FinnDave

Interesting place to hang your washing out to dry!

[quote name='Dapper Bandit' timestamp='1494663231' post='3297636'] On an unrelated note I'm pretty sure I have the box set of Leningrad Cowboys movies in the to watch pile, is it worth bumping it up to the top? [/quote] Absolutely, they are simply wonderful. Go America was fired mostly on the road with real people and places, the band is utterly surreal, it takes you into a strange world. Lines like 'I wonder when we will get murdered. Everyone on New York gets murdered, I've seen it in the movies' delivered totally deadpan..watch 'Go America' first and then 'Meet Moses'. If you have them, the live gigs with the Red Army choir are well worth it too. Huge crowd of uniformed Russian soldiers singing 'Sweet Home Alabama' is something you won't forget in a hurry!

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1494645164' post='3297561'] You should bring a spare bassist next time.............accidents do happen [/quote] A drummer in the audience suggested that as well! The Leningrad Cowboys have already thought of that, here is a clip of the first film featuring them. The bass player froze to death while practicing and so (obviously) they took him with them when they toured America. At the start of this clip you can see the bass sticking out of the coffin in the boot (trunk) of the car...and at about 1'40" in, he comes in useful. If you've never seen the film, I can thoroughly recommend it, a Finnish classic by Aki Kaurismaki, the band were a real band called the Sleepy Sleepers who became the Leningrad Cowboys for the movie (and it's follow-up, The Leningrad Cowboys meet Moses). and then became a popular band in real life. I saw them in 2007 in Kouvola, a real good time fun band! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3KaJIrPGjc

There was a thread about the futility of taking a spare bass to gigs on here but I can't find it now, and I recall that some people suggested you could take it as far as taking a spare amp if you were really paranoid. At tonight's gig I had a brand new amp delivered to my house shortly before I left to drive to the gig. I tested it while the guy from the shop watched. I decided to take my old amp as well. The new amp lasted about 30 seconds into the first number before losing all power. I was able to swap it over for the old one (same speaker, power and speaker cable) and continue. Had I not had a spare amp in the car, it would have been a disastrously short gig! I was using a Fender Jazz bass, bought new last March, for the gig tonight. During the between sets break, it was in a Hercules stand when I saw stand and bass fall into the drum kit. No one was near it at the time, and the fall left some damage to the fingerboard and left the G string unplayable due to it hitting a cymbal. Again, the gig was saved because I had a spare Precision with me. I think the only things not duplicated in my gig kit now are speakers and me!

Some rather mixed feelings about tonight's gig. On the one hand, I enjoyed our playing and the audience loved us, on the other, I was using a brand new amp, delivered to my house half an hour before I left for the gig, which worked at home and for the first 30 seconds of the first number, then stopped dead. Fortunately, I had my old amp in the car, and it was the work of a minute or so to get it and swap it over. Then in the break, someone complimented me on my bass playing and said I sounded like I was channelling Duck Dunn, which is the best compliment I've ever had, followed a few minutes later by my seeing from a distance my year-old Fender US Jazz bass and stand falling gracefully onto the drum kit. One string damaged by a cymbal and a couple of small dents in the fingerboard. Fortunately, I had a spare bass in the car, and that too was the work of a minute or so to get it and swap it over. Moral is always carry a spare!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1494595554' post='3297238'] In several decades of FOH sound experience here in France, I can't recall any single occasion where the FOH, or the monitoring, was 'less good' for the support acts. It's true that, if a band has their own engi, they will usually be able to make a better job than the house engi hearing a band in 'real time' for the first time, with things like cueing in delay on the vocals etc (the same is true of the lighter, a job I held down for yonks for a ska-rock-punk band...). The material is the same, the engi is the same; I've not experienced any neglect of support bands, even when some (thankfully rare...) come across as 'divas'. Is it all that different in the UK..? [/quote] I saw Walter Trout a couple of days ago, his support bad was his sons's band, and the FoH sound was not good, bass drum overpowering everything and the bass was just a mushy rumble. It didn't bode well for the great man's set, but even though he used the same bassist (and same bass, amp, etc. as his own man had fallen ill, or possibly had been locked in a cupboard!) and the sound was much clearer. I was close to the desk and when I looked round, there was a different guy mixing. I spoke with the second guy and he attributed it to the difference in stage sound, but I think he was being a little too modest, he was obviously far better at his job than the guy who had mixed the first band.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1494600535' post='3297283'] Congratulations. Step 1. learn Frampton's set. Step 2. lock Frampton's bass player in a cupboard just before he's due to go on Step 3. Wait for the panicked 'Is there a bass player in the house?' call to go out. Step 4. step straight into the big leagues. Best of luck. [/quote] You forgot step 6: Don't get caught with the cupboard key in your pocket!

