Leaderboard

Roxy Magic played at The Tropic in Ruislip on Friday night. A good time was had by all. Most of the band was travelling down from the Midlands, so it's always fun trying to work out how late everyone will be to the gig after negotiating the M50/rush hour/general Greater London madness. I'd taken the precaution of getting to London the day before, which meant I was able to go the spectacular Big Star "Radio City" gig in Hackney on Thursday night. Incredibly, we were all at the venue bang on time for a 6pm soundcheck. The gig was a stormer - the Tropic was full of ladies and gentlemen of a certain vintage who rocked their socks off. The band came off stage sweaty and satisfied. I could have done without the obligatory motorway closure on the way home, which sent me down county lanes and housing estates somewhere near Oxford. Oh, the joys of being a Weekend Warrior. I used my "B" rig - which is rapidly becoming my "A" rig - TC Electronic BG250 combo, Aria Jazz bass (£40!), Zoom B3 and a Lekato wireless bug system. I did give my faithful PJ Bitsa a run out in the second set though... I was delighted with my onstage sound and if my quick wander out front at the soundcheck was anything to go by, it was great through the PA, too. A nice lady down the front took some lovely pics of the band. Here's our hero modelling his new suit and his old hat. Yes, I am playing with a plectrum, wanna fight about it..?

August '65 P. Gigged a few times when I bought it 15yrs ago. Now strung with TI Flats and lives in the original case. This one is going nowhere 🙂 .

Just got back from a Spacewasters gig at The New Cross Inn, SE London. Was a three day psychobilly event, we are on that scene but really aren’t psychobilly at all, more like a rock n roll/garage punk type band. Great crowd for a Sunday afternoon, place was heaving when we got there at 5:30. We were on at 6:30 for a 40min set and it went great. No soundcheck, just linecheck but that’s fine with us. The venue provide full backline aside from snare & cymbals which makes things nice and easy, my CIJ Fender Mustang going into an Orange 4-Stroke amp & 410 cab. We played really well, great audience reaction, excellent on stage sound. Gigs like this really make being in a band all that more fun.

Well, that was fun last night. Played Krakatoa in Aberdeen with The Inevitable Teaspoons. We had a good time, but I thought I could have played better. Sound engineer forgot to switch back on the drummer and I's monitor because the previous drummer was using cans. So the first two songs (which we play back to back) were well ropey as we were completely detached (sonically) from the rest of the band. We were also plagued with onstage feedback - again, not our fault, sound engineer had got the monitor mixes a bit wrong. So our set was curtailed a little, had to jump to the last song and skip a couple, but folk were dancing around to our stuff, and the horn section were wireless so they jumped down onto the dance floor and got people excited by that. Got a lot of nice comments afterwards. Other bands were good too. Also a good night for equality - three bands played, one was 100% female, one band was 50/50 female/male and then the sausagefest that is The Inevitable Teaspoons! The only pic I have is of our sax player's drinks... Gear was the Sire Z7, into Krakatoa's house backline (a Markbass head of some sort into an Ampeg fridge (8x10))

1966 and all original. Used at all my electric gigs so that’s 40 or so a year.

Here’s my old lady. 54 years and counting. Bought it 30 years ago from Musical Exchanges in Coventry, which involved part-exing my only bass, a Charvel 1B. I was in university at the time and this has been everywhere with me over the last 30 years. For a very long time it was my only bass and as such helped to shape the way I play. It’s on its third set of frets, second nut, and has had the usual maintenance visits to the local luthier from time to time, but the rest is all original and it’s light as a feather and a pleasure to play.

Said no one on Basschat....ever 😂

My 73 Precision creeps in. Though the pickup is long gone, replaced with a dimarzio 60's.

First gig in what seems like an age, but is actually 4 weeks of people being away. Was going to take my Bongo, as the last few gigs I did on the new OLP, but when I picked it up, it seems it has made itself unplayable for some reason, fret buzz everywhere, maybe humidity or something, a couple of months ago I did a gig on it and it was fine. Anyway, took the Maruszczyk because that never causes an issue. It was a short gig for us, a two hour thing, we don't get those, and it was a nice 2-4 gig at a local village with no parking. When we got there there were two people there and said 'hope you are bringing people', so it seemed like it was going to be a bit of a quiet one, however, but the time we got setup, there were quite a few people there. Sound setup without any issue (in fact the same settings as the last gig) and from the word go, the crowd were right behind us. Actually ended up being pretty busy and considering no practices for a while, nothing major disasters either!

