Cato

Not sure about Franz Ferdinand but I think Snow Patrol, Scissor Sisters and Supergrass are all only fairly recently reformed after calling it a day several years ago.

Starmer is walking an impossible tight rope. So far he's doing a superb job but it's only a matter of time before Trump throws his toys out over the huge respect Zelensky gets in Europe and the UK. I saw some speculation in the press that Zelensky meeting the king just might trigger a Trump tantrum. It's utterly ridiculous that the continuing US membership of NATO might rest on such utterly trivial matters, but apparently here we are.

I suppose the Gallup bass isn't to awful once you get used to the 'not quite a Thunderbird' aesthetic. But I'll take some convincing on the Smith guitar. To me it looks like a cartoon guitar that's been squashed and is midway through popping back into shape.

When I think of Schecter I tend to think of slightly dated black spikey guitars and basses and various 'super strat' models that are unambiguously aimed at the metal players. I do know that they've diversified somewhat in recent years into more vanilla Fender based designs but I still tend to think of them in the same bracket as ESP or Jackson in that their products aren't really aimed at me. Even The Cure endorsement hasn't really shifted that perception although it would probably help if the Smith guitar and Gallup bass weren't so odd looking.

I have been wondering how far Tesla sales have to fall in Europe before the board realises that maybe Musk going out of his way to alienate the demographic most likely to buy an electric car might be a problem.

Never thought I'd say this but I'm considering boycotting US goods. I wasn't too bothered about the tariffs or even the open hostility from the new administration towards America's long term alllies but this Ukraine debacle has crossed a line. I don't think I can bring myself to buy another US guitar while Trump is in office.

I'm not sure why Fender get singled out for lack of innovation. I don't think there have been any major innovations in bass design that have actually stuck from anyone since the late 70s/80s when active electronics and headless instruments entered mainstream production. Since then everything seems to be tweaking the same , often Fender inspired, designs. The only other major change in the landscape of electric guitars and basses I can think of in the last 50 or so years has been the dramatic improvement in the quality of budget instruments over the last decade or two.

This interesting, it's skinny stringers again, but even Andertons are sayng that Squier Classic Vibe is superior to the Fender Standard.

As I understand it Generative AI works by scanning a source ( usually the internet but it can be a specific database) for information/ images that fit the keywords in the description it's provided and combining information from those sources to create a new image. At no point does it actually understand any of that information itself. ie. It doesn't know what a bass guitar is, let alone how it's components work, hence the obvious innacuracies in many of the images.

Just a heads up that this is doing the rounds on social media again. It look like a competition where a well known guitar shop ( the one I saw was PMT) is holding a competition to win the chance to buy a Marshall bluetooth speaker for £9.99. I'd already seen warnings about this exact scam last summer but today on Instagram was the first time I've seen it in the flesh and at first glance it looks like a genuine post from PMT, so I thought I'd spread the warning here on BC, just in case. Why social media companies are still allowing a known scam ad format to run on their platform is another matter...

Gibson went through a period of innovation fairly recently that included the infamous robo tuners and the Firebird X 'smart guitar'. It wasn't exactly a roaring success for them. I suspect it will be a long time before they stray from the tried and tested path again.

Total unfounded speculation but without the big volume wheel the Go looks less like the Fender Mustang headphone amp. I wonder if there was a 'cease and desist' involved in the sudden halting of the original run? Great to see it back anyway, mine is still my go to practice set up.

Looks like there's more on the way https://news.sky.com/story/today-is-the-big-one-trump-says-he-will-unveil-reciprocal-trade-tariffs-13308449

Give it 40 years and people will be talking about early Indonesian Fenders the same way they talk about Japanese Squiers.....

From reading your other posts about the band it sounds like there was a fair bit of travel involved? Maybe if you found somwthing a bit more local it might bring some of the fun back? Anyway, all the best for the future and whatever you do it'll be good to see you hanging around on BC.

I can't understand why anyone would want to go an event like that and watch it from a private box. Being part of the crowd is a key part of the gig experience for me.

The £455 seems to be for one of the hospitality packages, which, as far as I can tell are the only prices to be officially released. https://www.avfc.co.uk/concerts/back-to-the-beginning/ Having said that I wouldn't be at all suprised if general sale prices are approaching £200 which would put them in line with recent Oasis and Talyor Swift stadium shows.

I was wondering if it might be similar to the Freddie Mercury tribute at Wembley. Several shortish sets from various bands during the day followed by a 'Sabbath & friends' set in the evening featuring multiple special guests from the other bands. It would make sense in terms of giving Ozzy a bit of extra support Time will tell.

I don't think anyone going to the gig is going to be under any illusions over Ozzy's physical health. It's a celebration, a chance to say goodbye, both for him and the fans.

It's a hell of a line up. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c805m3l02v5o Despite being a huge metal fan as a teenager I haven't really listened to heavy music for 25 years but I'm very tempted to try and grab some tickets.

I know Trump is framing this as a big win but when you look at the detail it all seems rather performative. Most of the measures touted as Trunp forcing Canada to take action on illegal activity at the border were announced some time ago. Mexico may have agreed to move more troops to the border but there has to be a suspicion that they may have agreed to do so without the threat of tariffs especially given the US quid pro quo to finally crack down on gun running from the US side of the border, which has been arming the cartels with military grade weapons for many years. All in all it seems like a lot of noise to obtain fairly low key results, with all parties making concessions. Were the threats really necessary?

Lets face it neither we or our Western Allies have ever had any issue getting into bed with abhorrent regimes if it's convienient ot even just profitable. Just look at our cozy relationship with Saudi, even when they were caught & recorded red handed murdering and dismembering a political dissident our government did barely more than give a half hearted 'tut tut' before flogging them yet more weaponry to use on their neighbours.

Trump's portrayal of Mexico as a willing collaborator in the drug trade is highly dishonest. Arguably the US demand for recreational drugs has caused more harm in Mexico than it has in the US. Mexico came close to anarchy in the drug wars that peaked a few years ago, 100,000s of thousands were killed or are permanently missing. The majority of Mexicans would love to see an end to the power and influence of the drug cartels in their country but it's driven almost entirely by US demand.

The elephant in the room is that wages in the US are high, much higher than most western countries. For comparison the avergage wage in the UK s around £37,000 pa, in the US it's around £53,000pa. I doubt Trump can ever make tariffs high enough to make it economically desirable for manufacturers to move their factories back to the US, which Trump claims is his ultimate goal with the policy, especially not if they want to sell to the rest of the world at competitive prices.

I stopped reading at 'bubblethumpwhip'.