meterman

Good question, I always thought it meant Adult Oriented Rock, but Album Oriented Rock would work as well. MOR was Middle Of the Road (Carpenters, Neil Sedaka, etc) but AOR could also be Anodyne Overrated Rock, I guess? I know everything comes back in fashion, given enough time, but I never honestly thought young kids would be getting into yacht rock, not even ironically. I've seen the crowds at YGSF gigs and they're full of 20 year olds with mullets and Hawaiian shirts. With their parents, dressed the same. Not for a joke either. What's next, Captain & Tennille back in the charts, or an Osmonds revival? Bring on the revival of this, I'd say...

A pal bought me an original vinyl copy of the "It Hurts So Good" album by Millie Jackson. Don't know who's playing bass on it but they're flipping excellent. Just checked and it some of it was recorded at Muscle Shoals, 1973. Decent year for funk, that 👍

Honestly, YGSF aren't doing it ironically, they truly live and breathe all that AOR stuff from back in the day. Doobie Brothers, Hall & Oates, Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, Average White Band, Michael McDonald, etc. You might catch YGSF individually talking about other music styles but the two main guys consider what they themselves play as Yacht Rock and will straight up tell you that the AOR stuff is the absolute pinnacle of modern music. Donald Fagen, on the other hand, always believed that Steely Dan were operating way above mere mortals like the artists named above. I can't listen to them with a straight face, I find them too blanded out to be funky and too smoothed out to be rock and roll. To me they wouldn't be classed as Yacht Rock, more like Fuzak (that'd be Jazz Fusion crossed with Muzak). Rick Beato might hate the term 'Yacht Rock' but he sure loves a lot of the music. There was an online video series about 20 years ago that spoofed all the AOR stuff, and I think some of the original musicians were happy to be rediscovered by kids who had missed out on all of it the first time around. Eddie Chacon's comeback basically happened on the back of the AOR revival. Ned Doheny got rediscovered and his back catalogue has been plundered by the likes of YGSF and others. And there's hundreds of new bands and artists that would be happy to be lumped in with 'Yacht Rock' bands of old. It's definitely a thing, and has been for ages. It's just surprising that Rick Beato came 20 years late to the Yacht Rock party 🎉

Could be because I grew up in a part of the North East that didn't have any dedicated live venues, but I've often wondered about Nottingham. Obviously there's been some great bands and musicians that have come from there that have done well (off the top of my head, Ten Years After, Tindersticks, London Grammar, Six By Seven, C Cat Trance, Stereo MC's, Little Barrie - not just the band but Barrie himself has done stints in Primal Scream, composed the "Better Call Saul" TV theme, and recently toured with Liam Gallagher & John Squire, and is on tour with The The...) but there's some great places to play live there. One of my mates played at Rough Trade recently and he said he loved it. Plus, there's the classic Rock City - that was a bucket list gig for me in the 80's and I loved wandering around Nottingham the first time I played there. Always enjoyed going back there too. I always thought of it as one of the country's live music hubs. Maybe there's only so many times you can play the same circuit?

I've been playing around the same amount of time as you have, and honestly, I don't think your expectations are too high. No way. Obviously I don't know where you're based, so have no idea of what the local live scene is like, but given the influences you mention, I wouldn't have thought it too difficult to find an existing band or get something together with mates, or even complete strangers. After 3 Colours Red, Ben was even asking online if there were any bands going that would be interested in having him play with them, and asking on social media if anyone was up for starting a new band. (He sadly fell into the world of morris dancing, but there's always a danger that might happen - be super careful). Loads of people, famous or not, get bands together all the time. Yes of course, forget about making millions as an originals band. It's way harder now than in the 80's or 90's, but it's not impossible to be in a band that plays live and gets paid for it. Just avoid playing alongside more than two (or three, maximum) other bands per gig unless it's at a festival. Make sure you have merch to sell at gigs and online, and don't do freebies for 'exposure'. And if you're already well off enough that your life doesn't depend solely on band income, then just make sure you're enjoying it and have some fun with whatever £'s come your way. I reckon you could totally do it 👍

Mustangs with flatwounds on is the quintessential Mustang sound for me. I know it's always a personal preference, but I've owned maybe 6 or 7 Mustangs over the last 23 years (vintage, reissue, also Squier) and it's always been flatwounds that have brought the best out of them. Favourites: La Bella's special Mustang flats. Pricy but totally worth it 👍

Bass: Paul Gray (Eddie & The Hot Rods era) Paul McCartney (Beatles psych era) Duck Dunn (specifically the Stax era) Aston Barrett (anything he played on) Dave Richmond (KPM library & sessions) Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez Guitar: Steve Cropper (Stax era) Curtis Mayfield Skip James Manuel Galban Bert Jansch Jimi Hendrix and maybe Traffic-era Steve Winwood But there's others as well, like Wreckless Eric, who I saw on tv playing "Whole Wide World" using a cheap Woolworth's guitar with Ian Dury on drums, and aged 11 I thought "cor, that's like my cheap Woolworth's guitar, I wonder if I could do that?!" And, once I'd learned both chords, I did 😂 Or especially early Wire, or PiL, or lo-fi punk bands like The Desperate Bicycles or Swell Maps. I got the feeling that that kind of thing was within my grasp (which it was) and I ploughed on, discovering new influences all the time. Late 1970's was such a great time for music. Punk, disco, electronic music, the ska revival, soul, oddball one-off pop hits, amazing reggae and dub, funky Latin stuff, jazz, there was so much going on. All big influences on me.

I can't remember a time when HMRC (or anyone pretending to be them) have ever contacted me by phone. I haven't lived in the UK for years, so any contact I have with them now is by mail, recorded delivery only.

