StingRayBoy42

Fantastic boots!

So sorry for your loss @WalMan Much love to you and yours.

You're a scholar and a gentleman. PM'd you!

I think a few classic rock bands tuned down a semitone - makes it sound more girthsome and the strings bend easier. Also, on a few older recordings they might be in tune with each other but 'a bit' out of tune with a modern tuner - get a music player that can alter pitch to save you retuning between each song. I'm still using Winamp 2.8 which has a great plugin for just such occasions!

That skirt is so short, she could sit on a quid coin and tell you whether it was heads or tails.

'Lockdown in Bognor' sounds like a Half Man Half Biscuit lyric. Glad you had a good one!

Get a setlist and have a listen. As people have said, it'll probably range from simple to tricky and everything inbetween. I'd say go for it - learning stuff you don't normally play is a great way to get better, it's easy money (presuming the gigs are paid?), gigging is generally better than not gigging, being the first call dep in a gigging band is a good place to be, classic rock can be a lot of fun to play (especially if they're a nice bunch of guys) and you'll almost certainly find some stuff you'll end up liking. Keep us posted!

TODAY! Shirley Beer & Cider festival with the Cantina Band! Firrst band on, a one hour set at 3PM, Backline provided, sound engineer and everything - unusual for us. Backline was slightly less good than was mentioned in the contract, but it'd be a bit churlish to complain, right? Halfway through the setlist, we realised we still had about 40 minutes left to play so we had to chuck a few old faithfuls in. We played pretty well, Crowd seemed to enjoy it (from afar), it was all going great guns until the power went... it came back on eventually, minus monitors, so we did what we could for the last few songs. Played the Steling -> small board -> Hartke 410 (I was promised an Ampeg, dammit!) Pay wasn't great so they made it up with beer tokens, enjoyed a pint of Mavis Bumblethorpes (?) Perry (5.4% ABV) on stage, then once we'd finshed, I had a pint of Giddy Goat cider (6.8%), followed by a pint of Merrithorpe's blackout stout (8.75% ABV), then it was back to the cider for a pint of the Spazwhistle (?) 'Guvnor' (10.7% ABV), then I think I had a couple of pints of the Arthur Baslingtons 'Deep, dark pit of depression' (15.8% ABV), followed by a pint of Fotheringay's Self-loathing IPA (21.8% ABV), then it was back to the Cider bar for a couple of pints of Fighty McBastards 'Punchdrunk' Perry (27.9% ABV) which was delicious, before trying the Scrambleton's 'Regret' chocolate stout (39.875% ABV), then I decided to play it safe with a nice, refreshing pint of Samuel Bobbington's 'What in the name of God?'' (19.8456% ABV) before I really went for it with four pints of Asquith's 'Kidney Killer' (57.7% ABV). I was a teensy bit tipsy by this point, so decided to play it safe and stuck to the easy drinking, super quafffable Hampton's 'This is a terrible idea' Porter (157.8% ABV) for the final six pints. Apparently, I walked the 3.8 miles home.

+1 for Guiness Zero and Punk AF (boooo Brewdog etc) If you like AF stout, the Big Drop stuff is gorgeous. For AF cider, Sheppey's is the bestest IMHO.

Smoothhound have been out of stock for months and aren't answering emails about when it'll be back in stock; they've gone very quiet on twitter and FB too... anyone know what's happened to them? The only other microsuction tape I can find online is in Europe and they want £20 for an A4 sized piece... I only need about 2 square cm! Anyone know where I can find some?!

You're going soft in your old age!

Finland, Croatia or Ireland, surely?

Amazing that you built that at 16. Shame it's melted so badly.

I still technically own my Hohner Arbor P copy that I stole from my brother in the early 90s. Some idiot* defretted it with a pair of pliers so the neck is like a banana and covered in splinters and plastic wood stuff. Completely unplayable, unsellable and useful only as a cautionary tale. No pictures as it lives at my Mum's in Manchester gathering (more) dust - she asks if I'm going to take it with me every time I visit. I am not. *Me

Mike bought my Bass Uke, he was a scholar, a gentleman and a pleasure to deal with all the way.

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!