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I have taken the brave decision to launch a new print and digital bass magazine for the UK market. I've been publishing magazines in my day job for 27 years and think it's terrible that we don't have a dedicated magazine anymore. We launch the mag officially at the Birmingham Bass & Guitar Show next month where we will have a small stand and giving away a sample issue (while stocks last) - we will then publish quarterly moving forward. Editor is Joel McIver who ran Bass Guitar magazine and then Bass Player so no cheap AI generated content here! Website is here You can subscribe via the website - our socials launch on Monday. If you are at the show next month come and say hello - be nice to put faces to names. The cover of our sample issue is here for your thoughts and comments.

Hey gang.. Some of the longer-term members here might remember that I play in the house band at Sunday for Sammy, a huge music & comedy show that - until 2020 - happened every couple of years at Newcastle Arena. We've had some amazing guests over the years... Mark Knopfler, Brian Johnson, Trevor Horn, The Auf Wiedersehen Pet cast, Johnny Vegas, etc. But then COVID happened. And then nothing... until now! After 18 months of planning by an amazing team, it all happens again next Sunday. Two shows in one day, with a huge cast, it's a massive logistical challenge. I've been working on the songs in my own time for the last few months, and rehearsals start in earnest tomorrow. In the meantime, the crew loaded in to the rehearsal space today, and we (the core band) popped along in the afternoon to set up and do line checks. Here's some photos - more tomorrow! Two J's at the moment - both with flats. I might switch one for a P. FOH is set up in one of the dressing rooms. Monitors. My drummer pal. Guitar village. My hangout.

This is my 1980 Wal Pro 2E, it had been sat in its case for the last god knows how many years in need of a good going over. The pots were knackered, the jack socket was shot to bits, it was basically unusable but I had other working basses and so it wasn't a priority. Eventually I came to my senses and gave it to Paul at Electric Wood to do his magic. I was expecting it to take ages, which I was fine with, but he turned it around in only a couple of months and then apologised for taking so long . He ended up doing a whole list of other stuff that I hadn't realised needed doing, but to his credit he stuck to his original quote. And oh my god, it sounds incredible -- I'd forgotten just how good. It'll be coming with me to the various Bashes this year, so you can see for yourself. And it'll be getting its first gig for at least 20 years at the end of this month, at a dementia research benefit with the ska band.

Hi everyone, this is Mark Morgan-Richards of Classic and Cool Guitars, and Limelight. First of all, thank you to everyone, this is a great community effort. I contacted the auction house first thing this morning and they withdrew the bass from sale. I now have to try to get it back...🤞 I have learnt a few things from this whole episode: 1) I will NEVER use ParcelForce or Interparcel again. 2) I will not be adding any logos to the headstock other than Limelight (or blank) from now on 3) I really appreciate all the help I got from this post (Thanks Paddy)

If was after something to double on gigs with my upright bass. In order to quickly put down the upright and pick up the electric bass it needed to be lightweight and shortscale. The band is all acoustic (through PA) so I wanted it to look right as well. I saw Eastwood selling Rivolta guitars on their website and they were making twelve of these Duocata basses and it ticked all the boxes. I do like the look of Rickenbackers and love a florentine cut. These basses have checkerboard binding and more than a hint of Rickenbacker about them, the soundclips were good so I ordered one. It was a gamble as I'd never heard of Rivolta before but it paid off, this little bass is fantastic. So well made, so playable and sounds great. Simple, single PU, volume and tone but there's so much variation in tone with playing position. I'm really fussy but I really can't fault this bass, well I can but it's three really minor things that most people would never notice, or let bother them. The volume control is a touch on the on/off side, there is a tiny bit of plastic swarf on the inner lower edge of the 'f' hole binding, and the biggest bug is that the scratchplate isn't perfectly aligned to the strings. Told you I was fussy. All easily sorted though. The woods, the grain and the colour is lovely. The neck is a three piece with two more strips on the headstock, like a Rickenbacker albeit they're all the same wood. I don't know what tuners they are but they feel solid and stable. Nor do I know what pickup it is but it sounds great. The binding everywhere is perfect, you cannot feel any edges, the frets are nicely finished, paint is perfect, just a really well made bass. They're made in Indonesia then sent to Rivolta in Nashville where they set them up and QC them, it arrive still in tune really nicely set up. Anyway, enough waffle, pictures 😁.

Errr..... interesting !

So. After three-odd years containing knee surgery, a pulmonary embolism, torn rotator cuff, additional knee work and hand surgery, Sunday sees me back in the studio. I'm genuinely feeling energised to dip my toe into things. It's a blank canvas, we just go in, write in the fly and hit record. Old school.

