dontregartha

flipping Invapay....

How do you know this? - sorry but you kinda asked for it...

Choice of positions? its a question of where the f can you fit once the drummer, the percussion and the keys man have staked their claim!! (Serves me right for doing the right thing and setting up the PA) We do have a call sheet that goes... 6.30 Backdrop, lights and PA 7.30 Backline 8.00 Soundcheck 9.00 showtime ...one of our dep keys starts loading in the Rick Wakeman rig whilst I'm cabling out the PA and monitors... not my favourite guy.

Saturday night, I was up north visiting my daughter at Uni, so depped out the gig. (the gig was in response to a shout out on Absolute Radio for a couple whose wedding band had baled out on them).Any way I eventually fetched up in Leighton Buzzard (Home turf) and went on a band exploration and went to the Wheaty and had a look at Sidewinder (good, honest, solid rock - great sound and good playing)... was heading home when I noticed a band playing at the Red Lion - the 'Junkyard Dogs' As always, I went up and had a natter with the band and had the pleasure of meeting 'Happy Jack' and 'Blue Jay' of Basschat.

So last night we had 'pay back' - we offered the cancelled booking to a pub not far away - the 'Pickering Phipps' - what a great team there. We had a good crowd and the sound was great. In the break we wandered up the road to the 'other place' which had about 40 people in - as opposed to the 200+ when we played there. The maths isn't hard - an uplift of 150 at their insane drinks pricing would have made a difference, but hey, what do we know?

OK - a weekend of two halves. Friday night we played to a full house at a swanky cocktail bar in town. When packing up the manager goes missing and we were hanging around to get paid. This gig was booked as one of three as a loss leader (we've had two or three good paying bookings out of this - but for the money and the money the venue makes out of it - its taking the michael big time. The bar prices (£7 a pint!!!!) are ridiculous and the band sit out in the car park down the road with a few cans - never had an offer of a drink, we even get charged for softs (£2.50 for a coke) so the carry out in the car park is the order of the day. So the geezer coughs up and says ' we're not sure that Live music is right for this venue' and we're going to cancel the next couple of bookings - apparently the owner clocked us as she drove off in her Cayenne and moaned that we weren't putting the fee back across the bar. There's a place just down the road that might be getting a good deal from us for one of those other nights - we can probably sell those at twice the rate we were due to be paid, but we might just want to prove a point. Saturday was just the other end of the spectrum - The Red Lion at Rothwell - the landlord welcomed us in and the place was rammed. Lots of friendly faces and a great reception. The venue had a wedding on with a great young soul band that although it was a private event, the punters in the garden could hear it all - but we still had the pub bursting at the seams.

Wow - you're fitter than me carting two Ashdown cabs about...! I've recently got myself a tiny Fender Rumble 100w combo - I stick it on a chair at the side of me and DI into the PA. I like gigs 'down on the farm' Hay bales and trailers and too much cider.

A weekend of two halves... Friday night, played a really good show in a poncy winebar in Northampton - the sort of place where the bar prices are so high the band sits in the car park with a carry-out, no free softs etc. The money's not great considering the amount of money going over the bar - we packed it out and they were hammering it. The upside is we always get a couple of private. full money bookings out of it. Saturday night we played the Eager Poet in Neath Hill MK - this is a new place for us - a strange, modern MK pub with an unusual crowd who turned out to be really great and welcoming once we'd got in there. This was a gig we'd got through the Breweries' manager/licensee network - play a good show one pub, they talk about it and call you for theirs. Then you get a rebook etc.etc. We went down well though I personally couldn't hear myself as our dep keys man (piano player) was playing over my bass parts (wrongly). So Saturday won on welcome, Friday on music. First pic Saturday - Second Friday

Ohhh yess We have a guy who sits there and rehearses virtually every number as we set up... and of course cues them up with a bit of the part. I have played in bands where we knock through them without yacking and fiddling and noodling - so much more professional.

