grapefruitmoon

I'm intending to head along to this one! Reminded me to check my calendar and get tickets.

Yeah it's a great place to play. Dougie did say they expected it to be quiet as their Halloween party was on the Saturday night and that's their busiest night of the year. The place pretty much emptied a wee while after we finished, even the club bit was empty. A couple of us did go to the Halloween night and it was absolutely rammed!

Played the Dreadnought in Bathgate with Temptation Waits on Friday night, our first full gig proper. I had a ball, set went down well with a smallish but enthusiastic crowd. First gig with the new guitarist and as a five piece, we're all happy with how we sounded, couple of minor slip ups, couple of tunes played waaaay too fast, but on the whole pretty chuffed. Sound in my IEMs was great, soundcheck was less than 5 mins and perfect, thanks to the sound man. Gear - played my Fender Player Jazz for the first time, really liking how this sounds in the mix. My trusty Squier 40th Anniversary Precision was an unused substitute. Played through my HX Stomp based board to Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 head, with the provided Ashdown cab.

Yeah was at the Usher Hall gig. Second set was indeed outstanding. Really enjoying Ensoulment though, I wasn't greatly keen on the singles when they were released, but they work as part of the whole album.

Was there too, first time seeing them, very very impressed!

How amazing was Giant in the encore?

Hey, so I've not had a chance to experiment with chain placing yet, the pre-amp is a new purchase. But I'm intending (at the moment!) to keep it at the end to send my full signal to FoH via the DI. I've removed EQ patches from the Stomp so I can adjust on the fly using the pedal itself, as I find that a bit easier. So far, it's all been good. With a quick cable change I could send the clean signal from the pre-amp, but I've not had a go at that, it's on my to-do list.

Latest version of my Nano board. Got this powered with the Truetone CS6 underneath. Finally ordered the Pedalnetics Helauxy Duo Mini Pro for the Stomp, wish I'd got that sooner, a great addition and space saver.

Played the Monarch in Dunfermline last night with our new band, Temptation Waits. After the fallout/implosion of the last band, this one was put together in a fortnight so we could fulfil a support slot the previous band cancelled. We only had two rehearsals, but it went really well, thoroughly enjoyed it. Singer did amazing to pull it all together in such a short time and the new guitarist is great - not too loud, flexible, great tone and can actually play! We used the main acts backline and PA, they were fantastic help getting us all set up, couldn't have been better. And their sets were absolutely superb as well. Gear wise, I played my usual Squier 40th Anniversary through my HX Stomp.

Thanks Dave, appreciate the info for future gigs. The load in was a pain, we knew they had a trolley, but the previous band were using it to load out! Anyway, was the bands last gig as BL nuked it last night after a couple of us raised issues about volume, lack of teamwork etc. Now working on the splinter project.

Wild Hogs played The Cave in Paisley last night, not a bad wee gig, great venue. Bit of a trek as most of us are based over the east and there's horrible roadworks. Our sound was a bit off, not much time to get set up after the previous band (who were excellent) and guitarists being too loud as usual. Bit rusty in the first set, managed to absolutely mangle Poison somehow. The had a comedy of errors - my bass strap snapping halfway thru a song, drummer losing a drumstick mid-song, drunk dancing guy accidentally kicking over the singers water and almost frying the mixer and a pedalboard. All that aside, crowd got right into it, so all good. Until...not for the first time recently, I made a slight wee error. Had parked the car in a nearby multi-storey...not realising it shut at 9pm! Ooops. Logistics meant a couple of us were stuck, so ended up shelling out for a hotel and racing to get there before check-in closed. I'm such an idiot, I'll never hear the end of this one. Venue staff let me leave the PA and my gear there overnight, so picked it all up today and got home eventually, about 14 hours later than expected.

OK, here they are...I mean it's better than the original, but still rotten! It’s early morning, the sun comes out we hit the stage, no room for doubt The crowd is roaring, the energy’s high We rock this town.. and reach for the sky The Crowd are Hungry, they need to tell We play it loud... we feed them well More days to come, new places to go We've got to leave, to another show Here I am... The Body is breaking, its starts to shout a Feeling is coming, to break out loud Trapped in these cages, 'til storm breaks loose Hit the boards and Rock the way we choose The night is calling, we have to go The Streets are Hungry, they run the show We're Back on the Road, we're ready to win No time to feel this Love at First Sting.

Choosing songs is a problem in our band (one of many at the moment). The guitarists are very inflexible in terms of styles and complexity. They only want to do simple songs and half the time the want to cut out bits...intro's, middle sections, basically anything interesting. Really frustrating. They both want to do Rock You Like A Hurricane by the Scorpions. Our female singer doesn't want to as the lyrics are both sexist and pish. So BL rewrote them...or rather, got AI to rewrite them. Brutal, never heard anything like it, just a ridiculous idea IMO. It's still a no from singer, me and the drummer.

Was back at the Hive in Edinburgh on Thursday there with Wild Hogs. We almost had to pull the gig as our singer was struggling to speak with a sore throat and the drummer had staved his thumb badly, but they both powered through. Was a great night, not a huge crowd, but all very enthusiastic and joined in with a lot of singing and dancing. Past couple of gigs have been like that after a not so great one a couple of months back. Wee break for us now for holidays & Download. Gear pictured - Squier 40th Anniversary Precision, 2 Markbass New York 121s, Warwick Gnome and HX Stomp.