Monkey Steve

Yes - I read an interview with him where he was saying that he’d specifically got a Fender Jazz from each year of production to see if he could hear any difference and see how they had changed, and came to the conclusion that “pre CBS” was a genuine difference in how the basses sound. I’m not a Fender fan either, but it’s a very personal project and it’s interesting to see his opinion. probably more interesting for those with a Fender and Rickenbacker interest tho

I was at school with them - Craig was a great bloke, very bright and I'm not surprised to see that he's made a decent career in music after leaving the band. The other two were never the smartest tools in the box Can't quite bring myself to watch it...

two gigs depping with a mate's death metal band over the weekend. Friday night was headlining at Rebellion in Manchester. Load up at the band's studio and on the road by 11.00, arrive bang on time for load in at 4.00. Missing only one crew member who dropped out on the day, and the drummer who couldn't get the day off work and was arriving later by train. Supposed to be borrowing a drum kit from the main support, but no sign of them so we crack on setting everything up, including our drums, which was interesting without the drummer or the usual drum tech who couldn't make the trip. A lot of photos were exchanged over social media. And stopping only to drain the rider of all the beer (and popping out to get some more as clearly it won't last). We brought our own soundman, but massive praise for the venue's own soundman who did a fantastic job for all of the support acts, and was really helpful all evening. We'd brought a bass rig, only because we'd promised to provide the backline for Saturday's gig - I was fully intending just to DI - but it was just as well that we had as the monitor in front of me wasn't working. The rhythm guitarist/singer from the main support band was sacked as the bass player in my lot about a year and a half ago (basically for, among other things, not being able to play the bass, and he hadn't been allowed to play on the last album, although he is credited on it as the bass player) and things are a little strained between him and some of my band, was a little aloof with me, and when told that, ahead of playing their set, he was only getting a line check for his guitars told the soundman that he would instruct his band not to play unless he got a proper check of his guitar. Unsurprisingly they then started late and had to be told to stop after they showed no signs of it being their last song when they'd already gone over their half hour slot. Fortunately the previously hard 10.30 curfew seemed a bit more relaxed by the time we got on stage and we got our full set in despite having been put back a bit by the support act...although our last song is a ten minute prog/death epic and we were gambling that the venue wouldn't pull the plug on us half way through that if we did run out of time. We'd been warned that ticket sales weren't very strong, but with the venue anticipating a good walk up due to them always putting on a club night with a similar genre of music afterwards. Only they forgot that another metal club in town was having it's closing night that evening, so it was a fairly modest crowd - maybe 100 or so. However, they were all fans of the band, and while it wasn't packed, it wasn't groaningly empty either, and they were extremely enthusiastic. I played OK (I'd say a B+), everybody else was great, and we got an excellent reception. Good feedback from everybody about my performance. Brilliant venue too - well organised, very fan friendly, and just nice people to deal with. Load out, drink in the club until about 1.00 chatting to fans and mates, then off to the Ibis Budget to drink until 2.30 and then sleep in the world's smallest hotel rooms. On the road at 9.30 the following morning, everybody in need of more sleep. In Camden at 2.00 for load in at the Underworld. It's a co-headliner, but we've chosen to play first in order to get some extra drinking time in before the load out which follows a 10.00 curfew because of a club night. This turns out to be a stupid decision as half the band are driving once we get back to drop the gear off afterwards so that night's post gig debauchery is largely cancelled in favour of taking advantage of the early finish so that everybody can get to bed at a reasonable time. Rock n roll isn't what it used to be... We're also providing the backline for the other headliner so we set up and soundcheck first, then off to the pub for a few pints for me, one or two for the drivers. Meet a load of mates who have come in to town for the gig, one of whom is a little confused at why everybody else has already got a ticket, as he's seen me play in bands before and they've almost all been in pubs, and hadn't understood that this was a much more serious affair...can he still get a ticket? Sad to report that it hadn't sold out and he didn't struggle to get in (though I was amused to see him front and centre when we came on, only to be barged sideways as the first circle pit started - not something he is used to seeing when I'm playing) We have a different soundman for this gig - a former member of the band. Knows his stuff and it's the quickest, easiest soundcheck I've ever done - played for thirty seconds with each bass to get the levels sorted, using the rig as my monitor as me and the keyboard/samples would otherwise be going through one stage monitor and it's easier to take the bass out. Done. The rest of the band bicker over monitor levels. Had a good chat with the soundman afterwards - the main issue I'd had both in the studio and at the gigs was that the output from my (active eq) Warwick 5 string was a lot less than my (passive) Rickenbacker 4001. Not a huge issue - just cut the volume for the Ricky on my pedalboard (in retrospect it would probably have been better to boost the volume for my Warwick, but, whatever). I was using the Warwick for all of the band's old material, which is tuned down to a C on the guitars, but one step up for me on the five string. I was using the Rickenbacker four string for the couple of songs off the new album which is in E. Funnily enough I'd loaned the band the Warwick to record the last album, and most of their earlier stuff was recorded on a de-tuned Rickenbacker, so everything was the wrong way round. An irony not lost on some of the more dedicated fans, and to the bass player who quit two months ago and was at the show (no tension there - i know him well and had his blessing). But to my ears the Ricky has too much treble and is quite harsh. The soundman's verdict was that the Rickenbacker cut through and sat in the mix much better than the Warwick, and i should have used that for the whole gig. Maybe it's one of those "use distortion and play with a pick live" things where you're better off using a sound that in itself isn't a good to your ears but works better in the mix. Much better crowd - 200+. Great show, another B+ performance from me but sterling work from everybody else. Comments after the show were again complimentary, and consensus was that we had much better sound than the other co-headliners (even by their admission) who had used the in-house soundman. Also noticeable that a chunk of our crowd left after we played, although half a dozen or so of that are my fault for chatting to them in the bar rather than let them watch the band. Only downside was the beer on the rider wasn't worth drinking (and only appeared shortly before the gig, when I was already in the pub) and that we didn't stick around for any post-gig bad behaviour as had originally been planned. Oh, and one slightly odd point, which is that as a type 1 diabetic I like to have a pint of proper, fat Coke on stage with me during the gig just in case of low blood sugar - adrenaline lowers the blood sugar, and it's not a great look to be leaving the stage in search of glucose if something happens mid show. Only Diet Coke on the rider, so i go to the bar in search of sugar and the venue does not serve any full fat drinks - post sugar tax they only have sugar free options. Ended up shoving a load of glucose tablets into my mouth as we went on. Home at about midnight, in need of sleep, but a brilliant couple of gigs to round off the year.

