crez5150

Any one who can rhyme 'Dance' and 'Romance' in a Verse and get a way with it is alright in my book!

Apparently not...... I think this has all got a bit stupid to be honest..... I'm a bassist.... I play in a function band, a covers band and an original act.... I consider myself to be good enough to play at all of these levels competently and play with some great musicians. The fact that I can fulfill these roles gives me integrity IMO.

Well I may be looking for a reliable dep at some point this season as work is a flooding in..... Plus we have just been featured in Brides magazine also.... so thats bound to create a stir.... fee rates from October are starting at £2500 inc DJ...

Had a great Wedding Gig on Friday with my Function band.... 350 people.... mostly Russian which was very strange.... OTT payer and as it was in a private hall there was no curfew on time.... we decided to play the last song at midnight.... then the best man came up and gave each of us £50 to carry on playing..... we stopped again after 20 mins..... then he came up and gave us another £50 each..... in total it happened 3 times..... that was on top of our fee!!!!!

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='214861' date='Jun 8 2008, 01:24 PM']I don't know if it's a bad habit or not - You guys can decide... I really can't see the point in rehearsing! The two bands I play in are highly professional & have always just gone out and played (ie. These two outfits have never rehearsed at all!) In my experience, the tightness comes from playing it out in the field, as it were & pure spontanaity. I joined a 70's band the other year & hated the endless rehearsals, generally acheiving nothing![/quote] +1000 for that

I would but I don't use a plectrum...

He'll have them at the LIMS show next week..... I'm having a 4x10 with Horn..... wired with 2 inputs running 2x 2x10" @ 4ohms.... sweet!!!!

I'm sure there are some real expensive basses here.... mine's quite mad at £2800 for my Status Black beauty..... I'd never go to that extreme again though....

I see... yes you are right.... we have several venues here in Essex that predominantly have Tribute acts.... Though I do believe that if people want to see original acts there are venues that will cater for the needs.... from a financial point of view it makes more sense to certain venues to have Tribute or cover acts. bums on seats i guess

how do you mean? (I'm a bit dim)

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='211854' date='Jun 3 2008, 03:30 PM']Re my opinions slipping into pretension - that's where they like to spend most of their free time. Hence my plan for world domination [/quote] Thats very funny

Not sure about the combo's but the head looks good

I'd be making sure that I was booking the right band and not some pony covers band that earns £250 down the local boozer! I think that's where a lot of people go wrong.... too many pony bands out there.... too many people thinking that they will get a pro outfit for less than a grand..... It drives me nuts...

People want entertainment.... which you don't really get with a disco/DJ scenario..... though you don't get that with a lot of Function bands either... hehe!

Excellently put!

For live use your better off sticking with a dynamic Cardioid microphone. Obviously with the new Neo technology nowadays most modern mics sound way better than the old 57's and 58's which to be fair, the technology is out of the Ark!! Buy a Sennheiser!!

Earth!!!!!

If your budget allows...... buy a MOTU interface.... 828MK2 or 3 is awsome!!

[quote name='carlosfandango' post='209728' date='May 30 2008, 04:27 PM']hmmm......I believe you can have great integrity, be very professional and still play in a cheezy function band. Musical integrity goes far beyond the type of music or the selection of songs you play. Also - being a "jobbing bass player" or playing covers isn't for everyone. If you have artistic ambitions beyond playing others peoples music and arrangements then you'd be much better off joining an originals band. Personally I need both - one pays the bill and the other keeps me sane![/quote] +1 for having both sides of the coin..... but as you said Cheezy function band.... I think thats the problem with the whole scenario, people think that if you play in a function band it bound to be cheezy... Why? maybe cause of all the god awful so called function bands that are out there.... most of which have no concept of professionalism and are happy to do the gig for paltry money... can you tell I'm gettting wound up

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='209687' date='May 30 2008, 03:27 PM']D'ya think? In my experience, this is what the bookers and bandleaders BELIEVE but is not necessarily what the audience want. What they usually want is to dance. A really grooving band can play almost anything as long as it has a back beat and drive. The endless piles of sh*te that most function bands play (including, if not especially, my own) are swallowed wholesale by the punters who, as a collective, love everything, however bad. One of the bands I occasionally do gigs with (£120 etc) are awful but the testimonials they get are glowing (I do the gigs as I like the people (and the money) but they are awful). The problem I have with function bands, frankly, is that, despite the fact that they have 100 years of hits to choose from, they all chose the same old b******s. Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody' (all beat and no groove), 'Mustang Sally', 'Angels', the aforementioned 'Lady In Red', 'Killing Me Softly' - you know EXACTLY what I mean. This isn't about what the punters want. This is about doing the thing as superficially as possible and still getting away with it. Two rehearsals and you're gigging because you've all done it 1,000 times before. If it doesn't change soon, the music industry deserves to die..... [/quote] I totally agree with you on the above though I may disagree about a band playing anything as long as it has drive and a groove. I still believe that punters want to recognize what's being presented to them. I think you can get away with it to a degree but you have to give them some direction.... As you put it, most function bands are playing piles of s***e and there are lots of those bands out there.... particularly on agents books which is why the more serious bands get a bad deal, but as I've stated before on this site, I don't really consider them to be professional.