Muzz

Ohhhh, I'm nicking that for our pub band gigs...we can progress to the Autumn Concert Series, Winter Concert Series... We can stick another £50 on the fee if we go for that... 😁

It's the curse of pub/covers bands: you play like a bunch of individuals who've never met before and there's punters who loved it, the other side of the coin is a great gig without a note dropped, you're all nodding at each other at the end like the Muppets used to do coming off stage, and no-one in the audience blinks an eye...

Jenga Master Level on the packing...years ago, my friend and I had a Satdy morning job helping load his Dad's HGVs with furniture. We'd spend half an hour lining up the sofas and tables and armchairs and stuff into the back of the lorry, only to find ourselves with about a third of the load left still out. The driver would come out from the office, shake his head, point out three or four things that should be rotated or lined up differently, and hey presto, the lot would be in. It was baffling how they could just see it...

I've been IEM for about 18 months now, and unless there's a change of band bringing in the money, I won't be going back. Oddly, the band I'm in only myself and the drummer are IEM (and he went there because there's a single song to a click, which he needs to hear), the other two (singist/geetard and percussionist) aren't. Luckily we have a good desk which allows individual mixes, so I have just what I need (kick and snare and me, mostly, with a guide-level geetar and vox, and not much percussion) at the volume I need from the lovely dial on my P2... The PA isn't massive (just two RCF 745s, and the singist/geetard has a RCF 12 monitor), but it's more than enough for the pubs and clubs we play...in fact I think we're always too loud FOH, but that's another story... I've done a few bits with an originals band (see the album launch thing in the gigs thread), but it's a country band, so no massive volumes needed, and I go into the desk from my Stomp and rely on a monitor. If required, I'll use a stage monitor (I have a modded Rumble 100 on a stand, or for more ooomph a QSC 12.2), but I'd much, much rather use the inears. A personal mix of the band where you can hear everything clearly at a reasonable volume? What's not to like? The isolation thing I've become used to, tho there's still a decent level of ambient stage sound from the mics, so it's not extreme at all. Oh, and the load in and out? A struggle of the past...plus whenever we're jammed into a corner (and with a drummer and 3-conga/2-bongo percussionist, that's exacerbated) there's more stage room without backline.

Completely agree with that, especially if, like I did last year, you get a hosting band seat. Then you're really in at the deep end, but it's very liberating (once you've got over the 'I've never played/heard this before, how can I play it now?' thing)...

I believe there's a heavy steel rod in there, too...

Tempting...I need to find some tonelead first, tho...

Don't tempt me...the trouble is, if I did lighten the body, it'd neck dive, so the fix for that is...

9lbs 5oz...not a killer for some folk, but very heavy for me, especially with my gig calendar...

Oh my sainted aunt, that looks great...please tell me it's light...

So I tweaked my back (on the roof, too, doing a spot of DIY, tho not the full Rod Hull, thankfully) last weekend, and I've had a back-focused kinda week, so I decided to weigh all my basses. Tragically, my favourite gigging bass, the BB414, is (as I'd suspected/feared) the heaviest of the lot. What surprised me was by how much - after a bit of restringing/fettling, I gigged a Shuker that was nearly 2lbs lighter. I'm now trying to think of simple ways to lighten it (I've already done the tuners, there's not much else easy to do), I may even explore more radical solutions...

Another Satdy night, another bar...this one, however, was a bit upmarket/older clientele (a new venue to us), and when a 60th birthday Do walked in (about 15 ladies, there were balloons and sashes, that kinda vibe), a hasty rearrange of the set towards the Girly Dancy Songs led to a more engaged night than it could have been... Downside, tho, was something that hasn't happened for a bit: Singist/Geetard/BL got there first, and texted 'Lads, it's up two flights of stairs', which was followed by three immediate responses of 'Oh, f**k nooooo...' Still, as I say, that's the first one this year, so can't really complain, especially as I've tweaked me back (Physio booked Weds) and was able to honestly swerve much of the heavy lifting...thank the gods for Helix and inears...

As a matter of interest, does this pub put any other bands/live music on?

Before anyone gets near sorting out who might get what, bear in mind that £100 behind the bar from the landlord won't equate to £100 handed over by the landlord; £100 in drinks will be costing the landlord much, much less...and a rammed pub should translate into proper gig money for the band...round these parts that's £300. Cash.

A nice change from the pub gigs with pisht punters on Friday night - album launch gig (Persona Non Grata by Noel Fraser - it's on all the streaming sites) for my erstwhile Singist/BL...he's gone all Country(ish), hence the daft hat and my check shirt. Unusual venue (tho a touch epic), the sound was apparently good out front, but onstage it was the swirly, bouncy, reverby nightmare I'd feared. The drummer was using a mix of sticks, hotrods and brushes, and he and I had to have his drums in our monitor , because even standing next to him it was tough to hear what he was playing on the more subtle songs...a good evening, though... I like this one, tho it's more about the bass than me...