Fantastic gig at Suburbs at the Holroyd in Guildford last night. A wonderful human being got 7 bands (including his own) to play his 60th birthday. We played 3rd to a very busy and enthusiastic audience. Our drummer has just retired due to tinnitus issues and we had a dep stand in on very short notice. Could have been a car crash, but I think he did brilliantly. Rig was my trusty P Bass, going through house combo and the debut of my new Sansamp DP-3X, purchased off our very own @NancyJohnson

Great fun last night. Still a guitar down and I’m in a aircast for another 5 weeks but got through fine. Arrived early as our sound guy had another gig on so we had extra to do and to make sure we could get everything connected and working. The pub was quiet to start with, but that was largely due to the earlier arrival and it filled up towards start time, and on through the evening (there was a big firework display on just down the road). I think that I need a new cable for my IEM”s as they were cutting in and out, but then again I could also probably do with a better system all round so I was back to old school with one plug-in and one out for most of the evening. Generally played okay with a couple of alien abduction moments for each of us through the night that we got through without major car wreck, and they crowd were well up for it singing and dancing all night. So all in all a pretty good session. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AVHmGogpi/?mibextid=UalRPS

We were in our new home town, Worcester, again (not that we live anywhere near, just that our last gig was there) playing upstairs in coffee shop cum bar cum record shop. Arrived to find a room which would possibly fit 30 people in plus the four bands playing... Sound guy had had it sprung on him that he was doing it that afternoon - he had no idea where the kit was and the promoter hadn't turned up yet (already 1/2 hour late!). So as we were headlining I stuck my baby rig on a pair of redundant (and broken) PA speakers and sneaked off for a burger (a Five Guys one, expensive but streets ahead of Maccy D's!). Came back an hour later to hear band 1 doing a soundcheck - they were due on at 8, but it was already 8.25. Then I spotted my old mate of 40 years who'd schlepped up from London to see us - so I basically missed the first band though they sounded pretty decent from downstairs. Next band started at 2130ish - tight as, uptempo punky stuff with a slightly poppy edge, all wore orange jumpsuits, were called Guinea Pigs and are well worth seeing. Penultimate band were called Paper Sailor from Glasgow - not at all punky, more metal but with melodic vox, bassman had an extremely battered Warwick which was good, they were a bit different from the norm which the Power Ranger suits added to - also well worth seeing! We finally got to set up around 1120 ( we were due on at 11 or before), did a 4 bar line check then started our set with an extended bass solo (!we often do - it's a whole 24 bars with gentle feedback and cymbal accompaniment - nobody left the room!) and into "Buried Alive". Despite that late hour the room was about as full as it could be of peeps who'd actually paid to get in, some of whom commenced to jig about wildly which encouraged us to do an almost flawless and rather rockin' set. I allowed myself the conceit of believing this was solely and entirely down to a new Helix patch I'd made which was a very slightly overdriven and heavily gated meaty thwacky slap sound, which I made the most of by slappin'n'poppin' like a superannuated Flea Tribute. Our other bass player was so impressed that he grinned at me and gave me a lovely wave like Gareth Hunt in that old Nescafe ad. The only mistake was at the end of Knockout which was meant to end abruptly on "3" but the drummer wasn't looking at me for his cue to stop. Still, nobody noticed I think! And a particularly punky looking chap came up to our Raph at the end and pointed at me and said "is that a Parker? I didn't believe they actually existed but there it is!". Managed to pack down and trolley to the car (£11,70 parking in NCP!!!!!) in 10 minutes so left Worcester at 1230, arriving home 1 hour 1 minute later (Google said 1 hr 19) in time for a wee dram of Talisker and a spot of Rupaul's Drag Race (!) before bed (and loud dog barking at 0630...) My other gear was BBE pre, DBX rack compressor, Bridged Crown power amp and Markbass 2x10.

There you go, sorted 😃

The same age as me, this is my 1967 Hofner Verithin I bought it in 1988 from a friend who had replaced the tuners with some Schallers; everything else is original. For the band I was in then, I took great advantage of its ability to feed back to create some terrifying drones when crouched in front of the Sessionette 100 I was using at the time. 😎 For the last few years I have kept it strung with D’Addario Chromes. It still comes out to play every once in a while.

You may judge for yourself here. 😉 I made plenty of mistakes(*) but I think we didn't do too badly for an amateur band. The audience liked it and were pleased to have that sort of material played, and it was good to be doing it as a proper gig rather than a number here and there as the house band at a jam. (*) E.g. forgot what key I was in for the first few bars of the first solo...

Thanks for all your thoughts folks. Perhaps I'll give it a bit longer before deciding or giving up.

