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Hi everyone, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of you who have supported the site this year—whether by becoming a Supporting Member or purchasing tokens for the marketplace. Your contributions enable us to keep improving the site, reduce our reliance on advertising, and dedicate time to supporting our community. I mention this now because December typically sees a noticeable drop in revenue, and with the challenges many individuals and businesses are facing right now, I’m especially grateful to those of you who continue to renew your subscriptions. Of course, I also deeply appreciate everyone who visits the site, shares their knowledge, and offers support to others. A site like BC is only as valuable as the knowledge contained within the membership. So, thank you once again. I’ll be taking a bit of a BC break over Christmas and New Year, so I want to wish you all a relaxing, joyful time with your friends, family, and instruments 🎸. Cheers, Ped

Snagged one! It's a Thunderbird, it does Thunderbird-y things (except neck dive, which is apparently a Thunderbird-y thing). Only had a quick razz in the headphones but it sounds good to me! It's a hard so-and-so to photograph for the camera in my mobile, it only shows the true sparkle when it's pulling focus and I catch it in the act thus: Sod it, have a video. 07_thunderbird 64 purple moving.mp4

Well.. finally managed to snag a 4003 for a reasonable price. I feel like the 2nd hand market priced have finally begun to reach the bottom in the UK and I couldn't let another one slip through my fingers! I believe it's a 4003CB in Autumnglo, 2022. Best bass I've ever had the privilege of playing, no less owning. Super happy. Couldn't help but to also post it with a pic of my other modified Squier Classic Vibe 60's Mustang (DIY refinish from cream poly, and white pickguard) since it's my first post here. Cheers!

I recently scored this SB700 on ebay for a rather ridiculous price. There is an issue with the jack socket though and it needs a tweak to the wiring inside to make the switch work properly. I've always wanted an old Aria, due to some of my bass influences playing them. Cliff, Neil Murray, Rudy Sarzo etc... I know that a lot of those guys played the 1000/ elites etc.., but I'm a died in the wool passive kind of chap lol It's a September 1981 if the serial decoders are correct. I really enjoy the feel of the neck - meaty without being fat, and quite wide as well but not uncomfortable in the slightest.

I think you’ll find the vast majority of Brits here on Basschat (as well as most of the rest of the world) are utterly appalled with the results of the recent election in the US. And, as a Brit currently living in the US, I’ll add my name to that list. As well as the names of pretty much everyone I know here (all of whom are “normal” Americans).

I have some friends that I met through open mic that asked me to play with them. They got excited when I suggest I use my upright bass. I like the singer's voice and they people involved but it's not strictly 'my sort of thing' musically. Still, it gets me out the house and I like playing with different people and learning new stuff. I just need to get some experience playing venues with higher ceilings!

A quick shout out to the guys at Alpher Instruments for their superb craftsmanship, willingness to explore new ideas and their first class service. Al and Chris delivered my new Hammerhead bass last Friday and what a monumental day it was. Tone wise this bass is absolutely mind boggling, the build quality is pretty special too. I have always been quite traditional in my taste especially when it comes to body shapes but I must say the more radical nature of the Hammerhead shape is definitely growing on me, have I mentioned the tones on tap? Blooming awesome!!!

Hello! It's been a while since I've been on here but I thought it would be rude not to share a NBD update with the community! I bought it second-hand from PMT in Cardiff a few weeks ago. I was in town celebrating a birthday when some down time arose (Fiancée had gone Xmas shopping...) so I thought why not pop in and have a browse. I played a few basses, including some new Fender jazz basses and also an Ibanez six string, none of which were particularly inspiring... but THIS THING! Good lord. It's from 2004 I believe. It's nicely weighty, so feels proper sturdy in on the strap. Great balance too, doesn't hang low or suffer from any neck dive. The wood grain underneath the "honeyburst" finish is absolutely gorgeous, and the maple neck and finger board are a dream to play. It's got a great B string, despite not being a 35" scale, and sounds monstrous. Different from a Stingray with the one humbucker at the bridge, I can't quite put my finger on it but there is a difference in sound between the HH and H models. Super versatile of course with the five way selector and two humbuckers, though I naturally find myself playing from above the bridge H pickup. I love how it looks - although part of me does want to replace the black pickup covers for white ones to match the pearly pickguard... Dunno, TBC. Just enjoying playing it for the moment! Here's a video I did of un-boxing it, it was fun to make! https://www.facebook.com/100003195770658/videos/3061739417322633/ I love Stingrays, and have played a four string teal green Stingray since my mid-teens so it's a natural progression! I've only played it at a few casual things - open mics and jams etc, but taking out with the band tonight to hear it in action for real. Can't wait! Thanks, Jack

