Gasman

Funny old thing, just a week after tentative return to gigging post-stroke with my old band (just for a short sax set at a local mini-festival) I got an urgent call from them to play a private party not far away for a full gig - their replacement bassist couldn't make it... I spent an hour the day before playing along with an Audacity recording I'd made of the band, sort-of got my fingers and brain working together again, so it was off to the gig yesterday evening, fingers crossed! It actually all worked out OK, a few dodgy moments that didn't seem to be noticed in the new numbers introduced by the band since my hospitalisation, but I managed to stay on point and upright for two one-hour sets (thank you, Red Bull!) and got nicely paid, so in all a good way to ease back into gigging, with the promise of some more to come. Must say though, I was cream-crackered today...

Thank you for the likes, it all helps me on the road back! This really is a very supportive and worthwhile community!

After having a brain-bleed stroke at the beginning of Feb, followed by 5 weeks in hospital and 7 weeks recuperating at home, I actually managed to get out and play half a gig last Sunday. I'd stepped back from my band ('Mustang Sally') simply cos I couldn't drive nor stand up for very long. They replaced me on bass for the time being by a guy with 5 years more experience than me (he's 80!) but as the gig was actually an outdoor mini-festival in West Bay Dorset where I live they invited me to play the 30 minute sax set with them that I used to do. I have to say it was very nice to get up on a stage and belt out One Step Beyond, Geno and some rock'n'roll without falling over, running out of breath or having another Julius (Seizure!) It was also interesting to compare the new guy's bass sound (vintage Vox Phantom long scale and TC Helicon gear) with my Mustang and AG700/Darkglass set up - his sound throughout was a band-leading Jean-Jacques Burnel Stranglers clang while mine is mostly much a more nuanced thump with the occasional clang where needed... Let's hope a few 100% gigs come along before Christmas!

I'm now a one-man band (that's what I am, nobody knows or understands) after being forced to leave my covers band through illness (stroke) So my unique points are: 1. No gigs, no audience (except my cat who doesn't rate me at all) so readily available 2. Unique wobbly sax tone (embouchure shot) 3. Quietest bass sound ever (headphones only for occasional practice with Youtube) Perfect for funeral parlour mood music,,,

My next solo act name..."Stingray Jack Socket"...

Maybe it's an attention-span deficit in the audience's young'uns - jazz is about exploring a melody, chord sequence, harmonies, over a reasonable number of choruses, but usually a lot fewer than guitarists belabour in a 'Red House' rock/blues jam and a lot prettier...

Just so I understand - what value is this lot adding? Is it an April Fool's joke?

Ah, band vans! My 70s covers band 'Sweeney' were loaned the bass-player's hotelier mother's spare diesel Transit delivery van and told to take care of it! We became one of the AA's best customers, usually due to a random cutting-out of the engine on accelerating from rest. Then, while returning from a gig at RAF Northallerton (supporting the Pioneers 'Let your Yeah be Yeah') there was a crunching noise from the engine and the oil light came on. 'Just keep going, it's only about 150 miles to London!' said our gitrist. but after five of them the poor old York diesel had a Julius seizure, fortunately right next to a phone box. To add to the fun, we had the lead singer from the Pioneers with us, sitting on an speaker cabinet. He was dressed only in his satin form-fit stage gear, after he'd fallen out with the other two singers who'd left him stranded and gone back to London without him. Having called the AA and suggesting that they bring a new oil pump (they laughed), we were resigned to a very long wait in a tiny village at two in the morning waiting for rescue. However, Mr Pioneer had other ideas. He phoned for a taxi and offered to take one of us back to London with him. Guess who insisted upon going? No prizes, it was our gitrist... We were towed to a garage at 4am. At 8am the mechanic told us that the engine was toast, The bass-player's mother went tonto on the phone and insisted that her long-suffering partner came up with a pal to tow the van back to London the following week because she was sure the garage was ripping us off - turned out, it wasn't. In the meantime, we had a gig the next night in Deal (Kent). I got a lift from the garage guy to Lincoln racecourse, not to so as get a horse and cart, but to the van rental company that operated there (they couldn't spell, their vehicles all had 'rented from the Wining Post' loud and proud on the tailgate). We loaded up the gear, left the Tranny and drove via Epsom (the three of us remaining all lived near there), had a sh*t, shower and snack then picked up our gitrist in Clapham and went on to Deal - just in time. After two more gigs using the rental in Sussex and London, we unloaded and I drove it back to Lincoln. Got a train back to Kings Cross, tube then Southern Electric (ah, civiiisation at last!) back home. Two days rest, then a local rental van (lovely brand-new Bedford CF with sliding driver's door) for next gig in Plymouth. Not hard to see why we didn't make much money...

