thunderbird13

Actually I was never that fond of The Astoria with its early closing policy. I must have lost a fortune with all the drinks that I had to leave behind

SHOCK NEWS - Bassist tells guitarist to turn up [quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1337947268' post='1667823'] I saw Mastodon at the Islington Academy a couple of years ago and one of the guitarists was inaudible for the ENTIRE SET. [/quote]

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1337871392' post='1666770'] We haven't heard from Brummie, BigJim or thunderbird13 for a while. Hope they are still in or it might just end up with 4 or 5 of us. [/quote] Unfortuneatly it looks like I wont be able to make it , I have a training course in the morning and then family stuff to do in the afternoon - hope you have fun anyway and perhaps see you at the next one

Yeah I know all about that pain ! One thing about my Stagg which is bugging me is that the holes that the arms fit into arent great . body one on the right hand side just about fits in but the smaller one the left just wont go in . Not a huge problem but I wondered if anyone else had this

I might be able to make it but I have a training course in SE London until 2.30 on Sat so the earliest I'll be there is 4, will there be anyone left at that time ?

I've just had an email from Gumtree saying that my ad for a Rikenfacker has been pulled as it breaches copyright. Not that fussed as I wasnt getting any decent offers anyway but just shows how hard they are being now !

I bought one a few years ago during my last " I'm giving up bass forever " hissy fits . I still have it perched on my shelf in my music room and occasionally I do batter it but I havent really put any effort into learning it properly. I did enquiry about Bodhran lessons in London and the bloke was charging something like 35 quid an hour

[quote name='Mog' timestamp='1335826872' post='1636785'] Jaysus its a bit of a minefield really. Depends on what you want. Ballads, songs for voice or songs for dance. Personally I hate most of the stuff but can recommend Planxty highly. Others worth a look are The Chieftains and the Clancy brothers band. [/quote] I have to agree with this , I would love to like more Irish folk but there is a lot of stuff which I really cant get on with ( Foster and Allen anyone ? ) Its also worth listening punk / folk crossover as it can be interesting - check out Flogging Molly

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1335870845' post='1637175'] From left field so to speak check out the first two Horslips albums "Happy to meet...sorry to part" and "The Tain". Horslips broke the mold. They are slightly after Planxty but at the time Irish music was either very traditional, ballad based or showbands (showbands played the hits of the time in a sub Radio Two sort of way and were excrutiating) Horslips arrived a couple of years before punk and were prg-rock irish for want of a better description. Trad instruments plus drums, bass and keyboards and playing and looking like a rock band. Far more influential than their commercial success becaaus ethey showed that music could be done different. [b]Bob Geldof cites them as an inspiration.[/b] Steve [/quote] That was all going so well up to that point

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1335791480' post='1636031'] Thanks! Actually we have two more gigs in the next 8 days Land of Kings festival in Dalston (E. London) next Saturday (5 May) Bull & Gate, Kentish Town a week Wednesday (9 May) BTW, I've still not rehearsed the set with the band yet! So far I've had an audition, a gig, two rehearsals for a studio recording of five songs, and then the recording session on Saturday. Learning by doing!!! [/quote] Hi Clarky Have you got the times when you'll be onstage for these gigs - will have to try to get down to see you at some stage. Good luck for tonight !

I'd gladly swap Tainted Love for yet another piece of mid era Clapton sh*te that the guitarist insists upon playing even when me and the keyboard player have both questioned his sanity

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1335559948' post='1633283'] Each to his own and all that though, innit? For example, I don't like ...er, Chas 'n' Dave.* [size=1]* [size=4]I do really, they're freakin' [/size][i][size=4]awesome[/size]![/i][/size] [/quote]

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1335560873' post='1633306'] Quite! I don't like mushrooms. Honest, I hate them, really detest them, loathe them, the mere thought of them sends me... [/quote] I used to work with a woman who had a phobia to mushrooms , it was the ridges underneath the top which gave her the creeps

Well that was dissapointing - after all the rave reviews I found their album on Spotify, lasted about 5 tracks then had to turn it off - yet another band I dont get

