EliasMooseblaster

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1422788201' post='2676688'] I call shill bidding. Those things sell day-in, day-out for around £100-150 max. [b]Either that, or when the buyer sobers up, they are in for a shock![/b] [/quote] I do know a young gentleman who spent a not-inconsiderable sum of money on Bruce Springsteen tickets while Brahms & Lizst. To make matters worse, he'd booked them for a gig on the opposite side of the Atlantic. So I could believe that some of these bids were made by a person whose levels of nostalgia were similar to those of AM, but whose blood-alcohol was considerably higher!

Smile politely. I'm very much in the John Entwistle school of stage presence (which, I hasten to add, is subtly different from the Bill Wyman school)

[quote name='rOB' timestamp='1422390154' post='2672148'] Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed that. [/quote] My pleasure - glad you enjoyed it!

Hi Adrian, thanks for replying - I've been asked to keep the info fairly quiet, so I'll send you the details in a PM!

Certailnly wouldn't say no to a few more people following [b]Cherry White's [/b]page, which you can find here: https://www.facebook.com/cherrywhitemusic I shall try and work my way down the list very shortly!

'morning! Last I heard, the tour's running from the 4th to 20th May (though I think ideally they'd like someone to join for the longer term)

No worries, Clarky - at least we were turned away for the admirable reason that you filled the house, and not, say, because the doorman had decided to be arsey about my choice of footwear! Glad to hear it was a good gig, and I shall know next time to get my tickets well in advance. Sorry we missed you, Jack and Silvie - we managed to find a place to perch in the Spread Eagle, though to be honest even that felt more like a school disco than my usual choice of drinking hole last night! Hopefully we'll catch up again soon. (Though I do own an amusing false moustache in case we have to infiltrate Camden again...)

Is anybody here a fan of [b]Thunderous Jones[/b]? On the 6th February, they'll be launching their new single at the Vic - but that's not the only thing! The same show will be [b]Cherry White[/b]'s first appearance of 2015, and the maiden outing of Cherry White MkIII. The night kicks off at 7pm - not 100% sure what the order is, but the support acts will be [b]Grawl!x, Parasight [/b]and [b]Cherry White, [/b]with [b]Thunderous Jones [/b]headlining. Only a fiver. FB event deelie can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/359872777526234/?fref=ts - would be great to see some of you there! http://cherrywhite.bandcamp.com/

Any other takers for this one?

Hi Alex, I think they've got a budget to cover the expenses, but I don't think there's likely to be a fee in it.

A friend of mine has been having trouble finding a new bass player. Is anybody interested in joining a well-established punk/hardcore band based in London? The ideal candidate will be interested in working with the band for the long run; at the very least it would be a great help if they could come onboard for a three-week tour, playing around 15 dates in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK. I've been asked not to give out too many details publicly, but if this sounds appealing, then PM me and I'll put you in touch with my friend. I can, however, assure that they're all great guys, very determined and hardworking, and are probably in with a good chance of getting quite big, quite soon! Many thanks, EMB.

Hullo, does this mean they've stopped making the 15W models? On the rare occasions that I play lead guitar, I use a Pathfinder 15R, which sounds like it has a lot in common with these newer models - good tone, nice and compact, and disconcertingly loud for the wattage!

Seeing as I've still got 36 hours to get in an entry for the stupidest question of 2014: Does anyone know anything about getting a solid state amp repaired in the London area? My current cab is actually a combo with a knackered head - I've been running a valve head into the speaker cab for the last 18 months or so. All this time I kept telling myself I'd get the head fixed, so I'd have a handy backup if I, e.g., blew a valve mid-set - so now seems like a good time to make a new year's resolution. From a bit of judicious googling, I think the problem is that the output transistors have failed. Assuming that's the correct diagnosis, are these kinds of repairs likely to be - particularly expensive? - particularly specific (i.e., likely to depend on a tech knowing his/her way round that manufacturer's stuff)? - something I could do myself if I can get the parts? Ta kindly in advance.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1419845463' post='2643059'] I listen to Gold, a DAB station and they seem to get a really nice bass tone, especially in the car, where lets face it you need compression otherwise you can't hear the quiet bits over car noise, I often wonder why manufacturers don't build in a compressor into car radios. So, yes, radio stations have got different tonal qualities [/quote] I don't know how true this is, but I have heard that Classic FM has to feed its music through some very heavy-handed compressors because the dynamic range of good-quality orchestral recordings is typically much greater than on most pop and rock recordings, and they can't risk car drivers being scared out of their wits if there's a sudden jump from [i]pianissimo [/i]to [i]forte[/i]!

