cheddatom

I'm hearing a lot of panic from promoters and the like, and we have had a couple cancelled due to low sales, but every gig I've played seems to be as well attended as I expect. We've got loads in for 2023

Katie Fitzgerald's in Stourbridge last night. It's a small venue, and I'm bringing acoustic drums, so sound is always going to be tough. I tried my best to control volume but got most of the blame for the terrible on stage sound

Personally I'd blame the fact that the gain was too high on every channel (could clearly hear horrible clipping), the vocal monitors were tiny 10" 100W Behringer jobbies, and the engineer wasn't sure which monitor was on which send

Anyway, as usual, we went down well, loads of compliments after, sold a load of merch etc. so it really don't matter how it sounds on stage, as long as we keep our cool and do our best

The old cold store in Nottingham last night. So nice to be playing my own drums again after a 10 date tour using small sizes on a shared kit

We played 1.5 hours which is very tiring, but an enthusiastic crowd provided the adrenaline to get me through 

2 years old but this is the first track from my lockdown album, plenty of angry tracks on there

1 hour ago, TimR said:

 

Everyone should be keeping time. It's not the drummers job to keep time for the band. 

 

Knowing when a bass player (or drummer) is pushing or pulling the beat (not speeding up or slowing down the time) is a good skill to learn.

 

 

I'm not talking about playing infront or behind the beat, I'm talking about other musicians trying to speed up (or slow down) the song against the drummers steady beat. I absolutely hate it when people do this. It sounds terrible, and it's patronising to the drummer. The worst is when they start stamping their foot on stage trying to indicate to the drummer that they should speed up. F OFF!!!!

I see a few bassists suggesting they're helping the drummer keep time. If you start trying to push or drag me I just play louder and stare at you

On 24/10/2022 at 21:55, Boodang said:

1. Turns up with a set of spare strings as opposed to the statement 'I've never broken a string yet!'...

I hope that's not a reference to my bassist!! 🤣

I play a lot of drums. I like a bassist who doesn't have too much low end in his sound. It's really quite common for bassists to think they need a big booming load of bass that fills the room and it's impossible to play with

Prague last night was hot and sweaty, a perfect end to the tour. On the way home now. What an experience! Hopefully I'll get to do it again some day

23 hours ago, BigRedX said:

@cheddatom Brilliant stuff, sounds like a great tour. How many more gigs have you got?

 

Regarding the catering, I'm surprised that Steve Ignorant and his band aren't strictly vegan or at least vegetarian...

They are! There were vegan burgers and wurst

Last night was Weisbaden, great gig, although Steve collapsed early in their set. He seemed to get it together after 5 minutes to cool down but we were all worried. It's a pretty intense tour and I think at his age it's taking its toll.

One more date in Prague tonight and then a long drive to Rotterdam tomorrow 

Alte Hackerei in Karlsruhe last night. Another small and sweaty one. Excellent catering, they cooked burgers or wurst to order for both bands and all the crew. Free beer all night. Awesome sound and I played the best I have so far

Les Tanniers in Dijon last night. This is a big warehouse covered in graffiti. They call it a "squat gig" and everyone there was crustier than your average punk. The Dressing Room was a large room upstairs full of bunk beds and one random guy who'd been told he could hang out there and stay over.

The sound crew didn't know which channel was which, messed about for almost an hour until we gave up saying "that'll do". When we went on it took 10 minutes for them to get the acoustic guitar to work again, so what was the point of soundcheck? We struggled through, the crowd got into it, then halfway through the set we switch back from electric guitar back to acoustic. The channel was muted and the sound man was nowhere to be found. When he finally appeared, he couldn't get it to work, and angrily blamed our guitarist. The only option was to play all the acoustic songs on electric. 

It was still a great gig, but very hard work!

La peche in Montreuil, Paris last night. The smallest venue on the tour so far. They blocked off the road to park Steve Ignorant's bus. I thought they'd be worried about police but apparently the police avoid this neighbourhood. Soundcheck took forever but dinner afterwards was lovely. 

A huge old topless punk was kicking off during our set, trying to start fights with everyone. The venue staff refused to do anything about him but eventually Steve Ignorant himself came down and dragged the guy out of the venue. This was while we were still playing! Concentration was a challenge 

30 minutes ago, Rubbersoul said:

Wish you guys would get to Belfast some time! 

Me too!

Melkweg was incredible, the crowd were crazy. They don't know us at all but they were moshing and shouting along from the off. The best sound we've ever had too.

Ancienne Belique in Brussels last night was amazing, the biggest stage I've ever seen! Lunch in the canteen before load in was great. They had guys to help with the load in, and everything was put onto a section at the front of the dance floor that rises up to stage level. Sound check was faultless and then we got to chill for a few hours and enjoy some of the local beers. Dinner was awesome too!

The set flew by. We seemed to win over the crowd, all except for the very front row who were all clearly camped out waiting for Steve Ignorant to come on. Their grumpy faces amused me anyway

Ace set, loads of compliments, and loads of beers afterwards!

We're on the way to Amsterdam to play Melkweg tonight

Dusseldorf last night. 5 minutes before we went on there were 2 people in the room. When we walked on it was more like 200! Quite the shock! Smashed it again, went down well, loads of compliments and we sold loads of vinyl

Hamburg was awesome. It was sold out, but they're there to see Crass. We went down really well, people were singing along from 3 songs in so we must be doing something right!

4 hours sleep last night so I was hoping to get some sleep in the van. Unfortunately our bassist has some godawful dad rock playlist blasting out the stereo. We just had Come On Eileen 🙃

You'll be glad to hear he smashed the set last night and I got to hear some top end from the bass for once!

Hah, he likes dull strings!

He is actually amazing on bass, he's been playing 40 years, just a disgraceful oversight!

He's got some. Now he's staring at the pack looking a bit confused and complaining that they sound too bright 🤣

4 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Where you playing in Hamburg, there`s some great venues there.

Hafenklang, can't wait!

8 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

S036 - brilliant!

 

Who's actually in Crass these days? Apart from Steve Ignorant they were all getting on a bit when I saw them in 1980!

Yeh I think they're calling it Steve Ignorant's Crass, his band are from his Steve Ignorant's Slice of Life band, plus Jay on drums. 

SO36 in Berlin last night supporting Crass. The first night of our tour and it was crazy! I didn't expect so many people, or for us to go down so well with a crowd who don't know us. They were there to see Crass who are a lot more Punk than us but they loved it! Our bassist broke a string in the last song. Great timing as he's come on tour without a spare bass or any strings! What a pillock

Hopefully tonight in Hamburg will be as good!

I've been giving him plenty of abuse about it. He reckons he's never broken a string before but that's no excuse is it? Anyway, we're on the way to a shop in hamburg now

Thanks very much!