casapete

For anyone that missed it, BBC4 had a half hour ‘In Concert’ of Crosby and Nash on Friday night, currently available on iPlayer.

In my previous life (in an 8 piece function band) we had to often use deps in order to carry on working. Can’t remember any booker ever complaining, but the key part of this was ensuring everybody had reasonable parts available should a dep be needed. Sounds easy, but the state of some of the player’s pads meant that deps had to be pretty experienced to make sense of the gig. As the band moved away from using parts/music stands then it obviously made using deps more difficult. Singers were the hardest to obtain, as (in my area at least) few or none of them could read music - some had trouble with reading lyrics! The larger the band, the more likelihood of needing deps. If we’d had to cancel gigs when anyone was unavailable we’d never have lasted long.

I seem to remember the MM cabs were marketed for either bass or guitar. Got an old catalogue somewhere - Clapton’s band all used them in the late 70’s. Either standard MM drivers (Eminence maybe?) or EV as an option. As you say, 1x15 or 2x12 configurations available.

Played a couple of gigs at the end of last week in Weston Super Mare and then Wimborne in Dorset. Both theatres sold out, which always makes for more atmosphere. A long journey in torrential rain but still well worth it. Absolutely knackered the next day though! 😫

I have a Ukulele bass - it's a Countryman, bought it about 4 or 5 years ago when they first appeared. Tried a few, and couldn't see how the Kala models were nearly 3 times the price when the sound and quality were so similar so I went for the Countryman. (on the right in the first pic) Used it quite a lot at first, and had so many people interested in it at gigs. Sounds great in my acoustic duo, with a nod to an upright bass kind of noise! The strings did take some getting used to, as well as the scale length but with a bit of use it gets more familiar. Great little thing though. Couple of years ago a friend of mine got an Ibanez PNB141E short scale, and I instantly loved it. Bought one straight away, and it's now taken over as my main bass in the duo (see 2nd pic). It's 24.7" scale length, and combined with my Fender Rumble 100v3 makes for a great gigging combination. Strings are the same as on the Taylor GS mini bass (which I also had but prefer the Ibanez).

I use D’Addario EXL 170 strings , and leave them on until they start dulling off too much. I get around 20 gigs out of a set, and they’re never too far gone when I take them off. I do like the new set feel, and if finances allowed would change them more often. When I use a bass that hasn’t been played for a while, the old strings thing can be a drag, especially if I only need it for one gig and can’t justify a new set just for that. Tried coated strings and don’t really like the old string feel from the off. Nothing beats the feel and sound of a fresh set of EXLs for me.

On the few times I’ve done some serious recording, I found that half worn strings seemed to be best for me. Not so dead that they gave intonation issues but not so brand new that they showed up my lack of technique with overly bright rattles and squeaks. 😂

Still occasionally get asked by audience members, and still find it a tad embarrassing. The whole tribute band thing is sometimes bizarre enough without people wanting you to sign merch IMO. Still, we’re always grateful that we have a following so who am I to say? We sometimes get asked to sign stuff by the theatre we’re performing at, often for them to display in the venue either front or backstage. Good promo for the band so no problems there.

I have the Sansamp which I use as a DI to FOH, but also have a Behringer BD121 as a spare. The Behringer is remarkable value for money, sounds really good and is ideal for what you require. Worth £25 to try in comparison, and handy for backup should you need it. I’ve lent mine to a guitarist and it actually sounded okay for that as well. 🙂

A Behringer BD121 will do the job well for you I reckon. Currently advertised at Andertons for £24.99, they are a Sansamp rip off, combining a pre amp and active DI . Really useful bit of kit, and sound great. If you really want to change your combo, a s/h Fender Rumble 100v3 has a great DI, is only a couple of pounds heavier than your Orange and can be used for smaller gigs. They sound ace, and can be picked up s/h for c.£150.

Must admit CSN&Y passed me by too in the 70's. Only 25 years later I came to realise the importance of their output, and ended up liking Neil Young's stuff the most.

Well, a first for me - playing with my acoustic duo at a baby shower! Must admit I had to ask someone exactly what one was. Turns out it’s just a get together of the mum-to-be and her friends and family. Gig was at a local Italian restaurant earlier today, and they asked for some quiet-ish background stuff during and after the buffet. The father-to-be was a lovely bloke (who we later found out is a well known footballer) and had invited some of his mates along too. We played a mix of recent tunes as well as some older stuff which I was surprised they knew / requested. We were well looked after, and nice comments from many of the guests. Gave out a few business cards as well so hopefully may lead to some more stuff. Home by 6pm so a nice change for me.

