Brush with Greatness (or, "Hey, I once played a gig with him!")

[Linus27]

I just remembered that whilst mixing an album back around 1999, I went to make coffee in the kitchen and The Corrs were in there making drinks. I think they were in the studio doing a song for a Pepsi advert. Also, when we then went to master the album at Metropolis Studios, OMD were in the next studio along.

[MacDaddy]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

 

. . . . what band did he play in?

 

It was a duo with Brahms. Traditional Cockney sing-alongs.

[chriswareham]

Studio related "brush with greatness":

 

A band I briefly played in were recording at Assault & Battery Studios (now just Battery Studios) in Willesden. The guitarist's friend was an engineer there, and we got to use the studio dirt cheap when no one had booked a graveyard slot. First off was the mixing desk, which had belonged to Trent Reznor, although I think we only used a a few channels on it as a preamp and to monitor mixes in Pro Tools. Then one evening I was in the kitchen and had a brief chat with a guy who was working in the programming suite, which was stuffed full with cool synths and samplers. I mentioned this on returning to the studio we were in, only to be told it was one of the owners. A chap called Mark Ellis, or  more widely known as mega producer Flood.

[jimmyb625]

3 hours ago, bassbiscuits said:

Not sure if this is genuine, but I used to do solo acoustic guitar / vocals gigs at a city centre pub, which had double booked acts on a couple of occasions. 
 

This time I arrived to set up and found an older guy with a guitar also expecting to play.

 

We tried to establish what was going on and he proudly told me he was called “Guitar George” - as in the guy referred to in Sultans Of Swing.

 

Apparently he’d been working on a visiting market that day nearby, and the landlord had suggested he played.

 

In the end he didn’t take up my invite to both share the gig as he didn’t want to take any of my money. 

So I never found out if he indeed did know all the chords.
 

That sounds like George Borowski, he's a really nice guy.

[bassbiscuits]

10 minutes ago, jimmyb625 said:

That sounds like George Borowski, he's a really nice guy.

Is he Guitar George then?

[jimmyb625]

1 hour ago, bassbiscuits said:

Is he Guitar George then?

Well, his name is George and he does play the guitar.

[bassbiscuits]

Just now, jimmyb625 said:

Well, his name is George and he does play the guitar.

Can’t argue with that. I googled him and yeah he’s quite well known in certain circles. He was sound which is why I felt doubly bad he’d been treated so unfairly by this pub (which has since shut down and been converted to a nicer pub…) 

[moley6knipe]

I sold a bass to Neil Murray, Whitesnake and bass for We Will Rock You for many many years. Lovely chat and a cup of tea in a Little Thief out Peterborough way. Top, top bloke. I grilled him mercilessly about the bits of Deacon’s lines that I couldn’t quite cop!

[moley6knipe]

Oh, and I carried Val Doonican’s rocking chair into a venue I worked at.

 

Same venue had Ray Davies (prickly); Geno Washington (stoned, sooooo cool);  John Martyn (somehow, I wasn’t there for that gig - IDIOT); Paul Jones from Manfred/Blues Band). Probs loads more I’ve forgotten. 

[bassbiscuits]

29 minutes ago, moley6knipe said:

I sold a bass to Neil Murray, Whitesnake and bass for We Will Rock You for many many years. Lovely chat and a cup of tea in a Little Thief out Peterborough way. Top, top bloke. I grilled him mercilessly about the bits of Deacon’s lines that I couldn’t quite cop!

I made Neil Murray a cup of tea once when he came to Roland UK HQ where I was working at the time. Seemed like a cool guy. 

Edited March 19 by bassbiscuits

[tauzero]

Bob Catley used to go into the pub I was a regular at - his daughter, who I believe plays sax, worked as a barmaid there.

[casapete]

A couple of years ago I decided to part with my beloved late 60’s Marshall 1974 18 watt combo.

I bought it for £45 in Shipley West Yorkshire around 1976, and it was my first ‘proper’ guitar amp. 

A vintage dealer made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and what with Covid and stuff making my

finances a bit tight, I just thought it was time. It got shipped to Australia and then on to Hawaii

to it’s new owner, Kirk Hammet.

 

( I was promised a video of him playing the ‘Greeny’ Les Paul into it, but never chased it up -

maybe I should drop Kirk a reminder. )

 

[casapete]

The function band I was in many years ago played a lot of weddings. Over the years we’d met a lot

of famous people who were guests, although my guitarist pal in the band was most wowed when

he found out that Gary Moore was attending a local wedding in the early 90’s. It was in a marquee

in a posh suburb, a flash do with plenty of guests and a free bar etc.
Tension was high on the day as Gary Moore was my pal’s guitar hero, and he was understandably 

nervous about playing in front of him. Subsequently he had quite a few drinks to take the edge

off a bit. Someone suggested Gary could guest with the band, and with that he went to his car and

brought out a Fender combo which was set up on the stage. My pal was so excited by this time,

and had a few more drinks for a bit of dutch courage. 

