peteb

I believe that it's four hours - one hour to get into your bloodstream and then three hours to metabolise (for a normal pint of lager, assuming that you haven't got a cold / headache or whatever else effects the giant chemistry set that makes up your body). I've always been careful with drinking when driving and these days I can't be bothered with worrying about a single pint! I will occasionally have a swift half at the end of the night if I'm thirsty (but obviously not in Scotland)...

While it is correct that a P bass is essentially a tool, there is a certain type of functional beauty about them! On Saturday, I went to the 60th birthday party of my old housemate, a former pro bass player and music shop manager who now unfortunately has MS. As you might imagine, the place was full of musos (including quite a few pros), with a band of mates playing and a jam session afterwards. The house bass player for the night brought along a couple of 70s P basses that he had just acquired for around £2k each. Everybody who got up wanted to play the Fenders and there was a bit of talk about the various old Fender basses that we all own or have owned. I don't think that anyone there has an out and out boutique bass, but we all own Fenders (or FSO type basses) and there is a lot of affection for that type of instrument.

I think that we are talking more about economics than changing tastes in entertainment. While rock'n'roll band is obviously not as dominant in popular culture as it was in it's heyday (early 60s to whenever, probably late 90s), live performances were still drawing large crowds up to the economic crash of 2008. Since then there has certainly been a drop-off in crowds, but certain events will still attract a healthy audience. In my experience, gigs in the more affluent areas are still pulling crowds as big as ever, where shows in poorer areas are much more hit and miss.

Confusing him with the early 70s Rolling Stones guitarist perhaps??

That 71P looks really nice and not too ridiculously priced!

The instrument I've had the longest is a red Warwick Streamer LX. However, I haven't really gigged it for years and it currently lives in my Mum's attic as I'm short of space here and I haven't got round to selling it. I did used to have a Ken Smith Burner for many years, which I always said that I would never sell, but promptly did when I needed funds for a Fender Precision AVRI57 that I wanted for a blues band I was doing loads of gigs with. The better story is my 78 Fender P bass, which I bought when I was 18 (in 1979), sold when I was 25. I always regretted selling it, so was really pleased when I saw it up for sale a few years ago during lockdown. I managed to buy it back and have been gigging it again ever since.

Remember to make sure that this new genre covers both Mumford & Sons and Judas Priest...!

I completely agree! I used to think of Americana as a catch-all term for American popular music that I don't particularly like, but the definition seems to be so loose to the point of being completely meaningless. If you look at the Wikipedia article, one minute it's talking about banjos, mandolins and fiddles then the next it is putting forward an urban rock and roll act like Bob Seger as an example of Americana! That makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Beware, he's not prog at all, more quirky hard rock with a sense of humour. I would start here (but also look for Go For Soda, Rockland Wonderland, Ain't Life Amazing & anything off the Itch album):

I saw them on that tour when I was 16. Max Webster were a bit too out there, but I've loved pretty much all of Kim Mitchell's solo stuff, from 'Go For Soda' to 'Rock'n'roll Duty' to 'Ain't Life Amazing'!

Good luck with getting gigs with that project! A Max Webster tribute would be a blast! I'm definitely up for doing a Kim Mitchell tribute if anyone is thinking of putting one together...!

I don't entirely agree Daryl. There is an audience for most types of music, just the more niche it is, the harder it is to find it. But as long as there is a 'critical mass' of enough people interested in the type of music you want to play, then a project will be viable. And the audience for a blues, prog, AOR, ska or whatever band will be more appreciative and generally be prepared to pay more than the audience for a mainstream covers band in a bar. Of course, if you actually like the music that you play, then you will sound more authentic and come across a lot better to punters than if you don't care for it...

The problem is that this isn't mainstream covers stuff that you could play down a pub. To get any audience, you have to be able to market it, which realistically means doing a tribute to one of the bigger prog bands.

Exactly, the same here. It also has the benefit of being very listenable to a lot of punters. A mate of mine (who used to be a promoter) described it as everybody over 40's guilty secret! I'm currently doing a blues project with a mate of mine who is a very good pro guitarist (i.e. teaches, plays in a good paying tribute and does deps for function bands, etc). I originally approached him to help me out as I had some decent gigs offered, but had been let down by the earlier version of the band. However, he jumped at the chance to put together a permanent band, as he had missed playing that type of music.

