12stringbassist

Friday evening's gig suffered somewhat attendance-wise from people wanting to see bangs and flashes. We played well and it was good to see a number of friends turn out specially to see us. We threw in a couple of requests we don't usually do, as crowd pleasers. After last week's adventures of having a smoke machine enforced on us (which a lot of people were very unhappy about), my voice has done what I feared it would do most of the week. Yes, it started to go. Saturday evening's gig was interesting, as the booking turned into a joint birthday bash and they asked us to turn up and be ready for 8pm, at which point they would do karaoke until 9pm and again from 11pm. The early karaoke didn't happen. We started at 9 and did 45 mins and made way for a buffet. Back on 10.15 to 10.45 and my voice simply disintegrated. We have our jam night tomorrow and I'm dreading getting through that. We don't cancel things as a rule and our guitarist can get us through it with the stuff he sings, as long as we have a good turn out.

In the very early days when they were still playing clubs and bars 69-71, that would have been an ok price for a secondhand old model Fender bass in America. They were a bit cheeky with the case, maybe, but the rarity of such instruments then was nothing like it is now. You do have to wonder where all those old basses are today? Under beds, in garages and lofts.

The video is tremendous. The song on its own doesn't jump out as being a single (for me). If they were still a functioning band and had more songs, that probably wouldn't have been one they'd have chosen. It's a bit 'filler' but I am happy that they have done such a good job of rescuing it.

Photograph Ringo

When should a band call it a day? I don't feel that I am in any position to say when any other band should call it a day. For example: One of my old favourite bands, Slade, is down to one original member and I haven't been to see the end-of-the-pier version (now with just Dave Hill left) since 2000. If Dave Hill wants to work and people want to see him do it, I've absolutely no right to think or say that he shouldn't. As for me, I will call it a day when dealing with venues, other musicians and my health just makes me snap. There will be a brief explosion and that will be it.

Don't get me wrong. I love seeing a smoke machine at work, but not when I have it pumping cr@p at me while I have to sing for two hours.

Last night was our jam night. As the venue was being used for another event earlier in the day, we were asked if we wanted to piggyback onto that band's extensive PA system and backline / drums. We gratefully said yes, thinking that it would save us a lot of carting of our own gear. Our guitarist and myself ended up bringing our own backline. Saves worry about what you're going to get. The lights were really good too. The only problem I had was that on our part of the night, our jam night, they insisted on using a smoke machine that was close to my bass rig. It makes the lights even more impressive. Yes, but it f***s my voice up and we've got 3 gigs next week. I asked them to not use it. But the lights, they said. After a while, I switched it off, as I could feel the tell-tale signs of my throat getting scratchy. Other people weren't happy with the smoke machine either. I switched it off. After a bit they came up and said had I switched the smoke machine off? I said yes and told them why I had. They weren't happy. It went on again. I went across the road to watch another singer in a pub across the road. I sat outside in my car until I was required to finish off the night. Afterwards they said something else about switching their smoke machine off, along the lines of it won't happen next time, will it? I cheerfully said there won't be a next time. They will have to clear their stuff off the stage and out and they will have half an hour to do it in. I know they meant well and that it was a very generous offer, but to cause someone to feel unwell at their own event by forcing them to put up with something that they have told they do not want to be used while they are onstage is not on. My throat is like s*** today.

Money For Nothing Dire Straits

Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton in Manchester on my birthday. One of the best gigs I have ever been to.

Last Sunday was our regular jam night. We're in our 7th year at this venue and we've got a good little scene going and it's well-supported. It's also very orderly. we get new people sometimes and that stops it being groundhog day. We're getting some promising younger people along to take part and it's all good. We rehearse new songs at the jam (by learning them at home and rattling through them to get them together. We haven't done that for a short while. I'd like to get a few new things together. We HAVE been playing things that have fallen out of the set list, so we can slot them back in. After the jam finished on Sunday, we were packing up and I fell over some mics stands in a carry case in front of the drums and fell down hard to the stage floor with a very loud crash. Ii hurt like hell and I felt bruised for a few days and was knocked sick at the time. What I really couldn't get my head round was a weird woman who's there every week, acting like she owns the place, who laughed and clapped when I fell over. She saw how annoyed I was with her and she said she 'thought it was part of the act'. Lame. I said 'keep digging'. I was furious. I'm not looking forward to this Sunday.

