Franticsmurf

The Hulla band have no gigs booked until the end of November so last night's rehearsal, following the previous weekend's double gig, was due to be more relaxing and a bit of fun. Not that they aren't fun anyway, but the deadline pressure was off. It turned into a bit of a jukebox session, with the BL calling songs we hadn't played for months (or in one case over a year). Fortunately I have crib sheets/charts for most of the stuff we've done over the past 18 months so a combination of memory, watching the guitarist and frantically scrabbling through my book of stuff meant that I was able to keep up. Duff notes? Yes. Dodgy BVs? Yes. Brain fade (the BL called 'Summer of 69' and I called up the heavily flanged 'Dakota intro' patch)? Yes. Laughter, teasing the saxophonist, ukeleles playing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'? Yes! I often get frustrated at Hulla rehearsals as they are also the only time that some of the band play their instruments (it started off as a social/community thing so about half the band don't consider themselves musicians). It means we don't spend enough time on arrangements. Fortunately, the core of the band (BL/vocalist, guitar, bass, drums, sax = the loud ones) are able to get the arrangements done and the BL conducts the others so it all works. In the last 18 months the band has improved immensely and we're getting more word of mouth gigs as a result.

I use a BAM 200 with either a Gnome 1x12" or one or two TE 1X10" cabs. Plenty of low end, especially with the Trace cabs.

Thanks for sharing. That Lakland hollowbody is rather nice. A hollowbody is the only style of bass I don't have. I can feel the first rumblings of GAS!

It wasn't so much the distance (about 15 miles) but the circumstances of the journey home on Friday (see here).

One from each gig last weekend. Friday - fresh faced, energetic, ready to go. Saturday - after a stressful journey home and little sleep the night before.

I've not been in that exact position (apart from the 'no new songs for x years' once) but I know that a lack of response from an audience does affect me negatively - more so than a negative response because at least that is a response. I would find it hard to be enthusiastic about those poorly attended gigs and if it looked like a trend that was getting more frequent, I think I'd be thinking the same as you. I would certainly take it through with the other band members and see if there is some alternative to jacking it in. It would be a shame to lose the work you've all obviously put in to get that tight and 'great guys, decent songs' seems to be something worth fighting for if some of the other posts on BC are to go by. Maybe a full band break; take a few weeks and then start to have informal rehearsal/jams to see if the mojo is back? Whatever you choose, good luck.

Following on from my experiences on Friday (see above), I headed back along the same roads to Port Eynon for a wedding party gig yesterday. More rain was forecast but the venue, another outdoor tented affair, was much better. We avoided the road I got stuck on (there were cars that had been stranded in the water still blocking it) but the road in to Port Eynon was blocked as it had collapsed into a sink hole! We found an alternative route via an unmade track behind the dunes. The venue was flat and the tent was actually a double teepee(?) with plenty of room and, more importantly, dry and sheltered. We had a few issues with power as we set up - it was coming from the village hall about 50m away. Fortunately, two of our line-up are electricians so it was quickly sorted. We played our full set with a number of requests from the bride and groom. Our first half was very tight (it benefited from having been played the night before) the second suffered a little from being a bit rushed between songs. I was very tired from the previous night's adventures, so I wasn't playing at my best during the second set but it went down well with the folks who were there (we had about 50-60 guests). We had dancers from the start and through to the end. I'd left my kit in one of the vans from the night before so the line up was my Ibanez EHB1000s through an Ampeg pre-amp into the desk. I had my full IEM set up, which was great, and this time I was singing. For once we had plenty of room on stage.

We were booked to play a new festival being held in Gower this weekend. I felt sorry for them as the weather forecast was horrendous and there weren't many people there. When we turned up the van got stuck in the mud and had to be pushed several times. We were due on third but the 2nd act had cancelled at the last minute so the opener, a solo sax act, valiantly played on until we could get set up. By the time we relieved him, he'd been paying for 2.5 hours. Not our regular sound guy but he was very quick getting a decent sound and we played for about 75 minutes (rather than the 45-50 we were due to play) which put the event back on track. The last 15 minutes was punctuated by great flashes of light as the lightning arrived. The stage was facing out to the sea overlooking Oxwich bay, so it was spectacular. But also a little unnerving as each flash got a bit closer! We finished and managed to get the vans packed just before the torrential rain started. Finding our way down to the gate through the field was almost impossible but every few seconds a massive flash of lightning lit the whole field and we managed to get on the lane and away. I'd left my car at our rehearsal place (a couple of miles away) so I was dropped off there and headed home. Most of the road is at the foot of sloping fields so the water was running through the hedgerows like little waterfalls. I was driving (slowly) through 6" deep water most of the way but the first I knew of the really deep stuff was when my headlights dimmed. The water was blocking them. I managed to keep going and it took about 30 seconds to get through. Then I went through a shorter section of the same depth and finally came across a car stuck in the middle of a third. And all of this during an almost non-stop display of lightning. Got home about 3 hours later, having had to dodge debris from collapsed walls and hedges on the way. Our gig tonight is back in the same area and I've just been told that the road into Port Eynon village has partially collapsed. Rock 'n' Roll! 🤘 With a small stage, I decided to use my Ibanez EHB100s through an Ampeg pre-amp pedal (which was always on) and I DI'd into the desk. I was really happy with the sound and it was a good band mix.

