meterman

I don’t have any Nashville experience but I do know quite a few session players in the UK that are still getting £150 per show or session, regardless of who they’re playing for. That’s the kind of money you’d expect maybe 20-25 years ago, which was okay then but not now. The money hasn’t changed with inflation. Unless you actually are Guy Pratt or Leland Sklar or somebody at that level, and can command whatever fee you like, you could possibly earn more money by working on construction sites than as a touring sideman now. And you’d be home each night having a cooked dinner and sleeping in your own bed, instead of eating at motorway service stations at odd times of the night and sleeping in a bunk on a tour bus.

I'd want a tribute band to dress exactly like the original band, and sound exactly like the original band, and have period correct looking instruments and road crew too. Maybe also comfortable seating and a roast dinner, perhaps with profiteroles or tiramisu for dessert.

I didn’t buy a bass until I was 20, I started out as a drummer. But even before I started playing bass I always liked the playing of Jean-Jacques Burnel of The Stranglers and Paul Gray from The Damned, and with Eddie & The Hot Rods and always Colin Moulding (XTC / The Dukes Of Stratosphear) Once I started playing I dug more into the great Jamaican players like Aston Barrett or Flabba Holt, and all the Stax and Motown players. Never had any ‘gods’ though. Don’t believe in them!

Having a ‘main’ Tele is perfectly normal behaviour. 😂 I’ve got two Fenders and two Squiers and one of the Squiers is my ‘main’ one. Multiples of everything is key. Would love to hear how yours turns out 👍

Well, the IKEA thing was a bit much, but that wasn’t done maliciously, just my wife’s a bit absent minded and that occasion happened before I had a mobile phone. Back then I relied on finding a pay phone somewhere at a convenient time which sometimes didn’t happen every day. Even when I got a phone it still would be tricky. Once I came offstage at a festival in France in 2007 to find something like 30 missed calls, all from my wife. I rang her back and she was frantic, as our flat had been burgled and loads of our stuff had been stolen. I felt like $hīt and not just because I still had one more festival to do before the band returned to London. Ordinarily I’d have just flown home, but when you’re on someone else’s payroll you cant just quit a tour before the last date. That’s a key thing about committing to a tour - once the schedule is in place, there’s not often much flexibility for you personally. You just have to do what’s expected of you at exact times every day. I sometimes miss doing one-nighters, but definitely don’t miss touring. Sorry, I’ve taken the thread off course - carry on folks 👍

Enviable gig, definitely, but that’s exactly what a lot of players don’t factor in - being away from home for a good part of the year really can ruin things between you and your other half, unless you’re super tight as a couple. Mind you, I used to come home after being away for a month and it’d be, “Can you unblock the toilet?” or “The washing machine’s packed in, can you fix it?” or “I bought a load of stuff at IKEA, can you put it all together by tomorrow, I’ve invited family to stay” - aaaarrrgh! I swear my wife just used to store things up for when I got home. 😂

By the last few tours I did, I was on £250 per gig. Sometimes restaurant meals were part of the deal, other times we got per diems to cover daily expenses. And this was playing as a sideman for signed artists, with record label support and gold discs etc. Very occasionally I might get a bit more (say £300 or £500) for festival gigs or one-off special events but otherwise it was always £250. Rehearsal fees would differ from artist to artist, as might studio sessions. Bear in mind I stopped touring in May 2018 and almost every tour I did between 2006 until 2018 was in Europe. And I was still living in the UK then. No idea what it's like now.

Love the blackguard! I had a black one too, very nice bass. Bought s/h off ebay. Liked it so much that I got a green one too, although they both went shortly after I got my first CIJ Fender Mustang, 2003-ish. Preferred the Jazz width neck on the Mustang but otherwise I would have kept the black Squier. I’ve still got the original Squier Vista catalogue somewhere. Not that I’m a hoarder or anything...

My Squier Affinity Jazz, in Charcoal Frost Metallic. I replaced the black pickguard with a cheap tort one and added a tugbar, as I’m probably one of the few people that use them on the treble side. It’s got La Bella flats on it now also. I originally wanted the Burgundy Mist Metallic version but everywhere was sold out so when Thomann were knocking these out for £175 I didn’t hesitate. Would have loved a blocks & bound neck on it but I think they only came with the 40th Anniversary Jazzes. Still an amazing bass regardless of cheapness 👍

Absolute beauty!

Bass: Shaftesbury Tele bass copy from 1989 until 2018 which was the first bass I bought. Before that, I just borrowed other people's basses. Otherwise it would be the Tanglewood kids sized Precision copy that I bought around 2011 and still have now. Guitar: 1997 Danelectro DC59 (2006 to present). Previously I had a 1968 Fender Telecaster from 1988 until 2018). Keys: Casio VL-Tone mini synth / calculator hybrid that I got for Christmas either 1980 or '81. Still have it and use it now. Also a Casio MT-65 keyboard that I bought secondhand in 1986 and still use today. Wife: 1993 to present. Bonkers, but a keeper. Some light relicing, etc... 👍

Would The Hanging Stars fit the bill? “Sweetheart Of The Rodeo” era Byrds vibes meets Flying Burrito Brothers, sometimes a bit of Tom Petty influence too. Have been on a couple of festival bills in Oxford and London with them and they can really tear it up live. There’s definitely a ‘cosmic country’ / Americana overlap in the UK with folks like Bobby Lee, Joe Harvey-Whyte, Spencer Cullum, etc. And it’s funny how it’s all come around again. I remember The Rockingbirds doing country rock / Americana in the 1990s but not gaining much traction beyond the true believers. They were amazing live though, and if they were still going now they’d definitely be seen as keepers of the flame.

