meterman

My wife calls them ‘clutter’ but that’s because I’m trampy.

Down here in France they say ‘vinyles’ - you’ll see that term used in music shops and online a lot. I would only ever say ‘vinyls’ to upset purists. (And it defo upsets them) 😂

I told myself I wasn’t going to buy any gear this year, I already have loads of stuff, and with no gigs on the horizon, only remote recording sessions, I thought I was safe from GAS. Would love a JMJ Mustang, or even a little Squier Bronco to pimp, but no, I’m all good for gear. Anyway, I caved in and bought stickers. Flame away, flamers 😂

I’ll let you know 😂

I used to have thousands of records, way more than I could count. When we lived in London I had vinyl at home (and tapes and CDs), plus vinyl in my studio and the overflow vinyl was kept in a Big Yellow storage unit along with recording equipment and instruments etc. Fair enough, I used to DJ regularly and would trade and deal in vinyl as well. So I’d have multiple copies of all the UK Beatles mono and stereo LPs, probably near a dozen copies of the “White Album” alone, ready to sell or trade if needs be. UK and US full runs of Hendrix and Stones LPs in mono and stereo for instance, box upon box of rare jazz releases often doubled or trebled up (UK mono / US stereo / Japanese reissue with Obi, etc) plus crates of funk, soul, Latin, Brazilian and psych and folk... just tons of records. Everywhere. In the end I sold off or gave away the vast majority of my hoard (I’m not sure you could call it a collection as it was so sprawling and out of control) and got it down to about 500 LPs & 12”s plus a similar number of 7”s. But after a recent move I still find myself with some albums where I have the vinyl, the CD and the original 1970’s cassette copy too... It just happens. I still haven’t really got into streaming, I would do, but often find that stuff just isn’t available when I go looking for it online. But I’ve still got 1000s of CDs. When places like Fopp were knocking them out new at £3, that’s when I accumulated them all without trying. Plus I’ve a lot of rare soundtracks, library music and jazz CDs that aren’t on streaming sites, not yet at least. And the vinyl LPs of them are £££s... I guess I should just hang on to them?

Yeah but yours is a work of art, now! Plywood is fine for guitars and basses for the most part, I don’t see why people look down on it really, as long as nobody’s charging top dollar for it. A studio I used to use in London has a no-name plywood Strat copy among its collection that always sounded great to record with. And I’ve got a mid-80’s Ibanez copy of a D-18 which is plywood top, back and sides which records well too. I might need to put some stickers on it tho...

Once I’d put a set of flats on there, stickers might be negligible tbh. Quite prepared to find out!

Looking at this yet again... I would rock the heck out of it, might need to add more stickers though 👍

I’ve met Kevin Shields from MBV and J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr too, and they are both super laid back, mellow, unassuming dudes. Totally didn’t mind chatting with the me about gear, old records, back-of-a-transit-van touring, etc, and I’m sure they had plenty of other things they could have been doing with their time. Really sweet guys. But then you see / hear / wear earplugs etc to see them live and it’s a different story altogether. Horrible, painful loudness! 😂 Never ever again!!!

Enjoyed that, thank you 👍

That made me laugh out loud 😂 Chapeau, monsieur 🙏🏻

Okay, great, I’m just getting ready to go out now but I will PM you later today with some stuff that might be helpful. It’s not a big super complicated thing to do btw, most companies will advise you on how to prepare your masters and artwork to be release ready. Anyone with the spare £££’s can make a record.

There are many companies that offer vinyl pressing options. Depending on how many copies you’d like to press, and what spec you are looking for (coloured vinyl? Gatefold sleeves or white bags? Plain b&w labels or full colour? etc) there are loads of companies you could choose to go with. One of my bands has had a couple of ltd edition 4-track 7” EPs out in the last couple of years and they definitely were worth doing. Fair do’s we are signed, so didn’t self-press, but it’s not too difficult a process and I’m looking at doing a self-press 7” for a side project I’ve got. It seems off puttingly expensive when you’re looking at the costs upfront, but generally you break even at around 100 sales. Gigs, social media, Bandcamp etc all mean that you can sell physical copies of your music direct to your fans nowadays, so doing a short run of vinyl shouldn’t be too much of a risk. Can pm you some links if you want?

Time to go down the XTC YouTube rabbit hole, thank you 👍

Did XTC ever do a live album? Anything from “Drums & Wires” to “English Settlement” would have made a great live album. I had a tape of a live gig from “Black Sea” tour (looong time ago now) that was so good.

Thank you, that’s going in the set 😂

Felt pick, or side of thumb > La Bella flats (or Hofner flats) > 1960s Fender jack lead > cheap little 10w Kustom practice amp > tinnitus > ears I realise I’m on my own with this setup obviously. 😂

“It’s Alive” by The Ramones. Wore it out on vinyl when I was 12-13. Brilliant album. I’d love to do a cover of the whole album with my band, The Ramens, and call it “It’s Arrive”. It would be a daft way to have a laugh at my Chinese-Malaysian heritage but although I defo love doing daft stuff any old time, I reckon by the time lockdown is over and we can book our gig at the Rainbow, I probably won’t be ahrrrsed any more. Besides, nobody would be interested in a Ramones tribute band doing takeaway food themed covers I don’t think... 🤔

sounds like my kind of thing!

I follow him on Instagram, he’s been posting amazing videos up for quite some time now. Definitely would love to play in a band with him 100%. Not on bass, but maybe on Tupperware harmonica, or electric paper bag, or tuned cupboard handles or something. I reckon the gigs would be superb!

I bought a couple of Vicky Leandros albums in a junk shop in Berlin a couple of years ago. I’ve never played any of them, obviously, in case I like them and then have to buy all her records. The sleeve is one of those old school laminated affairs which is great because it stops the ink from rubbing off on my face. That jumper though. If I could get my bass refinished in them stripes I would do it

Would love one of these, I played a couple in GAK before the first lockdown, and I thought they felt and sounded superb. I’m not jealous, honest 😂 A mate had a beautiful original ‘66 in Daphne blue that had faded to a sort of duck egg green that was the best Mustang bass I’ve ever played, but the JMJ’s are as close to that as I’ve ever found. Would definitely own one if funds permitted.

Has anyone else played a gig, and when you come offstage the sound guy or DJ starts playing music that seems 10x louder than your set was? Like, crazily loud? Is it the venues way of getting artists out of building ASAP? Often wondered about this when playing club gigs.

I’m skint so maybe not! But, my bands new record just came out and the label sent me some promos... 🤔 Hmmm, maybe I should stick a few copies on Discogs and see what happens.... You never know, a bit of spare cash, an itchy trigger finger, phwoar, they’re only based in the EU so delivery to France should be easy enough etc... nooooooo! It’s happening again 😂

Just idly interested, you understand. Definitely not buying, etc. Just looking. Finger isn’t hovering over the ‘add to basket’ button or anything like that, no. But, has anyone got one of the J&D mini jazz basses? They do look a bit tasty. Hmmm 🤔