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Played our monthly residency yesterday afternoon at Beverley’s The Sun Inn (with the duo). Fairly quiet when we arrived, but just before we started our first set loads of people appeared so it was pretty full by the time we got going. Usual request format produced some good stuff - ‘Rehab’, ‘Listen to the music’ & ‘Fire and rain’ , some ok stuff - ‘Summer of 69’, ‘Dakota’ & ‘Hotel California’, and some downright silly stuff - ‘Bring me Sunshine’ & ‘Happiness’. The last two sparked more requests for vintage TV related tunes which we drew the line with after playing ‘Avenues and Alleyways’ ( from the cult early 70’s series ‘The Protectors’ ). Hardest one of the night for me was the Dave Edmund’s tune ‘Girl’s Talk’. A great song written by Elvis Costello that has some strangely timed bits before each chorus, but we managed to get through it okay. Finished late due to the amount of requests but didn’t really notice as it’s one of those gigs where you easily lose track. Used a Sire U5 short scale into my Rumble 100 combo > the PA and was very pleased with the result. May have to start calling the duo ‘partly acoustic’ now though. 😄

Had a singer storm off stage and leave the band halfway through a gig. We carried on, sadly, despite the cold hand of severe acid-tinged paranoia grabbing hard. Had a guitarist too heavily sedated to feel his hands or his feet, play a gig limply slumped over on a stool. Same guitarist, frustrated by his guitar cutting in and out, once flung his guitar hard onto the stage in frustration, then fired it into the crowd. He then realised it was one of only two guitars he owned so dived into the crowd to try to retrieve it. As support, had a singer elbow the singer from the headline band hard in the throat when the guy came on to try and bail us out after an ill-concieved gong solo wasn't the crowd pleaser we hoped it might be. Security were very clear the show was over very quickly that time. We once learned the hard way that mixing accordion and disco doesn't make for a happy crowd. I once slipped in water on the stage and crashed into the amp, a hefty Trace 4x10 combo perched atop a tea chest, and lay sprawled underneath as it teetered back and forth deciding whether or not to fall forward and crush me. Never had a drummer perish but did know one who hid in his shed for two weeks while pretending to be away on holiday.

We ended the first half of a very quiet and sober pub gig (a last minute booking through an agent) with 'Knocking on Heaven's Door', only to be informed by the landlord that we were playing a wake. At the end of a decent gig in West Wales, we were asked to play a further 30 minutes for extra money. At the time I was playing rhythm guitar in that 4 piece line up, but the bassist was using all my gear as I played bass in the trio version. He decided he didn't want to do the extra set and sat in the dressing room while we emerged as a trio with me on bass. As he was having a lift home with me, he didn't get to leave early. We played for more than 30 minutes and, of course, he didn't get any of the extra cash. The journey home was very quiet. The following day he was encouraged to leave. We went on stage at a holiday park immediately after the children's entertainer, and for about 20 minutes played rock classics to an audience of hyperactive 5-8 year olds who were wondering where 'Bradley Bear' was. One of the best audience reactions we've every had from a noise point of view, but the dancing was a bit dodgy. 😀 We opened to a club audience only to see a woman dancing with a short, bald headed guy. No problems, except she was wearing a pink PVC/shiny skin tight outfit (and she was a large lady) and he was barely as tall as her shoulders. I couldn't look as I was in danger of dissolving into laughter so I looked to my band mates for help. Alas, they had already succumbed to the hysterics. There was a long intro to the first song as the singer couldn't sing.

That night when the abominable snowman emerged from the back of our giant van whilst we were unloading the gear. The drummist had been in there moving flightcases with the back door shut. He knocked the powder fire extinguisher that lived in there and it went off right in his face in a very confined area. It looked like a scene from Scarface when we got the back door open to see what all the fuss was about.

We had to pause our Halloween gig at a Working Men's Club when one of the committee jumped up on stage and asked the singer if he wouldn't mind judging the children's apple bobbing contest.

I play with a guitarist who uses a wireless set up. He runs about in the audience, stands on tables etc. He also walks around outside the pub, still playing. In Camberley, one night, he decided to run across the road (the A30) and play from the other side. The audience laps it up. He just made it back to the pub as a Police car pulled up. Also, at a festival, he jumped off the stage and walked through the audience, still soloing. Then discovers there’s no way back. He had to climb over a fence to get back stage and forgot to turn the guitar down, so we were rocking away with a shrieking cacophony of noises coming from the guitar amp until he got over the fence.

