cheddatom

Katie Fiztgerald's in Stourbridge on Saturday. It was our first time there but hopefully we'll be back. The sound of the room, with no PA, was just awesome. Everything was loud and clear. Unfortunately we do have vocals and DI'd guitars so we did need the PA, and there was no-one doing sound during our set. As a result I couldn't really hear the guitarist, which is fine for most of the set, but there's one bit where he leads and I then join in on drums, building it up over two bars before the bass joins us. I guess I came in on the off beat, in relation to the guitarist, but then the bassist stuck with the guitarist leaving us in an almighty mess once he kicked in. God knows how we sorted it out. Obviously it looked to everyone like it was the drummer's mistake, and the frontman gave me a proper "glare". It put a big downer on the night for me. I'm sure the audience didn't care but I did!

Beautiful, thanks for that! Chilled me right out

Saturday night I was playing guitar with Julia Mosely in a beautiful old church in Buxton. I've always wanted to play some atmospheric music in a church and I finally did it! There were probably only 20 people in the audience, in a church that looked like it held 150+ on the pews, so that was a bit disappointing, but they all sat in silence in awe at Julia's voice, and we got some good photos. I enjoyed it purely for the sound of the room. Last night was Morecambe Punk Festival. I was looking forward to an early night to be honest. I've been a bit run down lately, and smashing the drums for 45 minutes wasn't my ideal choice of activity, so a stage time of 6:30, meaning home and in bed by 10 would have been perfect. Unfortunately they'd had some technical problems earlier in the day and the whole thing was running way behind. We went on at 8 in the end. It was pretty good, we played well and went down well, I think I was just too tired to properly enjoy it EDIT: You might be able to see this video of one of the songs from the Church. Please forgive my dodgy guitar playing, I'm still getting to grips with "standing out" like this, having just played bass and drums for the last 20 years.

Perhaps the lead guitarist has just realised he'll no longer be able to justify turning up to deafening volumes?

Friday night was the Salty Dog in Northwich. They had a house kit that was already set up. No other drummers on the bill but also nowhere to move the kit to, and obviously someone had gone to the effort, so once I again I felt obliged to leave my drums in the van. It was actually a good kit and well tuned, and the stage was a shallow hollow wooden affair which I always like as it adds extra "weight" to the drums and bass. Our bassist is ace and he was pretty loud tonight. For whatever reason, it sounded just right without my earplugs in, and I played the whole set like that, which is the first time in at least 10 years. The venue was packed for the headliners - Steve Ignorant's Slice Of Live - I've seen them loads of times but I always enjoy it. He so engaging, and the band are fantastic. Awesome backing vocals, and the bass player is super stylish with a beautiful vintage sound. He keeps it simple, but plays some very melodic lines, and isn't scared of getting up past the 12th fret. So that was an ace one - I've tried to attach a photo of our bassist with me in the background Saturday night I was still raging from being woken up by Bailiffs. I should have been tired from lack of sleep but adrenaline was firing me up. I was expecting to do an hour long set starting at 10ish but we didn't get on stage until 10:25 and were then told we had to be done by 11. It was a real shame 'cos I was really fired up. It was a weird one really. The "headline" band were on before us. They sound checked before us, left all their gear on the stage, left us with a brief check as punters were coming in. The sound guys had loads of technical problems. The sound in general was just rubbish really but as people were coming into the venue we felt we had to get off - and move our gear out of the way for the headliners to play before us. It all seemed the wrong way around to me and was just a bit of a let down.

Thanks! I was getting a bit carried away as I'd just re-skinned a snare I'd not used for years and it sounded brilliant The drum sound is entirely from a stereo condenser in my studio - no close mics at all

A bit late as I've been busy in the studio for ages! Last Wednesday we played the Star & Garter in Manchester. It's one of my favourite venues to play and it didn't let us down at all, loads of people... I was just too ill to fully appreciate it. I wanted to watch the headline band (Bar Stool Preachers) who sounded great at soundcheck but I was so drained I spent the rest of the night sitting in the corner downstairs. By all accounts it was one of our best gigs too! Never mind, more to come this weekend

...there is a comedy fill at the end if anyone gets that far

I love the latest track, can't wait for the album!

