Rich

"Flip you, I won't do what you tell me!" Yes, it does rather lose some of its fury, doesn't it?

Agreed. Any pub that had routine problems with aggressive drunks harassing the bands would pretty soon find it hard to get any band bookings. Either that or they'd become very popular on the Oi! scene.

Many years ago when I lived in Swindon, my blues-rock trio (Hendrix, Gary Moore, ZZ Top etc) had a booking at the Plessey Social Club... when we walked through the door, we lowered the average age in the room by about 40 years. As we set up, I could feel the glares from the light-&-bitter brigade burning holes in the back of my head. We had backline and a vocal PA only, nothing DI'd or miked up -- Steve the drummer was first to get set up, he sat down and picked up a stick and hit his snare drum ONCE... and I heard a croaky old voice from out in the shadows say, "ooh, it's a bit loud..." Predictably the first set was horrendous, every song met with almost total silence apart from a few “turn it down”s from some of the coffin-dodgers and one or two claps. One of them even walked right up to me mid-song, stuck his fingers in his ears and bellowed “It's TOO LOUD”. End of the first set couldn’t have come soon enough for me. When it did, the club MC asked if he could borrow one of our mics to do the bingo. Ye gods. Eventually we couldn’t put the second set off any longer and trudged to the stage. I was just putting my bass on when a woman approached me. I thought, if she tells me to turn it down I’m just going to pack up and sod off home. But she said cheerfully, “OK lads, all the old farts have buggered off, they only come for the bingo... you can turn it back up now”. So we did needless to say, the second set was a lot better and we never set foot in there again

"That ain't no Hank Williams song!"

Amy Turk, phenomenally talented harpist. This is stunning.

Apologies re: the SWR 1x12; alas it will not be appearing at the Bash. It's in our rehearsal studio in my drummer's barn -- I'd intended to pick it up this week, but apparently he's gone to Italy on holiday TBH it's a bit knackered anyway, so we won't be missing much apart from a comedy element.

Finally decided to get my derrière into gear and finish the vero-based Mammoth hybrid I've had hanging around half finished for ages. I'm also incorporating a blend control for full flexibility, if it works that is! Watch this space

As long as it had 5 strings, yes absolutely.

Mmmm... potato wedges...

Many of our gigs are up to an hour's drive from home. So I use the drive time to de-buzz, listen to something quiet on the radio -- the shipping forecast is wonderful for this, really soothing and evocative, and I always chuckle at the bass-fail on Sailing By** . When I get home I have a wee bite to eat and a cup of coffee (the caffeine doesn't keep me awake) and maybe a bit of quiet telly until I start nodding, which isn't long. Crawl into bed, head>pillow>zzz. ** 1:54... horrid bum note followed by two seconds of "where am I?" chart-searching silence. https://youtu.be/dFdas-kMF74

I can bring my old & battered SWR Bass Monitor 12 wedge... although how much use it'd be, I don't know Will see if I can look out a raffle prize or two. I've got a new set of D'Addarios lurking somewhere for starters.

When I grow up I'm going to be a bass player.

How about a logo with a play on words of some sort? Maybe based on your name or something? Looks blimmin marvelous by the way.

Lovely P7 👍😎 same colour/wood combo as my V7.

Good grief, that's a real horror story makes me glad they're not getting many bookings. We had grief from some of the punters too. They found it highly amusing when the hag told us to eff off, and a couple of them joined in in that special "hyuck hyuck, yeah gwarn, f'koff" way that only a cerebrally challenged sister-lover can manage.

Oh god, that mental beach. Our drummer had an argument with her over set lengths and payment, in the end she cancelled all our future bookings and told him to sex-and-travel. I roasted them alive on Farcebook next day and had lots of #metoo replies. From what i understand, they're having trouble getting bands and it's going down the toilet fast. Good. I hope it burns to the ground.

I have a friend who sustained a very embarrassing injury from the 'saddle' of his Del Var Bass Bike. It took surgeons 2 hours to remove it and now he has to wear special pants. Small print notwithstanding, I demand compensation. On his behalf, of course.

Yes! I fitted orange mains plugs to all my leads for the same reason 😄

A few of my favourite hacks: Mains IEC chassis socket mounted permanently in the side of my 4U rack case, just under the handle so it's protected from accidental bashes. This in turn feeds the mains 4-way inside the case. Makes setting up even easier. I carry a 1ft square piece of 1" foam inside the rack, which allows me to store the bag of mains/speaker/misc cables inside the rack without them rattling around damaging things. At gigs, the foam goes between the cab and the amp and stops vibrations. The cable bag itself is an old school PE kit drawstring bag. Ideal size. Kiddie's night light plugged into the rack's 4-way. Provides enough illumination inside the case to allow me to plug stuff in without fumbling around.

Yes, I've played quite a few in Melksham too. Last night was the Forester's Arms, it was rowdy but ok. At least they danced i've also played at the Pg & Whistle, which is snug but nice, and The Pilot which is a ghastly s***hole upon which I would not pee if it was on fire. Where was your fraught experience?

Gig with the ska band tonight, just got home after a horrid drive through the falling snow. Towards the end of the second set, a rather sozzled punter asked if we played any 'old skool ska'. We pointed out that we'd just played well over an hour of it. She then asked if we do any Stereophonics songs. *rolls eyes* Melksham. 'nuff said.

I remember well one particular night at a crap pub in Highbridge, at the end of the gig I counted what I thought was an 'audience' of seven... and then realised I'd included the singer's girlfriend and the bar staff. Stuff happens. Just call it a paid rehearsal.

Grown ups? Where?