Music goals & ambitions for 2026?

[dmccombe7]

#1  More gigs for the Glam band.

#2  Look at getting an Agent, tried them before but they've mostly been poor at their job and no great help. We got more gigs on our own.

#3  Possibly look for another 2nd band to fill in the gaps.

#4  Sell of some of my basses that aren't getting used. I have 3 in mind so far. Fender active PJ Mex, Godin Shifter, Overwater J4 (built by the team at Overwater and not a Tanglewood version)

#5  Have a look at the Maruszczyk Jazzuz basses and have a try with the WAL style pick ups and pre-amp preferably.

 

Dave

[Al Krow]

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

#1  More gigs for the Glam band.

#2  Look at getting an Agent, tried them before but they've mostly been poor at their job and no great help. We got more gigs on our own.

#3  Possibly look for another 2nd band to fill in the gaps.

#4  Sell of some of my basses that aren't getting used. I have 3 in mind so far. Fender active PJ Mex, Godin Shifter, Overwater J4 (built by the team at Overwater and not a Tanglewood version)

#5  Have a look at the Maruszczyk Jazzuz basses and have a try with the WAL style pick ups and pre-amp preferably.

 

Dave

 

Nice set of specific goals there Dave!

 

For your #1 - how many gigs have you guys done this year and what would be a decent challenge in terms of additional gigs for next year?

 

Seems like getting a good agent is a recurring theme already! I've no ideas / suggestions where to look for decent agents outside of mainstream covers bands, which my lot fall into. But maybe there's a few folk who can come up with some useful suggestions?

 

Is an agent someone you can advertise for and "audition" / interview in the same way you might a band member? Or is that a daft idea?

[Cat Burrito]

I am two or three sessions away from completing the next album with my duo, so that’s been the focus.

 

Away from that, I was humbled to be approached about joining an established tribute band (sorry to be cryptic but it’s not official yet) so I really need to pull my finger out and make a proper attempt at learning the material. 

[Leonard Smalls]

4 hours ago, Jackroadkill said:

I'm keen to play gigs again.

How's your guitar playing?

😁

That's what we need, we've already got two bass players!

 

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

Nice set of specific goals there Dave!

 

For your #1 - how many gigs have you guys done this year and what would be a decent challenge in terms of additional gigs for next year?

 

Seems like getting a good agent is a recurring theme already! I've no ideas / suggestions where to look for decent agents outside of mainstream covers bands, which my lot fall into. But maybe there's a few folk who can come up with some useful suggestions?

 

Is an agent someone you can advertise for and "audition" / interview in the same way you might a band member? Or is that a daft idea?

Did 26 this year but they seem to come in batches. Can go for 2-3 mths without a gig then we get a run every week for a month. Nov and especially Dec we're always busy. The punk band i was in used to fill in the gaps as we had same drummer and female singer in both so it kinda worked out quite good. 

Not looking to gig every weekend but averaging out 2-3 a month would be good but more evenly spaced.

Its good to be playing in 2 bands with different styles as it keeps the mind busy. 

 

Never thought about advertising for an agent and i'll maybe suggest that at tomorrow nights gig.

We did have one but he didn't do much at all. He never even took posters to the venues or even pushed advertising in local areas. We ended up doing it all ourselves so why pay someone a share if they aren't pulling their fair share of the workload.

Think we're going to have a meeting early 2026 to see how we move forward with the band to get more gigs and look at different areas rather than mainly East Coast Scotland. Also to make it more of a show and perhaps move more towards Theatre venues. 

 

Dave

 

[peteb]

I would like the tribute band to get more of the better type gigs that we do, but it's a bit difficult at the moment, partly due to the BL having a few health problems and we really need him to get those sorted. It would be great to get the 'occasional' blues band to play more, but again there are issues with a couple of the guys being so busy elsewhere (not to mention that the main dep for the guitar chair is the aforementioned BL of the tribute band, who needs to recover from his issues with his back). 

 

I would like to get some more deps, especially for the blues stuff. I used to think that I was pretty good at networking and such, but perhaps I need to step that up again. 

 

Edited December 30, 2025 by peteb

[casapete]

I’d like to get our duo a wider variety of gigs. Stuff that’s a bit different from our regular bread and butter venues, not that they’re lacking at all - I’ve done 95 gigs this year which is way more than I envisaged when I stopped touring with the tribute band in 2024. We have an enquiry for a gig in Stockholm for later in the year which hopefully will come off, so that would be nice. I’d like to play more places like breweries / beer festivals, village halls, arts centres and maybe even small theatres. 

