dmccombe7

Once had a great day of drinking beer and watching bands with the talented Jim Gilmour just after he joined Saga. He's a local lad from back in early 80's. Fantastic musician and really nice guy. We kept in touch for a while on FB but haven't spoken in a while now. Dave

yep that's what i find. There is a band up here doing this called Outside the Original and they've struggled to get a decent audience at the beginning but the more they play the more people come along and they now fill or almost fill most venues they are playing. Venues i thought they would get a decent audience were surprisingly empty at the start.. I agree there's not a big enough audience for prog these days. One of my first decent bands around 1980 we played Magnum, Saga, Kansas, Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore and ELP Fanfare for Common Man. We also did a few rock type songs like Van Halen, Y&T and by some obscure Canadian bands (singer was Canadian). I had only heard these bands because he played them for us. Was a great band with fairly competent musicians still under 20yrs old. We played some great gigs and had great feedback but alas illegal substances within the band killed it off for myself and guitarist who stopped playing in bands after that. Shame Dave

I always fancied the idea of a Prog covers band rather than a dedicated tribute to one band. That way i could cover songs by all my fav bands from Genesis, Floyd, Camel, Hackett, Kansas, UK etc. I think the Bruford level of musicianship is probably a bit of a stretch for me. I agree that for me its best to compromise and be good at what you do. I never thought i'd ever play in a punk covers band but its actually great fun and the stamina required is quite a stretch when you play fingerstyle. Dave

When i started playing bass it was Thin Lizzy, Kiss, Deep Purple and then moved onto Prog bands like Genesis and Floyd and eventually Camel and that's when i ventured into bands like Bruford, Brand X, Moraz, Mahavishnu, Gino Vannelli and a lot of other bands where the bass playing was that bit more challenging. I've never claimed to be a Jazz bassist but i did learn a lot from those types of bassists. Dave

I think you nailed it with this comment. This is where i am now with both bands. It does make me happy to play gigs with both bands, i feel comfortable in them. If i chased the Prog dream i may end up with musicians i just don't click with and that would, for me, be a step in the wrong direction. I'm in this mainly for fun and enjoyment altho the money is helpful but once the fun goes i don't really see the point but that's just my personal circumstances. If i was relying on the income i'd have a completely different attitude towards playing. Dave

Think that is a problem for many bassists. My preference is Prog or Jazz Rock but having tried over the many years i just can't find musicians that want to play the same styles. I was in a band for a while about 5 yrs ago that were doing Doobie Bros, Greg Allman, Tony Joe White and Robert Cray material that was new to me but i really enjoyed playing it but i'm not sure there would be a big demand for it. Unfortunately the band folded because the guitarist / BL was a bit of a t*t to be honest. I left and then they just drifted away to other bands within a few mths. I'd still love to do some prog like Genesis, Floyd, Camel maybe a wee bit of Bruford but that would be wishful thinking on my part. I keep going and living in hope that my punk band will have a go at Suppers Ready or Echoes. Dave

Nice looking bass. What is it ? Dave

Dave

Anyway not a great weekend for gigs. Sundays charity event cancelled due to a lack of interest (they didn't advertise it while the organiser was in hospital) and now tonight's gig cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Oh well unpacked the car and get the feet up wie a nice hot coffee watching Guns of Navarone ......... again. Dave

You've caught me with the same post and i just had to laugh. Even if i did get it wrong its' not the end of t' world: Dave

You have some cracking basses. Love the red and chrome bass. Looks amazing. Dave

Better clarify that altho most of our gigs are ticketed we get a fixed fee for most of them. The venue takes the profit from the tickets. We play a few venues that we get an 80/20% split fee on the tickets. Dave

1. Always take a deposit and that way you still get some form of payment. 2. be more careful on what gigs you accept. Do the research Dave

Have to admit almost all of our Glam band gigs are ticketed these days with some pay at the door drop ins if all tickets haven't been bought. I'm not so keen to accept these charity gigs tho but drummer says we should take a deposit when its a charity event and that way we get 50% payment if cancelled Venues need to realise that when they don't advertise and a gig gets cancelled because of it then we lose the opportunity of a gig on that day and its a loss of income for us. We could have probably had another gig somewhere else. Dave

Paid rehearsal Daryl. ? We were due to play a Ladies Day charity event on Sun afternoon but the woman who was organising has been in hospital until few days ago and when she came out she found out no-one had advertised the event and ticket sales were virtually zero. We had been advertising on our own page but not much good to the local area of the venue if they don't follow us. Now cancelled too. Shame as i was looking forward to that one. Nice big venue with a decent sized stage. Dave

I would agree with the 1/5th share if you are doing all that then you become part of "the band" as far as i'm concerned. WAGS should be seen but not heard. So many times they kill a good band. Dave

Forgot all about it Steve. Sorry i didn't manage to come along. About 50miles from me so not far at all. Hopefully next time. Dave

Congrats on a wonderful time with the band Pete. Glad i got to see you with them. Look forward to your Duo band posts on BC. Dave

Ok don't keep us in suspense Dave, what ya buying. Will we see a NBD review soon ? Dave

Split evenly in both my bands even tho its one person in each band that arranges all the gigs and our drummer actually owns the PA and lights but still he's fine with an even share. If that changed i'd be looking for a new band too. I could see the argument for someone getting more if they owned the PA and did all the sound and booked all the gigs etc but not sure how you would agree to divide the cash at the end of the night. Dave

Maybe try calling them. I found that works far better altho to be fair i only ever had one email not replied to over the years. Dave

I struggle with that. Its not OCD but just plain old simple common sense and tidy work area. If i run a cable and its too long i coil up the extra cable at one end of it and tie it with a velcro strip. Have to say i'm the only one in the band that does that but we do keep stage area clear, clean and as tidy as possible. Not so much at the desk as the SE is also our drummer and he just drops the remaining cable in a pile at the back of the desk rather than individual coiling of excess cables. Just makes it a pain in the a** when you are trying to find the other end of a cable. If they are all neat and tidy it saves time at the end when you just want to go home LOL My cables all have my name on them too so i know exactly where both ends are. Dave

Done a few Blue Angels gigs with the punk covers band and its much the same although last one had a lot of women there who were up dancing all night. Well oiled when they arrived but a good fun night and we were well applauded by them but not so much the majority of the guys who didn't seem to have any great interest in the band until we finished and they came over and said it was a great gig. We've never had to carry gear at the Blue Angel gigs either, they unload our gear and bring it to the cars for us to reload at the end. All very helpful TBH. Don't get that anywhere else so i have a lot of respect for them. We were even allowed to buy some of their Blue Angel T shirts at the end of the night and the guy that organises us to play turned up at one of our Paisley near Glasgow gigs but he is a big fan of the band. I can't say i've ever had any trouble or issues with them at all. All decent enough towards us and they allow us to share in their buffet which was pretty impressive. Dave

Yep this was duct tape. I remember the old gaffa tape didn't leave any residue. It wasn't until you mentioned this i remembered from years ago. Cheers for reminding me. I'll maybe see if i can get some proper gaffa tape and try that. Dave