TimR

This has fairly serious implications for car insurance too then. If you're driving to a gig and have an accident and don't have business cover you're screwed. Given the cost of business insurance it's beginning to look unviable to do once a month pub gigs.

If you're the insurance company and you win the claim, what's the point if the defendant has no insurance. You still have to pay the person you insured and you won't get your £1m back.

In a 4 piece band you're looking at another £120 a year. Not a great deal I suppose. The thing is, it does make you easier to sue and it give some the venue an opportunity to side step its responsibilities. No doubt the request that you have insurance is from the venues insurer who realise that a bunch of penniless musicians is going to be impossible to recover money from or even if they have money but no insurance will end up in a protracted legal battle where they can only recover £200k at most.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1504101123' post='3362690'] Nope. That's not negligent. It's criminal, but not negligent. [/quote] I'd still be interested to know if the band can be legally considered a partnership if they're not in it to make a profit.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1504093975' post='3362617'] ... [/quote] So when the drummer punches someone, you're all responsible? Where is the line?

It's at that point you realise you didn't actually make any money doing the gig either.

My concern when leaving an originals band would be to have some form of written contract regarding material I had a hand in writing. All it takes is for someone to come along in 10 years time and nick a sample off whatever website you've used, and use it to make a recording that makes millions and you're left high and dry. It's a slim chance but could always happen. Videos of the band are tricky, they're harder to re-shoot, but getting a photographer to the next gig the band does should be simple, and produce loads of promo material to replace the old stuff. Bands should be keeping websites updated with recent photos anyway so old gig pictures will slowly slide down and out.

Interesting comment in last night's Evening Standard about London's historic statues. https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/simon-jenkins-it-s-time-to-have-the-argument-about-london-s-historic-statues-a3622161.html

Yes. That's definitely more than a hobby.

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1504033503' post='3362270'] My home insurers are very helpful, but insist that playing gigs for money makes it professional use and therefore not covered under home insurance. I get a good deal from our local insurer as my wife works there, but they still couldn't bend the rules that far. [/quote] How many gigs and what types of gigs are you doing? Did they not even suggest an additional premium?

Every album has been different. Some people (like me) like that. I don't think they've made a bad album. Some I don't particularly enjoy or listen to as much as others. It depends on my mood mostly. I guess a lot of people get nostalgic about the good old power trio, screamy band. Moving Pictures is obviously the biggest success and as such speaks to most people, there's not a bad song in that whole album and in contrast Signals had a lot to live up to and didn't really deliver for me.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1504023924' post='3362184'] Unless it was a free charity gig I can't see them covering you, I'd actually agree with them too. Typical four piece band is less than £15 a year per member with Ampband, job done all legit. [/quote] My brother has done this. They agreed that the number of gigs he does and the amount he gets paid for the gigs meant no additional premium. However, they wanted extra to cover his bicycle when out of the house. People tend to take out lots of little 'specialist' insurance policies to cover their hobbies instead of talking to the company that handles insurance they already have. There's a clause in my home insurance that excludes paying out on anything that already has insurance. Hence you are paying for your musical instruments to be covered separately at home, when they're already covered under your house insurance and the house insurance won't pay out if they're stolen from home. So part of your 'specialist' insurance is being wasted.

Most home insurance will cover PLI as long as it's not for your business, trade or profession. So it's worth talking to you insurers exactly what that means if you are not technically running a business. Then get it in writing.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1504012932' post='3362106'] I had my MacBook knocked off a table at a gig in Bournemouth earlier this year. I wouldn't gamble again ever. [/quote] If you're taking £7k+ worth of gear to a gig, that's a different question entirely. Especially when your cheapest single item is worth more than all my gear put together. You really have all your eggs in one basket. My gear isn't even a 5th of yours.

A quick tot up of my gigging rig puts me at £1500. £4K seems an awful lot of money to me. That's a bass, an amp and two cabs. Any one of those items could become damaged but it would have to seriously kick off for it all to get trashed. If I was that worried about it I'd get it insured. I think last time I looked into it it was £50 a year.

Glad I saw them a couple of years ago. Has Peart said he'll never play again? There's no substance to that article at all. I understand they're not going to do great long international stadium tours but Metallica aren't doing those either. Two weeks at a time and even then not every night. People get old, I suppose, Geddy is a machine, that's what he wants to do, so I can understand the wish to push on. Does he need Lifeson to do that? I'd like to see a solo project.

Quite. It is the role of the musician to understand why tunes are as they are and to interpret the music and adapt to fit the occasion.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1503728374' post='3360530'] No not really, and yes, that's what we do but this is a discussion about some simple differences in playing that can enhance or detract from particular songs. I see you have experience of 2 numbers yourself. [/quote] Yes. What I have experience of is people trying (and failing badly) to recreate the exact original. And getting very frustrated in the process. It's something I really try to avoid now, I am not Bill Wyman or Paul McCartney. I've never heard any band recreate a track exactly as per the record and think there's a lot of people spending time on something that doesn't produce the results they think it does. As I say I've had better results when everyone just relaxes and plays something than when everyone gets fixed on how the original sounded. .

Oh god. Another thread of getting the cover exactly like the original. Just play the bloody tunes guys! The two tunes that spring to mind for me as being difficult to arrange for a band are Get Back by the Beatles and I'm a Believer by the Monkees. Both have strange intertwining rhythms and you have to work with the other musicians to decide who is going to cover what parts as they don't always just fall into place. I've had to abandon both songs in cover bands when people have been trying too hard, but nailed them both at jams. Never worked that out.

Tour of That There London? You'll be driving around as you won't get your PA and drum kit on the bus or tube. Assuming you're staying in London you'll be making a massive loss. Hotels will start at £80 a night each for a very low budget one. It's doable though.

[quote name='Bolo' timestamp='1503569685' post='3359221'] Depends on the direction of the wind I would think. Or am I reading this wrong? [/quote] No. It's always taken from the pole on the left hand side. So if the wind is blowing so the pole is on the right, you're looking at the back of the flag.

Assuming the story is true.

Some people don't want to forget.

But if you were as good as you could be and someone nit picked your playing, how would you respond?

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1503499970' post='3358755'] I'm embarassed to admit that I bought Now #4 on a cloudy day what feels like at least a century ago [/quote] Somewhere I have Now That's What I Call Music on vinyl. Think one of the tracks is The Camera Never Lies by Dollar. I think I've actually also got a couple of Top of the Pops albums as well. Although I think 'Album' is stretching it a bit. They're just compilations.