BrunoBass

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1465642857' post='3069856'] Can't beat a good rowdy gig, last week on Swindon was our latest, had to stop playing while the police carried an unconscious punter from the stage! I'll have to venture to the north of the county again and check out Banbury. [/quote] You'd be very welcome. For a small town we have an excellent live scene. Fleabag of this parish was playing here with his band Chunk last night (I think).

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1465587746' post='3069553'] I can't find a Face book page for the OP's band however, Awake til dawn do have one that's easy to find, offering their music and merchandising, answering questions etc. It's a possibility that they won't simply "get bored and pack it in" as they seem pretty keen and enthusiastic about doing this properly. I would have thought that the first step for the OP's band would have been to advertise the fact that you are not to be confused with ..............etc, on your Face book page. However, if you don't have one..... Sorry if I'm mistaken but if you do have one, I can't find it. [/quote] We do indeed! Were you searching for 'Till' with two Ls? https://facebook.com/TilDawnBand/

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1465472689' post='3068523'] Ask them if they realise you are a leather clad homo erotic adults only show band performing sexual acts on stage and that you don't want them ending up with your audience at their shows? [/quote] So you've seen us then? 😅

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1465471243' post='3068499'] No it wasn't unfortunately. Apparently tho she was called Helen and signed copies in the virgin store where she worked on the tills at the time. Ten years back there was a search for her to celebrate the anniversary of virgin stores or something. I think it's a pretty cool story. [/quote] It is indeed. Great record too, Chris Sievey was a bit of an underrated genius.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1465465510' post='3068423'] Til Dawn inspired by a lass that works at a certain Manchester megastore check out desk? [/quote] Was that her name? The girl in The Freshies' song? I never knew that.. Although I think my band mates were thinking more along the lines of Salma Hayek when they chose the name!

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1465464391' post='3068400'] what's the band name? [/quote] We are Til Dawn. They are Awake Til Dawn.

It came to our attention recently that a band has formed locally using a name that is very similar to ours (think our two word name plus an additional word - so almost identical). My band had been around for about three or four years (I joined a year ago) and has been using the name we have long before this other band even formed. We are a four piece modern rock covers band, all male in our 30s and 40s. The other band are a four piece modern rock covers band, all female in their late teens. Clearly, having two bands in the same locality playing the same kind of music with very similar names is untenable. It's confusing for audiences and promoters, and potentially detrimental to the progress of both bands. We've contacted them on several occasions but so far they have ignored our requests to discuss the situation. As we have a good local reputation, a full list of bookings for the next 12 months plus, and crucially as we had the name first we feel it's ours to keep. It's not trademarked or registered, but it strikes me as strange that they would want to continue with a name that could cause them issues. We had a message yesterday from the landlord of a pub we are playing soon asking why we were also playing at a village fete on the same afternoon? We're not of course, it's the other band.... What can we do? They don't seem to want to discuss it, we can't force them to change their name, we haven't registered the name so I guess we have no legal right to it. Any one else ever been in this situation?

Saturday we played at an annual mini festival / all dayer in one of our local pubs. We were the first electric band on (late afternoon) after a brace of acoustic acts so it was great to whack up the volume a bit. We had a blast, it was a beautiful warm day and it was great to see so many friends and family members there. It was also the first time my little boy has seen us live which made it extra special. We stuck around to watch the rest of the bands and to enjoy the BBQ and a few beers until the bitter end. Such a great day, lovely to be a part of it, definitely one to remember. Photos here if anybody gives a damn. https://www.facebook.com/LadyGigger/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1306666542681486

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1465393978' post='3067812'] I cant see the point of spending a load of money on a bass that you are worried about taking out. I appreciate the theme of the thread, but if you have to spend a lot on a bass to be happy, but are happy to play a cheap bass, then maybe you dont need the expensive one lol. [/quote] This whole scenario has got me thinking the same thing actually.

It's just a gig with a rowdy (but good natured, non threatening) young crowd eyeball to eyeball with us in a hot, cramped, low ceiling bar! Beer can get spilt, machine heads can get knocked, leads can get stood on and pulled out. No one's going to get hurt, nothing is at risk, I would just rather take a £200 bass into that kind of environment than a £1000 one! It's going to a blast and I can't wait.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1465382944' post='3067659'] At the sort of venue where there was a real risk to my musical equipment I would be far more worried about my own personal safety. Instruments can be repaired or replaced, that what you have insurance for - you do have insurance don't you? Human body parts aren't so easy to repair and replace, at least not to the standard where I would be able to carry on doing my job and enjoy playing in a band. [/quote] I'm not expecting chicken wire over the stage (a la Blues Brothers)... if there was any concern about our personal safety we wouldn't be playing there. I'm thinking more of spilt beer, playing eyeball to eyeball with the crowd, and the inevitable 'can I have a go on your bass mate?' (We all know the answer to that one...)