I think I should be looking at sorting out some better publicity, maybe even a showreel which seems to be the done thing these days. We don’t push ourselves enough sometimes, so would be interesting to see the results if we did. 

[Twigman]

We’re putting the finishing touches to our newest (9th?) album which we hope to release in the spring.

 

The documentary that has been being produced by a Dutch filmmaker will be released in the spring too. The producer is hoping and expecting us to play several gigs to promote that. Currently I think we only have 2 gigs in the diary (in Italy) and they’re not until October.We have had zero editorial input to the documentary so we have no clue what story they’re telling. They’ve followed us for 3 or 4 years and in that time there hasn’t been any drama, so I really don’t understand their angle. 

 

The film will be followed by a double live album which was recorded a couple of years ago in Rotterdam and is being released by the film producer. 

 

Despite all this assumed exposure I am fully expecting to be as obscure and penniless in 12 months time as I am today. 

Edited December 31, 2025 by Twigman

[Leonard Smalls]

I want to work on my knowledge of modes so I can do double the amount of widdley-wooing.

[Skybone]

15 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

Being in a band is such a big part of many BC'ers lives! Why do you feel it's wishful thinking for you?

It is indeed, but for me it's down to a number of things...

One of them being finding the "right" people who want to write original material rather than doing covers or "blues/shred lead guitarists".

Happy to do some covers, but only if they are interspersed in between original songs.

[dmccombe7]

Really enjoying this thread. Some interesting insights into how the bass brain works 😂

Dave

 

[SteveXFR]

I need to learn to add more interest to my bass parts. When we're jamming ideas in the rehearsal room, I keep it simple and solid and tell myself ill add to it later but then never get around to it. 

I need to be a bit more lively on stage as well.

[BigRedX]

I find that when we come to record the songs I'll often simplify down my bass lines as some of the runs and fills get in the way of the vocals which after all are the most important thing to the average listener.

[Geek99]

I’m going to find the magic talent tree 

[dmccombe7]

3 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

I’m going to find the magic talent tree 

Too late. It was sold on ebay last week.😂

Dave

 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I want to improve on guitar for my solo recordings 

[Bassassin]

43 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

I’m going to find the magic talent tree 

 

If you can't find it, you can always steal other people's. Works for me.

 

...oh shit, did I say that last bit out loud? 

[Geek99]

3 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

 

If you can't find it, you can always steal other people's. Works for me.

 

...oh shit, did I say that last bit out loud? 

Yes. I was channelling Theresa may, which is not a sentence that I ever thought I might utter 

[Len_derby]

My goal for 2026 is to carry-on gigging with the two bands I’m in. The obstacle to that is that the partner of the singer (common to both bands) had a bad stroke in November. She’s back home but needing a lot of care and can’t really be left alone at the moment. I’ll fit-in with whatever the singer is able to commit to in the future. Perhaps it’ll be fewer gigs and closer venues. If I find I have spare capacity I’ll join or form another band. Continuing with about two gigs a month is my aim. I’m perfectly happy as a hobbyist, never wanted to have playing music as my main or sole source of income.

[Stub Mandrel]

1. steady gigging across the covers and blues bands, including new venues and material.
2. see the originals band do some decent support gigs and maybe a headline in a good local venue.
3. see the originals band record an album.
4. maybe a bit of depping to satisfy my urge to learn new stuff.
5. try and do some songwriting and home recording (and strengthen my music theory).
6. finally get Teen Town and a couple of other songs that I would like to be able to play properly to improve my 'chops'.

[Bassassin]

45 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Yes. I was channelling Theresa may, which is not a sentence that I ever thought I might utter 

 

Yes indeed - and just like her version despite all her denials, it is very real indeed - and it's not all Other People's Talent.

 

Well, not always...

[SteveXFR]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Too late. It was sold on ebay last week.😂

Dave

 

 

I bought it and used it for firewood

[Geek99]

4 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

I bought it and used it for firewood

You mistook it for a guitar? 

[Jackroadkill]

On 30/12/2025 at 22:00, Leonard Smalls said:

How's your guitar playing?

😁

That's what we need, we've already got two bass players!

 

 

Shite, if I'm honest!  If I hear of anyone who needs two bass players and some craziness I'll send them in your direction!

[Al Krow]

On 31/12/2025 at 09:53, dmccombe7 said:

Really enjoying this thread. Some interesting insights into how the bass brain works 😂

Dave

 

 

Thanks Dave - for me part of it is putting something down in writing on a public forum which I can look back at and be reminded of as the year progresses. Will be really interesting and hopefully encouraging to see how we're all getting along over the course of the year with what we've individually decided to prioritise, and see what impact it's having our individual bass playing lives.