I listened to the first song then had to bail out. The individual musicians are undoubtedly way more talented than I’ll ever possibly be, but why does it have to be so bland? When soul or r’n’b or jazz gets so smoothed out to the point where there’s no stinky funk left in it, I quickly lose interest. But that’s on me, not the band. Couldn’t take those vocals for more than one song either. Sorry, OP. But I do appreciate being given new stuff to listen to, so thank you, even if it’s not for me.

Am quite tempted to get one of these, then put an oval pickguard on it. Then, install active electronics and EQ controls, maybe on a chromed metal plate or something. Oh, and get it refinished in black sparkle. Price of the upgrades is a bit much, otherwise I’d be on it like Vanessa Feltz on a roast dinner. Might do it anyway. Vanessa Feltz and a roast dinner I mean, not the Joe Dart bass.

I love short scale basses. But I also love my Jazz bass. Different basses for different jobs, at least for me. Also, to the OP - that looks like a brilliant Mustang you’ve got there and I hope it serves you well. And if anyone ever tells you they’re no good, just remind them of the multi-million selling artists that made big hit records or hugely influential ones with them, like the usual suspects: The Beatles (and Paul McCartney solo) Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Talking Heads, The Kinks, XTC, Average White Band, CAN, Sly Stone, Wilco, The Damned, Traffic, Serge Gainsbourg, Black Keys, Medeski Martin & Wood, Sonic Youth, Adam Yauch (Beastie Boys), Pearl Jam, etc... loads of bands use them, otherwise Fender and all the other companies wouldn’t have them in their current ranges.

@Reggaebass I don’t do it often but whenever I look on ebay and type ‘vintage’ into the musical instruments section, it’ll be awash with 2 year old Squier gear, or stuff that was bought as a kids Christmas present a few months ago. I think folks have forgotten that a lot of second hand stuff is mostly just second hand stuff, not vintage at all. Makes me want to smash the computer screen in 😡 But then I’d have to sell the broken parts on ebay. As ‘vintage’ laptop parts probably. 😂

In the vintage guitar shop I used to work in, the general consensus among staff and customers seemed to be pre-1980, for some unknown random reason. I always thought pre-1970 or pre-1966 would have been nearer the mark. We did sell pre-WWI instruments sometimes, which often looked (and smelled like) closer to antiques. Depends on the viewpoint of the buyer or seller to some extent, maybe? I’m sure George Gruhn would have a different take on it.

As much as I love the first Damned album, when Paul Gray joined them on bass, that was a class move. I loved his playing on all the Eddie & The Hot Rods records, but with the Damned he just had a bit more bite. Brilliant cover version btw ❤️

Even before moving to France I’d started listening to FIP online, maybe in 2006 or so. It’s the music stations of France Inter. They have an ad-free, news-free, day long programme with an eclectic mix of new and older music, so you get a bit of everything. It’s not all French music either, I’ve heard Black Sabbath played next to some out-there electronica, then some blues or classical, then some funk or soul, and I’m always hearing tunes that are new to me. Or they’ll broadcast live concerts exclusive to the station. Presenters only occasionally make announcements for future shows or events, otherwise there’s no chat. They also have a range of ‘genre’ stations so you can pick a rock and metal station for the day, or have reggae or jazz, or classical, or left field techno, or a bit of everything in the main station. The jazz and reggae programming is decent, and often has me checking to see what’s currently playing. A couple of pirate stations in Brighton used to rebroadcast FIP from Kemptown to Hove. I guess now it’s all online there’s no need. https://www.radiofrance.fr/fip

Playing really well and making the audience dance is the ultimate gig win for me. Also, maybe getting paid without having to belt the promoter first. I’d count that as a bonus. But if the gig is a funeral send-off, or a commemorative gig, it’s a different story. Those are all about making people cry before you pack up your gear and hit the sauce, along with everyone else. Although I’ve only done two of those so YMMV as folks say.

Do it! Or join the gougers and put CDrs on ebay and Discogs yourself at crazy inflated prices. I found one of my bands CDrs on Discogs the other day going for 10x the original merch price. They’ll never sell it for that much but it still makes me laugh to see them try it on... 😂

I missed out on RSD yesterday as the nearest record shop is a couple of cities away from me. It doesn’t really happen down here. Ever since I moved out to the sticks 4 years ago I haven’t passed an actual record shop anywhere near me. It’s a fair trek to even get food or medicines, never mind records. But this morning I went to a local vidé grenier (basically yer French car boot sale) and picked up “Melting Pot” by Booker T & The MG’s, the 3rd Velvet Underground album, and a cracking two-sider 7” from when the Bee Gees still had a bit of psychedelia in them. Also got some cassettes for my Tascam 4-track recorder, a Tour De France promotional cup that I’ll turn into a shaker, and a toy piano. Total cost? 8 euros 💥 (and no queues 👍) Scorchiooooo!!!

I left school in 1987, so not me. All the music lessons and tutoring that did me any good happened in primary schools and comprehensives.

I was really lucky with all but one of my music teachers, they mostly seemed to want to help me progress. Wanting to do orchestral playing might have swayed them, but I remember our head of music at one school would let you keep any school instrument during holidays if you played in the school orchestra. I always fancied a go on upright bass so even though I was only the percussionist I asked if I could borrow a double bass over the summer holidays in 1983. And he said “if you can carry it, you can borrow it” so I did, and had blistered fingers all that summer, but it was a brilliant thing to let a teenager take a big old bass away on trust 👍 Don’t know if stuff like that still happens now?