casapete

👍

Slightly OT, I saw Jimmie Vaughan supporting Eric Clapton at the RAH a few years back. No bassist, just the Hammond player using pedals. Sound wasn’t great for me , and really missed something. Also saw Stevie Winwood in Sheffield with his superb Brazilian band, and the same thing again. Maybe you just get used to the sound of a bass guitar underpinning everything?

I've dipped my toe into lightweight stuff ( Markbass and GK MB range ) but for years have settled on what I consider to be a middleweight rig for my main gigs in theatres - GK 1001RB (22lbs) and GK Neo 410 (64lbs) as kind of a compromise from what I would ideally love (Ampeg SVT). I also have a Gen 1 BF Compact which I use for my other gigs where I use my car, which has been a gamechanger for me. It's really the speaker cabs that have always been my bugbear, and the BF stuff has come just in time for me to feel the benefit after years of schlepping heavy stuff around the country. I don't consider my 1001RB to be overly heavy compared to most of the class D stuff, and do like the sound it makes so no probs there.

Absolutely. And that's why even now the go-to bass rig you see on stages everywhere is the Ampeg SVT / 810 or derivatives of it. Still miss mine after nearly 20 years 😢

Thanks Mart, may take you up on that after the silly season. Cheers, Pete.

Wow, 8lbs is in my ballpark Mart! As you know, am itching to get another MM so this has given me hope to seek one out. Maybe get some help from Santa with this..... 😊

Nice basses Mart. Any idea how light the Caprice actually is ( and also the Starry Night come to think of it)? Cheers, Pete.

Ha, remember them well. Pie and peas, often served with mint sauce instead of gravy. Also hot pork pies, where the jelly oozed out when you cut or bit into them. Also in Hull there was a bloke nicknamed 'Supercockle' who used to do his rounds of the pubs and clubs on Saturday nights selling all manner of seafood in small polystyrene tubs, which you ate with a cocktail stick and had a bit of vinegar sprinkled on. If he came in while you were playing, you ended up performing to a queue at the side of the concert room. ( Also the same thing happened when an old guy came round selling 'Green Sports Mail', which was a special late edition of the local paper containing the football and racing results from that afternoon.)

Stevie Wonder's 'Song in the Key of Life', after watching great programme earlier tonight on BBC4. Classic album.

Yeah, I worked alongside them a couple of times, and they were always busy and in demand. Put on a good show, and the guitarist was mega! Nice set of blokes too. Also did a gig at a club called Jimmy Dean's ( somewhere in Leicestershire I think? ) which was part owned by one of the drummers.

Blimey, didn't know that - did they both play at the same time?

Two drummers, but two bass players? Their original bassist Al James has recently passed away. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-46248990

We're not talking about doing covers here, or taking the tunes and redoing them in a different style. This is using the original recordings and adding things which the (usually) deceased writer / person who recorded it originally presumably has no say in what is being done. It's no doubt down to their family / manager to decide, and why wouldn't they if it's going to make them pots more money? ( As with spongebob's analogy above, would the family of say Matisse give permission for someone to take their work and redo it in the hope of selling more prints? ) Also the danger then is that over time these reworkings obscure the genius that created them and become the accepted versions, denying new listeners the pleasure of hearing them as the artist intended.

That's exactly why I can't stand it! Nail on head. Can you think of any other art form where this would be deemed acceptable?!!

Is Kimberley Rew still playing guitar for Katrina? Great player.

And still it goes on - this time with Buddy Holly and the RPO. https://buddyholly.com/

Short review of their recent Leeds gig here. Hat very much in evidence again..... http://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Culture-Club-Leeds-Arena

Absolutely - politeness is always the best policy. Regarding sourcing our own food, think our personal best was £25 a man, so you did well! Mind you, IIRC most of our band got a takeaway and spent the rest on beer......😋

AWB scenario then!

Cancelling 3 days before the gig and nobody contacting you is pretty poor IMO. As you say, wouldn’t have taken much effort for the ticket seller to email you and everyone else. As for the ‘logistics’ excuse, WTF?

+1. Great lines and an ace player.

Saw Little Richard years ago and he had two bass players onstage - an old guy playing all the proper low end stuff, and a younger bloke in a flash jacket doing some dance moves whilst playing the odd upper register stuff over the top of it. Very strange.

Sounds like you need to have a think about their validity then? A quick buck doing such unsuitable gigs may well mean you get a bad name for not going down well and then impact on your earnings long term. Sometimes you just have to stay at home and keep your reputation (and sanity!) intact.

We did gigs for all the Forces, and were always looked after really well. Reckon their thinking was that copious food and drink kept us onside for long evenings, and they were usually right! Our band, and in particular the brass section, could put away frightening amounts of food and drink and yet still play fine afterwards. I gradually developed this skill, but as I've got older I find that I can't hack it so much now. My current band (playing theatres) rarely get food supplied, although we did have a small buffet at a venue recently which was greatly appreciated as it meant we didn't have to go out and track down some food. ( Depending on where we are / how much time we have, this can mean the inevitable Wetherspoons etc, which quickly gets tedious ).

Ha, remember doing the same when I was in a function band. We used to quite enjoy it when the booker gave us money to go and source our own food rather than have to eat at the event. Pretty much their way of saying they didn’t want musicians being seen mingling with their guests I think! Over the years I’ve had some spectacular meals provided on gigs though, with memorable ones being a 7 course meal for band members and their partners every New Years Eve at a Gala Dance in Scarborough, as well as a great hotel room being part of the deal. Also the best steak I’ve ever eaten at a castle in Ireland whilst playing at a wedding there, and the most amazing breakfasts (including Champagne!) at a five star hotel in Majorca when performing at a corporate event there. Strangely, at the most upmarket gigs we did in London I don’t recall being that well fed. Probably thought all us Northern blokes wanted chips with everything.....😄