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How was your gig last night?


bassninja

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Saturday night saw my last gig with my covers band.

On the whole it was a bit average. The hot weather and a slightly hard to find location (in the gym hall of a local school) meant that the turnout was a bit less than had been hoped for. Added to that, on-going problems with our main singer's voice meant that we had to cut 3 songs out of the second set. Still the songs we did play went down well and we played pretty well, so all in all not a bad way to spend a Saturday night. And it was quite pleasantly cool in the gym until the stage lights had warmed to place up in the second set!

So having stopped playing covers so I can concentrate all my time and energy on the Terrortones, it's made me think about why I actually joined in the first place and why covers bands exist.

I've had fun playing the songs as they were mostly tunes I grew up with and many of them were directly responsible for me learning to play in the first place. However they were also the reason why I started writing songs too - after all if all your favourite bands write their own material then shouldn't that be something you should aspire to as well?

And a lot of the time I can't help but feel that our audience would have been better served by a decent video juke-box rather than a band who are really rather average. We have a great singer and the two guitarists are good, but as a band it didn't always hang together properly and our stage-craft IMO was severely lacking (this one area where the Terrortones excel and the more we worked on making our live performances better from a non-musical PoV, the more the lack of interest from the other members in doing the same in my covers band bothered me).

In a lot of ways I can't help but think that playing in the average covers band is a pretty thankless task. There's loads of extra gear to set up and break down - PA lights etc. In an originals band by the time you are worrying about these not being supplied by the venue, you have a whole road crew sort them out for you. The audience can be great when you get everyone up and dancing, but IME we never got the same level of genuine appreciation that the Terrortones get when they play.

In the end it boils down to what you want to do musically, and now I've tried covers and found it fun, but it will never for me be as fantastic as when I'm playing songs that I have had a hand in creating. I suppose I'm lucky in that I'm currently playing in what is probably the most exciting band I've ever been in and any other band would be hard pushed to match, let alone top, that.

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After last weekend stormer this Sat's gig was a bit of an anti-climax, weather keeping punters away but also there had been a change in door staff at the venue we played and it sounds like they have been a bit over zealous in turning people away since they got the contract so I don't think the venue is quite as popular as it was. We were a bit loud in the first set and a couple of folks had a gripe and left after the first few songs, we turned it all right down but it was difficult as the drummer hasn't got much volume control. Hey ho, a lot more punters turned up for the second set and we got a good few dancing but we've had better nights there. Two more gigs coming up this weekend so it's all water under the bridge. I think I may have triggered a speed camera on the way home so presumably whatever I got for the gig will just get swallowed up in the fine.

Edited by KevB
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Played a late cancellation gig at a local pub. Had to do it with one less band member (keys/sax) as he had something pre-booked, but we pulled it off with bass, guitar drums and vocals. Went down well, the ladies dancing straight from the off, even a few blokes towards the end! Pub boss loved it and said we were first-call band if more cancellations happen and when he opens the diary in October, we'll get half dozen gigs in 2014. £55 each so can't be bad and I did the whole thing with a leg in plaster and on heavy duty painkillers (another story!) At least I didn't have to move any gear!

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[quote name='haysy' timestamp='1373369141' post='2136687']
Played a late cancellation gig at a local pub. Had to do it with one less band member (keys/sax) as he had something pre-booked, but we pulled it off with bass, guitar drums and vocals. Went down well, the ladies dancing straight from the off, even a few blokes towards the end! Pub boss loved it and said we were first-call band if more cancellations happen and when he opens the diary in October, we'll get half dozen gigs in 2014. £55 each so can't be bad and I did the whole thing with a leg in plaster and on heavy duty painkillers (another story!) At least I didn't have to move any gear!
[/quote]

Blimey! Leg in plaster.. what a trouper! :)

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THere's the latest report in my slow but sure progress into becoming a bass player of sorts!

Last night was our regular jam night and drummer and I were up with the band of limited talent and with the somewhat better band. I was quite pleased with how I played.In fact I thought that for once I actually played to the best of my ability - ie as well as I do in rehearsals - and was not too put off by nerves.
I didn't have any friends in last night which was maybe why I was a bit more relaxed. The flip side of this was that I didn't really rock out so much.

We did She Sells Sanctuary for the first time. My bass teacher had taught me this largely as a right hand exercise, as I had been having difficulties keeping a constant speed at a fast-ish pace. I mentioned this in passing to the rest of the band, and they all thought it would be a good one to add to our repetoire. So another example of my lessons paying dividends! :)

It went down really well, and we even had a couple of women dancing. They were the singer's mates, but they seemed to be genuinely enjoying it.