Just back from Whitby Goth Weekend. Gave the pavilion a miss (I've seen both IST IST and Peter Hook & The Light recently) in favour of a selection of lesser known and up and coming bands. On Saturday afternoon it was Goth At The Brewery with the magnificent Machiner: Combining the best parts of The Blue Nile and Talk Talk to create something new but with a darker edge. "The Sound Of Disappearing" is probably my favourite new song of 2024. Followed by Death Trippers. I hadn't been that impressed with their recording, but live it was a whole different proposition. A more psychedelic Joy Division with some real brooding power. Hopefully they will manage to capture that sound in their next trip to the studio: And finally the mighty Westenra: Unfortunately I couldn't stay for all their set as we had to battle our way through the crowds across town to get to Flowergate Hall where Stock Image were playing at 5.30: Influenced by all the best bits of your favourite early synth-pop bands, but still bringing something original into the mix. And then the surprise of the weekend - Social Youth Cult: Despite all looking as though they were under 20, they bring a powerful combination of early Joy Division meets first album Bauhaus. After that I had hoped to see Holy Braille along with Killing Miranda and Iamimperfect at The Crafty Cove, but I left it too late to get tickets and they had all sold out. Probably just as well as 8 great bands in one day might possibly have been overload! Then on the Sunday went to see Dr Diablo and The Rodent Show at Abbey Wharf. This was the first time I have seen The Rodent Show in its current incarnation, and they didn't disappoint. The audience appeared to be an equal mix of those who knew what to expect and those who spend the weekend parading around the town in costume who had popped in for a final drink before going home who mostly had WTF expressions... And here we are just before the mayhem commenced: Hoping that I'll be gracing one of these stages in 2025...

Here's a sample of the bass in context - a snippet of one of my band's songs. Only recorded at home on GarageBand along with a less than perfect backing track but it gives you an idea I have gigged this bass a fair bit now and it sounds great every time. blue horizon - 04:11:2024, 4.34 pm.mp3

Shuker's

email received today...

Long term hero and influence for me. Here have some Brothers Johnson with magic Q dust sprinkled on!

Back out last night with the glam band after a 4 week hiatus. Relaunched with a new name after a previous band member registered the old name and did a ‘cease and desist’ on us. Less said about that the better….even at my age I occasionally get surprised by the actions of others. A big lively and local WMC, pretty full too so it was nice to be back on the pony. A pretty full diary now until January so onwards and upwards.

Great night for BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band in Dalkeith Social last night. Approx 200 there so that was good. Dancing from the start with a full floor for many of the songs. Audience well up for a fun party night and that always helps with quite a few dressed for the occasion too. 2 x 1hr sets last night which was easy and leaves the audience wanting more. Sandberg VM4 into Shure wireless and Mesa TT800 amp and SW210/115 cabs. Little touch of Keeley compression more as a limiter than anything else. Re-booked for March 2025 so that's good. Its a fantastic club that have spent a lot of money on stage, PA and lighting in recent years. On a side note and more a rant, 3 of us decided to stop at McDonalds on way home. I was last in drive thru qeue at McD's and altho only getting big mac meal i had to sit at the window for 10 mins. The other two guys had finished and one had headed home before i even got my order. Its a blooming "drive thru" why am i waiting 10mins for your signature burger. ? Experienced this a lot at McD's now so that will be last time for me. Burger was hot but chips cold and had obviously been sitting in the bag waiting for the burgers. Rant over. 1hr drive home on very quiet country roads. Home by 2am, had my coffee and bed by 2:30 ish. Back up 8:30am today for a trial PA set up with a guy that offered to do our PA for £100 a gig. We have a large gig coming up soon and thought we'd give him a try. We do know him. This is just to get things set up on his desk and make sure he knows what we are looking for. Starts 12am today so heading off 11am. Club had asked if we minded a support band of young local guys called Chapter 2. Only 16-17 yrs old but they were good. 3 piece band Guitarist / singer, bass and drums. They turned up with little pocket amps too with the bass player having a tiny wee Orange cube so i asked if he wanted to use my Mesa rig into the spare channel on the TT800 and he was over the moon. Ran thru the amp with him but at that age you grasp these things very quickly. You could tell they were nervous but they did a great job and even had the courtesy of punting our band and thanking us publicly for letting them support. Really great bunch of teenagers. Don't see that very often these days. There last song was Freebird which took me by surprise as they were mostly pop hits or their own songs. Dave

Absolute Free at Tyne Bar, Newcastle upon Tyne, 10th November at 16.00

Maybe they're unhappy with their bass player and want to try someone else out that might be a better fit than the usual guy. Maybe he never turns up for rehearsals and they're getting cheesed off. Maybe they want to make him aware he's walking on thin ice. Girls always used to use me as the dude who made their boyfriend jealous and pay more attention to them, by dancing with me all night while their boyfriend was slumped by the bar (if their boyfriend punched me they knew they'd got his attention and their plan had been successful). You're ME, The band is the GIRL, their normal bassist is the BOYFRIEND

I see @FinnDave has reduced his 60s Vintera Jazz to £550. Slap bang in the middle of your budget, and a very fine chap to deal with to boot.

