NancyJohnson

Just back from the guitarist's house. Said he was moving past stationary traffic on his motorbike and a woman just pulled out of her drive, through a gap in the traffic and hit him full on his left side. He was only about a half mile from home too. He's feeling very fed up, understandably. He hasn't had a poop yet either.

Thing is, most of us have seen said photos many times before...

I've lost count of the different combinations I've gone through and I concur with the OP that Ashdown stuff (irrespective of its reliability and general robustness) weighs a ton. When I had my Hartke deal, I just loved the combination of a 1x15 and a 2x10...it was pretty effortless to get what I wanted out of it, but after winning Alex's Barefaced Big One prototype at the SE Bash (which is a 15/6), I doubt I'd ever want to go back to multiple cabinets or different combinations.

Amazingly, it's just in a sling.

Well, at least he's alive. Left arm broken in two places between his shoulder and elbow, plus he's left handed. He texted me about half hour ago, explaining that while it was hurty and he'd only got three hours kip, his main concern was how he was going to wipe his bottom after a poop.

Rather than everyone posting photos, Bertie old boy, can you remember what you were watching? Channel etc.

Oh, damn. Lutz on hold for a bit. Pete James, our erstwhile guitarist and producer, proved last night that when cars pull out in front of motorbikes, it's always the biker that comes off worse. Ouch.

Where did you hear about this, Trevor?

The bass was a lot more forward in the mix before this one and I actually asked for it to come down. The bit that's at about the 30 second mark (which is very Rush-ish, and repeated elsewhere) could do with being a little louder, but otherwise I'm pretty happy overall. The rest of the new stuff is on par with this track and just general weirdness...we have something called Borodino that should be finished midweek that's best described as polka-metal-electronica.

Thank you! Cheque is in the post. If you pop over to Spotify (or similar) the first first collection has been up for abouteight months. Search on Lutz - Nowherebound.

For about the last six months the new band have been embarking on recording sessions; it's been as weird and experimental as previously...four or five hours a week at times, I'd go in and just record bits, 4 bars of something, another 4 in a different time signature and repeat. Wholly at the behest of the producer/guitarist, no idea what the end product will sound like, I'd wait for him to produce something. A few days later he'd circulate MP3s. So here we are. Jonestown. Link below. I don't actually know who I'm channelling; there's some Geddy in there, for sure. A bit of Stuart Hill. A bit of Le Tigre, NIN. Vocals have been an issue as the singer is flying globally with the new job, so difficult to tie him down. Ahead of whatever qualifies as a release we've circulated this track to radio, BBC Introducing and various music press people. Our singer got this back from a music journalist he sent it to: So anyway, this is where we start:

Just weighing in here. Price and legacy aside, how would John Cruz go about building 60 of these? Building 60 of anything is hard work and monotonous; just think about putting together 60 Billy bookcases. I put seven together once and I was actually thinking suicide would be a better option at one point. Does ol' Cruzy just pop down to the the neck and body blank area in the Fender warehouse, bolt everything together and burn in the custom shop logo on the reverse of the headstock OR does he have a team doing the work for which he takes the credit OR does he in fact build everything from freshly hewn timbers?

The only time I've ever done festivals has been as the guest of a label and have done many pees next to many people. While Brian Adams at Milton Keynes Bowl was somewhat standoffish, I'd say Mick Mars from Motley Crue was an absolute delight; Motley had just opened the Monsters Of Rock show at Castle Donington and we urinated freely together in the backstage area minutes after he'd come off stage. He was still in his stage clothes. He actually opened the dialogue with a cheery 'Hey, how are you?' thing while I was already at the trough. We discussed Roy Thomas Baker's remix of Too Fast For Love.

Probably wouldn't take much work for someone with the knowledge to re-fret it and if authenticity isn't your thing, find a suitable bridge. The bridge area looks in reasonably straight condition, so no plugging of holes etc.

Honestly couldn't say. We were staying with friends in Venice, I asked if there were any guitar stores locally, my mate had an office in Sarasota so we were passengers while he drove us around. You in the area?

