WalMan

Did the venue survive? 🤣

I was expecting questions after the second set on Saturday as I noticed a chap apparently peering at the FrankenJazz trying to work out what it was, but nothing. Maybe I was just being particularly bad 🤷‍♂️🤣

I normally get blamed for that and delaying exit, usually because my gear goes in the stuff gets put around it and I can’t get near to pack down

First gig back last night and down a guitarist who was away on a delayed holiday following a family bereavement. We can cover one or other guitarist and drummer either as a four piece for guitars or with one of a couple of drummers. Not for vocals and whilst I have been covered for a couple of times it was not possible for next weekend after I got diaries mixed up and booked a weekend with family too far away to sneak back and do the gig. Thought we’d found cover but he decided it was too much work to prepare, which is fair enough. The week after I have a gig with my band, and a dep the following night, with a dep with a different band the week after that, so other than the mess up for next week it’s a busy month. Last night went ok for the first play in anger for the year. Vox says to me just before we start “how many songs am I going to forget?” Not too many as it turned out. 🙂 First set with the Status 5. Second with the FrankenJazz 4 with a Status neck that I am currently loving. I do need to sort out a new slightly larger pedalboard and have a rejig to fit everything. Currently I have to rearrange bits to fit the OCX Boost and last night added the C4 synth (though I couldn’t work out why the midi switcher wasn’t working until after the gig when I remembered I had forgotten to fit the midi link 🤦‍♂️). I also need to get a different IEM setup as the xvive seems to wipe out my connection to the mixer wherever I put the transmitter. Switch that off and go back to hard-wired with the Behringer P2 and everything is fine 🤬 Gig went well with plenty of crowd participation and no major gaffes on my part, and we ended up slightly overrunning with “just one more”.

Club band had a small coach split to store the gear in the back. Everything had to come out for its MOT and a sink and camp bed installed and called it a motorhome. I had to drive it back from Camber Sands with the brakes barely working and relying on the exhaust brake and someone hauling back on the handbrake when going down the hill to Hastings seafront. The new wave bands transit caused us grief for a while refusing to start or conking out until one night one of our roadies who was also a motorbike mechanic took the carb to pieces with just a screwdriver (IIRC) at the side of the road halfway back from Eastbourne, took out a filter and gave it the weeeee test. Van was fine thereafter 🤣

Tales mainly from the rest of the band in their previous incarnation back in the 70’s and 80’s running a big stage show in pubs influenced by The Tubes and Alice Cooper: Guitarist ended up in A&E having got too close to a flash pot (the neck of his guitar bore the mark of his hand in the lacquer for years after). Nurse says “there’s some weird people out there tonight “ - referring to the dancers and lead vox still in stage gear and covered in stage blood - “yes they’re with me” Part of the stage show included a chainsaw with the chain removed. “Stay away from me tonight” says lead vox and comes on with the saw with chains on and saws a table in half 😱. He still has nightmares about that and what could have happened. Tha prog band I was in used flash pots and I remember the gig where they were due to go off and guitarist was a bit close. Mush gesturing and calling to try to get him to move to no avail and in the end the roadie fired them anyway. Guitarist was so ‘relaxed’ he barely noticed and didn’t flinch. 🤣 My tale pre mobiles. Went up to Denmark Street to record demos for a record company. Should have cancelled the club gig in the evening or found a dep, but you know… it’ll be fine. Got to the studio in the morning and worked up the songs just bass and drums as it was a deal for our vocalist. Got sorted and started recording the three songs but not finished and I had to leave to drive to the south coast for the gig. Got there and found the rest of the band had broken down and not made it. So rang the studio and drove back to London to finish the tracks in the middle of the night. I really had a useless idea of priorities and tried to fit in without letting down anyone - only to screw things up for everyone except me 🤦‍♂️

Mine do. Well the handful of tablets daily and fortnightly injections 😁

My guitarists Jeff Beck story by association from when he worked at National Trust and was chatting with one of the gardeners day. Gardener says "Oh you play a bit of guitar don't you? I was at a do at the weekend and got chatting to a guy who apparently plays a bit... I didn't know him ... have you ever heard of Jeff Beck?" 🤣

…or get an sfx Microthumpinator and put it last in line either on your board or sat on top of the amp as last link so you save a slot on the Stomp or don’t need to remember to add to every patch?

Still seriously thinking of moving my two One10’s on to get Three10 😁

TwoNotes BassRevolt and headphones with whichever bass comes to hand and a feed from my iPad to play along.

