Silvia Bluejay

Only place where the sound engineer does not get asked about the magic on her tablet (yes I know) - instead she gets propositioned by drunks. The fights could be spectacular (we were often trapped onstage while all hell was breaking loose in front of it), but the load in and out via a badly maintained steep little staircase with a narrow door were even worse.

When we don't have a stage or a barrier provided by the pub, we combine two uses and place some of these (this is just an example, we have slightly beefier models) at the front of the stage, with our leads inside. They have proved surprisingly effective. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Protector-Channels-Fastening-Organizer-Flexible-Warehouse-Black/dp/B09NVHKP87/ Whenever we play a new pub or place without a dedicated stage with our rock 'n' roll band, we tend to pack as little equipment as possible and bring the Kolstein Busetto as opposed to a full size double bass, so @Happy Jack doesn't have to place it on the floor - it has its own stand that can be positioned at the back of the stage.

At least if that guy is a mime he won't be yelling at his bandmates! He might be gesturing very aggressively to them, I guess...

Lol paging @Happy Jack!!

I have dug out the scan of my article about Basschat's collective interview. I could obviously have written dozens of pages, but I had a strict word count to adhere to. Herbie Flowers interview BGM 139 Feb 2017.pdf

This is the blog about the South East Bass Bash 2016, where we had Herbie as a guest, and we even interviewed him for Bass Guitar Magazine. SEBB 2016 by Silvia Bluejay When I have a moment I'll try to find the published article and possibly also publish the audio of our interview. RIP Herbie, you are one of a kind. 💗

Good post. I imagine a woman in @police squad's situation might feel slightly more pressured than a man into trying to improve her appearance. However, note my use of "feel" - it would, I think, be mostly in her mind. Most women of my generation (and PS's) have been raised - by society if not necessarily by their family - with the idea that you should always try to look your best in order to progress your career or generally be taken more seriously in anything you do. The entertainment business is the same, only more so! So we would already be making a huge effort in a case like this. If you want the gig badly enough, I don't think there's anything wrong at all in using "tweakments" (technical term, people! Look it up...). As someone suggests in a previous post, musicians have stage clothes and accessories, choose the right bass/guitar/drumkit for the look, etc. and improving your appearance (in the gym, at the stylist's, at the cosmetic clinic) falls under that same category. However, as that previous post adds, it's keeping up the appearance that may trap you in. Will you have to do botox and dye your hair from now on in order to stay in the band? What happens if you don't? Would it be like meeting someone on a dating app and discovering they put a 20-year-old photo of themselves on their profile? Will the band have fallen in love with you in the meantime and accept you as you are?

The Dynamites drummer, however, can tell a seagull from a swift and he's the one who'll be seeing the bass in action.

There's also a - currently rather mangled - blue basses photo thread here. Pity the various forum updates screwed up a large number of the photos.

God that was hilarious... It's always worth recording the entire gig so we can extract gems like these at times!

... Yes, tucked away in a corner out of shot! Those obviously do not include my own four uprights. 🤷‍♂️💗

All J and P necks are fundamentally out of proportion, in that they all have a headstock that looks too big for the length of the neck. There is no getting away from it, that's the Fender style. In this build I prefer the J neck - the black block markers are perfectly matched to the pickup. 👍

You are correct about cheapos not being in any way capable of having the vinyl replaced. In fact, they are so bad nowadays that all models except the very luxury ones don't even have the adhesive strip/thin metal bar at the top edge to stop them sliding out of the banner's top bar (which is simply a clamp), so they have to be 'tucked in' periodically. Horrible things - but each one we have had so far has served us fine for dozens, and in some cases hundreds, of gigs. As for the vinyl not being completely straight or smooth, that happens at times - less often if you perform the abovementioned 'tucking in' regularly - on certain types of vinyl more often than on others. However, I have never had the impression that anybody, let alone the punters, noticed it. All most people can see is a name, a logo and a motto/description. Very little else appears to matter. We have had questions about the origin of our logos, we have had people reding the description and commenting, but so far nobody's asked us why the banner was curling at a corner or something like that. We are not Pink Floyd....

