casapete

We played in Beverley yesterday at the wonderful Sun Inn, which is now a monthly gig for our acoustic duo ‘Milestone’. Arrived at 4.30 pm to set up, and it was already busy. The gig runs from 5.30 till 8pm, with us doing 3x40 minute sets of 100% audience requested songs. We had the most ever number of requests, and managed to play most of them, although we were pleased the lady who’d asked for Britney’s ‘Hit me baby one more time’ had to leave before we attempted it. Other songs requested included Springsteen’s ‘I’m on fire’, ‘Broken stones’ and James Taylor’s version of ‘How sweet it is’ which doubled as a request for some JT and Motown. This is one of those special gigs where everything is just spot on - a great audience, brilliant staff etc, and fantastic landlords Paul and Del who really care about music. ( Del even said we should get there a bit earlier next time and he’ll serve us one of his legendary Sunday lunches, or Yorkshire Tapas!) Looking forward to our July gig.

What is it with venues that put on live music and have television on at the same time? We won’t play with them on, period. One of our regular gigs has TV on when we arrive and we leave them on whilst setting up, but then turn them off just before we start playing. Sometimes not popular ( especially when a key match is on ) but we fill the pub with people who’ve come out to see us, not watch telly.

A Dano Longhorn was going to be my first recommendation, although price and their somewhat ‘Marmite’ appeal made me reconsider. That red one looks ace though!

Harley Benton do some short scale basses that are often praised on here - have a look at them on Thomann website. From my experience of SS basses, 32 inch scale doesn’t feel much different to 34 inch. Dropping down to 30 inch scale models does, so that would include Mustangs - you don’t mention a budget but they start at around £350 for the Squier CV60. A friend of mine wanted a shorty bass for his teenage daughter, and I found him an Ibanez TMB30 Talman which was an ace thing - she’s just done her first gig with it. As usual, secondhand is always worth considering to get more bang for your buck. Also if weight / body style is a consideration as well as scale length then best to see if your friend can try a few out to find something that feels right for her.

Reminds me of an incident in a big local working men’s club a few years ago. The resident band and compère/singer were doing their first set of the evening to warm the crowd up, before the bingo naturally. Singer tells the band to take a few solos in a song, and the band see him head towards the bar at the back of the concert room and presume he needed a beer rather urgently. After far too many solos they finish the song, singer-less. One of the band goes off to find him, check if he’s okay etc. As there’s no sign of him, he goes downstairs to check in the bar, and en route asks the doorman if he’s seen the singer, who replies ‘ Oh yeh, if you mean Dave I saw him getting into a taxi about ten minutes ago’. Great way to hand in your notice. 😆

You're right Dave. From my experience (unless you're a big name act with 40/50 years of material to work with and millions of adoring fans) audiences do have a limited attention span and it's best for everyone to acknowledge this when planning setlists. I think for a covers / tribute band 2x60 min sets are more than adequate. I honestly don't see the point in adding songs to the sets and making them so much longer, other than satisfying the ego of some band members who don't know when enough is enough! Also bear in mind that venues like plenty of time to sell more drinks which is probably when the band is having a break / interval. Older audiences like to stretch their legs / go to the loo / grab another beer etc without feeling they're being a nuisance or missing out on some of the band's set. Personally I've always preferred one longer set from a playing point of view - easier to maintain the audience's attention and choose the songs to make the whole thing more cohesive. When my old band played some festivals we found the one set thing a revelation after being used to doing 2x60 minute sets in theatres. ( Unfortunately if we tried to opt for one set, with no support act, in theatres then we would be charged more by the venue to offset their loss on bar takings. )

Should anyone be tempted to try one of these beauties out, GAK in Brighton currently have 3 s/h Longhorns in stock. All Korean reissues, they are in copperburst, black or yellow (gold), and all priced at £419 each on eBay.

Another Johnson and Knopfler episode at 10pm tonight ( 30th May) featuring Emmylou Harris, along with Vince Gill. Followed by an AC/DC doc at 11pm, all on Sky Arts via Freeview.

Bit far away for me - shame as sounds like it would be my kind of thing too. Hope you get sorted, all the best. Pete.

1. Ampeg SVT (1980’s version). Best amp I’ve ever owned, whether into the 8x10 or others. 2. Gallien Krueger 800RB. Classic head, very musical and loud for its size. Had mine a long time. 3. Fender Rumble 100v3 combo. An amazing little thing, weighs nothing and sounds ace.