Hey all you lovely people, my name is Ruby Jones, I'm a journalist and musician and recently completed a documentary about bass guitar and tuba hero Herbie Flowers, and thought this would be the best place to share it with fellow bass nerds! Herbie Flowers Documentary

Wiltshire's darkest boy band Deadlight Dance played what was easily the best open mic that I have done in a LONG time. We thought it would be fun to mix it up and both play acoustic guitars so I dusted down my Gretsch Rancher and spent the last few days practicing. As it's 35yrs ago this month that Nick and I made our live debut (in a Sixth Form production of Cinderella, she lost her shoe at the ball to the soundtrack of us stumbling through Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead), we thought it would be fun to open with that very song. We also did versions of three originals from our latest release, "Chapter & Verse". I thought it was the best we'd played in a while. Directly in front of us was the legendary Nick Harper (son of Roy) and he seemed really into it. His friends all were too. What I liked was that every act, bar just a couple, watched and supported each other. The standard was exceptionally high and I felt confident enough to flyer the pub, which in turn boosted our likes / followers online. I have to say that Nick Harper's set was hands down the most impressive musical performance I have ever seen. He was down tuning notes with the tuning pegs as he played and it was an absolute masterclass in guitar virtuosity. Still the overriding take home for me was good musicians, all supporting each other.

Few pics appeared from our Alloa gig. Dave

BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers at The Auld Gambling Hoose in Alloa last night. An old Bingo hall that they are now trying to convert to a decent sized live music venue. Biggest problem last night was their heating system was down and they were using 2off propane space heaters at front of stage facing audience so the stage was freezing cold at the start. Changing room had no heating whatsoever and we didn't hang around too long in there but they are trying hard to make it work and all credit to them. Average audience size at the moment is 80-120 which is smallish in such a large venue but we reckon we had 100 ish in all sitting down front end so it looked ok from stage area. Load in was great from their private car park at rear straight thru to front of stage area and then a lift onto stage from there. We hired a PA for this one because of its size which was a good decision. Kick off 8pm to 10:30 limit due to their licence restrictions to be closed by 11pm. We ran on to 10:45pm due to encore requests. To be fair the female staff were top notch and offered us free drinks, coffee or tea and even offered to help load the cars at night. No pressure to get packed up for 11pm at all Few mistakes on the night which is unusual for us but the cold was having an adverse effect. Good night tho and everyone was shouting for more at the end. They definitely want us back and will contact us again in January to arrange dates. Usual rig of Sandberg VM4 into Shure Wireless, Mesa TT800 and Mesa SW210/115. Sound on stage was generally good altho 2nd set vocals in monitors seemed to get louder and i struggled to hear my on stage amp but struggled on. Guitarist said he noted same. ? Odd one. Anyways a stop at McDonalds on way out of Alloa was a def. Then a wee 1hr and 20min drive home for 1:30am ish. All in all a good night. Dave