My Vox amp has packed up, so now I just use my semi-acoustic unplugged if I feel the urge to play at home.

Great slot to play, Blue, your band is obviously hitting the right notes. I've never played to a vast audience, up to a few hundred only, but for me, I find it more intimidating to play to a really small audience, where you can see each of them and how they react. A large audience is seen as just a mass of faces, not individuals. And if you can't make the gig for any reason, I reckon most of us on here are standing by for the call to take your place!!

A week or so ago we played one of our rare multi band gigs. We didn't hang around to watch the band after us as we had to drive an hour to our next rare multi band gig! We did watch the band before us (they were good, too!) and I caught a few glimpses of them watching us before they left. Bearing in mind that we didn't start until close to midnight, you can't blame them for not hanging around. We usually only play 2 or 3 multi band gigs a year, so two on the same day was a bit unusual!

I always find my Jazz basses a little quieter than my Precision, but it only takes a small twerk of the input gain on the amp to even them out.

I'll suggest this to the guys I'm going to the Roundhouse gig with. BTW, we seem to have quite a few mutual friends on FB!

I find Chromes to be very close in tension to D'Addario nickel round wounds of the same gauge. I have changed several basses from the rounds to the flats recently, and they each required a slight tightening of the truss rod to achieve the same relief.

I've got a couple of Jazz basses, one classic 60s and one recent US Standard, and would like a more Precision bass sound from both of them. I'l try the series/parallel trick before changing pick ups.

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1493848654' post='3291337'] Quite close Dave.....i will try to sort out a map link if i can work the technology Be cool to meet another Hawk fan and basschatter [/quote] Cheers, and yes, cool to meet another bass fan and Hawkchatter

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1493847689' post='3291321'] I've got tickets for the Roundhouse, and I'll try to come and see you guys before the gig. Are you far from the Roundhouse (bunch of us coming from Oxfordshire, London is a mystery to us!!) [/quote]

I've got tickets for the Roundhouse, and I'll try to come and see you guys before the gig.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1493844656' post='3291287'] PM him here. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/user/7835-kiogon/"]http://basschat.co.u...er/7835-kiogon/[/url] [/quote] Done, cheers.

Hei KiOgon, is this something you can help me with, got a classic 60s Jazz and a recent US standard Jazz that would benefit from an added series/pareller switch (i think!)

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1493810641' post='3290809'] Lots of reasons on here to do with vocalists. What is it with singers, is it compulsory to be a flake if you want to sing? The last band I left spent 18 months in startup due to problems getting a singer. We tried 7 over that time. Pick one or more reasons from.... not learning the words, where to come in, no sense of timing, health issues, my partner is not keen on me being in a band, changed my mind, to the one that finally made me pack it in....being a big headed control freak who wasnt really very good. Argggghhhh. [/quote] Had all that in one singer. (apart from the partner bit)

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1493803984' post='3290725'] If you think that, why even play bass? Playing an instrument is not necessary any more. Just make music using a free app on your phone. Better still, get an app that does it for you. Then you can just sit there and eat pies and stare while an algorithm does everything for you. And that frees up time so you can carry on stacking shelves at Poundland so you can feed your kids. You have a pretty sheltered view of the world if you think all technological advancement is great, and questioning it makes you a luddite. Can't believe i even have to mention this to a person posting in a forum that's dedicated to instruments made in the 1950's, based on instruments played in the 1930's. [/quote] Yeah, but what sort of pies?

I really need to try a series/parallel switch on my jazz basses, does anyone make something an electrical ignoramus such as myself? I was amazed at how good my 60s classic sounded the other day with the front pu on full, the bridge on about 1/3, through an ABM 600. Rediscovering my love of Jazz Basses!

Someone has just posted a couple of videos from our second gig on Saturday night, I think it shows how knackered we were at one pm after several hours of playing plus a one hour drive between gigs! Rather cliched songs, not our regular fare, but the guitarist read the audience well and these went down a treat. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNOfEyZQvTE"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNOfEyZQvTE[/url] [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPXoZK_Qruc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPXoZK_Qruc[/url]

That was just a couple of days ago, we had a great time playing there, but it was our second gig of the day and we didn't finish until half one! Just heard from our drummer, he and the guitarist (in one car) took a wrong turn around Oxford and didn't get back to Swindon until after 4 AM! They still think it was a good gig. If your mate would like to share the pics, that'd make the band very happy If they have Facebook, sharing them or linking them to our page [color=#000000][font=Helvetica][size=3]https://www.facebook.com/TheWirebirds.UK/ would be the easiest way. Cheers![/size][/font][/color]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1493634955' post='3289531'] Friend of mine saw your band the other night and said they were excellent. [/quote] Thank you (and your friend!). Where did they see us?