BigRedX

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Due to the sheer scale of the event and numbers who attend, are you guaranteed an audience or do some bands end up playing to virtually no-one on a stage tucked away in an unpopular corner of the site? Has anyone who has attended as a punter witnessed this? I have to admit I'm not a massive fan of festivals in general, but the more I hear about the festival the less impressed I am from a band's PoV. Like so much in the current musical climate the artists who appear to be able to make it work are those who already have some success and a following.

Guitars and basses displayed with no strings fitted always make me wary. To me that says there is a problem with the neck that will become obvious when strung.

The Op hasn't been on Basschat for over 3 years now.

Because while both are past their sell-by date, the 1975 aren't quite as stale, and neither have been going long enough to get a second wind as "legends".

I would like to think that any promotor putting us on and any audience coming to see us would be somewhat disappointed if there were different people on stage to those they were expecting. Any bass player replacing me in this band, trying to use a standard 4-string bass would find much of the set challenging and some of it completely impossible to play. That's not because I'm some "monster" player (I'm not by any stretch of the imagination), but simply because they wouldn't have access to a lot of the correct notes I play. As the live sound is stripped back to vocals, synth, bass VI and drums, what I play is integral to the overall band sound and playing something different because your choice of instrument is different to mine is not going to cut it.

I think it is very easy to speak out against the paying practices of the Glastonbury Festival for bands when the vast majority of us are never going to find ourselves in the situation where we have to choose between sticking to our principles about getting paid, or sucking it up and playing for the "vibe" or "exposure" or whatever other reason works. It would be interesting and enlightening if @Linus27 could report back after the weekend with how it went financially for his band. Did it cost them overall to play the festival? I notice that they appeared to be playing 4 times - was that required to make it financially viable? How did merch sales go? Were there any and does the festival take a cut? And then maybe come back at the end of the year and let us know if playing Glastonbury got them any more gigs or other opportunities, or did it end up just being another gig in a tent in a field (albeit one that most people have heard of).

I think sometimes musicians have a very blinkered or naive view of what it is like for other bands (especially originals bands), regarding the use of deps. There are some great musicians out there but, IME once you step outside of conventional blue-based rock, soul and jazz, finding ones that understand the specifics of the music are few and far between. It's not just about playing the right notes in the right order. For instance it would nearly impossible to replace any of my current band with deps. Firstly if we turned up with a different singer (no matter how technically good they may be) half the audience would want their money back. Any dep for our synth player would either need to have the same synthesisers with the same custom patches or they would need to spend some serious time with the recordings working out suitable facsimiles of the sounds. My dep would need a Bass VI with the same non-standard tuning as many of the songs are completely impossible to play using normal Bass VI tuning and a Helix or pedal board capable of producing all the bass and guitar sounds I use. And all of that is before we even consider band image...

This. My gear is all repairable and/or replaceable - it might not be cheap and it might take some time but it can be done. Myself, particularly now I'm in my 60s, maybe not so much.

I don't want to rain on @Linus27 parade, but I hope this is the soundcheck. Otherwise why is no-one down the front and what is that carrier bag doing on stage?

The best thing you can do is to not concentrate on it. I can tune mine out a lot of the time. Unfortunately reading this thread has made it obvious again!

This assumes that all bands and the music they play is equal and interchangeable. Maybe that's the case if you're playing generic covers, but for everyone else it's not. It doesn't bother affect me in the slightest what other bands charge (or don't) because they are not my band, and they are in no way a substitute for what we do, and therefore not seen as competition. While we do have a figure in mind when venues and promotors are asking us to play, what we ask for gig is on an individual basis, and playing in front of a new audience who may well all want to buy CDs and T-shirts afterwards can influence what we ask for.

I can't help you with piano recommendations, but bear in mind the following: 1. There is no volume control or headphones socket on an upright piano, and when played enthusiastically they can be loud. May be a concern if you have neighbours with adjoining walls. 2. They are big and heavy. check that you'll be able to get it into whichever room you want to have it in. I had to turn down the family upright piano because it wouldn't fit around the corner at the top of the stairs, assuming I would have been able to get it up the stairs in the first place. 3. As has been said you need to factor the annual tuning cost. 4. Don't buy anything with a wooden frame. I will never stay in tune in a modern heated house. 5. However it should be possible to get something serviceable for free. Here in the UK people can't even give away old upright pianos. So if the situation is similar in Belgium and you are prepared to wait and see what is available you could end up with something nice for the cost of transport and a full service and tune once it installed at your property.

