Leonard Smalls

Aye - that's what we're minded to do... We just know to steer clear of this promoter!

Wadduwedo? We agreed to play a gig in a local pub a few months ago; it was supposed to be a "music festival" - we were told we weren't getting paid because they'd run out of money, but that there were plenty of bands on - we were told we were on at 3pm on 27th May. We accepted, because the promoter said that he had some slots at a much bigger festival in a nearby town - and besides, as a newly starting out originals-only band we normally get a max of £100 anyway - we thought speculate/accumulate etc. So there was no sign of any publicity - bearing in mind this pub is in a tourist area where many folks stay b&b and might not appreciate suddenly finding out with no warning that there's bands on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. For some, of course it might be heaven - but as I said, absolutely no publicity. So we did a bit of publicity, a local fanzine picked it up and put it in their highlights for the month section, when we discovered that we were the only band not getting paid. Which we weren't happy about - promoter was emailed, took ages to reply, basically said don't worry, there'll be loads of publicity, it'll do you good etc. So we decided to go ahead - if only because of Shrop Rocks Picks-of-the-month thingummy - didn't want to let folks down who might actually come and see us! Still no publicity, not mentioned on pub website with only 2 weeks to go... Then we discover we're on at 730, and this is only because I hassled the landlord of the pub who has nowt to do with putting on music and he hassled Mr No-Publicity-Is-Good-Publicity. Then a flyer finally appears with full line-up. And the %£&*$@ has got our band's name wrong! Not only that but he hasn't replied to any of our messages! We know quite a few people are coming to see us, and it's our only local gig for months. Do we cancel because of the catalogue of incompetence, or play anyway?

http://www.drumscreens.co.uk/drumscreens/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=29

Here's mine again...

Did an afternoon slot at The Grapes in Hereford yesterday for the Royal Bedding Musicians Against Homelessness benefit all-dayer. The audience was mainly the other bands- apparently it filled up in the evening - but they all cheered in a supportive fashion, and not a single one threw a pint glass full of piddle at us. Which was nice! We were, as usual, too fast,but surprisingly tight given the breakneck pace of some of our funkier numbers - this probably went down better wot with many punk and metal bands being on...

I've been trying to get a Spinal Tap tribute band together for years, but can't find a drummer.

Those were my handy-for-London Cat 4 glacier goggles...

Not sure if it's "like a rock-star", but I used to go out like this... The boots are yellow and purple, and the cod-piece is home-made out of a rubber glove...

We played an excellent little café-bar in Worcester on Friday... Only downside was that it was tiny - stage was the width of the supplied drum-kit plus bass amp which meant guitar amp and PA were in front of me and drummer with no vocal monitoring. And because the guitarist/singer was right in front of his guitar amp and in front of us he was in a little world of his own amongst the audience which made seeing cues difficult! Still, we played reasonably well, there were positive comments from the "crowd" and heard from the owner that a group of people were dancing in the main bar area, which was unfortunately shielded from us by a wall. Roll on Hereford next week - where we only get a 30 minute set and there's 10 bands on!

There's Tim, who's mainly electronics and I don't know at all, and Jez whose short-scale Gibson bass I used to borrow - he did early drum stuff; Keith was their main live drummer and was also in MDMA with Jez previously. K's got a great photo of himself standing, sticks held aloft triumphantly in front of a completely full Wembley Stadium when they supported U2...

If it was their live, as opposed to studio, drummer that was Keith; he's still the drummer in the Badass Weeds with me , Andy from New FADS on vox, John from Snapdragons and Andy from Cassandra Complex on guitar. Aftet nearly 35 years of on-off existence the Weeds may still do as many as 1 gig a year...

Aye, but an obscure one!

I was in a band in the early 80s in Leeds... 2 of the members went on to become the Utah Saints, one went and joined the Rollins Band and one - the son of a famous agony aunt - went on to become a famous tv foodie and restaurant critic. I stayed resolutely unknown.

Here's me looking rockfish at the Marquee, 1990-something...