My favourite wasnt mine but my brothers. Played a festival somewhere in europe and the drummer is really late for their soundcheck and no where to be seen. They head to the hotel where he was staying and they hear music or a tv inside but theres no answer, they are geniuely worried now so get the staff to open up the room. Heading inside they find the drummer in massive bubble bath with two women, painting nails, doing hair (they were very glam!) and drinking champagne. The rest of the band are like, what the hell are you doing we needed to sound check like an hour ago. Perfectly serious looks at them all and says, "Just having a bath..."

The one when the vocalists mother dragged him off stage, drove him straight to a mental health facility and had him sectioned.

f*** John Fox Ass Should’ve probably previewed the footage 🤣🤣🤣

Many moons ago the band I was in had bought onto another bands tour, as support - yes kids, this did happen in the 80s & 90s. Anyway, all in the van and off to the first gig. We pulled into the city centre to ask directions. I asked isn’t the gig in Bradford, yes was the answer. So why are we in Barnsley was my next - and rather unpopular it seemed - question.

I did a one-off reading gig playing fretless bass with an orchestra and a 60-piece choir performing Karl Jenkins's The Peacemakers. Full tuxedo and everything . It was at The Arc in Bury St. Edmunds. After the performance ended, I did the classic Spinal Tap lost backstage thing and got lost wandering around between the curtains trying to find the dressing room. What made it more surreal was the fact that I bumped into Terry Waite who was also lost...

Went onstage straight after a male stripper once at a social club gig. The stage was covered in slippery baby oil and an abandoned chair, and it’s fair to say many of the women in the audience would have preferred to see more of the stripper (though they had already seen all of him..) rather than a band of 40-something lads launching into Mustang Sally. Probably more Phoenix Nights than Spinal Tap tho.

We were supporting Status Quo at the Western-super-Mare Winter Gardens Pavilion, when after several hours consuming god knows what, Rick Parfitt staggered into our dressing room to say hello. He took a turn for the worse and had a massive chunder in the sink, which wasn't connected to any pipework! The carpet was soaked and the room stank and apparently he blamed us when the promoter discovered the mess!!

Playing the Royal Hall at Harrogate. Dressing rooms were downstairs. Come showtime and we were wandering around without any idea how to get to the stage. We didn't pass anyone painting scenery but everything else was the same.

Sarum’s Lot played Qudos in Salisbury last night, it’s one of our favourite venues to play, easy load in and parking, nicely run pub, well organised and most importantly very busy. Last night didn’t disappoint. We’re a local band and I’d advertised it lots so was really pleased to see the place busy when we arrived and many more friendly faces turning up whilst we set up. We played a few, new to us, classic rock covers and some slightly middle of the road pop rock covers that all seemed to go down well, despite one or two moments, there was plenty of singing and dancing and lots of positive comments at the end. Unusually for us we decided not to take a break as we wanted to get through as many of the songs as possible, so we ended up playing from 20:45 - 23:00. I used my Geddy Jazz, TT800 & Big Twin II, sounded great in the mix (to my ears at least). We’re back there in April and we’re really looking forward to it😁

Another dep gig with the Lee Aaron Band last night, this time in Bracknell. First time out with the LFSys demo Monaco cab which performed admirably with my Spector/GK combination. Tight, focused tone and sounded great! Great audience, up and dancing & singing from the off.... great fun 😎👍

…but they have just officially announced the full supporting line up… BLIMEY!!!!! Three of my all time favourite artists together on one bill, and all ones I have yet to see in concert. I’m totally blown away by this line up. I saw a rumour about it last week but didn’t want to get my hopes up without an official announcement. Well, that’s “Trevor’s GIG OF THE YEAR” settled six months in advance.

As I've sold my big amp stuff when the band quit, I had to shop for something nice since we are getting to play together again. This EBS popped up semi-local, so I'd went to check it out: I never even knew these existed until last week. It's a T90, full tube 90s watts. Made in China. This head sounds amazing. It has the warmth, the clarity, the grunt.... I like it even more than my former '77 Ampeg V4B. It's a good bit smaller and lighter too. The deal consisted of this head, a matching Classicline 410 cab and a flight case for the amp. All in for €650. It's a good deal I think. I'm happy with it.