With my thanks going to @HeadlessBassist for agreeing to collect this from Rotherham and meet me at Membury services (mentioned positively in the 2019 Gavin and Stacey here is a 1981 Aria TSB 550. I have only ever seen one other fretless one of these in this colour and it belonged to Frank Allen from The Searchers. Undergoing some TLC as the truss rod is seized atm So 3 in 1 oil into it and fingers crossed I can sort it 32 inch scale and MB 3 pickup

OK...... I'm still on a HUGE high so please bear with me if I'm little over-effusive... On Saturday night my brand new Doobie Brothers tribute show 'The Doobie Experience' played it's DEBUT show. It was at the lovely Shoreham Ropetackle Arts Centre and quite honestly we really couldn't have had a better evening, in every way! First of all, on arrival, we found out it was all but sold out (200 tickets!) with people having to stand all around the edge of the seated area! Then, we were meeting our own dedicated sound man for the first time and were thrilled at how good he made us sound, out front and in our IEMs! It turned out I'd worked with him a couple of times previously (with the Spandau/Duran show I'd depped in) so I knew he would nail it! He'll be with us now on most of our shows and has all the settings saved! Best of all though, the actual show was AMAZING - we played great (just a few tweaks will need to be made going forward), the sound was fantastic and the audience loved us! We actually had people actually queuing to shake our hands and thank us afterwards! It's those kind of nights that really make everything worthwhile. I can't wait to do more! Gear-wise I kept it more traditional (no Spectors! ) and played my Fender FSR PJ bass through my old GK400RB head and LFsys Monaco cab. Only effects were Chorus (1 song) and Phaser (1 song), both care of my Zoom B3. IEMs were KZ-ZS10's and my Sennheiser G4 system. Here are a few short phone clips from the night that show the different Doobie-styles we covered: Rockin' Down The Highway: Another Park Another Sunday: One Step Closer: China Grove: What A Fool Believes: Sweet Maxine: It Keeps You Runnin: Long Train Runnin': Takin' It To The Streets:

New experience for me last night. Depped for a Showaddywaddy tribute act, performing at one of those big retirement complex places. Not quite fully booked but a very decent crowd and we got them on the dance floor. I've always gravitate towards rock/pop/soul/funk so Showaddywaddy was a bit of a tangent. I enjoyed the challenge of learning 34 songs in a couple of weeks and the lads did a good show. Pleased they had a spare Teddy boy frock coat for me to wear so I looked the part 😎. Deceptively difficult, those Showaddywaddy tunes with all the stop-starts, stabs, false endings etc. I used my 2003 Japanese Fender Jazz, markbass LM4 head and energy 2x12 cab. No food or drink provided for the band other than water and coffee 😞

It was a pretty great gig lastnight on the ska scene, first outing for the Sandberg VM SL - interestingly, I ended up playing it passively with a Sadowsky Pre and Tonerider Duke installed. The bass was light, but by god those Dr Martins were heavy!

Well, a few days ago tbh. Acquired from a Basschatter very local to myself. Overwater Hybrid Custom 4. Well pleased 😊

Well that was bloody awesome. We got to the Earl Haig early, to find two big projector screens up for the rugby, but didn't affect us setting up. Used their (big) PA with our desk, spent a lot of time with everything miced up (me post-preamp DI'd). Sounded awesome but with the stage volume was comfortable with no earplugs. About 20- people stayed on from rugby and we had at least 120-, maybe 150 people in. It can feel a bit empty on a Sunday sometimes, even with a crowd, but not today. Lots of musicians and music lovers in, including my brother, some of my friends and members of two of my other bands. First half, mostly straight classic rock, so no dancing but rapturous reception. Brief beak, then second half, still rocky but some more danceable stuff, so dancing from about 1/3rd through. You'll get the gist if I say our encores were War Pigs and Alive, and the song that got the most comment was Devil Woman. Afterwards, people were queing up to shake hands and say how much they enjoyed it. We did get (very gently) told off for going 20 minutes past curfew 😁 Baz was taking photos, so I expect some awesome shots in due course. Devil Woman.mp4

Well....Back in to The Bungalow on Friday evening and first night of a Mod weekender. Great venue to play! Always a well stocked beer fridge in the green room! A couple of members down,one of the singers was on holiday and we recently lost our keyboard player and also his replacement! To lose one is careless...two is....something! We also have the drummer handing in his notice as he has changed jobs. Decent turnout for a Friday and we seemed to go over pretty well! Sound guy had issues with the bass amp,DI would not work,so he stuck a mike on the cab,then the thing cut out on a song in the second half. But we made it to the end! Jack Flash!.mp4

We supported the band Space last night at The Station in Cannock. The sound engineer was a great kid, didn't roll his eyes at volume levels or anything, he just worked around everything; the footage I heard sounded a good mix. Space are a nice bunch of people, not sure how many are from the '90s lineup as it's not my forte, good players though and people with music taste that was broad. They went down very well, their audience were pretty receptive to our set also. Still enjoying the 8x10 fridge and LaBella flats. Freezing cold load out last night! No gigs for a few months now. I may try and make a case for click track syncing up the samples and whatnot from seeing Space last night. Our drummer would be fine I'm sure. Will see what the others think.

