TimR

[quote name='JimBobTTD' timestamp='1343992850' post='1758297'] Does "never been gigged" mean "doesn't stink of smoke from the pub"? And when the smoking ban was introduced, the saying continued? [/quote] That's my take on it. Although having said that I recently bought a cab that had never been gigged but kept in a bedroom with a dog or cat. Took a bit of hoovering to get rid of the hair. Is giging somehow different to transporting to a rehearsal studio on a weekly bassis? Never been gigged just means mint. My bass has picked up all sorts of little scratches and dings on gigs, quite a few more than if it had sat in my bedroom every Friday and Saturday night.

I've got The Whole Story on vynl. Probably one of the last records I ever bought. Should really download it but wonder if it has been 'digitally remastered' to sound louder. The beauty of her songs is the air and dynamics they contain. Anyone else have it on CD/MP3 and have any view?

Any well written song can be played on rhythm guitar alone. I would argue that none of the other instruments are 'needed'. In one of my bands we've played gigs without our rhythm guitarist none of the audience were any the wiser. in most cases we struggle to play some songs because the rhythm guitarist gets in the way. This is more due to his lack of listening skills than anything else. In the other band the rhythm guitarist is bang on the money. But I'd still question whether he was absolutely necessary for a gig.

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1343860789' post='1756637'] ... As for the poster who asked about band ages.... I'm the youngest at 38, the lead singer is in his late 40's, the ditched guitarist was early 50's, our lead guitarist is 60 and our drummer is 62 so a group of youngsters we aren't. Our drummer has been gigging for over 40 years, so I reckon he's seen his fair share of arses in that time!! [/quote] It was a rhetorical question. People of all ages get it wrong and sometimes need their heads banging together. The drummer knows this.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1343899200' post='1756898'] Detection is one thing, Herr Skank; it's then a matter of having the correct weaponry to deal with this silent menace. [/quote] I am saving up for a shed.

It's mostly angry young men trying to express their feelings through music because no one will listen when they speak. Them no one listens when they play their music either. Shame really - all that emotion and energy going to waste. I know a few divorced women in their 40s who would at least pretend to listen.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1343823795' post='1755756'] You are talking about the format, not the objective. [/quote] In which case any band that has released a single in the weeks leading up to Xmas is exacxtly like the x-factor.

Well no comments then. I tried to understand what the link was and why you posted it. I didn't know what an AMA was. Car crash? edit: Ask Me Anything..... or not!

[quote name='ChrisB' timestamp='1343822434' post='1755725'] It's not on telly at 7pm on a Friday either but the principle behind it is exactly the same... [/quote] X-factor works by giving you a different angle each week on the contestants abilities and keeping it fresh. I can't see where it says that each band will record a new track each week and the judges will give feedback on the song so the artist can go away and record a better track the next week.

It's not anything like x-factor. There's no mentors. The song has been recorded, it's in the public domain in July but still expected to make no. 1 at Xmas. No one gets voted off. No one produces a new piece of music each week.

I saw this last night and struggled to see how it was new, different and hadn't been done before. In the end I said nothing. There's far too much content on that site to wade through. What happened to MySpace?

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1343813900' post='1755495'] I do agree with you, however, I have only been in the band 4 weeks, so its not my call to make. [/quote] ....which is why having a stand up row in front of people you hardly know isn't the best idea.

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1343808896' post='1755416'] Heard from the Lead Guitarist, he's not happy one bit. I've been told to "watch this space", however, he is not prepared to walk on eggshells, and he will be told if he steps out of line again. Both the Drummer and the Lead Guitarist have now told me that they are not prepared for me to be undermined and intimidated and that they will not allow me to be a casualty. I am the more important band member So, I am going to be gracious next week, until he puts a foot out of line, and then I am going to become a rotweiller!! [/quote] Steady on. You've only been in the band 4 weeks yourself. Personally if I were the other guys I'd just ditch the pair of you. You're only more important because it's difficult to find bass players. I don't know how old you guys are but it all seems pretty immature. The new guitarist doesn't fit in - for whatever reason. He needs to go. Calmly and quickly before he gets too comfortable and you end up learning stuff thay needs relearning next month with someone else.

