NancyJohnson

You're very kind!

I got a £90 fine from TfL because I drove my wife's Renault Megane diesel into the ULEZ zone. Understandably, as the car pays zero road tax because UK Government plc deem the car as clean and thus exempt from road tax, I felt no need to check the tfl website to see whether there was any issues with the car, but TfL obviously trump Government. I also got fined for using the Dartford Crossing after being forced onto it because of road closures in the local vicinity. Authority loves a fine.

Interesting take, but my ire is more directed to the bloated mis-run local authorities. I'd sooner we set fire to council and government offices to be honest, because spraying them with poop and paint isn't going to work.

There's always a fine buried in the small print, isn't there? Authority in this country loves the threat of a fine to keep you in line. Well honestly, f2ck that. Sick of it. My wife lives in terror of a fine. Don't do this, don't do that, fully expecting a brown envelope to drop through the door for the most minor infraction. I am reminded of the scene below. We need some kind of anarchy in this country. The French know how to do it. Forget about peaceful protest. Direct action. Start burning stuff. I really think we are on the cusp of placid Brits actually losing their shit. Authority hates to lose real estate.

I'd concur with Public Service Broadcasting. A fine release. Genuinely struggling to list anything else of merit from bands that I follow. The new studio/live Tears For Fears album. Umm. One band I adore (Momma) released one new track. Looking through my main playlist on Spotify (which we just add stuff to constantly), I reckon we've added 150 new songs, but I haven't really been arsed to investigate these bands too much. I suppose being cast adrift because of the legal case brought by WB/Sony has restricted my listening to a bunch of decent US indie stations.

Brian Setzer's Christmas Extravaganza!

My last long squeeze would be happy to play two or three gigs a night, largely unpaid. Punky originals. There was a following of sorts but this whole 'you have to sell 100 tickets' thing is a non-starter; there's only so far that friends and family will support you and most of those would be expecting freebies if it was a ticketed gig. I'd always worked in an office, 9-5 position so there was little necessity for the band to generate income through gigging, although I suspect there was an expectation elsewhere that we were supposed to be getting paid, although the circles we revolved in didn't support that. I always thought of it as being more a (very) serious hobby than the opportunity to make millions. That ship sailed a few decades ago. We were very well organised; both vocalists from my last two (main) bands had a list of contacts as long as your metaphorical arm and they were the prime gig-getters.

It's never been about recouping costs for me and to be honest I doubt I could handle touring/lots of gigs...suppose I'm just at the point in my life where I enjoy my homelife more than playing a circuit of shitholes here in 'blighty or having a schedule that unduly affects family life/schedule outside of band. In the (somewhat) unlikely event that Pearl Jam came knocking, then obviously that might change my mind. 😏

I have no qualms about joining an existing band (although this was my last gig and I never felt there was any exceeding of expectation thing going on), no issues with starting something new with like-minded players and to address other points raised elsewhere it's certainly not about any monetary payoff. It's just about having a degree of fun, being energised by the creative process and playing music that I wouldn't be embarrassed by.

I used to write an awful lot - material musically similar to the above bands I've mentioned - despite the genre I prided myself on keeping things short, the no repeat guarantee of verses/choruses unnecessarily (and so forth), part of the joy for me was writing, then going through this delicious stage of rearranging everything in a full band context, cutting stuff. The stuff I listened to yesterday was so f*cking dull. While the production was OK, The singer was just terrible, the whole band was so lackluster. There just wasn't any life or go in proceedings. Makes me laugh when guys are going, 'We want to take this as far as we can.'. Oh, stop. I'm certain that I could take those tunes and improve them significantly just by cutting them up and pasting the sections back together.

I've been playing for close to 40 years; intense periods of where I can't get enough travel alongside periods where I've kind of stepped back a bit and not done much. Ebbs and flows. Currently, in a quiet period. Decided a few days back that I'd like to get back to band stuff, aside from some remote recording stuff (during my recent recouperation) not done anything serious in a year, but to be honest for a few months of the last twelve I was simply incapable of doing anything, so I advertised on JMB. I had a couple of hits fairly quickly, a band about ten miles from me looking for a bass player. The private message was fairly confident, an element of bigging-up, links to audio. Had a listen and well, oh dear. I'm a solid enough player (some of you will have seen me live, I suspect), I'm not John Myung or Geddy Lee by any stretch, but I'm confident in what I do. All I want is a band that plays original material and something with a bit of speed, creativity and passion, in a punky/alternative vein such as (notable mentions) 3 Colours Red, Alkaline Trio, Sugar, Baby Chaos, Summercamp. Not much to ask is it? The message I got made out the band were something of greatness. I listened - and sometimes I think I should have been working in A&R - it was woeful, formulaic, rubbish. First track I gave a listen right through, nothing special. The second I just listened to the first 10-15 seconds (awful) and then jumped through it a few times. Terrible. Then track three was more of the same and I stopped listening. Woeful. Begs the question, are my expectations too high?

Cough.

There is likely some science behind why they sound a little, umm, different, but for now, let's dispense with that. I moved from Ashdown to Hartke when I got my endorsement with them. When all this was fields, I used some of the cabs with the original aluminium coned units. To my ears they were very bright compared to my SWR/Trace cabs I was running at that point; same amp setup/settings. They just seemed to pick up every nuance of what the bass produced. When I got my endorsement, I decided to go with Hydrives; I'd been running Ashdown ABM and MAG enclosures and these also sounded quite muddy compared to the Hydrives. One thing I would say without hesitation is that the switchable HF driver/horn adds significantly to the tone. Interestingly, I won Alex Claber's prototype Big One (the first ever Barefaced, apparently) at one of the SE Bashes; I was gigging that night in Basingstoke and used the Big One. I never used the Hartke stuff again in anger and let my endorsement lapse.

By way of an addendum: In Harley Benton GPA100 amp GSS Baby Sumo head NS Design NXTA strap system Out Tech21 Dug Pinnick stomp Darkglass AO900 head

The photo looks like the ding is an impact issue if some sort, but the discolouration is a bit odd. Irrespective of how smooth it feels, try and determine whether the clear coat is cracked or chipped...there's a very small risk that any chip that may bep there might fall out eventually. You could have a dig around and fill it with a suitably coloured nail varnish. The beauty of nail varnish is it's self levelling, sets smooth and is shiny immediately. Alternatively, you have a fantastic base for a relicing project. Embrace the ding. Add more.