NancyJohnson

I'm listening to a band called Momma. They've been going a few years but their output is quite low (two albums a couple of singles). We listen to a Boston MA indie station called WFNX 101.7, they've had a few things played on there...they're a bit like Veruca Salt/The Breeders. Which isn't a bad thing.

That wouldn't have been a bad thing, mind.

In 1983, when I were just a mere slip of a lad, me and my good lady saw Big Country, The Alarm and Yip Yip Coyote at the Lyceum. So taken with the band, me and a mate decided we should catch them a few months later and decided that (for logistical reasons) we should fly to Jersey and see them in the Fort Regent Centre. My brother (and my mate's dad) both worked for British Airways, so flights were arranged. We'd procured tickets through my mate's channel Island office and found two days board in what could best be described as a house straight out of The Munsters in Pontac. Gig day we pulled on our Big Country shirts, thumbed a lift to St Helier and got picked up by a very drunk man driving a Lord's Taverners Fun Bus. We arrived at the venue around midday, found a bar, had some lunch at which point Big Country just sauntered in. I doubt any of the punters in there knew who they were, but they saw us and just sat down with us. We had a couple of pints, discovered Mark Brzezicki knew my brother, that Tony Butler lived a couple of doors away from a friend of mine in Sandhurst and that Stuart was amazed and appreciative that we'd flown over for the gig from London. They invited us in for the soundcheck. We just hung around with them until 7.00pm. Post gig, we went back to Chez Munsters and were back at the airport about 7.00am for the flight back and in they strolled, saw us and just started cheering and greeting us like old friends. Stuart bought me a roll of film for my camera as I was out of money. We were on standby, so had to wait for seats on the plane, we got called at the last minute, got on the plane and they're cheering us on (again). I met Stuart a couple of times after and he remembered the whole thing. He was a lovely, lovely bloke. I miss him. He shouldn't have gone like that. [Edit] Just wanted to add something for context here. We (me, my best mate and my wife) were all mahoosive Skids fans and remember that The Crossing hadn't even been released when we did the Jersey trip. Obviously, it was an absolute joy to be two young blokes standing in the middle of the venue watching them soundcheck for an hour, it was like a private gig. (Later in the same year, I recall an occasion where me and my mate experienced something akin to absolute joy at hearing 'In A Big Country' on the radio for the first time. We were in my old Datsun 120Y coupe, driving to rehearsal down The Causeway, approaching Staines Bridge. I haven't experienced such delight since. The excitement when it came on - and the silence that descended while we listened - was just fantastic.) I can recall Stuart saying he'd bought a watch for £2.99 and kept showing it to us. 'Two, ninety nine!'. Also Kenny Dalglish (and family) was at the gig and on the same flight home. He saw us in our Country shirts and got a bit animated; I couldn't understand a word he said. Worryingly (I suppose), the drinking thing was evident with Stuart at the airport on the way back. He was knocking back shorts at 7.00am in the morning.

When we were discussing this it was quite a decent discussion, pretty much 'Would Karen Carpenter have stuck with her brother or turned into someone of legendary status (like Dolly Parton, Stevie Nicks or Kylie) and making guest appearances on Dave Grohl projects?' But hey, it's Basschat, so of course Hendrix would be making cheese in Monterrey and Karen Carpenter would be on the board of directors at DHL. 😁

We're just sitting down listening to The Carpenter's Gold and we're discussing the old 'what if...' subject. The subject matter briefly moved to John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and so on. I'd be interested in what members here think may have happened had Karen Carpenter, Hendrix etc. not passed away at such a young age. Would Hendrix have played Live Aid? Would The Carpenters be Glastonbury Legends regulars? And so on.

