SteveXFR

I love how Gary Numan was a huge influence on Nine Inch Nails and helped Trent Reznor get started and now Numan is sounding more like Nine Inch Nails. For his live performances, he plays a lot of modern stuff and has modernised the old stuff with more of that industrial sound and more guitar.

Because interesting bands don't get big. Bland sells, that's why Coldplay and Taylor Swift are huge and Biffy Clyro and Osees aren't

Back on subject. I'm just watching Biffy Clyro, havent listened to them in years. Really excellent performance. Definitely a few odd time signatures in there, almost prog rock at times.

My daughter came home for a bit earlier for another gig this afternoon (4th in two days, 5th tomorrow) and on her way back to Glastonbury all excited to see Deftones tonight, her favourite band and then they announced on their social media they've had to cancel due to illness in the band. She is not happy. I shall continue to wind her up about how many times I've seen them.

I saw a bit of CMAT. Seriously, that must be the worst vocal performance ever on the pyramid stage.

In the words of the great Richard Richard (Bottom) "British journalism, best in the world. You wouldn't see that in a French of Italian paper"

Gary has obviously discovered that Thenns are excellent industrial musicians.

I've just got in after Gary Numan's warmup show in Frome. That was a spectacular show. He's definitely more industrial rock than synth pop these days. Great night.

My daughter and her band mates are working together in the Woodsies crew bar and were asked to play the stage in there so took their instruments with them. With their youthful enthusiasm, they decided to wander around and see if they could blag another gig. Tonight at 10:35 they (Butane Skies) are playing the Avalon Inn and that will be their third gig so far with another possibility tomorrow as well, all fitting in around bar shifts.

I'm a very indecisive man!

If you want to make money in music, then become a covers band specialising in weddings. They seem to be fairly profitable.

The helicopters flying rich Londoners in to the festival are busy. There's one going over about every 5 - 10 minutes today.

I think venues know they can get ameteur bands for free or very cheap but if they want a name to get people in then they have to pay for it. Amateur bands don't attract in a lot of people so can't really ask for much and those at the bottom of the pile who are the support act for amateur bands offer the venue very little value.

A lot of amateur, particularly originals bands wouldn't get any gigs if they didn't do some for free. To me, playing music is a hobby, if I get a few quid that's a bonus but I'll do it for free quite happily.

There's always bands happy to just play whether paid or not. Those who aren't just turn it down, no one is forcing them. Personally I play for fun and don't care whether I get paid as long as it doesn't cost me too much.

I guess if they pay the bands then there's no money left for the charity so it's no longer a charity gig. A mate of mine puts on a metal bands night once a month and gets all the ticket money to pay bands. If they get £100 each for the three bands then they're lucky. If they set the door price over £5 then people moan and don't turn up. Fortunately, most amateur metal bands seem to be happy just to play.

Yep, it's my local. Have a good one.

I think they're past the point of easily being able to change their name. To do that, you either have to be completely unknown or have an enormous following (like Slaves when they changed to Soft Play).

The artists playing the festival have always been paid little or nothing because it was all about raising money for charity. Most of the stages are independently run, the festival only books bands for the main stages

None of them are forced to work or perform there. I'm local to the festival an know loads of people who work there every year. Most do it just for the ticket. My daughter is working for a friend and getting really decent pay but performing for free.

My oldest offspring is working in a back stage bar somewhere at Glastonbury. I haven't been for several years but the lineup looks unusually appealing this year. I'll be at Gary Numan's warmup show of Friday night. Really looking forward to that. We've got a few big warmup shows in town this year.

No idea. I quite like the stock Peavey pickups

@Allen they are standard 5 string soapbars, even on the 4 string

For the audition, I just went straight in to my Ashdown ABM600 Evo and Eden Nemesis 210 cab. A little bit of drive on the amp and a slight boost in the high mids. Normally I use a Revolt preamp in front of the ashdown. Running through the dirty channel it sounds amazing, but not right for this band

I took my Euro LX along to an audition today. It sounded amazing. The band is fairly chilled our alt rock so I wasn't sure if the Spector might be a bit out of place but it was spot on, it cut through lovely and had a huge bottom end. I swapped to my Fender P bass after a couple hours but after the Spector, it just didn't hit the spot and felt a bit awkward. The band must have liked it, they asked me to come back next week.