bassbiscuits

First concert - Dio, Newport Centre, 1987 Last concert - Ginger Wildheart, Y Theatre Leicester 2019 Best concert - Stereophonics at Morfa Stadium, Swansea, 1999. (Followed closely by Rage Against The Machine, Download 2010) Worst concert - Ryan Adams, De Montfort Hall, Leicester 2015 Loudest concert - Motörhead, De Montfort Hall Leicester 2005 ish. Seen the most - Karine Polwart Most surprising - David Ford at The Donkey, Leicester Next concert - Michael Kiwanuka, March 2020 Wish I would have seen - the Kiss tour that Alive ll was recorded on

I’ve done the band with married members in it, and yes it did all go a bit ABBA and fell apart. Which was a shame cos it was a really good band.

I cut right back on my playing and consequently my amount of gear three years ago when my youngest lad was a baby. The idea was to sell anything that wasn’t essential, so out went some good instruments. A few years on and I’m gigging lots more but I’ve realised I can still do it all on the limited range of mostly pretty modest gear I’ve got. I guess I’ve worked out what I need.

My Fender P was playing up last year at a rehearsal (some pickup soldering had come loose) so my mate dug out a cheapo Squier P he’d been using for teaching. It sounded absolutely fine - plenty of bassy noises and perfectly good to play too. I’ll be borrowing that as a spare in future.

Band members who like bluegrass.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-51402225 Just spotted this on the BBC website.

Don't forget the sublime Justin Currie, sideburned frontman of Del Amitri (very underrated band if you ask me).

Oxwich is lovely - I’m originally from Swansea so I’m biased tho. Wasn’t me this time, but glad you found a fellow bassist.

Judean People’s Front?

I’d stick him in the annoying category now, but when I was starting out I was hugely inspired by Gene Simmons of Kiss.

I started using lightweight stuff about 10 years ago and swapped my full fat ABM and GK heads for a Markbass LM2 and LM3. For me the Markbass heads had much more usable volume than the Ashdown or the GK head, thru old school heavy cabs (an Aguilar GS410 and a Schroeder 1210r). I used the Markbass/Aguilar combination live on outdoor gigs on big stages and it was terrifyingly loud. Ive sold the Aguilar and just replaced it with a BF Big Twin 2, which is super light and hellishly loud with the LM head. I love big valve heads and 8x10s where they’ve been provided as festival stage backline etc. But I wouldn’t dream of owning one as a jobbing bassist having to load and unload his own kit each time.

Ah sound! I'll try that. These ones at WD Music but they cost about £65.

An in addition to the lack of gig bags, I don't understand why Fender don't seem to make replacement Mustang scratchplates either. I love my MIJ Mustang bass, and would love a pearl white plate to go on it, but genuine Fender replacement scratchplates seem impossible to come by despite a pretty extensive range of 'correct' style Mustangs (MIJ/CIJ, JMJ, Vintera series, Classic Vibes and American Performer series).

It's a great bass part. I became aware of it after playing a gig and the venue put it this on thru a big sound system and the bass was just delightful. Its possibly Will Lee on bass but I don't know for sure. It's a proper ear worm of a tune too!

Copacabana by Barry Manilow is a godawful song - the bassline, however, is sublime.

I went to a Francis Dunnery house gig a few years ago and it was ace. It was a friend of a friend wanting to get a few more bums on seats and host was happy for me and my mate George to come along. Really enjoyed seeing and hearing Francis playing. I'm not mad about some of his astrology/philosophy stuff but his playing and his storytelling were top notch. An unexpectedly cool little evening out.

If I was Yamaha I'd have taken the opportunity to promote their cases as the most comfortable, safe ones out there, guaranteed to get you from A to B in one piece.

Sold Lee a Yamaha five string bass. He was easy to deal with; good to chat to and a prompt payer. He was also genuinely chuffed when it arrived, so you can't say fairer than that! Nice one chap.

The first bassist I was ever aware of - a chap who played with my brother's friends' band in Cardiff in the mid 1980s - had a Thunder Jet and i thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I had a couple of Westones over the years - two Thunder 1As, and a later Spectrum ST. Always pined for another for old time's sake.