Black boys on the corner Thin Lizzy

I find that after playing since the mid-70's, I'm definitely stuck in some sort of rut. It's a comfortable enough rut and I mainly play along with music that i like at home. I occasionally find something on Youtube (like Scott's bass lessons) and will have a go at that to make sure I can play it. With my band, we haven't messed with our set list in a short while, so I'd like to do that, because it's becoming a bit like groundhog day.

When my old band folded in December 2010, I felt I'd never ever get anything as good ever again. And maybe I didn't, but I got something else good in 2016 after a couple of years dealing with idiots and playing the odd thing with a couple of friends to keep my hand in. Now we do 120 - 125 a year.

Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton in Manchester. Last night. One of the best gigs I've been to in years.

Get them down to our jam night.

I've left the Bass Players group on Facebook. I didn't let the door bang my ar$e on the way out and it's no loss at all to them. It seems to be full of kids who either think; * people with only 4 strings are inadequate. * people with 5 or 6 strings are superior. * various bass players who have sold millions of records are cr@p because they aren't in Slipknot or whatever band. * putting oil on your strings is the way forward. * demonising pick players I could go on and on. Quora is as bad. I try to avoid that, or it's a couple of hours down the rabbit hole looking at people saying 'why is such a bass player so popular' etc etc.

My old band, for research purposes.

Hi Trevor. The Wick is waiting for you. Covid did not help!

They know about Slade. I was offered the bass job with them in the 90s and have published a few books about them.

I love mine.

Tim Allen on Facebook. +1.

There's a few levels of semi-pro gigging musician. * Those who do it rarely and so they really enjoy it when they do it and it's not the centre of their life. * Those who go out every couple of weeks and that's enough. * The one I guess that I fall into - If it's a day with and F or an S in it and nobody's booked it off, we'll go out. * The 6 nights a week gang. Few and far between. I finished work in 2015 and took my Civil service pension a bit early. The band I was in worked solidly and the income topped up towards my salary with a shorter working week. The other two guys in my current band pretty much do this for their living, so I'm a bit driven to fill the diary up. I reckon a couple of years more of this at the pace we are at (I have a target date for starting going down to 4 gigs a month and maybe fortnightly jam nights), providing my health doesn't deteriorate, will do. Then it will be a case of slowing it down a bit. I get VERRRRRY tired, having had some more cancer treatment this year. Winter scares me with all the gear humping I do. The band's in that nice state of coasting along with an amount of following and reputation in our own area and we all know the songs and play them really well. It can be a lot of fun. We get on most of the time. We play covers and I can't interest everyone in the band in some of the music I like and it's frustrating. 'Never heard of Suede' they say. I'd like to change the setlist a bit, but it's getting to be like a night in the museum at times, due to the reluctance to join in. It's probably a case of one morning I will wake up and just think I've had enough. Or my body will inform me that I am going to slow down.

It's some years ago, But I bought a brand new US Jazz Bass in Boston. It was in a massive bulky Fender hardcase, which I had locked. I flew back into Heathrow T5 and they didn't get it to the other terminal in time for my flight. On arrival at Manchester, I was called over to the helpdesk. The guy on the desk started asking me about the bass guitar I brought back. They told me it had missed my flight. I went nuclear. I had a minibus waiting outside and couldn't keep it hanging about for another hour while I waited for my bass. I decided to ramp up the volume and drop into the conversation that it was my irreplaceable best friend of 15 years and if there was so much as one mark on it, I would really lose it with someone. They told me it would be in a car and delivered to my house later that evening. Yup a courier brought it, but slightly late for that evening's gig. Inside the case was a leaflet about customs inspections, mentioning 'breaking into cases'. They hadn't.