Ibanez used to make a great twin pickup single cut semi acoustic bass. It was offered in a really decent antique burst finish. I almost bought one instead of my (now gone) Hofner Violin bass, but by the time I realised the Hofner wasn't the best fit for me, Ibanez had discontinued the model I was after. I saw the bassist in a soul band using one at a festival and it sounded lovely, really deep and rounded, but still articulated tone wise. Probably had flats on it as well. Instant GAS moment! I can't remember the exact model number now but I think it was part of the AGB range. Almost certain it was a 30.5" scale bass, which aren't to everyone's taste, but it would have definitely been to mine. I very rarely see them for sale used, so they're either good enough that nobody wants to part with theirs, or they had some kind of design flaw and they're all in landfill now... I don't need for any other bass than the one I've got, but if one of these turned up at a decent price anywhere near me, I'd be tempted to get it, just because...

HMRC, if they meet the criteria? Reasons? Bloody hell, I could be posting them here all week 😂 But yeah, definitely HMRC. Pack of useless chancers.

Good question ^ Possibly the diminishing returns thing? With cymbals, the really cheap entry level ones will be made of simple pressed brass, and they'll sound like metal tea trays or something. No amount of amazing technique can hide that, they're always going to sound cheap and probably not last for too long. Intermediate cymbals will usually be made from brass with some bronze in the mix, or even nickel or another material. They'll be pressed and hammered to some degree and sold as 'B8' or sometimes 'B12' cymbals, and the quality is a bit like Squiers or Harley Benton - you might get lucky and get a really good one that punches above it's weight and price tag but equally you might get something that sounds a bit clangy. Ok for teenagers while they're saving up for the good stuff but you never know, sometimes you might find an absolute gem of a cymbal in the intermediate range. Top end cymbals (and some gongs and crotales and other orchestral stuff) will often be made from spun or cast bronze, and denoted as 'B20'. These can vary in sound enormously depending on the manufacturer but you'll probably not go far wrong with a top of the line Zildjian or Paiste or Bosphorus or similar. They're usually not cheap and some cymbals like the Italian made Spizzichino ones can easily command £2000 or £3000 each if they're hand hammered to a specific pitch. And players might wear cotton gloves just to handle them. In the used market, certain cymbals have 'one-off Wal prototype' status and people will search for years until one appears for sale somewhere, and then they'll pay whatever the asking price is because the chances of finding another one like it are pretty slim. I own a mix of good intermediate and some relatively rare top end cymbals, some of which correspond to notes on the piano, so the choice of what to use depends on what kind of music I'm playing, or even the key of the song. As BigRedX says, use what's appropriate for your music because that's the most important thing. You don't have to use inexpensive or super expensive gear as some kind of badge of honour, and many drummers won't, because usually the rest of the band won't notice anyway so what's the point? Oh, and a bit of patina on vintage cymbals is acceptable, but relicing decent cymbals (some people actually do it) is generally not the done thing. Okay, that's my cymbals Ted Talk for the day 😂 now I'm off to chop firewood. @Dad3353 could probably elucidate further on this, but basically, you usually get what you pay for with cymbals.

100% agree with this ^ With drummers it's slightly different because with cymbals, if you're looking for a particular ride cymbal sound, depending on your preferences you can spend maybe €500 to €3000 to get the exact sound you want. £500 on a pair of hi-hats is not uncommon either. It's very difficult to make a WalMart $60 brass cymbal pack sound anything other than what it is. Even if you're the greatest drummer in the world, your touch isn't going to improve cheap cymbals much. (Disclaimer: I was a classical percussionist, then a drummer, way before taking up the bass. And my bass is a Squier Precision with a Jazz neck on it. For £150 I have all the bass I'll probably ever need. But actual skilled bassists would find my setup too limited I think?)

It's also a problem for drummers, often in a working band, whether originals or covers, the cymbals alone could easily run to £2500 and that's before they've spent anything on drums or pedals or other hardware. Even a comprehensively filled stick bag might run to £300 or more. Certainly not unusual for a drummer to have £5000 worth of gear onstage with him. But they could easily get away with a £500-all-in kit, and many do. The same price dilemma affects most people that play instruments - "how much do I want, or need, to spend". Ultimately it's the choice of the individual musician, and how deep their pockets are, or if GAS is playing a part in the decision making process.

This ^ I had a rare moment of clarity after playing a £150 gig, with a 1968 Fender Telecaster, a Wurlitzer piano, à Hammond organ and Leslie speaker, an electric sitar and a stock '78 Fender Vibro Champ. I think all I was missing was the velvet cape, the 50" gong, and a wind machine. Oh, and loads of dry ice. 😂 Thousands of pounds worth of gear for a £150 gig. Bonkers! After that I started taking an MIM reissue rig out. The audience usually don't care or notice anyway. Even onstage sometimes the other players won't know the difference if they're not gear heads.

Hang on! The reissue is still going to have to be remastered. The original master was done by George Peckham and all the album tracks segued into each other. A bit like Sgt Pepper's or something. We've been having trouble with digital remastering, because a nanosecond of silence gets inserted between the segues. But when it's finally sorted I can PM you and try and get you a promo. No, not a parmo, a promo. 😉 Are you really from the 'boro? We were actually banned from playing anywhere in the town after headlining a multiple band all-dayer in 1988, where our behaviour was deemed 'unacceptable'. Not proud of it, but back then we were absolutely feral. I remember absolutely bricking it though, during the load out when a load of gadgies said they were going to kick our heads in. We managed to back them off, but that kind of thing happened all the time with us, wherever we went. Oddly enough we still got played on Radio Tees by Mark Page and a few others though. Different times, for sure.