Cat Burrito

I'll add my name to the "sometimes gets recognised" list that a few of you are on. When I met my missus again (we were at school together in the 80s), we went on a mini break down to the coast and I was stopped for being the bassist of the band I was in at that time. We'd not been together long and she was really impressed. I was recently having coffee with my Dad and I was approached again. I like it because it's not a regular inconvenience and when it does happen, it gives the day a bit of a lift. Admittedly it is rare that they know my name but it's fun.

As an up and coming musician for 35 years now, I fail to understand the question!?! Seriously though, I hit 25 in the late 90s, realised I'd done three bands that hadn't quite gotten as far as I hoped and then at 26 got married. I decided shortly after that, that I needed to grow up (I'd ran the three bands so wasn't far down the career ladder / mortgage route, compared to friends). I had a forced halt on music for 4 years to try and catch up, but missed playing. I now feel that the pressure is off, I have enjoyed the last 20 years more than ever. My father was pro in the 60s, playing music he hated which ultimately made him quit music permanently. I've never been full time but have always played music that I am passionate about. So, in many respects, I feel I have had the most success.

I just think gear manufacturers need to stop looking at sales when giving endorsements and adopt a 2023 approach of "the band isn't particularly big but I see that the bass player posts a lot of Basschat"!

Not very of the time but in 1985 I was 12 and often found myself stuck upstairs in the houses of my parents' friends and their slightly older children, who would play with stuff by The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. The parents were teachers and would be partying downstairs. I'm afraid my "walkman" would have been a Matsui. And my 7" Gatefold single of The Cult's "Rain" would have been blasting out of a mono dansette, but I've gone slightly off tangent there.

I believe £20 - £40 but it all goes wrong with the more specialist instruments. My Bass VI was about £60 and the upright £140. Most I have seen upright bass strings for sale for is an eye watering £600.

Bass is my main instrument but I've played mandolin since 2005. Although tuned down from that, it's similar. It took me 30 years to fully appreciate the old cliche that the trick to everything is to practice. I get the occasional brain fog but if I have practiced the part, it's not an issue. I believe it's 24 - 7/8ths. Although that's noticeably shorter than a bass, it's also noticeably longer than my mandolin so it's not really an issue.

For those of you that follow / contribute to the "How was your gig?" thread, you may be familiar with my old school mate and I mucking about with an 80s Goth duo, usually on unusual folk instruments. I think we're probably taking it a lot more seriously now, but it just feels like a laugh all the time. The band took off when Nick bought a mandocello and as of now, I have officially joined him! 8 strings of low end goodness (tuned C G D A, if anyone is curious). We play differently as I'm really a bassist and he's really a guitarist so I am looking forward to a twin mandocello attack! It's not too heavy, well balanced and a beautiful instrument. I've always been impressed with Gold Tone's stuff. And of course just screamingly good fun to play too (pic below is me playing Nick's one which is exactly the same, pinched from the "How was your gig" thread.

We (Deadlight Dance) played one of our local pubs last night. Nick (my professional other half) has been committed with family stuff for the last couple of weeks or so, so it was brilliant to regroup. We worked up Revolution (The Cult), Science Fiction Double Feature (Rocky Horror) and New Dawn Fades (Joy Division) as mandocello / mandolin arrangements. We also reworked our album acoustically. My absolute highlight was my 16yr old stepson (he has Down Syndrome and Nick is also his teacher at school) dancing away to our acoustic originals that he's seen on YouTube. Sadly, I fear I'm his second favourite member of the duo (!) but I think I still make the grade.

What was the verdict?

I think there is so much great stuff from so many places but ultimately it depends on your tastes. Personally I'm into some great bands from everywhere from Italy to Belarus. I think the record companies fixate far too much on L.A., New York and London.

I don't think I saw it until the early 90s. I remember the equally good Bad News from the Comic Strip Presents back in the day but Spinal Tap was something people initially said in bands that I didn't always get as a reference. I quickly caught up. I echo the views about repeated viewings. You are so busy laughing there are brilliant lines that get missed. I watched it again the other week and I was still laughing out loud at moments. Brilliantly observed - we've all been in bands with these characters and more worryingly, actually been these characters at different stages of our lives. I'll rise above it - I'm a professional!

My philosophy in life is who cares, wear what you want. Your coolest reference point is always going to be someone's pet hate and vice versa. Life's too short. Every time I go onstage I always take the view that one member of the audience might think I'm the best thing in the band and someone else will think I am lucky to be there. Do you own thing. I didn't worry too much about what people thought when I was 14 and it concerns me even less at 50. I'm sure my world view is both a blessing and a curse to me.