You're feeling threatened, and who wouldn't be. Even if he doesn't have a hidden agenda, you will now be looking for one. I suspect the damage has been done. Drummer needs to call him and tell him it's not going to work. If this was two blokes, we'd have a massive punch up and go down the pub afterwards and laugh about it.

That's done pretty well Mr bee. Too often you see the uniform look taken to extremes. I like the way you're all wearing the same but still retain some individuality.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1343661105' post='1753275'] C'mon, lets get real here !! No artist worth his/her salt is going to let this happen. If they did, there would be no audience, let alone a disappointed one. Even in the most grotty gig venues, the stage is never in darkness, at least not in my experience. What I assumed we were talking about here, was artists dressing up to the nines and putting on a glitzy show. There is a difference between this, and an artist performing his music and interacting with his audience, either through the music itself, or through a bit of banter etc. [/quote] The original post was looking at how boring bass players often are. I've worked very hard with my current band to get the guitarist/singer to drop his music and engage with the audience. On most tunes He stands rooted to the spot behind his mic staring down at his music. Musically we're tight and people listen but always get a much better reception to the tunes he plays without his music even though he makes more mistakes. That tells me people want to be entertained. The original video is satirical. Purposefully poking fun and exaggerating the boring bass player into a wild character to make a (very good IMO) point. You don't always need loads of flashing lights and jumping about but what you do need to do is engage your audience. Just a couple of coloured spot lights, a bit of thought on what you are wearing, learn to play without the music, smile and move about a bit is often all it takes.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1343647928' post='1753017'] ... Besides, I am convinced that there are lots of people who go to a concert/gig/live performance purely for the music (granted, in the hope that is played well), and dont care much for the other "multi-sensory experiences". [/quote] I think they would be the first to complain if they turned up and the stage was in darkness and the artist just played his songs with a 5 sec silence between each one and a blank expression on his face.

John Deacon is the one I think I wished I'd seen.

You'll find that blokes don't notice so much what people are actually wearing. If a high proportion of your audience are women it's very important. What you wear is only part of your appearance. If you play in a party band and jump around, it's infectious and your audience will jump around. The idea of having a frontman is to direct the audience. Whether they direct the audience to sit quietly and listen or they direct the band to jump around depends on the frontman being appropriate for the music and band.

Do whatever you want as long as you are both listening to each other and he knows that you're not necessarily going to follow him and vice-versa. Nothing worse than changing and glaring at the drummer because he's thinking too much about his next beer.

Music is about conveying emotions. Your facial expressions and body language are as much as this as the notes you play. If Miles Davis turned his back on the audience he was conveying an emotion/making a statement. I find it difficult to believe he did it during solos.

[quote name='the_skezz' timestamp='1342645000' post='1738724'] Interesting - hopefully it'll sound different to Maiden, much as I love them it'd be nice to hear him play something other than triplets [/quote] What triplets would they be? Maiden are Harris, I can't see it being a lot different to the early stuff. Hopefully I'll be surprised.

Yes, but you look into costs of various H+S measures to decide whether it is practical/affordable to hold the event in the first place. Irrespective of whether it will cost more or not to have the roads closed for longer, it's a cost due to Health and Safety. They haven't just closed the roads for fun.

Personally I think 80,000 people trying to cross Hyde Park Corner in the middle of the night might be a slight Health and Safety concern.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1342525817' post='1736504'] You seem like quite the expert! Are you able to answer my question? Just in case you missed it, it was "How would letting Bruce and Mac have a "good night and thanks for coming" have reduced safe and ready access to local transport?". It wasn't a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely interested. Also, please don't mistake my editing for brevity's sake as ignorance or naivety. [/quote] As the link I posted above. They closed roads. I assume that the road closures are time based rather than just close them when they've had enough of playing.