peteb

Absolutely. You can feel the whole room lift when a covers band start an Oasis song in a pub - it's great to see and even better to be part of if you're in the band. I have friends who used to work in music shops. They reckon that Oasis sold more guitars and got more kids playing than any other band of the time or since.

I don't think that the OP is trying to cling on to his youth or whatever the normal motive is for guys going down the botox / fillers path, just trying to get through an audition and look the part in promo photos, etc. Although I wouldn't 100% rule it out, I don't think that I would do it. I reckon that I don't look too bad for my age (early 60s), but the (almost) six pack is a distant memory and while I still have longish hair, it is a bit thinner in places. While dying my hair or getting more ink would be OK, but I'm not keen on fillers, etc. I know a couple out in Spain who do this as a matter of course and she kinda looks like a cartoon of a pretty girl, while the (older) guy looks alright but still has that slightly surprised look all of the time. I have made a conscious effort to start getting gigs in slightly different genres as I've got older. I can still look reasonably cool onstage in a blues band, but I'm not so sure that I can carry off the leather trousers or whatever I used to wear in a straight up hard rock act these days!

I dunno about that, but its true that back in the early 80s, we all had 70s Fenders that we modded and swapped out bridges, pickups, etc. I remember seeing an interview with Rick Wills (Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Roxy Music, Dave Gilmour, etc) on some YouTube bass channel where he and the guy interviewing him agreed that you couldn't really say that a Fender was 'yours' untill you had taken a screwdriver to it or modded it in some way!

The one I played was a four string and I loved the neck. Everything just seemed easier to play...!

I know what you mean. I have briefly thought of looking for a secondhand Fodera (one of the less esoteric models), but to do that I would have to sell three or four other really nice basses. At one time, when I started playing FSOs again, I wanted an USA Sadowsky but didn't have the money at the time. So I bought and sold a few super jazz type basses until I got an old spec Xotic jazz. At that point I thought, just how much better could a Sadowsky be than the excellent Xotic? For the type of stuff I generally play, a Sadowsky would probably be a better fit than a Fodera, so you have to ask yourself, could you justify buying a Fodera over a Sadowsky and then, could I justify getting a Sadowsky when I already had the Xotic? It's not like saying that you could get away with a Harley Benton or a Sire (which of course you could if you had to). These are all top spec, excellent instruments and as great as the Fodera undoubtedly is, do I need one when I already have some great basses that work for what I do? To cap it all, because of the people I'm currently playing with, I'm using passive Fenders on pretty much very gig these days!

I have played a Fodera. It was extremely good, one of the best (if not the best) basses I have ever played. Whether any bass is worth that sort of money is debateable, but it was very good...!

But there will always be a few gentlemen of a certain age (like me and you) who are going to check the gig out, and the vast majority are going to be a bit disappointed...!

That's a bit confusing - perhaps he should consider an alternative stage name for his showbiz endeavours?

Is that Lee Aaron, as in Canadian 'Metal Queen' singer? If so, I'm a bit surprised that she has come over to play gigs in pubs as I would have assumed that she would be hitting the club / small venue circuit. I'm always curious about the logistics about how you put together a tour for artists from overseas at that level.

I played at the Old Bush Blues Festival in Worcestershire on Friday, depping with Hooson Maguire playing rocky blues / soul stuff. Great little festival - sold out with 500 capacity, great crowd, well organised and really friendly. We stayed over for a coupe of nights and caught up with a few people we hadn't seen for a while. Great to play with my old mucka Paddy Maguire and the excellent Jenna Hooson-Maguire again. For those interested in such things, I was using a 78 P bass into a Caveman pre / Handbox R400 / Berg CN212. Apologies for the quality of the photos, taken on a phone by my missus, who may have had a couple of ciders / attempting to dance while taking them...!

Yes, that was definitely a good one... 🙂 I imagine that Luke would be great company, but possibly a bit exhausting after a while!

Obviously I confused the story with something else (or simply not remembered correctly, a problem with old age). This one is when SL was just starting out and was late for session and a bit flustered. It just shows that these guys can be pretty helpful to each other, even in what was a pretty tough industry. If you read the Luke autobiography, there are loads of anecdotes like that. It's all quite interesting to someone like me, and generally pretty amusing.

I believe that was a film score session where Luke turned up with a hangover, believing that he had a pretty easy part to cover and then being shocked to find that it was way more complicated than he had expected. After laughing at him, his mate Ritenour (who was a stronger reader at the time) took pity on him and swapped the scores! Remember that a lot of these guys like to affect a self-depreciating tone and tell stories about where they nearly come unstuck. If you read his book, you can see many testimonials about how SL could get something magical down first take without seeming to take it too seriously, which was highly regarded even among the elite LA session players of the time.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed in that! He can very obviously play, but his take on it wasn't anything special and he looked like he would have been happier doing his Stu Hamm on speed schtick rather than coming up with a great part on the spot. He's certainly no Steve Lukather or Leland Sklar type of character, nailing everything on the first take while cracking jokes and lighting up the room. I must say that he comes across as a nice guy, rather than the slightly smug poshboy that I find a little irritating on his YouTube clips. I am amazed that he genuinely didn't recognise the Rolling Stones (on one of their better known tunes). Perhaps if he had been more familiar with that type of classic rock music he would have been a bit more comfortable.