For context, I'm 50! 🤯 At least you did the right thing by getting such silliness out of your system whilst you were young. I have no excuse!

I think your best options are the aforementioned illuminous dots and Amazon do a cheap stage light for about £12. Nothing permanent or obvious. That said, I recently did a dingy basement gig just recently wearing sunglasses with black strings.... but then like Austen Powers, danger is my middle name! Seriously though, you won't relax and enjoy the show if you feel up against it.

Rosie bought an Orange practice amp off of me. Prompt and friendly comms, easy meet up and a nice chat about mandocellos! Trade with confidence.

Apparently, we were up against a local festival last night but we played one of our strongest ever sets last night to a small but enthusiastic audience. My mini Boss pedal board is blowing my mind with how good it sounds. Sunglasses onstage with black strings in a dingy stage area - yes, I went there!

I used to be bass into amp and no more (I'd borrow the guitarists' tuner before rehearsing / playing) but these days I am really enjoying a small pedal board and using effects. Never say never. Ultimately it's about what suits the band / song.

I always find Bristol to be one of the friendliest cities in the south of England, and last night we played the Hen & Chicken. We supported The Radio Makers at their album launch and had a great show. I got to road test my new Boss mini pedal board (it passed with flying colours!). My missus managed to offload the kids and come down to support us and I got to hang out with a bunch of old mates from my student days in the early 90s. The winner of the night though surely must be singer Nick's Mum, who at 86yrs old, travelled an hour to come and support us!

My father-in-law has loaned me his original Japanese Boss DC-2 from the 80s (boxed with till receipt). He won't sell it but he's pleased to see it in use. I wanted to have a small board for 80s Alternative stuff that I am playing locally in pubs. So I picked up a Boss BCB-30X and added the overdrive and tuner. I'm pleased with how it has turned out. Light and portable too.

This was the budget range Ric tried several few years back. The reputation was never as good on those models and whilst worth a few quid now, he's optimistic at that price.

I went from having two Fenders in heavy rotation (for over 15 years) until around the time of Bass forums, more basses than GAK stock at any given time through to a small handful (about 7) of different mid - higher end basses that I rotate. This is over a 35yr journey.

Where as Def Leppard broke records in October 1995 for playing in three continents in one day (thank you Wikipedia), we achieved the more environmentally friendly three shows in 24hrs in our local village! Thankfully as I was on mandolin, all the shows were walking distance so I just carried my small pedal board and mandolin around the village. First up was "The Crown" which was amazing for music a few years ago. Whilst stopping short at needing chicken wire, it wasn't a great start. Line checking, the sound guy asked one local who kept saying "turn down" (it's an experienced acoustic duo so nobody was troubling the neighbours). The second we had lost any edge or bite to the sound he proudly announced "Well, I wasn't going to stay anyway!" Needless to say, I just pushed that slider right up! We seemed to play to nobody, only to find out a fair few were sat outside listening. The bar staff charged me £4 for 2 lime and sodas just prior to going on too. They knew we were playing a free charity show for disadvantaged kids so I thought they could have waivered that but I just politely paid it. Such a shame overall though, as a few years back it was an amazing venue for live music. We then went on to "The Club". This is not normally open in the afternoon and was the one I knew would be a disaster. However, against all odds, there was a small but very enthusiast crowd. We both agreed that it was really enjoyable. We had some downtime between sets so stayed and watched the next two acts. As we left the barmaid made a point of coming over and saying how much she enjoyed the show. The final show was at our regular haunt "The Blue Boar" so I knew it would be well attended and fun. It was. Much like the Club, we were offered a free drink for providing our services for the charity. We had a family down the front who seemed to love our set. The Dad was straight up afterwards asking about our instruments and we chatted about growing up in the 80s. They were one step further, finding us on social media and writing some really nice comments. It was worth adding, the show was our first since launching our zombie inspired third single. So, although we did the show for charity, it was a good opportunity to plug our new video. And talking of which...

Channelling my inner-Peter Hook, I co-wrote and co-produced this. Out today on Ray Records and streaming worldwide everywhere! The excellent video is our 4th collaboration with Haunting the Atom. Probably file under Bauhaus meets Joy Division. We had a LOT of fun making this, from writing to recording and filming. The people involved are all friends of mine from the late 80s / early 90s. Thanks in anticipation to any of you that can spare 3 minutes 39 seconds of your day to watch this.