skankdelvar

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1346663660' post='1791551'] You can hear the title track on Soundcloud now.[/quote] "Anthem." [i]Mr Bitterly Envious of Oxfordshire.[/i] [color=#ffffff] [/color] [color=#ffffff][i].[/i][/color]

Some random observations which draw no particular conclusion: * Even pubs with a rep for live music are struggling. Is live music on the way out as a form of public entertainment? * If pubs were full of happy drinkers they wouldn't need bands, live sports, curry nights, etc. Which suggests that many pubs - particularly the ones that aren't renowned for live music - will [i]not[/i] have a built-in audience. Therefore promotion is more important than it ever was. * Are pubs generally on the way out? Should we be exploring other venues for our gigs - e.g. shopping centres on a Saturday lunchtime, community centres? * Seemingly. covers bands are popular because they draw in a wider range of people than genre bands. But unlike genre bands (blues, jazz, punk, etc) there is no definable audience to whom one may appeal other than 'local people'. As a result, is one overly dependent on a small catchment area, with the increased risk of audience burn-out. * Covers bands are more likely to pull a walk-up audience. Quite a lot of people go to a particular pub for a drink, oblivious to the fact that a band's been booked. They may see the sign 'Live Music' and walk away. They may go in anyway in the hope that the band won't be too loud. We cannot assume that everyone in a pub audience came to see the band. They might all just be tolerating us out of politeness or laziness. * So should we be balancing the need to engage - loudness, dynamics, showmanship - with an awareness that we might need to dial it back a bit. How do we strike a balance between being an in-your-face spectacle or providing some background music? Should we massively dialling up our showmanship? Or should we just merge into the wallpaper and calmly collect the gig fee on the way out? * Could we be better at reading an audience as the gig progresses? Rather than rigidly sticking to the set-order, volume and speed, should we be more flexible in our delivery? Switching songs around, playing them faster / slower / louder / quieter? * Have too many punters been 'burned' by covers bands? Not just the incompetent ones, but the good ones with a limited setlist? Should a covers band have at least 100 songs under its belt so it can keep weekly performances fresh for pub regulars? * Should we keep a fake book onstage so we can say 'Yes' to requests, rather than sniff about 'not being a f***ing jukebox'? * Should we offer something else besides live music? e.g. competitions, 'live karaoke', a frontman who can tell decent jokes, a disco before and after the set? * If a venue is primarily seated, should we be accentuating melody (listening) rather than rhythm (dancing). What is good in a standing venue may be too overpowering in a seated venue? * Do bands for pubs require a different skill set / offering than those which are targeting a music-fan audience? Rather than approach pub gigs with the mindset of 'rock stars in the making', do we need a different toolkit? Should we think more like DJ's and pub guvnors? * Rather than acting as 'a band' with fixed personnel and fixed setlists, should we aim towards looser collectives with greater flexibility of material and personnel? Should it be the norm that 'bands' expand and contract to fit a range of gigs. Loud and big for some venues, small and quiet for others? Sorry about the large number of question marks, but I think we're at one of those turning points when things change and we have to develop some ideas so that we can continue to do what we enjoy doing. [color=#ffffff].[/color]

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1346545188' post='1790509'] ...sharp fret edges and dodgy paint work...[/quote] By no means confined to the less-expensive Gibbos and it's been going on for years. Back in the 90's I saw a DC standard in Gloucester with a heavily orange peeled front and one of the pots at a wonky angle. Only last week I beheld a £2.5k LP Std with a squint neck pup and every saddle wound forward in a straight line, ffs. I do laugh at the angry mob on the wider net who have cited the MM series as the final proof of Gibson's descent into the fiery pit. Most of them have never played an MM series - in fact I suspect few of them have ever played [i]any[/i] Gibson, because they wouldn't be so shocked at QC issues if they had. Internet herd mentality at its finest. But why let the facts stand in the way of a good moan? In addition to looking 'crap'; not being made in the USA; being badly built out of toothpick shavings by child convict labour and contributing to the wholesale deforestation of the African continent, I can now confirm the following. The MM series: * Fiddles its expenses * Caused the banking crisis * Is oppressing 'little people' up and down the country * Killed Duck Dunn with a polonium-laced 'cocktail' * Indulges in satanic rituals involving blood-drinking and human sacrifice * Is favoured by Illuminati everywhere as well as the Broderbond house band.

