FinnDave

Playing in bands has certainly enriched my life, but has also drained my bank account!

I put an ad on JMB looking for a drummer. It was so long ago I can't remember which band it was for! Never had a reply until earlier this year, when by some uncanny synchronicity, a drummer from Oxford (local, in other words) got in touch just when we were about to start trying to replace the original drummer in the Wirebirds (he'd moved back to St. Helena, bit of a trek for a gig!). Turned out to be a decent bloke and a good drummer, he even rides the same type of motorcycle as I do! OK, so it took years to get a reply, but it worked out in the end. We've played most of our gigs this year with our new drummer (guitarist's son depped when our man was on holiday).

I consider Moreton in Marsh a busy small town. I often ride through it on my motorcycle and am invariably frustrated by the amount of traffic there. Pretty, though.

I think the strings I have on my basses now will be good for another ten years and will probably outlive me.

I have two US Standard Precisions (2010 & 2012) and a more recent Player Precision. All are strung with LaBella (standard tension) and none are strung through body. They all sound and feel just how I expect a bass to sound and feel.

Had a short notice depending gig with a blues band in Kidlington (near Oxford) last night. I've played with them quite a few times over the years, and it was good to play with them again. Appreciative audience (we played two one hour sets and they still wanted more as we were packing up at a quarter to midnight). Half an hour's drive each way, no complications, slid into bed at two AM. Used my 2012 US Standard Precision, Orange Little Bass Thing and Barefaced Super Compact - all worked perfectly.

After a dearth of gigs, I have been offered a dep gig this evening, less than a week since my last scheduled gig. Before that, nothing for two months.

I have three Precisions and two Jazz basses - I love them all, but the Precisions get taken to gigs far more often than the Jazzes do.

Last night's gig was my first for two months! Played with Oxford Grateful Dead band 'Franklin's Tower' at the Tree Hotel in Oxford. We were supposed to be the final band of the three booked, but the duo before us had to pull out due to illness, so we went on a bit earlier than originally planned, and were asked to play on beyond our expected end time. This meant that the songs we had cut from the set list at last week's rehearsal were reinstated, much to the confusion of the two percussionists who managed to miss that information. All went well, lots of people up and dancing, some singing along. I played the 60s Classic Jazz bass that I bought new nearly ten years ago, and used my Orange LBT and Barefaced Super Compact. No problems other than I had forgetfully left my gear in the car when I arrived and by the time we went on the bass was way out of tune and refusing to hold pitch for the first song or two. Sorted out before the second number though.

I'm playing the music of the Grateful Dead with Franklin's Tower this afternoon/evening at the Tree in Iffley, Oxford. We are on at six pm.

I currently have five basses, all are Fenders (3 x P, 2 x J). I have bought other makes of bass, but none of them have stayed for long. My first decent bass was a Jazz bass copy, and once I could afford a Fender, I haven't been without one. I know that if I turned up at a gig with anything other than Fender my bandmates would ask why I had bought some piece of junk instead of my Fender. They are a known standard, any sound engineer worth their salt can EQ a Fender bass in seconds.

I managed (just!) to get through 2 gigs less than a week after a prostatectomy. The first was painful, so before the second I took as many pain killers as I could - and then people kept buying me drinks. I remember sitting there (I was unable to stand after the op) and listening to the music and thinking I wish I could play bass like that. Then I looked at my hands and they were playing away quite independently of any conscious thought! I also played several gigs three months after a fairly serious motorcycle accident - wife drove me to the venues and band mates carried my gear for me. I sat on a barstool and had a great time - best therapy I could have had!

The current version of the band is a three piece, with a drummer from Headington (east Oxford), guitarist from Swindon and I live near Witney. Most of the few gigs we've played this year have been around Witney.

Could do, I was born in Bournemouth!

They kind of wrong footed me by deciding that the set for next week's gig would start with one of my favourite songs - as soon as we started playing, I was happy again! Guitarist was fairly sociable and good natured and I completely forgot why I wanted to quit! And the nice guys were just being themselves but that was enough - I enjoy their company and the music, it's just the guitarist… For the sake of being able to play some great songs that I love, I'll put up with him a while longer.

Me too, one wobbly this afternoon and I'm packing and leaving. My main band (Wirebirds) is pure joy, the other one is good in parts, but the one bad apple turns me right off.

Which reminds me - I have a rehearsal this afternoon and if the guitarist gets moody (not an uncommon occurrence), then will be my last with that band. I've quit before but the nice guys come and talk me out of it.

We had a 'difficult' singer in the band for a couple of years. We persevered with her as she was a former name and we got better gigs on the strength of that, Trouble was, she knew that and started making demands about new material in the set - modern electro pop/disco that didn't exactly suit the 4 not so young guys who though we were a blues band! We asked her to go, eventually, which she managed to turn around on social media to her deciding to leave. The gigs didn't dry up we never played any of her choices again and got back to enjoying what we play. She was a 'real professional', but still used a music stand for her lyric sheets. She also liked to talk to the audience between songs - only problem was that her speaking voice was very quite whereas her singing voice could fill a room even without the PA - so when she was mumbling into the mic about whatever she mumbled about, no one could hear a word she said. I remember her introducing one song as 'her favourite song ever' and then pulling a crumpled sheet of paper out of her pocket so she could read the lyrics as she sang. We are now a happy three piece, no lyric sheets, not even a set list - the guitarist starts playing whatever he feels will go down well and bass & drums join in. Much more fun!