First gig of 2026 with the Glam band tonight. Another 60th birthday for a guy that's seen us quite a few times in same venue. We seem to do a lot of private parties in that particular club. Birthdays, Retirements and charity events. Anyhow it was the usual birthday party audience. The birthday boy loved it and the audience who were mostly younger age group than we're used to just got pissed and then danced away most of the night. Don't think we filled the dance floor at all tonight but we had dancers up for most songs. 2 x 1hr sets. Had issues with PA sound tonight at one side of the stage. My side was relatively ok but we were getting a fair bit of feedback and then i realised the PA guy had put his bass bin and mid cab on the front of the stage and thereby causing a loud deep drone thru the first set. It was quite bad and enough to trigger feedback thru the mics. At the break i had to tell him to turn the bass bin on that side either off or down a fair bit to see if it helped. It worked a treat. Sound was excellent 2nd set with very little to zero feedback and no deep drone noise. Overall it was a good gig and a good rehearsal for next weeks gig at The Ferry in Glasgow. We've been trying to get in there for a few yrs but they wanted us to do a support first for £100 plus food supplied. We've always knocked it back. This time it was a mates band that had to cancel and they put us forward for it. We originally said no because we were offered same fee as mates band but i had no idea they worked for that little a fee. Guy from the venue called me and asked if we could come down a bit nearer to what they would pay other well known Glam acts. I agreed on a fee to get a foot in the door. Looking forward to that gig as its a good one to get on your gig list. Loading up at the end the snow came on so that was a bit scary at times over the higher ground. Strong winds meant i had to unload the car via the garage back door as front door comes down if wind catches it. No pics or vids as yet. Dave

Hi everyone, I think I’ve come across your bass in a live auction with Wellers Auctions in Guildford. I check their listings from time to time for instruments, and this one caught my eye due to the very limited information provided. A quick Google reverse image search led me to this forum. The auction ends tomorrow, so it may be worth contacting them ASAP. I really hope you’re able to recover the bass. Chris

I was up in Scarborough last night with our acoustic duo, playing at ‘The Lookout on the Pier’. We were a bit concerned with the weather, as the waves had been crashing over the end of the pier where we park to unload, but the tide was out when we arrived so no dramas. A full house of dining punters, with some familiar faces and some newbies which is always good. We run the gig as request based, and had some good ones including ‘Dead flowers’, ‘Walk away Renee’, ‘Budapest’, ‘If you could read my mind’ and ‘Stormy Monday’. ( Also nice to see Chris from ‘Knight’s Music’ shop in the audience - a great place in Scarborough.) I used my Fender Kingman bass into a Rumble 100 combo, perfect for venues like this. We are back there next on February 15th, so looking forward to it already. Just hope the weather has calmed down a bit by then.( Apologies for the boring photo, but Mrs CP was too busy socialising and forgot to take any.j

Still buzzing from last night's gig with Nine Lives at the Harbour Lights in Peterhead. Yay, a stage! Yay, a sound engineer and house PA! So we found ourselves in the unusual position of being ready to go about half an hour before show time. It was pretty busy, certainly the busiest I remember it being at this particular venue, there seemed to be a constant, but varying level of 30-40 folk in the bar at any one time. I worried that we'd be a bit rusty, being the first gig since the beginning of December, but we played really well, a few minor bloops here and there but nothing showstopping. And boy did I feel frisky - I went on three wireless walkarounds during the gig (or was it four?). General shape throwing/posing on stage and I'm feeling pretty creaky today. But all in all, cracking night, got some great comments and chit chat with a few of the punters. Had the obligatory drunk guy thus: Punter: "Can you play some Metallica?" Me: "Sure, in a couple of songs" ... *band plays Enter Sandman* ... Punter: "You said you'd play Metallica!" Me: "Umm, we did?" Punter: "Aww, I missed it" *I shrug* Well, we're not going to play it again, are we? FFS! Anyway, apart from that, cracking night, loads of folks up dancing, a new song in the set went without a hitch, got some great feedback, got paid (and got told that we could up our price next time), reduced load in/out due to not having to provide PA. Just all kinds of good really. Gear was the Cort Curbow then the Ibanez ATK into the usual toan cubes (which weren't doing that much, mostly just providing the feed to the desk, had a wedge in front of me)

