Rock Till We Drop - BBC 2

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Surprised that Martin Kemp  - a bass player himself - should choose a bassist that seemed to have only picked up a bass the week before. It felt like a "I can play guitar, how hard can the bass be?" situation.

 

Luckily Carol rocked up and instantly made her band come alive - although the less said about her Jimmy Saville though, the better!

 

The thought did occur to me that it really wouldn't be hard to find musicians over 65 who have spent most of their lives playing in rock bands and who could knock out All Right Now in their sleep, but that wouldn't make for a very entertaining show.

 

It broke my heart when the old boy on drums had to leave! 

Edited March 8, 2022 by Cosmo Valdemar

[casapete]

Yup, the old drummer was a lovely bloke - amazing for his age (mid 90’s I think). To be fair, as an ex dance band drummer , he was never going to hack doing rock stuff - same as the pianist who couldn’t grasp how to 

phrase the song and the drummer who hated reggae etc. It’s obvious that most of the people who were picked to be in the two bands were just totally unsuitable to add jeopardy to the programme ( as Cosmo mentioned in the previous post. ) Throw in a looming deadline for the first gig at a major festival along with a bit of sad back story stuff and it’s nearly as bad as ‘X Factor’ type rubbish. 

Of course, we had to have singers with no sense of timing as well. 😆

[Nail Soup]

Agree with previous comments…. they could easily have put together a competent band from tha applications they must have had. 
But the artificial selection they did make was a reasonable simulation of a Join My Band scenario.

[cetera]

I've worked with the same production company behind this programme....and they're not interested in making it real. They enjoy manufacturing situations and editing it to stress tensions etc. Sad that that they can't just make something real....

[Marky L]

38 minutes ago, cetera said:

I've worked with the same production company behind this programme....and they're not interested in making it real. They enjoy manufacturing situations and editing it to stress tensions etc. Sad that that they can't just make something real....

It's such a pity that this is the route TV entertainment has taken. Yes, I get the "We need something exciting to happen", but the formula used is rather toxic.

 

Otherwise, I have enjoyed it so far, though I'm not sure why Lady Leshur couldn't work out how to put her jacket on properly.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Marky L

[skidder652003]

Watched 5 minutes, toe curling manufactured tosh. Like others have said, any half competent musician could knock that old cliche alright now out in  2 minutes.

 

saying that, playing it well and singing it with any resemblance to the original takes years of dedication 

 

made for Joe public which is fair enough 

[ambient]

11 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

Watched 5 minutes, toe curling manufactured tosh. Like others have said, any half competent musician could knock that old cliche alright now out in  2 minutes.

 

saying that, playing it well and singing it with any resemblance to the original takes years of dedication 

 

made for Joe public which is fair enough 

I very briefly played with a Free tribute band. I left after a few weeks, they were simply too loud. First rehearsal they start Alright now, then stop, turn to me and ask:

 

‘why aren’t you playing?’

[Dad3353]

I was surprised that the 'easy' solution for getting a Reggae beat wasn't tried. Swap the hi-hat and bass drum pedals and play as normal. Instant riddim..! It's like playing 'leftie' with the feet. OK, it's not authentic, there's much more involved to get a proper reggae feel, but it would have made all the difference in the situation portrayed. The bloke could easily manage the bass drum with his gammy leg, and have full control over the hi-hat as a bonus. Just sayin'. 

[Reggaebass]

Not sure why they picked a drummer anyway to play a reggae track when he had already said he  hates reggae 

[Huge Hands]

2 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

I was surprised that the 'easy' solution for getting a Reggae beat wasn't tried. Swap the hi-hat and bass drum pedals and play as normal. Instant riddim..! It's like playing 'leftie' with the feet. OK, it's not authentic, there's much more involved to get a proper reggae feel, but it would have made all the difference in the situation portrayed. The bloke could easily manage the bass drum with his gammy leg, and have full control over the hi-hat as a bonus. Just sayin'. 

 

I am not convinced his lack of hi-hat foot control was the issue - it looked to me like someone who was incredibly frustrated at not being able to "get" the rhythm and looking to blame out for it.  I have to be honest, when I was young and a drummer I would play along to reggae tracks with standard rock beats and could not realise what was not right about it.  It wasn't until I heard and saw a pro drummer play proper reggae close up (a very young Pete-Ray Biggin) that it unlocked something in my brain and I finally got it and was able to play along quite well the next time I tried.  It looks to me like that guy has never played or listened to anything other than what he likes.

[Dad3353]

1 minute ago, Huge Hands said:

 

I am not convinced his lack of hi-hat foot control was the issue - it looked to me like someone who was incredibly frustrated at not being able to "get" the rhythm and looking to blame out for it.  I have to be honest, when I was young and a drummer I would play along to reggae tracks with standard rock beats and could not realise what was not right about it.  It wasn't until I heard and saw a pro drummer play proper reggae close up (a very young Pete-Ray Biggin) that it unlocked something in my brain and I finally got it and was able to play along quite well the next time I tried.  It looks to me like that guy has never played or listened to anything other than what he likes.

 

Quite so, and you're right, in that the fellow wasn't 'wired' for reggae, but in swapping feet, he'd have been playing 'his' style, whilst giving off a back-beat feel. It wouldn't have brought out a rash of dreadlocks, but would have helped the song along (it need all the help it could get, as it sounded like quite a struggle shoe-horning it into such a feel, anyway. It's not as if there are no 'four on the floor' reggae songs to choose from..! 'Is This Love', 'The Tide Is High' ... )

[ambient]

I might be wrong, but I don’t think reggae is something that you can just play. It’s a feel thing, you have to feel it, to do that I think you need to have immersed yourself in it. I struggle to play it, but I’ve never really listened to it. It was featured in the ‘world music’ module at university, I admit to having been hopeless at it.
 

