cheddatom

When I play live, I want to sound as good as I do recorded. When I record, I'll use a VST compressor, and a VST limiter on my bass, so when I play live I use a compressor and a limiter. In the studio I do this for every bassist no matter what their technique is like. No-one's ever complained!

Xmas single:

Yeh it is all subjective, I didn't paint any broad strokes at all! As it happens I doubt I'd have heard any of the songs your band plays before, and I'd probably enjoy watching you I play in a couple of originals bands that pull a crowd largely made up of fans, not friends and family. It's going pretty well. I also play in a couple of self indulgent original bands that don't pull crowds. I still enjoy it!

We played in Warsop on Friday night. We were supposed to be on at 10:30 for an hour but the whole thing was over an hour behind. I had to get up at 5:30AM for a flight. I got to bed around 2:30AM - I should have been a bit grumpy about it, but the drums sound so good in this room I really enjoyed it! There's something about a well tuned kit in a massive room.

The success of people like Lozz and Ambient is truly inspiring to me. I play in original bands too and I'd love to get to that point, even if I am still working my day job. Playing covers in the pub at the weekend has absolutely no appeal to me at all - nothing against it, it's just not for me. I've left many pubs because of bands playing "classic rock covers", even if they're playing them really well, it just grates for some reason. It's all subjective isn't it

I think I've shared some CreepJoint stuff before on here. We've almost completed our 3rd album which is by far the best so far. I play drums, record and produce it. We're struggling to actually play live these days so we're hoping to promote the album using videos. This is the first one, and it's for the most light hearted track on the album

niches is the key word here. If the audience is only a niche, no matter how popular you are in that niche, there will always be a limit I've been making an effort to listen to more modern pop music. It seems pretty original to me, at least a stinky poo load more original that the stuff on Radio 1 when I was growing up - Boyzone, The Spice Girls etc. That was real dross. The playlist on Radio 1 now seems much more varied. If there is a formula, I'd guess it's not a lot to do with the music, and more to do with what you do with the music - how you market it - but in the end no-one really knows what's going to be a hit

I thought Glassjaw had disappeared again but a young friend of mine told me about this new album. It might be their best yet! As far as I can tell the guitarist played all the bass, but it really is outstanding bass playing and tone. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea being a bit atonal and noisy, but I love it!

I think it depends on the music. Some music needs silly costumes and dance routines to carry it. Other music really doesn't I saw Tool a few years ago and Maynard hardly moved for the whole set. It was a truly awesome gig. If he started jumping around and shouting "Manchester are you ready to rock?" it would have seemed a little inappropriate.

I wonder if anyone will be listening to Prince or Bowie in 500 years time?

I play drums, bass and guitar, all in bands (at the moment). I'm not particularly amazing at any of them but I could wing most gigs. I'm easy going, but I'll tell you when you're playing the wrong note, or the wrong rhythm. I do a lot of recording other bands so I'm pretty good at being diplomatic with my "feedback". Oh yeh, you get mates rates on recording too. Come to think of it I also do all the websites, show you how to use google calendar every week, send files to promoters, radio stations, record labels, get hold of royalties, and fix anything that's vaguely electronic because you found out I do IT for a day job.

I finally listened to Illmatic this morning - good stuff! I've been following Token for a while. He's very, very impressive. Some of his stuff is just bragging and showing off, other songs seem to mean more. Hopefully he'll just get better and better I only recently got into Akala. I'd stopped listening to the rap show years back and generally lost touch with hip-hop. I think it was a thread on here someone shared Akala doing Fire In The Booth? Anyway, he's just brilliant, probably the best around for me, mainly because he's actually making a point with his raps, rather than just bragging about how good he is at rapping

I play 6 strings and I've broken every string, admittedly bashing it rather too hard playing heavy music after a few drinks. I've never broken a string jamming funk or jazz

great thread, can't wait to go through it all! Four Owls are pretty cool, british rap, fairly modern, but with that old school sound

We did an all day multi band gig on Saturday. It's my favourite local venue (The Rigger) and I always love the sound here (I hope Matt's not reading ) so I was really looking forward to it. It's not the biggest place and it was packed with people who were well up for it, so really it should have been ace, and it was from the audience's POV, but I was going crazy with my bass drum. I'd supplied the kit for the whole day, but couldn't get there until 6ish as I was recording a band in my studio. I don't know who'd set up the bass drum but by the time I got there the nut had stripped entirely on one leg. I didn't realise what was happening until right near the end of our set. A compadre (with ear plugs!!) came to hold it in place for me for the last song, so that was great, and then Matt the sound man figured out what had gone wrong, and we replaced the nut with one from my tom-mount, so it was fine for the two bands on after us... Maybe it was the fact I'd been loading gear at 8AM and know I'd be hanging around to get it out until at least 11:30PM, followed by a session from 8:30AM Sunday. I need some sleep! Anyway, all the other bands were great and it seemed like everyone was having a great time. Hopefully we'll do it again and I'll be able to make sure my gear's OK for when I play

Well I'd like to nominate Bastav for this beauty

Beautiful, very impressive!

brilliant!

Alfa Mist last night at the Soup Kitchen in Manchester. Absolutely brilliant! Kaya Thomas-Dyke opened up singing mostly original jazz and playing guitar. She seemed really nervous but we couldn't figure out if that was an act or what. Her voice was incredible. I was surprised that the crowd were very quiet and appreciative. I used to rowdier gigs! Anyway, she then went on to play bass for Alfa Mist's band and really held it down. She was the only member to not take a solo, but then if she had I think the whole thing would've fallen apart. The guy on trumpet really stood out for me - awesome solos - and Alpha Mist on the keys was brilliant too. Fantastic clear, but full sound, no need for ear plugs, appreciative audience... I should really go to more jazz gigs.

no need to bail, but definitely start looking for other opportunities

Bill Kelliher from Mastodon switched from Gibson to ESP for entirely the right reasons. There are a few articles about it but basically they were shipping his signature guitars with the wrong gauge strings for the tuning he plays in, so his fans were buying his signature guitar, and finding it unplayable when they tuned it to the tuning he plays in.

Blatant scousism

brilliant!

I always feel a bit self conscious around "real drummers" with their double strokes and their fast fills and double kicking and all that. I've been watching quite a few funk and jazz (and jazz-funk) bands online recently and I realise, a lot of these guys with "chops" really don't have the timing you need to be a great drummer. Speeding up and slowing down, the odd weak hit or out of time kick drum. I guess I'd rather have good time and average "chops"

What you described is a very low level tour though. I don't have what it takes to tour at that level either!