TONIGHT! (Technically last night as it's past midnight but it counts as tonight) Second gig with a new band (Midnight Mayhem (they were already called that when I joined, don't judge me)) at The Rose & Crown in Ludlow. Lovely old pub that has lots of live music so they're used to it, fairly small stage place where the band goes, decent mob there by the time we'd set up and soundchecked (The soundcheck (sixteen bars of 'All the small things') had people up dancing (!)) and from the off people were loving it - singing along, dancing and generally enjoying it. Mid first set, a bloke came up and told me he appreciated my Bass playing (Not 'liked' it, mind you) which I tried to take as a compliment, then he stood right in front of me and watched me intently which meant I completely forgot how to play. At half time a guy I'd genuinely never seen before came up and greeted me like a long lost friend ("I forgot you said you did this too!" ) so I had to pretend I knew who he was (because I am English and to say "I'm so sorry but I have no idea who you are" is about as appealing as stamping on a newborn kitten) which was...odd. The set went down really well, it's a mix of (sort of) alt-80s type stuff (Back on the chain gang, couple of Blondie ones, Kids in America (Kim Wilde - absolute BANGER and tonnes of fun to play), There's a guy works down the chipshop swears he's Elvis, Doctor Doctor (Robert Palmer), Echo Beach, Sweet Dreams sort of thing), a few pub-cover chestnuts (Dakota, Teenage Dirtbag, Mr Brightside (which the guitarist started in the wrong key and then got horribly confused when it came to the chorus but he styled it out)), a couple of curveballs (Take another little piece of my heart, Crash (Primitives)) and an ABBA one for good measure. I went for a wireless wander for the last song (Born to be wild) which got a good reception AND I got to fuss TWO Doggos *AND* a man told me my dreadlocks are "Really Cool". We played really well, sounded good, went down a treat (Even the bar staff liked us) and the singer said my playing "brought them to another level" which was very gratifying to hear. Played the StingRay -> Small board (I only used the Soul Food) -> Amp board (Thumpinator -> VTDI) -> Markbass CMD 121, footwear was the bright orange DMs (with glittery black laces). An absolute corker of a gig!

Fantastic evening at the pasadero lounge in Redhill last night. Funk/soul covers, but we do have a 3 piece brass section that really adds some power! Not done many gigs together yet so there are certain bits that need tightening up a bit, but hey! the audience loved it and were up from the word go . Used my smithy 5 through my trusty puma 900 and a single LFsys Monza and it ate it! Very confidence inspiring little rig. Bar manager seemed well happy and wants us back . Job done! X😊 Also included, a nice picture of our drummers crouch ! 🤣

Birthday party function gig with my brother’s band - his first gig since finishing chemotherapy last week. None of us were quite match fit, having not played together since before Christmas, and the first half of the gig started very early (7.45pm) to a modest audience. After a very long interval and buffet, the second half started around 10.30pm but the audience were much more up for it - dancefloor was full and it all went well. I’d taken my big rig - Markbass STD102HF cab and Traveller 2x10 stacked, my old precision bass and a Yamaha. I’d really wanted to use my brother’s old red Squier P Bass project bass that I’m slowly working on, but there’s some earth buzz I didn’t have time to sort. Footwear was some sort of Ben Sherman Chelsea boot I bought 10 years ago. Beer by Peroni 0.0%. An hour’s drive home with light snowfall swirling about on the motorway. Bed o’ clock now tho.

Following on from Thursday night's open mic, Mein Host had asked me if I'd like to play bass for his duo at a local pub, the Market Vaults, on Friday (last night). I said yes, and a set list arrived on Friday lunchtime. A few of the songs I knew, most of them I'd at least heard a few times before, and one or two I wasn't at all familiar with, so spent a while copying chord sheets from Ultimate Guitar and having a quick play through some of the songs. Headed into town on the evening and all the car parks were rammed - managed to park a few minutes walk away. Fortunately I was only carrying the 6" cab, TC BAM200 amp, gigbag, and Sei headless fretless, so I coped. The Market Vaults is a long thin pub, and we were at the back. Immediately to the right of the stovepipe PA is the passageway to the toilets, so the photo shows the entire available performance area - I sit to play, so I was sitting on the bench on the left with my amp just by me and the monitor right behind me, and just enough space between tables to put my tablet stand in. The gig itself went well. A couple of fluffs (not all by me) and I hadn't got the chords written down right for Crazy, plus for some reason I hadn't got the final draft of my chordsheets on the tablet so I had to remember a couple of the songs. And afterwards I was asked if I'd like to do more gigs with them (I said yes). Edit: Using Sei Original 5 headless fretless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-70CDR+ -> TC BAM200 -> BC house jam micro cab. Footwear - the usual Caravelle memory foam trainers, which was a bit of a risk with snow forecast.

