peteb

I dunno - everyone I know in his position can whinge about this at great length without any effort at all. It's not that I don't agree or don't have sympathy, but sometimes it helps if you can impart information in as a dispassionate manner as possible. Feel free to rant at length in a subsequent tweet if you want to!

Thanks for that - more of a twitter rant really, but some information in the form of a summary

That would be very helpful

I can't get the link to work

I just picked out a few songs this late in the night. Ffwd to Goldilox (last song) and the audience sang the whole song with just the guitar - the band only kicked in for the guitar solo and the last chord. Great stuff...! One of those bands I never get to see. I had tickets for September, which was obviously cancelled, and whenever they've played round here before I always seem to have just booked a holiday or something. Hopefully one day...

I think that the point that I (and later others) were making is that the situations in 2020 and 1940 were not comparable and that invoking the Battle of Britain was not helpful.

To be honest, I’m not sure that there is much to be gained discussing such a complex subject on a forum of people who play a bass guitar to varying standards. Such a discussion would inevitably talk about Brexit at length, as well as many other contentious issues and anyone wanting to contribute would really need a reasonable understanding of modern European history. It is still a fascinating subject and if anyone is interested then it is worth reading up on. As far as 'gloom, doom and other Cassandra predictions', people get on with their own lives and make the best of the opportunities that come their way, but we do live in ‘interesting’ times. But we don’t have militias outside the front door, which makes us more fortunate than many other people on this planet. Who knows, maybe events in America last week will be the start of a fightback against the forces of darkness (or maybe not – who knows right now)! If I remember correctly, this thread derail started when someone used an inappropriate ‘during the war’ comment when talking about dealing with a worldwide pandemic…

I’m afraid that I don’t share your optimism, these are potentially dark times. However, I should stress that I can’t imagine any way that there would be a conventional war between the major European countries in any of our, or our children’s lifetimes. All of this would need to be covered in a different thread looking at the changing nature of future warfare, proxy wars, growth of nationalism, what might happen if a minor European country was taken over and the consequences of the fall of the Soviet empire. All of this would make a fascinating thread, but I’m not sure that some people would be comfortable with it being discussed in detail on Basschat!

I would suggest that over the past 20 years or so, we actually have forgotten the reason why we need to have a Remembrance Day in this country. As the actual war is now beyond the memory of anyone not well into their eighties, a now middle-aged generation who have never experienced war have got so caught up in turning it into an exercise of national pride that they have lost an understanding of what caused their ancestors to have to live through such terrible times. If we are worrying that ‘History repeats itself’ (as we should) then we need to stop ‘banging on about the war’ at every opportunity and start looking at what we can do to make sure that the conditions that led to war are not repeated. Looking at what has happened in America and parts of Europe (especially the UK) recently, I wouldn’t say that we are doing such a great job at the moment.

You do know where the term 'rock and roll' came from??

I do wish that people would stop romanticising WW2 and pushing this dangerous view of British exceptionalism. While the RAF may have had less pilots in the Battle of Britain, they had massive technical and logistical advantages that were expertly utilised to ensure that there was never any real danger of losing that particular campaign. The narrative of ‘the few’ and the ‘plucky British underdog’ was very useful as wartime propaganda, but not 80 years after the event by a later generation who have never known a day’s conflict in their lives. If you're interested, see ‘The Battle of Britain’ by James Holland – you can even get an audio version narrated by Al Murray.

If you haven't already got it, I would get the Guy Pratt book. Genuinely laugh out loud funny with some great stories. If ever I'm feeling a little bit down or p*ssed off, I just re-read the section on Guy playing with the Womacks. Great stuff...

Have you thought about a Handbox R-400 (there a couple of threads on BC about them). It's a hybrid amp with valve preamp and a Class A/B power section, handmade in Poland. It is not ridiculously lightweight, but a very easy one hand carry that will sit neatly on a 1x12 cab. Pretty loud - great sound (the EQ section takes a bit of getting used to, but once you do it's fine). I still have my Mesa mpulse in a roadcase, which I still use live. But I found myself taking the Handbox out to more and more gigs (or at least I was when we were still gigging). My guitar player loves it...! My 810 cab is long gone, but these days there are plenty of pretty lightweight 410s around that sound good.