A smooth and easy transaction with Paul - he even helped out meeting me to cut down on my M6 drive. One of the good guys on here...

I've gigged extensively in pubs, some smaller clubs and all sorts of wedding/function venues with two RCF 12 tops and a single 12 sub, and it was never, ever short of volume - and that's with triggered drums and no backline (guitar/vocal, bass, drums trio doing all sorts of music). If you need to go much louder than that in the sort of places above then the people at the front are being deafened... We've even used a pair of Bose S1s with the RCF 12 sub, and that was fine for smaller places. Newer band is a four-piece, no backline, miked kit, and through two RCF 15 tops it can go stupidly, pointlessly loud for pubs. I use inears, which are a blessing because it's so loud. All the bigger gigs I've played have had backline and/or appropriate sized PA for the venue. I can't recall a gig in the last 15 years when I either thought or have been told by a punter that any band I was in wasn't loud enough. Too loud, yes, not loud enough, no. Only ever played with a single 12 sub, now and then.

See, that's a pro setup, that is... 🙂 Ohhhh, I don't want to even introduce the concept of playing something from the set again: that'd give the BL 40 more songs to go at, we'd be there till it was light... 😐🙂

What is it with some singers and not being able to frickin stop? I was spoiled for years with a very pro outfit that had a strict 'Two encores and they're lucky to get that' policy, and it never did any harm, in fact it kept us in high regard, but the current band/BL drives me nuts: if there's a single drunk (who's invariably spent most of the evening talking through the set and only come up for the last two) asking for more, it happens...and keeps happening until there's literally no-one asking for more. I've called it at five encores before now. There's a perfectly good get-out clause to stop, too: we used to just tell the drunks we had to stop because of time/the landlord, and that always worked. Bah, humbug, and probably pfffttt... 🙂 Oh, and back OT, if there's a Maccy D's on the way back (and there usually is), the Wrap Of The Day happens in the car (most of my gigs are 20 miles+ away), before a sit at a quiet telly with a brew while my system slows down before bed... 🙂

A late report from last weekend, and another meh one: a last-minute agency fill-in gig, in a mostly-empty and largely indifferent pub - 'Ooooh, we were packed out last night, it's a shame' said the bar staff, which was no bloody consolation. Despite the enthusiasm of a few punters (most of whom only stayed for a couple of drinks here and there), it rapidly became a paid rehearsal sort of thing...there was some live Rugby League on several screens still rolling (they'd turned the big one behind us off, tho that might have been an added draw if we didn't notice people looking over our shoulders), so at least I got to watch some TV while we pretty much went through the motions... And while I'm wingeing, what sort of mentality makes people come into a pub with a band already set up, sit at the table next to one of the PA speakers (when there's plenty more tables everywhere) and then pull their faces when the band starts? Did they think the immediate proximity of a stonking great 15" speaker (and a drummer a few feet from that) would somehow be a quiet place for a chat? Pffffttt... I'm away to Northumberland for my birthday week next week, so I've a bit of time off, which will make a nice break. It'll rain, of course, but at least I can legitimately do Bugger All for a few days... 🙂

Late reply, but...yeah, her shift is supposed to be 13 hours, but it never, ever works out that way: nurses can't just down tools when the clock goes ping (especially not on the type of ward she works on, which is with the terminally elderly and befuddled), and yep, understaffing makes this very much worse - the NHS is being propped up by the goodwill of its workers... On a happier note, she started speaking to me the day after, so all's well... 🙂

Last gig wasn't a good one - Easter Sunday, 7pm start, 45 mile drive, there for half five. I'd arranged (given the early start/early finish) to pick the other half and the Boy up from her mother's on the way back (I'd come straight from the Sunday Lunch there), but the 7pm start morphed into a 10pm start, so it all kicked off. During the third encore after midnight (I'd made my position clear ('I need to go ASAP tonight') during the interminable wait to go on) I packed up (thankfully only Stomp and inears) and left - as I was leaving the car park the fifth encore was still going... Picked them up, had a row (the other half was on a 14 hour (Nurse) shift the next day starting at half seven, so I understandably didn't have a leg to stand on), raided the fridge, watched some telly, went to bed.

I'm loving my 414 so much it's actually perking some GAS, but I'm yet to be convinced that a more expensive BB would have a neck that I'd like; from my digging (fairly extensive, but not completely comprehensive) it appears the 414 has the slimmest neck of all of them (that weigh less than 8 1/2 - 9lbs)...I can't remember for the life of me what the neck on my BB3000A was like: I didn't have a problem with it at the time, but I've got fussier as I've got older (and I'm playing way more gigs)...