Leonard Smalls

We've got a playlist of 1100 tracks I've put together... It's probably 65% reggae ranging from Rebel Sojie dub, to Bill Laswell's Dub Chamber to the Abyssininans... That's all likely to be interspersed with stuff like Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Fatback Band and bizarrely, early Simple Minds and Monochrome Set.

Funnily enough, that track came up on our garden centre playlist earlier!

My other band is Dredd and the Badass Weeds... Can you guess which one Dredd is?

A mate of mine sent me his new album recently... It was a cassette! So I got in touch and after calling him a sad retro hipster dude he told me to look under the flap where the tape was and to swing out the USB connector. But the thing even rattled like a cassette!

I've got a strap on at the moment due to peroneal tendonitis... (no sniggering! and it's per-O-neal, not per-I-neal). It's a nasty ankle pain, which appears to be a repetitive strain injury caused by over-enthusiastic foot tapping to keep time - a legacy from our old drummer who didn't seem to be able to do that. Any more unexpected bass injuries?

We'll be debuting our new 2 bass line up, featuring yours truly on widdle bass, and Raph, ex of Hereford punx Terminal Rage, on rhythm bass... Basschat's very own @cheddatom is on in the evening with Headsticks... https://www.facebook.com/events/849392645569098?ref=newsfeed

Not sure if we've had any Buttholes yet... Seeing them at the Mean Fiddler was probably the most violent gig I ever went to (though the Modernaires at Chester Gateway ran it close!); There was a mini riot outside in the crowd who couldn't get in, there was a hail of glasses thrown at the stage for some reason, one of which cut Gabby quite badly. Though he barely flinched - he set himself on fire a bit later (as you do).

I love a good FunkShow... Saw Zapp back in the early 80s - awesome!

And Robert Plant lives in north Herefordshire... Though it appears that the borders region tends do be where old rock stars are put out to grass! There's Bob, then there's a member of Jethro Tull who lives next door to us. Then there was Ronnie Lane's farm, which was just up the road near BC. But if you ask folks round here what music you like it's either Wurzels or Quo... We don't play many local gigs!

The actual problem was they mixed it in Dobly. Everyone knows you don't do heavy metal in Dobly!

I always thought Bob Marley was being a touch sexist with his "No Woman" - after all, you can't really blame women for all the murders and robberies and other bad stuff! That was until I realised he wasn't actually singing "No woman no crime"

There's definitely an art to using a sample in a groovy and musical way... Frinstance, Bug Powder Dust by Bomb the Bass really funks up a snippet of bass line from a Flora Purim tune!

Crazy nutter music...

I discovered him by accident, having bought this on spec from the record and tape exchange on Goldhawk Road back in the 90s for 50p!

I'm afraid I've been busy.... This month I've been mostly listening to Albert Collins. So I thought I'd do some blues, with keyboards duelling with guitars, more guitars and more keys. I felt this was far kinder than unleashing my much-feared "blues voice"! Bass is a Sandberg Basic, Drums Jabo Sparks via EZ Drummer with extras by me, guitars a mixture of strat and Ample guitars vst, all through various Amplitube and Bias FX sims. Keys are sounds from Addictive Keys vst. Polish and glitter supplied by Ozone 9 and Neutron 3.

After enjoying Amyl and the Sniffers latest, I went searching for other Aussie Mulleteers In Shorts... Enjoy!

I think this was the first thing I heard when I switched on 6Music in the morning... I'm liking it!

Aye! But only for those who might be anywhere near our shop just outside Ludlow... Still swear by it!

Callouses will build up over time...but meanwhile, I'd recommend a hand cream called "Farmer's Hand Cream". When I was sparkying I found it would prevent my finger tips from splitting - this happened after repeated contact with sharp copper cable ends. And if I haven't been playing enough smearing some on soothes any soreness and speeds callous formation... It's not cheap, but last for ages - luckily we sell it in our shop so I get it at discount!

2 from the stranger end... Both contain some awesome playing!

Eek! I've got to be at work today so only this eve to get cracking! If my entry sounds even more like a drunken fistfight than usual it's because I cracked open the Chivas Royal Salute...

That ain't necessarily so! No matter what technical level a player is at, if they can't feel the funk they'll be fakin' it. And as George said, "if you fake The Funk, your nose gotta grow!" In other words,in order to properly play The Funk you've got to know and love it; The Funk not only moves, it can Re-move, ya dig?

I think most stuff other folks called influential passed me by, whether at the time or in retrospect... When folks were into the Smiths I was spending my time listening to dub, gogo and free jazz. When I was a kid and all my little mates liked the Sweet (boys) or Bay City Rollers (girls) I discovered James Brown and Parliament. When Oasis came along I was obsessed with Baroque music, and hair metal pushed me towards Kraftwerk, Front 242 and Einstürzende Neubauten! And most 70s rock makes me want to listen to Magma...