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1346455370' post='1789595'] As it says - a couple of suprises[/quote] Quite At least two I'd never heard of and one who - IMO - should be worth a [i]lot[/i] more considering he writes all the words.

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1346453233' post='1789579'] Or Ian Stewart... [/quote] Or Rod Evans or Wally Nightingale or Henry Padovani. At least Jon Bon Jovi didn't fire Alec Jon Wotsisname - he just ordered the poor sod to get his thighs liposuctioned. It goes without saying that the OP's backstabbing former bandmates have shown their true colours, but sadly there are plenty of other people out there who would do exactly the same thing. The horrid fact is that pop and its commercially-driven sub-genres are money-making tools, designed to extract cash from those influenced by superficiality. A pretty face is mandatory in the ghastly world of 'showbiz', for show is the biz which one must inhabit if the intention is to make a business out of the 'show' aspect. And though my sympathy is a given, the alternatives now open to the OP would seem to be: [list=1] [*]Stay in 'showbiz' but prepare for a recurrence of the problem [*]Lose some weight [*]Make a 'feature' out of the weight issue (the John McCoy approach) [*]Work in musical genres where idealised visual conformity is unimportant [*]And never to assume that one's commercial partners are one's friends. [/list] Onward, upward and mind your back. [color=#ffffff].[/color]

[quote name='BRANCINI' timestamp='1346243031' post='1786879'] Didnt Derek Bollox present New Faces? [/quote] Omigawd, you're about as old as I am

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1346280567' post='1787559'] One of the issues here, though, is that the OP's Melody Maker Series guitar isn't "Made in USA", but fabricated in Asia, thereafter finished and set up in the USA. Alongside it's issues with the US Department of Justice and the Fish and Wildlife Service, for its violations of the Lacey Act, Gibson is also being investigated by the US Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission for its misdescription of goods as "Made in USA" when those goods do not meeting the standards of "all or virtually all" of the good being made in the United States.[/quote] Very interesting. Couldn't find any info at all on this via Google. Got a link?

'The Rock Island Line' by Lonnie Donegan.

[quote name='BRANCINI' timestamp='1346230005' post='1786648'] Larry Parnes [/quote] More Parnes: Tommy Steele (Tommy Hicks) Marty Wilde (Reg Patterson) Billy Fury (Ron Wycherley) Vince Eager (Roy Taylor) Dickie Pride (Richard Knellar) Lance Fortune (Chris Morris) Duffy Power (Ray Howard), Johnny Gentle (John Askew) Terry Dene (Terence Williams) Nelson Keene (Malcolm Holland) Georgie Fame (Clive Powell) Derek Bollocks (Danny Enthusiastic) (OK, I made the last one up.) [color=#ffffff].[/color]

Welcome, BV-FD Frankly, I wouldn't worry about puns - that's as witty a screen-name and as charming an intro as I've seen in a long time. Hope you enjoy the forum, m'man.

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1346150192' post='1785760'] I'm usually a bit gutted to see a perfectly good instrument smashed to pieces...[/quote] This one's for you... Mr Hiatt shares your sentiments. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l04pABsrXrs[/media]

I am far too old to pull off the instrument smashing thing - bad back and I'd just look silly. And yes, it's a tad passé. But as far as anyone else is concerned it's their bass and they can do what they like with it. If it gees the punters up a bit and adds to the ambience, then it's a legitimate audience engagement tactic and - presumably - a tax deductible business expense. Never understood why people fall into the 'Shock Horror - Squares Keep Out' sucker trap - it's only a bit of wood after all.

I mean, let's call this for what it is. Some people get wound up dealing with timewasters and rather than suck it up like anyone else, they'd like the BC team to do even more than they [i]already[/i] do and offer something that similar sales platforms do not. And because there is a publically visible channel of dialogue that is unavailable on - say - ebay, they are using that to 'make a case' or 'have a debate' or 'state their opinion'. And yet, despite a perfectly reasonable explanation, they're still banging on. Because it's not really a debate, it's a whinge. Until BC changes its policy on this issue, those who feel deprived because they can't freely slag someone off for being a timewaster should simply use another website to hawk their goods. Let us know how that goes. All this thread tells me is that some of these whingers should man up and grow a pair rather than expect someone else to sort their lives out for them. [color=#ffffff].[/color]