Last night I was back in covers band action with Nine Lives at Wilsons in Aberdeen. Night got off to an odd start, when some people noticed me and the drummer getting stuff out of the car and asked "who's playing tonight". I replied "Nine Lives" and they replied "Excellent!" Had a joke with the bouncer that they must have us mixed up with another band. Anyway, the gig went well - it was a bit of an awkward setup because some people were in the bit where we usually put our stuff, playing darts. How very dare they! So there was a lot of shuffling stuff around while we set up. Still, we got set up and ready to go at the billed time. Gig went pretty well, had some very enthusiastic dancing in the first half. Second half dwindled down a bit towards the end, but we did a thing we've done on and off and played a softer song as the second last one and we had a couple of lovebirds up dancing to that, so it worked. Then blew the place to bits with Whole Lotta Rosie, along with my usual wireless walkabout. Never ceases to amuse and entertain people, and as long as people still get a laugh out of it, I'll keep on doing it, lol. Gear was the Epiphone Les Paul (not so) Standard, followed by the Fazley Hot Rod (the "Ratlet") with a Lace Aluma P in there because it was lying around and I was bored. Usual yellow and black amplification. Footwear was pink suede Vans slipons.

I've never known pubs to be so busy in January - another one rammed tonight. They were not very dancy, well there wasn't really the space, so it was a bit of a proggy night instead. We even had a little blast of Genesis - I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), and I found my lawnmower patch in time 😂 The tools of the trade - Sub5 Stingish bass, GT-6B, Rumble v3 500. Black DMs. Some lovely compliments too. It's always nice when people acknowledge the bass. We have a couple of weekends off now.

Played at Thekla in Bristol last night, such a cool venue. Highly recommended!

I think it's my first time posting in here..if not for a long time. First gig in about 10 years (stopped when my first kid came along and somehow didn't start again...) Studied jazz at Birmingham conservatoire about 20 years ago and a guitarist on my course plays professionally and now lives fairly near. Always say we should do something. He messaged me a week ago saying his regular bassist wasn't available and did I want to do a gig at a pub in Adderbury. 2 country/blues sets. Mix of original's and their own tunes. About 30 to learn in total. Whilst trying to finish one work contract and prepare for another. Mild panic set in as I wondered if I still had the ears to learn that many so quick. Cur Spotify playlist on loop whilst I went about the week. 3 core band members (2 guitar/vocal and drummer) play together but keys were from a jam Jimmy the guitarist plays at and well, I was the random. Setup. Fairly small but nice size side room. Banging pub with loads of spaces all filled with families, solo drinkers, younger ones (people saying they don't drink...) and older groups. Extra bonus was Chris from Fairport Convention was going to sit in...turned up and did every song for both sets. Goes without saying he is an absolutely outstanding musician with big ears and chops. Setup in minutes with those new iPad driven PA systems. No rehearsal or soundcheck just straight into it. I know they are players and heard their recordings but hearing ripping country blues licks from them both was a delight which makes you want to play even better. I remember laughing at one point at the licks being pulled out The new TRB6 from Bass Bros and Aguilar AG700 w/SL212 sounded so nice in the room. Maybe being right in the corner helped. Also had a couple of admirers in the audience as a friend at the back overheard them when they came in ogling it. Bringing a 6 string to this felt a bit like bringing the whole Japanese army to a gun fight, but its what I feel more comfortable on. Left the SL112 in the car as the ful stack would have been overkill. Many a compliment from Chris about the sound and feel, which made my day. He was like 10 inches in front of me and the cab. Audience liked it. The dogs liked it. Bar staff liked it. We liked it. Can't ask for more than that. Look forward to the next one in less than 10 years hopefully. A sample of their regular band to give you an idea of you're into that sort of thing:

Should turn the light out but need to chill for a bit with a JD. Just got back from Llandovery, about 1hr 45 minute drive, mercifully the vocalist has a new van and felt guilty as I've been driving him for months. Our gig got switched to another pub because of a wake. Limited space but we were a man down and managed to fit. Just. Staff were great. 45 minute first set went ok. Locals friendly but not very engaged at first. Second set people warmed up, especially after some Manic Street Preachers. Lots of positive reactions, handshaking etc. and I even got bought a beer (nice bring the one who isn't driving). Yes we had a few minor fumbles, but we haven't played without our rhythm guitarist for a long time and we did some long forgotten and ungigged songs. Had to compromise on tone as electrical noise meant I had to keep both pups on full (Flea Jazz). Affected guitarist too when he used his strat instead of LP. I got told to turn up! We have a rehearsal on Monday to polish up with our full lineup. A big gig on Sunday, our first in the big room at the Earl Haig (my favourite place to play - see previous post) proper stage & lights 🙂