What's with the 40mm nut thing? I didn't realise there were so many wussies here. You never eaten an apple? Have difficulty picking it up? Sheesh.

xiv) Pointy basses (Explorers, Vs, BC Rich) xv) Basses (in general) derived from longstanding guitar designs that don't quite work in translation (Explorers, Vs, Les Pauls) xvi) Fan fretted basses. xvii) Six string basses (or more, ie Conklin) xviii) Maybe this is more a mental thing, but the more someone tells me a bass 'is really great,' and 'you'd love it!' the more off-putting it becomes. Musicman Stingrays for example. Why the hell do you think I had a brief love affair with a Bongo 5HH. It was because nobody liked them. xix) Basses with fake truss rod covers and decals. Not fooling anyone. xx) Factory distressing. I suppose if you went the Fender custom shop route, the prices could have parity against an actual vintage instrument that the new build apes to be. Just shop old. I think that's it.😁

viii) Gold hardware. ix) Short scale basses. x) Not a fan of body shapes where the top matches the bottom (ie Gibson EB3). It worked with my old Travis Bean, but generally no). xi) Natural/oiled finishes. xii) Mudbuckers. xiii) Oh, headless basses. I'm sure I could hit 20 by lunchtime.

OK, here goes: i) I'm really not a fan of the Jazz/Precision shape. Or Fenders generally. ii) Sunburst finishes generally (especially sunbursts where the colour goes from black to yellow). iii) Maple fingerboards. iv) Hi-gloss finishes that look like furniture. v) Terrible headstock design (ie Cort, Sandberg, Chowny, G&L). vi) Anything with a single pickup (I'm just of the opinion that a twin pickup set up is way more versatile tonally). vii) 'Does it come with a hardshell case?' If the answer is 'no', then well, no. There's probably more.

Bit of a guilty pleasure considering the stuff I usually listen to. Marina and the Diamonds. I find this difficult to pigeonhole; I really like the vocal delivery. I watched a bit of her set at Lollapalooza in Chile over the weekend and it was quite brilliant in a look-at-me-I'm-bonkers kind of way.

Realising the flippancy of my initial comment, I guess my current favourite is this. It's great for recording, it's very easy to play and just makes me want to play better, if that makes sense.

They're all great. If they weren't, I wouldn't own them.

I think the thing that threw me initially was that it wasn't posted on the 1st. Oh, well. It's a great pity it wasn't genuine.

There was a Hamer Quad bass on e-Bay that I missed (simply because it wasn't titled correctly. That one has yet to resurface.

The started 1992/93 and did a couple of albums and a brace of EPs/singles before a very acrimonious spilt around 1998. There's a decent recent interview on YT which purports to cover everything about the break up, but I'm not so certain. Louise Post (the dark haired one) kept the band going for a few years, but the Resolver and IV albums were a little lacklustre; Nina Gordon (the blonde lady) did a couple of solo albums, They patched things up 2013/14 and did a crowdfunded album ('Ghost Notes'), which is on general release. Always liked them.

It was £1,700 or thereabouts. Black. Just like the one Jeff Ament uses.

I missed a Hamer 12 string bass a few years ago. Often think about that one.

Queen. The Who. Led Zeppelin. Umm.

There's been a few posts here and there about whether they'll fold or continue and speculation as who would take over on drums if they chose the latter. I can't even begin to imagine how they would fill the void Taylor Hawkins has left but I do strongly believe that if they choose to continue, Dave Grohl is so adored by their fans that if he gives the new guy his seal of approval this would lead to an almost unanimous acceptance by fans.

I'm listening to Veruca Salt. Mature ladies with guitars. What's not to like?

Driving west out of London, me and the drummer would always stop at a McDonald's on the A40 in the middle of the night. I've read Fast Food Nation and I'm while vehemently against eating this rubbish, we were always energetic live and your body is just craving fuel to get you home. I haven't eaten anything like this for three or four years thankfully.

Never let your singer count you in. Interestingly, never let the singer decide when a song should end, either. We'd delight, while the singer held an arm up like Elvis, in deciding when to stop during a long ending. Sometimes we'd just stop, other times he'd throw his fist to the floor and we'd be letting the ending carry on. Oh, the hilarity.

Despite the obvious junk that seller hawks, he does sell an awful lot of stuff.

I'm very much on a Johnny Thunders/Heartbreakers groove at the moment.