How was your gig last night?

[12stringbassist]

Not my gig. A night off.

I went to watch a band at my local and their drummer quit during the second set.
Just started dismantling his kit. While someone else covered for a song, he dragged his cases on stage.
Singer announced the next song, but no.
Show over.

Astonishment.

Edited May 19, 2018 by 12stringbassist

[FinnDave]

Got home 45 mins ago from a gig in Didcot. Same line up as last night's gig, if we keep doing this, we might start to sound like we know what we're doing! Bigger, more enthusiastic audience than we had last night in Reading, but the on-stage sound was poor as we were in a box with one end open and sound bouncing back all over the place. I believe it sounded fine out front, just a bit difficult to hear what was going on where we were. Easy parking and load/load out, home by midnight, so a good night, with a few memorable moments. Can't think of a better way to be spending Saturday evening.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

9:30-1:30 tonight at Traditions Pub.

I'm going in with a good attitude.

Blue

One thing I could never get used to when I lived in the states. A Pub. Oh no it really isn't

 

[lurksalot]

We had a blast tonight , we took a cancellation at a new (to us) venue . Two 45 minute sets , start at 9.15 and finish by 11.00 . The hardest part of the gig was what to leave out, as the amount of time we had meant we had to lose 45 minutes from our normal set !!

The gig went great and we reckon we'll get 3 or 4 gigs a year from the venue. 

One thing that we all noticed, was that we normally only ever do 1 gig a weekend as we put in a lot of effort , well, singist does, and a 'short' gig like this would enable double headers no problem , onwards and upwards 👍

[Leonard Smalls]

Did an afternoon slot at The Grapes in Hereford yesterday for the Royal Bedding Musicians Against Homelessness benefit all-dayer.

The audience was mainly the other bands- apparently it filled up in the evening - but they all cheered in a supportive fashion, and not a single one threw a pint glass full of piddle at us. Which was nice!

We were, as usual, too fast,but surprisingly tight given the breakneck pace of some of our funkier numbers - this probably went down better wot with many punk and metal bands being on...

[Bluewine]

17 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

One thing I could never get used to when I lived in the states. A Pub. Oh no it really isn't

 

Well, the gig at Traditions Pub was not good for me.

I thought my playing was off 

I had a hard time with the sound dynamics of the room 

Bar was in a separate room from where we played 

The crowd was not there to see live music aside from a few of our fans 

 Not many people showed up.

 

I need a hot gig under my belt to boost my spirit. Maybe this coming weekend will be better. We have a Harley Davidson event booked.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by Bluewine

[Bluewine]

17 hours ago, FinnDave said:

Got home 45 mins ago from a gig in Didcot. Same line up as last night's gig, if we keep doing this, we might start to sound like we know what we're doing! Bigger, more enthusiastic audience than we had last night in Reading, but the on-stage sound was poor as we were in a box with one end open and sound bouncing back all over the place. I believe it sounded fine out front, just a bit difficult to hear what was going on where we were. Easy parking and load/load out, home by midnight, so a good night, with a few memorable moments. Can't think of a better way to be spending Saturday evening.

Sounds like you had a better night than me Dave, and I didn't get home until 2:30 and it was only a 15 minute commute.

I'm bummed out over last night. I need a hot gig under my belt to boost my spirits.

Blue

[Mottlefeeder]

Had two gigs yesterday -

Left home at about 08:45 with my battery powered gear to get to Wythenshawe to set up bass gear and PA for a 10:00 start. Busked until 16:00 with two half hour breaks. Packed up and got home at 17:10. Loaded in the battery rig and loaded out the mains rig. Left home at about 18:00 heading for a village fair in a field in Weaverham. Set up by 19:30 -  pie and chips while the other act was on, then were were on for just over an hour. Packed up while the crowd watched the fireworks - got home about 22:15.

Today we started about 10:30, busking in the entrance of a local Tesco Extra. We had two bass players, so we shared the load.

Musically, it was mixed - we don't have set lists, so you know most of the songs being covered, until the lead busker decides to try out a new one. For paid gigs like the evening one, we have a smaller pot of songs that we know well, but we still follow whatever the lead busker decides to do next.

All the donations and payments go directly to Cancer Research UK.

David

http://www.loosechangebuskers.org.uk/

[Bluewine]

18 hours ago, 12stringbassist said:

Not my gig. A night off.

I went to watch a band at my local and their drummer quit during the second set.
Just started dismantling his kit. While someone else covered for a song, he dragged his cases on stage.
Singer announced the next song, but no.
Show over.

Astonishment.