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1418658519' post='2632047'] Just keep going. 20m pianists can't all be geniuses!! [/quote] I learnt the piano before picking up the bass; having never reached a particularly high level on it I never had to tackle much complicated bass clef stuff. (And I must admit it's a rare day I have to play bass guitar parts from a score.) I have, however, found that if I get back into practising the piano regularly, my reading improves a great deal in both clefs...so I think Bilbo's right: just keep going! [quote name='Kirky' timestamp='1418733678' post='2632749'] Drax's idea of doing some written transcriptions (from treble to bass clef, and visa versa) is a good one. I went from being a violinist (treble clef) to viola player (Alto clef) and all I can say is you get there eventually. [size=4] [/size] [/quote] Didn't realise people still used the alto clef! Learning something new every day...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1418920532' post='2634891'] I look forward to it, but I'm already pretty certain about what I'll think! It saddens me that children don't have access to high-quality systems and that most music is apparently consumed alone while staring at a screen. [/quote] Never mind the production quality, even: do you have any idea how hard it is to find a performance of Debussy's [i]Clair de Lune [/i]on Youtoob that doesn't sound rushed?

One last bump, folks - [b]donations close on Saturday![/b] http://youtu.be/5aqoDHt2cWc?list=UUPZPdhy3hI_2NiG5RoEIjIQ

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1417722444' post='2623516'] You [b]cannot[/b] just walk in here and say that... ...you have to write a protest song about it... [/quote] "What do we want?" "MORE COWBELL!" "When do we want it?" "IDEALLY ON THE 2 AND 4."

In more general terms, most of the arguments I've heard seem to boil down to a Windows PC offering cheaper, replaceable and generally more reliable hardware, but unfortunately you have to use Windows; and Mac having a much more stable OS, but expensive, exclusive and dubious hardware. It's easy to see why a lot of people seem to prefer Mac for most creative things: the software is much less frustrating, you just have to hope that nothing mechanical starts to fail outside the warranty. My geek badge obliges me to point out that you can probably get the best of both worlds by running a well-supported flavour of Linux on a PC - but to keep it relevant to this thread, the available DAWs, whilst impressive for free, open-source software, aren't yet on a par with the Reapers, Logics, etc of this world. With a certain amount of work, you can probably add extra packages to build up similar functionality, but I haven't quite got that far, and most people will want something that works straight out of the box!

