super al

We begin another new chapter in Felis Leo's history in a couple of weeks time (it's our new drummer's first gig!). Weirdly we are playing the same venue as our last gig with the old drummer...but not that weird when you consider it's Salisbury and our options for original bands are very limited and we seem to be ignored by 2 venues so far. Maybe grey hair and receding hairlines are only for cover bands 😂 We're supporting one of Colin Holton's many bands, Punkture so we're the kids for a change. One rehearsal left to get Darrell bedded in behind the kit. Our next gig? Andover in March!!!

Video was too long, I admire your attention span 😂 I got as far as Cheap Sunglasses 😁 Did MS in a soul band as an encore...we never seemed to rehearse it 🤷🏻‍♂️ I think I went between several different versions of the bassline, sometimes mid song 😂 Loved it/hated it but if the crowd wanted more MS delivered it

But like vinyl it'll come back in fashion...people will have a hankering for green mineral, mark my words.

I've used the free version of the app for a few years for band stuff. Some of the templates are decent enough for a complete amateur graphic designer like me 😁 Quite like this one that looks like a folded and creased poster, suits our rockin' lion.

I do like my one10s, you can't beat how light and easy they are to lug about and I've had some heavy gear in my time! I'm usually up between our lead guitarist's Marshall cab pounding out the riffs and the drummer thumping away and these little buggers cut through all that! I took my one10s out of their cajon bags at their first rehearsal and the drummer said "where's the rest of your hi-fi?" Band members are usually amazed at the amount of air me and the lil' twins are pushing though😁 I'd make room for all of them, get rid of something else, furniture, telly, wife...anything but the cabs 😆

Is this going to cause a slight and sudden upturn in traffic to the classifieds section on Basschat...time to sell my Marlin Slammer I reckon 😂

I often think I'm must be an awful bass player as I don't think about the sound much. I'm mostly playing a Lakland 55-02 through a TC Electronic BH550 amp with 2 x one10s. I was in a soul band for 3 years so I played with just the bridge pickup and Mark King's Sweet Minger toneprint on one channel and I can't remember the other one but I rarely remembered to switch anyway. The closer I played fingerstyle to the bridge the better I sounded for the funkier tunes. The other bassist who was in the soul band before me and subsequently returned to bass duties after me tends to overplay I think, the singer always says there's more breathing space in the songs when I play (I keep my notes short and funky). After the soul band I joined a heavy metal band playing originals. This has been a tough lesson in finding my place in the band, the guitars tend to play low so sometimes I'm lost in the mix. I've managed to cut through by rolling off the bass on the amp and go more trebly. The lead guitarist is also the band's 'sound engineer' so he's been a great help. I guess I just don't want the faff of a load of pedals, etc. I remember supporting Toupe (local Southampton band with 2 x bass and a drummer) and watching them set up, it looked like one of them had a scaffold plank full of pedals... I thought "eff that for a game of soldiers, how does he find the time!". It's probably why I've only ever had one person ask me after a gig about my gear in 30 odd years of playing (it might be more, I just can't remember 😄)

As you mentioned jazzy I shall go with the Leo Smalls Quintet...and keep the audience guessing 🤔 Other than that, I'm in my garden so Moroccan Round Table

I've been a fan since Uplift Mofo but didn't get round to seeing them until 2003 for some reason. I was discussing the absolute hatred some folks have for them with a fellow bassist the other week and he couldn't quite believe it (he'd never come across it). Someone once told me why they're so crap live which was enlightening, they do elicit a strong reaction among 'musos' 😆. I kind of like that in a way, boring world if we all liked the same stuff! I don't get Rush 🤷🏻‍♂️😆 At the end of the day they've been surfing that BSSM and Under The Bridge wave for over 30 years, if that didn't happen I guess they would've faded into obscurity during the 90s. Still love em despite Stadium Arcadium (my kids played it to death, it was the only album I allowed due to lack of profanity 😁). Won't go to see them live unless some benevolent friend buys me a ticket but all my friends hate the Chilis so that's not happening ☹️

I've enjoyed the songs I've heard so far 👍🏻

I thought I'd posted these up here already! Here's me playing Salisbury Live this year, we were the opening band for the whole event...so the audience was rather thin (but there was a bloke in a wheelchair who kept spinning round so we did alright 👍🏻). I'm sporting a fetching Lakland 55-02 that I purchased here about 5 years ago. It's Felis Leo btw, the band that is 😄 Pics by Christopher Jungo

Oh dear... we're back to advertising for a new drummer ☹️ We found a great guy last year, helicopter pilot in the army and things have been trucking along nicely. Then he decided pretending to shoot targets with an Apache AH-64 was not for him and he's now off to Aberdeen to fly choppers to oil rigs. If anyone knows of a drummer looking for a rock band playing originals in the Salisbury area, get in touch 🙏🏻

Excellent idea @Tim Chapple Here's our latest EP...if I had to choose I'd probably go with the title track, Butterflies, for the playlist. Although it's not all myself playing bass (I feel like Bill Wyman sometimes 🤣) I'm particularly proud of Hundred Souls and someone on Facebook even commented on the bass line 😊. Looking forward to listening to all the songs here.

