NancyJohnson

It's well documented here that I'm no fan of Adam Clayton and this also extends to the use of his name on signature models. I'm sure that having fellow bandmembers on the board of directors at Fender just makes it far too easy to put his name on a pair 60 year old designs in a sparkly finish and claim it's something new, especially considering his dalliances with other manufacturers. I'd have respected Fender more if they'd bought these combinations out as a standard option! P

It's just a nice touch on my part. I want those asshats to turn up to mix on Sunday and my stuff is all gone.

Let me put a bit of meat on the bone. It's a long one, sorry. I started Nancy Johnson early 2011...much like any band, it has been a little like Trigger's Broom, the line up has ebbed and flowed but I have been the common thread throughout. I was writing everything up until around a year ago. A couple of years back we took on a new singer and quite soon after, I really felt that I was losing my band...this guy was pursuing gigs and booking rehearsals, taking over. The last year has been busy; maybe 60-70 gigs, radio, television, studio and rehearsing pretty much every week, I'd say 80% of it driven by him. Personally, I think it was too much, sometimes I'd be out three or four nights a week (keeping it spaced, keeps the fires burning). Around midyear, and this is important, my father-in-law's health deteriorated (and he has subsequently passed away) and my mother who has lived with bladder cancer for three years, got ill again (she's still with us, crazy as ever). This seemed to have little effect on the singer though, who was pouncing on every gig opportunity, irrespective of whether it was a mile away or a midweek 200 mile round trip playing to 5 people (yes, that happened more than once), and whether or not the band had their full quota available on our band calendar. It got to the point where he'd say, 'I've got a gig on such and such a day,' and I'd say, 'Look, my father-in-law is very ill, I really need to help support my wife and mother-in-law,' to which he just suggested using a dep; something I have never adhered to and requested we didn't on several occasions. If it were me, I'd prefer that if we were a man down, that we politely decline the booking, giving reasons why, and see whether a promoter was prepared to reschedule. His drive was fairly insatiable and almost driven by the fact that I'd already said I couldn't gig. Eventually he didn't even bother asking whether I wanted to cancel what I was doing, it was pretty much, 'We've got a gig, Paul's not available, we'll get Tom.' He also remarked that using a dep doesn't have any effect on me personally (duh?). We locked horns a few times about things and I think everyone in the band would agree that he was difficult, but the guitarist and him were tight and the drummer just sat on the fence, so it was pretty much two versus one and the majority are always right, eh?. The dep issue came up again a few days ago, this time with vengeance. I had some long-standing stuff booked for December; Albert Hall twice, works Christmas bash, family dinners, working away, seeing my mum, and finally on 16/17th December a weekend away with wife and mother-in-law; the 17th being my late father-in-laws birthday, so we felt it was best to be around MiL that weekend. Despite these days being in the band calendar, gigs were still accepted and my commitment was questioned; laughable considering what I'd done this year - I felt the remarks made about not gigging on the 16th were just hurtful and below the belt, so I decided that if they loved using a dep so much, they could find one permanently and I quit. I just felt a huge wave of relief when I hit the send button. Like I've said, a huge weight off my shoulders. Amazingly, they posted a statement on the band Facebook page. Paragraph 2 was pretty telling. Amazingly, and unprompted, a load of my mates have just piled in against them, which is pretty hilarious. My messenger services have been pinging most of the day with people who are amazed and I've had six video calls over Skype and Messenger. I've also noticed the bands likes have gone down by a few as well. Fast forward less than 90 minutes after I quit and I've had two offers from bands, so project #1 kicks off on 7/12/17. I would concur that this is like being in a relationship with a bully, or someone you don't particularly like or trust. A few people here know me pretty well and would vouch for my character; I don't really do confrontation, I just want an easy, peaceful, fun life. My band, deteriorated to such a point that I hated it, or hated what it had turned into. Everything that guy did just built up until I reached a point where I didn't want to do it any more. I wish they guy had never responded to our vocalist wanted ad.

