Leonard Smalls

Dear Ms. Trellis I would like to postulate that, perhaps, you have become immune to, or perhaps attuned to, or even consumed by the insidious evil present in Mr. Smalls "work". As an example, I'd like to present "Now That's What I Call Music", which appeared to absolutely no fanfare apart from its own chaotic and atonal aural assault 2 months ago. Note how carefully it was placed between almost normal offerings in order to inveigle its way into the minds and hearts of reasonable God-Fearing folk - this is where the slippery slope begins, and in order to halt the slide into an enjoyment of the sort of "music" that frightens small animals and ensures no repeat visitors to one's house, I would recommend a diet of Syrup of Figs and Burt Baccarach or failing that, a competent exorcist. In trepidation Anne Robinson

Indeed it does! But playing any song exactly as written doesn't require much creativity - making the song your own does. I have this argument with my mother a lot - she's only into covers and thinks nothing really good has been written since Beethoven's 9th 😉. I've pointed her in the direction of Jacques Loussier's covers of Bach's Italian Concerto, which I contend is how it should be played and JS himself would be proud, but she thinks it's blasphemy to mess with someone's choon!

That's an argument against any covers at all! 😁

2... Kington isn't in Shropshire.

Here's our band's one and only cover version - Penetration's Don't Dictate - from Going Feral Fest on 11-9-22:

Having been reminded of the film about the Jamaican bobsleigh team, and inspired by the recent thread on drum and bass, here's a bit of Caribbean-tinged DnB. With lots of bass! Bass is Lightwave Sabre fretless, drum programming via EZ with Roni Size sounds off Loopcloud. Vox are by me aor found on t'internet. All mixed in Ableton.

Had a great gig at a small festival (Going Feral) yesterday... It was the live debut of my new Royal Blood sound, with my Helix splitting a guitar tone off the bass, and both amplified separately. The sound tech took a bit of convincing to allow 2 feeds, what with us having another bass player and guitar, but it sounded awesome on stage through a Crown stereo power amp into MarkBass 2x10 and 4x10 with the ever-so punkrock Wal. And it probably sounded ok in the audience as well - a couple of blokes came up afterwards and said "you probably don't need the rest of the band!", which I took as a compliment but may have been more "you showin' off bastard you!". Still, quite a few folks came into the barn, which wasn't at all bad as we had the excellent Dead Sheeran playing on the other stage at the same time. And we got a decent bit of pay, for a change... But what made it all the more exciting was that our drummer was due to fly back from his holidays, but his flight was delayed by 5 hours and he arrived direct from Birmingham Airport with minutes to spare.

Bit bland for me... Needs fewer long-held e-piano chords and bit more grunt to get me interested. Quite like their vids though.

Our drummer lives just south of Kingston...

Me too! But given the paucity of bass round these here Borders I should have done at least 10... And I'm actually nearer to one of the very few (@Bleat) than I indicated on the map - security, doncha know!

I think this is my problem - I have a serious aversion to organised "fun". Not to having fun, but to be expected to enjoy something that's clearly sh1te!

Indeed! I only use my bass to keep the dragons off my beetroot!

Doesn't everyone to some extent! What I'm actually doing is saying that the idea of going on a cruise is my idea of hell. If folks who like being smart casual and aspire to the golf club (whether they're old or not!) want to go and be stuck on a ship twice the size of the Titanic with thousands of like-minded souls they're most welcome! But then, to be fair, I wouldn't go on a beach package holiday either - I went on one once with a couple of mates as a very cheap way of going climbing in Mallorca, and we were incredibly pleased when the tour rep told us on the bus that the 3 of us were unfortunately being sent to a mostly Italian package hotel instead. Italian food, continental brekkie and absolutely no pressure to socialise or go on organised excursions... Nearest I've been to a cruise is the ferry to Santander - there was a competent band playing music I didn't want to listen to and a quiz, which bizarrely only had questions about Eastenders.

It's nowt to do with being old, it's to do with being stuck on a cruise ship with the type of people I actively avoid! Perhaps my perception is somewhat skewed, but aspiration to golf club membership, smart casual slacks and deep squareness are not my scene, Daddy-o! If I go on hols I want mountains, or serious scenery, climbing or similar, very few people about and a quiet bar for a Pelforth brun or 2 after another day cheating death...

As far as I'm concerned, a cruise ship is one of the seven circles of hell! But I suspect, with my oldbloke mohawk, combats and 110% Psychobilly tshirt I wouldn't be the first to be invited to the Captain's table...

I've done it (sort of )... Though it does go through my Helix to be split into 2 different channels, one of which goes into a guitar amp and the other into bass amp. only problem is played fretted makes me a bit sloppy in terms of left hand position, and at 170bpm it can be difficult to slide out of a bum note!

I'll be playing at Going Feral punk fest this Sunday... And I'll be using a Wal with a Lightwave Fretless and ACG Recurve as backup! My view is that it's attitude and how you play that counts. I shan't be wearing a Fred Perry and jeans either - undecided between a leatherette black and white Elvis suit, snakeskin kecks and cowprint brothel creepers or pinstripe drape jacket, drainpipe leather kecks and zebra creepers. Rock'n'Roll!

Indeed... After hearing that album the year after they were formed, the Rolos went away and produced a spitting image of the Bring Me's offering. Here it is live, in a lingerie shop in 2008 - as you can see every rock cliche is present and correct 😁

Perhaps my problem isn't so much Bring me the Compromison, but most metal... Because the majority within each part of the genre appear to be exactly the same! However, now I've said that the same applies to most punk - same old set formulas, all wear the same Fred Perry and jeans. And just about every other genre; in funk it's about parties and getting down, pop is all OOh I luv U baby, and jazz is all about recreating the milder fringes of bebop without getting anywhere near the interesting stuff in the middle. Perhaps that's why I'm drawn far more to leftfield stuff; in metal, I like Rolo Tomassi. In punk/metal it's Suicidal Tendencies. Funk is all about The P, and jazz-wise it's Ornette and weirder. Mainstream music generally gives me the willies, and not in a good way

For balance!

So you want to parade your snazz on your five grand stereo?

Apart from this! Then there's this one (dribbling with bad language, I'm afraid!) And of course:

It was all on the script the committee gave him! 😁

Personally I prefer jazz-rock improvisation that works within a pre-agreed formula, like Zorn and Ribot here!

I've played one gig with our punkfunk band using the fretless. The main difference,I found, was that it was more difficult to get a sound that cut through the other bass and the guitar. Nobody noticed that it was a fretless, though there were comments on how cool the Lightwave looked in black...