Played at the Roadhouse in Manchester one evening; we were young and nobody drove. Oasis were tailing off at this point - but still had a big Manc following. The city centre was gridlocked. Drummer and Guitarist got a taxi to Black Friars and sat in traffic. Taxi Driver decided he’d had enough and chucked them out SWR 410 cab & Matching head Marshall 112 combo marshall 212 combo 3 guitars bass pedal bags… so I went to meet them (i worked on Portland street at the time) so. We piled what we could on the 410 cab (luckily on casters) and carried the rest up Market Street… to “ORRRRR YES M8, ITS OASIS” ”PLAY US A SONG MAAAAYYYTE” Etc. was pretty annoying. gig was dead. met the mother of my first born that night. the only thing I don’t regret about that evening is the first born child (who came about 5 years later). evidence of said gig…

We played a little festival somewhere down south (I can barely remember where to be honest) and ended up with a midday slot on the main stage. There were in fact two main stages which ran consecutively so there was no downtime and the audience didn't have to move. Nice site but as we pulled up a band that shared our management were heading out looking like they'd just been kicked in the collective nards and gave us a sarcastic "good luck" on the way past, which was not auspicious. It was a family festival with a real mixed line-up and we had not been pitched well, so our audience was mostly kiddies playing twenty-five-a-side in front of the pit barriers: at one point a misplaced volley came up onstage and I had to hoof it back which got the biggest cheer of the set. We were pretty dispirited by the end and even more so to see the much larger crowd of parents gathering in front of the other stage for Dr And The bloody Medics, so we packed up and booked off sharpish. I was driving the van and remember pulling a slightly narky take-off out of the main gates with a muttered "...never coming back to THIS disaster again". Sadly, we had to sheepishly crawl back through security fifteen minutes later when our singer remembered they had left a custom mic stand behind the stage instead of packing it away. Nothing really wrong with the festival, just a bad match, but so far it's the only show where anybody has ever asked me for their ball back mid-song.

Last year, last band, the venues dry ice/smoke machine went haywire halfway through the set and engulfed us all in a a thick fog. Singer coughing, one guitarist trampled his pedalboard, drummer no clue what was happening and me and the other guitarist nearly wiped out by the sound guy running on stage past us to try and fix it. Audience couldn't see us for a few mins. There's a video of it somewhere.

Years ago, supporting Dave Hill's version of Slade, we settled into the backstage dressing room area at The Queen's Hall, Widnes. We took up a very small corner of the room, but when Dave Hill appeared, it was all a case of a "no no no, this won't do..." tantrum and the rest of his band giggled at him as he struggled, huffing and puffing, trying to pull a mobile partition across to divide the room into two halves. I think when we had stopped laughing, we did the gentlemanly thing and put our stuff in our cars and got out of his way. He was absolutely insufferable that day and when the rest of the band tried to headhunt me because their bassist was leaving, I politely declined.

It’s a fine line between Phoenix and Spinäl.

Winner!

I went to PMT and bought a keyboard to try and learn piano, you know broaden your musical skills. You know how cheaper keyboards have demo songs? well this did, Yesterday by the Beatles, a Mozart piece and Wagner... except it got stuck playing Wagner. So took it back to PMT, and great customer service, they exchanged it for another - apparently not an uncommon fault in this type of Electric piano, I had got a Nazi Synthesiser.

I played a biker festival in Germany, and the support act was a female stripper. Rather awkward when she walked offstage and past us. "Great set" didn't really seem right (or maybe it was). Worst part (for a shy retiring type) was, when we finished. The audience were howling for an encore (from her) and we had to pack up as she gyrated around us.

A long time ago we had a drummer who was very much into Taekwondo. Once, he took the singer's microphone so he could inform some of the audience that if they didn't STFU he'd come down there and fill them in. Another one from that era involved a different singer. During a charity event with multiple bands she disappeared off to a pub without telling anyone (no-one had a mobile phone at that time) and we missed our slot. Upon returning to find another band playing instead of everyone waiting for her a massive strop and storming out was the result.

We had to delay our set at a village fete because the puppet show overran. "I told them a thousand times- it's Spinal Tapp first , puppet show last "

Guitarist managed to smack his telecaster into his nose when putting it on causing it to continue bleeding onto his shirt throughout the set. Then there was the charity gig to raise money for a young chap to go towards a new electric wheelchair. We didn't have a setlist so the singer was calling the songs. For some reason he started the set with 'Up on cripple creek' not making the connection that it might not be the most appropriate song in our repetoire.

Thoroughly enjoyed 90% of that special concert, epic sound mix with the bass really sounding great, Pink was the standout vocalist for me, that lady can really sing, Flee didn’t have to spend much on his stage outfit 😀 The quality of musicianship was outstanding and it made me feel quite emotional at times, it’s something that hits me as I get older.

Just reminiscing. There were some crackers weren't there. I remember visiting the Bass Centre in Wapping numerous times and seeing Steinbergers, Status's and Wals. I bought a lovely Wal Pro 2E Cherry second-hand for I think... 300 quid. If I had a time machine and some funds I'd go back and get a Status S2000 in black weave preferably with the script font on the brass bridge plate. I love the look of early Status basses. All shiny and new. We were spoiled.

