meterman

Because of this I watched “Shadows And Light” and then “Live at the Victoria Theatre in London” straight afterwards, but I would have really liked to have seen footage from the “Miles Of Aisles” era, not sure if there is any?

When people say they don’t like slap, do they really not like it? I mean, there’s repetitive slap, annoying machine gun style slap, 80’s throwback slap, YouTube bass demo hell slap... something for everyone, surely? 🤔

I final caved in and bought strings for one of my acoustics, a mid-80’s Ibanez. Back in December @Dad3353 had commented on how grimy they were. The last time I’d changed them would have been in 2008 or something. So I went on the Thomann site and ordered some old folks strings for it. Can fully recommend flats on acoustics 👍 Guitar not pictured because, well it’s a guitar and, “burn the witch” etc... 😂

That sums him up perfectly 👍 I saw him maybe 7 or 8 times and supported him once, he was brilliant solo (London Astoria, Soho Jazz Festival, Glastonbury etc) but I saw him once with his 80’s fusion-y backing band (oi, Soprano sax and DX7 synth pads - nooooo!!!) and it almost put me off seeing him again. But then I saw him play the most sublime version of “Solid Air” somewhere else afterwards... oh lord! He was the more astonishingly talented fella when he wasn’t on the coke and phoning it in.

Traffic, Nick Drake and this:

Haha, if there’s a box on the wall in the room with a big round dial, just crank it up baby. If you’ve got a fancy hi-tech remote control system with the sensor on an outside wall that relies on wi-fi like our last one did, then... er, just stick flats on it and hope for the best, is what I’d do 👍

I hadn’t planned to purchase anything this year but I just scored a working Fostex X-14. Cassette 4-track recorders never came much more basic than these. I’d bought one for my wife about 20 years ago and we had both used it loads, but it stopped working and we couldn’t find anyone to repair it so I sold it for parts. Always fancied another one, and here we are. One of my band’s forthcoming 7” singles was done on our original X-14, and even though they’re obviously a bit lo-fi you can still get away with it. Yes, they’ve got no EQ controls but who needs EQ? EQ is just for posh kids with no funk isn’t it? Or summat? Anyway, tapes for days! Flame away, flamers 😂

I’m sorry I can’t help you out with dimensions and stuff, BUT if you’re planning a build I’m subscribing, that’s for sure 👍 I’ve played a couple of vintage Wyman / Teardrop basses in the past and always loved the feel of the necks on them. Underrated basses, I think.

It got to 26 degrees here today, that’s warm enough to start breaking out the Brazilian funk I reckon 🇧🇷

Eh?!! I just had to google that, I had no idea the album was on Amazon 😮 If it’s not too late to cancel I can send you the CD for postage? I used to love Blow Up. That, and Tongue Kung Fu were two of my favourite London clubs back in the day. Daft escapist fun 👍

I might have bought the Picato flats from Strings Direct? I know I bought La Bellas from them for my last Mustang. They always had really decent pricing and fast delivery whenever I bought from them. 👍

Thank you 🙏🏻 The Filthy Six are like a proper grown up version of what we were trying to do, except they’re a proper band and we were just a couple of herberts with a Tascam portastudio and a crate of Skol. 😂

I had Fender flats on my last 34” scale bass and they cost £20 I think, off eBay. The tension might be a bit much for some folks but I thought they were nice to play and they recorded well. They broke in really quickly too. I had a set of Picato flats on a vintage Commodore bass that were great for the money (less than £15) but for short scale I’d go with La Bella or D’Addario chromes again, they’ve always been great. And sometimes you can get deals on them online. Think my last set of Chromes were £22 with an eBay voucher? Not bad, considering they’re still on the bass.

I still don’t know much, if anything, about them now 😂

Yeah, the strings were ancient when I got the bass so I’m not really sure if they were original to the bass or just worn out? There never was much sustain to it anyway, I used to have to compress it like mad whenever I recorded with it. The bass and it’s ancient strings made it onto a few records but this one is pretty funky. Sort of like Beastie Boys instrumental vibe but done on a 4-track cassette recorder instead of a Hollywood studio. It all kicks off around 1:15...

