cheddatom

We played Nightrain in Bradford on Saturday. Ace venue, great stage and PA, just ridiculously loud. We complained at the start of soundcheck but the engineer said "yeh, it's a loud stage". WTF is that? Turn it down man! He just had the FOH cranked and as is the case at such venues, the subs were wobbling the hollow stage making the whole stage sound muddy and rumbly. No worries, just EQ it out? Apparently not possible. Anyway, the gig was cool even if we couldn't tell what we were doing

I'd never heard of Blue DeTiger but I've just listened to "Figure It Out" which has a great bassline, great tone, and over 41M streams.

It's automatically gone on to "Vintage - Flight Facilities Remix" which is basically modern disco and the bass playing is truly sublime. Great fills, really tasteful and funky. Great tone

So 2 songs in and it's clear this artist is commercially successful, putting bass at the front of the mix and the image. Why would Fender not want to do a signature bass?

11 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Doah. If I had known I would’ve ventured out to see you. Saw The Men They Couldn’t Hang a bunch of times in the late 1980s. I had no idea they were still going.

They're touring at the moment and we have a few of the support slots

Thekla in Bristol on Saturday night supporting The Men They Couldn't Hang. The venue is a boat which is very weird. Loads of steps to load down. They shared their drum shells, but I still had to carry my hardware box down. Sweating before soundcheck! A long way to drive from Stoke for a 30 minute set but it felt worth it. Amazing reception from a crowd that don't know us, although we didn't sell much merch. Hopefully some of them will come to our headline show in Bristol later in the year. No photos from the gig but this is us waiting to soundcheck

An all day punk lineup at Whitehaven Civic Hall on Saturday. We were on at 5pm. I didn't realise but this clashed with a football game. It could have been that, or our reputation, but the crowd really thinned out for our set. That was a little embarrassing as I'd taken my partner to see me play for the first time. She seemed impressed but I think that might have been because she'd helped herself to most of our rider 🤣. Anyway, it's a nice venue with a great stage. The sound was absolutely terrible, as was the provided drum kit, but we just roll with it. I was staying in Whitehaven so the band took all of my gear back for me. A 5 minute walk to the hotel had me feeling pretty smug. Apparently we sold some merch to new people so that'll do

9 hours ago, casapete said:

I find it amazing in these ‘enlightened’ times that this is deemed okay by certain females.

Can you imagine if this was a man touching up a woman, and the possible outcome?

Dreadful behaviour. 

Yep. It's bad enough from drunken fans but when it's a promoter, and they say things like "you owe me a hug" etc, it's extra gross

our bassist once gave our guitarist his spare 9V for the acoustic guitar. It was a big gig ad he saved the day. He charged the guitarist £2.50, which I thought was a bit ridiculous, but having read this thread I think he knew exactly what he was doing. The guitarist has taken spares from then on, as opposed to relying on the bassist. Start charging for your spare batteries!

Friday we played Cropredy Fringe at the Brasenose Arms. I've done this gig before, depping with someone else, and this was pretty much the same deal. Great weather, a bunch of middle class families out enjoying the food and drink, and not seeming too interested in the music. However, about 3 songs into our set, the generator failed. Our singer is a master of this, and he went straight into an old folk song. He got everyone to join in, AND he got them to gather down by the stage making it feel like a proper gig. Once the generator kicked back in, everyone stayed down the front and had a good dance. Not a huge crowd, but good fun, and we sold some CDs and Vinyl.

Saturday we played Gig In A Field which is a small outdoor festival near Doncaster. Maybe 500 people there. We did an hour set and they sang along to every song. We sold loads of merch and the pay was good. The only downside was the creepy female promoter (she was there as a punter but has given us gigs in the past) who insists on touching me up. It's so gross. I think I've mentioned her previously in this thread.

Sunday we played at Grand Social in Dublin. We go to the ferry 10 minutes before sailing which was a bit nerve wracking. We had a few beers and a good laugh on the way over, then drove into town. We couldn't park by the venue but it was only a 2 minute walk from the van. They'd insisted we didn't bring any gear, just guitars and sticks. I (on drums) tend to break gear so I took my snare, stool, pedal, and cymbals just in case. In the end used all of their gear except for the snare drum. This meant I didn't have to pack anything away so I could go from stage to my brother (who lives in Dublin) and stroll out for a brief pub crawl round Temple Bar. Apparently we went down well and sold a decent chunk of merch. I went to meet the guys at the accommodation at midnight. Unfortunately the guy assigned to meet me with a key was very drunk and his phone wasn't working, so it took a cold and lonely 30 minutes to get to my bed for the night. 

