casapete

That actually used to annoy me! They were wanting to appear so ‘alternative’ whilst agreeing to go on mainstream TV to flog their product. Can’t have it both ways surely? I think it was The Clash who flatly refused to do TOTP, a far more appropriate response for a punk band IMO.

I think in the early days miming was commonplace - often with maybe just a lead vocal being sung live over a pre recorded backing track. Once the programme got established after a couple of years or so though, it went to being pretty much all live performances.

A throuple ? How very modern….😃

If it works Daryl, then why not? Obviously you must all be experienced players who can play around with things until you’ve reached how you want it to sound. And think of all that rehearsal time you’ve saved….😄

Thanks , will check them out. I always try to use parts from the manufacturer where possible, but agree your suggestions may be the best solution. Cheers.

I’ve never been in bands that rehearse say once a week or something - couldn’t see the point. I think some people see it as a bit of a social too, but I don’t really want that. If the band is gigging regularly I think that’s probably enough - certainly been that way for me. When you say you haven’t rehearsed for 5 years Daryl, does your band still introduce new songs and then do them on the fly at gigs? Or has it been largely the same set for that period? My last band ( a touring tribute ) used to rehearse in December when we were quiet, in readiness for the following year’s dates. This gave us chance to maybe re-jig set lists and swap in a couple of new tunes and it worked well. If we had anything that needed ironing out we’d do it at a soundcheck to save having to organise a separate rehearsal. There were eight in the band, from over quite a wide area so this made sense for us. ( My acoustic duo have never had a rehearsal in over 30 years!! ) 🤣

We had a rehearsal last night with our blues trio ‘The Alligators’. Only my second one - been gigging with them since last June! Got a few things topped and tailed, as well as sifting through some ideas for new songs to be introduced into the set. Used a Sire U5 short scale into my regular Rumble 500 combo, sounded great. I think it’s my new go-to bass for this band now, going to use it on our next gig a week on Saturday. Was really cold in the rehearsal room though, so I didn’t feel warm until I got home. Not overly keen on this rehearsal lark.

I’m in a similar situation, only mine is a Sire U5 short scale. Used it in rehearsals last night with our blues 3 piece outfit and both of the other guys commented on how well it sits in the band. Slightly OT, does anyone know who to contact regarding Sire spares? May need another tone knob for mine. Cheers.

Amazon currently have sets of D’Addario EXL170S strings on offer for £12.95. These are short scale, gauges 45/65/80/100. I bought some on a similar deal last year and they are fine. 😊

Not true I’m afraid - of the seven studio albums released by Macca in the 21st Century, some or all of his band ( Abe Laboriel Jnr, Brian Ray, Rusty Anderson and MD Paul Wickens ) appear on six of them. ( The 2012 album of old covers & standards is the exception, featuring many guest players but not his band). Saw them at Manchester in December and was blown away by their talent. 😊

Looks like him. He was on the tour at the York gig last week.

Interesting - we must have 3000+ tunes on it, and it’s never failed at all. Although we only use a couple of iPads with the duo, my guitarist pal uses a few iPads with forScore on his many gigs with varying band sizes, and I haven’t heard him saying he’s had any problems. ( The version we use was the paid for one, I don’t remember there being a free version but then again we’ve used it for years so thing may have changed.) 😊

Afternoon / early evening gig at The Imperial in Filey with blues trio ‘ The Alligators’. Small venue with no stage, but reasonable amount of room for us. Took my recently acquired Sire U5 short scale straight into Rumble 500 combo. We haven’t played since December, so nice to get back to it. I made one or two stupid mistakes but nothing to scare the horses. We’re having a rehearsal this week ( my 2nd with the band!) so hopefully we can refine some bits here and there. Anyway, the gig - comfortably full pub of people who had come out on a rainy afternoon to listen, including a lady who reckoned we’d played ‘Black Magic Woman’ for her before somewhere and asked for it again - the BL couldn’t remember it - so we did it for her anyway. Two sets of around 50 mins just flew by, and a great response from the audience. I love doing Sunday afternoon gigs, and even an hour away for me still home before 9pm.

