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BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band tonight in Dalkeith Miners Club. WOW what a venue. 300 tickets sold on our first gig there. Holds 600 apparently altho not sure where they would all sit as it was fairly busy with 300. Club was refurbished 1-2 yrs ago and what a job they've done. Large stage with glass partitions across the front of most of the stage. Full good quality PA and lighting and a really good Sound Engineer who seemed to know his stuff even tho he was very young compared to us. Great reception, dancers up for literally every song. Great feedback at the end from folks in other bands so that was good. 2 different bass players complimented my playing and tone so that was nice too. Several people said we had under sold ourselves at £5 a ticket but that was down to the venue. We just got a fee. Their comment was that some people will think £5 the band is either s**t or not worth going to see. Several bands that were nowhere near as good as us and they were charging more than double what we were. All down to the venue however the Sound guy said that after the next time we play there we should go thru him as he reckons we should be on a minimum 4 figure fee. All very promising. They also want to book us for Hogmanay 2025. Jings i might be dead and buried by then Anyways gear for tonight was my usual Sandberg VM4 into Shure Wireless into Ampeg SVT7 Pro and Mesa SW210/115 cabs. Dave

Tonight! Katie O'Brien's Irish Tavern in Leicester with Azura - 3 piece as singer/guitarist was away playing army. Early start, we arrived about 6 once we'd found the loading bay round the back. Horrendous load-in, down a dark, slippy, uneven alley that looked like a great place to get murdered. Big place, decent stage, packed (at 6 o'clock!) with a semi-feral mob. Could go either way tonight, lads! Loaded in (didn't need the PA speakers, which helped) and the manager told us the solo acoustic act who was supposed to start at 6 hadn't shown up, so we might as well set up. Half way through setting up, the solo acoustic act who was supposed to start at 6 showed up, so we had to stop setting up and watch him play for about an hour and a half. Joe something, he was called (AKA the solo acoustic act who was supposed to start at 6) He was really good, nice set of upbeat modern and classic covers (including half of our setlist and half a set of stuff we're going to nick), great crowd interaction, good voice, lovely solo/chord thing going on in Isn't She Lovely... really good. Once he was done, we finished setting up around the people sitting on the edge of the stage and tried not to kick any of their drinks over. The place was rammed by the time we went on about 9, first set went down a storm, it was like a cross between the last days of Pompeii and Sodom & Gomorrah. A girl at the front (a music teacher we later found out) conducted us all the way through (?!), people trying to ask for requests mid song (while we were wearing IEMs), packed dancefloor, whooping and hollering... the works. Fantastic! Three sets, the last one nearly blew the roof off. The manager loved us, the bar supervisor told us loads of punters had said how good we were... really fantastic gig. Packed down, loaded up, back down the M6 with Snarky Puppy and Vulfpeck to keep us awake, back home about 2:30 for an Aldi vinage cider. Played the P for a change -> amp board (VTDI and Thumpinator) -> MB 121H. I didn't bother with pedals as the front of the stage was littered with drinks and people. Red socks and peppermint green DMs, foot fans. Really great night, the sort of gig that'll keep me going through the next few shockers.

A traditional rock n roll gig last night with the Insiderz at a large hall for a ticketed event. With an hour to go before we were due onstage the drummer called in with a family emergency and as I drove us to the gig, my mate was ringing around trying to find a replacement for the night. Our regular dep was in Pompeii and refused to fly home for the gig 😂. My mate from my other band had been watching the rugby and drinking. In the end, a call on Facebook produced an outstanding drummer who appeared at the hall and was set up in record time. We went on about 30 minutes after the planned start time, but that only helped as the crowd (around 100 or so) had been dancing and drinking. It was a good night with people up and dancing right from the start. The audience were mostly there for the dancing so there was a lot of very accomplished moves on the dance floor. So much so that it became distracting at times watching the moves, particularly the hand jives. 😃 The host/organiser got up to do a couple of songs with us and he was actually quite good. I was on rhythm guitar duties and as punishment for that my amp died with about 5 songs left to go. I was able to plug in to the PA through my Plethora X3 which had it's cab sim option enabled. Our bassist was using a Jazz through a Trace Elliot 4x10 combo. It's usually very punchy but last night it boomed a lot and we suspected it was the hollow stage acting as a resonator. He also used a fretless Jazz bass for the section where the host played with us. A good night despite (or perhaps because of) the challenges. And we've been asked back. No photos of the band yet but here's one of the stage before we took over. Edit: A video has appeared. I'm closest to the camera on stage. Edit 2: A couple more photos.