CONGRATS, YOU MADE IT! DETAIL AND FINAL PRODUCT REVEAL! This is one of the most accurate pictures in colour and texture I would say: Lovely undercoat reveal, wood exposed darkened with an extra dark grain thanks to the wax... Some more from the back with light against it... All in all, I have to say I am genuinely shocked it came out that nice - I have made tons of mistakes but I've used those blemishes to my advantage to apply wear around them and make them more believable (ie. I dinged the instrument and peeled the paint in a particular spot where I had a heavy run of sherwood green, same as I wore and sanded it near the upper horn to disguise the silvery run I made by accident etc). I am super satisfied on the outcome, the bass sounds and plays like butter, really nice actually! And a very healthy 3.5kg weight indeed. Considering I did this in the windy cold snap of November outside in my garden, I don't think I could've asked for a better result! Another consideration: I tried to crackle the nitro but either my nitro wont crackle, OR it is not fully cured yet - I did the hair dryer + air duster trick and nothing happened... I may try again in some 2 months once it is certainly dried up - we shall see! Ander.

Last night was another concert with my teacher's Young Artists Orchestra, as usual augmented by a few adults in the bass and cello sections since a lot of the kids are too small to play the larger instruments. For some of the easier pieces about 7 of the youngest players aged 5, 6 and 7 joined us on stage for a total more than 35 musicians and as usual it was a great evening with a nice mixture of Christmas songs and the audience of about 300 loved it. Most of the kids started in my teacher's program at age 3 or 4 and so the oldest at 19 are very skilled musicians. For the fourth time my teacher asked me to add to the bass section and this year there were three bassists, two of them play better than I do and they are 9 and 16! I have learned a lot in two and a half years of lessons but these kids are fantastic, the younger one was a prize winning violinist until September when she decided to play bass and she is amazing on it, very smart and very dedicated. I wish I had started with the bow when they did at age 4 instead of 75, I am by far the oldest in the orchestra (78) and get immense pleasure from being a part of the group and as a side benefit my playing has improved and carries over into my jazz and bluegrass gigs. Here's the bass section after the concert.

Saturday was the last ever gig for In Isolation. Singer Ryan is calling it a day after 20 years, and with my other band being much more active I have been struggling to find the time to be in more than one. We were able to persuade the organisers of the Spellbound Goth Night at The Salutation in Nottingham to let us perform before the main event, so we had an early start of 7.15 in order to play an extra long set and be packed up before the normal club night opening time of 9.00pm. Probably the longest single set I have ever played in 45 years of gigging with 17 songs. I was more than a little relieved to find that all the songs were ones we've been playing for the last 18 months and that they had decided against dusting off some from before my time, I've been with the band almost 8 years but I am to a certain extent still the FNG. Based on the ticket sales and door takings there must have been close to 100 people in to see us, which was very nice, but it would have been nicer if they had all been regulars at all our previous local gigs (we played this time last year to just over a third of that number). There were several down the front who I had never seen at one of our gigs before but who seemed to know most of the songs! Played all three songs from the new EP which seemed to go down well and all 5 of the covers that we occasional add to the set including our version if "I Believe In Father Christmas". I'll miss playing our version of the Bauhaus classic "She's In Parties" because we really made that our own. I heard the original the other day and was pleasantly surprised by how different our version is! Here's a couple of gig photos and a short video of the closing moments of the set... I Isolation.mp4

Matinee and evening gig with Elton Joel at Bibi’s Italianissimo in Leeds. It’s a bit of a regular December double gig for us and the nearest we get to a band Christmas party. Took along my usual Markbass traveller rig and cracked out the old P Bass as well as the Yamaha for a special event (both sounded dead nice actually onstage). Good crowds for both shows - lots of singing along and dancing and some very eager Kiki Dees lending their voices to it. Knackered but happy. Cup of tea and to bed I reckon.

I've just found out I've got the gig

Another trip up to The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough for our acoustic duo last night. The bad weather had subsided and it was very mild so an easy drive there. Usual capacity crowd in this small cafe bistro venue, lots of familiar faces so a nice atmosphere. Christmas decs up in the room, and some of the boats in the harbour had lights on as well. Lots of requests, mainly more old stuff from a more err….mature audience. These songs included ‘This Masquerade’ , ‘Africa’ ( I really have to concentrate singing the harmony in this one whilst trying to remember the bassline), and one of my favourites, Springsteen’s ’If I should fall behind’. Audience were very enthusiastic, and we did an encore of ‘Sultans of Swing’ ( which went on a bit but made more interesting for me by a small trawler coming in to moor up just by the window behind us). We’ve just been offered a regular load of gigs for 2025 in this great venue. It’s a 100 mile round trip for us but never a problem, so really pleased. Ibanez PCBE12 into Rumble 100 combo / DI into PA. Clarks black suede chukka boots, size 10.

