Cat Burrito

My final show of 2025 was also a debut at Devizes’ White Bear, a famously haunted 15th century coach house. Dubbed as “The White Bear before Christmas”, our visuals guy had declined doing a Jack Skellington type poster design due to copyright. I admire his principles. Having lost our other regular payer, I had high hopes to make this a good show. The vibe was very friendly and our hard push across all of our social media platforms paid off. Loads of familiar faces showed up. I did a walk around prior to going on, giving out band badges. I was playing mandocello, my Precision bass, mandolin and guitar. We decided to dress extra smart to make it more of an event. Nick’s legendary 86yr old mum came down to support us (again) and told me afterwards that we just get better. The landlady was extremely happy and said the whole pub was blown away, even the people in the back bar that I wasn’t convinced we’d win over. We have a couple of super fans who have been to the last few shows who showed up. It looks like we’re back for our 2026 album launch in the spring. A definite success.

Steve bought a 1970s tenor banjo from me. Great guy, making it an effortless experience.

We played the Wheatsheaf in Calne last night with the drummer from our first band, 35yrs back. We’ve reunited a handful of times in recent years and it’s both nice to have a real drum beat & good to have 60% of my Sixth Form band back together. We’re just so comfortable in each other’s skin. I thought we played well. I was on my mandocello for 90% of the show and there were flashes of us all being really on it at times. The two bands who were on after us both came up after and said “how are we supposed to follow that?”, which was typical of the ego free and friendly nature of this multi band gig, raising money for Bristol Children’s Hospital. For the record, music has never been about competition and both bands did their thing well. I was particularly impressed with some of the earlier bands who were so young. I was talking to some 17yr old bassist who really impressed me and it’s so good to see that generation getting out there and doing it. A great day.

We use drum and keys that we played ourselves in my goth duo. It's a different type of challenge and tracks are unforgiving as they can't cover mistakes (or creative interpretations, for those who don't make errors!). Getting a drum machine is one thing, having someone who can programme it is another. We use GarageBand and we're both pretty good at writing drum tracks.... Now! It's like learning another instrument. My bandmate uses GarageBand for work, whereas I have really had to up my game. And I can't really argue with the "there's no substitute for a real drummer" argument. We're playing with our original drummer from 35yrs ago tomorrow and it's a nice occasional treat that we enjoy. I do think I have become a better musician for playing to drum tracks.

I quit for 4yrs at the tender age of 27yrs old, because I felt that I was getting too old. I cringe thinking about it now but I needed to get my career and life in general kickstarted a lot more. I had always promoted my bands so had less time than band mates who were getting on with their lives away from music. I felt invigorated coming back. The pressure to “make it” was off and I have since worked in groups where someone else does the behind the scenes stuff. Ironically, I feel that I have had far more success in my later years. It is never wrong to stop or have a timeout when the mood suits. I have scaled back in the last year or so as the multiple band life was causing me a mild amount of stress. So, a soft reboot, of sorts.

Thanks to everyone who supported this. Just shy of 1000 views in under 2 weeks 🎉 It would be great to get it into 4 digit numbers 🙏

It's a thankless task but bands need a leader who has final say. I thought Chris B's post was spot on - I hate spending my evenings learning parts, only to get to rehearsal when somebody hasn't even listened to the song. A bad rehearsal is where you go through the set and learn nothing. I've had a couple of rehearsals where we have spent the whole session on one song - and it makes for a better band. We couldn't have done that with amateurs who don't learn material. The only excuse for not learning a song is when you are so good that you pick it up straight away and don't make an issue of it.

Personally I like the tones of Simon Gallup (The Cure) and Craig Adams (Sisters of Mercy era), and both helped shaped my early playing days.

I find Gear4Music absolutely superb. I had a bass arrive with damage (couriers fault), they gave me several options regarding replacement / returns and allowed me a month to think on it (which I used) before returning it with no quibbles.

The way it sticks to your lips In shades of toffee apple red It covers up the cracks and hides the chaps Puts a glamour on the things you've said. That staying power, last for hours when you're kissing me And you ignore the cancker paint that sculpts my masculinity To spare our blushes every brush stroke shimmer shines Removes the laughter creases Powdered confidence fills out the lines U Got the look On brand On trend once upon a time We’re water proof kiss proof bomb proof Sunken eyes are underlined The way it sticks to your lips In shades of toffee apple red It neatly glosses over all the past And the knowledge that you’re nearly dead.

Thank you 🙏 The bass guitar has added distortion and chorus. It’s from the producer’s sound bank rather than my board - he thought it sounded better and I am happy to be guided here. I added the drone note on the synth but that’s in a slightly higher register. It does all add to the mix.

As the Basschat community has always been fantastically supportive in checking out new music, we released our first brand new music in over a year. “Gloss” is out today via Ray Records and streaming on all the usual platforms. As always, we collaborated with Haunting the Atom to make this fun video. For anyone wanting a bit more background, it’s influenced by the post punk bands of our youth. I wanted a Stooges / Velvet Underground simplicity to the music (one note solo and bass line) but with an intelligent lyric. It isn’t typical of next year’s forthcoming third album and is probably the rockiest track we’ve written. Filmed in my house (which stunk of incense for several days afterwards), we had a blast doing this.

I probably didn't but playing several instruments, co-writing and co-producing, I think I do more now. I know what people mean about it being a bit pretentious sounding, but it's less pretentious than a lot of the terminology in most day jobs these days!