Got mine this morning pure bass porn

two very minor annoyances before I can get my hands on my copy First, I'd pre-ordered with a debit card that has now been cancelled by my bank (long story) so the initial payment fell over and I've only just got round to updating the payment info. Which means that, second, it is due to be delivered tomorrow, but unless they can catch me before 9.15 (and they won't, Amazon never deliver anything before mid-afternoon at the very earliest) I'll be away playing a couple of gigs and won't be home until Sunday. Here's hoping that they can find a neighbour who is at home, rather than taking it back to the depot or leaving it on the doorstep. On the plus side, I did pre-order when the listing went up so it's only cost me £18.59

used Rotosound as standard when I started playing bass because that was what all shops stocked in the pre-internet age, and when you asked the staff to recommend something they (almost certainly a guitarist rather than a bass player) would say "you can't go wrong with these". So I've always regarded their standard roundwounds as a safe, unadventurous choice - they'll do an OK job, and if I need strings in a hurry and that's the only choice, it'll be fine. For years I mostly used their PSD strings, until they stopped making them - the brightest strings i could find, although they were: 1. more prone to breaking than other designs; and 2. not that widely available, never saw them in any small, local shops, and not helped because you had to get the set specifically made for your bass so even a larger shop might not have had the ones I was after. Moved on to D'Addarios and never looked back - they just seem to have a bit of extra zing in the sound and retain their brightness for much longer

see, I really like Mother's Milk...possibly because it's the first tour i saw them on (several times - they seemed to tour it forever and kept coming back) and it's by far my favourite. Like Blood Sugar, but not as much, then pretty much only Californication after that. I'm with you on the Uplift Mofo Party Plan though - great album

I'll subtly disagree with the original statement too, while also disagreeing with you. Can't say I love the Campbell albums (don't hate them, more that I'd never pick them to play over anything with Fast Eddie on it) but for me Another Perfect Day is up there with their best. Love Robbo's guitar playing. And while I'm not the greatest fan of the albums that Campbell's on, I've never seen him play a bad show (and I've seen a lot of them). Actually, Metallica are similar - can't say I like any of the albums they've released in the last 20-odd years, but they've always been brilliant live

this could be a long list... Def Leppard (downhill after Pete Willis was sacked) Metallica (Cliff Burton's stuff is far superior to anything that followed) Faith No More (bit torn here - I like the later stuff, but I love what they released when Chuck Moseley was the singer, and they may as well have been a different band) Tank - can't really argue that there was any change in direction, but the first two albums are really the only ones worth bothering with for my money...also difficult to argue that they "got big" on any later releases

yeah, this. Not the weight issue, but the fact that the audience won't notice. Love the feel and power of a full stack, own a SVT-2 Pro, and currently playing in the rehearsal studio with an H&K QT600 with 1x15 and 4x10 cabs...but live I'm happy with my VT Bass pedal and DIing as the crowd aren't going to notice the difference once the soundman has done his job. In fact I'm seriously telling the band not to bother bringing the amp to the next two shows as I'm not at all fussed (but it seems we have promised to provide the backline for one of them so it's coming whether I use it or not) Interestingly the guitarists say the same - they use Kemper heads, and in the studio take a line out to the PA as well as through their Marshall cabs (and this means they don't have any squabbles about needing to be at stupid volumes at all times to achieve "their sound") and while they miss the kick in the chest that a roaring valve head/stack would give them, it serves no purpose for the audience

