StingRayBoy42

I'm jealous!

TODAY! My third outing of the weekend, depping on Sousaphone for a local wind band. You wait ages for a wind band concert, then two come along at once. They're like buses - big, noisy, unwieldy and no-one likes them. Full on suited and booted (Midnight Blue DMs) affair, I even wore a dicky bow! The band are really good, really high standard, I did OK considering I was sightreading. Usual wind band stuff, including three pieces I played last week. The highlight was fitting into my suit trousers and still being able to breathe.

LAST NIGHT! Katie O'Brien's 'Irish' bar in Leicester with the 3 piece version of Azura. We've played here before and had a cracking night *and* it was our first gig for a few weeks so we were looking forward to it. We were anticipating a mad one as Leicester Rovers had just won the Big Soccerball Challenge or something, lots of football shirts in there when we arrived. Not massively full, but it was only half six. Load in is a bit of a pain, down a dark, slippery, murder-y alleyway, there was a solo acoustic guy on so we had to unpack the stuff 'backstge' (in the corridor to the kitchen and the staff smoking area - glamorous!) and stand around nursing a lime & soda while he played. Set up was pretty easy (using the house PA speakers) and the place was filling up nicely. First set went down a treat, we played really well and enjoyed ourselves. Couple of flubs, nothing too heinous. Second and third sets were even better, the crowd was out for a good night and got well into it, packed dancefloor all singing along. We had a couple of new songs in the set which kept us on our toes and the DJ played a couple that we happened to know so we decided to chuck them in as well. It wasn't as rammed as we were expecting, but nicely full and a decent crowd. I sang lead on a couple which is always gratifying (for me, not for the audience). Played the Jazz for a change -> small board -> amp board -> MB 802. Wore the 'other' leopard print Converse, foot fans! Lots of compliments afterwards including from the manager, so we're looking forward to a rebooking. Home about 1 for a Thatcher's Vintage (8.3% ABV) A good night out!

YESTERDAY! Another gig that's not really a gig... played Sousaphone at Upton Folk Festival with Beorma Morris - a Border Morris side from Birmingham. A beautiful day in a beautiful part of the world, dozens of Morris sides from all over the place - lots of different styles on display, Cotswold, Border, Clog, North West and even some wacky medieval/game of thrones style belly dancing (it's not really 'Morris', but each to their own). We had a good turnout and danced really well (so I believe .. I can't really tell) and we were joined by my lovely Trombone playing friend - she's Japanese and had never seen anything like it. Bumped into lots of people I know (the Morris world is quite small, so is Upton-on-Severn) including my old boss and the other Morris Sousaphone player, a lovely feller called Mark. He joined us for a couple of dances - stereo Sousaphone action! Lots of people asking about the Sousaphone (mainly "What is it?" and "What's wrong with you?") and lots of requests for pictures and selfies... Obviously I demurred as I'm a shy, shrinking wallflower 😀 The day ended with a massed dance - about a hundred dancers and forty musicians making an unholy scene and having a whale of a time. Shoe update: I wore the New Rocks for that goth/steampunk vibe, the highlight of the day was taking them off when I got back to the car. Back to the 'proper' gigging tonight!

Shouldn't that be ' bunch of grumpii ' ?

Just had a lesson with James AKA @Jowston Great teacher, thoroughly recommended.

If they can tell you're out of tune, you need more distortions

That really sucks. I think the deception would cheese me off as much as the money. I wouldn't object to chucking someone an extra few notes if they'd stood in at short notice/driven a really long way to be there/loaded in and set up on their own or whatever, but I'd make sure everyone else knew and was alright with it. Good luck in your new band hunt!

Tears.

TONIGHT! More of a concert than a gig... depped with Tamworth Wind Band in a church in Tamworth. Lovely bunch of folks, really nice vibe, good players and appreciative of me standing in. They'd commissioned the ex principal director of music at the RAF (!) to write a piece celebrating Tamworth (!) especially for the band, so we rehearsed/workshopped it with him in the day and performed the **World Premiere** at the concert. He's a phenomenal musician, he picked up and pointed out loads of tiny little things that really elevated it. Lovely bloke as well. It's not often you get to perform a world premiere in Tamworth... I certainly don't. There was about fifty of us, so it was a fantastic sound. The tuba player was playing an absolutely beautiful old horn- I don't know much about tubas but I'd guess it was a BBb Conn 20J with a recording bell made in the Elkhart factory some time in the mid-late 1920s? He even let me play it. Cheers, Colin! The rest of the repertoire was pretty standard wind band stuff - Vaughan Williams, a couple of film medleys, a slow one with a lovely Cor Anglais solo and some Andrew Lloyd Webber - not my favourite, but Jesus Christ Superstar has got some bangers in it. The highlight (apart from the piece specially commissioned for the band 😳) was the music from 'The Incredibles' - spoof/cheesy superhero film music - a cracking Bass riff driving the whole thing along, bars of 5/4 mission impossible type stuff all over the place... loads of fun to play. Played the 'Ray -> Thumpinator -> VTDI -> MB 802, Rainbow Converse foot fans. Radio 4 on the way home - the evolution of instant messaging, from the invention of the emoticon on MSN messenger to a woman who married a chatbot. Weird. Home just after 10 for a G&T, a slice of raspberry cheesecake and a very stupid cat.

Glad you pulled. She's got an unusual name, hasn't she?

U wuz robbd! U shoulda bought a 1961 Fender wot only makes one noise for £6k instead! JK- great photo!

James bought my BF110 and MB Nano rig. He is a scholar, a gent, a cracking Bass player *and* he makes a fantastic cup of tea. Deal with total confidence.

That's not the Who!

Stage Right, so you can look at your fingers and see the rest of the band.

Bongos. They look like an overdone, gaudy, tasteless, ostentatious 80s sports car designed by an LSD-fuelled lunatic in the grip of a psychotic episode, available only in a range of hideous, eye-scorching colours that scream of 'Dante meets Bosch in a crack lounge'. Horrendous looking things. I'd absolutely love one.

We use (Mic'd up and through FOH) guitar amps on stage so the guitar I'm hearing in my IEMs sounds like it's going through an amp. IEMs do take a bit of getting used to - like someone above said, you hear all your mistakes with crystal clarity which can be an eye opener, and not in a good way. Getting a good mix in your ears is crucial - we use Qu-You (?) so we all do our own mixes. It does feel a bit weird at first, but once you get used to it it's fantastic, particularly if you sing - as much of your vocals as you want without them bothering anyone else. I also gig in a non-IEM pub rock band (vocal PA, wedge monitor and ACG custom lug plugs), it's quicker and less faff to set up but the sound you're given is the sound you get. I'd encourage everyone to try IEMs and stick with them for a bit, get a good mix and keep the volume at a decent level. If you don't/can't/won't use them for any reason, use earplugs! ACG customs are well worth the outlay - there's no amount of money that will cure tinnitus.

I'm after a Double Bass teacher in the West Midlands - Birmingham if possible! I particularly want some lessons on bowing French style. Any recommendations? Cheers

I love anything that's a hideous colour, but that's too much for me. "Pub toilet" is bang on. I do like block markers though!

Boss TU-2 all the way. I've got one on every board and one in every bits bag. I find strobe tuners (and the TU-3) a bit *too* accurate. Not mad keen on headstock tuners but the Boss TU-10 is a nice bit of kit.