jimmyb625

Well, that was good fun! We (Fine Lines) played at the o2 Ritz in Manchester, supporting Kiefer Sutherland on this re-arranged date. We were on the full UK tour last year, but unfortunately, he caught covid, meaning the last 4 dates had to be cancelled. We weren't sure if we'd get any of the new dates, so were really happy to get Manchester, as it was almost a home gig for us. We certainly had a surprising number of people venturing from our home town to the show, possibly not all to see us, but it seemed like a good proportion did, judging by the repsonse. The crowd were brilliant, some of the ones on the front row knew the songs (from following thebtour previously) and they were very enthusiastic in their responses. We played with a dep drummer, who did a great job and really put some work in, having had only 1 rehearsal with us. All in all, quite a splendid time was had by all.

Me, or the band? Fine Lines is a six piece roots infused Americana band from the North West of England. The band was formed in 2016 and has been building a growing following ever since. They have released three albums to date . Jimmy B is a short, fat, aging man, who lacks musical ability.

Despite the fact that they've edited me out of the photo, I thought I'd put this here, just in case anyone needs to avoid us! I did propose an alternative poster, but it wasn't well received...

We are, yes.

This is us, next week: https://fb.watch/lVo7HlSM-2/ For those that don't do the bookface, we're playing at the o2 Ritz in Manchester on Tuesday 25th July, supporting Kiefer Sutherland on his UK tour. We were lucky enough to be involved with his tour last Autumn, which was unfortunately cut short when he caught covid. They've been really good to us and included us the Manchester date of the rescheduled tour, despite having another act in support as well.

A couple of additions to the main board, with the GLXD appearing and covering wireless and tuning duties. The Origin DCX is new. I'd only just put it in the board and didn't have any time to mess about with it, so just used some sample settings. It seemed to be ok, although I need more time to figure it out.

Fine Lines played a small, local gig in a tea room last night. We'd originally intended to play outside, however the weather had other ideas, so we ended up inside, albeit with a pair of satellite speakers set up under cover for those who hadn't booked a table. Despite the massive amount of work involved with setting it up (by me) it was a really enjoyable evening. There's something about these intimate gigs that makes it really good, especially as the audience are there to hear us, as opposed to us being a distraction from eating, drinking, or waiting for the main act to arrive. Most of the bass went straight into the PA, the RCF's do a great job handling it. I used the one10 for a tiny bit of monitoring, but took the main feed from the pedal board. We had the first and most likely last appearance of the Jimmy B bass solo during the intro to one of our songs, with the drummist using a glass to replace the more often used cowbell! Obligatory picture of said event below.

Nah, although I bought a "replacement cable", it's probably more accurate to describe the Shure GLXD 16+ as a cable replacement 🤣 Oh and Origin Effects brought a new pedal out, which somehow ended up at my house. Not sure how that happened...

A very odd one on Tuesday evening. We played at a pub in Erbistock, as they were holding an event to celebrate their recent re-opening. One of the singists is an area manager for a brewery and it was arranged to say thank you to the people who had helped with the renovations and whatever business stuff gets done when a pub re-opens. There were a fair number of people who declined the invitation, some on the day and a few in advance, with the upshot being that we played to about 12 people. We played ok, but it was very loose and we were changing the set list all the way through, adding some and dropping more. We're not a covers band and had only put two into the set (we'd not performed them before), which were both dropped and replaced with a different one we've done a few more times. Still, the few people there were somewhat attentive and polite (possibly because they knew the singist). We were also fed and paid, which is always nice for an originals band! 🤣 I also got to give the new RCF ART 945's a run in anger for the first time, so that was useful. Mosh pit photo below.

Rehearsals, I'll sometimes walk, as it's not far. Gigs, always some sort of motorised transport (unless it's at the place we rehearse). I live in the same town as the drummer and singist/guitarist so we'll always do some sort of car sharing, depending on what we're taking and who's going.

They have them available ex-stock: https://www.designacable.com/peavey-and-shure-glxd-wireless-system-lead-for-beltpacks-2.html

Completely agree with all of this. The first thing I did was get a new cable from designacable, as I wanted an angled one, instead of the straight one it comes with.

My main bass is a signature model, the Warwick Lee Sklar. I bought it because I loved the look of it. You'd be hard pushed to tell it was a signature model if you didn't already know it, as the marking is tiny, just the plate civering the truss rod. I think this is the same for a lot of signature basses, certainly P bass signature models seem to look pretty much the same (to me at least)

The only "bad" experience I had with them was when I ordered a Rode ribbon mic. Completely out of their control, but after I'd been waiting a year for it to be delivered, I decided it was probably best to give up on it. Every other time has been great.

I would say mine, but it would be a lie as it's not worth subscribing to! 🤣

Yeah, I did think that when I posted it, but in fairness, I wasn't really ranting about him, the disengaged 🛎🔚 Interestingly (or not) I was talking to a band this evening about the whole Royal Blood/Sleaford's thing and they told a tale of their own. They were playing a gig and there was a young lady in a wheelchair near to the front, who spent the whole evening engrossed in her phone. It turns out she was writing poems about how much she enjoyed their music.

Definitely. Keep the comments within the band, no matter how frustrating it is, publicly having a tantrum just makes you look stupid.

I usually take 2, although I have done a few where I've only taken 1. Anything where we're in front of a sizeable crowd, I'll take 2 full-size, but for smaller gigs, I'll take my main one and a short-scale Harley Benton as backup. I never play the spare one on stage though.

I'm not sure to be honest. I don't know much about them, but from what I can see on wikipedia, they've been around for a while. At a guess, I'd say they were more on the club/indie venue scene as opposed to pubs though.

It depends on the gig. If it's a festival, then some people want to be at the front and won't move even if they don't like it. Similarly, people will get there early to save a good spot to see the headliner. You'll get some of these folks who won't be the slightest bit interested in the support and will have a conversation with their friends, or spend the entire set checking facebook. I've been in that situation and it is a bit off-putting (bloke in the white shirt in the photo spent most of our set like that), although I've never been tempted to head over to social media to vent.

Agreed. I do have some sympathy for the band, there's nothing more dispiriting than putting on what you think is a great show, only to spot someone right at the front displaying complete ambivalence. It also gets distracting, as all you can focus on is that person. That said, there were probably a load of people there who really enjoyed it, so focussing on the negative isn't the way to view it.

Here's some advice from the grown-ups https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/passwords/updating-your-approach

PasswordP455w0rd1!

You want to speak to the singer? Sorry, they're just packing up the van at the moment.

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