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Leonard Smalls

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Posts posted by Leonard Smalls

    Stuff that great to you now after initially being quite disappointed

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    When I was a young goth student I supplemented my grant by doing funk djing... As this was back in the 80s I had no idea how to find records by new funk artists - the NME and Sounds were no help!

    So I'd go and browse Jumbo Records imports section (can you tell where I was?) and buy anything with a black guy on the cover holding a bass, especially if it said in the credits "thanks to God and my mom"

    One day I bought an album that fulfilled all those criteria - sharp suit, sharp haircut, Stenberger bass, thanks to God and mom... Took it home expecting The Bomb, and it was a crazy jazz cacophony - funky, to be fair, but absolutely mad with ridiculous widdling and absolutely no-one urging us to hold our hands in the air.

    I late learned (after I had an epiphany and grew to love it, just not for discos!) that the man was Ornette Coleman's Prime Time bass player, and the album was:

    R-1766218-1258058991.jpeg.jpg

    • Like 2

    Steely Dan, aja, where's the good bit?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, JellyKnees said:

    Kind of like what the exceptionally clever Stuart Lee does with his comedy. If you don't 'get it', then you have only my pity and ultimately, my scorn.

    Now I love Stewart (!) Lee, and would strongly dispute that what he does with comedy is anything like what old Soapy Dan did with muzak!

    Mr. Lee is edgy, pushed boundaries and is very clever.

    SD are most certainly not edgy, they didn't push any boundaries at all, and while they were obviously quite clever I feel they weren't quite as clever as they thought they were :biggrin: After all, they're not exactly Ornette Coleman. Or Miles Davis, or Coltrane, or anyone else who moved music on in leaps and bounds. They created their own sound, to be fair, and they're pretty instantly recognisable (though that's largely down to Fagin's {nails-on-a-blackboard} voice), but it was only ever just nice. And you'd never say Stewart Lee was nice. Michael Mcintyre, maybe!

    Still, each to their own; it's not like they're Little Mix at least!!!

    • Like 2

    Steely Dan, aja, where's the good bit?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    For me, the best thing about Steely Dan is the name :biggrin:

    Otherwise, I find they veer wildly through all sorts of musical genres, from Elevator through to Dinner Jazz then all the way into Full On Cheese. Just to annoy they'll follow all that with a minute of sublime groove, then it's back to ElevatorDinnerCheese topped off with that annoying voice.

    So while they play very well indeed, and what they play is perfectly executed, I just wish they'd played something with a little more edge (not The Edge, obvs), perhaps with cojones of at least quadruple the size they normally display!

     

    • Like 2

    Why be in a covers band?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I feel a quota system might be good though...

    So all cover bands would have to submit set lists to The Powers That Be. On a first-com-first-served basis individual song choices would be limited, so that by the time (for some songs!) 1 band has said it's going to play "Sex on Fire" no other bands would be able to play it until the next gig (if they're quick enough). That way when you walk between boozers that do covers bands you won't hear Freebird in all of them.

    Some songs would have special dispensation, so if you were going to do a Shockabilly type version of Smoke on the Water that'd be fine, or if you were to attempt a funk version of the Cramps' "Human Fly" you'd be awarded extra credits to play unlimited Mustang Sallys...

    It would encourage some creativity in set list choices!

    • Like 1
    • Haha 3

    Two more gone!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Gang of Four's influential guitarist Andy Gill died last Saturday, and legendary jazz guitarist Ronny Drayton died yesterday...

    For those who don't know Ronny, he played with Jamaaladeen Tacuma (check "Dreamscape"), James Blood Ulmer, Living Colour, Nona Hendryx, Defunkt and many more.

    RIP!

     

    • Sad 1

    Future Impact v3 and now V4

    in Effects

    Posted

    Anybody else suffering a low-level high pitched whistle from their FI? Is it likely to suffer impedance issues when connected to a FX loop blender with other FX on other loops? It's only the FI producing a whistle - not the BassWhammy, FwonkBeta or 3Leaf Envelope Filter...

    Bit of fun - concerts you've seen

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    First concert - Jiving Daleks at the Albion, Chester, 1979, closely followed by Ian Dury and the Blockheads at Deeside 1979


    Last concert - Haven't seen a big band for years - not since Hall and Oates in Birmingham 2003ish. Twas cheesey… Lots of local bands though!


    Best concert - Either time I saw Ian Dury (2nd time at Madstock where we had backstage passes), or Kraftwerk at Liverpool Empire 1980ish, or Chilli Peppers at the Mean Fiddler 1987ish, or Bootsy at the Barbican 1997ish, or Jonas Hellborg at the Bass Clef in 1992 or so, or perhaps Butthole Surfers at the Mean Fiddler, 91ish


    Worst concert - Lost Virgins From Outer Space at the Opera on the Green (terrible! couldn't even tune their own instruments) or Primal Scream at the Town and Country Club - the sound was appalling and they played very badly!


    Loudest concert - Swans at the Mean Fiddler. Eek!


    Seen the most - Wilko Johnson or Ozric Tentacles


    Most surprising - Sky Architect


    Next concert - Wilko Johnson in Shrewsbury


    Wish I would have seen - Sex Pistols when they played Quaintways in Chester. They wouldn't let me in!

    Combining effects? Advice please.

    in Effects

    Posted

    I always use combined effects 😁

    I normally have on a Future Impact bass synth (with 80s funk zeeeeeeooooow sound), two different envelope followers (one's a Bootsy fwapfwap sound, the other adds a sweep low end), plus basswhammy pedal which either adds one or two octaves (I emphasise some vocal lines by following them 2 octaves up), plus Darkglass tube distortion to thicken up and add grit. All except the distortion are on separate loops of a Wounded Paw blender, so I can control loop and blend levels with the Darkglass on the final output.

    Not sure how that helps with a Line 6... But I'd say play with it; it's taken me a couple of years to work out how all mine fitted together!

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    Choked! First gigs...

    in Gigs

    Posted · Edited by Leonard Smalls

    Another gig booked, this time at the Dementia benefit fest at The Dolls House - we're on right in the middle of Punk Easter Sunday!

    Edited to add: postponed....

     

    received_1717387128404583.jpeg

    Choked! First gigs...

    in Gigs

    Posted

    13 hours ago, lurksalot said:

    a stop over in Nottingham and then the Manchester bass show on the way home

    Excellent! It'll give you the chance to see our new direction, with breathey vocals and Clannad style backing.

    😁😁😁

    Full Chester Massive or Lurksalone?

    What song are you learning?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Currently working on a punkjazzfunk version of this with the band - we'd thought we'd give the singer (and audience!) a few minutes to quietly contemplate mounting chaos... May never happen but who knows - we played a convincing groove based on it yesterday!

     

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