flyfisher

If rock music (or any other genre) really does die, won't that primarily be because no one is interested in it anymore . . . . in which case what's the point of it living? In Gene's 'good old days' I seem to recall one of the common laments being that musicians had to sell their souls to the record companies that controlled everything. Well that's all changed now and any 'bedroom band' can easily assemble more tech than Abbey Road had back in the 60s, create their own music and then publish it worldwide on the web, all of which has massively democratised music - which must be a good thing, right? After all, it's not the music companies that create the music is it? That's still down to the artists isn't it? Well, yes, except that if the world only has a handful of megastar bands then, firstly, music fans have a limited choice of what to buy and, secondly, all music purchase revenues are funnelled into that handful of bands, making them mega wealthy, while all those talented artists without contracts just play for themselves, friends and the local pub. But if there are millions of accessible bands then music fans have far more choice to seek out exactly what they want to hear, with the result that most bands have a far smaller fan base, and the money spent on buying music is to be spread far more widely, making it harder for bands to earn big money. Be careful what we wish for eh? A global megacorps music business pushing a relatively few bands or a democratised music scene where everyone can participate?

I use a few ammo boxes for old tools. I don't think I'd bother using them as flight cases for cables and stuff as they are fairly heavy and far stronger than really necessary. I tend to use those aluminium boxes from the likes of Maplin for stuff like cables and misc bits and pieces. If this ad is typical, your ammo boxes are worth around £20 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/P59-MK2-G-amp-M-L-1945-Ammunition-Ammo-Box-/360618887408

A TC BH250 is small and light with headphone output and iPod (etc) input, with the added benefit of being a spare amp as well plus a few other toys such as built in tuner and TC's toneprint gizmo. Slightly more than £150 though. Just a thought.

[quote name='geoham' timestamp='1409938069' post='2544869'] Yeah, Paul Jefferys died in 1988, killed in the Lockerbie bombing. [/quote] Wow - I didn't know that!! On his honeymoon as well, according to wikipedia The bassline on Come Up And See Me was one of the records I remember as really confirming me as a bassist because while everyone else would sing or whistle the vocal melody I was always the one dum-dum-dumming along to the bassline. I also seem to remember some mild controversy at the time about CR refusing to mime on TOTP, hence them making a point of introducing slight differences to the single's recording. I also remember using my reel-to-reel recorder to re-mix the song and re-insert previous sections after the dead stops in the song to create a 10 minute version fo the song to play along to. Happy days. With apologies for the intro (skip to 0:22) . . . . [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxoke4yuWlI[/media]

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1409912585' post='2544497'] that is something that annoys me... if YOU are the PROMOTER, then YOU figure it out! [/quote] But from the promoter's perspective, they ARE figuring it out . . . by asking bands to share gear.

Is this sort of thing recognised in the world of drumming I wonder, or does it just get passed off as the drummer's style. I'm thinking of the difference between, say, Charlie Watts and Keith Moon. One is pretty steady and just laying down a solid rhythm with the odd fill, the other is one long fill.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1409846501' post='2543917'] Exactly. [i]You [/i]were selling. [/quote] I know - takes one to do the other

I suppose I think of 'kids' as being up to about 20 (or 21/22 if at uni). Fair point about 30-somethings having the highest disposable income (though 'kids' have pretty good disposable incomes in the sense that they generally have few fixed outgoings or other financial commitments beyond their smartphone contract). I certainly remember spending hours in record shops as a 'kid' because I could usually only afford to buy one record and it took me ages to rummage through the stock and decide which one it would be. By the time I was 30-something, if something took my fancy while browsing I'd just hang on to it and would end up with half a dozen to buy. I'm much the same now when I go search online and frequently end up buying two or three CDs when I only wanted had one in mind. So I guess my buying behaviour hasn't really been affected by the web, except forthe fact that I can do it all from the comfort of my home.

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1409727359' post='2542581'] But it seems from the story that the kids do want that experience - I'm sure they haven't got to 19% of market share through us old farts! Also they cite in store performances by the likes of Tom Sheeran as part of the success - Tom who?! I agree - my hankering for an independent on every high street is nostalgia but I worked in one from the age of 13 so I do view that whole world through rose tinted glasses [/quote] But in-store performances are not really part of traditional record shop nostalgia are they? At least, none of the record shops I ever visited as a lad. So that's new thing (well, Virgin was doing it years ago wasn't it?) in an attempt to revitalise flagging sales. But when does a record shop hosting gigs become a gig where you can buy CDs? Still, who really cares? If HMV becomes successful again by whatever means then it can only be good for music and I certainly have nothing against them - or any other high street shops. I don't believe they will survive in the long run, but I'll be quite happy if they do . . . . just as long as I can still do my shopping online.

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1409737582' post='2542742'] I buy a lot of albums online (thanks Amazon Marketplace), but I still like going in to a store and looking for things.I like the feeling of looking through a rack and finding an album that maybe I'd forgotten about and wouldn't search for. Let's be honest, you can buy pretty much anything without leaving your desk but I still enjoy actually going outside and doing stuff. [/quote] Absolutely 'go outside and do stuff' . . . Just not traipsing around the shops - there' s more to life than shopping I entirely agree about the browsing thing, but I find that's pretty easy to do online as well, especially with Amazon's 'people who bought this also bought this' prompts, which often lead me to places I'd not normally find. Just a different sort of browsing I guess.