Listen to Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare working together, they are/were fabulous.

[Dad3353]

3 minutes ago, ambient said:

I might be wrong, but I don’t think reggae is something that you can just play. It’s a feel thing, you have to feel it, to do that I think you need to have immersed yourself in it. I struggle to play it, but I’ve never really listened to it. It was featured in the ‘world music’ module at university, I admit to having been hopeless at it.
 

Listen to Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare working together, they are/were fabulous.

 

Possibly true in absolute terms, but there are scores (hundreds..? thousands..?) of musicians playing variety gigs; not all of them are immersed in all the genres in the repertoire. The case in point (the TV show...), the objective was not to become 'fabulous' (although that would have been a bonus...), but to get to the gig and make it work. Any songs could have been chosen; one or more of the musicians would not have been steeped in it, whatever the genre. 'Fake' reggae is as easy to cobble up as 'fake' disco, 'fake' flamenco', 'fake' electronica... I could go on. 

[Reggaebass]

From what I saw the drummer was trying to get the beat but got a bit frustrated with himself when it wasn’t happening, I’d say he’s well capable but probably just needs to listen to listen to more music along those lines 🙂

[MacDaddy]

1 hour ago, Reggaebass said:

Not sure why they picked a drummer anyway to play a reggae track when he had already said he  hates reggae 

 

you've answered your own question.

[Reggaebass]

15 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

you've answered your own question.

I’m always doing that 😁

[4000]

1 hour ago, ambient said:

I might be wrong, but I don’t think reggae is something that you can just play. It’s a feel thing, you have to feel it, to do that I think you need to have immersed yourself in it. I struggle to play it, but I’ve never really listened to it. It was featured in the ‘world music’ module at university, I admit to having been hopeless at it.
 

Listen to Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare working together, they are/were fabulous.

I’m not sure that’s true. I’ve never immersed myself in reggae - the nearest I really got was The Police - but I can play it fine. Obviously not Family Man level fine, but still. To me, playing any style is about having decent ears and an open mind as much as anything. 

[ambient]

32 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I’m not sure that’s true. I’ve never immersed myself in reggae - the nearest I really got was The Police - but I can play it fine. Obviously not Family Man level fine, but still. To me, playing any style is about having decent ears and an open mind as much as anything. 

I did say I might be wrong, as I was talking about my experience as a player.

 

There is obviously playing something, and then there’s playing something. To me my reggae playing sucks, to someone else it might be perfectly acceptable.

[Mickeyboro]

The songs they chose were bizarre and probably designed to cause problems. Both had/have two defined parts, verse and chorus, that are almost at odds with each other.

 

Frankly, as someone who detests any prejudice, I hate the practice of the person’s age being stated alongside their name. I don’t see why being ‘old’ debars you from making music. Age is just a number.  It’s only if you stop, as the drummer did, that you may have a problem picking it up again. Keep going and you will be all right. 

[chris_b]

I was going to watch, to see if anyone I know is playing, but decided I see enough old fogies when I'm gigging.

[Dad3353]

3 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

... and you will be all right. 

 

... until you drop. 

 

...

 

[ambient]

19 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

The songs they chose were bizarre and probably designed to cause problems. Both had/have two defined parts, verse and chorus, that are almost at odds with each other.

 

Frankly, as someone who detests any prejudice, I hate the practice of the person’s age being stated alongside their name. I don’t see why being ‘old’ debars you from making music. Age is just a number.  It’s only if you stop, as the drummer did, that you may have a problem picking it up again. Keep going and you will be all right. 

I totally agree with you. I used to teach a guy who was in his 80s. There’s a bunch of guys I occasionally play with who age from late 70s to mid-80s.

 

As much as playing a musical instrument as a child helps with your cognitive development, playing when you’re very much older helps maintain your cognitive and motor skills. There’s also obviously the social side too.

Edited March 9, 2022 by ambient

[4000]

1 hour ago, ambient said:

I did say I might be wrong, as I was talking about my experience as a player.

 

There is obviously playing something, and then there’s playing something. To me my reggae playing sucks, to someone else it might be perfectly acceptable.

One of my friends/band members is massively into reggae; I’m sure he’d pull me up about it if I wasn’t doing it right. After all, I do the same to him with other stuff. 😂
 

I don’t get the age issue either. Most of the jazz crowd that my dad knew and/or played with - who I grew up knowing and listening to - were playing until they dropped, and still playing very well at that, for the most part. My dad had to eventually give up because his lip went (he played trumpet and flugelhorn) but he was into his ‘80s by that point.

Edited March 9, 2022 by 4000

[4000]

58 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I was going to watch, to see if anyone I know is playing, but decided I see enough old fogies when I'm gigging.

I only have to look in the mirror! 😂

[ambient]

21 minutes ago, 4000 said:

One of my friends/band members is massively into reggae; I’m sure he’d pull me up about it if I wasn’t doing it right. After all, I do the same to him with other stuff. 😂
 

I don’t get the age issue either. Most of the jazz crowd that my dad knew and/or played with - who I grew up knowing and listening to - were playing until they dropped, and still playing very well at that, for the most part. My dad had to eventually give up because his lip went (he played trumpet and flugelhorn) but he was into his ‘80s by that point.

That’s my experience with jazz. As I posted earlier about the guys I play with.

 

The one sax/clarinet player is in his 80s. He started playing in swing and big bands in his teens.