There is a niche for most genres, although you might struggle trying to get an audience for playing Bruford covers! However, there are loads of Pink Floyd tributes doing well out there and a guitarist mate of mine is in a very successful Genesis tribute, who go out for a minimum £2k a night (even though personally I can't think of a band I would least like to be in a tribute to). I occasionally get the idea that I wouldn't mind doing the odd gig playing Billy Cobham 'Spectrum' type stuff . The trouble is that it is such a small niche where you will be up against music college kids, where merely being good isn't enough. I could play it, but would be likely to struggle with the competition in that area, even though I think that I could more than hold my own against many of them playing anything with a blues element to it! You always have to balance what you like with what you're good at, along with what audience there is for any potential project. Luckily, my musical preferences are reasonably mainstream(ish)!

The Robben Ford version of Politician

That's a hell of a performance! Never heard of Billy Hector before, will definitely check him out. The bass player (Winston Roye) sounds cool as well...

To be fair, that song was a hit in 1966 and the £65 he got would now be worth £1,225 - not great for a chart topping act, but more than most of us get for a gig these days...!

Just that these things happen, especially in these uncertain times! Generally, we (the Zep tribute) play ticketed shows, but the last gig was for a fixed fee and was sold out. We probably should have asked for a bigger fee. The two gigs before that were ticketed and drew a healthy crowd, so we made decent money. The gig before that only got 35 people and lost money! It is difficult times for many people and there isn't a lot of money around for the average punter. We certainly have had shows cancelled due to low ticket sales, but the next venue might be sold out. It is a bit hit and miss these days and sometimes be difficult to sell enough advance tickets to make a gig viable.

That's a pretty cool gig to have! A guitarist that I play with was up for, what I assume, was an earlier version of that gig. However, he came as a package with a (really good) singer, who at the last minute they decided didn't sound quite similar enough to Frankie. So they picked someone who's voice was more like the great man, presumably your guy!

To be fair, I think that anyone who has something for sale on Facebook (or here, or wherever) adds a fair bit to the price if they try to sell on Reverb.

Led Zep tribute at the Motorsport Lounge in Llandudno last night. A great night with a sell out crowd, nice venue (the stage was a bit cramped though) with very friendly people running it and enthusiastic punters. We had an issue with a guitar amp and the monitors were right on their limit, so not the greatest onstage sound, but with such a good crowd - who cares? https://www.facebook.com/themotorsportlounge/videos/1175097643505412

It's a bleedin' horrible thing, always going out of tune, etc (apparently, Page hated his as well). But, it's part of the show and people get excited when you whip it out, as it were...! Yea, Zep have always been my favourite band since I've been a kid, but I didn't really play many Zep covers before I joined the tribute. When I had to figure out the bass parts, it was uncanny how much JPJ had influenced my playing without me consciously being aware of it, or having purposely copped his lines! The set-up is a Handbox R400 into a Berg CN212, lately with a Caveman pre before the amp. The bass is just a 2015 American Std Jazz. He's not that young these days! In person, I always think that he looks more like Jerry Sadowitz (although he does get Brian May a lot, just because of the hair)! I used to be in a band with him in the late 80s - he always had a Plant-esque delivery, as well as being a massive fan. Getting him and the new keys player in the band has really lifted things to a different level.

After a couple of gigs with the new band last week, it was back to the Zep tribute on Saturday playing a relatively local gig at Studio 5 in Keighley (or K-town as it is known in these parts). A good gig all in all, with a pretty decent turnout (always a relief when you are playing locally). The only issue was the guitar players Helix multi FX playing up when he changed guitars (he had to turn it off and on again) to the double-neck! It's funny how that guitar got a cheer all of its own when it was brought out, a boo when we thought that it was the guitar playing up and Chris would have to use the six string, and then another cheer when he realised it was the Helix and plugged the double-neck in again! Next gig in Llandudno in North Wales on Saturday.

A bit late, but my new blues band played our first couple of gigs a week or so ago (Tapestry in Bradford on the Thursday & Venue 23 in Wakefield last Sunday), supporting Mick McConnell's (guitarist from Smokie) new blues rock band at both gigs. It all went really well for our first gigs and went down very well. It looks like it's going to be a good band with some top players. Just need to get some more gigs booked now...