Chris Been so busy I’ve only just seen this. Yes would have been great to have more time and a chinwag. I have to say I ruddy love the bass and neck. Added a Hipshot and it’s all good. Plenty of range, nice neck and just the right amount of zing for me. So glad we managed to get the deal done eventually with all the problems arranging a meet after the op on my ankle in September 😁

Last gig for the year and at a venue that has tried but just not been able to break through for a while now and is closing down - another one bites the dust. Quietish night but those that were there were enjoying themselves so that was ok. Swapping between the Status S2 5er that I have been using as go to for a few years now, and the new FrankenJazz 4 with a Status neck and Hipshot that I am currently loving. Only problem with the latter is the missing string I have been used too and getting back to the mindset of the D-tuner so there were a number of moments where I ended up in the wrong place, either because I normally play in a different position higher up the neck, or I was switched down and hadn’t rethought position 🤦‍♂️ Both basses sounded great in my IEM’s. Crowd video I saw this morning had little bass on it but I am consoling myself that it was shot the wrong side of a pillar to me and right in front of the guitars that were definitely there. First gig out of the Aircast boot since the operation on my ankle in September but I should probably still wear it to stand that long. One of the painkillers I take regularly dropped off my repeat scrip and I didn’t notice and ran out. By the end of last night I was crippled and could barely move. Managed the hour drive home but was virtually immobile by the time I got home so straight to bed with no wind down. Picked up some more this morning so hopefully they will kick in soon 😢

It was certainly my intention at the start of the year

Had I fallen? If not I fell hard in the last couple of weeks with an EBS chorus from TheDaivisch followed quickly by the Geddy/Jazz from Beedster. Oops 😬

GUN with Collateral and Kira Mac at The Brook. Good fun as always singing along though as ever the sound ther was patchy. Collateral had amps onstage so the guitar cut through but was very boomy for me, though a good show and crowd response. Kira Mac looked to be modellers/no amps and the sound tightened up but the guitar wasn’t there. Otherwise good. GUN - cabs but no obvious amps. Sound came and went a bit but I was sat at the back under the balcony (by the desk) so that probably didn’t help. Still a fun evening all in all 🙂

Had a bunch of bladdered lads at one gig who really wanted their mate who was “really good” to get up and do a Suede song in the break. Not our style, no we don’t know it, and no you can’t borrow our instruments or plug you phone into the PA 🤬Maybe you should form your own band. Best one recently was the girl who came up asking if we did any Bon Jovi (at least the right genre) just as our singist belted out “SHOT THROUGH THE HEART…” 🤣

I have a video of my son playing along to another Nik song and getting to the end shouting “stop changing key!!!” 🤣

Indeed it was 🤣🤦‍♂️

For many years before joining here I only played 4’s and having had a fretted, fretless and my original converted to 8 string for a while was down to just the one 4 (Wal) with a d-tuner. Then I joined BassChat and the first of a number of 5’s arrived. In the last 15-20 years I have pretty much exclusively used 5’s and only had the Wal, which has been used mainly for recording projects and hasn’t really come out to gigs. I love 5’s for the extended range and availability of different positions across the neck. Still enjoying 4’s and have just picked up a second to which another d-tuner was added and I used that for a few songs at the gig on Saturday. The d-tuner covers a lot of the extended range I have got used to in recent years once I got back into the swing of switching down and up during songs, and I think it will be getting more outings 🙂

Better shot from beforehand last night when I was happier. Soundcheck and slight hissy fit over FOH annoyances to come. 🙄 Having seen a crowd video today with me using the S1 5 string there seems to be a huge amount of bass through FOH, which I often feel is not the case, so I really don’t know. Felt like it may have been an outlier as I wasn’t getting the level where I was behind the PA 🤷‍♂️

A gig out in the wilds. Having been up to Victoria on Tuesday to meet Beedster and relieve him of his Geddy/Status Jazz and have a bit of a chinwag I got a Hipshot BT2 from Bassdirect on Friday - a fettle even I could manage as a straight replacement for the Hipshot already fitted - and managed to find a spar set of strap lock buttons that fit what I have on the strap at the last minute, so casting caution to the wind I took it along. I spent probably 20 years with just my Wal and a d-tuner before joining here and getting my first 5. Since then I have pretty much exclusively used 5ers live so much the same as that first night all those years ago when I got the 5 and took it to a gig that night despite the muscle memory of the 4 and d-tuner there were some lost moments tonight but no one except the rest of the band noticed I should think. The Frankenjazz sounds great 🥰 Gigwise it went ok. Crowd were good as was the sound generally I think after a shaky start at soundcheck when there was booming and feedback. I am getting a bit peed off that this is a regular occurrence that is embarrassing. 🤬 Still otherwise all went well. New songs came and went well. Crowd singing and dancing so I shouldn’t complain. New bass sounded lovely so there’s a silver lining 😁

Had a meet up with Chris on the concourse at Victoria to finally conclude the saga of the Status/Geddy Jazz. And to be clear it was only a saga as the the listing started while I was laid up with a leg in plaster for 6 weeks after an operation so couldn't travel. Anyway after some tooing & froing I was mobile again in an Aircast and we managed to complete the deal yesterday. A train journey up to Victoria to meet Chris, collect the bass, have a chat and then head back to our respective trains. All easy with good comms. Thanks to Chris for a lovely bass and for travelling down to meet roughly in the middle.