I'd be looking at the Fernandes JB55 in the classifieds. The quality of the basses of this era is exceptional. Great value IMHO.

It appears the BB734, and presumably 735, is available in the classic BB red and green. I still love the coffee burst (genuinely better in the flesh than most promo pics) but that green is rather tasty.

What a dreadful gig last night! The wrong gig with the wrong audience. Got asked to play an hour set at a halloween party, however turns out we were on after an hour of drum & bass from an overly loud DJ. After which an hour of punk went down like a led balloon. One guy sang every word of every song, so in my opinion worth it just for that, but the rest of the audience just went to the bar and waited for us to finish before going back to the duff duff moron beat of the DJ. Of course I’m in the minority here! Wrong gig at the wrong time really. Live and learn I guess but actually a good shake down for next week when we’re doing an open air gig with, hopefully, a good crowd.

I took a photo at the time, I think it's about 2ft in CDs. I had some FZ CDs from the early 90s and the sound quality in the 2012 versions is noticeably better 👍🏻

Pic from Saturday!

Meant to post the obligatory gear pic, which for this gig was just the Ibanez UB804.

TONIGHT! The Cantina Band at The Vaults Real Ale Bar (dog friendly) in Knowle. We play here a lot and it's always the same story... no-one's interested, a couple of dancers if we're lucky and a few "Nice one, enjoyed that"s at the end so I was expecting more of the same. When I got there I found out it was a private party for a surprise 40th, the birthday boy's wife had booked us, she'd never heard us and hadn't asked for a setlist (we play a lot of rock covers - think Motorhead, Sabbath, McFly... that sort of thing) and she was asking the singer what sort of stuff we play. AFTER booking us (and after paying). Great, we're going to go down like a wet duvet. Sure enough, the first three songs were met with an empty dancefloor and a deafening silence from the other end of the pub (where everybody wasn't watching from), fourth song a couple of dancers. Great! Then a couple more, then a couple more then suddenly the dancefloor's packed! Harumble! They loved it - singing along, air guitaring, getting involved with the band (in a good way), Sweet child of mine nearly took the roof off (We got the riff in the solo right! That's twice now!), absolutely cracking set. Second set was just as good, went for a wireless wander into the throng which went down a treat, Birthday boy loved it ("You couldn't have picked a better set"), three encores, a couple of people asked for cards... turned out to be a fantastic gig. A few more shekels than usual as well. Dep drummer (chap from the other band) smashed it as usual. He took a pint off the barman while playing and didn't miss a beat. Oh and the drinks were all on the house! Usual setup for this sort of thing : Sterling -> Small (now slightly expanded with an octave and another distortion) board -> amp board (VTDI (set to SVT, sounds amazing) -> Thumpinator) -> Mark CMD121 Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip on the way home, back about 1 for a Henry Westons Vintage (8.2% ABV - AKA The Much Marcle Methadone) and a Curly Wurly. A decent Saturday night!

All Jazz basses. Youngest is 58 years old dots/bound/lollipops which I am quite enjoying. Acquired via these hallowed pages from the long term ownership of the lovely McKendrick, very sadly no longer with us.

Paid rehearsal last night at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh. Too many trick or treat sweeties consumed perhaps - I know I feel pretty peculiar these days if I consume too many Tangfastics in one sitting... Anyway, despite there being no more than a dozen folk in the bar at any one time, we cracked on regardless - if only for the lovely older couple who stayed the whole night and seemed to enjoy it in their own, quiet way. Later on we had an enthusiastic gentleman who was enjoying the heavier stuff in the second set. Both he and a lassie at the bar clearly knew their Iron Maiden so we gave them two Maiden numbers - Wasted Years (which we usually play after Teenage Dirtbag - duh!) and because they were digging it we did Hallowed Be Thy Name too. A quiet one, but it doesn't take much audience interaction to still make these nights fun. The worst is when you play to a bunch of indifferent so-and-sos who, all things being equal, would rather you weren't there in the first place. Gear: Epiphone Les Paul Standard (revision 3) then Reverend Triad into the usual yellow and black boxes

Spooky Halloween gig for us on Friday night! Complete with spooky spider lurking just above my head the whole time!

Alton Beer Festival, 2-300 people enjoying some lovely real ales. Nice vibe with lots of people singing along but only a handful dancing. New songs went down very well; REM's "The One I Love" and Travis' "Why does it always rain on me". Good run for my still relatively new Boss Katana 500, which sounded glorious and was proper loud. Cab is my FMC 1210UL from Germany. Basses are a Sire P8 and my trusty Franz Bassguitars Sirius DC.

My 1968 Fender Precision, bought new by me in March 1969, seriously modded in 1986 and finally put in its case in 1996 when I switched to 5 string basses.