I didn't get any photos from the shows but here we are on the ferry home

8 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

That looks like my kind of event. Very nice photos.

 

30 minutes is really cool and easy to manage material. I've done a few 40 minute shows, I love them.

 

I always get jealous when I see photos like this. Do you get to play a lot of these upscale type gigs?

 

Daryl

Not many of that size, although we do a few festivals through the summer that'd be playing to around 1000. I'd love to do more of them. The other guys would prefer 45 or 60 minutes. Most of our headline shows are 90 minutes or more. I personally love the short sets as it feels "full on" all the way through

We played the Woodland Stage at Bearded Theory on Friday. I'd read a load of horror stories online about the weather and mud. Apparently they were towing people on to the site! Anyway, we got there at 1:30 for our set at 4pm. I'd forgotten my boots so was stuck hanging around back stage in my converse, trying to avoid getting stuck in the mud before our set. I got to set up my kit to the side of the stage so the changeover was only about 5 minutes. The sound was fantastic, as you'd expect at a proper festival like this. The field in front of us was packed, and it sounded like every one of them was singing along. Only a 30 minute set which makes it super easy on the drums as I don't have to hold back at all. Ace gig

The Tivoli in Buckley on Saturday. If you play there and go to the back stage room, you'll notice a little piece of cardboard with the words "Mind your head Tom" written on it perched just above the doorway. That's from last time we played there in November when I walked into the door frame with the top of my skull which sent me to the floor and gave me some dizziness and a lasting headache. Well, I didn't notice, and I did it again, even worse. My head still hurts today! Anyway, I played OK. We were supporting The Men They Couldn't Hang who have a big following, but I reckon there were less than 100 in, which feels pretty empty in "The Tiv" which is a huge room. It was quite reassuring that the crowd for the headline act was basically the same size as for us.

Rescue Rooms in Nottingham on Sunday. This is one of my favourite venues to play, just great in every way. It was an early start - doors at 5, we were on at 6, then The Men They Couldn't Hang on at 7, all done for 9pm. The room was packed and we went down really well. Loads of compliments, loads of merch sold etc. so job well done.

I thought this photo was cool, even if I do look a bit confused. I'll blame that on the concussion

Tuesday night we played the Crauford Arms in Milton Keynes supporting Theatre Of Hate again. We packed the van so exceptionally well I had to take a photo.

We usually have another couple of big plastic boxes full of merch, so maybe that's why it went in easier. It felt like it took forever to get there, but the venue is very cool. There were plenty of people in for us, and we went down really well. I'm not sure I like the music of Theatre Of Hate but they're good players. Either way I had to wait until the end of their set before we could pack the merch up and get on the road. I got to bed at 3AM and had my alarm set for 6:30AM to get up for an important meeting on Wednesday morning. I'm still tired now!

Ey Up Mi Duck festival near Doncaster on Saturday night. We were last on and they went absolutely nuts for us, singing along so loud I could clearly hear them over the on-stage racket. This was the view while the previous band played at the other end of the tent.

Sunday night at the Castle and Falcon in Birmingham supporting Theatre Of Hate. There weren't many in, and the response seemed a little lack-lustre, especially when compared to Saturday night, but we won some new fans and sold some merch so that'll do!

We've got loads! Our gig list is here but there are loads more that haven't been announced yet https://headsticks.co.uk/gigs

EDIT: There have been a few cancellations due to low ticket sales. That seemed to start last year. Nervy promoters in my opinion as every gig that's gone ahead seems well attended to me

14 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Also I think I did quite alright just using my experience and ears composing, programming, playing/singing, recording and mixing this piece:

 

I just listened to this whole piece as I'm bored at the office in my day-job. It's not to my tastes as it doesn't really go anywhere, just a solid hypnotic groove that randomly crosses the bar about half way through (the most interesting bit for me) but I know people who would like it.