I don't care LMFAO I bet my dad is stronger than your dad : ? )

Even battery box designs are due improvement. My Celinder had one, but they’re a pretty cheap plastic affair which is really quite flimsy, and not that secure or satisfying to snap closed. Given the choice I think I prefer the Musicman early designs with a metal plate which screws over the battery cavity.

A band I was friends with were playing in the basement at the Tamworth Arts Centre (now the Tamworth Registry Office where Mrs Zero and I got married), and asked me to do the lighting (nothing complicated, just move a couple of sliders up and down). They also got another friend, the late Titch, to do the pyros for them. Titch had some flash powder which he enthusiastically filled a trough with, then he tripped over the trough and deposited the contents on the floor. Nothing daunted, he refilled it. A few minutes into the set, I was wiggling the sliders (which were right by the stage at the front corner) when Titch fired off the pyro. The contents of the trough ignited, immediately followed by the contents of the floor, and the stage area was completely filled with smoke. The bassist was about two metres from me and completely invisible, I could just see the headstock appearing now and again through the fog. And one that happened to a band I was in - we had got our first gig in a Tamworth pub, and the drummer got his other band in as support for us. We set up and there was no sign of our guitarist. The support did their slot, still no guitarist. Then we found he had jumped in the canal. We roped in the guitarists from the other band as we were doing standards and got through the gig. I never did find out the underlying reason for Pete jumping in the canal (he did recover but I don't think I ever saw him again).

My church cannot accommodate the number of people who attend every Sunday so we are planning to move to a larger building. In the meantime we have gone to two morning services - 9.15 and 11.15am. Both services are getting pretty full! We now have four bands to cater for the increase in services. There are two bands who take turns to play at the early meeting and two more at the later gathering. I now play every other week at the 11.15 service and we need to have a mid-week rehearsal because it is impossible on a Sunday morning as the people of the first meeting mingle with the later arrivals and chat over tea and cake! I must say I'm enjoying playing more often and can already feel my ability increasing. Our band does not have a drummer at the moment (he is on honeymoon) so it is up to me to keep everyone in time. That means hitting the root notes and providing a good foundation for the other band members to build on. The mid-week rehearsal (Friday evening) is also a good time to socialise with the rest of the band and try out new arrangements. The only problem with playing at the second meeting is that I can enjoy some tea and cake at the start and the end - not good for the figure!

Heavy duty battery clip https://www.bitsboxuk.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=192_194&products_id=1428 David

It's worth the money for me. I bought it with the intention of using it for valve warmth on a few old tunes but the beautiful harmonic content it adds to my tone means it has become an always on pedal.

Mine was delivered with a customs sticker telling the post office not to deliver until they had taken a charge of £80. However, the postman just handed it over and I was never asked for payment. I'm guessing it fell through the net due to the Xmas rush.

Also a gig I did at the Tamworth Assembly Rooms back in 2021. First gig with that band. Went for a wee a couple of minutes before due onstage and there was some really good music playing in the toilet. Turned out to be our intro tape. Panicked and rushed back to the wings ready to go onstage and then played whole first half with my fly open. Nice.

The festival we did some years ago where it was the soundman was just a mate of the organisers who had a PA but didn’t have a clue what he was doing. The band before us sounded dreadful - it was just the monitor mix coming thru front of house. Our onstage sound was awful, everyone had the wrong mix anyway or none at all. Once it was obvious it was gonna be a mess we just spent the rest of the set laughing. We wondered how much worse it could get (a question which was answered when the next band started up and all the audience could hear was their click track coming out thru the front of house). Absolute shambles.

Load in at one particular venue was via the back entrance, through the kitchen and down various corridors. Cue many random shouts of "Hello Cleveland!".

Made In Mexico I bet 🤣🤣🤣

Really recommend the FI and there’s a cheap one on here at the moment (and housed in the smaller box that @GisserD made:

I'll start. We were playing a " so called" high end blues festival in Baraboo. A 2 hour drive. They told us we would have a pro stage, lighting and a pro sound crew. We get there and it's pouring raining, The tent had several leaks, the stage looked like it was made from stacked up milk crates. The 2 sound guys appeared to be in their early 80s. I asked them if they would xrl my amp to the sound, neither one moved. They .merely pointed to and xrl lead laying in the grass, as if I was supposed to do it myself. Apparently they didn't recognize me. Daryl

I don't often wander on this side of the pond, but I did just now and somehow stumbled upon this thread. In case anyone is still interested, I did just brew a new batch of my onboard one-knob compressor: jtex.ca/products/okc I honestly think it really whips the Llama's arse! Too bad very few people think of a compressor as something to put onboard.