Having a few moments of doubt at the moment - not exactly depping in the sense of "there's a gig next Tuesday, here's the set, see you there" but I am helping a band out for a couple of Christmas gigs with two month's notice and it's very technical death metal. Meaning: 1. the recordings of the early albums are awful quality - you cannot hear the bass at all; 2. the rest of the band are brilliant musicians - you may not appreciate the genre but there is no doubting the talent that these particular guys have (YMMV - other DM bands may not be quite their standard) and I'm easily the worst musician in the room (though, not the worst bass player they've had in the last few years); and 3. it's unbelievably fast, riff after riff after riff, often not repeating itself - the last track I worked out had 30 different parts in a 4 minute track, all played at break neck speed. The last 30 years counting to 4 and relying on feel doesn't apply here. Also, spectacularly impressive as the drumming is, bars and bars of blast beats means you don't always get the usual anchors to pin the playing to or to give cues for the changes. I've had a couple of Josie's "I cannot work this out, it's going to be a disaster!" moments in the last few weeks. No bass tabs on t'internet, and where I have been able to find some guitar tabs and used them to work out the roots of the chords, they are almost always wrong. Some spectacularly so. Fortunately the band themselves are aware of just how complicated it all is and have been not just very patient and happy to go over stuff until I know it properly (especially the drummer and lead guitarist) but manage to do it in a really supportive way, pointing out my mistakes without any hint of a criticism, just something I need to change. they've also been very open to, not exactly changes, more to me doing it my own way - their shared position is that they have no idea what the previous bass players did and they're not bass players so they don't pretend to be experts in writing or playing bass lines, so as long as it all fits, I can do what I like (within reason). That really helps. As does the fact that I am undoubtedly a much harsher critic of my playing than anybody else - they are telling me that stuff sounds fine when I'm not happy with it (but if you're going to make a mistake, make it in the right key). I will be fine by the time I'm on stage, and will be doing nothing but listening to the tracks and playing through in order to get everything into my head between now and the first gig.

I was discussing exactly this point on the way back from rehearsals last night - I'm helping a band out for a couple of Christmas gigs and asked about sales of their last album, which got great reviews, admittedly in a very niche market. Amazon got the brunt of their ire - if you want to buy the album you go there and Amazon reminds you that if you've got Prime then there's no need to pay for it at all, you can just stream it for free. According to this: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/01/16/streaming-music-services-pay-2018/ each streamed track will earn the band less than 3/4 of a cent. Which may be fine if you're Ed Sheeran but for a small band, taking away the money they would have earned from a CD sale is a real kick in the nuts

it was just the Dio albums on their first H&H tour, not an Ozzy track in sight. I saw them at Wembley and it was pretty much the same non-Ozzy set as on the Radio City CD/DVD. They then recorded an album and included tracks from that on the later tours. As I recall, Onslaught did something similar - with an offshoot of ex-members including Steve Grimmet playing as Sanity Days and only doing tracks from the one album that Grimmet sang on (never saw them so I can't be sure - the band I was in at the time was booked to support them but they cancelled after only selling one advance ticket...and I know the bloke who bought it!) Also saw Venom (only Cronos from the classic line up) at Bloodstock a couple of years ago and Venom Inc (Mantas and Abaddon + 1) there this year. Venom Inc were easily the better of the two.

One of my favourite bands: Girls Against Boys: I also saw John Paul Jones on his Zooma tour with has Nick Beggs in the band, albeit that they didn't play bass at the same time, with Beggs mostly on Chapman stick and I think switching to bass when JPJ played keyboards

yeah, I love the sentiment, but I can't see what they are going to do in practice

