meterman

Well spotted! Yeah, he always has a ton of projects on the go like Young Gun Silver Fox, The Electric Peanut Butter Company, Shawn Lee & AM, The Incredible Tabla Band, etc, plus a load of soundtrack things as well but I only play with him when he does his solo singer-songwriter gear, or when he does Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra which is just the best fun gigs I could ever have really. We both DJ for Soho Radio too which is a good laugh. As a session musician he's done drums or guitar for Robbie Williams, Kelis, Amy Winehouse, Saint Etienne, and loads of big shiny chart acts. Plus old-school folks like Tony Joe White as well. But the most fun is when he's fronting his own band. When we get some gigs again I'll give a heads-up on here. 👍

Sorry Pea, no I've had no income for 5 months, no benefits, nothing at all. I just haven't been able to fritter £30 + P&P away on a replacement plate. I will do though, and I'll spam this thread with pics when I do, I promise 👍

That is beautiful, thank you for posting that! I've never been able to get on with Snarky Puppy but what Michael League does here is first rate imho. Thank you 👍

Best of luck Stew, I hope you can get the better of your situation. ✊

I think you'd be surprised. Some vintage drum gear, whether it be kits, snares, cymbals or percussion, can be worth a small fortune. Full disclosure: percussion and drums is my main instrument, and I've had stints of trading in vintage drums to pay my mortgage in the past. Certain vintage cymbals can fetch £2,500 each if and when they come up for sale. Some snares on their own can hit upwards of £5,000. Near mint examples of classic 1940s / 50s / 60s kits can vary wildly. I've sold vintage USA Gretsch and Camco kits for over £3,000 and Ludwigs in a desired finish for not far off that. Even beat-up vintage kits can still command decent coin, and certain Premiers can be really sought after depending on what sizes they are, what finish, what woods were used, etc, and there's no shortage of vintage Premier collectors around either!

Oh that sounds ace, I've never visited the islands. I've been over to tour and play DJ sets etc a few times but never spent more than 2 weeks at a time there. To live there would be a dream come true for me.

Ohhhhh you had to didn't you?!! 🤤

That's wonderful. God, I love Greece. I would already be living there if Mrs Meterman was up for it.

Actually, Stephen Stills in that video has given me serious tie GAS. I never knew it was a thing but I've been gawping at vintage ties on ebay already. Constipation I already have so I'm okay there. But yeah. Tie GAS, who knew???

I prefer playing short scales, and I've owned probably a dozen of them of varying quality over the last 30 years, mostly Fender, Squier or Fender-ish, but for recording I'll generally opt for a long scale. I wouldn't rule out owning another S-S but I'm not sure what it would be. Colin Moulding's modded Epiphone Newport always looked good but I think they're a good way out of my flimsy price range

I've watched this clip probably hundreds of times and always thought Tom Jones should have gone to Laurel Canyon instead of Vegas. Superb live band with Stills on Hammond, Dallas Taylor killing it on drums and Greg Reeves' deep bass grooves. The look on David Crosby's face when Tom starts singing is great, and Neil Young's guitar fills are spot on. Love it 😎

Here's mine: "Maple wood with some darker wood" It's a 1984 MIJ Squier Bullet bass that is black with a maple neck which has a stripe of darker wood on the back of it. It's the colour of wood. I only own one bass so it's all I've got to work with. Maybe turning it sideways would make it seem artier? I'm not gonna win this am I? 😂

That's one of my all-time faves! The drummer was legendary New Orleans hellraiser James Black who also played on this: 😎

I love Mustang basses, and that's handsome. Nice one!

'Usual suspects' is right. I've already had confirmation that the Royal Opera House is in line for funding. Which on the one hand, is fine. Opera and classical is cool (in my books at least) and it would be a shame if it all disappeared in this country and went abroad. But ROH and most of the other main players in that world receive heavy corporate sponsorship already. Even the smaller concerns like my old local, Holland Park in West London, receive decent corporate coin in sponsorship for their outdoor opera events which are village green-sized affairs. Until late last night, this was the state of play: I've often wished I was based in France but even more so now! But yeah, 'cautious optimism' is where I'm at. Let's see what develops over the coming days and weeks. Time really is tight for the music industry in the UK. Wait and see, I guess.

That's one of the coolest restorations I've ever seen! LOVE the refin work on that, it looks first class 👍