Great idea - I did that when I broke my shoulder a few years ago. Bought a Roland synth with okay bass patches and sat down at the back of the band most of the time. Very liberating actually & I really enjoyed the experience, although the fact that due to not being able to drive at the time and was able to avail myself of the gratis refreshments on gigs may have clouded my memory. 😁

We had a similar Transit back in the late 70’s, only ours was an ex-ambulance. Our guitarist bought it at an auction and it was still kitted out with some medical items inside, much to our hilarity. The blue lights and most of the exterior local health authority decals had been removed, but it still looked like an ambulance. Went quite fast when it was going, which wasn’t very often. We got used to breaking down on the motorway, and regularly had bets as to what the problem was this time whilst waiting for the AA to arrive. It drank petrol at an alarming rate too. IIRC didn’t early Land Rovers have manual windscreen wipers too? May have dreamt that though.

We’ve used forScore with my duo for years with no problems whatsoever. A one time purchase , think it’s around £15 but well worth it IMO.

Definitely a good call, hope you enjoy still playing bass at home / recording etc. All the best.

Sorry to hear this, and hope your health issues improve very soon.

We used to have a spare ‘dep’ suit, which was for anyone who didn’t usually play with the band. As some of the deps we regularly used were quite often big lads, we had it made in a generous size. The occasional slimmer deps wearing this suit meant use of gaffer tape to keep the trousers from descending whilst playing. Great stuff gaffer isn’t it? 😆

When one of our sax players forgot to bring black shoes to a gig, I remember black gaffer tape being used to cover his white trainers, quite well IIRC. Same fella also had a hole in his black dinner suit trouser knee, so we used a Sharpie on his skin to disguise it. Had to do two marks though, one for playing sitting down and one for standing. 😆

Sorry to hear this Dave, although I understand your thinking. Like others have said, a break from things may result in you doing something that doesn’t involve driving across Scotland , and wearing four inch heels! I must admit the glam dressing up thing wouldn’t be for me, but understand it’s been a great band for you for some time. Don’t sell your gear if you don’t need to, and see how you feel after having some time to see how much you miss gigging. All the best to you with whatever you decide mate.

One of my early gigs with my old function band was at a hotel in Grimsby. As it was an 8 piece band and the stage was only a small recess in a wall near the dance floor, it was me, the drummer and keyboard player who squeezed onto it, leaving the brass section, guitarist and the singer to ‘work the floor’. Our recently acquired smoke machine was usually operated by the one of the sax players, but as the lead with the ‘on’ switch wasn’t long enough to reach him, I was given the task of using it. Very few punters dancing at this point, with most of them still in the dining room nearby, so I thought I’d see how hazy I could make it, egged on by the brass players and of course copious amounts of alcohol from the free bar. A short while afterwards I saw a couple of old people wander in, dressed in their pyjamas and nightwear. A few more then appeared in similar attire, and I wondered if it was a themed fancy dress do or something. Then next to appear were a couple of guys dressed as firemen, which I thought was even more bizarre, until I realised that the smoke had triggered off an alarm in reception which was linked to the fire brigade. The people in nightwear were guests asleep upstairs and were woken to be told to evacuate the hotel by the firemen, who came over to us to advise us to do the same until they could determine the whereabouts of the fire/ smoke. It was then that the penny dropped and they realised what had triggered the fire alarms, and gave us a lot of grief ( quite rightly too) about their unnecessary call out. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful after that, and needless to say the band never played there again.

I agree. A few years ago one of mine snapped and my tech guy fitted a replacement which was of far better quality - chunky and easy to change the battery. Didn’t ask him where he’d sourced it unfortunately but am sure there must be some out there. An electro acoustic bass of mine has one of those nifty little compartments where you just insert the battery with no connector needed. Bit like the MM ones IIRC, a definite improvement.

I used GK cabs for a long time. Had two Neo 410 cabs and they were great paired with my GK 1001RB amp head. Never missed a beat or came anywhere near farting out. Also had an older 410 and a 210 ( ceramic drivers) which were also okay.