super al

Lopping initial Sweaters used to be a hobby of mine... until the kids got to that 'impressionable age'. Now all I've got left is drinking, bass playing and shouting at the kids (I'm only kidding about the last two, I'm a terrible bassist and the wife shouts at the kids for me!).

Agree whole heartedly. One of the few guitarists I enjoy listening to, the unison scat singing/guitar solo thing isn't to everyone's taste but I love that. A great soul singer and a great jazz guitarist... I've said that and I'm about to join a metal band 🤣

In my strange little world I too hate the bassline but it's still my favourite Stones toon.

My 1st function gig was a xmas party with a medieval banquet theme (they even had a court jester)...our singer said "I've hired us costumes" He arrived with three 3 musketeers costumes! The only member who turned up correctly attired was our drummer (it was his work do). The wig and tights were really, really, f ing annoying whilst playing. I prefer short sleeved shirts or a polo top 😁

That sounds quite sensible, you could probably spend a week trying out which bass goes best with which hat...best do that only once then label each hat with a corresponding bass 🤠

Great album...'Hot Sauce' has so much going on.

Both the original and the Chili's version of 'if you want me to stay' are great imho... myself and the drummer in my last band put it forward as a possible cover but, alas no other takers. Sly was definitely an innovator and wrote some cracking toons! Probably the third most sampled artist after James Brown and George Clinton.

Plus spliff and juggling balls! 😆 After getting interested in the Ozrics I started listening to Gong and Hawkwind, the OTs must be a gateway into 'head music'. There was an electronic side project of Ozrics called Eat Static that was pretty good too.

Neither Rolo or Rollo...it was Roly 🤦🏻‍♂️

When I heard Pungent Effulgent for the 1st time I got obsessed with the Ozrics. Loved the basslines and the sound of the bass...was it Rolo or Rollo? I was definitely channeling my inner crusty at that point, I had the Ozrics' PE on one side of a C90 cassette and A Weapon Called The Word on the other!

What Thing? I missed it (I might've popped out for a bit 🤷🏻‍♂️)

Bruno Mars...what era is he from? I'll hear a tune of his for the 1st time on the radio and in my mind I'm saying "it's 80s/70s/ a Police tune but I've not heard it before" Throws me every time. Hate him 🤣

I was in a function band and the singer suggested 'Betcha By Golly Wow' as a possible cover...this met with all round derision, including yours truly. When that band imploded, the singer asked me to join his soul band and I did. 'Betcha' was on the set list (and often announced at gigs as the greatest song ever written!). I think my initial dislike for the song was a little hasty as it became something I looked forward to playing. When everything clicked with the band it sounded great (onstage anyway, gawd knows what the punters thought of it!). Sometimes it was so good that you felt an afterglow among the band, a combined experience...almost felt like lighting up a post coital ciggy 😊 Anyway that's my experience of a cover I didn't (initially) like.

Quite a phenomenon back in '93, I went to the 1st Phoenix Festival and Jamiroquai were in the Jazz tent. There was a big crowd all trying to get into this marquee so we didn't get to see Jamiroquai, just sat outside and listened 🤷🏻‍♂️ Jay Kay story. My ex Bro-in-law was part of the catering team at the Brit Awards one year. They were finished and started clearing up and Jay Kay was the only 'star' to come by and thank them for the spread. Not saying he's brilliant or owt, just saying what I heard.

That's a pretty good week and I've listened to those albums many times (Quest's TLET being the current fave but wearing my BSSM tee shirt today for some reason!). But... Jellyfish's Bellybutton and Dread Zeppelin's Un-Led-Ed released in the same week in July '90... Absolutely ffffffflipping brilliant, both albums! In the same week, I kid you not 😃

Friday night was my last gig with the Flotonics, the photos are from soundcheck. It was a birthday party on a farm (hence the trailer stage and outbuilding backdrop 😃). I followed Google maps directions getting there, luckily I drive a pickup truck! The tarmac quickly vanished when I turned onto 'duck street', I didn't see many ducks but plenty of geese, chickens, pheasants and partridges on the dirt track. The set up was a rectangular patch of grass surrounded three sides by farm buildings. Hog Roast, horsebox bar, couple of fire pits and bales to sit on...right up my farm track! (That doesn't sound right 😆). It was the new guitarist's 1st gig and he sounds great, it was good to meet him and play alongside him. Hopefully I'll get to play with him again soon, I'm still going to dep when needed. The actual gig was beset with one major problem...the singer had a cold and we only managed about a dozen tunes over two sets! Shame that my last gig was a damp squib! I'm going to miss playing with these great musicians and I've certainly learnt a lot and improved as a bassist and as a human I guess. I'm looking forward to the next project whatever that is, I haven't decided yet!

