dmccombe7

Nice review from the Dreadnought's resident band critic Alex Hastings. Unfortunately no pics or vids have surfaced yet. Dave "A packed Dreadnought Rock was the place to be on Saturday for lovers of music with an 'early 70's' vibe... Namely Glam Rock.!! Blockbustarz were back in the place that rocks to follow up their fabulous Christmas party gig of last year.... Mike, Colin, David, Lynn and Barry 'Bazza' Haywood were glammed up to the max, in their sparkly, shiny and very colourful costumes, not forgetting platform shoes akin to small step ladders.. ... For nigh on 3 hours, they blasted out hit after hit, leading to a few 'missed buses home'... That's rock n roll.. ..... It just happened to be Brian Chizzmeister Chisholm's 58th Birthday and Bruce Henderson's big 6-oh..! And they both had the happiest of Birthdays.. .... Bazza on drums was wearing a glittery pork pie hat, and silver shoulder pads an NFL quarter back would be proud of... It didn't stop him from rattling the skins though... Lynn didn't need to cheat in the 'long haired wig department' as she blasted out shared vocals with Micky Blitz. . The anti hooligan safety fence was in operation tonight following Lynns unfortunate black eye incident of last year... . Just as well going by the frantic, frolicking, footwork of the group of Glamtastic lasses in front of me... ......... . We had Sweet, Mud, Alvin Stardust, The Rollers ,Bryan Ferry and many more. The crowd were into it big time. "Ballroom Blitz" they roared as I looked behind me for any 'Attack from the back..'.... ... "That's neat, that's neat" they yelled as all and sundry tried the 'Mud' dance.....The fence was being tested as they swayed along to the Rollers and rocked along to Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting from Elton... "Schools Out" sang Micky Blitz as the crowd chanted with him. Chizzy was in the zone now and I wasn't far behind him... .... T-Rex, Sailor, Showaddywaddy, Bowie, the tunes kept coming, and the fence huggers were still 'Giving it laldy' as George Thom would've said.."'Under the moon of Love! " sang the faithful... Another favourite from Mud, The Cat Crept in, Crept Out Again ( lyrics of genius!) led to more step over your feet dancing. Brilliant.... Sometime during the mayhem my name was heard being shouted by Lynn followed by the words" Tell Him! "... Cue some lunacy from yours truly ably assisted by the Birthday boy himself, Chizzy, as we bounced around to" Tell Him' from Hello... What a song, a song I've been jumping around to since 1984 in the Twig (Eh Billy Haggarty ?)....... The chaos kept being chaotic as the band gave us Hell Raiser, Elected, Waterloo, the Jean Genie, Virginia Plain, Can the Can and yet more...... Magnificent effort.. (I'm feeling burnt out just reading this )... I'm sure the Time Warp was in there somewhere.. It was now getting a bit hazy as the Belhaven Best was starting to kick in... .... The punters were having a ball, as expected and Micky Blitz and the band cranked it up some more for the final push. A rousing Loch Lomond came up as a mid song medley to the delight of the crowd. Teenage Rampage, Devil Gate Drive, and the song the band take their name from, Blockbuster were all played for the punters, who by now must have been on their last legs.. None more so than a 'doon the fronter' who'd just came home from Benidorm in the afternoon.. Respect.. ... As the time approached 11.30pm or thereabouts, the band took their well deserved leave from the stage. What a gig, what a night and what a crowd. Another top night in the Dreadnought had been had. Once again top marks to all concerned.... Big Hastie over and out from the Goth , Armadale... (I just made it home in time for one last beer)..... Elton got his song wrong, Saturday Night's All Right For Drinking...... If you see him, "Tell Him".....

That's an abysmal state of affairs. To expect bands to play for nothing is shocking. You did the right thing. We would have pulled out too. Dave

Cozy Surely that isn't access thru the stage area is it ? Dave

BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers last night in our fav venue The Dreadnought in Bathgate. Has to be the best run venue i've ever known with the best owner, manager, Sound Engineer and even the bar and door staff are all just really nice, helpful people. Decent audience circa 100+ based on what we got paid at the end of the night so that was good. (ticket deal) Very hot even with the venue's large fans going on the stage. 2 litres of water over the full set. Sound guy Pete said that's the tightest the band have been and we had people dancing from the stage barrier all the way back to the bar area. Audience were brilliant and really into from the first song. We requested the stage barriers this time as last time a rather drunk guy fell onto the stage and damaged the singers wireless unit and knocking her mic stand and giving her a burst nose and black eye. Had 3 new songs added to the set for last night with a little bit of nerves on them when we played. Few minor fluffs that no-one else noticed but the band and were well covered by the band. As guitarist pointed out at the end "you know you are doing well when the front row are all women and girls dancing away all night or hanging over the barrier to watch." Used my Sandberg VM4 thru Shure wireless into Ampeg SVT7 and Mesa SW210/115 rig. On stage sound was a bit odd almost like a touch of bass boom / rumble and i was tweaking for a bit to sort it out only to find it was the guitarist's cab that was booming on stage as i use a gramma pad. Full PA support and FOH was spot on as always in this venue. Home for 2am, bed for 3am. Dave

