peteb

Yep - Curlers Arms supporting Backstreet Thunder

Well, I'm expecting that we may get around a bit - there's talk of gigs all over the place. Whether we get down to South Essex is another thing, but you never know (I have done gigs on the Kentish coast before now)!

We are based around Leeds and surrounding areas. Let me know if you can make it to a gig once we get up and running and I will make sure we can meet up and I can introduce you to the guys. The band is called 'A Storyteller's Night' and the first gig is in Rotherham on 30 March. The website can be found at on https://www.storytellers-night.co.uk/ and of course you can find us on Facebook as well. There are a few clips from (very) early rehearsals on the Facebook page if you're interested.

I have already been surprised at the interest in the band. I was very much part of 'the rock fraternity', but to be honest they kinda passed me by. It has been cool to hear all these great songs that I hadn't really listened to that much. They are a bit of a cult band, not really massive, but with an obviously sizeable and dedicated following…

I’ve just joined a Magnum tribute band, which hasn’t done a gig yet but still getting a load of interest. Great players with an excellent singer and a keys player who has a bit of history with the original band (played / wrote on the singer’s first solo album), so all pretty exciting and can’t wait to start gigging. The main issue we’ve had so far seems to be to ensure that we avoid copyright issues with the merch / website, etc. We have had a few messages of support passed on from the main band (as well as advice on copyright), which is really good of them. It is a bit of a strange one for me as it was never a band that I really listened to and a bit of a bizarre thing to get a text message out of the blue asking me to join. I have a couple of friends who were in a Foo Fighters tribute that did make decent money and years ago I was asked to join a U2 band that did really well, but I doubt that Magnum is a tribute that will make big money – it is probably a bit too much of a niche band for that – but still seems to have enough fans out there to be viable. Hopefully it will help to raise my profile again as well as get to play decent size gigs, so who knows where it might lead to? So far, it’s all good…

Some friends of mine played a festival up in the Orkneys (a gig I have done before) with Ted and became good friends, did a couple of jam sessions and pick-up gigs with him. I was a bit envious to be honest and told them they had to introduce me next time he played around here. Strange to think of how many of my heroes he played with at one time or enough, part of the musical backdrop to my youth and beyond! The terrible thing was that he died during a routine hernia operation. Still touring to the end, so not a bad old life. By all accounts a lovely guy and a terrific drummer…

Absolutely right about the crowd and it is a pretty good set-up, which could be great if there had been a little bit more thought. The Landlord at that pub is a nice guy who is a real enthusiast. He also has made a bit of money from other ventures, which means he can afford to do what he wants with the pub and what he wants to do is to make it into a good local music venue. He has succeeded in this to a degree, it's just a shame that he didn't ensure that there was enough room to site a decent sized PA without blocking the audience's view, have enough room on the stage for a desk and have somewhere to store his extensive collection of various musical instruments. I'm not knocking it too much - it's a decent gig with an impressive little stage and the people who run it are great, as are the punters. It just could be even better...

The Polished Knob in Tod...! It can get a bit cramped up there, having to share the new stage with the contents of a secondhand music shop all pushed to the back so that they can be on hand for the landlord's midweek jam session...

If you want to cover all basses (as it were) then a passive 4 string P bass and an active 5 string jazz would cover it...

Funnily enough, I caught the train down to the Bass Centre in Wapping many years ago with every intention of spending every penny I owned on an Alembic (an Epic if I remember correctly). I didn’t get as far as plugging it in – as soon as I picked it up, I knew that it wasn’t for me (I ended up getting a Warwick Streamer LX instead). The basses I’ve actually owned and hated: 1. A Rickenbacker copy when I was a kid – a lot of my heroes played Ricks, leading me to buy a Rick copy when I was about 15. Awful bass – somewhat put me off Ricks for life, which was only reinforced when I played a mate’s genuine one many years later (the worst expensive bass that I have ever played). 2. Guild Pilot – didn’t really hate this but it had a twisted neck, which no one could do anything about despite many efforts. Sounded great and looked great (for its time – it was the 80s after all) but was a dog to play because of the neck issue. 3. Yamaha (can’t remember the model) – bought to replace the Pilot – sounded weak compared to its predecessor and was difficult to set up and very uninspiring to play, although I do know someone who sought one out secondhand and insists that they are very collectable (apparently). I thought it was cr*p and couldn’t wait to get rid…

Terrific player - like an early fretless Pino on speed! Based on his YouTube videos, personality wise he may be a bit of an acquired taste...