While I'm glad and grateful that the government is offering £1.57bn, I'm going to hold off jumping for joy until I see how the funding is being dispersed. The £1.57bn is described as being a rescue package for "the arts" and the prime minister and Oliver Dowden and Rishi Sunak are quoted as saying that figure is to cover museums, cinemas, galleries and theatres as well as the opera and classical venues which already receive heavy corporate sponsorship in many cases. It's not necessarily a "bailout" for the music industry. 90% of independent festivals and venues are facing going under in 2021, and I've yet to see any mention that this is going to be addressed. The UK music industry is a huge ecosystem that goes way beyond just the musicians on stage. Obviously we all know that many concerts, gigs, shows or recitals (if you're refined!) require a team of often unseen staff and workers doing their best to make it happen. So yeah, there's the band onstage, but there's plenty of other heroes and heroines doing their bit too, many of whom will be freelancers. Like road crew and drivers. Techs and backline people. Sound crew. Light crew. Maybe a DJ or two. Bar staff and cleaners. Door and cloakroom staff. Promoters and venue staff. Or if it's a big show or a festival there'll be caterers. Portaloos and the people who install and manage them. Artists liaisons and site management, etc, etc. There's often an army of people of people behind every show working their horses off to make it happen. It's not just the folks onstage, it's the entire industry that supports and enables the show to happen. It's an emotive issue for me as I rely solely on live and studio earnings to pay my bills. And it irks me that we've had to go cap in hand to a government that clearly didn't want to get involved, just to get a bone thrown to us. Well, maybe to us, maybe not to us, it waits to be seen how the bailout package funds will be allocated. Naturally I'm apprehensive about how much of the £1.57bn will actually "bailout" the music industry. France gave €7bn to save their music and culture industries back in May without having to be lobbied for it so £1.57bn isn't exactly 'world beating' really. Sorry. I've gone on a rant! 😂 I rarely rant on about anything and I don't want anyone to think I'm having a political dig at anyone. This, to me, is a cultural issue, not left or right or centre, and it affects so many of us. "Cause even if you're not gigging, you might still want to go to see live music, or buy records, CDs or tour merch. Or you might have friends and family who are freelancing as roadies or techs and their careers could be on the line. Instrument manufacturers and repair techs are at risk right now 'cause if musicians go to the wall then everyone who depends on them go too. 'Cautiously optimistic' is how I'd describe how I feel about it, but I'm not holding my breath. (Only cos I need both hands to type and my fingers are crossed) Right. Rant over. Enjoy your day BC folks and let's stay hopeful about our musical futures. ✊

Lockdown fever is making me post James Last's version of LZ "The Immigrant Song". Skip to 1:07 for the good stuff. James Last covering Deep Purple? No problem: And finally, at no extra cost, here's James Last going all batucada for you. This actually is proper fierce, I've played it in otherwise all-Brazilian DJ sets and folks often want to know which rare Brazilian record it is. Also, to the right of the LP sleeve pictured, the bass player has got what looks suspiciously like a super rare candy apple red Fender Bass V... I'm a firm believer that you can find great stuff in any genre of music, no matter how impossible it seems 😎

Yes!!! Same here, absolute joy to hear this again 👍

Ginger Johnson was big on the underground scene in London around 1966-67. Imagine someone like Donovan having to go onstage after Ginger and his band at full pelt! He shared bills with The Pink Floyd and The Purple Gang and a lot of the early hippie bands as well. He'd have blown them into the weeds I should think. Cracking stuff, thanks for posting it! 👍

We never had any James Last records at home when I was a kid. I managed to remedy this deprived childhood by buying several James Last records once I left home. There's some cracking tunes if you look beyond the useless covers of the Seekers or Cliff Richard or Jim Reeves etc. "Voodoo Party" is great. Well, I say great. It's great if you like the idea of James Last covering Sly & The Family Stone and Marvin Gaye and Santana etc... The other LP that Lastheads go nuts over is "Well Kept Secret". It's the one where he roped in a load of LA session folks like Jim Gordon, Tom Scott, Max Bennett, Ernie Watts, Larry Carlton etc... But the absolute best is James Last doing Hawkwind: I'll leave it there, otherwise I'll be uploading his disco bangers or the live stuff with Benny Bendorf on bass. Please don't ban me yet, I can change, it's only a phase, etc...

I keep coming back to this thread just to gawp at this. I thought I never ever got GAS but that's an absolute beauty! I thought I saw the bassist from actor John Simm's band Magic Alex playing one of these as well, back in the day? Must be a Manchester thing 😎

For piano, there's loads. I was always partial to a bit of Otis Spann: But there's looooads to choose from. Some of my old school favourites would be players like Dr. John, Professor Longhair, James Booker, Johnnie Johnson, maybe some Mary Lou Williams etc, but now there's Jon Cleary and Chase Garrett and many many more. You can go down the YouTube rabbit hole and spend hours finding new players, easy! For organ, it's all your classic B3 players: Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Charles Kynard, Charles Earland, Shirley Scott and all the Blue Note or Prestige Records guys and girls. Also Booker T Jones had his bluesy moments with the MGs ("Sunday Sermon", "Over Easy" etc) and pre-Beatles Billy Preston records on Capitol or Sue Records are all pretty good. If "Billy's Bag" floats your boat then his 60s LPs definitely will. On a more obscure tip, Mick Weaver recorded a couple of bluesy Hammond organ LPs, the best of which is "Into The Fire" where he covers Howlin' Wolf: And also for Hammond check out modern bands like the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, or Alan Evans' AE3. Plenty bluesy funk action. I could pick out plenty more but I have to get groceries for my Mrs. Have this one for now: Cheers - Lee

Wife's playing Joni Mitchell - "Hissing Of Summer Lawns". I always think "Court And Spark" is my favourite, but then I hear this one again and...

Have a bit of Prince Fatty for Saturday morning! Some of their stuff can be a bit 'comedy' (grunge covers, etc) but when they're on form they're amazing. Great live act too. Super heavy 😎 Enjoy!