Just home from a great gig up at the stables in Milton Keynes with the Phil Collins tribute’ no jacket required’. Fantastic audience as usual and always such a pleasure and privilege to play at this wonderful venue. Some guy donated £1000,(yes £1000) to our charity the bridge house trust for the homeless. Another kind person gave £100! Never ceases to amaze me , our audiences appreciation and generosity .Decided to use my status empathy 5, it’s been a while since it’s had an outing but really enjoyed playing it.A lovely thing indeed. ‘Appy days!😊

TODAY! AND TONIGHT! Two very different gigs! I use the term loosely. Up at unacceptable for a Saturday o'clock to drive to Tamworth (through Storm Darragh, mind you... pelting rain, high winds and yet *still* bellends (mostly in Audis, Beamers, Mercs and Teslas) screaming down (up? (actually, let's not get into that again)) the M6 at about 90, undertaking, tailgating some idiot fop (me) in a Hyundai who's just trying to stay alive... arseholes) for 11am to play carols in the Ankerside shopping centre with the mighty Tamworth wind band. (Em (the TWB Euph player and JJO (more about them later!) trumpet player) asked me to stand in so I couldn't say no). Imagine a depressed shopping centre in a modest regional town (with much to be modest about) with lots of closed units and not many shoppers around (it was supposed to be the christmas lights switch on but they cancelled it due to the weather) actually no, imagine dawn of the dead (is it dawn of the dead? Or day of the dead? The one where they're all stuck in that godforsaken mall with the zombies outside?) and you're probably closer to it. It was *feezing* cold (Em bought me some fingerless gloves in the break, which helped) and a pretty grim experience... we played loads of stuff from 'The Red Book' (not the Mao Zedong one), which anyone who's been near a wind band in December will know - they're all beautiful arrangments and in horrible keys - six flats, anyone?! We were supposed to play until 4 o'clock (!), but by about 2 we'd all lost the will to live, so the conductor suggested we just knock it on the head about half two (we all eagerly agreed) so we did. We played and sounded OK all things considered but it wasn't an experience I'm in a rush to repeat. Unless Em asks really nicely again, which she probably will. Then it was hotfoot to Brum for a quick pitstop at my Pa's place and to pick up Birmingham's finest Japanese non-binary morris dancing jazz trombonist and off to the Cameo Suite in Coleshill for the JJO Black Tie James Bond/Christmas (first set Bond themes, second christmas stuff. No idea why.) concert! It took ages to get there due to horrendous weather and a couple of roads blocked by fallen trees (!) but we made it in time for a quick top 'n' tail rehearsal. The first set (Bond) sounded fantastic - The main theme sounds great, Goldfinger was mint, Skyfall was really good, Writing's on the wall (how a man can sing that high is beyond me) sounded superb and Live and let die (the Stan Kenton big band arrangement) was a particular highlight, the trumpets reach notes that are far too high to reasonably exist. Oh and nobody does it better is an absolute belter - the flute in the intro which I'd never really been able to hear before was the glaze on the cherry on the icing on the cake. I drop D (Hipshot) on that one for extra phatness. Five differnt singers! Couple of minor flubs, but overall we sounded great. A friend of the BL who's a pro player (West End type stuff) said some lovely things about my playing at half time, which was nice. Second set was all the christmas stuff, not as exciting to play as the Bond themes, but a couple of good'uns in there... The opener was It's the most wonderful time of the year, which is ace to play, my part in Jingle Bells is bonkers - four pages of relentless FAST crochets... I even hit a couple of the right notes (purely by accident), we did a weird Latin style arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman which is a taste I have so far failed to acquire, we did a lovely (Tom Kubis) arrangement of O Holy Night which is really weird and tricky but it all came together (Soprano sax solo by Sarah and Flugle solo by Steve) and a cracking playout/mashup which cracks along at about 800 bpm. Sold out audience of about 90-100 people (all friends and family, we're a 'community' band) who were all dressed up to the nines in black tie/dinner jackets/posh frocks and were very appreciative. Played the 70s (reissue mex) Precision -> small board (VTDI -> Thumpinator (the secret weapons!)) -> MB 802 which sounded cracking! I was at the front for some reason and the BL commented how good the Bass sounded which is always nice to hear. Full on suited and booted affair (Midnight Blue 1460 DMs with orange laces (the band logo is orange on black)). Packed up, dropped Brum's finest JNBMDJT off, The Wondermints on the way home, back about 1230 (avoiding more downed trees) for a *very* stiff V&T and the remains of yesterdays Jambalaya. And so to bed, and looking forward to a Sunday of doing absolutely NOTHING.