Very true - today it's more 'monos' than 'trios' around here in many venues - one player and backing tracks, played senselessly loud most times. The old '2 in a bar' rule went out years ago - to get round it my trad jazz band (yes, I'm sorry!) in the 60s used to have a bass drum and pedal that the banjo player (double-sorry!) bashed as well while the trumpet, sax and trombone played one-at-a-time, sitting in the audience until coming out to do a solo, then returning after a couple of choruses... and yes, we only got paid for a duo but it was still a quid each (plenty for a couple of halves of Mild, a chip supper, and a deposit on a new suit from Burtons... ah, those were the days!)

Forever remembered for her version of 'Life on Mars-bar'...

Interesting question. I've played basslines on 2 hour gigs using a baritone or bass sax, but always for classic jazz bands (think Bix Biederbecke/Adrian Rollini), usually playing just root and fifth with the occasional run and 16 bar solo - it's very hard on the lip and sanity! I wouldn't underestimate the amount of wind you'll need to do the same for a reasonable set of pop/funk numbers with long notes low down on the instrument as per the dance monkey number above... Two questions if I may: 1) What prompted you to want to this on sax - maybe to become the Charles Berthold of brass? 2) What other instruments would you be playing along with? Good luck...

Currently I've reverted to '69 with East of Eden's album SNAFU, very influential on my proggy group 'Moebius Band' when I was supposedly doing a law degree at Oxford uni at that very time! Fab mix of rock with saxes and violin (Dave Arbus), oriental soundscapes, adventurous time signatures, their breakout hit Jig-a-Jig' and Peter York on bass. Oh yes...

Hi Woody - we were at the George Inn, Castle Cary. Alas, the FB page isn't mine to maintain!

Two days later I'm just about recovered from Mustang Sally's NYE gig in South Somerset so here's the report! Due to last-minute illness and domestic problems our usual 5-piece line-up was reduced to just three of us on the day before the gig - drums, bass+BV (me), plus electro-acoustic rhythm guitar+Vox, so no KB nor LG. I'd put a setlist together the week before to cope with having no LG numbers, but that all went in the bin once we found the KB guy wasn't going to be able to play either so no sax numbers, and no second lead vox. All a bit nerve-wracking, but the show had to go on... Luckily our lady singist cut her gigging teeth many years ago as a solo act (G+Vox), although very much in the Country/Irish/MoR pop vein. She sent me a list of the titles from back then she still felt confident in playing, from which I managed somehow to make up 2 x 60 minute sets using some of our standards as well. Many of her numbers had no keys against them - never mind, I said, you'll remember them once we start playing, just make sure I can see your fretting hand (although this involved me mentally transposing on the numbers where she used a capo!) Still, we got through and amazingly enough the punters loved it - maybe there's a takeaway there for us, a complete change of genre from our previous line-up where we played quasi-metal and hard-rock with an ex-stadium-rock gitrist... Oh yes, so what about my debut on BVs with this band? I've studiously managed to avoid doing BVs while playing with three other consecutive bands over the last 8 years, but needs must on the 31st, so I dropped a couple of VocalZone lozenges and went for it - a bit like getting back on a bike after years I suppose, I fell off a couple of times but once I got some decent foldback from our sound guy it went OK. Shame I suppose, as now the singist is thinking about us doing 3-part harmonies when the KB guy comes back! Mrs G came along with me, determined not to let her Parkinson's get in the way of a night out, but leaving home at 19:00, 100-mile round trip, and getting home at 02:30 was a long session especially for her - but she enjoyed herself and thankfully had none of her balance problems, largely thanks to kind people who helped her through the evening. So it's on to 2025 - next gig is near Minehead (North Somerset coast) on 25th January - another 100-mile round trip and new ground for the band, so let's hope for mild weather (the Exmoor area can be a bit wild in Winter) and a full band!

Playing 10.00 - 12.30 with a 30 minute break at a pub in South Somerset. Booked for our usual 5-piece, but KB and LG now down with Covid so it will be just Drums, Bass/BV(me) and and lady Singist/rhythm guitar. It's going to be very hard work and seat of the pants stuff material-wise, but the pub is just happy that we're still going to play, having sold tickets and got food in...