As far as I'm concerned, that's "Jammin'"! But, as Wikipedia says: A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp on tunes, songs and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements, except for when the group is playing well-known jazz standards or covers of existing popular songs. Original jam sessions, also 'free flow sessions', are often used by musicians to develop new material (music) and find suitable arrangements. Both styles can be used simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one participant, or may be wholly improvisational. Jam sessions can range from very loose gatherings of amateurs to evenings where a jam session coordinator or host acts as a "gatekeeper" to ensure that only appropriate-level performers take the stage, to sophisticated improvised recording sessions by professionals which are intended to be broadcast live on radio or TV or edited and released to the public. I'm all for the improvising/free-flow approach rather than same-old same-old, though it appears that this is much rarer, especially in pub "jam sessions". Still, I guess punters prefer what they know rather than the possibility of a load of self-indulgent musos letting out their inner Derek Bailey/Peter Brotzmann!

Who knows! When I first started playing along to funk records in the early 80s all I knew was that the slap sound was produced with the thumb, but never having seen anyone use the slap I sort of made it up - and in the absence of any attempting to use proper technique it sort of stuck! It means I have difficulty playing anybody else's lines due to my self-imposed ham-fistedness... Pedal-wise, I've got the fx loop of a BBE pre going into a dbx rack compressor, then into a Wounded Paw v4 blender. One loop of that goes into a Digitech bass whammy followed by Dod envelope filter. Next loop is a Darkglass tube distortion into 3 Leaf envelope filter, and the last one is a Boss bass synth - all are blended with clean and back into the BBE via the other channel of dbx compression.

I made the mistake, many years ago, of assuming a Jam Night was actually involving any sort of jam... So rather than bringing my patent home-made raspberry/blackberry/redcurrant/elderberry concoction I wheeled my 4' high bass cab and rack of amps/effects into the pub. Where I was confronted by an array of Catweazles clutching penny whistles, bodrums etc, while at the mic was someone gently strumming an acoustic guitar and singing "I'm Leaving (on a jet plane)" (EEEK!) The "Jam" leader came up to me and asked what I wanted to play - I said I'd like to have a jam with some free-thinking people who are into making music in order to see where it goes; he said "we normally only have people coming up and doing a couple of folk songs that everybody knows; perhaps you can back one of them?" So I played in the background to a few songs I've never heard, without having been told chords or anything, all the while thinking "perhaps the damson conserve would have gone down a lot better". Now I know that many people's idea of a jam isn't quite the same as mine; it took me 10 years after this to actually find a band in the area!

Here's a bit of phone footage from a recent gig - can hear more bass at about 1'15"...

Funky clav...

How much more versatile are these expensive synth pedals than my humble Boss Bass Synth? I'm currently getting some great synthey-funk-wah tones using this blended with 3 Leaf envelope filter/Darkglass tube distortion and Bass Whammy into DOD envelope filter and oodles of compression...

If you're getting hum on an un-connected amp or combo that's another problem entirely - perhaps it's worth Portable Appliance Testing the amp to make sure there isn't an earth problem? Otherwise, a 230V isolating transformer may help...

Ground lift exists to disconnect the earths of connected equipment to prevent earth loop hum... So it doesn't actually disconnect the earth connection from the equipment, only from the return cable in an xlr in/out.

Audio, btw was recorded live in our living room direct onto DAT tape... We supported Carter USM at venues like the Marquee, Edwards no.8 in Birmingham, Gloucester Town Hall and a number of others dulled in my memory! Gaye Bykers spent a lot of time at our house drinking Jack Daniels, and we supported them in venues as varied as the Old Trout in Windsor, Corn Exchange in Exeter and somewhere-or-other in Oxford. Saw Silverfish a few times, but shoegaze wasn't really my thing.

No pick for me, but weird thumb/fingerstyle hybrid for me too, except I always play up by the neck - there's a noticeably worn area there on my Wal! So I use thumb-as-pick, or slap, or 2-3 fingers - often all 3 randomly within a song as if my right hand has a mind of its own... Bit like this:

Shifts all the time... But: Bop Gun - Parliament More Bounce - Zapp Get up offa that thing - James Brown Let's Start the Dance - Hamilton Bohannon Electrocuties - Funkadelic Disco to go - Brides of Funkenstein Drop the Bomb - Trouble Funk Release Yourself - Graham Central Station Do what you wanna do - T Connection