Last night was the annual Crown Court Xmas party gig for the Hulla band (our singist is a barrister therein). Always a good gig and not just because the buffet is superb. It's a nice hotel venue and a decent crowd who were all up for a dance and sing along. The setlist was long and varied (there were 40 songs listed) so I had two basses to cover the rocky stuff (Squier PJ) and more mellow songs (Ibanez AGBV200A hollow body) with a planned change over just after half time. However, the buffet arrived early and we stopped about a third of the way in to the set. Our singist occasionally gets a little carried away and can forget some of the arrangements - he has a tendency to start songs himself that have been rehearsed with different intros etc, so I was trying to anticipate an appropriate intro that would give me time to swap guitars. In the end I settled on 'I Love To Boogie' which I guessed (correctly) he would start with a complete verse of just him and guitar. There were the inevitable free jazz improvisations - for some reason I chose to modify the key change in 'Love Story' (yes, Taylor Swift forms a part of our repertoire) and the requested 'I Want It That Way' at the end was not working with the bassline I'd learnt from the original (in the end I just stopped playing as I couldn't find an easy re-entry point) but overall it was one of the best performances of the band as a whole and I was happy with my part in that. I always enjoy Hulla gigs as we have a lot of fun on and off stage and the atmosphere i unlike any other band I've played in. Kit list: A Squier PJ in Lake Placid Blue - a very recent addition to the fold - and my pre-aged Ibanez AGBV200A hollow body both plugged into a Zoom B6 (I love that I can swap between two inputs). I use the B6 in rehearsals to narrow down a set of sounds for a specific set and by the time of last night's gig I had the PJ going into a patch based around and SVT emulation with very slight grit and the option of adding flanger (Dakota) or chorus. I had a second patch which was basically the same SVT sound with a slight gain increase and reduction in bass EQ/boost in mid EQ so I could cut through the mix during a bass break in 'Seven Nights'. The Ibanez had a patch based on the AC370 acoustic amp and for a couple of songs I had a patch based on a TE400 amp for a more bassy feel. The B6 was DI'd into the X32 desk (we have a dedicated sound man) and I monitored through a Behringer P16 linked by Ultranet to the desk. I get a pre-fade mix that I have mixed to give me what I need. That was feeding a wireless IEM. Footwear: A matched pair of Skechers SN52635s modified to improve bass response and using a custom loaded impulse response model - or so the shoe salesman told me. 😀