That's a really good question, not just for newbies.

Before I played anything at all, I was that friend. I played the repeated bass note to Queen's 'Flash' after having been directed to the correct fret by the guitarist. 😀

I think the answer to your question is 'I just knew' which doesn't really help but I don't recall an actual moment when I decided I could be in a band. Once I'd learnt the basics of my instrument (I was playing guitar at the time and had been for about 18 months) I started off with a couple of mates who were better than me, and we jammed regularly. Once that seemed to be working we talked about forming a band but for about 6 months all we really did was play a few simple covers over and over, plus we started writing our own songs. That 6 month apprenticeship taught me to play with other musicians and once I'd got some decent gear and built up my confidence it just seemed obvious that I was ready. I think if I'd been planning on joining a band it might have taken longer and there probably would have been a few rejections along the way. And when I was starting out, there were no open mic nights to let me test my abilities. As has been said above (while I was writing this) just go for it! If you can play along to songs you like, you're ready to start being in a band. Find people who are a little better than you and jam with them. Have a look to see if there are any local open mic nights where you can join in, build your confidence and make contacts. In my first bass gig, I only played root notes to simple songs and I hid behind the PA speaker for most of the night. 😀 Just do it, good luck and keep us up to date with your progress.

This is what we did in my first band, way back in the cassette days. And every time we wrote new songs, we'd collect them all on another cassette, add the original mailed envelope into a new one and repeat the process. Of course, we could have mailed separate envelopes, which would have been the logical thing to do. But we were rock rebels rejecting 'The Man' and his logical ways. 🤣

I heard the single (or whatever it was) online a few weeks ago and I agree with @BlueMoon in that it sounded much like the Yes I first discovered and quickly grew to like a lot. I've seen a few of the YT videos of the live shows and they're sounding good too. I discovered the Band Geeks during lockdown and loved what they were doing, not just with Yes covers but with other bands too. I'll definitely be getting hold of this recording. Fortunately, I don't have to listen to the cover so it doesn't bother me, but I agree I think they could have done better. At the very least, including an image of the Band Geeks.

The Hulla ('The Hullabaloos' in this poster) are playing at the Gower Harvest Hoedown next Friday and a wedding just down the road on Saturday. The Hoedown is a new event - this is the first year it's been run - and so getting details of what will be available is proving difficult. I've been told there's a professional PA and sound guy but looking at the line-up it's mostly solo acts with backing tracks. I've asked several times about back-line with no response. I'll be taking my BAM200 and a TE1x10" as a compact noise making solution. We'll have our own PA and sound engineer for the wedding.

