12stringbassist

I'm 67 and have been thinking about how long I have left of doing this. The last few years have been very very uncomfortable at times band-wise, due to a band member who was arrogant and awkward, but who has now thankfully left. When that happened, I questioned whether to carry on or not, and after a day or two I decided to not let the situation defeat me. We auditioned a new, much younger, guitarist and we are playing with a new-found excitement and chucking lots of new material together and playing what we hope are very good shows. Where this becomes very relevant to this topic is that our drummer is unwell and has been out of the band since July. We have a reserve drummer covering, but it seems more and more likely that our own drummer will not be returning to the band, except to maybe do a couple of occasional short 'guest spots'. That is something that we haven't been able to discuss. He's been very determined to play, but sadly his mobility and medication have interfered with everything. That is an enormous stress for me as he's my friend and we have been in the same band for ten long years, persevering and supporting each other through some rather awkward times to keep things together. 'Do it while you can' is very much my motto these days. You don't know when it's going to be taken away from you.

Last night we played in Heath Charnock between Bolton and Chorley. A brilliant landlady and nice crowd. One of the punters gave us a £30 tip and the landlady did too. We gave this song a second outing. Played for the first time on Friday...

We had a really good night last night, with lots of friends there, at a venue not far from me where we have celebrated various milestones with my bands over the years. Just what we needed really. This year's been really difficult for the band with a change of guitarist and all the things that led up to it, plus our drummer's serious illness and us running with a replacement. The band as it is now is really enjoying itself.

It is a very unsettling situation and I've never been happy with bandmates going plotting behind other people's backs, having been the victim of that kind of thing, after playing with a couple of very slippery people in the past. Gettng your bandmates to be open and honest about this could blow the whole band apart. Could your existing member improve? Why the wait until the new year to replace him? I would at least say you're not entirely comfortable with the way it is being done and that the wait to try the new person makes you nervous. Good luck.

We had a good night last night.

My Rics..

Day Tripper. Beatles.

When they split into two halves I was dismayed. Godley and Creme's L album totally made up for the disappointment. Imagine what could have been if they'd just taken a year off, though.

I don't think it is acceptable for a guitar maker to excuse body damage, untidy work and bad electronics by saying that the instrument is 'a prototype'. That's garbage. You asked for a neat, clean and functional custom instrument and have paid through the nose for it. Reading through the topic, I see he's going to do remedial work so you are satisfied with it. That leaves you without the bass for a period, worried about how it will turn up next time and hopefully not out of pocket. All for the stuff he should have got right as a matter of course. I really do hope you get your dream bass back and would love to see full photos (logo obscured if need be). I totally understand not naming the builder while you are dealing with getting the faults corrected.

A bass is only worth what someone will pay for it. I got very annoyed when someone talked me into parting with a fairly collectible bass a while ago and then he promptly flipped it. I think with a price hike... But I wasn't using it much, so.... I'm selling a few basses locally thru fbook and they've been in my collection for years and it's just time to part with some that don't get played. The days of silly money for basses appear to be over. I do see some wacky asking prices and tend to scroll on....

On Saturday we rocked up bright and early and set up at one of our favourite venues in Bolton. Our dep drummer walked in just after 8 with his phone to his ear and a stunned expression. He said his elderly mum had had a fall and was on the flooring her kitchen and he had to go sort her out with an ambulance. He said he'd be back asap. A bit of a shock, but we decided that our only way forward was to play the two sets acoustically, instead of the 4-5 we were going to start with. Our dep drummer didn't reappear as he was in A&E at Wythenshawe hospital and his mum was only seen at 2am. I felt so sorry for the dreadful situation with his mum. He sent us an awful photo of her bruised face. He did exactly the right thing. Fortunately it went down very well and we even threw in some songs we'd never played together before. It's such a pleasure to have my new guitarist in the band. There's enthusiasm now, as opposed to the 'getting through it' that we had before.

Colin Moulding is an unbelievably excellent player. XTC were fantastic at times. Some of their music is quite polarising, but at their best they were untouchable. Much missed.

If Ric don't do anything anyone wants then they would be stuck with everything that they make...