Neil was also on the 1987 album, but not the subsequent tours.

I have certainly slagged bands off before, undoubtedly. But if I go and see a band I might turn to a friend and say ‘what do you think of this lot, I don’t rate them’ or I might give an honest opinion if they ask me what I think of the performance. What I don’t do is walk around the venue tapping people on the shoulder saying ‘this lot are stinky poo’! it just seems unduly negative, even if that was not your intention. As far as the individual collaborators go, I’m not sure that they have the same expectations they would have if they had worked on a project in a more normal situation. These things either work or they don’t. And if they don’t, I would imagine that most people would just shrug their shoulders and think ‘well at least I had the chance to do something and work with some other musicians, even if it didn't turn out that great’. I don't think that our expectations of these types of collaborations are that high in the first place for, but at least we can appreciate that they are trying...

I have no idea if it is awful or not as I haven't bothered to listen to it. But if the OP does think it is that bad, then why bother to start a thread about it?? Very negative and not very cool. As you say, a lot of musos are stuff like this to make up for not being able to play together normally. If you don't like one of these collaborations, then move on and find one that you do - there's plenty to choose from at the moment...

There hasn't been too many props for the amazing Whitney Houston, who provided some of the most stellar (and best known) vocal performances of all time. This is a tribute to her performed (I believe, on the day that she died) by another of the great vocalists . Two amazing talents with tragic ends.

TV / film production companies and the Chippendales are covered in the same way that you are, they need a specific gender to cover a particular role. If you are worried then I would consider advertising for someone who can sing in a 'convincing tenor range and deliver authentic versions of... (pick three of the most masculine sounding artists that you cover)'. I have played in pub bands with good female singers who did reasonable versions of AC/DC covers, etc but it was never something that I would have accepted in bands playing at a higher level. No matter how good the singers are, you are never going to find a girl who can authentically sound like Meat Loaf singing any more than you are going to find a bloke who can sing like Stevie Nicks. Then add to that the antipathy that agents seem to think that some audiences have to girls singing rock music. To be fair, this isn't as bad as it used to be, but it does still exist in some places and if your band is a business then you do have to take it into consideration (or start doing a load of Fleetwood Mac covers)...

No mate, you are exactly right. One of the more perceptive posts I have ever seen on BC. We have reached the point where technology exceeds need and requires to artificially create a demand that doesn't exist. For example, do we need driverless cars? But the technology is there and there is money to be made, so there will be a massive push for it to happen. Meanwhile we are accelerating a disposable culture to facilitate these unnecessary advances. I am obviously in favour of meaningful scientific / technological advances. But too often things are being pushed on us, not because they improve our life, but because it is a way of selling unnecessary products to us.

That's the American built, top of the range EB Musicman Sterling or EB Musicman Stingray (i.e. the ones that the pros use).

The one the Prof is referring to is the full-fat American version. There is also a 2006 Stingray in the For Sale section, going for a bit less than a grand.

I had one about 12 years or so ago (bought for £650 from eBay if I remember correctly). I never got on with it and moved it on quite quickly.

While that is undoubtedly true, I'm not sure that means that the bass player in that band is overrated (or underrated for that matter) I think that Cliff might be a slightly more accomplished bass player, but that is essentially correct. Both are playing simple lines, which are exactly what is required for those two stadium filing rock bands.

I think that is a pretty fair price for the current market. I've just paid a fair bit less for an earlier model, but that's partly because it isn't mint and partly because I got it off a mate. I was talking to a guy online who was selling a 96 without the mutes for £1k, after reducing it from £1,200 and was wondering why people weren't biting his hand off! I've also seen people trying to sell them for a lot more unrealistic prices as well. You have to say that Loz getting an 87 two band (a more collectable model) for £1k is a very good deal.

He's kinda right, but he makes it sound like the original was only good for funk whereas it was used by loads of guys in rock bands, etc. The Stingray is a very unique, aggressive sounding instrument. It doesn't have loads of different sounds, but what it does have works for most genres. If you want that typical MM sound then go for the single humbucker version. The HH seems to be trying to be more versatile, which is great if that is what you need.