We have three calls on gig nights - PA and lights, then backline and drums, then soundcheck

Friday night we played the Mailcoach in Northampton town centre. Manager asked us to go on at 8.30 - we ended up playing at midnight to an almost empty room as everyone cleared off to the clubs.

Sorry Blue - I sometimes forget we are two great nations divided by a common language!!

Top of the bill over Elvis!!

We played a return gig at the Rose and Crown in Rushden last night - the 'stage' is an alcove opposite the bar - bear in mind we are a seven piece - its a bit snug. Still we got the whole show in there including back drop, full PA and foldback. Most of the bags and cases had to go outside to the motors. This is an odd venue - we went on at 9.00 for the first hour and had a an audience of about 40 - second set at 11.00 - the place was rammed - largely good tempered crowd (last time we had some real pillocks in there) - There was one punch up - a girl started leathering her old man just in front of us. They had good security and they were carted out - the manager had put one of those screens that they use around tables on the street across the front of the stage so the singers didn't have the mics knocking their teeth out.

I use a bit of red tape on all my stuff. When there's a 'drink spill' issue - usually best to wipe down before pack away - usually the bar staff will have a cloth they can lend you. Sticky cables in the morning are not very nice - and if its the bad gear - you might not find them until the next week.

Thanks Blue. These two are our dream team... we have a number of singers that form the line up. Jules on the left is a well seasoned singer - has been pro and has loads of experience , Jo on the right is a complete newbie - has only done about 15 gigs in her life - all with us - was very nervous at the start but now has run the lead female spot on her own a couple of times. She can nail 'Respect' - not an easy song to sing. The girls take the lead on about half the numbers and alternate with each other as Martin the guitar player and male singer can't sing all of them.

And another - just clips the very end...:D

A clip from the other week at MK 11 - I'm hidden behind the PA from this view, but it's a banging version of the tune

We opened for the Sugar Hill Gang at MK11 in Milton Keynes with our Soul/Motown/Funk band. I've played the venue on open Mic nights, but this was my first foray as a band. The stage is narrow, but deep enough for us all to have room to move around. The sound was pretty good too, (awesome house PA) although I would have preferred a bit more definition around the bass tone - the sound guy just mixed it low end. We had a lighting guy as well, so all in all looked great. The crowd was great and gave us a real warm welcome, and we got a couple of bookings as well as securing a couple of return gigs as main act at the venue. The SHG were great, i you like that sort of thing, but they could work the crowd.If you haven't been to MK11, check it out - the lads there run a good, if a little unusual venue.

Soundchecking a DI'd keyboard with the output at 3 and whacking it up to 10 in the show ( as well as playing over your bass parts)

I had a drummer spend the whole two hours set up time (missed the soundcheck) bickering with the keyboard player (who was on desk duties and has had some live sound engineering training) about how to set the gain on the kick drum mic. Now an ex drummer of ours.

That's a good one... they just wander over and start yattering "can you play xxx?" I just nod and say - yeah - later... as if, we're not the friggin' jukebox! Or another variant is the 'I'll just leave my drink here - and put it down on the singers' lyric sheet I've started building walls of gear to push the buggers back, fed up of kicked over drinks (theirs - we keep ours well away) singers having their teeth knocked by stupid tw4ts knocking the stands - our band has two girl singers and we do a motown set which involves a it of co-ordinated movement -so they can't hold the mike stand when 'that bloke' gets up and starts.

especially when they shut roads you've sat navved to in the middle of nowhere and you have no bloomin idea where you are

Random road closures after the gig when you just want to get home

Any suggestions for a good tech or repair shop for this - the combo died just before a gig and I had to DI into the PA. I have back up, but I don't really want to throw this away. There is no output at all from the speaker, though the amp powers up. I don't have a separate head to test the speaker so its a mystery at the moment. No sign of any burning or over heating in the amp chassis, but as there are no manuals or drawings, I'm at a loss as to where to start. Thomann (where I bought it) are completely useless and Hal Leonard are talking about shipping it to Holland (price not mentioned)