My mum called me once around the time Blink 182's Enema Of The State was out, she was watching MTV and said, 'There's a boy on TV who looks like you.' Turns out it was Mark Hoppus. Interestingly, I was in a music store somewhere in Sarasota one time and two girls followed me around and plucked up enough courage to ask me whether I was Mark Hoppus. Maybe it's just the hair.

My consultant always maintained the clickiness will not cure itself and steroids are a temporary fix, so surgery is the preferred option and it's an instant fix. Instant. While the surgery is minor...15 to 20 minutes...it can be painful up the whole arm for a day or two; the pain on my last one was horrific, largely down to me putting off surgery due to gigging activity which ultimately led to more damage to tendon and pulley. Full recovery though.

All under local, but I had an additional procedure done on the same arm at the same time. A two for one special. Ol' Charlie said it was the first time he'd done that, so expect some bruising. I have a grizzly photo of my forearm in glorious purple and brown if anyone wants to see it.

Cheers War. I've had four done so far, left thumb and middle finger and the two middle fingers on my right hand. I saw a consultant called Charles Pailthorpe...top bloke, ex-Army. Alarmingly, my little finger on my right hand is showing signs of sticking now, first thing in the morning it's all clicky, so I suspect that'll be the next one. On the upside, blue goes with my eyes.

It's funny, this lead singer syndrome. The guy that I bought in to sing was already playing in a Dr Feelgood style RnB band, but he left them as he clearly felt my band (alternative/punky) were better suited to his remit. Prior to his arrival, we were a more fun unit; it was more about having a hoot and doing the odd gig rather than being too serious about things, but gradually he just took over, like an invasive species. The whole band became more confrontational, there were times when no one spoke to each other and the absolute testicles that we had to put up with individually made rehearsals and gigs a chore rather than a joy; thing is, while I would never question his commitment, he was an unmovable object and the rules of the band didn't seem to apply to him. Better out of it. Life's too short. As an aside, last week the old band played a radio show and they were terrible, truly terrible. I took a bit of joy out of that.

There's another one from me, too. I used to attend credit circle meetings and struck up a good friendship with a guy from a comptetitor, who was a big alternative music fan. He contacted me one time and said he had a spare ticket for the Manic Street Preachers, I think it was at Brixton Academy. Not being a fan, I declined. A while later, different Manics tour, spare ticket. And again. Four or five times this happened, one time the offer included all access passes. I jokingly asked him why he was always touting Manics tickets, to which he responded, 'I've told you the story haven't I?', to which I just kind of replied, 'Err, no what story?' Turns out James Dean Bradfield is his brother in law. D'oh.

So about eight days ago, I start a new job. My background is in credit management and analytical poop; I'm supervising a team of eight ladies, they're all pretty lovely to be honest. A couple of days in and I'm facing a battery of questions, you know, 'Are you married?' (Yes), 'Do you have kids?' (No, cats), 'What you you do outside of work?' (I play bass and read a lot). The latter question is always a way of saying that I do music, used to gig a lot, but don't now, it's a studio project and so on. I rarely make an effort to big myself up, I mean why would I? One of the ladies says that a heavily pregnant member of the team has a husband who plays drums, so I make a mental note, because drummers are hard to find. I sat down with her last week and we're just chatting and the conversation moves to music. She asks, 'You in a band then?' I explain yes, but no, but yes and it's all studio stuff. I mention I'd heard her husband played drums and - wondering whether he'd be up for a jam sometime - I ask whether he plays in a band. 'Yeah, he's in Scouting For Girls. They've been on Sony for about ten years.' I just wondered why the ground didn't open up and swallow me.

Never been sacked, but left the band I started about eight years previously after the new singer pretty much took over and things became intolerable. I guess sacking or leaving, just try to rise above it, irrespective of how much it hurts now. Whatever you're feeling now will pass and you can move forward and take some pleasure in the failings of the unit that felt they no longer needed you. I certainly know that my current project (Lutz) if a country mile better and more challenging than the old one.

I'd speak guys we shared stages with and pretty much every guitarist wanted a Junior. If Gibson actually did their diligence they'd know there's a huge groundswell of players who want to see (and would buy) a reissue based on 50s specs, not the Tribute model that they're currently selling.