We did 3 in a row with Abdoujaparov at the weekend. They're lovely guys and such a good band. We arranged to share the drum kit and bass rig. The first night was the Golden Lion in Bristol. It's a pretty cool venue room at the back of a pub, but weirdly, the pub punters have to go through the venue to use the loo, which made the doorman's job very difficult. Even more difficult that the job was forced onto our merch guy last minute. A bunch of young guys tried to get into the gig, talking too loudly, over confident, and perhaps a gurn or two... anyway, Tommo our merch man made short shrift of them. Since starting my own venue I keep noticing all the little things I don't like in other venues. Here we had: multi coloured XLR, PA hanging from the ceiling by metal angle and wood screws, spot lights at pretty much 6ft from the stage floor (mild concussion), lighting rig attached to a thin piece of wood attached to some plasterboard... Anyway, it was rammed and we had a great time Bideford Palladium Club on the Saturday, which is a very cool venue, but kind of out of the way. The guy says he's struggling so if you're out that way please go to some gigs! The sound was awesome and the room is fantastic. Green room upstairs with a random selection of objects was good fun. Someone glued a fake Oscar to the ceiling but it was down again by the time I left. More japes - I'd noticed a parking fine on our van before the show. I waited until after to tell the others. It turned out to be a yellow PCN plastic document wallet with a random bit of notepaper inside! We have no idea who it was. I suspect the venue owner did it to prevent us getting a real ticket. The King Arthur in Glastonbury on Sunday. We knew ticket sales were low, but we know a couple of people who live in Glastonbury, and it turns out they had no idea the gig was on. They've not seen it on posters or in local press or anything. There were loads of gig posters on the outside, some from last year, some gigs coming up, and a big brand spanking new gig list with Jan, Feb, Mar on it, and no mention of our gig. We got inside, the sound engineer is the guy "promoting" the show. Our frontman asks why there are no posters around and SE says "We did have some up". Our frontman laughed and asked "Were they nicked?"... SE obviously feels a bit awkward and goes on a rant about how he's not allowed to put posters up around town any more but FFS he might as well have forgotten he booked the gig at all. Apparently his door staff called in sick last minute too, giving Tommo the job again. SE chews my ear off about drums and gear while I'm setting up, and I know I should have seen this coming, but he said he needed 10 minutes to plug everything in, so we went to the shop, and on my return this f&^%$er was sat playing my kit. This might be snobby but I spent more than £3K on my cymbals and I don't let anyone play them. I let him know I wasn't happy, he got awkward and defensive, and we got on with sound check. To be fair it sounded excellent, he really knows his stuff, but by this point I'm losing the will to live. Abdoujaparov played first, and they were great, but obviously playing to 10 people in a cold venue gives a different vibe to the previous two days. I tucked into the beers and did my best. It was a long drive home to Stoke!

Update. I'm in. The band were supposed to audition another bassist tomorrow, but he forgot about it......😁 His loss. I'm chuffed. First rehearsal tomorrow night.

I played a charity gig with the Hulla band last night at Rhossili village hall (that's right on the windy end of Gower and last night was very windy). It was in aid of Brain Tumour Research (organised by someone whose daughter has recently been diagnosed) and well attended for such a stormy night. The hall has a proper stage but as a thirteen pieces, we manage to fill the space of most stages and tonight was no exception. I was stage left as usual but at least I had a small off stage area that my headstock could fit in. The set was a mix of rocky stuff, a bit of C&W and Stones songs, requested by the organiser. Pizza and drinks were supplied for the band, which was very thoughtful as we had an early setup and little time to eat. Lots of dancing, some tears at the speeches, more dancing and some dodgy (but great) audience singing. We had a 'mare during 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' when, for no obvious reason, the arrangement went jazz on us and I found it hard to get back to some kind of normality. Later, the singer/guitarist jumped off the stage (about 3 feet) and as he landed, the battery pack for his wireless guitar setup fell off the strap and bounced across the floor. He was set to solo and instead I had to fill in the gap with some bass runs while the crowd picked up the pieces and handed them back to him. That seemed to clear the jinx and the rest of the set was fine. The inevitable 'one more song' chant led to an extended encore and a later finish that we were expecting but everyone stayed to the end and I was home by 12.30. Kit last night was my Fender P Bass going through the Behringer TU300 tuner (I can't get on with clip-on tuners) and my Behringer BDI21 which fed the desk from it's DI and my IEM from the jack socket. I was trying to keep things simple as I knew there wouldn't be much space on stage. Footwear was a pair of black no brand boots.

Opened and closed the main stage with a couple of tributes at Rock The Gardens at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. First run out with a Japanese Faker I picked up recently, great gig to kick off 2026!

