peteb

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...

Their website is pretty awful and has been known to show gear that they sold months ago! However, they are good people to deal with, but I wouldn't do so online. I would strongly advise you to give them a ring and have a chat about what you are interested in.

Don't get me wrong - if there's only two men and the ubiquitous dog there and they've been ignoring us for most of the night, then we won't bother doing an encore. However, that never happens on the tribute circuit (and to be honest, hardly ever on the pub gigs I generally do). The fact is that if people have paid to see you, then they want to feel that they're getting their money's worth and they want an encore. Of course, we want to keep the punters (and the promoter) happy to ensure that we get a re-booking, so we play one! It's all a bit of a game really, and yes, sometimes the audience will hardly shout for more because they know that there will be an encore anyway. But that's showbusiness for you! Similarly, manipulating the audience by holding certain big songs back (among other things) to keep their interest is also part of the game. If you learn how to do it properly the you will always get a good reaction, which will also allow you to challenge an audience a little and get them to listen to something a bit more obscure. At the end of the night, we thank the audience, introduce the members of the band and take a bow. You might think that some of these things are a cliché, but if you know how to do them properly then they will work and help the audience to enjoy themselves as well as appreciate your craft! Which is what it is all about really...

The fact is that, these days, the encore is part of the show (whether you like it or not). Especially at the bigger gigs, where punters pay to see you, not doing an encore (assuming that there is any sort of audience reaction) makes you look unprofessional, or even worse, like a diva! For the tribute gigs, we always play one three song encore and that's it! In fact, more often than not, it ends up being a two song encore because the singer has had enough and wants to protect his voice. In a pub band, we will play until the punters stop calling for more, or (more often) the barstaff want us to finish so they don't get in trouble with their neighbours / because of their music licence curfew / they want to finish up and go home!

Given the choice, I would prefer a 41 neck, but I'm not too bothered. I'm taking a 5 string out to a gig tonight as a spare to the 78 P, so a 44mm neck isn't going to scare me too much!