Well, there we are. First rehearsal booked for 7/12/17. That was a little too easy.

Hahaha. Paul will do for now. This weekend, we/they were due to mix six tracks that were recorded about two months ago. I have contacted the the studio and asked them to remove my bass off the recordings, which is what they're doing. That'll be a nice surprise for them when they turn up on Sunday.

I'm not upset in the slightest, moreover I believe I'm just surprised that the singer decided to remove my admin rights about two minutes after I said I was off. Different priorities I suppose, eh?

...and actually, I couldn't be happier. It was like working with a psycho, Rainman and a guy who couldn't get off the fence. Huge weight off my shoulders. The first thing they did was remove my admin rights from Facebook, to a band I set up and a page I set up. I'm still shaking my head at that one, but hey-ho. What was I going to do? Remove a couple of pictures? Amazingly, I've had two offers from other bands since I quit less than 90 minutes ago. Clearly doing something right, perhaps the old act were just too stupid to see that.

Arise, Sir Gerry. Top bloke.

We gigged for Musicians Against Homelessness in 2016/17 - we were the second band Alan McGee picked up in 2016, which was the first year they did it. I think that in 2016 they raised £40K over 100 gigs, which is great considering no one had heard of it, and we raised over a thousand of that over three shows. Now this year of course, everyone and their mother has been doing gigs, which yes, is a good thing, but baddish for bands like us because the whole punters-feeling-good-about-themselves only extends so far. Gerry is a lovely bloke, Christ, I see him putting on shows and then posting at 1.30am the morning after gigs asking whether anyone is driving through Cirencester so he can cadge a lift home. When we did the Swindon Rockets thing earlier in the year he actually walked about ten miles to the place where the gig was on and the same back home because he couldn't get a ride. He put on a full buffet for the bands as well to say thank you. Virtually every gig I do it's rare for the promoter to even buy you a beer, let alone something to eat. I see faceless people getting gongs for doing less than what this guy is doing. He's a fabulous bloke and is doing great things. He needs all the help he can get.

There's a lovely guy based in the Cotswolds called Gerry Watkins who has an ongoing mission to set up this thing called The Big Yellow Bus Project...effectively it was a one man crusade to buy a bus, put beds in it and have it as somewhere homeless people could bed down overnight, have something to eat, have a shower, launder their clothes etc. His efforts for fundraising are all his own doing; he's put on gigs and is begging for any help he can to raise money for this (and other projects). My band have already done gigs for him (his efforts raised over a grand for a wheelchair football team earlier in the summer and we're doing a Yellow Bus gig in December). I'm doing all his posters/artwork for gigs. Happily, he raised enough to buy a bus a couple of weeks ago and it's all being refitted with beds and so on. Now then, he's putting on a gig in Cirencester on 2/12/17 and the guys who were providing the PA (free) have taken a paying gig, so he needs a PA for the day. Oh, for free. Whoever provides will get their name stencilled on the bus and an immense feeling of wellbeing. Anyone know anyone who have a PA he could loan for the day? If yes, please shoot me a message and I'll forward on detail to Gerry. Thanks

I was already (FB) friends with Paul Schuster...I was in contact with him when I was trying to source the JAXT4 a couple of years ago, so when I bought that, he was my initial point of contact. He's active on the Lull Owners Group on Facebook, he likes my band, so we kind of know each other digitally. When I first saw the bass I'm buying on this thread, I pinged Paul a message enquiring what the bass actually was and he came back to me with the details and the price. When I finally picked myself up off the floor, I asked whether there was any benefit in my buying direct or having it shipped to a mate in Vermont who would bring it in or or going through a UK dealer. To be honest, the cheapest option was going through Bass Direct, plus if anything went wrong then Mark at BD will be my point of contact to resolve things rather than me dealing with Seattle. Much as I love what Mark @BD is trying to do for bass players, I have said elsewhere that he probably needs someone in to handle his admin, because frankly when the specification that arrived came through, I nearly shat myself as it couldn't have been more wrong. It's got to be right. At this point I just pinged Paul a PM and he confirmed the specification and build. He's also sent me a handful of unprompted PMs about progress, which is handful more messages than I've had from Mark. I'm paying an awful lot of money and really don't have any qualms about speaking to Paul about where the bass is at buildwise.

