Cat Burrito

I played Norway last weekend and have played there before. Great country, great crowds. My thoughts would be; The airlines will fleece you if you don't do your homework. I'm talking about flying with instruments but Ryanair charged us £150 for a misspelling of the drummer's name! It was cheaper for my bass to have it's own seat last week. Alcohol is expensive so get it on the rider if you want a few drinks. We got meals and accommodation included in every show which made life easier. With last week's festival we even got a driver to pick us up and ferry us around. Have fun. I can't wait to go back.

I relate mostly to 11 but it's probably only about 60% of the picture. I agree that it reads like lazy clickbait journalism but it gave me something to do for about 90 seconds.

Moderation Notice: Topics merged from earlier duplicate thread.

Me too... although I probably shouldn't and couldn't really afford it.

Funny thing is Adam Clayton would be a bigger draw.

Showing up on time and learning the songs is the benchmark for me. Being able to get along with everyone would be the other part of that trilogy. Next up, look the part and buy the occasional drink. The finesse part is the helping pack away bit. Anything else is either a bonus or a miracle!

She's worth a google. She wrote a book about training your musical ear. She's quite a big name on the subject of bass theory.

Wow! The design team have really ripped up the rule book with these new models!

I used to rehearse there too circa 2004 / 2005 😻 Sadly my holidays are less exotic.

See now I just assumed it was and thought he must have eaten all of Axl's puppy fat that he's spent the last 30yrs piling on!

Worse still, as per the original post, I'm not even overweight! I think I need to learn a different instrument.

Does the same apply to the rule that bass players also always wear a shirt and tie but absolutely nothing below the waist?

Better than I was. I have an upright bass in the corner of the living room, along with a couple of bass guitars and there is also a bass guitar in the bedroom. The rest are in cases and I do rotate them a bit. I usually take a bass on breaks with me too. My coffee table even has the Geddy Lee book and most of my bookshelves are full of bass books. I'm sure I'm far from the worst offender / winner of this thread but I am certainly up there.

At a festival that I played at recently I was drinking at the bar and a guy came up and asked if he could chat. Of course. He liked the band and ended the conversation with "I think it's really cool that you hang out with us like you are just normal"... er?!? I've been recognised on holiday (impressed my now wife, no end!) and been asked a number of times if I have a day job too. People are funny.

I still remember Victoria Beckham on TFI Friday back in the 90s, without a hint of irony, describing herself as a singer songwriter. Nobody in the audience laughed.

I love this thread. I went back on Amazon and bought it for £20. It's amazing. It has to be the heaviest book I own and the pictures are beautiful. The book to end all books on bass!

And there are thieves who operate in Poundland! 😂

For anyone interested;

I have one, but in black. A lot of friends generally regard it as my coolest looking bass. I prefer the weight of my Gibson but the Epiphone has all that chrome hardware, which looks amazing.

Watch your bandmates disappear the second you play a venue with stairs!

Lozz's post is really helpful. I play in 4 acts, 3 originals and one covers. The covers circuit is just easier because everybody knows what they are getting. It's about being professional when you do get in as the personal touch goes a long way, but maybe bending to fit to get that all important foot in the door.

I remember there being a thing about Hofner logos differing on budget models a few years back. £50 is very reasonable as compensation and as said, who would fake a budget model?

Effectively you are an unknown entity so promoters are reluctant to take a chance. It's definitely harder now. Do you do any covers at all? If so I would bill yourself as whatever genre you are and state it is a mix of originals and covers. Then when you do your set that is 95% originals, if it goes down well and people come - you have a foot in the door.

New Moon for me and although I forgot to ask, you do get a 10% discount if you mention Basschat. Again, never claimed but very easy to deal with. Really friendly and helpful. I just amended my policy and there was no charge.