How was your gig last night?

[asingardenof]

16 hours ago, WalMan said:

A few years back now I wandered into GAK’s old bass section out the back of the store and was chatting to the bass guy who knew I had a Wal. He said they’d just had an old Wal traded in and offered it to me for £900 😱 I had no funds in those days and had to pass 😢, though I did come back and give a heads up here in the evening - I believe it was gone at 9:05 the next day 🤣

I hate when that happens. When I was a student in the late 90s I encountered a 70s Fender Jazz in a secondhand goods shop in Leeds which was on sale for £750. I had some student loan money burning a hole in my pocket but unfortunately not that much so I had to pass. Ah well.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Not heard they were hard to maintain Daryl. I think they have a dual truss rod system tho. Not even sure if the new ones still use a twin truss rod ?

They do look good tho. 

My first real interest in Ric's was when i came across Rush in 76 and Geddy was using one. Then a lot of Prog bands used them too and i liked the tone but Geddy proved that he could make his Jazz sound just like a Ric and fooled us all. 😂

Dave

 

I felt I was getting a 'ric' tone from my P the other day.

[msb]

11 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Dave,

I would like a Ric for the sole reason of the iconic look. I've heard they're not easy to maintain. 

 

Daryl

 

They have dual truss rods , and the older bridges are tricky to adjust , but that said the older ones are incredibly stable. Mine do not do the usual seasonal shifts. I’ve only had to adjust the truss rods on my 4001 twice in close to thirty years. My 4000 has only been set once.since I got it. Mine have required minimal maintenance. They are very different than a Fender style instrument. I did once have to adjust the output jack on my stereo 4001. A quick tweak with some needle nosed pliers fixed that.

[msb]

11 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

Edited yesterday at 12:32 by msb
Duplicate post

[dmccombe7]

6 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I felt I was getting a 'ric' tone from my P the other day.

Wishful thinking Stub. 😂

Buy a Ric and get the real thing. 😜

Dave

[Greg Edwards69]

Played for my Neice’s and nephew-in-law’s (is that a thing) wedding yesterday at the beautiful Creeksea Manor in Burnham-on-Crouch. Keen readers who may recall I had a particularly painful experience at last week’s gig will be pleased to to know this one went much, much better.

 

You may also recall that last week was challenging due to personal reasons, that I have taken steps to address. As I was party of the wedding party for the day, I had to leave the other load in and do the majority of the setup. This massively helped me, not just my time being involved in the wedding celebrations, but also relieved some of the pressure I’ve been feeling lately with band stuff. So by the time the band had to make themselves scarce whilst the guest sat down for the wedding breakfast, most of the work was done. Just a case of plugging in my gear and a couple of mics afterwards and a quick sound check.  Everything was still dialled in from last week, so soundcheck was quick and easy.

 

The reception was a in a huge marquee, with a permanent DJ booth at the head of the dance floor, meaning the band were somewhat crammed in the corner, but still more space than we’ve had in some places. Usefully it also ment the soft drapes caught errant reflections and sounded great “straight out of the box”.  Although it was quite a warm evening - somehow the thunderstorm the weather reports promised amounted to no more than a rumble and a couple of minutes of drizzle - but you could feel the mugginess in the air!

 

Hazel, our dep co-lead singer for the night did a fantastic job, and worked the crowd well with Liam, our other singer. At one point they both got into the crowded dancefloor getting people to join in on Parklife which was a particular highlight.  Another highlight was the bride’s brother sang Teenage Dirtbag (with my wife doing the girls bit in the middle). When the bride first asked us if he could do it ages ago I didn’t even know if he could sing. Turns out he can’t, but he’s very enthusiastic. Thankfully he was in time and more on less in key, but moreover, he love every minute of it and the crowd lapped it up.

 

Two hours of rock, pop, party and cheese later we were done and knackered. I received a number of compliments from guests, including people who hadn’t seen us play before but had heard good things. So I’m glad we didn’t disappoint. A couple of people even said they were glad they had a good band as the DJ was rather lacklustre. Most importantly my Neice and new Nephew were over the moon with their day and evening, and I went to bed feeling a lot lighter in mood!

[Norris]

30 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

this one went much, much better.

Glad to hear it! Everyone in a band needs to pull their weight. Sounds like you had a great time

[EssexBuccaneer]

We played the Vulcan restoration trust beer festival again this year. 
 