3 bands in a boozer in town and all for a good cause! It'll be a short set from us (45 mins I think) therefore we're going with 100% Felis Leo, no covers 😀 ... I like it that way. We're playing a couple of tunes we haven't played live yet, keeps it fresh innit 👍🏻 Looking forward to the support artists, feels a bit like the old days when I'd gig at the Joiners and Talking Heads and watch a lot of bands on the bill you never heard of before (I've been in covers bands far too long 😆)

I hate the word 'content' We used to create music, now it's just content...ones and zeroes to a funky beat! If content be the food of love then stream on and on and on...until we break even If we're lucky 😆

Love bands with keytars, I've been in two bands where the keyboard player pulls out a keytar... I think it must be connected to my love of 80s funk 😆 I had one band split up where the catalyst was one of the guitarists backing into my car and then speeding off! Basically a hit and run whilst I was bringing my gear upstairs from the venue (the Hobbit, Southampton). I had no idea but the drummer was looking closely at my bumper 😆. The whole scenario makes me laugh now but at the time it was a bit awkward and resulted in a couple of months weirdness and three of us buggering off to form another band that wrote a couple of EPs and had a great time supporting bands at places like the Joiners, Talking Heads and Hamptons round So'ton way. My car wasn't that badly damaged anyway 😁

When I joined my current band they had a Facebook page and all their music on Spotify, YouTube, etc (paying distrokid). None of them actually doing much to promote the band. The Spotify account had 1 monthly listener and I think that was me trying to learn the songs. I'm not great at being a 'content creator' or whatever it is but I started an Instagram account for them and then they let me loose on the Facebook page! Last month we were up to 61 monthly listeners, over 400 followers on Instagram and nearly 800 (750 other bands 😄) on Facebook...the aim is to break even with streaming... we're getting there but still a long way to go! Can we use this thread to exchange insta follows? Is that allowed? We are Felis Leo btw 🤘🦁

Here's my Marlin Slammer. Bought in '87 for possibly £99.99? I knew very little about basses or how to play them but soldiered on with this until I bought a Washburn B-15 2nd hand. The Slammer got dusty until my boss at the time borrowed it. He used to be in a local band called the Nite People in the 60s but only had an old Vox valve amp and speaker left. He played it more than I ever did so he lost the knobs and put loads of dings on it. It had chicken head knobs on for ages until I gave it a refurb about 15 years ago with new pups and similar knobs to the originals. I keep it out of nostalgia as it still sounds awful, currently hanging on the wall of shame 😄 The combo I bought to go with it was a pine affair with a wicker front...looked very country, it used to get funny looks and comments when I went to jams 🤣

Pic of me playing Salisbury Live a couple of weeks ago

Our 2nd gig of the year Sunday, 8 days after our 1st! This was the 1st event for the month long Salisbury Live and as we were the 1st band on we've billed it as us kicking the whole thing off but in reality we knew it wouldn't be busy. The switch from an outside event to an inside gig probably did us a favour as there was about 40 people in the room with a few more punters in another room and outside. The performance from our POV was great. Our drummer's 2nd gig and there was a nice pace to the songs, not rushed. Jon, our singer was hopping and strutting about, it was definitely what I would expect from a Felis Leo show. A few positive comments which helps, I like the random stranger ones 👍🏻 I didn't stay too long but the two tribute bands who played later were Slady and the Smiths Ltd. No gigs now until late July ☹️ Picture courtesy of the band after us, 3mo. I'm suitably obscured by Chris our lead guitarist.

A lil' half hour set for the launch of Salisbury Live '24 this Sunday

Played my 1st gig of the year with Felis Leo, 1st gig in Salisbury since joining them 2 years ago. The gig was in a pub called the George & Dragon which is quite a long thin pub. The back of the pub was closed off for the night and we played just in front of that area, unfortunately space was limited and I ended up stuck in a corner behind a wall, my two barefaced one10s on a bench facing in different directions! I could only see the entrance to the loos from my vantage point 😂 Before we started there was quite a few punters in and that was pleasing, after the first set I came out of my hiding place and the bar was heaving! If we're playing a standard pub gig we play half originals, half covers but not the obvious covers... Powerage era AC/DC, UFO, Whitesnake, JJ Cale, Rory McLeod, it seems to work and weave into our own material. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, the bar staff were very complimentary and the 'fans' said it was the best we'd played (this was only my 3rd gig with FL, it was Chris the drummer's 1st!). Despite the postage stamp stage area the sound on stage was great, so much better than at rehearsals but then I don't use the 2 x one10s in rehearsal. Loading out was a ball ache, I won't bore you with that...rain, roads, busy pub full of drunks, etc. Overall the night was a cracker, looking forward to next Sunday with a Smiths tribute and an all female Slade tribute! Here's my strange setup for the evening

Funny you should say that, we've just written a song about a local witch 😆

I'm looking forward to this tomorrow, we've waited ages to play a gig in our home town. Should be a good little crowd too as we don't play very often.

I said 'temple' not Elland Road 😉