Spoombung

First gig in ages for my band, Prescott, at Lewisham Arthouse. Echoey, crude sound and the usual mistakes in a freezing cold room. Warm audience, though. And no Basschatters at the gig, as usual...

Tonight.

Doors at 8pm [b]DIRCH BLEWN [/b]8.15 -8.50 [b]ALBERT NEWTON[/b] 9.05 -9.55 [b]PRESCOTT[/b] 10.10 -11

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1391978636' post='2363266'] I may even be the first. [/quote] Excellent.

BTW, I still haven't had a single Basschatter come along to any of the Prescott gigs yet...!

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1391793476' post='2361426'] The legendary Charles Hayward?! I'll try my hardest to get to this one. Refreshments will be a 3l bottle of Rola-Cola. [/quote] Yep, 'tis he.

[b]PRESCOTT[/b] play the compositions of bass guitarist extraordinaire Kev Hopper, with Rhodri Marsden, keyboards and Frank Byng, drums. Spiky and mysterious melodies weave around grids that hover between stasis and fluidity, the focus constantly shifting. Precise and engaged musicianship brings this hypnotic sound to life. PRESCOTT's debut release, ONE DID, is due for release in April on the unbelievably hip Slowfoot imprint. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EY3GZdRtbY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EY3GZdRtbY[/url] [b]ALBERT NEWTON[/b] is international improvising double bassist John Edwards, the multi-dimensional keyboards of Pat Thomas, and Charles Hayward, drums. Initially a quartet with the late Harry Beckett on trumpet, they first played in the mid 90's as part of the Hayward devised Accidents+Emergencies series; they have now metamorphosed into a heady mix of intensely intertwined sonics over a heavy and fractured funk of the deepest anti-deodorant. WARNING:video contains free-style pole-dancing [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSSx60m2McY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSSx60m2McY[/url] [b]DIRCH BLEWN[/b] is musician David Bloor, who will present elegantly shaped live electronics with video projection. Here's a video clip of a recent rehearsal. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7kRzzfsZxk&feature=share"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7kRzzfsZxk&feature=share[/url] [b]LEWISHAM ARTHOUSE 140, Lewisham Way, SE14 6PD 8pm, £5, bring your own refreshments[/b]

I do have other basses but these are the only two I use:

I bought a bass from a Basschatter a few years ago and the action was set so low every note I plucked buzzed or went dead. His other basses were set the same way. I've no idea how he played them like that... and he's a pro! Maybe I've got a heavy touch? Not sure...

[quote name='wombatboter' timestamp='1390839033' post='2350119'] A local builder made it fretless and put some epoxy on it... bought it on ebay.uk for 1300 £ (he didn't want to ship to Belgium but I could convince him) and really pleased with it. [url="http://s162.photobucket.com/user/wombatboter/media/WALPROFRETLESS001.jpg.html"][/url] It used to be like this... I do think the epoxy makes a difference (I had fretless Wal basses before but the epoxy changes the sound in a good way for me) [/quote] That's what I need to do with my Wal. The neck is totally chewed up from roundwound strings and I've been looking for someone to do that epoxy thing to it. Maybe i should ask your builder to do it, Wombatboter?

When I first heard him I thought he was playing a simplified version of Percy Jones' style (who was his main influence apparently) with a lot more vibrato and more extreme slides. Loved the electronics approach in Japan - it went well with bass and drums. The overall sound of that band is what I like.

I quite like the way Jeff endorses cheap brands. He's a man of the people.

Off topic a bit here; In an internal poll a couple of years ago the music students at Trinity College in Greenwich were all asked to say what musician /composer they admire most. Sting came top. I shouldn't laugh so I won't.

I'd love to try a Mk 3. Never seen one...

Hmm, I admire him as a musician and I'm a fan of some of the bands he plays in - especially when Simon Phillips is drumming (like Hiromi's band, for instance) but TBH, I don't really enjoy seeing him like this and hearing his floppy and surprisingly rough tone exposed as it is in this video. The effect is made worse by the irritating and almost perpetual, habitual presence of regular Bass Show favourites, Bailey and Wooten either side of him. They almost give the unfortunate impression they are ready to wheel the seated, aged and torpid Jackson off for his medication and a bed-bath but are willing to nurse him through the thin soup of their familiar exhibition-ready electric jamming music before they do so.

The most eccentric entry got my vote! All great tracks.

Agreed. Great thread. Thank you for the responses.

Also looking into it. Any more experiences here? Tunecore seems to be the new darling but I was wondering what people think of Bandcamp too

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1386027984' post='2294923'] Here we go, folks, the ball is now rolling (and in your court..!). Here's my offering for this months Challenge... [url="https://soundcloud.com/dad3353/dreams-of-a-patchy-dormeur"]Dreams of a patchy dormeur...[/url] Let me know if there's any problems with the link, or whatever... Enjoy... [/quote] Great stuff!

Here's the image for December. An old illustration of mine. Good luck... and use real basses

[quote name='Funkjohn' timestamp='1385909250' post='2293440'] Also if spoonbong is rated 57th best bassist in the uk, playing real bass should be a minimum requirement . [/quote] Hahaha! To answer your concerns I don't always bother playing bass on orchestrated tracks like this where the chord sequence and melody rule. As far as the composition is concerned It's just a matter of sorting out all the harmonic modulations with the palette of colours that Logic affords. I get no satisfaction from playing the bass in this kind of role - where it's fairly functional and supporting the chords. In this case a double bass sample was used and I programmed it with a few grace notes and fiddled with the dynamics to make it fit in. The important point is I can't actually [i]play[/i] double bass - it's not my instrument. And all the other instruments are fake anyway! I also write very noise -based electronic stuff and rarely use a bass with that too. Where I [i]do[/i] like to play [i]real[/i] bass is the hybrid music in between the two approaches because it can play a more prominent role. That's where I see myself and I mainly reserve the bass guitar for an experimental approach. My main project at the moment is my band, Prescott. That's just me playing bass with a drummer and Keyboardist. The bass is very [i]real[/i] in that one.

Thanks for all the nice comments about my track. There were some terrific tracks this month. Blimey, if was a close thing, eh? What a shame hardly anyone on the forum seems to know about the competition... or maybe they do know but are not interested in listening to other people's music and don't feel like voting? Who knows? Anyway, as far as I'm concerned it's what it's all about in the end: making and producing music...not 'what strings do you use?' and all that stuff! I'll sort out a photo this evening for December. I've noticed several requests to avoid Santa so I'll bear that in mind...

I blame the B string.

thanks for the responses