My first bass had flatwounds on it. It was a short scale Shaftesbury Tele bass (pictured below) bought s/h for £65 in 1990. I’m not really sure but I think they were ancient Rotosounds, but I’m certain someone on here would be able to identify them from the yellow silks. I took them off once to put fresh strings on before going in the studio but the new strings were awful, it didn’t sound like a duff 60s bass anymore, so I fished the old flatwounds out of the bin and put them back on. Normal duff 60s bass sound restored! 👍

+1 for the Minutemen, and “Public Image” has to count as one of The great punk basslines

Definitely The Stranglers, often the bass would be the hook of the song. Great band. Also, Jon Watson’s playing on much of the early 999 records is great. Sulphate and John Entwhistle appeared to be his main influences: Always was a fan of Paul Gray’s playing, especially in the Damned and Eddie & The Hot Rods. Distorted Rickenbackers galore: And one of my all-time faves, not just for bass, but also punk triangle playing: There’s probably millions of more recent ones but I’m an old git and the old school punk stuff always comes straight to mind

Also, “The Meeting Place”. Never mind the mullet, what a great bass line... and the Epiphone Newport with the batwing headstock 🤤🤤🤤

The Dukes Of Stratosphear - What In The World??...” Side note: Over a decade ago I had a short lived p/t job selling instruments (the last time I did anything that resembled a real job really) and I met Colin Moulding / The Red Curtain. He was looking for “one of those old sixties Vox basses like Bill Wyman with all the buttons on it and the skinny necks”. He was quite softly spoken and seemed actually a little shy, initially it wasn’t easy getting a conversation out of him, but we had a chat for a couple of minutes and he was super nice. He was polite and quietly friendly and I was polite, and quietly awe-struck. I’d met plenty famous people before and rarely (if ever) been star struck, often it’s no big deal, they’re just other people. But this was Colin Moulding! Of XTC! So I took his phone number and told him I would call him if a 1960s Vox bass came in. Before he left, I told him his playing was always amazing but especially on “What In The World??..” and he looked a bit bemused* but said, “Oh yeah, er, thanks” and that was it. A few weeks later I’d found a 1960s Vox bass, possibly the Wyman model, but definitely with THE skinniest neck, so I phoned Mr. Moulding and told him. He sounded quite interested when I was telling him the details etc, so I was happy to be able to help out. The Vox bass didn’t hang around long at all though. Pretty quickly I sold it either to Sébastien Tellier or his touring bassist, can’t remember which now, but they were super nice guys. Don’t know if Mr. Moulding ever found the Vox bass he was looking for, but anyway *A few years later I was looking at the reissue of “25 O’Clock” and the notes for “What In The World??..” said the bass was by... eh.?? Sir John Johns..?? Andy flipping Partridge!! One of my favourite recorded bass parts ever! Darn. It was a bit like finding out your dad is actually your uncle, or something. No wonder CM looked bemused when I told him it was my favourite of all his playing 😂 In my defence, my default setting is “bit of a div” but I did feel embarrassed about it later. Andy flipping Partridge though!!! And I still want an Epiphone Newport with batwing headstock. 😎

Some of my favourite recorded bass of all time. Dave Richmond rocking out on the Burns Bison while Serge gets all whispery and weird. There’s a great review of this album where (translated into English) the reviewer calls it, “music for middle aged perverts, by a middle aged pervert” which sort of nails it.

Ohhh, “Never Mind The Bollocks” ❤️ I had a uk Virgin 1st press, plus a red/green UK repress, a couple of USA copies, an original Virgin tape cassette copy... I was obsessed with that album, still am probably. Superb album, like so many from ‘77. 👍

I just put flats on my Telecaster and I’ve ordered a set of Chromes for my acoustic too. I’d put flats on everything 👍

uh, oh, ooooohhhhh, noooooo..... ...aaand my beans have just left the tin. No more beans. Oh, lord...