If you'd like any constructive criticism I could give you a paragraph or two. It'd be based on what I've heard and I wouldn't use any music theory terms as I hardly know any

11 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

That doesn't however mean that you can't hear stuff in your head and play accordingly, simply based on experience.

 

You actually quoted me saying "If you've been using your ears to build up your own "theory" of which notes will work and when, in a sort of trial and error fashion..." which is basically the same as what you've written there, but confusingly, at the start of your sentence, it reads like you're disagreeing with me. 

12 hours ago, ambient said:

No, your ears will only tell you after the event...

This is obvious isn't it. Your ears can only hear sounds, and no sound is made until you play a note, so your ears cannot be involved in that note choice

If you've been using your ears to build up your own "theory" of which notes will work and when, in a sort of trial and error fashion, then your ears were involved in a way, but not in a literal one. 

3 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

Red light fever?

Maybe! However, he absolutely nailed the first song, which was much simpler, but still, he was looking/sounding pretty confident. It was pretty bizarre! 

Great young newish band in yesterday. The drummer can't play a beat and I'm wondering why he's trying to play it, when he clearly can't. I offer advice from a drummer's POV - he was struggling with the bass drum so I suggested adjusting the height of his stool, and adjusting the pedal. It got to the point of "we're going to have to simplify the part", but the guitarist said "hold on, let me play the demo". They'd recorded a decent demo of the song some months back, and the drummer was playing the beat in question perfectly! That left no choice but to go over and over until he got it. A frustrating hour and a half but worth it in the end.

They actually gave me their demo, less the drums, to use as a guide track and that saved a lot of time. I suggest this to a lot of bands but these are the first to ever do it!

6 hours ago, tauzero said:

Back to studio etiquette, and I would say that asking the engineer-cum-producer ( @cheddatom - how do you refer to yourself?) to give an opinion of your band is bad form. If the opinion is offered, fair enough (after all, they're not going to say you're shit so if they give an opinion, it's going to be good).

If someone asks my opinion, I'll generally be nice, but will often say "I wouldn't choose to listen to it personally, but it's good stuff" or words to that effect

I'm an engineer or a producer, it depends what people want really. I prefer to get really stuck into the creative side of it, helping with instrumentation or extra hooks etc, or sometimes even writing most of it... but I do need the money so I'm also happy to STFU and just engineer

12 hours ago, diskwave said:

So way before "digital" this and that on all those old jazz records Motown cuts the guitar/bass players are out of tune?  I started playing bass in 1977. I tuned to whoever was the dominant player, guitar, keys...horns, whatever and I was always in tune. As a much lesser cello player I use a tiny pitch pipe...never fails me..ever. 

It's common to add virtual instruments to songs so it's important to get everyone in tune with the computer 

1 hour ago, StingRayBoy42 said:

Do exactly what the client/producer asks you to and tune up before every take.

You wouldn't believe the number of people that don't or even can't tune up using a digital tuner. I reckon I tune an instrument for the player in at least a third of my sessions

2 hours ago, WinterMute said:

...Good musicians are worth their weight in gold, good drummers doubly so.

Absolutely! The worst session of my career so far was down to a drummer. It was pretty straight forward rock music. The guy only knew how to play a sort of bouncy indie beat, which worked for one track, but none of the others. I tried to get him to play appropriate beats. I'd sort of beat-box the beat to him on the talk back, he'd say he got it, then when I hit record he'd play the same beat as before. I'd say "no, that's not it" and go show him the beat on the kit. He'd say he got it, and then do the same again. Over and over we went until I gave up and accepted the one beat he could play. Unfortunately, as the guide tracks were to a click, and the guy started drinking white lightening at 9AM, to get him anywhere near in time took a hell of a lot of editing. The band sacked him that night and I played the drum tracks for them the next morning - 6 songs in an hour.

Obviously when he turned up with literally no gear (no sticks even) I should have cancelled the session, but again, I needed the money!

2 minutes ago, WinterMute said:

Just out of interest, and I expect the answer is "turnover", but why would you accept a booking from a band that ill-disciplined a second time?

Yep, I needed the money!

Something common to loads of bands/sessions - people in the control room start singing or playing along the to the song, which I'm inevitably going to stop before it gets to the end, giving those awkward moments when people carry on playing or singing for a couple of beats after I've hit stop. I get that you're excited to hear your songs, but think of the poor red-faced engineer!