The gig went great, Gary Moore was a top bloke, very friendly and unassuming. My pal ( who is

a wonderful player himself) traded solos with Gary, although by this time he was a touch unsteady

and stood on Gary’s pedals a few times by mistake! Gary didn’t seem too bothered by this, and my pal

was very apologetic.

Anyway, the audience loved it and my pal was in seventh heaven afterwards. It was only when

he’d been driven home after the gig that he realised he had played with his hero all evening whilst

wearing odd shoes. 

[Steve Browning]

7 hours ago, casapete said:

A couple of years ago I decided to part with my beloved late 60’s Marshall 1974 18 watt combo.

I bought it for £45 in Shipley West Yorkshire around 1976, and it was my first ‘proper’ guitar amp. 

A vintage dealer made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and what with Covid and stuff making my

finances a bit tight, I just thought it was time. It got shipped to Australia and then on to Hawaii

to it’s new owner, Kirk Hammet.

 

( I was promised a video of him playing the ‘Greeny’ Les Paul into it, but never chased it up -

maybe I should drop Kirk a reminder. )

 

A mate of mine had one of those. 2x12 and just volume and tone controls. He played a Grimshaw Les Paul through it, and I have never heard a better guitar sound. 

[casapete]

5 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

A mate of mine had one of those. 2x12 and just volume and tone controls. He played a Grimshaw Les Paul through it, and I have never heard a better guitar sound. 

Mine was the 1x12 , and (like your mate’s) I’ve never played through anything finer. 
Being short of funds for renovating my cottage ( and also a lousy guitar player) meant

it was time to sadly let it go. 

[Kentish Bass]

I've not shared a stage with too many rock greats (mostly a classical player), but I did once play with Topper Headon of The Clash. Good drummer! After that, all I can claim is borrowing a corkscrew from Jimmy Page at a National Youth Orchestra concert (I wasn't playing!).

[Frank Blank]

I was at Nomis Studios in Olympia working for a band doing pre-tour rehearsals, finding myself caught short and a little refreshed I wobbled off to find the bog. Finding an unoccupied urinal between two urinals occupied by Andy Taylor and John Taylor of Duran Duran I immediately set my mind to thinking of something witty to say, by the time I did they'd both gone so I wobbled back to our room and drank more saké.

[peteb]

8 hours ago, casapete said:

A couple of years ago I decided to part with my beloved late 60’s Marshall 1974 18 watt combo.

I bought it for £45 in Shipley West Yorkshire around 1976, and it was my first ‘proper’ guitar amp. 

A vintage dealer made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and what with Covid and stuff making my

finances a bit tight, I just thought it was time. It got shipped to Australia and then on to Hawaii

to it’s new owner, Kirk Hammet.

 

( I was promised a video of him playing the ‘Greeny’ Les Paul into it, but never chased it up -

maybe I should drop Kirk a reminder. )

 

 

I am guessing that you would have bought it from Ray Allen Music in Shipley, where I got my first bass about a year earlier. As a teenager, I used to live just up the road... 

 

[Huge Hands]

In the late 00's, the band I was in turned up to a regular monthly gig on a Saturday night in Central London.  As we got there, a van pulled up and another band started getting stuff out.

 

The bar owner came running out an apologised profusely, saying that Amy Winehouse's friends had booked the whole bar for a birthday bash for her and that he forgot to cancel us.

 

After a bit of frustrated grumbling, we found out the other band was her godchildren/nieces or something (I later found out they are quite famous themselves, but I can't remember the name - basically two girls and a boy with their mother on double bass - Daisy, someone and someone?).  We were told that they would only do about 40 mins when Amy arrived, so could we hang around and do the rest of the night as we were there?

 

We could see Mark Ronson milling around, as well as Adele (this was after her first album but before she got stratospherically famous), so we said yes of course!  At the time we were doing a similar style of sound to a lot of Mark's Dap Kings stuff, so thought it would be good to impress him!

 

The "stage" area wasn't big enough for both bands to be set up (they didn't have a full drum kit and some sort of weird huge organ) so we packed our kit in the cellar and waited....

 

Hours went by, while we all dutifully stood there waiting with the paparazzi outside the front door....no sign of Amy.  We kept asking the party organiser if we could play to keep the people entertained, but he kept saying no - the other band needed to be ready to play the moment she walks in.  At one point I remember Mark Ronson shouting - "let the musicians play!", which made me think - wow - someone famous called me a musician! (Not that he had heard me at that point!).

 

At one point, someone shouted they needed a bass player - so I ran in, and found Mark had started messing around on their equipment.  WHen I got there he was playing on their snare drum.  Our guitarist was playing, along with the two young ladies from the group.  Having no idea who they were, I picked up the double bass.  It was very low height for me and had plasticy gut type strings on it.  I couldn't see any kind of pickup or amp, so not sure if their mother actually played anything to be heard on the gigs, or whether it just hadn't been set up yet.

 

So, I ended up jamming with Mark (him having a go on several instruments), or at least I thumped as hard as I could without breaking the strings (that would be rude!).  I think we played about 3 or 4 songs, including a rendition of Bear Necessities, before the organiser ran in and shut us down again as Amy was "5 minutes away".  We all put the instruments down and dutifully stood waiting.......but no Amy.  

