bassbiscuits

I look like a cross between Jerry Sadowitz and Pete Doherty, so no. In the early 1990s I did have long curly hair (the Jerry Sadowitz bit) and cowboy boots with chains on and a good line in fag-in-gob pouting, but it seems it wasn't enough to guarantee me enduring fame and fortune. Damn.

Hottest - a small duo gig at a country pub where they'd put us directly in front of a big roaring log fire. Half my face got completely grilled and red and shiny, and I felt physically ill. The whole experience was hideous. Coldest? Probably the gig i did last Christmas for a local street fayre on the back of a lorry. Utterly perishing, frozen fingers etc. Nice.

34" all the way for me, but I've very very keen to get my hands on a 30" Fender Mustang at some point (the old style, not the PJ version) as the shorter scale and lighter weight really appeals to me. The various things on YouTube dont really give me clear idea whether a 30" has the same amount of thump as a 34" tho.

Not much despite 32 years of playing. I'd like back my 1996 USA Precision, which i sold about two years ago after 10 years as my main bass. I was finding it too big and heavy and traded it in for a Mike Lull, which i ended up selling anyway! I did sell a Gibson SG to a mate once because i needed the money for a bass amp, but i missed it so much I bought it back a few years later when I had the money. I sold it finally a couple of years ago to finance another bass, but really should have kept it. There's been some other decent basses along the way, but I can live without them.

I'm afraid i've been in the same position and it's part of the reason i left that band. The guitarist, whose band it was, would only do songs that he wanted - regardless of how dull/boring/done-to-death they were. Mostly chose songs because they were easy, rather than good - and he never bothered to learn any of the better ones I suggested. Now i play solo and play whatever i like at gigs. Much happier.

Yeah its hardly life affirming stuff to spend your wages on! But i'm in no rush to repeat the tyre incident...

Two gigs in two nights for me - unfortunately I blew my voice by overdoing it on the first gig which meant I spent the gig last night sounding like a bit like a pound shop Rod Stewart. The second gig was a fairly gentle one in a country gastropub, so got away with not having to be hugely loud or powerful and everything held up well enough. Got home in time to catch the Jeff Beck documentary on bbc4 too. Both gigs were covering for someone who'd had to cancel so it was all a bit of a bonus and handy money to pay for the for new tyres my car needed after having a blow out doing 70mph on the M5 last weekend....

McAlmont and Butler - Yes. What an awesome song that is, with amazing vocal performance from Mr McAlmont. Blows me away every time I hear it.

Meant to be a summer gig in a marquee erected on a tennis court of a posh house. Except it was pouring down and the paltry matting making up the marquee floor was awash with water, to the extent i ended up putting plug boards etc on the rubber mats from the car footwell. It was freezing and blowing a gale too. When we finished and loaded gear into car in the rain and dark, I noticed a) I had a flat tyre and b) there was a fresh pile of ripe dog sh*t right where I'd want to kneel to sort it out Happy days.

The band I was in a few years back had one big Wharfedale monitor for vocals at the front of the stage shared between us two singers. I remember at a pub gig watching in slo mo as a very drunk, flirty woman shimmied across the area front of the stage, making eyes at us, and just toppled straight over the monitor, drink flying. I last glimpsed her being escorted from the pub in tears by her friend. Oh dear.

Have lifted bass over my head triumphantly at climax of final song at a gig in Derry and smashed it straight into the venue's lighting rig. Nice.

At one stage I was the only member of my band that hadn't sh*t themself on stage. Various stories involving food poisoning and / or nerves had laid low the other members at one time or another mid gig. Just to clarify I still haven't sh*t myself on stage - I'm just not in the same band any more!

Cool looking guitar! Peerless stuff is great - I've got an older Epi Jack Casady bass which is made in the Peerless plant too, and its flawless.

Currently listening to the Virginmarys EP Sitting Ducks. Saw them live two weeks ago and they were fantastic. Also just bought Scott IV by Scott Walker having heard a few songs last week which were intriguing.

Me too. Bass + amp. If that's not enough, then you're not doing it right!

Don't get me wrong, Kiss were one of the first bands I ever got into, and Alive I and II are classic albums. Gene Simmons bass playing is good too - lots of good melodic lines etc. It's just when he opens his mouth to talk that I switch off.

Gene Simmons - talking out of his a*se as ever.

This. In the last couple of years I've bought and sold a Mike Lull which i expected to be my forever dream bass, and instead hung on to a secondhand Yamaha BB604 which plays and sounds brilliantly. Same with guitars - my USA strat has gone, by battered old MIJ strat is still with me after 15 years. If you find the right one for you, hang on to it.

I bought some for my old Fender bass and they looked lovely - but the pickup one was right in the way where i put my thumb, and the bridge one hampered palm muting and needed to come off to change strings. Nice idea, but not for me.

Congrats Andy and best of luck to you and all your family with everything.

Currently I've fallen into doing just solo gigs on acoustic guitar and singing - it doesn't involve the time commitment of being in a band, finding suitable personnel, rehearsing etc, but still gives me a couple of gigs a month at most and a bit of pocket money as a result, which I'd miss by not gigging at all. I've done one bass gig this year I think - as part of a trio at a local David Bowie tribute night back in January. I've got plans for more, but all three members in that band are all in the same boat with young kids etc, so we're doing it for enjoyment rather than putting ourselves under press to meet any unrealistic demands. Ironically when we do get out there it sounds brilliant - lord only knows how decent it would sound if we actually had a bit more time to polish it! EDIT - we're all early/mid 40s now....