I always thought that they were just following the grand blues tradition of taking a song, re-working it and passing off as their own. Exactly who did write 'Dust My Broom' ( to pick one example out of countless blues standards)?? BTW, I believe 'Dazed & Confused' was based on a Bob Dylan song, which itself may have been based on an earlier tune...

Always assumed that you would be an Oxbridge, or possibly a Durham, man...

In fairness, perhaps it should be noted that, following posts in this thread on Basschat and the resulting press coverage, Ms Bush has issued a statement to emphatically deny that she supports the Conservative Party. Apparently the original statement was taken out of context and she was just pleased to see a female PM, who she thought was better than David Cameron... https://www.indy100.com/article/kate-bush-conservative-tory-voter-internet-rejoice-statement-hillary-clinton-2016-interview-8718606

First of all, I hope that you are OK. I would talk to your cardiologist, but if you can get away with doing the gig on electric bass do that. Or if you haven't sufficiently recovered, dep the gig out.

Not that I've ever played Camden, but I used to play that sometimes at soundchecks! Never know what it was called until I looked it up on YouTube just now...

Was it a bit cold on stage Daryl?? You look like you're dressed for walking home after the show! A nice touch for the owner to, in effect, buy each member a meal in his restaurant. A nice tip for playing NYE...

Just been watching a YouTube clip of a Nashville session bassist going through his recording and playing tips for guys who want to pay sessions as well as going through the gear he uses and why. He demonstrated five basses that he uses on sessions and discussed the relative merits of each - three were Fender Precision basses...!

If you don't care then it doesn't apply to you and you are probably right about there being as many jazz bass players as P bass players (perhaps SBL's next video will be why many pros use jazz basses). However, if you turn up for an audition with Dave Gilmour then you will be expected to have a P bass (according to Guy Pratt). Same thing if you are on a session with many producers...

Because it is a fact that a lot of producers / band leaders prefer their bass players to use a Precision. Let's not pretend that a lot to do with that isn't to do with familiarity, both in terms of sound and image, but it is a thing. Whether you like that or not is something else, but if you are a pro freelance jobbing bass player then it is a good idea to have a P bass in your armoury.

To be honest, Magnum were a band that kinda passed me by at the time and the only song I really knew was ‘Storyteller’s Night’. However, I was asked to join this tribute that had a load of great local players involved, so I am currently learning a set of new (to me) tunes. After two rehearsals it is certainly lots of fun and sounds great. I would never have thought of Magnum as a viable tribute, but I have been surprised at the interest that has been generated on Facebook, etc months before we are even going to play a gig! Seems to be a band with a larger following than I imagined…

'On A Storyteller's Night' & 'Midnight', both for a Magnum tribute

Funnily enough I never rated that at all, but I was hooked as soon as I heard 'Man With The Child In His Eyes'. Virtually all of her back catalogue is quality...

I've done loads of jam session, including being in a the house band at blues festivals, and they can be really great. Whether they are fun for the audience largely depends on the quality of players taking part, but it is a great way for less experienced musos to learn how to busk, play with other musicians and improve. It's also a great showcase for a player looking for new bands and guys to play with. Yes, they often tend to be blues based, as that type of music has a tradition of jamming and has set forms that can easily be varied if necessary and lend themselves to busking. The same can be said of jazz, although you won't get people like me there! The biggest problem with regular local jam nights is that they tend to run out of steam after a bit, as you inevitably tend the same guys coming back playing the same stuff every week.