Happy Jack

What you really want is knobs labelled Quark, Strangeness and Charm.

But really, really easy to carry ...

Describing GAS as "irrational or illogical" is a tautology. Of course it's irrational and illogical. If a desire to purchase something is rational and logical then it's just buying the right tool for the job. The very definition of GAS is buying stuff you don't need because the acquisition itself is the aim of the transaction. Don't ask me how I know.

Bin there, dun that. Bandmates can say the strangest things ...

There are some really 5h1t bands out there. I wouldn't want to be charging the same as them ... I'm better than that and I would want to charge what I'm worth. After a while it might look as if they were 'undercutting' my band, whereas in fact they would merely be charging what they're worth. I'm not really a big believer in applying socialist principles to matters involving talent. 😉

I've got 60 gigs in the 2022 diary just now, running in an arc around NW London from Ware to Woking. Average fee across those 60 gigs is £300 a pop. Slightly more pubs than clubs, no posh functions. As to pub-rock wannabees pontificating on the ENORMOUS fees they get paid, there's no shortage of bloke-in-a-pub guys prepared to bore the pants off you with complete cow poop. When you try to find their high-paying gigs on social media it usually turns out that they haven't played a live gig in years. Ignore and move on.

Looks like I bought @Beedster's Doubler just in time! EA will be missed, they were a great outfit.

Don't like the string spacing from D to G.

My covers band The Junkyard Dogs has covered Baby Please Don't Go for years (with me on vocals!) and our version owes a lot more to Never Turn Your Back On A Friend than it does to Van Morrison and Them. I lent my original copy to one of my best friends in 1974. He rode home on a weird Suzuki thingy with an upswept exhaust (very rare in those days) and the only way he could take it home was by sliding my LP between the exhaust and the rear sub-frame. Seriously. Unbelievably, that record never played again.

What with CNC and Plek machines an' all, I rather assumed that they made Mike Lull necks on a jig and everything lined up perfectly every time. That's a bit of a revelation.

Banbury, not Bicester. Banbury, not Bicester. Banbury, not Bicester. Banbury, not Bicester. 😉

Would this be a good moment to mention how much I detest all metal? No? Fair enough. Alright Officer, I'll come quietly ...

What has it got in its pocketses?

And how many high-end preamps have I bought from you over the years? 😂

And this is why people say bass players are cool ...

It's clearly a lovely pedal and produces some lovely sounds ... but £650 for an overdrive? I play 70/80 paid gigs a year and my entire bass rig isn't worth that much! Like every other bass player I can't resist buying still more pedals, each of which is sure to make me sound utterly God-like. And when I listen to live recordings from my gigs, even I can't hear changes of settings, sometimes I can't even hear when I stomp in a new FX. Worst of all, when I DO hear an improvement and think 'Wow!', after 30 seconds I can't hear that any more ... my ears have re-set to the new sound and it sounds like, well, bass. If you want it and you can afford it then why not? Buy it. I want it and I can afford it but I'm still not going to buy one!

I imagine you've already seen this:

Ah yes, the famous 45-minute extended version of Sweet Home Alabama ... 😱😱😱

You say you want revaluation ... well, you know ... we all want to change the world. 😉

My two main bands are a 60s/70s covers band (Beatles & Stones, Kinks & The Who, T.Rex & Bowie, Status Quo & Clash) and a full-on rock'n'roll / rockabilly outfit. Current side projects include classic 60s soul, modern retro-originals, obscure Americana. Past side-projects have included steampunk folk, mournful singer-songwriter, diva torch singer, late 60s power trio ... you get the picture. 😎 It's a barrel of laughs, it never gets boring, it keeps me young. What's not to like?

I'm in a (broadly) similar situation to @Len_derby. At any given moment, I am usually playing in two front-line gigging bands plus a variety of side projects (some of which lead to gigs and some of which crash & burn). For me this is easy because the only thing that can cause trouble is direct clashes and, since @Silvia Bluejay and I get ALL the gigs for BOTH main bands, the only diaries we need to manage are our own. I never play in two bands who do the same sort of stuff and who could therefore be seen to be 'in competition' with each other, like Len I'm always completely up-front when I first meet potential new bandmates, and above all I run my diary on the basis of 'first in the diary gets it'. I have no interest at all in which gig pays more money or might be more fun ... if I'm booked then I'm booked and I turn down any other offers. All my bandmates in all my bands know the position (I try to be genuinely open and transparent on all this) and it virtually never leads to friction.