But there's no point (IMO) in having a "transparent" amp if you cab(s) aren't transparent too.

Does it matter having a "transparent" amp when the cab(s) are likely to be introducing far more colour to your sound.

Is it the bikini top?

Made fretless by completely removing the fingerboard.

If I was looking for a hardware synth now, one of the Hydrasynth models would be top of my list.

Ah... It's actually a short jacket and a long skirt. Far too hot for the jacket. I wore the skirt but not the leggings I usually wear underneath to spare people a glimpse of my pale hairy legs. Sometimes you have to live dangerously if the weather demands it...

What big leather coat? I haven't worn leather since the end of The Terrortones.

Next two gigs for Hurtsfall: Supporting Miranda Sex Garden at Rough Trade in Nottingham on Thursday 10th July. Opening will be the excellent Modern Coven. Then on Saturday 12th July we'll be playing second to last on the second day of Goths On A Field: We'll be playing at around 8.30 in the evening just before headliners Attrition.

I'd be reluctant to buy anything from Modal until the new owners have demonstrated that they are in for the long haul and will be supporting all the current models.

My basses (and guitars) have been bought in order to be played. Currently the only instrument I gig is the cheapest one I own - Eastwood Hooky 6-string bass - but that's because it's the only one with the correct string configuration and scale length for the music my band is currently doing. However I have gigged all the instruments that I currently own depending on the band I was in at the time. Also I only practice using the instrument I am going to be playing at the gig. There's no point in using a different one.

I have the opposite problem with glasses. My long distance vision is ok, but everything close up is out of focus. For work I have "occupational" glasses which are for reading and computer screen use with the balance shifted towards computer screen use. I tried full varifocals and they were terrible for me for all the reasons described by others in this thread. For playing I have a Helix Floor which has a nice big display and scribble strips that I can read fine without glasses and I have a pair of gig glasses that I use when setting up and if I need to do anything to the computer that runs our drums mid-set. These are out of the way on the computer stand and I only need to wear use them during the set if something has gone wrong. Because my glasses are needed for near vision I can't really wear them when standing up and moving around because they make all objects more than 2m away out of focus and make me feel dizzy if I wear them while moving.

It really depends on the bands and how dedicated the musicians who are in more than one band are. I think that covers bands can be more flexible as to who is on stage, original bands not so much. I've done originals bands with deps and it's never been as good as having the proper band member on stage. Those deps that had a couple of rehearsals weren't too bad even if the musical vibe wasn't quite there. Those who thought they could wing it with recordings of the songs we were going to play and some practice at home on their own came unstuck, sometimes quite spectacularly. Also not one of them could follow simple dress code of "wear black, no obvious band or brand logos, no trainers for guitarists". If you are a band with a definite image and stage presence, having someone on stage who obviously hasn't made the slightest effort looks totally crap and in retrospect it might have been better to cancel the gig. I have tried four times to be in more than one band and every time it has not been a success. Originals bands thrive on the last-minute important gig. If half the members aren't available because they are playing Dad rock covers at the Dog & Duck it's going to acrimonious. If members are in two originals bands there is always going to be jealously if one is doing better than the others. As an example the band I'm in currently weren't doing a lot of gigs when I joined. They were mostly writing and recording, so when the opportunity came up to join a much better known band (in the same genre) who had an album out, a publishing deal and some fairly high-profile gigs, I jumped at it. For a while it was possible to be in both bands, we had separate set rehearsal nights, and our gig schedules only overlapped when both bands were playing the same event. I had a strict rule that I wouldn't try and use my membership of one band as a direct means to get gigs for the other. However over the last 2-3 years it was obvious that fortunes of the two bands were shifting, and there were starting to be problems with my availability as my first band was getting more and better gigs. When the singer of the second decided to call it a day at the end of last year, I used it as an opportunity to tell the others that wouldn't be joining them in their next project as my other band was too busy for me to be able to dedicate sufficient time. It looks like this was the right decision. The band I'm still with are very much on the "up". We have on average a gig every other week until the end of the year and two gigs already booked for 2026. We're currently finishing off our album for release later this year. As far as I know the other band have done nothing in the last 6 months.

I've travelled on the train with musical instruments loads of times and like others it has never occurred to me to check if there was a maximum allowed luggage size. Besides I've seen people with enormous suitcases that take up far more room than any bass ever could. One thing to note - last time I did this was on the EMT Nottingham to London and my bass in its Mono M80 case was too bulky to go in the overhead racks.