Wombat

I’m normally over 15k steps 😉

You sure you meant walk?

At ours it’s sometimes ’bandioke’ where someone sings or plays guitar with a band - often for the first time. People have to pop their Cherry somewhere! We’ve had people who were truly awful - but so encouraged they come back again getting better & better each time.

Yes, but so does a Kay and many other basses. It also looked old, although it was loved so not terribly ‘worn’. I think I was prolly more distracted by the next person up calling out the song & key and the bassist coming off handing me his bass and asking me to play it than really noticing what it was. I do remember not thinking the strap was too low or too high so that was a plus. But thinking ‘is this made of balsa’ it felt so “fragile”.

Playing in the house band at our open mic I was asked by another bassist if I would play his bass so he could hear what it sounded like (sigh). Cherry red P. As he handed it to me I only got a glance at the headstock and I thought I saw a circle with a ‘K’. Played a few runs on mute and the neck was ok. When I ‘pressed play’ it was awful. The two outer strings had no volume at all so you had to dig in to them. The two inner were so loud if you touched them they were overwhelming the band mix. The only ‘plus’ was that it was really light! Afterwards he thanked me and said how great it was sounding and as I handed the ‘Kay’s Copy’ back I noticed there was actually a pick in the strings over the headstock logo that made me think it was the Kay Logo. Underneath I saw an ‘F’ so asked him what it was. 1962 Precision was the reply. Owned since new he’d basically ‘given me a treat’ to play an awesome Vintage Bass! I was very thankful I’d thought it was a dog as it would save me thousands as I now didn’t want to own one! Unfortunately that was short lived as he brought its sister, a blonde 1962 jazz, to the next OM. That was LOVELY!

I'd be happy to let Nathan East play any of my basses. Get photos and videos of him doing it and you just added loads to the value 🤣.

Aye, I was thinking that. As a Londoner who lives ‘just down the road’ I can, if I’m still available (Mrs Bat hasn’t organised for me to be somewhere else!) arrange a tour of interesting places, where tourists don’t get so ripped off etc. Or at least offer advice as needed! Some sort of International Bass Bash seems sensible. Be rude not to!

Booo

So you are supplied by Thames Water too then?

We, could have done that one for you as we’re in Bromley! We would have played to the 3 people and our fans would have only been 30 miles away!

Push Fit Copper? Is that a good name for a metal band? 😂

So what's best? Push fit or copper?

Ah, ok. I see. When I was playing just covers I felt I was taking a ‘slot’ that pros could use. The current band is more originals and it’s great ( and hard!) to get our music out there.

It’s unfortunately not bollocks. Venue is not making a lot of money or losing it they hire the cheapest labour - and consequently bands prepared to play for not much or nothing. Those making a living from playing miss out. You can go all the way back to the Tolpuddle Martyrs for comparison. Do you want fries with that?

There’s a whole other thread going on about being paid. As a ‘hobbiest’ who can afford to play for free I do sometimes wonder if I’m taking money out of the hands/mouths(?) of pros. Mind you, I don’t think they’d be making much money from the sort of sh**ty pubs I usually play 😂. I’d def want to support a ‘known’ local place though.

Thanks. Yes, paid on a card I think. I saw two GAK threads as well as the Bax. Always hard to know where to put stuff...

How do you get 4 hours for lunch? 😉

I just got my email from Bax saying they’ve gone bust and I won’t be getting my order. Apparently I’ve been logged as a creditor and will be paid in due course if there is any money blah blah. Very polite but then it’s probably all legalese….

A business doesn’t go bust if it can pay its creditors…

I brought plumbers in on the 1st page 🤷‍♀️

I meant that rather than accept a refund (a couple of weeks ago) I said I’d wait for the strings to come back into stock. They were a good deal and I didn’t mind waiting a week or so more. My bad. Not received the strings and unlikely to get my money back now.

I’ve been waiting for strings. They recently offered a refund as they said they weren’t able to get stock but as I wasn’t in a hurry I decided to wait. Silly boy! Will give it a bit then try the credit card company….

For me I was meaning the ‘under a gazebo at a fete’ sort of event. I agree that if it’s an organised musical thing with venues/promoter getting paid then the band should too. Even if they then donate said fee to the charity. The open mic point is interesting. I play at one (for free) in order to help keep the Social Club going. But I think the person organising it gets paid but it’s fun to do… The originals band I play in do the open mic circuit as a lot of pubs don’t like you playing ‘stuff people don’t know’. On the plus side we can now ‘sneek’ originals into sets at the pubs where OMs are held as our songs are known to a lot of the punters.

Millwall changed my mind a few years ago. We are asked to play before a match and it was made clear early on (after being asked) that it was for the 'exposure' as no fee or expenses were offered. We were told we had to be there three hours before kickoff and no parking would be offered, just find somewhere in the roads around the ground (on as match day). It made me realise that many other places I'd played similarly took the piss. I may be 'amateur' but I've honed my craft over years. Yes, my choice to play and I'm very happy to play any charity gigs but now only generally play for a fee. Might be a cliché but how about they get 5 plumbers down there for 'the exposure'. I'm not often trousering my fee but I choose what is done with it, rather than the venue/promoter etc. And yes, as two members of the band were football nuts we did the Millwall gig. In December, with hats on. And it was great fun. Well, for me and one of the guitarists who used my barrow to move our stuff about the longest distance I ever had. But the others, who had blagged their way to a parking space, were locked in the ground till after the match 🤣.

Nathan or Rhino? I’ve always been a Quo fan so I thought it was cruel. Funny. But cruel…