Frank Blank

Just played four songs at the Monday night Open Mic at The Railway in Southend, sat back down in my seat only to be unceremoniously dragged into conversation with a very drunk man who a) complained about the lack of good electronic bands in Essex, b) went on and on and on about how good Squarepusher is and finally, c) tried to get me to drink his pint which, after ignoring my gentle ‘sorry, I don’t drink’ refusals he finally tipped all over me, great.

You aren’t far from Guitar Technical Services in Warwick. His Pro Setup is the best imho. I drive up from Southend to get my guitars set up and serviced. Sure it’s more expensive than most but in my experience you get what you pay for.

Samsara and Easy Stars All-Stars doing Dub Side Of The Moon at Concord 2 Brighton last night. Samsara were, as always, superb, brilliant reggae/ska with lovely brass Klezmer influences. Dub Side Of The Moon was hilarious and excellent but a shade too polished for me, Samsara won big in my book but then they always do.

I remember FGTH rehearsing at Nomis Studios for their TOTP debut, I had to restrain the bass player from the band I was working with so he didn’t stagger in to drunkenly berate Holly & Co for their bad playing, which, tbh, wasn’t that bad, or perhaps we were both rather drunk, not sure.

Oh my days, that looks beautiful...

First line of my CV, there.

You, Sir, are a born librarian and that’s a compliment.

Yes, definitely.

Cool beans.

Just be aware of the narrow string spacing on the SRC6. You are welcome to try mine before you make your mind up.

I think most (not all) people, like me, just assume certain gauges are for certain styles of music but as @Dazed absolutely correctly suggests your playing style in combination with the string gauge will ultimately define the final sound. Only way to really find out is to try ‘em.

I know this sounds whack but I used to have really light gauge strings (don’t know the exact sizes but they were the lightest they had in stock at The Bass Centre when I bought the bass) on a Jaydee Supernatural. I used this inappropriate bass with it’s inappropriately light gauge strings to play in a heavy goth band and subsequently a really heavy and fast thrash metal band. It sounded great though, drop D in the thrash band, real clarity but still plenty of depth. I find the lighter gauges easier to play (small fingers here). Latterly I was convinced to use a different bass with heavier strings but I was never really happy, that initial setup was ideal for me. No doubt my experience is a freaky outlier but there you go.

Don’t stop being picky! It’s what makes your basses superb and me a customer.

You just haven’t found the correct style as yet, try on everything, even Tupperware, after all, look at Devo.

If you want to get ahead, get a hat.

Because we are being left behind by a world that we no longer understand nor like, it's the same, generation after generation. I no longer understand nor like the things that the youth dig, why interact with it? It’s not for us. We are no longer ‘cutting edge’, I’d venture we’re not even relevant. I’m content doing my own thing, very little of which would be understood nor appreciated by young people, that’s ok, it’s the natural order of things.

Nick Cave Q&A gig at The Dome Brighton. During the questions someone said they lived in Nick Cave’s old flat and could he tell them where the stopcock was, which he duly did. Splendid.

You must be just down the road from me!

Is that the Jazz bass that Foals bass player is using?

Unlike my usual taste (whatever the hell that is?) I’m really enjoying Michael Kiwanuka. As @Dankology pointed out earlier, lovely bass sound from a full Fender set up (I’m assuming his bass is a Fender?)

Instead of saying definitely I’ll stick with hopefully attending this time.

I’m afraid not, unforeseen circumstances, gutted, actually.