Well, last night's gig with The Inevitable Teaspoons (we're on Spotify, by the way ) at Drummonds in Aberdeen was a lot of fun. Gigged my Cort Curbow for the first time since I replaced its guts with USA Bartolini pup and Glockenklang preamp and it is the bass it always should have been now. Sounded terrific last night - punchy and strong. To be honest, I didn't need to do any EQ on the bass, I just left the EQ flat and ran the pickup in series. The gig itself was a good laugh, maybe 50 folk there, hard to tell because some folk were at the end of the room up a level. Mrs. Neepheid came down to see us too, yay! She reported that she saw quite a few folk into it, not quite motivated enough to get up and actually dance but there was chair dancing going on in various pockets of the room. The crowd took a while to warm up, but we had a few folk up dancing by the end. I went walkies during "Shake a Tail Feather", that got a good laugh (and a dance with Mrs. Neepheid). I'm a happy boy. Gear was the Cort Curbow and my pedalboard - I love a "just turn up and play" gig with house PA and a sound engineer who knows what they're doing. Although I had some Trace gear behind me, most of my monitoring was through the house wedges in front of me.

Strictly not last night, but Thursday night (yes, a school night). Our acoustic trio were invited back to the Speakeasy at the Harbour View in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear. This was our third appearance, and probably our best, even if I say so myself. The Speakeasy is a mixture of an open mic night and a gig. For the first hour, it’s an open mic, although due to its popularity, performers have to book their slots weeks in advance. The second half is a 45 minute set from a featured artist or band. This week, that was us. Bear in mind that the Harbour View pub is perhaps unsurprisingly sited overlooking Sunderland port. As a result its on an exposed hill top, and on Thursday evening a brisk south easterly was whipping the rain into a face stinging frenzy and making the 6c feel a whole lot colder, and yet the pub was still full of enthusiastic music lovers. Gear-wise, I was using my Boosey & Hawkes Excelsior laminate double bass equipped with a Realist copperhead pickup straight into the EBS Stanley Clarke acoustic preamp. From there, straight into the desk (a Behringer X-Air 12), and out to a pair of RCF HD 10’s and a small DB monitor that was almost at my feet, which sounded great on the videos I have seen 😎

First gig of this year for Blues Delux at a regular local bar in Stirling. Sunday afternoon set finishing at 7pm, very chilled out as we were again playing to diners and people out for a quiet drink, so it's more or less a usual Sunday crowd. The gig started off quite ropey. First song it was obvious the levels were all a bit askew. Second song we had recovered the levels but for unknown reasons our guitarist played the song in the wrong key before stopping midway through to tune his guitar and joining in for the last verse chorus almost in tune. Then the bar staff came up to us as we were about to start the third tune and said there had been a complaint from a customer about the loudness of the band, and would we mind turning everything up!? So we did, and the rest of the gig was rock and roll. We stopped briefly to do a short acoustic set in the middle of the gig with our singer and guitar player on acoustic. Also got complimentary beer from the pub for the first time ever. Not sure what that was all about. Rig wise I'm in a really happy place at present. Silverstone II and a TE AH250 GP12 SMX almost sound as if they were made for each other. The dual band comp is I think the secret sauce that makes it all sound so good. Back up amp was a GK 400RB IV and used it on the second set just for the hell of it. Playing my Sadowsky a lot more recently and it also adds something new and good to the sound. To sum up, ropey start, but a rock n roll finish with free beer, and an early night. ☺️

We played The Shed in Charlbury tonight; it's a small venue but popular with the jazz crowd. This was a fundraising gig to cover some of the costs of the recent refurbishment there (nice to have working electricity which is up to safety standards...). It was a good turnout considering we'd never played there before and the locals wouldn't have known what they were going to get. Luckily, they seemed to have liked it. Edit: Video available.

Cracking gig at The Bungalow in Paisley. Depping with a band I used to play with a few years back! Great fun and very very busy! Got to use my newest bass which is the Deaky bass as seen on this very forum! It rocks!!

Back to pub land last night for Glam Viva after a run of WMCs. A great lively pub in Brimington just outside Chesterfield, The Butchers Arms, a great live music venue. I was a bit under the weather as I’m on a short course of nasty antibiotics but, bucket at the ready we soldier on. Fortunately the bucket wasn’t needed and the good hormones lifted me. Got a compliment on my playing from a drummer in another band…..that’s the second time in ten years, I’ll try not to let it go to my head 😂 Sandberg Lionel into my usual Markbass rig and red/white/blue sequinned Converse Chucky Ts.

Long horrible journey to Abertillery, a mining town where the average road gradient is about 45º. The local Blues club. They were a bit disappointed with an attendance of 80 people at £5 a head, which filled the place and we thought was excellent on such a grim nightn although the venue looked welcoming on a dark night. Bluesfire so LOTS of pa, lights etc. Played from 8:30 to 11+ with a raffle break. Nice little stage and great sound as good ceiling, carpet and plenty of bodies to control the sound. My rig has been sounding glorious since I just boosted a mids a bit. Could barely hear my voice in the monitor though. First time they've only used one sub and to my ears the low end sounded much better. We got a rapturous reception and were more free and improvisational than usual which was mostly fun and occasionally hairy. By the end I felt like I'd been beaten up, so the long slow load out and hour's drive in more rain were tedious. In bed at 1:45. Another gig tonight with Bendricks Rock nearly two hours away. Fortunately singer will drive. I see much ibuprofen in my future. I hope my body copes with this two month glut of gigs.

