dmccombe7

BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam gig last night at Hearts Longstone Club. Played here quite a few times now and always a wonderful reception. Its not a huge club and i reckon maybe about 60-70 folks in with many dressing up for the Glam night. We even had the boob flasher during Get It On which is new for us. No pics of that bit have appeared as yet Also a first with this band a young lady in a mini dress asked for our autographs and was so i pressed with the band said she will def be at the Xmas gig and any others in the Edinburgh area. Club brought a load of blow up guitars etc and star sunglasses and handed them out. Band played well and altho singer lost his voice during the week he did remarkably well altho our other singer Lynn was all prepared to step in as and when needed. Using my Berg VM4 into my new Mesa TT800 for the first time with my Mesa SW210/115 cabs. Sounded a lot more modern than my SVT7 Pro or Handbox WB-100 but it sounded clear and full on both channels. Boogie channel set for a more standard warm tone and the Subway channel set for a more Ric bite sound. Gonna take a bit of fiddling to get it just right but so far i'm pleased with it. I've only waited 3 yrs to get one. 1 Hrs drive home on nice quiet country roads so that was all good. Got a thumping headache this morning tho so probably not enough water during the gig. Normally drink between 1-2 litres a gig but only had 1 litre last night. I do sweat a lot with all the glam gear on. Dave

Why did he bale at last minute ? Dave

Our punk covers band was gonna give it a go and not much to it. After we tried it we decided it wasn't really suited to what we were doing. Dave

Happy days Dave

Looking at the pic trying to figure what bass that was then remembered having a conversation with you about it. Bit of a Doh !!! moment for me there Andy. Looks like a good set up stage there. Nice one. Dave

Nope its happened to most if not all at some stage in their career i reckon. Dave

Looks like a great venue Daryl, Have a good one sir. Dave You like it so much you posted it twice Daryl. Agree 100% with you. We've all experienced the same transport issues, audience response, venue issues, equipment issues, odd audience members whether fun or worrying no matter what style of band we are in. I've also picked up on how others on BC have developed with their bands over the years. BC is such a wonderful place to share our experiences and pass on advice we've gathered. You're never too old to learn from experience. Dave

Couldn't resist that one Douglas. I knew you would be watching. Dave

Not sure drummers have the mental ability to cope with modern technology. Their brains are still developing. Perhaps one day drummers will be classed as musicians but then again Dave Dave

Was in a rock band during late 80's where drummer had a Simmonds kit altho he preferred the traditional snare but we regularly got comments from landlords about how we can turn the drums down and reducing overall band noise. Have to admit it did have a very full drum sound especially when doing a Phil Collins sound. He also had a sampling system attached to it somehow and was able to do the clocks from Pink Floyd Time. Great band and had a lot of fun with it. Dave

Amazes me how you guys find deps so easily. Also impresses me how guys can just drop into a band and be that good. Dave

3 yrs ago i struggled to walk up a hill on a hot day or even lift my own gear into a gig but thankfully now with a little bit of effort i am feeling as fit as i've been in a long long time. Dave

Yep doing a 70th birthday party this Sat with the Glam band. Done a few private parties in this venue and it can be very hit or miss. The birthday boy will love it assuming he's into Glam but rest of the audience you have no idea. Not sure how we ended up with this gig as i vowed not to do any more private parties for that sole reason. Hopefully we'll shock them into submission and get them dancing while confused. Dave

Yep have to agree with that too. Dave

Same here Daryl. Dave

I'm only 23. Had a hard life tho. Dave

100% with this. I find the prima-donna's don't work well with others. Any successful band i've been in has had members that are all just nice people and easy to get along with. You don't need to be THE best at your instrument, just competent and reliable. Dave

Cheers Daryl, we do seem to share a lot of views on things. Must be an age thing We've avoided Agents mainly because our singer has had bad experiences with them over the years and doesn't trust them. We did try one but altho he got us a booking he didn't advertise it anywhere. Another gig we got ourselves he tried to claim a booking fee even tho he did absolutely nothing. We got shot of him the chancer. Dave

The band sounded good to me on the vid. I did hear the vocals being out a little but not a major blow over a full set assuming it was a rare deviation. I sometimes think bands don't research the venues enough before taking a booking. From what i hear on your short vid you posted the songs are aimed at a younger age group than me at 64 yet most of the people in that particular venue looked older than me. That's why i suggested you look for venues with a younger audience rather than "old man pubs" altho i'm exaggerating a bit there. If you are playing songs from 1990 onwards then aim for an audience age group around 30-40 yrs old and they'll be more up for it. Sometimes a widely varied age group works very well too but it all depends on your set list what works best. Have a discussion with the rest of the band and see what comes out of it. At 7 gigs in you should be tight enough by now if you've rehearsed enough beforehand. You should already know what songs work best and then tweak your set with similar style of songs. I've always said since i was a late teenager that if a venue can get women in and dancing then guys will automatically follow suit. Its life. Guys follow women when it comes to pubs and clubs. It worked for me since the 70's Dave

Can you not aim for a pub with a younger crowd that might appreciate the songs a bit more altho you do have some dancing going on there so not all bad. Just a thought. Dave

Its one of the main reasons i attend the gym 3-4 times a week for past 3 yrs. At 64 things were getting too hard. Doing a lot better now tho. To be fair you do experience a lot warmer weather than we do. At the moment we have 18 oC (circa 65 oF) so its just nice. Dave

Get yourself an 18" gym fan like this. I use it with Glam band with all the Glam gear it gets extremely hot in summer gigs. We're not huge on air-con over here i'm afraid. In some clubs it was costing too much to run it constantly so they switch it on when it gets too hot for the bar staff but no consideration for us on stage. Dave

Had the Mk4 bass head too. Amazing tones. Had the passive channel for the low end and para EQ channel for the mids to high end. Had the full Marshall stack back then but changed to the Peavey head and what a sound you got. Eventually got rid of the 412's for a custom Peavey BW 12" & 15" cab. Happy days. Dave

I had a late 70's Jazz with same neck as yours and it was glorious. Mine was a mocha body. Wish i had kept it. Can't even remember why i sold it. Dave

We do an occasional Blue Angels gig with the Punk covers band and we use their old Peavey PA mixer amp plus Peavey PA cabs and it sounds brilliant. Our drummer used to be a sales manager for Peavey in their hey day of the 80's. He also did same with Pearl drums. Dave