meterman

My wife and I rescued a four week old abandoned kitten out of some bramble bushes by the side of a railway track. We named her Roxy Music, can’t remember what we were thinking. But she is still quite feral and weirder than peak Brian Eno. Also she’s French so she doesn’t have a fake aristo accent like Bryan Ferry. She doesn’t seem to like it much when I sing “Saveloy” to the tune of “Avalon” but then nobody else does either. It’s probably too late to rename her now. Apologies for the cat related Roxy Music thread derail.

Probably also Wire (who toured with Roxy Music), Magazine and some of the artier end of punk too. Even the Sex Pistols claimed early Roxy as an influence. Later-period Roxy had a massive influence on a lot of eighties acts, you can hear stylistic lifts in bands like ABC, Japan, Duran Duran (of course), Talk Talk, Simple Minds, etc. Chic took Roxy as an influence too. Good enough for me 👍

Lovely 😍 Nice score!

Brilliant bass player, many folks wouldn’t argue with that. He played on a LOT of great songs with basslines that caught the ear even on tinny transistor radios. Yes, the Precision bass with flats thing is done to death now but he made it work throughout his career. And no, he didn’t have an easy ride. Not in the studio at Motown at least. Try playing live alongside a drummer, two percussionists, a vibraphone player, two guitarists, piano, Hammond organ, horns, etc, and be expected to nail it first take, every time. Several tracks every day. Day in, day out. His bass playing and sound have stood the test of time. It’s recognized as classic. The isolated bass track for “What’s Going On” is a superb example. Tone, phrasing, note choice. Brilliant 👍

Thought I’d have a go at this: The bass line is a piece of Fosters. All ghost notes. Well maybe not ghosts but certainly invisible. Shouldn’t take me more than a few days.

I have done this a few times, although never with anything as posh as a Stingray! I used a Shaftesbury Tele bass copy solely for years, even though I had access to other basses. More recently I played my crappy little Tanglewood short scale exclusively for a couple of months and didn’t touch my jazz bass or mustang bass at all. It just seemed to be hitting the spot for me. I will admit I’m not currently gigging, just recording, but nevertheless there’s something about sticking to one instrument for a while. Have done the same with guitars and drum kits too. Have an open mind, you can change your mind anytime you like.

First time I saw Bob Dylan he was headlining a festival, maybe 35 years ago. I wasn’t too familiar with his back catalogue apart from some of his hit singles, but I was familiar enough to know he was basically just messing about. The first third of his set was alternately dire and hilarious, he was doing stuff like reggae versions of “Mr Tambourine Man” in 3/4 time. People in the crowd were leaving early and I was seriously considering leaving too. But then after about 25 minutes of Dylan basically taking the mick, he suddenly tore into “Maggie’s Farm” and then belted through a set full of tunes from “Blonde On Blonde”, “Bringing It All Back Home”, “Highway 61 Revisited” as if someone had flicked a switch and he was in a garage band in 1966 or something. Brilliant turnaround, and I became a fan after that. However I’ve seen him a couple of times since then and he was either phoning it in or just mucking about with his own material. Which isn’t great when you’ve spent (or wasted) decent money going to see him. He’s playing a festival near me this summer and I live in the middle of nowhere so it’s probably the last chance I’d get to see him but I’m really not sure whether to bother if he’s just going to fanniey about.

Just noticed the Andy Summers tele in the background 😎 Very nice! is that a Fender reissue or did you make that one too?

I’d never sell my Tanglewood EB-18. I mean, I’ve got a Jazz bass that I’ll use if I’m recording for someone and I need something that sounds alright. And I’ve got a Mustang bass fitted with flats and foam for any situation that requires instant 60’s bass sounds. But I’d never sell the little Tanglewood because even though it’s a 25.5” scale and it cost me less than a fiver, I love playing it. Also it does record pretty well. But if I sold it I’d only get enough cash for a pint of Guinness. And you can’t get Guinness where I live. So the Tanglewood is a keeper.

I love 50’s Precision basses and that looks superb in sea foam green 👍

Not as bad as some of these horror stories but I bought a preowned Fender Telecaster and it arrived wrapped in an skimpy old horse blanket inside a bin bag with some gaffa tape holding it on. At first I thought “Noooooooo” but then remembered... it was a Telecaster. They’re basically just a lump of wood with a neck bolted on so it was fine. Still use the blanket too.