All the best, pretty sure the adrenalin will give you a wee rush and get you thru. Try not to excert yourself to much, restrict any stage theatrics and stand in one place might help and drink plenty of water and maybe a spoonful of honey before you start each set. Hope all is ok. Dave

Just a boy. Dave

Based on some of the vids i've watched you don't look that old ? Dave

Great news, my TT800 is at Andertons ready for final payment and delivery. Just need to call them today when they open at 10am. Its only taken me approx 3yrs to get one. Biting my nails with excitement this morning Dave

I've gone from Jazz necks to 5 and 6 stringers and back to slim necked basses mainly because i feel more comfortable with them but i agree if its the only bass you have you do get used to it. My problem is i have more slim necked basses and if i picked one of them up i'd be drawn back towards them again. Dave

I should think the afternoon off is fully warranted. If i was your boss i would have offered you a fully paid afternoon off with bonuses. This is like the birth of a child. (well maybe not but it is important) Dave

This is where it gets confusing for me as i was under the impression the pick ups and preamps were the same as the US versions. So confusing trying to sort it all out. It actually puts you off looking for one. Dave

You can select it in English if i remember right. The full site was in English when i bought mine few yrs ago. Not sure how but when i open it its in full English. Maybe i selected the auto translation on my laptop. Not sure now. Dave

Mine is the new one and it needed the attenuator cable. Thought the original amps were ok but WoT will confirm. Dave

Any update on this @jasetbass Just curious, not that i would ever attempt valve bias myself. Dave

Its a bummer when you don't pay attention to what you're doing. I've been using mine a lot recently especially with the punk band. It works really well with my Godin PJ which has quite hot pick ups altho i have dropped the height on them and that's helped a little.. I tend to run my gain at 2 o'clock to get a little edge when i dig in. Bright, gain boost and mid buttons generally off with the bright button sometimes engaged when i need that little bit of edge. Bass at 1 o'clock, treble at 12 and mid anywhere between 11 - 3 o'clock depending on bass or how i'm feeling. Last punk gig i had the mid at 3 and it sounded really nice. Master volume between 10-12 o'clock depending on gig size. I'm actually really pleased with it now i'm using a more P sounding bass. Think you'll be pleased with it. Dave

Never thought about the weight of them TBH. Would need to be wary of any bass that's too heavy on long gigs. Its taken me a good few gigs to get used to the Godin bass and its only 0.5 Kg heavier than my Sandbergs. For those first few gigs i had a slight ache in my back but it was fine last couple of gigs. I like the idea of where the pick up sits and i think the tone is more or less what i like in a bass tone. Depth with a nice mid to top edge to give some clarity plus i quite like the look of them. Must admit i don't see many of them on local circuits. Maybe there's a reason for that, who knows ? Dave

Is that a Musicman Sterling rather than the Sterling by Musicman ? Its all so confusing with MM. Dave

When i tried one way back in the old days i was used to Jazz necks and even a P neck was way too wide for me. Dave

I couldn't get used to the Vintera P bass i bought couple of yrs ago and just sold it on because of it. Was never fully comfortable with the neck width. Its odd because i have a 6 string fretless Overwater altho i don't gig it. Dave

I had the chance to buy 2 of the MM Sterling basses from a guitarist band mate who had returned to guitar and he was looking for £700 for each but having it in my head they had wide necks i just said no but after he sold them he told me they had narrower necks. Sometimes i could kick myself and that was one of those moments. I should have at least tried them. I had just bought my Sandberg VM4 before it to be honest. Dave

Just a quick question about Stingray basses. There seems to be so many different versions. Is there a MM Stingray bass with a narrow slim neck. The only i've tried was when they first appeared and it had a very wide P type neck that i didn't like. I love the tone of MM but that thick neck has always put me off them. Dave

Wow you've had or still have an interesting collection of basses. Cheers for tat. Dave

I must have missed again I can see where this thread is heading for a short spell now. Dave

Against All Odds you could Feel it in the Air Tonight. Dave

Cracking stuff. Looks amazing. Dave