T-Bay

They are saying illness now and apparently Eddie’s voice was struggling previously so could be true. I hope not though as 1, hope he is ok, and 2, we need some more sensible ticket prices out there.

Foo fighters did two acoustic songs with an accordion at Villa park last night. ‘Novel’ is probably the best way I could describe it.

I would love to have gone but looked at ticket prices and travel costs and it’s just not viable for me. And stadium gigs aren’t generally the best experience anyway.

Might have been quicker if I had spotted this thread! Sorry! But all,planned for this evening, will confirm tomorrow if successful but should be!

Awesome live band, shame it’s a very limited tour this time

Simple equation helps here and works in every situation ever. x=y+1 Where x= perfect number of basses and y= the number you already have. Also works for motorbikes.

I have tickets for Villa Park Thursday, despite not enjoying stadium gigs generally I am buzzing for it. Should be epic.

Warwick reds for me every time, half the price of most, quarter the price of some and sound great and last as well as most of the competition and longer than ones like rotos

Thanks both! Plenty for me to look into. I have a fair bit of experience in the CAD side at least, but checked and my version of Catia is well out of date and prices of new versions are very high for the use I would get from it. Will check with work in case we have any already suited I could use, otherwise it will be open access stuff for now.

I keep fancying dipping my toe in the 3d printing thing. What do people think is a realistic minimum spend entry point to get something worth having, won’t drive me crazy, doesn’t require 7 years and a PhD in computing to use, could print small items? For info I am a middle age bloke who uses a lot of computer applications of varying quality/ complexity in his job but the last time I did any programming was pre-millennium and that wasn’t a massive amount.

Thats what surprised me, didn’t half laugh but still can’t believe they got it passed for pre watershed.

Was on before the start of the match tonight

….. did they get it approved? Mannschaft being German for football then going on about the Scottish Manschaft getting a semi, the the finale of him shouting Scottish Manschaft is coming! 🤣 I don’t think I would believe it if I hadn’t just seen it.

Is that Rishi when he was so poor he had to give up trouser legs to buy Sky TV?

My first thought is that they be fake ones, but seems not.

Utilita doesn’t even have video screens so could have been anyone up there to be honest. We were in the ‘cheap seats’ but still over £60!!!!

Saw Smashing Pumpkins at the Utilita, confirmed to me that I really don’t like stadium gigs. £8.50 a pint, seats so far away that I probably would have closer sat at home. But most critically, poor sound which is unforgivable to me. Bad feedback throughout, WAY too muddy and mushy sound. To the point that they a covered a song I know well and I didn’t recognise it. With the exception of the Foo Fighters in a couple of weeks I will stick to smaller gigs from now on.

We have played a few Cure songs, but mostly the quicker bouncier stuff. Never enough is my favourite but not a massive crowd pleaser. Pearl Jam Alive and Jeremy aren’t happy by any stretch but always go down well.

For what seems a small on paper difference, I find a massive difference between a Jazz and P neck. The Jazz feels spot on and ‘right’ whereas the Precision feel like I am trying to play a cricket bat.

A splash of mouthwash on a rag also works well as a gentle (and paint friendly) cleaner if you don’t happen to have alcohol wipes.

These ones?- https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardware/tuning-machines/electric-bass-tuning-machines/graph-tech-bass-ratio-4-in-line-tuner-set-with-y-style-knobs/?&pref_currency=GBP&shipcalc=UK&mtm_source=google&mtm_medium=cpc&mtm_campaign=|+GOO+|+SHOP+|+NBR+|+AllProductsUK&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr-CrzKX3hQMVmJJQBh2G9QPhEAQYBCABEgLKKfD_BwE They seem reasonably priced. Never come across the idea of different ratio tuners. I dear it may be a bit of a gimmick but the idea intrigues me…….

Best bargain I think was my Squier Jazz, bought unseen as a backup and dropped off by a mate. Turned out to have a Fender replacement neck and £250 of pickups in it. Bought for the grand price of £40 non-working, which turned out to be a broken earth wire and sorted in less than half an hour. Not worth massive money but I have hundreds of hours of pleasure out of it and happy to bounce around like an idiot with it, which I certainly don’t with more expensive basses.

Thanks guys, but I am far from a musical genius! I tend to replace any form of understanding/ talent by hard work so I am ok with what I know but beyond that if it comes to improvisation or different keys I am relegated to root notes and few twiddles here and there to fill in! Perhaps, I should fill the gap with some lessons 😂

He is also the lead guitarist and a proper talent so would be hard to replace to be honest. I did chat with the other guitarist but he was happy to just bounce along and doesn’t really fancy the hassle of getting someone new in, sure the drummer is similar (and plays in other bands so this was always a mates sideline anyway). It’s possible I guess but think it's unlikely. To be honest, the money never bothered me at all, we only did weddings when people who came to see us asked us to, or people who knew us well. It was just the perfectly chilled mix of a few fun gigs here and there but with zero band politics or hassle.

Spoke to our lead guitarist and frontman tonight and it looks like the band is definitely over. Not for the reasons these things usually go belly up but sad all the same. We started off as work colleagues but due to appalling new management, three of us have left and our very talented frontman decided that he would try and go pro in his late 40s. I was a little nervous for him but after a few months of giving it a go he is doing amazingly well. He is averaging 15-20 gigs a month, mostly solo but a few as a duo with another mate of his. I know he will put his life and soul into and couldn’t be happier for him. Sadly our little side venture was very easy when we could practice in work after hours but has become increasingly hard, time consuming, and ultimately poorly paying, that I have to accept it cannot be anywhere on his list of priorities and I fear we have played our last gig as that band. This leaves me wondering what to do, I am completely self taught and at best would describe myself ‘competent’ I think. I always worked harder than the others as I felt I was by far the least talented but it was always a laugh as it was four mates messing about. We played pubs, weddings, charity events and loved it. We only played 6-10 times a year which suited us all. Can I be bothered to try and start from scratch with a new band and new people I don’t know? If I do, where would I find such a thing? And one with similar low levels of expectation? It’s a bit weird as I genuinely could not be happier for my mate but am sad for what it means for our little venture.