Two gigs this weekend. Still suffering with the man flu which made me bed-bound over a week ago so it’s been hard work but both actual gigs were great fun. First up, Katy Hurt at Greystones in Sheffield. Given the last time out I never made the gig thanks to a flat tyre, I gave myself 6.5 hours to do a 4 hour journey, which was very wise with all the slow crap on the M1. Gig venue is great, soundwoman was lovely and very good indeed, and I have to say I think we played and sounded great. We threw in a new song which we’d polished in sound check and it went down as well as all the more well-known tunes and Katy did the same in her short acoustic interlude. Basses (Zoot J and P) and rig (Handbox WB100 and Barefaced Two10) sounded absolutely mint even with my cack handed playing. Best bit was catching up with the awesome @asingardenof and his better half Feeling rough, I decided to stay in a ropey Travelodge rather than drive all the way back to Surrey, so Saturday was spent first driving home, then unloading everything just to reload different basses (ACG TKO, Conway Taranis fretless) and a bigger rig (Trace TE1200 and Barefaced Super Twin) then go collect the PA and lights for Wednesday’s Child to play a gig at the King’s Arms in Dorking. A couple of shots of Talisker perked me up after we’d set up, and apart from a slightly non-perfect vocal sound I think we played and sounded great (except possibly my BVs which were probably terrible). Frankly both gigs were awesome fun at the time but I suspect I’ll feel it today given I wasn’t 100% beforehand. But for things to make you hot sweaty and sticky, this has got to be near the top of the fun list 😀 Today is a day for lying in bed or on the sofa. Or putting up the Christmas decorations according to Mrs Mert 😩😄 Photo shamelessly stolen from @asingardenof from Friday.

Played a tiny pub in Send, Surrey on Sat night with a local covers band I've recently joined for sh*ts n giggles... We had to set up down one end of the pub, in front of the roaring fireplace, which meant the drummer pleading with the landlady to extinguish the fire after soundcheck as his back was hotter than the sun 🤣 Howling wind and rain meant probably only about 25-30 in but a fun night. Played my 40th Anniversary Squier P as I seldom take my Spectors out to unknown pub venues..... but it sounded & performed admirably! Punters seemed to enjoy the 60's/70's set (Kinks, Bowie, T Rex, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Joe Jackson, John Denver, Neil Young, Squeeze etc) and I even had two guys come up and compliment me on doing 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'! Apparently they'd never heard anyone attempt it before....!

Two dep gigs in Wiltshire yesterday. First one outside a cinema in a storm blown tent, playing to nobody, and the second in front of a big screen showing the rugby to an entirely uninterested audience. The life of a working musician eh? There was a dep guitarist barely audible above the jangling of his nerves, and a two man brass section, also deps. Not quite in tune brass with not quite right guitar makes for fascinating harmonic content. In the end I stuck mostly with the root notes and watched the rugby.

My 2024 Jetglo Ric 4003 has arrived. This was secondhand from (Gasp) Cash Converters. I particularly wanted a 2024 (or 2023?) model for the usable bridge and single truss rod, so when this one appeared at a decent saving over a new one I jumped on it immediately. On inspection it is in near mint condition, the only mark I can find on it is a tiny chip at the tip the headstock. After unboxing, I tested it and initially thought there was an intermittent problem with the bridge pickup as when switching to it the sound was cutting out, however I then found that this only happens when using my ridiculously heavy Fender curly cable with woven covering. It seems the weight of the cable was pulling the plug and doing something to the weird mono switching jack used for the 'normal' output. Once I swapped the cable out for a more normal cable the signal was rock solid. I don't have the correct cable etc to try the rick-o-sound output yet, but I'll be placing a thomann order soon which will include the necessary bits & bobs amongst other things. Over the last few weeks since deciding to buy a 4003 I have accumulated various things to slightly customise it: 'Traditional' Rickenbacker knobs with bass/treble & volume/tone text to replace the jazz bass style knobs Rickysounds clear thumbrest Rickysounds black pickguard (bought when I thought I was going to acquire a Mapleglo 4003) A set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flatwounds 40-60-10-95 (I use these on my Gibson & Epiphone thunderbirds & think they should suit the 4003) A set of Schaller Chrome S-Locks — The 4003 is fitted with strap buttons compatible with S-locks but due to their small size I wouldn't trust them with my usual rubbery grolsch washers. It is not practical to replace the stock strap buttons as they use a machine screw fixing rather than a wood screw. I nicked the black suede strap from one of my guitars and fitted the S-locks. I'm not sure whether I will use the black pickguard but I will put the cobalt flats, knobs and thumbrest on soon. I will probably shield the bass with anti slug tape at some point, however I saw a Youtube video of someone who did this including putting copper tape on the back of the white acrylic pickguard and I'm sure it had a bit of a copper-coloured tinge after he refitted it. Maybe I'll try Aluminium tape on the pickguard or rather than sticking the tape directly to the guard, or make a slightly undersized plate from thin opaque black plastic card stock to go under the pickguard and shield the underside of that to prevent the copper showing through.