I also loved saturday mornings in my local record shop and deciding what to buy that week. Most of my vinyl singles are from 1970 when I had a paper round and would buy one single each week after I got paid on saturday and I would spend the whole week waiting for the new charts to come out and listen to the radio to decide what that single would be. 7/6d they were . . . . or 37.5p in today's currency. But I soon moved up to buying LPs instead of singles and can still remember the absolute thrill of listening to Tubular Bells through headphones in the record shop and thinking it was like nothing else I'd ever heard, which pulled me away from chart singles and into the world of prog rock. Wonderful times! But I did all those things because they were the [u]only[/u] way to access music in those days. I didn't go to record shops for nostalgia - that's a product of getting 40 years older! - I went to find and listen to music. Kids today won't miss those experiences because they have their own ones to build up and become nostalgic about when they are older . Besides, they have more music at their fingertips than any generation in the history of mankind, so why would they want to make such a backward step and limit themselves to a few trays of discs in a record shop? Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

[quote name='NJE' timestamp='1409688434' post='2542320'] I like buying CD's, I love having a physical format and its nice to know there is still somewhere on the high-street to buy CD's that aren't just the top 40. [/quote] I only buy CDs/DVDs, for the reason of having a physical format, uncompressed and (generally) with no DRM restrictions. But I won't be bothering with the high street because I don't want to go to all the trouble of driving into town, finding somewhere to park, then paying to park, then walking to the high street shop, then spending time looking for something they don't actually have in stock, then walking back to my car, then driving back home having wasted most of a morning or afternoon. Instead, I'll sit down in my comfortable study with a nice cup of tea, open a web browser on my PC, find exactly what I want, buy it and then carry on with whatever I was doing 10 minutes ago. A few days later the item arrives at my door. For that level of convenience I don't even care if I pay a few pounds more than a high street shop (which I save on petrol & parking anyway). I wish HMV no ill, but I can't be sad about their eventual demise because I'm part of their problem. Like millions of other people.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1409660394' post='2541918'] Then, by definition, he's not a drummer. He's a lumberjack. [size=4] [/size] [size=4]( ... and yes, you can tell him I said so. A [i]good[/i] drummer can always play softly...)[/size] [/quote] I've played a few times with a drummer who did the 'minimalist and quiet' thing and it was a complete revelation. It's difficult to describe but he actually had more presence that the tub-thumping-wall-of-sound type approach even though he was leaving loads of space. I guess it's a similar thing to when bassists refer to supporting the song instead of 'widdling' about all the time. Fewer notes/hits but all spot on and in their rightful place. As I say, it was a revelation and left me grinning like a Cheshire Cat. He didn't have a million cymbals either

Very interesting discussion. I've done gigs with various configurations and everything through the PA definitely gives the best control, but it means someone to run the desk and, in the context of the OP, somewhere to put the desk, which is not really practical in many pubs or small venues. So unless we have a lot of space, like outdoors, or we're playing somewhere with an in house PA and sound engineer then we stick to vocal-only PA, sometimes with an acoustic guitar DI'd into it. But sound balance is then a frustrating issue because there is hardly any dynamic control during the gig. So we do a sound check, get things as best we can, but are then at the mercy of the sound changing when people turn up or any of the band turning up their amps. To be fair, we don't have a problem with the 'number 11’ syndrome but even so we all tend to adjust things during the gig, which must affect the sound we bothered to set up during the sound check. Not sure there is a perfect answer really.

They were buying

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1409578676' post='2541062'] Luckily he did not pay for the ticket, but wishes he took the £1500 on offer outside for it from the touts. [/quote] I can't think of any band I wouldn't cash in my ticket for at that price. The only time I've dealt with touts was for a Stones ticket at Wembley on their Steel Wheels tour in the 80s.. Four of us bought regular box office tickets but come the day one couldn't make it so we sold it to a tout on his behalf. We tried half a dozen touts but the best price we could get was less than the original ticket price.

Those vocals were the stand-out thing for me, and not in a good way I liked the genre but I'm afraid I'd be just behind Molan in making a u-turn for the exit, unless the singer could be toned down a bit.

Fair enough, it had to happen, though I wonder if Ed Sheerhan will ever leave the same sort of legacy that CCR has achieved after nearly 50 years?

You're picking some corkers today! Another great band . . . and another great player (Duane Allman) lost far too early.

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1409524666' post='2540610'] I love CCR, it's a shame that most 'non musos' only seem to know 'Bad Moon Rising' though as that's one of my least favourites of theirs. [/quote] True. We used to open our set with Bad Moon and it always went down well . . . even the way we played it [quote name='Maude' timestamp='1409524666' post='2540610'] I was about to say 'Fortunate Son' but I have a feeling it was 'Suzie Q'. [/quote] Right first time. Check out the lyrics - it's a pretty angry song.

Yep, can't go wrong with a bit of CCR. Theirs is my favourite version of 'heard it through the grapevine'

Just tell her she can borrow it anytime

Much the same really. No superstitions, like always wearing red underpants or something, just the practicalities of ensuring I've got everything I need, which is pretty easy as I keep it all in my gig bag at all times when I'm not playing anyway. It's unlikely that I won,t have played a few days before a gig as we only average one gig a month, so pretty much always rehearse before the next gig, which shakes the cobwebs off the gear and checks that all is working well.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1409441138' post='2539829'] Guitarist with that sort of attitude, it comes under the catagory of " not cool" and not the type of person I would want to be in a band with. Blue [/quote] Yes, that would be my take on it. Sounds like the tip of an iceberg type thing going on. The 'decking' impulse is understandable but unlikely to yield any long term results, just a way to speed up the inevitable parting of the ways.

At last a - a realist who deals with the world as it is and not as they think it should be.