So true. More than 25 years ago in my old function band we were temporarily without a guitarist. With a couple of big gigs in London on the horizon, our agent put some feelers out to see if a dep could be found. To my amazement we got offered quite a ‘name’ player for around the same fee as were getting each. Only caveat was a hotel needed factoring in, but I was staggered to think that said guitarist would have needed to do such gigs.* From my experience the money has changed very little over the last couple of decades, and I regularly still see dep gigs being advertised with fees still the same. * Anyway, in the end we got a local bass dep and I winged it on guitar! 😆

Nice bit of foam by the bridge - well done that man!

Has to be James for me. My brother’s love of Motown throughout the 60’s left an indelible impression on my musical journey in my teens, and it was the bass on these records that had me hooked more than anything else. I was the odd kid at secondary school who liked what many thought of then as ‘girl’s music’. Most of my mates were into dreadful prog and rock , whereas I loved soul, r’n’b and rock and roll along with a lot of chart stuff too. Stayed the same for decades, and hearing James ( and his contemporaries like Bob Babbit) still has the same effect on me today.

Sounds great, and wonderful pedal steel too. Nice one!

Jools Holland and his RnB Orchestra last night at Scunthorpe Baths Hall. Although they are soon playing a venue nearer us, we decided to go to Scunthorpe as it is a better sounding room - I’ve played there a number of times. Also last night they had Imelda May as one of the singers along with Ruby Turner. Strange ‘support’ act from Christopher Holland, younger brother of Jools and Hammond player in his band. He played and sang a number of songs at the front of the stage, all rather underwhelming. He seemed shy / almost embarrassed and it was somehow the wrong start to the show. Then after an interval Jools walked on and started playing, with the rest of the band joining in gradually. Full 10 piece brass section ( 5 saxes, 2 trombones and 3 trumpets) sounded fantastic. Dave Swift his usual brilliant self on upright bass all night too. Gilson’s drums sounded a bit muffled, with the snare having very little top end to it, but maybe that’s how he wants it. The singers were outstanding, especially local girl Sumudu Jayatilaka who was unbelievably good, along with Louise Marshall, Imelda May and legend Ruby Turner. The band played for nearly two hours, finishing with ‘Enjoy yourself’. Great to hear such a brilliant big band in full flow, a very enjoyable and entertaining evening. (Apologies for the naff photo)

It’s the same with a lot of things, and more often than not ‘men’s stuff’!! Cameras, watches, cars, motorbikes, clothes, sports equipment, early tech items etc etc. Musical gear has long been a victim of people chasing their youth and hiking prices.

Agreed, especially given that some of the models around this time still had bolt on necks.

When I first started reading the Melody Maker each week around 1970/71, I remember poring over the musical instrument adverts at the back and seeing some large shop advertising US Strats/Teles/Jazz and Precision basses starting at £199. Maple boards always got charged a premium then ( how things change!) and I’m not sure but I don’t think hard cases were included. Bell’s catalogue was always more pricey as they offered hire purchase terms. My first US Precision cost me £199 s/h from a shop in Leeds - that would have been mid 1980’s. It was a late 70’s job and pretty grim - dead sound and just an uninspiring instrument. I ended up selling it and buying an early Squier 57 Precision in black with a maple neck (and having a lot left over from selling the US one) - wish I’d kept it.

I know a few local musos who regularly drive after a jazz cigarette or two, and don’t even think it matters as anything like as much as drink driving. Doing long journeys all over the UK for many years, I’ve witnessed so much bad driving late at night that could only be explained by drink and drugs. It’s certainly appeared to escalate over the last couple of years too.

Tests for drug-driving are becoming as frequent as drink-driving in the UK now if all the Channel 5 cop shows are to be believed. I’m sure some regular drug users remain unaware of how long after using them you can be prosecuted for DUI.

I did another dep last night at a local rock’n’roll club. Just a 3 piece band, quite a large room and an audience who all want to dance. Played a lot of standards, but also some not so obvious stuff which still went down well. These included a Big Joe Turner medley of ‘Flip flop and fly’ / ‘Lipstick, powder and paint’ and a couple of Elvis tunes - ‘Fool such as I’ and ‘Mess of blues’ which certainly got my walking bass lines moving. I sang Springsteen’s ‘From small things Mama…’ and we finished the night with one of my favourite ever tunes ‘I’m losing you’ by Brenda Lee ( and more recently Paul Carrack.) Used my Dano Longhorn into a Fender Rumble 500 combo, simple but very effective! The regular bassist is unfortunately having some health issues, so I’m expecting some more deps here. It’s a really enjoyable gig and a nice change for me, as well as being just 10 mins away - was home by 11.40pm.