So the time really has come now to branch out to some other things - even if only jam nights. Tomorrow we (that is the 'somewhat better' band) are all going over to watch another jam night in Brum. Not to play or anything, but just to get a feel for how the land lies and whether we might possibly be good/brave enough to put ourselves forward for a go next time.

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Probably mentioned before 'shell, if your band wants a change of scenery you are all welcome to pitch up at the Greyhound in Beeston on a Sunday afternoon and do a slot. It gets pretty quiet over the summer months so would be no problem getting on stage. Can you remind me where your jam nights are? Dudley maybe? I keep meaning to drive down one month when work's not so frantic.

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[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1373466086' post='2137942']
Probably mentioned before 'shell, if your band wants a change of scenery you are all welcome to pitch up at the Greyhound in Beeston on a Sunday afternoon and do a slot. It gets pretty quiet over the summer months so would be no problem getting on stage. Can you remind me where your jam nights are? Dudley maybe? I keep meaning to drive down one month when work's not so frantic.
[/quote]

Many thanks Kev, I will mention the Greyhound afternoon to the gang tonight. Don't know if we'll be brave enough though! :o

Our jam night is in Tipton. The next one will be Aug 13th. It would be great to see you there, but don't expect wonderousness! I'll send you a PM. :)

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Well first gig for Ultimate Floyd. A charity gig to raise funds to restore Caerphilly workingmens hall.... An old style theatre opposite the castle.

For a few negatives first, turn out was very disappointing. It's a 400 seater theatre, and only around 50 people showed up. Also the organisation was shockingly awful which meant that people were getting backstage when they shouldn't... Cue a can of strongbow spilling on my cab!!!!! Thankfully only my cover got wet and the cab itself was fine.... Phew!

There were 5 bands scheduled to perform and we were on 4th. However, don't exactly know what happened by the headlining band pulled out due to the low attendance, so we ended up being the headliners (headliners for your first gig as a band.... Not bad hey ;) )

The first band were these teenage lads performing originals. They have potential but need a ton of work. The young bassist was great though, did really well and was playing an Ibanez SR300 :P. The second band was a mainly acoustic outfit performing a mix of originals and covers, they were really good. The third band was "interesting" the bassist and guitarist were both really talented guys, their skills were quite impressive.... Yet their music was pants..... Why? Well they just kept showing off. One number saw the bassist do double tapping, harmonics and some breakneck speed slapping within the first minute!!!! Did it serve the song, no way! But he enjoyed the limelight and showing off. Fair play, I'd love to slap at that speed, but there is a time and a place!! That obviously wasn't it as the audience were booing them to get off (tough crowd are pissed up Valleys people!)

The young lads really made me laugh, we had a few backstage rooms and a well stocked fridge of beers, ciders, water all free for performers as we were doing the gig for free. We were sticking to water as a rule as were all driving and on last. The lads must have thought they "had arrived" but proceeded to drink ALL the cans in the fridge, they were steaming!!! As soon as the last can of cider was finished they left carrying the guitars on their back and their little practice amps in their hands (oh to have such light it again :P )

So for the performance...........

We went on later than scheduled, we'd set up whilst they were doing a raffle and were ready to go by 10.15. We opened to In the Flesh, and the crowd started cheering. They really were well into us. They were shouting and cheering at the end of each song, and some of the more well known Floyd songs like "Wish you were here" they were singing with us.

It was an amazing experience. They kept shouting "More, More" but sadly at 11.20 we had played our last song and there was no more. However, a few minor mistakes from everyone aside (mine being not putting my pedal volume back up after my drop D tuning, making my Run like Hell thumping soundless for about 10 seconds until I realised. And I played 1 bum note in Sorrow.... Not too bad I reckon) we all performed really well, sounded great, the crowd loved us and we looked cool wit our lights, smoke machine and lasers :P

We all had soooooo much fun.

We were packing down at the end and had loads of complements from our new "fans" that we're genuinely waiting to speak to us saying things like "You're f***ing awesome" "When are you near Caerphilly again" and a rather disturbing to our guitarist (who in fairness rocked his solos tonight) "I know you're a dude but you made me hard" LOL! One guy also really pissed his wife off by coming up to me to tell me what a brilliant bassist I was and that he loved me! LOL!

Even though I didn't get home until 1am I am wide awake and still buzzing!! (No doubt I'll crash and burn by lunchtime and will need a nap). This is what being a bassist is all about. Great gig, great time with bandmates and punters loving it :D

Edited by SpaceChick
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That sounds like a really rewarding gig, really pleased for ya Debs.
Had a shocker last night, just one of those things. I've got to know when I'm in the zone or not before I even turn up for a gig and last night was one of those. It was like playing in a haze all night feeling oddly detached from what I was supposed to be doing.Working all week and being up since 6am made me realise why I just don't do many Friday gigs any more. What made it worse was that despite a really low audience one of them was a fellow Bc'er and ex member of the band! Made more mistakes in first set alone than in previous half dozen full gigs. Back out again tonight so it'll be soon forgotten though.

