Gasman

Getting near the end of my bands two month holiday, no gigs or rehearsals since December, so I’ve been very glad to have recorded our live sets last year (Zoom H6) and also downloaded proposed new numbers from YT, both for silent play along practice at home on headphones while Mrs G watches Pointless and Richard Osman in peace and quiet! I’m using a Vox mini bass preamp into the audio feed on my Mackie PC speakers, which are driven via Audacity DAW so looping, tempo and pitch changes are all possible. Sitting down with the HB shorty makes for easy and relaxing sessions whenever the urge strikes... Alas, sax practice can’t be anything but noisy, so that has to wait until she’s out and our cat has hidden with paws over ears under the bed. Band in a Box is my friend for that... great app.

Loved the loads of authentic 1970s cars that featured strongly in the film, and the warehouse punk scene put in for a real contrast, as well as Bob's music being superb of course!

What key is that in?

I'd like to know in which case case-hardening falls and whether annealing is appealing as a term to our American friends...

Well, I have no issue with those white shorts at all @Bluewine, but I was concerned that the bass player seemed to be afflicted by a post-Vindaloo stomach-cramp requiring him to crouch and gurn at the audience in apparent agony - I hope he made it through the set with unstained undercrackers...

Had this with a ska band who advertised on JMB locally for a saxist - I got the job, only to find out later that there was already a saxist who had been missing gigs and rehearsals due to a love of certain substances so I’d been hired as a backstop. When he realised that his seat was in jeopardy the saxist suddenly became available again. I then found out that gigs were being played without me being told; when I asked the BL what was going on, he used the old ‘pool of deps’ line, so I told him to stuff it. I was well pi**ed off because of the huge amount of work I’d done to work out the brass parts, with no help from the trumpeter who was mates with the saxist and probably wanted me to fail. We live and learn, it’s not what you know or can do but who you know...

Couldn't find any reference to the Bob Marley biopic 'One Love' here so as I've just been to see it I thought I'd canvas opinions. Today (14/2/24) was apparently the first day of release in the UK, and it was Mrs G's surprise Valentine's day present to me. I really liked it, moving and inspirational by turns. !t seemed pretty authentic in its UK and Jamaican settings, the lead actor Kingsley B-A seemed to capture BM's persona well and the bass coming out of the cinema's subs was satisfyingly floor-shaking. Any other fans seen it yet?

Hologram machine setup would far more expensive than an average pub band, no space anyway. Spilled beer in the holo projector might have some interesting effects...

I did it for a year back in 1973 playing sax in a four piece covers band working out of London. We used an agency which got us good gigs supporting some major name bands (even 10cc!) and large venues. However, we were always only just about surviving financially, typically doing sequential gigs in say Bath, Birmingham, Manchester, Penzance, Deal, Lincoln and sleeping in the van. We were ultra-tight and good mates but in the end when I hadn’t got enough dosh to pay the rent on my bedsit I resigned; enough was enough after nearly killing us all by falling asleep while driving back from Cornwall at 3am and crashing the van (fortunately right outside the Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor and the only phone box for miles). No, we’d never been going to make it big or even small, but it was a time in my life that I don’t regret and do look back on with a wry smile, especially as I then spent 40 years on the corporate grindstone at Westland Helicopters!

Interested to understand why the changeover is necessary, especially at this 3 monthly interval. Just for fun?

Hey @Geek99, just interested to notice, a member since 2008, over 7000 posts but not used to playing in a band and a bit fazed by a 12 bar sequence? Are you a classical double bassist by any chance?

Everyone messes up sometimes, (even our superb lead guitarist has been known to forget to put a capo on) so don’t worry. Part of the art of being a bass player is the ability to fumble around down the shiny end of the neck while you work out who to follow in what key!

Colette Kelly - 'City of Fools' - super northern soul number, nice bass and sax! 1969, Volt records https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVVh1cWFlg4

...and happy birthday, @Bluewine, hope your day was great!

I’m sure I’m not the oldest active gigger on here but at 74 I must be bubbling near the top! However, I’m up for as many gigs as my band can get, so: Q: Why have you no gigs? A: we have January and February off to recuperate and avoid travelling in what’s normally rubbish weather. We have 30 gigs in the book for the rest of the year, more coming in all the time Q: Do you rely on agents? A: not at all, all word of mouth Q: Who finds/confirms gigs? A: Gigs come to us! Our singer is contact, diary managed by drummers wife Q: Are you or any band members in it for the money? A: None of us rely on gig money to live. However, we have a minimum band fee and never play for free as a matter of principle. My cut goes towards travel expenses and GAS Q: How much do you want to gig? A: Forever! Put my Bongo bass in my coffin, I’ll be sentenced by St Peter to playing Sweet Home Alabama eternally in the worst pub in Hell - my just desserts for not living the life I should have lived...

Imagine how blokes like me feel - I'm well overdrawn on my threescore and ten! What scares me at night? Waking up dead, I suppose...

A bit retro from me - I can still remember hearing the first play of the first three tracks from 'With the Beatles' on Radio Luxembourg on my bedside crystal set - wow! 1 It Won't Be Long 2 All I've Got To Do 3 All My Loving

Leo Sayer - 'I'm a one-man band'?

23 gigs so far lined up so far for Mustang Sally - last year was 35 so we're on target!

You've got a Prince Albert on your plucking digit? Respect!

Our new keys player is late 40s, singer and drummer early 60s, guitarist 70 next bday, me on bass 73. We still rock the joint, I really believe that the longer you can keep playing, the younger you’ll get!

I did have trouble with my first wedding ring, but solved that by getting divorced... No trouble with the current one

Thank you 😊!

To Mere in Wiltshire for Mustang Sally's final gig of '23 - the rest of the band live very close to the town but I had a 50-mile journey through some very heavy rain and minor flooding; still, say what you like against 4x4s, but when it comes to this kind of journey the Jeep Cherokee just lapped it up! The George pub has three large-ish bars - we were set up in the front one with all tables taken and a lot of punters eager for the gig to start at 10pm. Due to lack of space in the band area and the low ceiling I decided to use the HB shorty rather than the Bongo but made a mistake in not putting a booster pedal in the chain thinking it wouldn't be needed - but it would definitely have been handy. Although the bass was going through my Ag700+Darkglass 212 rig as well as the PA, volume levels on the PA couldn't be maximised due to the room acoustics giving incipient mic, sax and acoustic guitar feedback, so I was left with the only option of cranking the amp up to 11 just to be heard... recordings I made revealed later that this was not excessive! Pix below show cramped 'stage' area. We had a great time, with the place rammed until we finished at 00:50 - 20 minutes extra so the landlord paid us extra too after a very busy night for him, saying that last year there were only half a dozen punters at 11pm so he'd paid the band off and closed early (wrong band maybe?!) and watched Jools Holland instead! Old Lang Syne was successfully tackled, our lady singer climbed on a table to deliver the last few numbers, the drunks managed not to collapse into the band gear, and we were able to introduce a couple of new numbers. 'Brown Sugar' may not be quite PC nowadays but the audience loved it; 'Hotel California' is an interesting thing to play on bass (I realise now why the Eagles dubbed the number 'Mexican Reggae') but it needs polishing before we resume gigging in March. It was really nice that Mrs G agreed to come to the gig and enjoyed herself - she has developing Parkinson's and has lost so much confidence in communicating and being in new places with strangers over the last year, but all the folk at the gig were so friendly and inclusive - surely the best kind of therapy! It was another wet 50 mile drive home, arriving at 02:30, asleep by 03:15, feeling whacked out today!