If they did a five string Thunderbird I'd buy one

just to put the counter argument, the band I'm helping out at the moment had an ex-bass player who was so poor that he wasn't allowed to play on their last album, what with him being a very average guitarist who had blagged his way into the band. They tell me that there quite a lot of telling him forcefully that he wasn't playing the right bass lines, had the feel completely wrong, and should take some lessons so that he actually played like a bass player rather than an incompetent guitarist. The response he always gave was that he was right, and that he wanted to play and sound like himself, not like some other bass player. Obviously this ended in a sacking. So there comes a point where ego outstrips talent and some people need to be told to play better (and to pay attention to what they're being told)

depends on the band and the audience I've got a gig playing originals that same night, and it's with a co-headliner who have more of a reputation as, not exactly comedy, but certainly a less/not entirely serious band. The lot I'm playing with have a far more serious image. We're still debating whether we want to make any special festive effort, but the answer is probably no, or at least to keep it in the same vein as the band's image (which is hard to fit with tinsel and silly hats). Don't really want to try and compete on silliness with a band who will be much better at it than us. Best idea so far is to re-arrange the letters in one of the tracks name so it's Praise The Name Of Santa. We have another gig the night before so might give that very bad joke a run out and see how it lands... But I was once in a punk covers lot who did a regular Christmas gig at a local pub and that always got Santa hats as an absolute minimum

that's exactly my experience from about ten years ago - wasn't playing in anything else, was a little sniffy about cover bands, then got asked to join one (as a guitarist, never having played guitar in a band before) and loved it - imagine, decent sized crowds, venues paying actual money, giving us beer and asking us back! Never enough money to make a living (and I wasn't looking for that) but if nothing else, playing a couple of gigs a month and keeping my hand in was great

It's not uncommon over here for promoters or venues to want support acts to bring people, and as a rule of thumb the bottom/medium end paying venues like the Underworld would expect a support act that they are booking to bring about 50 people (and they're not judging based on Brazilian Facebook likes) An old band of mine once got presented with a contract by the a headliner's management, acting as promoter (and, oddly, also pretending to be a record company) for a gig offered a support slot where we would be playing for free (it was early days for the band so we were OK with taking a loss leader at a gig that would be packed). We had to guarantee a certain number of people through the doors, we had to promote the gig on all our social media, send invitations to all of our industry contacts, handout flyers before the gig, hang around all night and encourage our fans to do the same so that they would all see the headliners. In exchange we were offered the exposure of playing with the headliners, and being seen and appraised by the highly rated music industry professionals (i.e. the chancer of a manager). In the end the gig didn't happen, but we seriously debated whether or not to sign the contract. We settled on "yes" simply because it was laughably unenforceable

I get what you're saying Spongebob, and my suggestion is more or less what you seem to be doing - have a chat with some like-minded musicians and see who feels the same. If you've played in bands over the years then you're likely to know a fair amount of people who might be happy to do something different to just playing in another pub covers band, whether as a main project or as something else to exercise some other musical muscles. Time to use your contacts, start doing some networking and getting in contact with people. I say this as someone who isn't a natural BL, and tends to sit back and wait for something to turn up (and in my experience it always does, although sometimes it takes a year or two, sometimes even longer) but when I've made the effort to get something started, it's usually paid off.

the odd bass falling off the amp in the days before bringing a stand to the show/studio, but never any serious damage. However, I've had the "falling off the strap" thing a couple of times, once at a soundcheck (but fortunately not while playing live) due entirely to Warwicks knock off straplocks. Blatant copies of Dunlop Straplocks, which work brilliantly, but with the cunning difference that rather than snapping into place and requiring quite a lot of attention to remove, each side of the locks are screwed together onto the strap. You can't screw them absolutely tight, what with there being a bit of spongy material being held in place, and no matter how tightly they have been done up, after a bit of playing the screw starts to loosen, and it's not too long before the strap has escaped and the bass is heading towards the floor. First learned to include some pliers to tighten them in my gigbag. Then learned the much safer option of just getting Dunlop straplocks on all my basses

never ashamed of anywhere I've played, but plenty of pubs that I wouldn't ever drink in. Not the rough ones - that's most of my drinking life - but the awful, Stella Artois & John Smiths serving town centre pubs who have an entertainment budget to spend on bands, or awful dance around your handbag type bars, Weirdly all of those were played in a punk covers band, and we got repeat bookings at some of them

Saw James Brown, at a festival in 1999. The crowd were in awe, the band were basically set up to play a very "look, it's James f'kin Brown!!" show...but the voice wasn't there, and my abiding memory is an old man shambling around the stage. I'm sure he was very well paid, but I'm not sure he was doing it for the love of performing. Maybe it was a bad day - he kept playing live for a good few years after that

he's the same age (and was born in the same place) as my Dad. He's looking a lot better for his 78 years than my old man does. Weirdly I get occasional e-mails about Cliff merch - it's run by the same company that does Jethro Tull and I must have got on a mailing list at some point...he's clearly selling to a very different market... But much as i have never had any interest in his music, if he's doing it for the love of the crowd, good luck to him. That thing about finding a job you like and you'll never do a day's work in your life...and I guess you could say the same about Lemmy, who was on tour until his death, albeit that they made quite different lifestyle choices