I like the idea of being able to get a synthy octave down on certain notes for a bassline, while playing melodies higher up without the octave down effect. I don't mind playing above the 5th fret though

wow, I didn't know that, that's ace!

Are you saying you want the octave down effect on everything below middle C (for example) but no effect on everything above? And the Boss OC-3 can do that? I didn't know that! I'd have bought one if I did

Wow, this is brilliant, thanks!

A lot of these qualities are needed to be a good musician on any instrument IMO. Everyone should have good timing and be able to lock in with each other. Everyone should be able to tailor their sound to fit the music and each other. You should notice if any of the band suddenly stop playing. Everyone should be performing or "putting on a show" I was discussing a drummer with a mutual friend the other day. They said he was great at loud rock music but couldn't do anything more delicate. IMO that makes him a bad musician (or at best average)

Hah, well I did let them know that I was whizzed off about it, but just the fact that they were so drunk they forgot that cymbals actually move on their stands really tickled me

I got one of those wheelie holdall things with an extendable handle, so even though it's really heavy, I can still move it with one hand

The Maze in Nottingham again on Saturday. I had to use the shared kit again despite bringing mine. It's such a pain when I've gone to great lengths to get it sounding just right for me. Bass players will never know the frustration of being forced to use a totally different sound! It went OK but I was pretty hung over from a stag party in Manchester on Friday night. We went down well anyway The most amusing moment was setting up my cymbals outside in the smoking area, several very inebriated people put their drinks on my cymbals, mistaking them for a stable surface. Much beer and cider was spilled.

I don't want to out myself as a Snowflake SJW but I can't help wondering what I'd think if I was a young female bass player reading this thread.

Players have styles, basses have tones, and then there's a bit of a crossover between the two meanings. For example if a player always plays by the bridge, they will always have a more middly tone than a player that always plays over the neck. That's both a tone and a style thing and comes from the player BUT playing by the bridge on a jazz bass will still produce a different tone to the same player playing by the bridge on a precision Then you have the amp and EQ etc. RE point 2 - "feedback" is really important. For you to be able to play at your best, you have to have a sound that inspires you, and you have to be able to hear what the other musicians are doing, so of course it's important to have the right gear

Very nice. It seems a shame to hide the badge behind the grill, could you not fix it to the front of the grill?

Not how I'd have played the tune. A 5 string makes it way easier to play the fast runs without going up and down the neck. Great bass though

Friday night we played a festival in north wales. The organiser told us there'd be a drum kit there, mine is a bit of a PITA to move at the moment, and it was called a festival with more bands on after us so I thought it was a safe bet. When we got there we realised that this festival was just a Friday night in the clubhouse/pub at a campsite. Every other act was a rock tribute, and we're playing original folk-punk. So I was starting to feel a bit un-easy when the organiser walked up and said "I've been told you want some drums". "I was told there was a kit I could use" I said. He had me follow him to his car to collect the smallest bass drum I've ever seen. Maybe 18 x 14" at the most. I'm a fairly big guy and usually play a big 24" kick. Anyway, no matter, I loaded it in and then saw the skin on the bass drum. Some sort of ancient brittle glossy white plastic. I was convinced I'd break it on the first hit. Next I tap the toms which are horribly out of tune, but they don't have standard lugs so my drum key won't work. Obviously I just have to make do but the set was an hour and a half of gently tapping the bass drum while asking the sound guy to turn up my monitor Apparently we were really good and the rest of the band had a great night. I've learned my lesson. I'll never go to a gig without my kit again Saturday night was local at The Rigger and I got to use my own kit. Matt on the sound is always awesome and it just puts you at ease. We played well, went down well, and apparently they raised over £700 for charity which is a lot more than I was expecting considering the turnout. Brilliant! I don't know if this will work but this is a photo of me standing behind the tiny kit, our singer put it on Instagram:

I really enjoyed it. Great production too, big fat snare sound

Are we to deduce that you're playing GUITAR in this band?! 😱

I'm back at The Rigger with Headsticks this Saturday, hopefully you'll be on the desk!