My rock 3 piece regrouped with a new drummer to play Salford on Friday. A small show at The Eagle to a crowd I mostly knew. It marked the debut of my Blackstar cab with a drummer and it sounded great. The drummer hadn't even rehearsed with us and he nailed it. Saturday was Rockmantic festival in Carlisle. A massive crowd and an Ampeg 8x10 that I didn't think sounded as good as the Blackstar cab the night before (I suspect the room helped). A decent performance but I felt Salford was the best. A massive drive back to Wiltshire today and I can resume to giging my goth duo locally.

Played my first one of the year last night with Gévaudan at the Cart & Horses, Stratford. Sold out night, doomy line up and ace people in all the bands so a really cool vibe all night. Great venue and sound out front as well. We didn't get to sound check.....or line check really, but it just felt like we clicked really well from the off and just had a night where it all felt really tight and delivered as we wanted to deliver our set..... 1 song, 43 minutes of heavy funereal, trady, epic doom. 😎✌️

Home by 8:00. Good crowd, nice looking room and generous tippers. I wasn't crazy about my playing. Daryl

Another fun night, though very tight on space so I used the my old beaten up FPPR Status as we had people wandering through us to the loos all night Good crowd singing along all night and a happy landlord, but unbelievably as the last time we played there, he leaves next week 🤦‍♂️ Had a guy come up to us afterwards and say “I came in and saw you setting up and thought oh **** this’ll be cr@p, but then you started and it was awesome 🤩 “ … which was nice 😁

Train To Skaville gig at Bradford Town FC (Bradford-on-Avon), a good sized crowd all in good voice and had all brought their dancing shoes. Considering we hadn't played a single note together since New Year's Eve, we were on fire... good performances all round and we were offered more future bookings on the spot. Result First time out with the Spector since fitting the new active EMGs in place of the passive EMG-HZs, and my god what a difference. The 35P4 in the neck is a proper beast, and really cuts through in a way that the HZs failed to do.

I’d look at any instrument that was better quality than the standard of my playing and keep the change. So, one $150 squier affinity later …

This was an easy one! People were drinking, but not drunk. Two sets, nothing special, and they danced a lot. Only bad thing was the ceiling: very low. Therefore loudness levels rised sometimes, but we managed to draw it back to reasonable. Not too good a place, but good feel. It's time for a good night's sleep.

Had our record release party Thursday night. Great night! Sold out show and sold out merch! Sound guy wasnt great and the lighting guy was more of a "turn off the" lighting guy which was fairly frustrating but all in all a great time.

NBD: Fender Pawn Shop Mustang Picked this up yesterday - a 2012 model apparently, but it looks brand new. Very happy with it, but when I got it home I realised that the pickup is set at quite a pronounced angle - ie it's significantly lower under the E and A strings, which I presume is why those strings aren't quite centred over the pole pieces. The pickup is pretty hot and has a lot of low end as it is, so I'm guessing this has been done deliberately and I should leave it be. But I am pretty clueless when it comes to anything technical, so more informed views welcome!

If I had a quid for every time I had to do my best Bill Wyman impression to allow admission to the bogs - it's not a bass guitar, it's a manually raised barrier!

It went well, the band was piano, cornet and double bass. I took my little 25W Orange practice amp - just to give a little boost to the sound. We played: Alleluia Sing to Jesus There is a Redeemer All Heaven Declares Light of the World Guide Me Oh Great Redeemer (we were assured this was scheduled well before the rugby)

All you lucky people doing gigs with acres of space and without the route to the bogs through the middle of the band! The green eyed monster is here 🤣

Totally reasonable, if you’re feeling guilty perhaps always offer to help load his gear in but explain why you can’t help load out. Sleep is bloody important if you’re working the day after a gig 👍

This guy is a complete mystery. The Lexicon of Love by ABC is, to me, a near perfect pop album: like a dancy version of Eldorado by ELO ( another near perfect album)...Brad Lang did all the great fretless parts on that album and even did fretless for them on subsequent albums (like the end of "Be Near Me" from How to Be a Zillionaire)...there is practically no information on him except being a UK session guy in the 80s.....Would love to hear more of his work.......Anybody?