I rarely get excited about anything nowadays...that steady decline from adolescence through adulthood has seen my excitable levels go from pre-Christmas excited to meh, but last night for a few seconds I felt a brief adolescent-excitement then back to normal. I'm still harbouring the faintest of worries that something won't be right with it...all this bourne from matter of placing my order/deposit with BD, not really getting any confirmation by return and then getting a build datasheet back of wholly wrong specs. I'd actually included photographs and so on. Eventually I really felt like I needed to take it direct to Lull to see what they were building.

If anyone is still following this thread, I got a message from Lull and the bass in 'in paint' and will likely ship to Bass Direct next week, so I should (hopefully) have it before the end of the month.

HZ are from Milan, we played two dates with them last month in Milan and Turin. We're pretty tight with them (long story)...they have friends in London, so they'll attend, I'm sure.

OK here goes. We got Hawaii Zombies a slot at Nambucca, Holloway N7 on 24/11/17. They're playing with my band (Who Killed Nancy Johnson?) at Readipop, Reading on 25/11/17. HZ are a great band...well worth the effort if you're in the vicinity. The double-header on the 25th should be a blast.

I think the key words here are 'released shortly after'. It seemed a lifetime for the GED2112 to drop...10-12 months, while the wait was worth it, I only have so many 10-12 months left!

I have an old (battered) Aria Primary (Precision) bass that has become a bit of a project bass and I'd like to put a Hipshot BT3 on it. #1. Has anyone installed an Xtender with a different set of machines? The current machines on the bass are chrome Schaller F-Series; I'm reluctant to swap out the whole set as they are fit for purpose, but I just wanted to ensure if I did put a BT3 on, that the new machine won't look wrong ie, too high/low. I can't find any schematic for the BT3 online. So would be grateful if someone who's fitted one could take some measurements for me. For the Schaller, from the centre of the large rear screw to the top of the cloverleaf, it measures 70mm. The top of the clover leaf extends 43mm above the headstock edge. Also, if push came to shove, could I swap the Schaller tuning peg and gear with the Hipshot unit?

[quote name='andysleigh' timestamp='1510324642' post='3405622'] the more i look at it the more it makes me annoyed that gibson cant put a little bit of effort into making something i little special or different. [/quote] Thing is the major brands are stuck with making/re-issuing their legacy instruments; Fender are just as guilty as Gibson in that hardware/electronics aside their core designs are all 50/60 years old. Gibson did produce the recent EB basses through two guises - these were wholly new designs for Gibson, although the body shapes did borrow heavily from Tobias and Peavey and the first EB Series body looked an awful lot like a Fender Dimension bass. While a few here liked them - specifically from the new pickups and the price point - they've obviously bombed and haven't been put into another production run. I like the RD Artist rework. I'm still holding on to see whether they'll do a 20/20 reissue.

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1510315097' post='3405509'] Clearly another message board full of opinionated people who cant get their facts straight. It says "[i]this list does[b] NOT [/b]contain bands that were clearly playing before he [/i][the author of the piece, Harry Fletcher] [i]was born." [/i]and then goes on to list a whol ebunch of late 60s and 70s sh1te. As far as I know the Beatlesand the Stones preceded all of the omissions listed. No real surprises in the list apart from Super Furry Animals and the assertion that releasing an album in the Welsh language is somehow a good thing. Th piece is badly headlined, it talks about great bands, and then describes how influential the selected bands are. On that basis how can you include Joy Division who would not have existed had the founders not been blown away by the Pistols and leave out the Pistols themselves. I understand people not liking Oasis, but they were successful and influential, although you could argue other less successful bands were forging that path before they came along. [/quote] I believe the uppercase/capitalisation usage of the word NOT is assertion of bands listed in the sentence that follows, rather than the ones he's already included (Pink Floyd/Roxy Music etc.). Also, I wouldn't go so far as to just put Yes, Supertramp, ELP etc. into the sh*te category either simply from a musical heritage perspective...these [i]sh*te[/i] bands are still major influences on a lot of current bands. Whether you like them or not, had Yes/ELP etc. not been about, we wouldn't have had Rush, Dream Theater or Muse. Likewise, without Yes or ELP there wouldn't have been punk kicking off.