Last gig of 2024 at the Glamping Site in Poole, Dorset that’s supported us (the Otis Jay Blues Band) for the past few years. Singer did his back in so sat, but he and we coped - with a few Val Doonican jokes on the way… Got Cath and Kerry to do backing vocals on Mustang Sally and they did us proud. Flea jazz, Elf, Barefaced One10, Xmas jumper - you can’t go wrong !

Great gig last night with Nine Lives at the Tolbooth in Ellon. It was decently busy, and as a bonus, a couple of the guys from the 'Spoons came down to heckle us also. Always fun to see some familiar faces in the audience. Lots of dancing, a few singalong moments, and a splendid time was had by all. I am also delighted with some new gear which got a first proper run - namely the EHX Battalion preamp and my super sparkly Epiphone Thunderbird, which is an absolute effin' beast. So pleased to be back in Thunderbird land, it's been too long. Gear was the Sire Z7 followed by the Epi T-bird into the usual Markbass tone cubes: Are we still obsessing about footwear? I was wearing these - Vans Calf Hair classic slipons. Is that OK?

There were lots of people taking photos and videos of our gig this evening, but unfortunately I wasn't one of them, so you'll have to make do with a brief description. We were at a very small pub that we've played many times before, but this year the dates just haven't aligned to get any in the book. So it was nice to revisit and kick off the Christmas season (it's ok, it's December now). As it's a tiny pub we decided to "go acoustic" again. We've done a couple of those recently and thoroughly enjoyed them. Tonight was fabulous. The crowd really enjoyed something slightly different and the place was rocking - especially when we got them to sing Since You've Been Gone. Playing the EUB was a challenge, from the sublime (White Christmas, Moon Dance, Stuck In The Middle) to the ridiculous (War Pigs, Witch Queen, Crossroads) Rig: Stagg EUB, Fender Rumble v3 500 combo, tinsel Footwear: black 8 hole DMs Edit: I must give a special mention to the guitarist for playing the guitar solo in Whiskey In The Jar... on a kazoo! 😂

We were due to play the Bonfest stage last night at Winterstorm festival in Troon Ayrshire last night with my ac/dc band. But on Thursday night got a call from our female singer saying she couldn`t make it so after some frantic phone calls, the guy who runs Bonfest got us in touch with a singer he knew who was playing on the same day as us and was a big DC fan and knew the songs. Great stuff apart from the fact that as were closing the festival at midnight, the guy would need taking back home to Dundee which is 2 hour ish trip and then I would have to drive home again, about 1.5 hours. But hey, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. Anyway, no rehearsal but the guy was on it right away, knew all the words and had the moves and patter. He even looked like a young Bon Scott! It was the most I have smiled at a gig in years and we went down really well. Then I woke up this morning to a message from our drummer saying he wasn`t happy and was leaving the band but to fair I guessed it was coming so the hunt is on for a replacement. Ah Rock n Roll is a cruel mistress!