Wow, do you know why he quit in that fashion? Was he whizzed off at something?

[Woodinblack]

15 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Well, the gig at Traditions Pub was not good for me.

I thought my playing was off 

Was it actually off or were you just on a downer on the room in general?

[Bluewine]

5 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Was it actually off or were you just on a downer on the room in general?

Yeah, the room played some bad Voo Doo on my head. I'm sure that played a part in it.

Thing is, your suppose to rise above a bad room and not let it get to your head. Last night I let it.

Blue

Edited May 20, 2018 by Bluewine

[Woodinblack]

2 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Yeah, the room played some bad voo Doo on my head. I'm sure that played a part in it.

Thing is, your suppose to rise above a bad room and not let it get to your head. Last night I let it.

Some time you can, but if you don't have the audience and you don't have decent feedback from the crowd its hard to not let it in

[RandomBass]

41 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Sounds like you had a better night than me Dave, and I didn't get home until 2:30 and it was only a 15 minute commute.

I'm bummed out over last night. I need a hot gig under my belt to boost my spirits.

Blue

Hey I'm crossing all fingers you get one soon. You mentioned a HD gig, surely that'll be a party 😎🎸

Geoff

[josie]

Our second Sunday afternoon at the Old Abbey Taphouse in south/central Mcr. We're on a stage at one end of a big beer garden - landlady loves us acoustic, but we brought very small amps for singer and my acoustic bass, but were told atm their license doesn't allow any sort of amplification outside, so no chance anyone more than 6 feet away from the stage could hear us. Which didn't matter, because there was literally nobody there apart from the staff and a few friends and a sausage dog. It's a funky community center as well as a very good pub, and for a while a couple of attractive scantily clad young people (one male one female) were practicing circus skills with hoops and scarves in front of the stage - an interesting contrast to the usual "punters getting up to dance"!

We just enjoyed playing together without pressure, and it was perfect for our excellent lead singer who's trying hard to build up confidence. And we were given good food and beer and told we can come back any Sunday we want to. Happy landlady, happy band, happy bass player :-)

[Bluewine]

5 hours ago, RandomBass said:

Hey I'm crossing all fingers you get one soon. You mentioned a HD gig, surely that'll be a party 😎🎸

Geoff

thanks Geoff,

I think the whole biker gig thing can go great or tank as well.

I don't know what the biker scene is like in the UK. Thing is, from what I've seen these older bikers are not the wild partiers they might have been 40 years ago. And there are no new young bikers. The Millennials are not into the whole wind blowing threw their hair freedom thing. They stay home and play computer games. It's the reason Harley is having a hard time selling bikes.

Blue

[Bluewine]

On 5/19/2018 at 18:47, FinnDave said:

Got home 45 mins ago from a gig in Didcot. Same line up as last night's gig, if we keep doing this, we might start to sound like we know what we're doing! Bigger, more enthusiastic audience than we had last night in Reading, but the on-stage sound was poor as we were in a box with one end open and sound bouncing back all over the place. I believe it sounded fine out front, just a bit difficult to hear what was going on where we were. Easy parking and load/load out, home by midnight, so a good night, with a few memorable moments. Can't think of a better way to be spending Saturday evening.

Dave, I'm not really vinto the whole CD thing, however we're releasing our 3rd CD "Follow The Moon" in a few weeks.

It's a home grown effort ,some stuff was recorded live in the studio and some songs were recorded at various gigs. 

According to the band I'm getting producing credit. Which is weird, I didn't do anything.

Blue

Edited May 21, 2018 by Bluewine

[FinnDave]

7 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Dave, I'm not really vinto the whole CD thing, however we're releasing our 3rd CD "Follow The Moon" in a few weeks.

It's a home grown effort ,some stuff was recorded live in the studio and some songs were recorded at various gigs. 

According to the band I'm getting producing credit. Which is weird, I didn't do anything.

Blue

I'm not so keen on recording stuff in studios either, always sounds sterile as the engineers strive for perfection, which is not what music is about in my opinion.  But I d record a 5 song CD with the band I played with last weekend and we will be selling them at gigs, apparently. 

[cheddatom]

We did the last slot at a festival on Saturday night, outside a pub in a tent, not a huge affair, not sure how many people were there but the tent was big and packed. It was loads of fun even though the crowd were constantly trying to put off our frontman, and the mains kept tripping. 

[Bluewine]

6 hours ago, FinnDave said:

I'm not so keen on recording stuff in studios either, always sounds sterile as the engineers strive for perfection, which is not what music is about in my opinion.  But I d record a 5 song CD with the band I played with last weekend and we will be selling them at gigs, apparently. 

