Stub Mandrel

This Friday. Nick has the Mackie powered cabs so I can leave mine at home (hooray).

What I want to know is, why have they got XLR cables up their noses instead of the usual ants and coke?

Yep. Borough Blues Club was a good night. One guy said 'it's great to be able to see a band like yours in a small place like this, I had a marvellous night' which was pretty flattering!

Raffle Time. But making up for last night. For Mickey...

Unless I use I different bass rig, I don't repeat my genre (Bendricks Rock is, classic rock*; Bluesfire is blues rock 'power trio') usual setup each time I post - An Orange Bass Terror with a GRBass AT212 slim. My arthritic left thumb was screaming at me on Thursday when I had a Bluesfire rehearsal, so yesterday I took the Flea signature '63 Jazz and the Sire P10 mainly as they have skinny, easy to play necks. Ibuprofen and paracetamol got me through and using the joint means it's actually feeling better today, which is good as we are at Borough Blues Club tonight. *At the heavier end of the spectrum, even when we play Cliff Richard and Tom Jones 😁

GIYF "Google is your friend" DILLIGAF is an Australian expression equivalent to "I couldn't care less".

GIYF

Deep Purple on monday. A bit late considering I was introduced to them by my Patrol Leader in scouts in about '75. First time for everything...

Last night marked my return to the fray for a busy November. An hour's drive up into the valleys, to play in an underground snooker club with Bendricks Rock. Deeply weird setup, down with the snooker tables in a vast echoey room, with a few small tables, while 90% of the audience were above us in the bar BEHIND us! We set up on the 'dance floor' while a DJ blasted (literally) out a mundane rotation of 'disco favourites' and irradiated us with an insane whirling light show. So loud that I had to put earplugs in when we weren't playing! It wasn't a great gig, the sound was appalling with everything reflected back at us in a mush, compounded by an electrical whistle that I couldn't completely suppress (probably from the lights). I had to wind my volume down between songs. Also we had whirling lights on us the whole time. We didn't play brilliantly, but for fun I took a "DILLIGAF" approach to Crossroads and went full on random in the guitar solos... Ironically the locals were friendly and helpful, and although sometimes it felt like we were playing to a handful of people (we could barely see the real audience) the response afterwards was positive. Here's a preview of the migraine inducing setup, and the rest of the bad during the break, when the audience went out for fireworks and the musical assault stopped. It sounded like WW2 but felt peacful. Never felt more relieved to get home after a gig!

Unlikely, a good HPF won't affect those upper frequencies at all.

Yes... but my phone has decided that three utterly irrelevant apps are the only ones it will offer, despite Word and Acrobat being on my phone... and if I try to set different default apps tp PDFs it will only let me choose from a tiny selection.

Saturday's gig guarantees an appreciative audience!

Just a thought... I think your demo videos have the bass too low in the mix, you want to be a bit more prominent in a video that aims to showcase your playing. I also agree with the suggestion of taking five or six varied songs and editing together 15-20 seconds of each for a short, snappy showreel.

No way, definitely the Nordics...

As someone who has had no trouble finding bands at ~60: Find your local music scene and speak to people, and jam when you can. Don't be afraid to use social media. Don't be too precious about what you will or won't play, especially at first, a band needs to get a couple of sets together to get gigging and start building a reputation, once that's done you can refine your offering.

Non-sequiteurs'r'us

Only alongside a cab.

James Oliver with Mark Kemlo and Norman Watt-Roy at the 100 Club.

Nah. Old guys rule

Open mikes and drop in to local music shops just like in the old days. Gobto gigs and talk to people especially the bands (when they are not busyn but you know that). Get known as a musician.

I have a TGI unit for about £40 you get 18v, 12v, 1 amp 9v and several isolated lower amperage 9v outputs, and a wall wart and cables including a positive earth changer.

Slightly off-topic, but this morning Facebook reminded me that five years ago I played Mandolin through an Ampeg SVT...