Off to Horbury WMC for a 40th party attended by around 150 people apparently, although you wouldn't know it from the lack of audience involvement. Hey ho. The evening started auspiciously as I managed to find a parking spot literally three feet from the door! After I'd recovered from the shock we set up pretty quickly, said hello to the birthday girl and her husband, soundchecked, then sat around doing nothing for an hour and a half. Went with the by now tried and tested Siredowsky - ABM - Two10S combination, which sounded pretty good on a larger stage. At halftime I was approached by a local guitar tech who preferred his business card, so I'll have to look into that as I don't have a go to one in these parts yet. Managed to grab a bowl of curry, made by our guitarist's ex apparently, before heading back on stage. We all played really well, and our newer songs are sounding really good, apart from our drummist truncating Two Tribes again! We had a couple of half-hearted dancers for a couple of songs but that was about it, but star of the night was the 9(ish)-year-old girl who was dancing and cartwheeling on the dancefloor for the entire second set, which have me a bit of a boost. Before we started our singist approached us all and asked if we'd fancy giving London Calling a bash. Hell yes, I would!

After all the worry, it was great! Really cool venue, The Acoustic Lounge in Poynton. All the good things you want from a venue - easy to find, car park right next to load in doors, loads of plug sockets, great staff, first drink free and they have bands on every weekend so people know to come for live music. By no means full but with a decent crowd for a Sunday night and even some dancers. A very civilised 7pm start and 9.30pm finish meant I was in bed for just after 11 - bonus on a school night. Easily the best we've played - this was only our 4th full gig as a band and 2nd as a 5 piece with sax. Rig was Fender Jazz 5 Kazuki Arai --> (new) Xvive P58 wireless --> HX Stomp --> PA. Footwear was Vans classics. Lots of positive feedback from punters and venue, including a guy from another band who recorded pretty much the whole gig and sent us the 4k files. Brilliant stuff! Don't know if Jon from Loop & Swing is on here, but thanks a million if you are! Here are some of his clips: And I'm even going to risk submitting a bit of me attempting some slap:

Last night we played at the Musketeer in Leigh, Lancashire. It's always been one of those gigs where the crowd turns up 5 minutes before the band starts. We had been talking to them about taking our long-established jam night there, but we couldn't get timings that suited us all. We did a well-received first spot and a lengthy second spot. We certainly blew off the cobwebs in the place. It was great that the 'new' line-up of the band was so readily accepted at one of our favourite venues. It was a bit of a special gig for us, as our guitarist's wife gives birth next Fri (planned birth) and so we are taking the band off the road during February.

I saw Big Country a few times. Just before The Crossing was released, me and a mate flew to Jersey to see them. He worked for an airfreight business, they had an office in St Helier and he got someone to procure tickets; both of us had family working at BA, so we got cheap flights out. We had nowhere to stay and travelled in shorts and t-shirts. Found a room in Pontac. Gig day we thumbed a lift to St Helier (in a Lords Taverners minibus!), found the venue (Fort Regent Centre) and just holed up in a bar there. We saw the load-in and then Stuart and Bruce came in. This was mid-afternoon. Drink was drunk. They're stunned that anyone would want to fly somewhere to see them. We were invited in for the soundcheck...it was just me and my mate and a couple of crew (private gig!), more drink (Stuart gave us fresh t-shirts), then the gig. It was a great gig. Next morning we were on standby flights, so we're at the airport at 7.00am, same clothes. Band come in, see us, Stuart cheers (I remember him putting his arms up like he'd scored a goal), he tells me proudly that he's bought a wristwatch for £2.99 (this memory has stuck with me, him just going, '£2.99!'.). It's noticeable that despite the hour, he's not holding back in the spirits. Cleared to fly, we're on the same flight...Stuart is cheering when he sees us boarding. He's in the row behind us. Amazingly, Kenny Dalgliesh us sitting in the row in front of us. Over the years, we run into Stuart a few times and he always made some remark about the Jersey blokes. I genuinely miss him, it was a tragic, terrible, lonely and pointless death. I often wonder what could have been, but at least his legacy us pretty much intact.

This one is very bitter sweet - on the band stand as part of the local Wassail yesterday, leading community singing along with the local singing club and male voice choir. We had about 500 in the audience all singing along. Sadly that's the last gig we're doing as a band, but there's some good memories. Sorry, it's a rubbish photo, but you can see most of my bass and my left forearm!