Jumping into this conversation while on the train to Gatwick! What we have for our bands are roller banners - the type that are contained in an aluminium box, spring-loaded, and supported, once unrolled, by a foldable pole. We have so far gone for cheap or even the cheapest, because we are thinking about improvements to the layout all the time and we like to be able to update the banner's design - none of our banners look exactly the same as the previous. I don't think they look corporate at all. They are small, lightweight and extremely useful for band identification. All those people filming snippets on their phones or taking pictures will have a reminder of the band's name long after the hangover has gone... Incidentally, for those of us who use modern, civilised measurements, the size we go for is 200cm by 85cm.

I should probably invest in one of these. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bewinner-Underwater-Waterproof-Universal-Protective-Black/dp/B07YDPGDPK/ PS thankfully, the DSLR survived the ordeal in this case. 💗

Far easier and less controversial to de-retire and re-join the job market... Er, no to all. 👍

Thanks @TimR. I've moved it, but I had to think about it for a while - it has a more general scope than "PA set up and use". However, I've left a link to this thread in GD as well. 👍

This is all very interesting. So far I've been the one creating logos and posters for the bands, so I don't think we'd need that service from AI. In other words: NO I WILL NOT BE REPLACED BY A FRIGGIN' ROBOT!! 🤣🤣🤣 Seriously though, ad-hoc images where the band can be added in. @Happy Jack, are you thinking of a more sophisticated version of this image we created years ago? The Junkyard Dogs (4-piece version with @MacDaddy on lead geetar) playing Addicted To Love - almost. Date 11/08/2015.

Even better if it's the Metallica version! 🤣

I was at the back with my tablet, and as soon as I heard the opening chords I braced myself for giving the band a lot of subtle help via the sound engineering in case it ended up being a mighty car crash. But yay, it didn't!

Welcome, Kral! 👋🎵🎶

Just to quickly add to what @Happy Jack said: - I find that in small rooms the subs are actually detrimental, compared to the use of 10 or 12" tops only, because of the crossover frequencies. To my ears, unless tops + subs are set to be pretty damn loud (yeah, right, in your average pub or club), the separation between the two sets of frequencies is too clear and really irritating. - Since the 10/12" tops aren't very good at reproducing real bass frequencies, I HPF them; however, Jack often also uses his on-stage bass rig to provide some proper bass for the audience. Not too loud, but loud enough to make the bass sound more rounded and enjoyable. No need for high volumes anyway, as bass frequencies sound better from afar than close to the stage. When all is said and done, there is no sure-fire way to get a perfect sound in a pub or small club, and ultimately, there is no need for it: concentrating on having a good, tight, entertaining band is by far the most important thing in this type of gigs.

Anyone remember that lockdown meme doing the rounds in 2020? "Stay at home, just like you do when your friends' band is playing your local". Whenever I advertise our bands, I do it through their respective band pages, not via my own personal account, and rely on some of our followers sharing the post to their own friends to make an evening out for themselves. That works fine with the rock 'n' roll band, as jivers like to attend gigs by good, tight bands, especially if the venue has a decent dance floor. We really wouldn't expect our non-jiving friends to attend every single gig, although frontman Damo does have some really good friends who will come to see the band every time we're in their area, to enjoy the music and also to catch up with him. This band is also the only one of ours to play a handful of originals, which are well-received and popular on the dance floor because they are in the same style as the covers in the setlist. Similarly, with the new soul band we'll try and attract fans of the genre rather than family or friends. After all, how many times can even a friend or relative willing to help make the effort to attend a gig with music they're mostly indifferent to, to listen to more or less the same setlist every time? Our long-standing covers band chooses not to rely on friends either. I post our gigs on FB, and hope that our followers, who have known of our existence for 15 years, will attend and spread the word to their own friends if applicable. Sometimes it happens - other times it doesn't.

The same prompt on the very same post now, a few hours later, reads: "Boost this post to reach up to 2580 more people if you spend £42". So they're admitting their initial estimate was a bit wide off the mark. No reduction in the boost price, mind! Considering that there's no guarantee the privileged people who'd see the post would be on the same continent, let alone country, county or town as the gig, this is getting more and more ridiculous. 🤷‍♂️ Needless to say, my credit card is sitting tight in my handbag!