Firstly it’s the coolest venue - a hanger with a Vulcan bomber front and centre, nice size stage. The crowd are sat around tables and are a bit reticent to leave them to have a dance, but we did lure a few up, at least!

 

The sound on stage was terrible to the point that I didn’t enjoy the gig at all, and Mrs Buccaneer said my face was displaying subtitles that demonstrated my displeasure. However watching the videos back we sounded ok out front, so I’m far happier now.

 

We ran short on time and had to cut the set a tad, but that meant we finished with Paranoid - and in our first gig since Ozzy’s death, that felt apt. 
 

Rock against Leukaemia in Ipswich next week!

Edited 14 hours ago by EssexBuccaneer

[Cat Burrito]

I'm tempted to start a thread called "How was your five gigs last night?" as we played a Shuffle in the village of Aldbourne. We did it a couple of years back and it was something of a mixed bag but the theory is six bands rotate around the village performing sets at the two pubs, two cafes and a club. The immediate downside is that I wanted to see a couple of the other acts but couldn't as we were playing. My duo expanded to a trio as our original drummer from 35yrs ago was dusted down and brought out of retirement, catapulting us back to Sixth Form 1989 / 1990! He even messaged to say his mum would cook for us before we set off. Bless her, well into her 80s and she catered for our dietary requirements! We'd driven down to Southampton to rehearse with Mike and it was a great day, in terms of sound and effortlessly cool company. We've all mellowed with age and are all much more self aware with age.

 

 

This is 60% of an old Sixth Form goth band and as it is the internet, I can pretend that the three of us drove about in Mike's Lotus!

 

First up was the Post Office cafe. I actually had my wedding reception there back in 2016 so it felt good to play. I had envisaged nobody being there but it was mobbed. It's a tall order doing 5 venues in an evening so I elected myself as chief whip cracker and we got on with our set. We opened with Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart before busting in to two of our own songs. We ended on The Cure's Just Like Heaven and a darker take of The Weeknd's Blinding Light. I could hear the nerves in Mike, and more surprisingly Nick. Plus I had a couple of people pointing at me and pointing up. That said, the video I saw on FB (set to friends only) sounded better than it felt. One bloke complimented on our original songs and said he couldn't believe how intelligent the lyrics were. I said "that's all on Nick, he's bright - he has O level Woodwork!"

 

 

We deliberately had a two mandocello and a snare drum (dampened by a tea towel) set up, with two small Boss three pedal pedalboards to allow for easy travel between venues. We moved on to The Crown. Last time was a very frosty reception (a couple of rungs down from needing chicken wire!) and we'd not been back. This time we were totally on it and so were the crowd! It was mobbed and we went down well again. We had to stop the audience from chatting as we tried to leave as we didn't want to hold up proceedings but it as all very complimentary. 

 

 

We moved to what had been our second home, The Blue Boar. The owners are moving on and you can tell they are giving up. The PA suddenly looked tired and there were no leads and just one mic. The previous act was more mainstream and we walked in feeling like we'd be following the returning hero. A few people immediately left as she finished and I thought it might be a comedown. However, it started to fill with different people as we started and we did a fair set. This was the one set, I played less than my normal high standards. I'll say it was the worst show of the night but on balance I was happy with it.

 

 

One thing I will say was it was a really interesting reminder of how much pedal settings need to vary between venues. My overdrive was screaming out at The Boar but barely audible on the same settings back at the Post Office. Funny how the room and the PA can make such a difference. *obviously, I adjusted accordingly!

 

Anyhow, we arrived at The Forge, which was the second outdoor gig. I am yet to source a pic for this (I'm sure you'll all live!) but for me this was my favourite show. I thought we'd hit our stride here. With the exception of the Boar, all had on hand soundmen (basically local musicians who helped us set up). A great set. 

 

Finally, we finished at The Club. 

 

 

We did an extra song of Rain by The Cult, which we'd first played together in the very same village 35yrs ago. I noticed Mike's drumming was just slightly dipping here but he'd done so well on balance. Honourable mention to the two old school Swindon goths who came out and followed us around all five venues! Sorry for such a long post but it really was an amazing experience and an amazing night. We ended by returning to the Crown and hanging out with all the acts. 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Cat Burrito
typo!

[EssexBuccaneer]

Just been sent this from the guitarist’s Mrs. HAD to share! 

