BrunoBass

Sounds like a bargain!

I enjoyed that the first time around, thanks for the steer.

I saw a great new band called Loup Garoux the other night. The bass sounded awesome and looked very cool; kind of Fender-ish but hard to identify with the stage lighting and dry ice. Anyway I tweeted Richard Jones the bass player who very kindly responded: So it’s a Cowpoke. Full on GAS ensues, and I’m hoping I can shift the items I’m currently selling in order to make a bid on one that’s currently on eBay. So, who’s got one? What’s the consensus?

I saw a great new band called Loup Garoux the other night. The bass sounded awesome and looked very cool; kind of Fender-ish but hard to identify with the stage lighting and dry ice. Anyway I tweeted Richard Jones the bass player who very kindly responded: So it’s a Cowpoke. Full on GAS ensues, and I’m hoping I can shift the items I’m currently selling in order to make a bid in one that’s currently on eBay.

Thanks for sharing - that’s right up my street 🙂

Supergrass the night before last in Birmingham. Excellent set list, everything you’d want to hear delivered with good humour and warmth, and not a foot wrong all night. Quite enjoyed reliving my Britpop days. Incidentally, the last time I saw them was in Oxford in 1995, a quarter of a century ago... Very impressive support act too, Loup Garoux, fronted by former singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt. Enjoyed their set a lot.

This is why I’m not missing my current enforced hiatus from gigging, even though I thought I would. The likes of Clapton, Seger etc are not going to starve if they don’t tour anymore. I sympathise though with the ageing low to mid level artists who still need to pay the rent. For them it really is tour or bust. Or get a job at B&Q.

I like Schaller’s - replace the original strap button with the one supplied, this clips into the locking mechanism that you attach to your strap. Quick and easy!

I do both. Bass in the covers band and acoustic guitar on my solo original stuff. It’s no problem switching between the two.

Steve Marsh, session player who also plays with EMF has one and does the festival circuit using it. I recall several bands using them in the early nineties, but not many since, Steve Marsh apart.

Yes it’s a nice touch. Says a lot about the people running the venue in my experience.

I haven’t weighed the Harley Benton PB50 I bought and modded, to play live, but it weighs a ton and is way too heavy for a two hour gig. Other than that I’ve never found a ‘normal’ bass (Fender, Ric, MM etc) go to too heavy. If I can stand two hours with it, it passes the weight test.

The Bell in Bicester and The Punch Bowl in Warwick offer free drinks, not many others I’ve played though!

I have no idea. I’ll ask him next time I see him.

P - R - O - G

At band practise the other night I popped down the corridor during a break to where my keyboard playing mate was practising with his new band. They’re kind of prog-y, which is not my thing but I was interested to see what they were up to. The bass player was playing through an SVT, with a Wal Mk2 and a 4001 (both pretty battered, especially the Rick) and a Moog Taurus pedal set up. Wow... I’ve never heard anything like it, stomach shakingly, mountain movingly awesome. Very temporary GAS ensued, before conceding that I have no purpose whatsoever for such a contraption, but is anyone else using Taurus pedals? Live?

Just posting this because I love it and it’s been in my head all day. The ultimate dub track in my opinion. Incredible.

I sometimes do an alt country cover of LWTUA in my solo set (it works surprisingly well). On more than one occasion I’ve been commended by people (usually women) of a certain age for playing ‘that Paul Young song’... 😫

Exactly. Nothing’s off limits. There are however bands that CAN’T be covered.

I have no interest in Davie504 but would opine that he does have a positive effect - if he inspires people to think ‘I fancy a bit of that’ and to pick up a bass guitar that can only be a good thing, especially if said inspiree later gets out of their bedroom and gets into a band.

I’m not demoralised by it too much, You Tube has a very concentrated amount of people making videos - for every one of these seemingly prodigious teenagers there’s a thousand middle aged people of average ability, like me. Everyone had / has a super talented mate, who made you sick with their skill. When I was a kid I worked with a lad called Giles who was a stunning guitarist, absolutely world class. If YouTube existed in the eighties he’d probably have been making videos. I wasn’t too jealous though, because I was in a band and he never had been, nor had the desire to be in one.

True. My 19 year old son signed a worldwide deal with a very major label last week. He’s massively talented and not a little driven, but the sheer amount of work, business, meetings, more work he’s had to put it is incredible, and would’ve been pretty much impossible to do with a day job. Ok, he hasn’t ‘made it ‘ yet, as a deal is no guarantee of success, but he’s on the way, and I’m glad that my allowing him not get ‘a proper job’ in order to concentrate on his music might just pay off.

By the way we used to charge £250, the last time I played there was October last year.

I’ve played there many times, both solo and with the band - great crowd (usually); the stage is rectangular, deep rather than wide so you should all fit on but some of you will be at the back. Tell your band mates to watch their heads though as there is a hefty wooden beam quite low over the stage. It has a hollow wooden stage so I always put my cab on a table otherwise it was too boomy. Load-in is through the beer garden at the back; there is a lay-by across the road for short term parking (I think it’s disabled parking) but there’s longer term (free at night) parking just around the corner. Annoyingly, the staff make frequent visits to the storage room, which is accessed down the side of the stage.... but there you go. It’s usually a good gig, when are you playing? I might pop down.