[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I suppose it brings into question what greatness is. Sales? Size of fan base? Releases? Innovation? Influence on others? It is pretty subjective and it's a nonsense. I know we're talking bands (so no Bowie/Elton John, Kate Bush etc.), but even so, Super Furry Animals?[/font][/size] [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Looking at the list (see below), I do wonder about the obviousness of some of the includees and absentees. No Yes? No Fleetwood Mac? No Sex Pistols? The Police? I'd also throw in bands/artists like Japan, Duranduran, ELP, Genesis, Muse, Mott The fecking Hoople, Depeche Mode, Cream.[/font][/size] [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]To save you the bother of clicking the link, here's the list: 20. Joy Division 19. Super Furry Animals 18. The Jam 17. T. Rex 16. Roxy Music 15. The Who 14. Black Sabbath 13. Blur 12. Queen 11. The Kinks 10. The Stone Roses 9. The Clash 8. The Cure 7. Oasis 6. The Smiths 5. The Rolling Stones 4. Pink Floyd 3. Radiohead 2. Led Zeppelin[/font][/size] [font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif][size=3][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]1. The Beatles[/font][/size][/size][/font] [font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif][size=3][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][b][EDIT] [/b] I add for your deliberation two post comments by someone called petrometro1 on the ES webpage. Pretty succinct.[/font][/size][/size][/font] [font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif][size=3][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]1)[/font][/size][/size][/font] [i] when will journalists and the media ever get a grip on the English Language? Firstly, the most overhyped word bar none is "Iconic". An Icon is an Orthodox Religious Painting for heavens sake. Secondly; If this list is of the most iconic bands how is that at all possible? Its either Iconic or it isn't. Journos have a problem with unique. Fairly unique, very unique. Get real; its either unique or it isn't. As Nigel [/i][another commentator] [i]states.. this list does NOT contain bands that were clearly playing before he [/i][the author of the piece, Harry Fletcher] [i]was born. It doesn't contain Jethro Tull, Eric Clapton, Hermans Hermits, Yes, ELP, The Nice, King Crimson, Supertramp Genesis... in essence the article is not worth the paper its written on. To compare Oasis with Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones is pathetic.[/i] 2)[i] as thought. has been with The Standard since September 2017. Resume for linked in is written entirely in the first person singular. He was in 6th form in 2010 so suspect he was born around 1993. That's about as credible as this list gets.[/i]

My band is post-punkish, whereas I listen to a lot of XTC, Jellyfish, early Queen, early Japan. So yes, there's disconnect.

Rob van den Broek (author of the Gibson Bass Book) has just posted images of Gibson's RD Artist basses on Facebook. The black one is hubba bubba for me. Lovely. Just take my fecking money.

[quote name='The59Sound' timestamp='1510169362' post='3404478'] Rose tinted glasses at work - Jools has plenty of golden moments. At The Drive In - 2000? Alice In Chains - 1991/2? Bloc Party in 2005 were great when they made their debut. [/quote] It's been going 25 years and that's the best you can come up with? For every At The Drive In, there's been dozens of Ali Faka Toure, Matilda Veindad and Black Umfolosi.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1510178295' post='3404543'] Everyone seems to think that brass gives a warmer tone, but I find the opposite to be true. I may be in a majority of one, here... [/quote] I used that old Aria at a rehearsal last night...the bass is very bright tonally already. God knows what it would sound like with steel saddles.