Yes. For a while now I've been after that growly, clanky Chris Squire sound but without using a 4001 or stereo wiring set up. For the current band I need to be able to switch between it and several other sounds as our set varies considerably through the night. The best I've been able to come up with is a patch on the Zoom B6 with a mildy overdriven SVT amp sim. It doesn't help that I like to cycle through a few basses during the year. I made the effort and stuck with my P Bass to get the sound on the B6 and I was happy with the result during the first half of the year. But now I'm having to use a couple of the headless basses (EHB1000s and The Jack) as the upcoming gigs are on small stages and we're a 13 piece band. So it's almost back to the drawing board. But I quite enjoy the process of building new sounds. My workflow (using the B6 as the source but it's similar if I'm using pedals) is to roughly identify what I need (I have a list of all the songs the band is likely to play in the year, which is currently approaching three figures). This is usually as simple as 'Clean', 'Chorus' or 'Drive' for the majority of songs. If there are any special sounds required, I'll highlight those too. I'll start off with a basic clean sound (usually a clean SVT), a basic driven sound (SVT with the gain up enough just to add a bit of grit) and a lighter (=slightly less bassy) clean sound. I think that those three staples would work for 75% of the stuff we do. The beauty of the B6 is that I can add 'pedals' to the patch to switch on and off which means that if I need a flange effect (e.g. 'Dakota'), it's simply a case of stomping on a switch in the SVT Driven patch. So for each patch I'll have a few pedals that i think I'm going to need. All of this is roughed out at home, including balancing patch levels, at low volume or on headphones. At rehearsals (we try to rehearse once a week) I can start to refine the sounds at gig volume. Our sound guy is good at telling it like it is and so I can tweak the sounds on the fly. It usually only takes a couple of rehearsals to get the sounds working with the rest of the band and this usually only requires minor tweaks. The longer I work with the B6, the more I am able to judge in advance what will sound good in the live environment. I try and keep things as simple as possible for me, so unused stomp pedals are disabled or removed. If I'm using physical pedals, the board starts off large and almost always ends up with only two or three pedals by the time the gig season arrives. I think it helps that the signal chain is consistent - with The Hulla I DI into our own PA and the sound guy comes with the band. With a previous band I was able to get close to the Squire sound with my Sterling HH set to coil split through a Marshall JMP1 valve pre-amp into the power amp stage and speakers of a Laney RB7, and later DI'd into the PA. The band played mostly songs that this sound suited so there was little variation needed, and I could get any clean sounds using a different patch on the JMP 1 (for those not familiar with it, the JMP 1 is a midi enabled valve pre-amp with programmable patches). Yes, I've done that before now. Got home, checked my pockets and there's a bass that's somehow slipped in. 😀

My first 'proper' bass was a Jack - I got it as I landed the bass duties in a band I was to be with for 20+years and still occasionally dep for (ironically, on guitar). I sold it years ago but recently found a fantastic example for sale in this very parish. Horton, near Port Eynon. As you can see its an inshore station. They're usually quite busy rescuing people from Worm's Head.

Last night's rehearsal became a gig at short notice when we played in the local RNLI lifeboat station as our usual hall was the venue for an art exhibition. The Station Manager and one of the helms are in the band so it was all above board. Despite the rain earlier in the day, we played to people coming off the beach and a family who were staying in a holiday cottage a few yards away. Surprisingly for the boat house, the acoustics were good and we had a lot of fun. I played my Hohner 'The Jack' through a Zoom B1Four DI'd into the desk. EDIT: YouTube link to a short video from this 'gig'. This is one of the helmsmen, our band leader.

Probably, but we'd have to sacrifice one of the band to the waves. 🤣

I think this is the fiver - the low B is on the reverse side.

Looks like a neck through. If it was headless I'd be interested 🤣

Turns out my next rehearsal with the Hulla band will be a kind of gig, too. We usually rehearse in a village hall (half the band are on the committee and a portion of our annual profit goes to help run the hall). But this Sunday there's an art exhibition there. So we've been offered the use of the local lifeboat station (!) The BL is one of the helmsmen and the Saxophonist is the station manager and, as a band that plays solely to raise money for charity, about a third of our annual take goes to the RNLI. The station is about 200 yards from the hall and they have promised to remove the boat to make room and, of course, in case there's a shout. As the station is close to the beach, we'll pick up an audience and I expect we'll have the RNLI collecting buckets out. Band on the Beach!😀

I met Mark King outside a venue near Hereford in (I think) 92. I was there with two friends from work to see Level 42 and we were parking just as the tour bus arrived. The two young ladies I was with were shy but I went up to him and asked for his autograph 'for the two shy girls'. As the rest of the band made their way inside, he stayed and chatted to my two friends and I in a way that put them at ease. Great bloke. Ok bassist too! 😀

And that's why I want to try one for myself. I've heard both sides of the argument but unless I try one myself I'll never know what it's like for me.

It is good, isn't it. I started learning the original version for a funk/rock band a few years ago and liked it but I think I prefer this version. Great fun to play as well. I just need to persuade the BL to keep it in the set after the wedding. I had to Google the guitarist but yes, unexpected but a nice solo.

There are many styles of bass I haven't had the opportunity to try and I'd give any of them a go simply because I think the more experience of different thing I can get, the better I will be at knowing what I really want/need/desire. But there are only a few that I feel I've missed out on. I'd like to have an extended trial of a Rickenbacker 4001 as I started off listening to Chris Squire and loved the sound he was getting. I subsequently discovered there was more to it than just the bass, but I've always wondered what they're like to play. I've never played a semi acoustic or hollow body bass and it was something I was contemplating for a recent rock n roll project that never really took off. I own and have played live a Sterling 5 string but the string spacing and neck width were too big for my little hands to feel comfortable playing it so it's currently being sold. I understand there are 5 strings with narrower string spacings so something of that ilk would be interesting to try out. I'd like to see what difference the graphite makes on a Status headless. And that's it. 😃