Leonard Smalls

First gig on an actual bass was with Dredd and the Badass Weeds, as we were known then, must have been early 1985 at a party in Chestnut Avenue, Leeds... I borrowed a short scale Gibson off Jez Utah (I didn't own one, taught myself to play on an acoustic guitar!). We had 4 actual "songs" - a punk thing called "Thatcher's Britain", a bit of metalishness ("Loud and Proud" with the chorus Heavy Metal Music, Loud and Proud! Mysterious goblins, Dressed in shrouds), a funky ditty called "That ain't a thing (it's a thang)" and a reggae thing called "Sex Feeling" (it had inadvertently laugh-out-loud lyrics which I won't repeat 😄). But we played for probably 2.5 hours, having rehearsed at most twice and basically improvised some vaguely funky rocky and occasionally reggae stuff. And weirdly we got a gig at the University Tartan Bar a couple of weeks later, then at the Warehouse despite a lack of actual coherence and rehearsal. And in early spring next year, to celebrate 40 years we're releasing our first EP!

It is the FOH that counts, though there's not many PAs in small to medium venues that will accurately reproduce 30Hz at any volume. You'll get hints of it, but as Dan says you'll get far more in the way of overtones which just point at it. The problem is that PA systems are designed to be efficient so they go very loud, unlike some hifi systems which can be just the opposite. I've got 2 pairs of Hifi speakers that will produce 30Hz at volume - Leema Xaviers which have an F3 point of 28Hz and Ditton 66/series 2s which have an F6 of 18Hz. However, I need to use a Bryston power amp which produces 968w RMS/channel to do that. And both speakers are around 86dB/w efficient, so they soak up the power! However, if your 4x10 cab is a Mesa Subway 4x10 has an efficiency of 100.4dB/w, which of course means they have far less extension that my hifi speaks (but will go a lot louder!) - the actual F3 figure (i.e. where output is 3dB below the mid frequency level) is 59.4 Hz, with an F10 figure(which equates to being half as loud as F3) of 41.3Hz. So if you're lucky, the output at 30Hz is likely to be 1/4 as loud as the F3! So you're actually not going to be reproducing much at 30Hz either FOH or from speaker monitoring. Your IEMs may reproduce it, but that doesn't help the audience, and the electronics are largely irrelevant as most have at least a range of 20-20000Hz. If you want to get nearer to a magical 30Hz at volume, the Mesa Subway 2x15 will do F10 @ 37Hz... But a Trace 1818, if you've got the back for it, will give an F6 of 28Hz...

Don't make Me Wait! - Peech Boys

19th Nervous Breakdown - Shockabilly

It may have been Bob Dylan's "Hard Rain" in 1980... Mr. Quigley, an RE teacher at our school put together a sixth form band to play before a screening of the BBC's docudrama "The War Game". We did two other songs as well, that I have no memory at all of - probably CrosbyStillsNash or somesuch knowing Mr Q. I was on keys, and on bass was the brother of our own @lurksalot - I had a go on his rubber-stringed Hohner violin thing which possibly kindled my future musical direction (and it wasn't Dylan covers, or Hohner basses!).

I used to work with Doc Cox! Anyway: Still Smoking - Trouble Funk

Porn to be alive - Patrick Hernandez

Ich Tu Dir Weh - Rammstein

I often go lower than this with my 4 string not-bass (see, I'm using the new terminology, though not-bass is perhaps a touch clumsy; I shall contact Bootsy, Victor, Stanley and Jaco's ghost for suggestions). Octavers are ace, in moderation! Though most bass cabs have a quoted low end response of around 40Hz, and that's usually -6dB...

I do like a rap battle, so long as there's some humour (there usually is!). I often watch Rap Game too...

Whole Lada Love - Led Zepp

Mustang Sally!!!!!

Travolta - Mr Bungle

And the top bass argument which invariably leads to full on fisticuffs and world war: Slap?

Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk - Parliament

Personally, I spent about 1/2 an hour playing a five string, plus about the same again being harangued by the chap at Bass Direct saying that I had to buy a five string if I wanted to be a proper bass player. I decided I was happy with four and that I probably wasn't willing to practice for the thousands of hours it would take to master it to what was possible on that, never mind learning the extra stuff a fiver would entail. That way I saved myself £Loads which I spent a bit on doing the Gary Willis bass course, and the rest on hookers'n'coke.

There are some good 'uns! When RATM released "Killing in the name of" with it's iconic "F you I won't do what you tell me" refrain those wags at Suicidal HQ came up with this (though they were, as ever, just a bit tongue in cheek which sort of runs against the self-obsessed norm of some "talents"):

Last gig of the year for us, unless we get another booked sharpish! At Worcester's excellent Marrs Bar celebrating the release of local legends Phon's album release...

Sensemilla - Black Uhuru

Of course they can. This is the internet!! 😁

The Power of The One - Bootsy Collins

In Times Of Trouble - Trouble Funk

Mine are usually either leopard or zebra print suede brothel creepers...

The harder they come - Jimmy Cliff

Pic from last night...