We kicked off our 2023 gigs at the now customary Hull New Theatre, a great place. Sold out house of 1330 people who come to see us play in our 'hometown' venue every year. Always a bit of a nervous one (nobody wants to fall on their ar*e in front of a local crowd), we played well and threw in a couple of songs we've not played for years which were well received. Also significant for me as my 9 year old grandson came along, his first gig etc. He actually loved it and didn't fall asleep even after a long day at school! Home by 11pm so quite a novelty for me. Next week we're in Weston Super Mare and Wimborne so back on the road for real - hoping the weather stays mild.

I actually got into Country in my mid/late teens - and of course my mates thought I was a weirdo! Mind you, I think they already had made that call because I liked 'girls music' too - Motown, soul etc. For me though, my love of these genres has remained all my life. I had older mates in bands who got me listening to Emmylou Harris, early Eagles stuff, Joe Ely, Steve Earle etc, and I was fortunate to see all of these live at the time too. I guess what I'm saying is I've not done a 180 on any music from my younger days, whilst hopefully remaining receptive to new stuff that gets my interest. In fact, a lot of what I liked then has become acceptable to like by musos now who derided it back in the day - Motown & soul, Abba, country etc.

Absolutely this ^^^^^ Love Newcastle and all the areas around it. We play at The City Hall every year, and it's one of my favourite venues. For a theatre band like mine it feels like a 'proper' gig! The tech / crew guys there are fab, really friendly and with that great Geordie humour. Also have so many memories of going to gigs there myself - Springsteen in particular in 80/81? A few years ago I got a job to be part of a strolling jazz band in a BBC TV documentary hosted by Matt Allright. We had to play as Matt entered the council buildings in to award the council an 'award' for being the drinking capital of the UK (or something like that - was a while ago!) We all got ejected by security at the building who were really nice guys and laughed as they did their job. Of course we ended up doing a few pubs ourselves with Matt who it turned out was in a band and a thoroughly decent chap - got a picture of him playing my mini-bass somewhere! Through all this, the people we encountered were great, very friendly and welcoming.

Another +1 for the Rumble 100.V3. Have used mine for way more gigs than I originally intended. It’s stupidly light, loud, sounds great and can be picked up s/h for bargain money. Get a cover for it and you’re sorted. Love mine, best bit of kit I’ve bought for ages.

Given the overwhelming wave of dislike for Hootenanny on here then, I’m wondering what we would like to see instead? Bearing in mind it’s supposed to be a jolly NYE party with something to cater for as many tastes as possible without losing the audience along the way? A genuine question. 🙂

I wish ! Not sure the punter demographic would have stretched that far TBH! Why thanks Dave - when needs must etc.

My NYE gig was in sunny Scarbados on the Yorkshire coast. Fairly standard dinner dance type do, in a nice hotel. Good to play with my pal Gary Gillyett, along with a singer and pianist. Played for ages - started at 8pm, and finished around 12.30am with barely any breaks, so a bit of a slog. Hotel manager and staff were great though, and really looked after us and our ladies. I was pretty knackered the next day, it's been a while since I've done such a marathon. (Forgot to add - used my lightweight Jazz bitsa into Fender Rumble 100 - proper portable old gimmer's rig!) No beach babes around, but there was Thor, the magnificent walrus you may have seen in the news. Scarborough Council very wisely decided to cancel their midnight fireworks display in case of scaring Thor, but I reckon someone tipped him off as he slid back into the harbour at around 11.55pm to continue his journey North. Happy New Year to all you BC folk! (PS Thor is the one in the last pic.)

I watched Hootennay this evening on catch up and really enjoyed it. Didn’t hit the fast forward button once, despite there being a couple of acts I thought I wouldn’t like. Thought the big band were great, and noticed Dave Swift played EUB on most if not all of the show? Watching The Real Thing took me back to the late 70’s when I saw them at a local gig, and they’re still sounding fine. Thought Cat Burns was good too, as well as Rachel and Vilray - great vocals / amazing guitar playing.

Looks like an interesting Motown evening on BBC2 tonight, starting with Lamont Dozier at 9pm, followed by ‘When Motown came to Britain’ at 10pm and then Marvin Gaye ‘Live in Montreux’ at 11pm.

A few years back I broke my shoulder quite badly, and couldn’t play bass guitar for a while. (A worrying time for me as I play for a living and my partner was struggling with her job too.) My band at the time allowed me to play our gigs for about a 3 month period using a Roland keyboard (which I purchased on here) for bass duties and could manage with my good arm/hand. As I also couldn’t drive it was quite a nice change, being able to enjoy the hospitality on gigs and all without a bass round my neck, strangely liberating. Then gradually moved on to a light short scale bass for a while before getting back to my Stingray, and being sober again!

Tonight on Sky Arts they are showing some great Roy Orbison stuff, including ‘A Black and White Night’ which is sublime. Starts at 7pm.