 

 

[Piers_Williamson]

48 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

Just been sent this from the guitarist’s Mrs. HAD to share! 

362f7dfd-4677-4d30-a584-2f38199e1aba.mov 11.31 MB · 2 downloads  

 

I still remember being buzzed by one of those at dusk, while camping on a Dof E expedition in the Lake District.  they did make quite a noise (not the band obvs!).

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

Just been sent this from the guitarist’s Mrs. HAD to share! 

362f7dfd-4677-4d30-a584-2f38199e1aba.mov 11.31 MB · 6 downloads  

 

Yep have to say it sounds ok out front there. 

How weird that must have been playing with a Vulcan bomber in front of you. That's one you won't forget.

Dave

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

Just been sent this from the guitarist’s Mrs. HAD to share! 

 

She’s a very smooth walker to judge by that first minute or so. 
fine choice of tune, sir 

[dmccombe7]

10 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

She’s a very smooth walker to judge by that first minute or so. 
fine choice of tune, sir 

I did think that myself, quite an artistic walk in to the stage area. Well done your Mrs.

Now is she available to hire for other gigs 😂

Dave

Edited 5 hours ago by dmccombe7

[Geek99]

8 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I did think that myself, quite an artistic walk in to the stage area. Well done your Mrs.

Now is she available to hire for other gigs 😂

Dave

It’s actually the guitarists wife, if you read back.
 

However I think I may have found the solution to the @Bluewine dilemma regarding videography… 

 

alternatively she might fancy a trip to Scotland? 

Edited 4 hours ago by Geek99

[HeadlessBassist]

Another Everly's & Friends Live Tribute Show last night. This time [relatively] close at Warner's Holme Lacey near Hereford. 

 

But...

 

Due to a mixup with diaries, we arrived to find we had no drummer on site. Mass panic ensues, and I managed to get an old teaching colleague from my Gloucestershire days to step in, arriving in 1.5 hours, who learned the whole set in his car, making notes on each song (full two hour set of Everly's, Buddy Holly & Jerry Lee Lewis) after setting up and pulled off a blinder.

 

Phew! I seem to be the 'on the fly drummer trainer' for that show. 🫣

 

 

 

 

[dmccombe7]

19 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

It’s actually the guitarists wife, if you read back.
 

However I think I may have found the solution to the @Bluewine dilemma regarding videography… 

 

alternatively she might fancy a trip to Scotland? 

You passed that test 😂

Dave

[Geek99]

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

You passed that test 😂

Dave

I’m a law graduate. Reading stuff is a major skill 

[Jackroadkill]

You know, everyone, I absolutely adore reading through this thread.  Seeing how everyone goes about gigging in their different ways, with so many different bands and styles on offer; I even enjoy the reports of gig by bands who play genres that I wouldn't play myself, because there's always something to be learned.  Seeing what you lot get up to at your gigs is a real highlight of my (usually) weekend, and I wish I was out there gigging again.  Thanks very much for sharing your experiences with the rest of us!

[EssexBuccaneer]

59 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Yep have to say it sounds ok out front there. 

How weird that must have been playing with a Vulcan bomber in front of you. That's one you won't forget.

Dave

It really is bizarre, in a great way. Hangers aren’t really designed for optimal sound, are they? 🤣

[EssexBuccaneer]

57 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

She’s a very smooth walker to judge by that first minute or so. 
fine choice of tune, sir 

My mic was too low, you can’t hear my ‘black tie’ - the highlight of the song!

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

I’m a law graduate. Reading stuff is a major skill 

You now have no excuses 😂

Dave

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

It really is bizarre, in a great way. Hangers aren’t really designed for optimal sound, are they? 🤣

Probably not but as the camera moved about it was picking up a decent sound out front wherever it was so you are doing something right. 

I've had many gigs where i thought it wasn't sounding great out front and it used to worry me until i heard recordings and it was usually fine. We now are all pretty happy that if the sound we hear on stage sounds good then its usually good FOH too. 

To be fair we are starting to use PA hire more often these days with a view to almost every gig from next year rather than me humphing blooming large PA cabs in and out my car are ridiculous hrs after a gig and either the drummer or singer trying to do sound from on stage. Its been pretty good TBH over the years but having a dedicated PA guy just takes the pressure of the band.

Dave

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

It really is bizarre, in a great way. Hangars aren’t really designed for optimal sound, are they? 🤣

 

Fixed. 

 

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