Linus27

01 Ever played a gig sitting down? Yes, I was once in a band that did all their gigs sitting down. I hated it and we even went on tour supporting Paul Weller and had to do 3 nights at The Roundhouse sitting down. It was horrendous 😤😤 02 Ever gigged on a different instrument? Not really, but did a bit of drums once on a song or two. 03 Ever shared a stage with a musical hero of yours? I don't think so but maybe. 04 Any fan ever had a tatoo of your band's logo? Not that I am aware of but certainly knew of posters on girls walls of us, being stalked and getting fan mail each week. 05 Ever signed an autograph in a dressing room? Yep. 06 Ever cried on stage? I don't think so. 07 Ever worn a hat on stage? Yep, for comedy value and for what I thought at the time was fashion 🤣😂 08 Ever gigged with a band you hadn't met before the gig? Yes, Earl Jackson and a video shoot with ELO for a charity song. 09 Ever been in a relationship with a fellow band member? Nope. 10 Ever played in different bands on the same day? Yep for a BBC Children in Need charity gig a few years back. 11 Ever had anything thrown at you while playing? Yes. 12 Ever crashed on the way to the gig? Nope. 13 Ever left a band over the choice of set list? Nope. 14 Ever slept in the venue despite it not being a hotel? Nope. 15 Ever been supported by a band clearly better than you? Great question and I would say yes. 16 Ever played a gig suffering from some debilitating medical condition? I don't think so. 17 Ever been in a band where the guitarist was your favourite bandmate? Yes, but only once but now we are no longer friends so maybe just a bit delayed 😂🤣 18 Ever played in the grounds of a stately home? I think so. 19 Ever injured yourself on stage? Yes, nothing major but just cuts, bruises and blood. 20 Ever been told that your bass isn't loud enough? Yes or what's more common is, "oh, you were much louder tonight than normal, it sounded much better with you being louder" 😂🤣

Our gig this Saturday for a 50th birthday party has been cancelled but they hope to do it in October now. The following weekends gig which is a 60th birthday party has also been cancelled but hopes to be held later in the year. Also have a wedding the week after that but no news yet and expecting the club gig the week after that to be cancelled. The rest of April is quiet but May is busy but can't see any of those gigs going ahead either.

I think we need to wait for what the government decide over the next few days and then go from there. You may have no option but not play or it might be deemed irresponsible to play and you make the decision to pull out. Things should be clearer early next week.

Tonight's gig is a 60th birthday party in a hall and is still on. Next Saturday is a 50th party to 170 people in a club. I can see it being cancelled but by the club and not the organiser. The Saturday after that is another 60th birthday party so who knows.

I've not even listened to the Aja album or for that matter any other albums. I have listened to the track FM which I loved. I think it's called FM but maybe it's called No Static. Anyway, I liked it. Can't stand The Beatles or The Stones in fact a lot of music leaves me cold and doesn't tickle the twins. Foo Fighters I like a bit, some tracks are great but most are dull.

Funnily enough, I discovered exactly the same on my Portaflex with my Precision and like you, wonderful rich tones 😁😊

This little Ant amp is now top of my list 😊 Dear Ashdown, do you fancy a swap for my Ashdown Mibass 550 😁😁

Hmmm looks very interesting. On my watch list for sure as a back up. Much smaller than lugging my Ashdown M550 around.

I can remember songs that I learned to play 20 - 30 years ago but then I have an amazing memory for some very weird reason. People comment to me, "how do you remember that?" but it just goes in and stays in. However, things like phone numbers, car reg. plates and even pin numbers I can struggle to remember. No idea why.

To be honest, I was also the same with Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock. A lot less accessible than say The Colour of Spring. I Believe In You however is for me, one of their best songs ever.

Ok cool, I promise, you wont be disappointed 😊

You've not listened to The Colour of Spring yet? Wow, a magnificent masterpiece, you really need to ASAP.

I think on The Colour of Spring, Danny Thompson plays a lot of the double bass parts.

We play 50s and 60s Rock n Roll and didn't play Mustang Sally but got asked to learn it for an 80th birthday once. So we did and it went down well and decided to include it in the set for following gigs and it went down an absolute storm. We now make a thing of it and pull people up on stage to either sing the backing vocals or even the lead if they know it. It's a fun song that everyone knows and joins in on.

Love Talk Talk and Colour of Spring is one of my fav albums ever.

There's definitely no craic in Camberley unless you count the 5 squirrel's having their own party this morning in my garden 😁

Only 68 in 2019 which is quite a drop from the 119 I did in 2018. This was down to a line up change and consciously cutting back as we were struggling to maintain the workload and enjoy it still. For 2020 we have set a limit of no more than 40 gigs a year and we are booked up with 33 so far and a few more still to confirm.

Thanks for the review and info on the Elf. I'm looking to get one or the TC BAM200 as my back up amp this year.

Well, this year I will be 50 and my 32nd year of gigging having starting in 1988 at the age of 18. Last year I did around 90 gigs and the year before 119 so I clearly still love it. This year we have consciously cut back to only 40 as it was taking over our lives and finding that the quality was dropping and we were getting burnt out. Still, 40 in a year is still 3 gigs a month. It is important to share the load, to try and make life as easy as possible, have as much fun as possible with the right people and have a positive attitude. It's also important to remain flexible and open minded and make changes if something is not working. Even more so as you get older and as they say, when something is no longer fun, then it's time to make a change or stop.