Yesterday the drummer messaged us. His car is in for repair but the sole mechanic has gone down with norovirus! He'd borrowed his daughter's car - a Fiat 500! So the first stop was at his house to collect the kit he couldn't fit in, and then onto the gig in Melton Mowbray (and anyone from Leicester can sympathise with what a tedious drive that can be when you're stuck on the A607 behind a slow driver!) We'd not played the White Hart on a Saturday before. Melton was quite busy, all of the parking near the pub was taken, so I had to double-park and quickly chuck the kit in the pub. The place filled up nicely just before we went on. It got quite warm, which I don't mind at all when you're playing well and it sounds great. It did thin out a little after 11pm but still had quite a few to see us finish just after midnight. I do like playing there - the landlord has built a great sounding stage that's also a decent size. It really did sound great and we had lots of compliments. We had a lot of musos came to see us, which is always nice. I really enjoyed my strings being still quite fresh and twangy (D'Addario pro steel), and was told my bass sounded awesome by a good friend drummer. More importantly the landlord loved it. Kit: Sire P7-5, Roland Boss GT-6B, Fender Rumble v3 500 Footwear: Solovair burgundy rub-off 8 hole zipped derby boots They are nearly broken in now, especially with the "bass stances" being thrown quite liberally tonight, but I was rather pleased to get them off my feet at home afterwards!

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my duo Deadlight Dance recording our live in a Saxon Church movie / album "The Wiltshire Gothic" so we thought we'd mark it with a cheeky few numbers at our friend Joe's Open Mic in Aldbourne, Wiltshire. Just for fun, I worked out a few on the upright and off we went... We opened with The Cure's Fire in Cairo, bravely tackled Sisters of Mercy's This Corrosion (on the upright bass and mandocello) and finished up with joy Division's New Dawn Fades. We got a second set where most of the acts had gone once they played (I always think that is a poor show!) so did a couple of our original songs and then some other deep cuts from the depths of our collections. The crowd seemed to like us but one drunken local coming out the toilet decided to shout about us being "f***ing s**t!" Everyone ignored him. I didn't think it was worthy of acknowledging at the time. I am sure he's brilliant! I don't know if it's a consequence of growing up post punk but I quite like music being divisive at times and not appealing to everyone. I felt we played pretty well. I was also rather taken with the teenagers who did a couple of set. Nice to see the younger generation giving it a go.

I was not going to post about my gig last night, but reading a couple of the above posts has changed my mind 😆 Anyway, ours ( 3 piece blues rock band) was a small bar in a country pub in North Lincolnshire. Bit of a trek from the car park, but we had a reasonable space to set up. Around 20 or 30 people in, most of them staying for the evening. Very friendly landlady, left us to decide when to go on. We did 2 x50 min sets, and had polite applause throughout but no dancers. I was a bit on auto pilot for some reason, despite it being our first gig in nearly a month. Subsequently missed a few turnarounds but nothing to derail us. We did receive 3 offers of gigs though! One back at the venue, another as a fund raiser in the village hall and also a small festival next summer. Just goes to show you never can predict the outcome of gigs, even when they appear to be nothing special. 20 minute drive home in the rain, but 14.5 degrees around midnight - very strange. Heading up to Scarborough later for an acoustic duo gig, so hoping the weather stays okay.

We had an evening gig booked in a swanky cocktail bar. In the space of an hour four lovely Welsh women drank £150 worth of booze, danced, trod on the guitarists foot and then three of them passed out. Bar owner closed early and still paid us full fee. Very, very weird.

A bit of a strange one tonight. A new venue we've not played before and we're in the corner of the room. It was rammed and hot when we turned up and we had to set up on a sixpence - you know, where every piece of kit gets moved 6 times as you shoehorn it all in. First job was to turn the darned radiator down. Once we start playing the guitarist singer was not at all happy. We were not loud by any means, but he seemed to be in a spot where the bass and the snare was making his ears ring. I backed off the low frequencies quite a bit and in the first break he fitted his ear plugs, but it didn't make that much difference. We persevered and all perked up a little when we played War Pigs, but he still wasn't his bright bubbly self. It sounded great to me and the drummer btw. Of course we got loads of compliments saying how great we played and how fantastic it sounded. It just goes to show, eh? Even if the band were not buzzing it must have sounded half decent. To cap it all the barman came up with the money at the end of the night and told us we were not charging enough! Anyway next time the guitarist and I will swap sides to see if that helps. It would allow my amp to be a little further out of the corner The usual Sire P7-5, Boss GT-6B and Fender Rumble v3 500 btw