Yeah, we sell them at gigs too and they sell at  the gigs that are hot. I'm not sure how well we'll do with online sales..

Blue

[RandomBass]

18 hours ago, Bluewine said:

thanks Geoff,

I think the whole biker gig thing can go great or tank as well.

I don't know what the biker scene is like in the UK. Thing is, from what I've seen these older bikers are not the wild partiers they might have been 40 years ago. And there are no new young bikers. The Millennials are not into the whole wind blowing threw their hair freedom thing. They stay home and play computer games. It's the reason Harley is having a hard time selling bikes.

Blue

That's a fair point my friend.

About 30 years ago, or more, I was a regular attendee of many biker festivals throughout the UK. Of note were the Kent Custom Bike shows run annually by the local Hell's Angels. My god what fabulous weekends they were. A total festival environment where all were welcome and partied, whether you rode a Harley, a BMW, Guzzi, Japanese or a Vespa. They got some cracking well known bands to headline. Great times.

As you say, things are different now. I'm not the party animal I once was, and the carefree enjoyment attitude just doesn't seem to be there from youngsters. Everyone is too busy with the latest iPhone to care lol.

I don't ride any more, but I do play bass. It's my last thread connecting me to something different. 🎸

Geoff

[FinnDave]

Had an interesting gig in all but name tonight. Had arranged to go to a blues jam with a couple of guys from one of my bands, plus a very good Australian guitarist who flew in this morning. Hacked our way round Oxford to the venue where we discovered that it was cancelled. So we went back to the village we'd started in and managed to persuade the landlady at a pub there to host us, so we played as a 4 piece without a drummer. Surprisingly, it went down a storm and we have an open invite to do that again anytime we want! Got bought a couple of beers, had a good time and basically saved the cost of a rehearsal studio. I was surprised and pleased by the reaction of the customers who commented on the job I was doing as a solo rhythm section, especially when my greatest supporter bought me a drink. Got home shortly before midnight having snatched a good evening from the jaws of a very disappointing one. 

[BrunoBass]

On 21/05/2018 at 19:12, RandomBass said:

That's a fair point my friend.

About 30 years ago, or more, I was a regular attendee of many biker festivals throughout the UK. Of note were the Kent Custom Bike shows run annually by the local Hell's Angels. My god what fabulous weekends they were. A total festival environment where all were welcome and partied, whether you rode a Harley, a BMW, Guzzi, Japanese or a Vespa. They got some cracking well known bands to headline. Great times.

As you say, things are different now. I'm not the party animal I once was, and the carefree enjoyment attitude just doesn't seem to be there from youngsters. Everyone is too busy with the latest iPhone to care lol.

I don't ride any more, but I do play bass. It's my last thread connecting me to something different. 🎸

Geoff

We were invited to play the main stage at the Mandeville Motorcycle Meet last summer; it’s a great event that’s gradually becoming very popular locally. We spent a good bit of time there admiring the machines and chatting to the bikers; what a great bunch of people, very friendly and very cool. Very few people younger than forty I’d say though, and no youngsters whatsoever. Is there a lack of interest or disposable income for the next generation to get into bikes? Changing times I guess.

[FinnDave]

I think one of the main reasons that fewer and fewer youngsters are getting into bikes is the mountain of regulations and tests you face to get a licence these days. I gave up biking a couple of years ago after 40 years on 2 wheels, my test consisted of a couple of observed circuits round some suburban back streets. These days it is far more complicated!

[martthebass]

On ‎20‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 18:45, Bluewine said:

Yeah, the room played some bad Voo Doo on my head. I'm sure that played a part in it.

Thing is, your suppose to rise above a bad room and not let it get to your head. Last night I let it.

Blue

Hard sometimes Blue.  I nearly always get a crap sound on stage when I use a Mustang, but the 'sound lady' always said it sounds great FOH, it was only when I started going wireless again that I could come out and check the room and verify she was spot on.  Doesn't help the on-stage vibe though...

[lurksalot]

7 hours ago, FinnDave said:

I think one of the main reasons that fewer and fewer youngsters are getting into bikes is the mountain of regulations and tests you face to get a licence these days. I gave up biking a couple of years ago after 40 years on 2 wheels, my test consisted of a couple of observed circuits round some suburban back streets. These days it is far more complicated!

I'm not so sure , I know a fair few youngsters that have bikes , but they don't do the hairy arsed bike 'scene' if you will. 

They enjoy a party but not necessarily the stereotypical hog, classic or Brit type thing