Basschat offers a classified sales section and a feedback section to log successful or - in a minority of instances - unsuccessful transactions. In the event that something goes wrong, unpaid moderators will intervene to help if they can. If an unsuccessful sale takes place [i]off [/i]BC but involving a member, a mod will try to help out if they can. All of these services are offered free of charge by volunteers. The nature of this service delivery is open to discussion, as it has been for the last few pages and some useful points have been identified. Nevertheless, [i]some[/i] people appear to be demanding the further comfort and convenience of being able to identify extra-transactional 'timewasters', despite the clearly explained - and to me entirely obvious - implementational problems this would cause and the extra work this would entail for the mods. It all strikes me as excluding consideration of the work that the mods would have to put in. I may be wrong but I don't recall anyone thanking Shockwave for the work he already does. H'mm. [color=#ffffff].[/color]

I think the sound I most associate with Warwick is the 'Sound of Would'. As in someone saying "Apart from Jack Bruce and that Swedish bloke, who the f*** are those endorsees? Never heard of any of them, but that Italian totty with the ear-rings? I would."

Well if 200 out of 530 are 'custom shop' either the mass-production line guys are a pack of lazy herberts or the custom shop ain't that exclusive. As for Fender, I'm going to put my finger in the air and say 750,000, including sub-brands like Squier and Gretsch and stuff. That's instruments, amps, accessories (exc picks because that would be silly).

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1346020794' post='1784285'] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/122836-thursday-was-a-very-strange-day-for-me/page__p__1125922__hl__mx5%20train__fromsearch__1#entry1125922"]http://basschat.co.u..._1#entry1125922[/url] [/quote] I knew I remembered that. [quote name='gareth' timestamp='1297529621' post='1125133'] He was a man of few words and although of slight frame had piercing eyes and generally appeared edgy, if not aggressive. I never saw him again. [/quote] Y'see, that 'mystery buyer' was Captain Future, Man of Tomorrow and he knew he'd get a better deal on the bass in an alternate reality, which is where he f***ed off to and I met him there during my temporal feedback loop thing (see above) and he told me all about it when we had a few minutes off between killing space lizards and Hitler. Glad I could help clear that up. [color=#ffffff].[/color]

[quote name='billyapple' timestamp='1346018957' post='1784268'] No, it's Eck Buttox III and the year is 3026 [/quote] 'Wee' Eck Buttox III? The grandson[sup][size=3]44[/size][/sup] of Alex 'Wee Eck' Salmond? [size=3][b]Eck Buttox III[/b] - Hereditary President of New Caledonia in the faraway Oglux system.[/size] [color=#ffffff][size=3].[/size][/color]

OK, I'm back. It was terrible. in the 'other' continuum Hitler had won WW2, David Icke was fighting alien lizards from a bunker in Llandudno and there was no internet. So no-one would have been selling basses on BC anyway. So, is Nick Clegg still Prime Minister?

[quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1346017445' post='1784242'] Actually I am not the feedback mod. [/quote] I've got news for you [quote][b]Feedback[/b] - Bit like the ebay thing, only umm, different... (Moderated by Shockwave & silverfoxnik)[/quote] Edit for: Jesus Christ! We're in a temporal feedback loop!

Wasn't there a story here about some buyer? Got the seller to pick him up from the station, tried the item, lovely stuff, got the seller to drive him to an ATM to get the cash, went back to the seller's house and then said "Nah! Changed my mind." Or was I dreaming?

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1346009108' post='1784094'] what would you do?[/quote] I'd have a vent about it in OT (no names, mind) and then chalk it up to experience. You've sold the bass to someone else, they're happy, you're happy. Feedback is about transactions. Leaving bad feedback for someone outside a transaction who wasted your time has nothing to do with the transaction. Besides which, you might post that he dicked you around, he might post that you sold the bass out from under him and then it's an "I said / he said". I'm sure everybody feels differently but the Feedback mod hath spoken. His gaff, his rules. If people don't like that, they can always use ebay and leave extra-transactional feedback there. Oh, except they can't.

Good for him. [size=3]"My gaff, my rules".[/size]

[quote]17" from [b]top nut[/b] 20" from 12th fret[/quote] Well, he clearly is.

Tell him. Tell him: 'Sorry, mate. You're a lovely bloke but you sing flat. Sort some lessons and get it right in the next 4 weeks or we'll look elsewhere. We don't want to, but we will if we have to. It's in your hands." Immediately you've told him this, start looking anyway. Then you've got a choice.