My band have got a gig in a small rowdy bar this weekend, discussed in another thread elsewhere. One of the pieces of advice kindly offered was to use 'an expendable bass'. My main bass is a EBMM Stingray which is the only bass I play, and has been since I got it. In preparation for Saturday we practised last night, and as I'm planning to use my old unloved and unused Squier for this gig I thought it made sense to rehearse with it. It's by no means expendable, but it is a budget instrument that would be less of a loss should it get nicked or damaged. I'd forgotten what a great bass it is. My Stingray love has consigned it to a life in a gig bag behind the sofa, but playing it last night I was reminded how good it felt, how great it sounded and what fun it was to play. I think the fact that the Stingray is a much more expensive instrument compells me to favour it over the cheaper Squier, but it doesn't diminish how much I enjoyed playing it last night. In fact I might just start gigging with it on a more regular basis.

I've played, owned and sold several Tanglewoods over the years and have always been impressed. However I've just picked up one of the new Crossroads guitars (TWCR D E to be precise) as a strummer for the living room and am pretty disappointed. Poor set up, tuner display keeps breaking up, poor quality tuners (tuning is inaccurate and keeps drifting out) and the fret ends are really sharp. I'd heard really good reports about this model so I'm surprised that this one is poor. The body and neck however are beautifully made but it seems they're skimping on hardware. Yes I know it's a budget instrument but I'd expected more for £160 from Tanglewood. I'm going to get it set up properly and see if that makes any difference.

We're playing a house party in a few weeks. It's actually an office summer ball and the owner of the company in question has a massive house in the country with swimming pool, BBQ, Tiki bar in the back garden etc and that's where we are playing. The workforce is fairly young (under 30) so I'm expecting a fun night. In my mind I'm imagining US teen movie frat party scenes a la American Pie. I might be disappointed...

We add new stuff every few weeks. Having something new to play keeps it fresh and makes playing some of the 'crowdpleasers' (which do sometimes get a bit tired) a bit more fun. I like the thrill of playing something new for the first time; despite being well rehearsed there's always a frisson of excitement that it might go horribly wrong!

The aforementioned gig is this Saturday (after the football) and we are all pumped for it. Bizarrely, the venue has booked a solo acoustic Singer-Songwriter as our opener. I'm not sure if this is naivety or sadism...

We (modern rock covers from north Oxfordshire) can get around £250 for a 2 × 1 hour pub set.

We have had very good results using Facebook. After identifying venues we have approached them via our Facebook profile to theirs, and we have picked up a lot of work now that way. Our page has photos, Soundcloud links (forget CDs...), set list etc. We still get gigs through more traditional methods but we're finding that social media really works for us.

I remember being like that. My band was going to change the world you know! Every great band ever started with a spark of that same enthusiasm, good luck to them.

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1464335245' post='3058470'] I have spent far too much money at PMT in Northampton, they know what they are talking about, have a lot of really nice tempting shiny things, if there is a single downside it is a lack of free parking close by. I would happily recommend them [/quote] The big car park behind the shop is free on Sunday's I think?

I've bought several items from PMT Northampton and have only ever found them to be helpful and friendly. Good guys who have always been happy to let me take my time trying gear. Same with the Birmingham branch too.

Saturday night we played at a charity event here in Banbury, four bands with us on first. According to the organisers there was around 300 people there, which is a good crowd for us. As we were on first we soundchecked last. The band on after us (who had soundchecked just before us) were still hanging around and their bass player very kindly offered his Eden rig for my use too, for which I was very grateful - my Stingray sounded mega. The monitor mix at sound check was perfect, unfortunately by the we played something had changed and the mix was really bad, I couldn't hear myself and started playing too hard resulting in my left thumb cramping up during the last song. Other than that we played well, FOH sound was excellent and we got loads of good feedback. The other bands were superb (all friends of ours) and it felt good to be a part of such a great local scene. £1000 raised for a local hospice too, so all good!

How about Status strings?

Ha, liking the Blackadder reference... 😉

[quote name='Wonky2' timestamp='1463594936' post='3052724'] Hi energy gig, fantastic. Keep it loud, lively, dont stop for more than uttering the song name. Long time since ive done a gig in a bouncing sweat pit, just enjoy it , it will be a blast. Heres a clip of an old b52's gig..... 5:30 in i would kill to be in that band , totally epic vibe. http://youtu.be/DnU3WoQZHJE [/quote] That is ace.