So, today on the way home from a work trip I met a chap that sold me an amp... That amp was a Marshall VBA400 with a Jubilee 410 and 115. The cabs have seen better days, cosmetically they have their war wounds, but the work a treat! The amp has a few tiny little marks, but would probably rank 8.5 out of 10 for condition. Just lugged this colossus down to the garden studio some 300ft away from the driveway (yes, my spine is now dust) and set it up. It's quite monstrous... it's current set at about one quarter volume and gain and its still making my ears bleed. Given it has 8 KT88 valves powering it I shouldn't be too surprised. Pumps out +400w of glorious Marshall valve bass goodness! Given I play 6 string bass, and mostly prefer a more HiFi sound, I am pleasantly surprised that the 'bright' button really does hit the mark for me. Been lusting after one of these for probably 20 years! Happy to now have one and not be disappointed.

And now we know why delivery drivers run away without knocking. 🙂

For an encore, they play their long number. ...

People tend to steer clear once they've had a headstock to the head a couple of times. Even our singist has taken the hint 😁

One of my favourite records and a terrific bassist. Trevor recommended the band sack their original bass player Mark Lickley and Brad replaced him. According to Trevor Horn's book Brad was the son of Don Lang who was the trombonist in the Bob Miller band and had sung the original theme for the Six-Five Special TV series. There is a really challenging bass lick in 'Show Me' at the end of the string intro at 0.38s where the drums come in. Awesome dextrous bass guitar playing which took me ages to figure out!

To be fair, most of the gigs we do are on postage stamp stage areas (rarely a raised stage) with public rights of way through them. One of the reasons I started using a headless bass was because I was tired of people knocking the headstock. The Hulla band has it's own portable staging for festivals and other outdoor events but as it's such a large band (13 at the last count) even that isn't really big enough. And when we play some functions, the band is three deep, four wide with the drummer bringing up the rear. 😂

I now use a Gramma pad at every gig these days and it means my tones basically stay the same every gig. No serious boom on stage anymore. Looks like a nice venue with a decent sized stage. Well done the dep drummer managing at such short notice. Dave

Great replies for which I am very grateful. This has to be the best forum on the internet. No question is ever treated as irrelevant and no member is made to feel stupid. I love this community.

A vented cab should be lined with an inch or two of damping. If sealed it should be totally filled.

Question, I’ll assume the banner is for the band. Are his array of lights just aimed at his drum kit and him, or are they stage lights for the whole of the band ?

Best to stick to playing scales… 🐠

Not really, just some herring loss.

Hell? Ohh… - Lionel Richie

Not far down the road from me. It's staying there, too.

That's an old pro trick. If you don't know the song or you've got lost just turn your volume down and dance around like you're having a great time. I did that through 90% percent of a wedding once.......nobody noticed!

This. It doesn't sound as if the other players at the jam were much cop, to put it bluntly. If it was really too loud to hear the drums when you were standing next to them, that's ridiculous. If the people you are playing with are terrible, you have no chance of getting anything right. It will just drag you down to their level (lie down with the dog, get up with fleas). Jams are notorious for being like that. I've seen really good players drowned out and dragged down by ham-fisted idiots at jams. You can't play correctly if everyone else is blundering along and blasting the windows out. Regardless of whether or not they're "encouraging", I'd be looking for somewhere else. Sure you made mistakes, but it doesn't sound as if you were the only one. You were just more honest about your shortcomings than they were. Forget it and move on to pastures new.

For the past two years since I took on a life of travelling most of my musical output has been jam nights and let me say they are categorically the most difficult and least rewarding musical endeavours one can do. Your points and takeaways are all valid but I would suggest you look at a different output. Since my last jam in Houston, Texas playing 12 bar blues for over an hour (keep that in mind as that’s the output, playing the same 3 chord shape in different places for over an hour), I got loads of compliments, but I absolutely fluffed a slow blues because it was that slow I thought something more complex was going on than just going to the 4th for the 2nd bar instead of a standard arrangement 🙄, drummer just crushed me afterwards by saying “I guess you don’t play the blues very much” Let me tell you, that stung, even though not 10 minutes earlier I had a an old proper bluesman tearing it up on hammond tell me those were some tasty licks, fist bumps from the drummer, lapsteel player come up between songs to tell me how great it sounded, yadda yadda And I’d nailed a more complex song earlier because the guitarist told me oh this has a flattened 5th in the turn around, whereas slow blues guitarist just half arsed counted off some of the changes occasionally. My outcome from that is I’m not doing jam nights anymore, I prefer a more controlled environments but my lifestyle doesn’t suit playing in a band. So I’m going to ‘hire’ some session musician friends and jam in a studio, this solves all my issues with jams and quite honestly gigs. Because everything you’ve mentioned for the night going wrong I’ve experienced. My biggest pet hate is we somehow seem to accept hearing ourselves or the band a luxury in the gigging world. Every pro musician will tell you the best was to learn is go out there and play with lots of people, but we assume that has to be in front of people, it doesn’t. You can go have a lesson with a drum teacher, guitar teacher, piano etc etc and basically pay to play with them for the hour. You don’t NEED a band and you don’t NEED to be going to jam nights but you do NEED to be playing with people, lots of ways to do that though 😉 My favourite thing to tell people from my Open Mic experiences (because you can imagine how many people want to play with you when you turn up with a double bass) Me: What key are we in Singer Songwriter: Erm well this string is down 2, this string up 4, these two doubled, then I’m capo’d 11 Me: Right What followed was a number of chord changes that would embarrass a prog musician as overplaying. The expectation that we can just follow this song they’ve been perfecting in their bedroom for the past 7 months when they don’t even know what they’re playing 👍🙄 Finally, don’t forget you’ll never struggle to find a gig as a bass player 😇