 

It got to about 1am, and as the venue closed at 2am, we decided there would be no time left to play after them, so called it and left.  We did get paid, but were mightily huffed that we didn't get to show what we could really do in front of Mark.  We had been dreaming that he might have given us some backstage after party gigs or something!

 

Just to rub salt in the wounds, I read a report in the Metro on the way to work that Amy had let her friends down and that Mark invited everyone in the bar back to his suite at the local posh hotel afterwards.  We had obviously walked out in a huff before then!

 

In summary, I got to jam with Mark Ronson who probably didn't hear anything I played (I couldn't so I don't see how he could have).  I would like to think Adele also took note of my brilliance, but she did look rather inebriated that night so I doubt it!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20 by Huge Hands

[casapete]

32 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

I am guessing that you would have bought it from Ray Allen Music in Shipley, where I got my first bass about a year earlier. As a teenager, I used to live just up the road... 

 

That’s the shop! Just opposite a railway bridge. Mainly brass instruments in the window, and just a few

guitars and amps at the back. I saw the Marshall and he wanted £45 for it. Back then cheque guarantee

cards were only good for £25, so I had to write him two, one for £25 and one for £20. Turned out to

be the best purchase I ever made.

[asingardenof]

1 hour ago, casapete said:

The function band I was in many years ago played a lot of weddings. Over the years we’d met a lot

of famous people who were guests, although my guitarist pal in the band was most wowed when

he found out that Gary Moore was attending a local wedding in the early 90’s. It was in a marquee

in a posh suburb, a flash do with plenty of guests and a free bar etc.
Tension was high on the day as Gary Moore was my pal’s guitar hero, and he was understandably 

nervous about playing in front of him. Subsequently he had quite a few drinks to take the edge

off a bit. Someone suggested Gary could guest with the band, and with that he went to his car and

brought out a Fender combo which was set up on the stage. My pal was so excited by this time,

and had a few more drinks for a bit of dutch courage. 

The gig went great, Gary Moore was a top bloke, very friendly and unassuming. My pal ( who is

a wonderful player himself) traded solos with Gary, although by this time he was a touch unsteady

and stood on Gary’s pedals a few times by mistake! Gary didn’t seem too bothered by this, and my pal

was very apologetic.

Anyway, the audience loved it and my pal was in seventh heaven afterwards. It was only when

he’d been driven home after the gig that he realised he had played with his hero all evening whilst

wearing odd shoes. 

I wonder if he normally kept a combo amp in his car or if he was just expecting to be called into service that day.

[casapete]

4 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

I wonder if he normally kept a combo amp in his car or if he was just expecting to be called into service that day.

I don’t honestly know - I think with the bride being a relative he probably knew someone would suggest

he got up with the band. 

[asingardenof]

10 minutes ago, casapete said:

I don’t honestly know - I think with the bride being a relative he probably knew someone would suggest

he got up with the band. 

Well props to him for being up for it, I've seen vids of other rock stars *cough* Bon Jovi *cough* looking very affronted at the suggestion that they do a turn.

[peteb]

35 minutes ago, casapete said:

That’s the shop! Just opposite a railway bridge. Mainly brass instruments in the window, and just a few

guitars and amps at the back. I saw the Marshall and he wanted £45 for it. Back then cheque guarantee

cards were only good for £25, so I had to write him two, one for £25 and one for £20. Turned out to

be the best purchase I ever made.

 

Yes, although there were usually quite a few electric guitars among the brass instruments. 

 

Ray was a bit of a 'character', rather seedy older guy with a flair for being economical with the truth. Nearly every guitar or bass in the shop had once belonged to Paul Kossof or Jack Bruce or someone similar! Even at thirteen, none of us believed him. He had a habit of over-pricing his better stock, so it never he sold it. I remember that he had an old red semi-acoustic Gibson bass hanging on the wall for years - I considered putting in an offer for it when the shop eventually closed down. I wish that I had done, probably worth a bit now! 

 

[casapete]

2 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

Yes, although there were usually quite a few electric guitars among the brass instruments. 

 

Ray was a bit of a 'character', rather seedy older guy with a flair for being economical with the truth. Nearly every guitar or bass in the shop had once belonged to Paul Kossof or Jack Bruce or someone similar! Even at thirteen, none of us believed him. He had a habit of over-pricing his better stock, so it never he sold it. I remember that he had an old red semi-acoustic Gibson bass hanging on the wall for years - I considered putting in an offer for it when the shop eventually closed down. I wish that I had done, probably worth a bit now! 

 

And that’s the guy! To be fair, the Marshall was probably around the right price at the time and he didn’t try to 

give me any bullsh*t about famous previous owners. I remember thinking that it was a 50 watt combo though,

(maybe it was marked up a such?) and it wasn’t until I took it in for a service a few months later that I discovered

it was an 18 watt job. My eighteen year old self didn’t care though, as it was loud enough to use in my first few

bands and sounded so good, whatever dodgy guitars I played through it.