Well thanks to you guys I've gone and got an EUB .Its only a cheap Stagg which I saw on Gumtree but after playing it for a few days I'm quite impressed by it. One thing I've noticed is that my left arm aches a a bit after playing for a while - is this normal or should I try to develop better technique , I do have a stand for it but it tends to hold it in too upright a postion

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1335173449' post='1626531'] Welcome to the dark side. I was out with the Wild Hunt this weekend - a St George's day thing in Horley on Saturday and a Pagan Festival in Balham on Sunday. Yes, I agree, it's the most fun I've ever had as a performing muso. Out again tomorrow night for a barn dance in Purley, and we're doing a set at dawn (well, 5.30am anyway) on Mayday at Box Hill, and then Rochester Sweeps and the Hastings Jack in the Green festivals over the Bank Holiday weekend. Oh the joys of turning up with just the squeeze-box in a small rucksack, and one other small bag for kit - no setting up, no soundchecks, no gear-sharing hassles. Bliss! Not to mention not having to keep trying to persuade friends to come to gigs - we never seem to be short of an audience. A couple of weeks ago we performed in Downe - a small village near Biggin Hill. We started performing in a deserted village street, and at the end of the first dance, we were greeted with a round of applause, as an audience had appeared apparently from nowhere. Can't see me going back to electric bands now (though never say "never"!). [/quote] Seems like your playing near to where I live - I should really check your group out

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1334999658' post='1624496'] Music was never a force for change. Occasionally it has run in parallel to other "forces for change" but has never instigated change. These days music is just wallpaper to most people in this country. [/quote] This - I remember the 80's when every indie band seemed to be political ( red wedge anyone ) cant seem to rememeber it doing any good to Labour election chances. I suppose its nice for musicians to thnk tha they are so important that all they have to do is write a song about something and it will change it but TBH I dint think this has ever happened

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1334571360' post='1617641'] and maybe copping a quick hand-job while you're loading out. [/quote] Well I hope its not the drummer again - hes not very sensitive

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1334571336' post='1617638'] I think there are too many venues and bands that will work too cheap... ( fine line and all that ) if the pub/venue has to fill up their dates and takes chances...then the standard invariably drops a few times. It doesn't take long to kill a venue. [/quote] This + 100 As a punter I used to go with my missus to a few local pubs at weekends when we had nothing else planned. TBH we saw so many second and third rate bands that we decided it wasnt worth the time and the effort and we'd be better off saving our money and staying at home

When I think back to when I started off on bass one of the big problems I had was that I could hear the bass properly on songs that I wanted to learn. Once I had trained myself to hear bass then the next thing was to train myself to hear the bass drum and them on a more complicated level how the drums and the bass interact and them how the other instruments inter act with that. The point is that listening to music in that critical sense is something which doesn’t come naturally to most people so if they don’t train themselves they listen to the singer , feel the beat and everything else is pretty much filler. And if they’re enjoying themselves then fair play So no musical talent isn’t needed to entertain the punters But I think that to get into a band in the first place , and to keep your place you need to impress musos in the auditions

I watched bits of it last night and TBH I wasnt that impressed by the bands - even fell asleep during Lynard Skynard - nostalgia aint what it used to be

The other thing that really gets me is when the seller doesnt even bother to describe the item but just copys pastes from the manufacturers website IMO if you cant be bothered writing 2 sentences describing your gear then you cant think that much of it

In my opinion there are a LOT of idiots out there in music and you tend to come across them in auditions and I could go into the problems I've had but I'll save that for another day . The one thing that I'm curious about is as the band gets more professional does their attitude improve ? For example I'm pretty much at the botttom of the food chain, my gear isn't great and my playing isn't in any way special so the bands I try out for are the ones who will play a gig in a local pub on a Tuesday night in front of 5 people and consider it a big deal. Unfortunatley the people I meet for audtions are generally not that nice and seem to have an inflated view of their own importance Do the bands that are higher up ,make money out of it and are better musicians behave more professionally ?

they tend to close the lines all day - they certainly did last Sunday. Still go ahead and organise a date and see if people can work around it somehow if they are relying upon trains