Danny is definitely northern...! He has a pretty strong Bradford accent that he does exaggerate a bit on YouTube for effect.

I've always get two boxes of Duracell Procells from eBay, one goes in my gigbag and the other on my desk at home. They're pretty cheap and I have given a fair few to bandmates, which makes up for all the times people have given me 9v batteries (and other spares) in the past. It all evens out in the end...

Anyway, here's Danny with his view on other social media musicians... https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t_T9Mk7wwUc

I know Danny a bit - he's a nice guy, a lot less annoying down the pub than he is on YouTube! I think that Danny is like Charles whatisname in many ways and, to my mind, is part of the problem these days! He can certainly play, but he earns a living by exaggerating his Yorkshire accent, doing showboating solo spots at trade shows and reviewing mediocre gear on YT. I don't know if he has gigged with a proper band for any period of time, although he does do occasional projects, such as rehearsing up a Thin Lizzy tribute to play a one-off gig in a city centre bar (bear in mind that I cut my teeth with Lizzy in their pomp when I was a kid and I am at least thirty years older than Danny)! He's a very decent player and one of the good guys, but I would much rather see him in a decent band than just on YT. But he's got a living to make and the chances of getting the big gig for a kid from Bradford these days is too remote, so the only real options are either slogging around the circuit with one of the surviving members of some heritage band or getting a YouTube presence and demonstrating gear at trade shows.

I would also throw Xotic into the ring. For example this one at Bass Direct (You could probably pick up a second hand one for nearly a grand less) https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/product/xotic-xj-1t-5-sonic-blue/

I reckon that I've got three rigs these days: 1) Mesa mpulse amp (in a 4u rack with a power conditioner) into a Berg HS410 cab with ceramic speakers - great sounding rig, as good as it gets for me 2) Handbox R400 into a Berg CN212 (neo speakers) - a great sounding rig that goes out for pretty much every gig these days and is just a little bit easier to get back in the house at the end of the nigh, as well as taking up a little less room when packing in the car (that means me and the singer can travel in the same car to gigs as we can fit his IEM / radio mic rack with my rig in the back and still have room for two passengers if the WAGs want to come) 3) I've got a Markbass LM3 as a spare amp that I use for rehearsals thru a cheap Ashdown 210 cab that I picked up for £50 (the cab stays in a rehearsal room) I've also got a PJB Double Four that lives on my desk that I use as a practice amp, but I haven't counted that as a proper rig!

I've kinda got mixed feelings about that. We were all pretty heavy drinkers back in the 80s and we had a lot of fun, as well as creating some pretty good bands that did quite well. I know a few people that had problems with booze, but funnily enough, the ones who did actually drink themselves to death were generally non musos. A couple of friends did have drug issues, but fortunately I never had an addictive personality, so it was never a problem for me. I stopped smoking 20 years ago and started drinking a bit less a few years later, when a doctor told me if I started drinking in moderation then I wouldn't need to quit completely. I have a few friends from the old days who still drink too much. To be frank, drinking like you did when you were 25 when you're 60 isn't a great look, even if they are still in reasonable health. Once you get older, good health is something that you can no longer take for granted.

Just to note that we have a Freddie Washington thread that was started just a few days ago. Probably a good idea to merge the two threads.

When I was a teenager, I worked in a professional theatre as a stagehand for a panto season. The bass player in the pit had a beautiful olympic white precision, which increased my resolve to buy one as soon as possible (I actually bought my first P bass while I was working there)! The pit guys were great, but I remember that they all drank like fishes! Whenever they had a break in the show, they would quickly decamp to the pub across the road for a swift half then sprint back to take their places seconds before their next cue! They would have a few more during the intermission, then be back in the pub as soon as the curtain went down. No one said a word - I think that in the late 70s, playing and drinking was very much an expected thing for pro musos...

If you're amp is working a little more efficiently and you are not getting issues with low frequencies in larger rooms with dodgy acoustics.

Yes, they do and when I bought a bass off them before it had a very good setup (they asked me exactly how I wanted it setup, what strings I wanted, etc). The trouble this time was I was very non-committal about buying the bass until I had actually played it (70s Fender and all that) and I was principally going down to get them to sell a Warwick Streamer for me on commission (or to part-ex if I bought the Fender). I was happy with the bass as soon as I picked it up, so part-ex'd the Streamer. I did consider asking Will to set-up the Fender with the new bridge, but it was a bit of a faff to get him to send it to me and it's rather a long trip for me to pick it up, so I decided to do it myself. I've been mucking around with it and I've got it more or less about right, although it might go to Jon Shuker at some point when I've got a bit more time. But you are right, Bassbros do normally include a setup with each purchase.