I will steer clear of anything political by not discussing the lyrics, but given a recent spate of mass-angry-posting on Twitter, the 3/4 of Cherry White that was available on the night decided to cobble together a hasty demo of one of the songs intended for our next EP. See what you reckon: [media]http://youtu.be/mRfloxslL4Y[/media]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1417648775' post='2622772'] [size=4][font=Arial]I have had a few guys from the forum come back at me and say[i],"Don't you miss the creative element?"[/i] For me, I was in some original bands, however It was never my material. [b]I don't write songs.[/b] I don't have that ability.[/font][/size] [/quote] Maybe this is going to be the dividing line here! If you were never much of a songwriter anyway, then I suppose you'll always be playing somebody else's material, so does it make much difference whether it was written by Goffin & King, or by your bandmate? I'm in quite an interesting position at the moment, as I have been through two different phases: supplementing my meagre living with paid covers gigs, and having a "standard" day job. Throughout both I have kept the originals band going. I should probably also add that I had the luxury of a day job that was quite interesting. However, as somebody who was contributing songs to the band, and being given free rein over the basslines I played on other members' songs, I had a lot of space to be creative. Similarly I normally had a lot of freedom with the covers gigs - unless we were playing a song with a well-known bass part, I could just go along with chord sheets and busk something appropriate. I just never felt the same level of freedom or expression in what I was playing. I came to the conclusion that having a (relatively interesting) day job and working on originals on the side was more satisfying than playing covers for a living. However, I am also aware that Cherry White makes music with a certain amount of commercial potential. I always want to be proud of the music we make, and I'll be the first to cough politely if I think a new idea sounds too contrived or too obvious, but I think it's the kind of music that could reach quite a wide audience if we can get it out there. If we were playing some kind of obscure, uber-technical prog-metal then we'd have a lot of creative freedom, but I'd also have to accept that it was "just a hobby," and probably going to remain that way. So maybe it's not strictly one or t'other: yes, the creative freedom I get from original music is, for me, much more satisfying than playing covers. But maybe it's the possibility of one day making a bit of $$$$ (well, ££££ in my case!) which helps to keep the creative aspect appealing. *[sub]I'm going to use "standard" to mean a regular, 9-5 type of job. I know we joke about it on here, but I don't like to proliferate the idea that being a musician isn't a "proper" job.[/sub]

[quote name='Badass' timestamp='1417519266' post='2621183'] Guys what album do you recommend to a newcomer to Ozric Tenticles? [/quote] The first time I went looking, I was lucky enough to find Pungent Effulgent and Strangeitude as a 2-CD set. It was certainly cheap enough all of...12(?) years ago and I found them both fairly accessible.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1417513372' post='2621054'] Would you be happy , if he took the stage when you were playing. [/quote] [quote name='cybertect' timestamp='1417519684' post='2621193'] Hell, yeah! [/quote] +1. But then The Who are probably my favourite band, so I'd be in a state of delirious fanboy-ism if Daltrey were just in the same room while I was playing.

[quote name='stuckinthepod' timestamp='1417434246' post='2620213'] The [i]Not that anyone at Glastonbury really cares about the music, if they did they wouldn't all buy their tickets before the line-up is announced. This part. Not the LR part [/i] [/quote] Thanks for clarifying, it's an easy mistake to make. Easy, like Sunday morning, one might even say...

Last week I had a dilemma: should I go to see the amazing Joanne Shaw Taylor at the O2 in Shepherd's Bush, or take a chance on my friend's recommendation of Bigelf at the Garage in Islington? I'm glad I went with Bigelf - it must have been one of the first gigs in a long time where I've stopped and thought, "you know what? The mix is actually really good here." Really effin' loud, but amazing clarity in a mix that at some points was having to cope with drums, bass, guitar, vocals and two keyboards. In contrast I'd seen JST at Shep's Bush the year before, and been frustrated by the booming bass frequencies - the sound was muddy to the point of being distracting, which was a shame because I could tell the band were giving a great performance. As BRX said earlier, part of the problem is alleviated by going to see smaller bands at smaller venues that cope better with the sound (plus you feel better for supporting smaller artists), but unfortunately this silver bullet doesn't work if you've got a lazy engineer at the desk. We've played a lot of places where they just assume that drummers are just metronomes (kick and snare emphasised, rest of kit barely audible) and bassists just exist to chug root-note quavers (won't be needing those mids, then...) under the guitarist who has no imagination beyond playing a wall of chords with a different effect pedal for the middle-8...anyone who's heard Cherry White live will know that all these assumptions are incorrect. I have a friend who does A/V tech for conferences and came to see us at the old Water Rats - "the sound was weird: lots of booming bass and lots of top, but there just seemed to be nothing in the middle." In the Water Rats - not exactly an arena-size venue... (And thus concludes my rant.)