I'm always the slowest to pack up. I own/run the PA. I like to do so at my own pace, make sure everything goes in the right box/case, cables wound neatly, etc (OCD, dontcha know). I tell the others not to worry about helping me and to head off. I actually prefer it that way. I mean it and appreciate that, unlike me, some of them have to get up for work or family duties next day. So if he tells you it's OK, take him at his word and go.

Some time ago (back in 2023), I bought a Chinese fan-fret bass for the grand total of about £225 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404181116674. This was shipped with the neck off to keep shipping prices down. I initially screwed the neck on, then decided to use inserts and bolts, and also to replace the preamp which was absolutely dreadful (pots did either nothing or something unexpected, with what appeared to be the volume control having a centre detente). I also decided that the neck could do with a shim. So I finally got round to finishing it a couple of days ago. The body is a rather unconvincing photoflame. The neck is slightly on the chunky side but comfortable and the frets are finished beautifully, not a sharp end to be found. I've been able to get it down to a good low action. The preamp is now an Artec SE3 as the original was a five-pot preamp - this necessitated a tiny bit of routing with a Dremel, as the pots sit in recesses which wouldn't accommodate the preamp circuit board so I had to bridge between to recesses. I left the original pickups in for the time being, they seem pretty good. It also has the original strings on which aren't so good, they're rather dull so I'm not sure how well the treble control works. Incidentally, the tuners have good and bad points. Strings go straight through the middle of the knob so there's none of the weak points associated with the claw type string holders, and none of the fiddliness of getting ball ends in and out of the tuners (especially the B string on a fiver). However, the intonation is by sliding the entire tuner back and forth, for which the string has to be removed, and the string height is adjusted by a screw in the middle of the brass bridge saddle. If the bridge saddles could be moved independently fore and aft and up and down, on a fixed base, the tuners would be far better. It will be getting an outing at an open mic later this week.

My band 'Shreds.' played our first headliner show last night! We were at Cafe Indie in Scunthorpe. It was our first time playing Scunthorpe, and Cafe Indie was a really great venue. Nice large stage decked out with a lot of new gear and lighting. Apparently there were about 200 people that showed up! The person running sound did an excellent job, and was even super helpful about letting us put our recording rig in-line with their setup (we have 16 transformer-isolated XLR splitters, preamps, laptop and usually record our live sets). We arrived early and set everything up well in advance of the show start time. The other bands were keen to be recorded live, so I hit 'record' for each of those first three sets. When we got up on stage to play last, I tuned my bass and then focused on silently warming up during the precious few moments that I had. Our drummer looked over and indicated "let's go" and off we went. Unfortunately I forgot to hit 'record' for our set! Ha! Oh well... next time I'll be more careful!

Just one gig this week with The ELO Experience, at the Palace Theatre in Mansfield. Only just over an hour away for me, so almost a ‘local’ gig! Sold out crowd of 530 people, nice old theatre which we’ve not played for a few years. Had a few hiccups- drummer’s IEM’s not on for the intro so I had to guess where the opening chords came! Also had a brain freeze and missed one bit in Mr Blue Sky, which I’ve never done before. A (very) senior moment on the eve of my 66th birthday! Anyway, the rest went well, and as you can see our wonderful lighting guy Rob had some new toys to play with.

First gig of the year for me with the Andy Wales Blues Band at the Flying Circus in Newark. Was looking forward to blowing the dust off. It’s a proper music pub where people come to listen which is ace. Played a right mix of choice covers and originals - proper sweaty loud gig, as it should be. Lots of very positive feedback and I expect we will be back soon.

Wow!

I have this pedal. Can’t fault it.