This weekend I played my last two public gigs with the soul band (work and family life pressures mean that the gigging has to stop for a bit ☹️) Sunday the five piece played the New Inn, Amesbury and that was a fun gig. Bit strange being put into a cubby hole corner of the pub but it was probably the best place to set up in the bar. The band played great as usual 😎, seems a shame to leave when we're so slick right now. Early on some young drunk wanted to play drums (is there always a drunk drummer or singer at pub gigs?) Monday night we played the Bridge Inn, Upper Woodford (not far from Sting's lil' country mansion). This was their inaugural weekend of live music in the beautiful setting of the green opposite the pub. This is a rural location next to the river and just tractors, pick up trucks and 4x4s driving past the pub! For this gig we had the horns so there was 8 of us and the band sounds effing awesome once you add brass (plus they are so funny, horn humour!). The night was great, the sound on stage was superb, the crowd were fantastic (we always get people up dancing). I could hear my little Barefaced cab stack so clearly so when my fingers were feeling sore I could reign it in a bit. I'm a player who ' digs in' but with 36 soul and funk tunes to play, that's gonna hurt! One more gig to go but this one was quite emotional for me, last with the horns and Chris on guitar (he's the new bass player but can't play the next gig)... I kept it together well, got a big hug from Dave the drummer, we've been locked together tight on stage since he joined, the perfect drummer for me. Sorry for the long, rambling post but I'm gonna miss playing the best basslines ever with the bestest bunch of musicians I've ever played with 😭

Ah yeah... I saw that advertised on Instagram...loads of gigs in and around Salisbury on the bank holiday, we played two gigs and the crowds seem bang up for it...live music is back 👍

Not the Winnie Gate was it? They love Ska there.

I got a feeling you can use pretty much any 3 button switch. I have the bh550 and I did some research way back when I bought it into buying/making an alternative 3 switch pedal. I'm not too confident about my soldering skills so bought the TC switch in the end...turns out a neighbour, 7 doors down, builds his own pedals! D'oh! I bought the bh250 first and really liked it. Great for home practice and powerful enough for rehearsal too. I hate carrying pedals about and all that fiddly, time consuming setting up so the toneprint suits me plus found the 'in built' tuner a boon too! I was worried that the bh250 might not have enough beef for the function gigs I was doing so bought a bh550 as well. I play a 5 string Lakland through the bh550 and a pair of Barefaced one10s and I'm happy. I use the Spectracomp compressor and MK's Sweet Minger on the toneprint. I'm currently playing a lot of funk and soul from the 60s, 70s and 80s and I would say I just about get a sound I like with a little growl when I need it 😊. £199 is obviously cheaper than what I paid for my bh250 so if I was looking for an amp that was a bit Swiss army knife, this would be top of the list (in fact I'd probably go for the bh800 😄)

Couldn't find any bassists but Charlie Watts and the drummer from the Strokes! Also Elgar, Thomas Hardy and the Marquis de Sade!

Jellyfish's Bellybutton is probably in my top 3 all time, not a duff track, always gets a play now and then, albums. Spilt Milk I just couldn't get on with, didn't fill me with that feeling of 'eternal summer evenings' until last year. Listened to it in it's entirety and got a little love for it at last...Full circle Jellyfish love complete. Will always buy - Jim White Level 42 Funkadelic/Parliament/Bootsy/etc. Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club/ DB Richmond Fontaine

That is genuinely really impressive, either you play guitar and have 30 various makes of those or you are happy with what you got. I've bought 8 basses since '87 (we started the same year!) including a EUB. After I joined BC about 6 years ago I also started playing in a function band. This required frequently different tuning (Eb, drop D as well as E). Ended up buying 2 five stringers in the last 3 years (25% of my basses since joining BC!). To find someone more restrained than myself to GAS is a novelty, I always feel like I haven't 'bassed' around like some of the chaps on here.

Hold on a minute! You've only ever owned 4 basses...4!?!?...one of the mods might have to hold an inquiry over this. Is that possible? My first bass was a Marlin Slammer P bass copy (a very bad copy) and I've never owned or played any other P bass. Put me off a bit I think, preferred jazz basses for years.

I love my SR 1205, my 1st 5 string. Lovely woods, so tactile. I don't take her out gigging much since I got a Lakland but took her to rehearsal this week and she was a joy to play and sounded great through the studio's bass amp and 15" cab. The Lakland fits in with the soul and funk we play and I get on better with the string spacing but the Ibby just looks and feels a bit...you know, sexier. Think I might have a lie down. Enjoy it Dave.