time. The 'headline' band were a year older and were very sniffy towards us so they wouldn't share amps. The shop manager thought they should have a bit of their own medicine. So we had a full Marshall stack for the guitarist and I had a blue line SVT with two 8x10's!They then had to take stage after us with some dreadful, cheapo, whisper quiet little transistor amps. I've always tried to be helpful on kit share since. The police turned up and there was a minor riot at the gates as the rival school came down to 'sort us out'. That was all par for the course in the West London of the late 70s though. We were a bit crap and had to have two (bad) singers for some reason. We were very loud though which is what mattered.

Orange. Ask Happy Jack how cool that looks.....

Just looked at a set list we did in April. We've swapped out 7 songs for new ones we've written since then. Two will be getting there world debut here. 'Chelsea Drugstore' and 'Flight 305' If you haven't seen us for a while it'll be like watching a new band.

[quote name='grimbeaver' timestamp='1322226918' post='1448219'] is the 1000 overkill though? I didnt know if I shoud try the 500 or 1000 [/quote] 500 is more than plenty. I'm baffled to know where you'd need more volume to be honest. If you go via the desk a lot the DI is a bit poo though. I've bought a TC Classic which can more or less replicate the OTB tone and has an excellent DI. Not the huge gobs of volume the OTB does but still very loud.