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[quote name='Mr Fretbuzz' timestamp='1373697141' post='2140616']
Glad you enjoyed yourself Deb ...... But if some guy says I make him hard, I'm giving up my Bass permanently :-D
[/quote]

I guess it wouldn't be an issue if they said it to me :P

Don't know what our guitarist must have thought! LOL! Although in fairness, one solo stumble aside in Another Brick in the Wall, he played a blinder all night!

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It really needs to be, it's a 50th anniversary celebration for an amateur football club so a bit more high profile than usual pub gig. Outdoors which will be nice (I'm insisting on taking my monitors though so I can hear my bv's). If there's a decent crowd we'll work better as a band and respond and I'll be more switched on, I don't think any of us were 100% last night so it wasn't just me.

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Another Jam Café gig with the Terrortones supporting dragSTER.

Bloody hot everywhere but especially on stage. Played well and the audience appeared to love it.

Here's a still from the White Collar Zoo video stream (did anyone watch it?)

[IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/Dick%20Venom%20Live/1072171_444065809033581_1522738534_o_zps0dc97992.png[/IMG]

Off to do a gig in Kirkcaldy tonight...

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Small bar in Rugby called London's Calling. Very hot. Steps down to cellar to store flights cases etc, steps back up. Get the picture?

We stepped in to replace a Buzzcocks tribute band. Very last minute so not exactly what people were expecting. Played an hour's set of soundscapey all original progressive rock sounds which worked in some parts with the audience and not in others. Came off thinking it was 'one of them', but the gaffer asked us to do another 20 minutes - probs wanted his money's worth ;)[size=4] [/size][size=4] We decided to christen our newest tune, a 20 minute semi-improvised classic called 'He Is The King Of The Tenuous Link'[/size] :D[size=4] :PGot the best reception of the night. Perhaps we'd convinced them by then that we really weren't a Buzzcocks tribute band. [/size][size=4] [/size][size=4]Gigged a 5 string for the first time - altho realised just adapting songs written on a 4 string is a bit pointless. Need to use it from scratch on new stuff and incorporate it that way.[/size]

[size=4]Liverpool tonight at The Lomax.[/size]

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Debs.
Well done ,so pleased it went well for you.Let me know when you are next playing!

Kev

It wasn't as bad as you seem to think mate....not many punters in but apparently it had been full on Thursday due to some celebration or other and it was the first weekend for ages that you could count on the weather being good so ...as usual...half of Nottingham would be at the East coast!.


Enjoy tonight and keep letting us know when you are playing ....I enjoy the band.

Big Red

Sorry buddy but laziness got the better of me and I stayed at the Vollo....also there was not much of a crowd so I thought I would support Kev.


Glad you had a good one again.......I will look out for future gigs ...Ironic really I am usually in Scotland at the weekend!

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Cheers Ray, nice to meet you. I didn't get to look at BRX's thread where you said you were coming down until today. Nice of you to hang around, we weren't firing on all cylinders but the hot sweaty conditions didn't help, I dread to think what it would have been like with a big crowd in - or maybe they would have just actually turned the air con ON! Will try to post future gigs a bit more regularly. Def should be on at H2O bar in Hucknall on Aug 6th. We are fairly busy but in July/Aug it seems a lot of them are private party types so not general public access gigs.

Edited by KevB
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played a small venue in Hetton le Hole last night and after last weekends festival it was a polar opposite, from about 600+ last week, to 6 (for the first set) haha, still the show went ahead and come the second set when it got dark the place filled up and a good time was had by all :)

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[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1373697378' post='2140618']
I guess it wouldn't be an issue if they said it to me :P

Don't know what our guitarist must have thought! LOL! Although in fairness, one solo stumble aside in Another Brick in the Wall, he played a blinder all night!
[/quote]

Your gig sounds [b]awesome! [/b]

Great news, keep it up! :)

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Great gig in Cardiff last night, although the neck of my bass got really sticky to to sweat which made things a bit tricky.
Crowd loved us and considering we hadn't rehearsed for a few weeks we smashed it!
Only downside was mangeress trying it on saying we'd only played 2 half hour sets!
We informed her that record all our gigs and we'd sit with her in her office through the whole thing again to prove that we'd
actually closer to 2 hours!
Swansea next week!

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