12stringbassist

I'm watching this because I want to see the owner get it back.

Last night we played at the Musketeer in Leigh, Lancashire. It's always been one of those gigs where the crowd turns up 5 minutes before the band starts. We had been talking to them about taking our long-established jam night there, but we couldn't get timings that suited us all. We did a well-received first spot and a lengthy second spot. We certainly blew off the cobwebs in the place. It was great that the 'new' line-up of the band was so readily accepted at one of our favourite venues. It was a bit of a special gig for us, as our guitarist's wife gives birth next Fri (planned birth) and so we are taking the band off the road during February.

1 - Pedals. I have no problem with any sort of effect, guitar synth as long as it is being played by a person. 2 - Emulators to get sounds - no problem with that, as long as a person is playing it. 3 - Bands using backing tracks. Unless you are the Who playing Won't get foold again or Baba O'Riley, then I'm off. I don't willingly stand around and watch bands that rely on tracks to sound like they are any good. If you want to use Tracey's tapes, you're NOT a full band. IMHO. YMMV. Programming is a different discussion to AI creating music. I use sequencers on some recordings, but don't take them on a stage. 4 - Bands replacing drummers with machines. Nope. 5 - Solo artists with backing tracks. Burn them. 6 - DJ's. Obviously they are THE DEVIL, but we already knew that. 7 - Jukeboxes. They are what they are. I'd say none of those points refer to the discussion about the creation of music by AI though.

I don't mind the idea of the use of AI to actually help to shape a sound, but when it comes to any actual performance aspect, it should come from a human.

Wishing you all the very best.

I have never really expected my former workmates to do much in the way of making an effort to attend my gigs. I guess they saw more than enough of me at work and vice versa. I don't think some of them were particularly interested in live music, regardless of who was playing it, so I was never hugely offended. I don't expect everyone to be interested in the same things as me. Years after I left my old job, it's become an occasional thing for some of them to use it as an excuse for a get-together, organised through Facebook, which suits me down to the ground. It's good to see them and in some cases, have something else to do while they chat. What's really good is that when some of them see me with a bass in my hands and see exactly what I have been doing on stage, they suddenly understand the long hair that got all those sideways looks and the afternoons I had off to go guitar hunting and all of the gigs that I did that they knew about but didn't come to. It's sometimes really good to shock them with a really tight band that mixes things up a bit and give them something they really didn't expect. It's also good when people that I know turn up who are into music and then it's the challenge of doing what we do and hopefully impressing them. It's only a challenge because two of the wheels fell off our wagon around May and July and I have had to replace our guitarist and drummer after 9.5 years. The band is getting tighter and more versatile now. Social media is a good way of gathering the troops - and a lot of my friends were made through being in a band, but I tend not to rely on it for most of my friends as dragging themselves out to watch bands isn't what they all do.

Our first gig of the new year. We played with a dep drummer on New Year's Eve, as our own drummer had a long standing arrangement for a family party in Wales. I turned up a bit frazzled after having forgotten a couple of things and having to go back home for them. The parking was difficult. We had people shutting the rear door of the venue as we were loading in which didn't help and a couple of people were getting in our way. We were a bit loose in the first half. The second half was a lot better.

My main aim for this year is to get a decent number of gigs done with the new line-up of the band. We have a month off in February when our guitarist expands his family and I intend to have an album of my own either ready to go on CD at that point, or to get an amount of it recorded in our down time (more likely). Whether it sells any copies or not..... I'm not deadly bothered about that. I also want to get a bunch of instruments sold off that aren't getting used. I have published part one of our Slade discography book just before Christmas. Part two is out in February and we have another book due in April which I need to get back into working on - lots of tedious image restoration work is involved. And a publisher has asked us to do a Slade book for them and I need to read the contract and map that out. Busy busy.

It always has been and always will be one of these...

Ours was quite good. A slight goof as we get this song tight. But were having a lot of fun....

Our last one before Christmas was at The Jubilee Club in Ashton in Makerfield. A good friendly and appreciative crowd, lots of dancing, mainly in the second half. They filmed us and have put one song up...

It almost looks a little more liek a Montezuma Brown finish. https://reverb.com/uk/p/rickenbacker-360-color-of-the-year?hfid=91724846 or maybe an Autumnglo https://www.andybaxterbass.com/products/2022-rickenbacker-4003cb-autumnglo

Our Sunday jam night ended last weekend, after 387 sessions (almost 10 years) as the venue is being sold. It was an emotional evening. We are casting the net for another venue, but if we don't get one, it's not the end of the world.

New Rose The Damned

You got it bang on... As for the smoke machine, I made it clear that it was NOT to be put on while I was near the stage.