There ought to be a Fender Sharpie Series where every bass has a poorly cut Tele-ish headstock and the name and model scrawled on it in marker pen by a chimpanzee. Oh, hang on, just checked eBay and it already exists. Damn.

Get a black pickguard on it!

I hope you can continue to play live and absolutely love it, with whatever gear you choose. I never thought about the weight of my instruments at all until touring started to involve air travel, then I stopped taking out a flightcased 8.5lb Telecaster + pedal board and started using a Danelectro 59 which is chambered / semi hollow and weighs about 2.5lb (if that) and a Hiscox Liteflite case. Then after a shoulder and rotator cuff injury I did everything I could to keep travelling and gigging weight down to the bare minimum. Mini pedals on a plastic pedal board (actually a diy converted kitchen chopping board) lighter cables, smaller power supply etc, everything. It made a huge difference. I never toured as a bass player, only ever did single nighters, but if I had to do it now I’d be looking at a semi-acoustic bass for sure. One of the Ibanez short scale single cuts or a Hofner or something. Light as possible anyway 👍

I used to borrow a Thunder 1 (the non-active one) when I was starting out on bass. I loved the ‘1970s kitchen table’ look of it and it sounded great to my teenage ears. It weighed about as much as I did back then. Still wouldn’t mind trying another if I ever found one near where I live.

Or this. Michael Dempsey on bass. Love it.

Almost forgot this. Huge influence on Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Sisters Of Mercy, Prince and many others. Violin bow on a Precision bass as well 👍 ‘ave ittttt!!!! 💥

Some amazing bass on pop hits in the early 80s 👍 I remember liking Talk Talk, XTC, Japan, The The, Orange Juice, and loads of others. Like this: ‘ave it!!!!! 💥

I never took the C3 anywhere until I sold it. Those things are nuts! I bought a smaller Hammond for gigs, a 1967 M102 that was split for transport but even that became too much. I still play air Hammond sometimes, my back doesn’t mind that so much 👍

Not a bass, but my old 1963 Hammond C3 organ + Leslie speaker. Absolutely glorious sound in full throttle. It was the first thing that sold when I got rid of my studio. Regretted it at the time although I knew I didn’t really have any other choice. I probably wouldn’t have time to play it every day now or even every week but on the occasions it might be possible... phwoar! 😅

I’m probably something of an anomaly (well, more like definitely, both my parents were fairly odd) in that I’ve not been asked for download codes when I’ve sold vinyl and CDs at gigs, ever. When physical copies of albums and singles have sold on Bandcamp then buyers receive WAVs of the items at point of purchase but that’s as close as I’ve got. I’d love to do some with previously unreleased stuff and give them away with T-shirts or something.

A guy I did some session work for used https://www.cramduplication.co.uk/ to do his CDs, I think he’s done 3 or 4 different albums and EPs with them now. I’ve always made a profit from CDs, never made anything much from streaming though, and that’s even with being in a signed band that had records out, plus tunes on TV and soundtracks and radio etc. Just depends on the type of genre probably?

Woah, hang on - these Soul Destroyers? With Malcolm Catto on drums? Same band? I used to have the vinyl of this 😎

Los Altos - a fairly loose Catalan folk outfit who play acoustic covers of The Ramones, 999, The Damned, Stooges, The Saints, Wire, Soft Boys, etc, sung in Spanish. Just doing it for laughs as and when we get time to play, which isn’t as often as we should as it’s always a laugh when we do. Sometimes we play acoustic Spanish folk tunes and stuff as well. Lords Of Superglue - a gonzo ‘77 style punk rock outfit whose songs are all around 70 seconds long and the lyrics are always about something daft, like your mum wearing pyjamas to go to the shops, or when you glued falafels on your girlfriend’s car. Or when you snorted crushed up Ricicles for a bet, or about gabions, or reality TV contestants or Thai green curry or whatever. We make Splodgenessabounds look like King Crimson, but somebody has to. They were called something not especially PC before I joined, so I’m glad they changed it. I didn’t choose either name but they’re alright for what they are I guess.

For me the Bronco would probably do everything I need a bass to do, the lack of top end access and even a two-saddle bridge wouldn’t make any difference to what I do, but there must be a short scale bass out there that has 24 frets? I fully admit I’m a proper duffer who sounds he wears boxing gloves when playing bass, mind.