Sweeneythebass

This is one of the biggest headaches playing on the unsigned circuit, I've been asked on many occassions to provide an Amp and mostly I've said yes. Here are my biggest complaints tho 1. Waiting. Having to wait till the end of the night if not headlining (sometimes not a problem, but if you have to start work at 6 the next morning or the last couple of bands are shall we say "not to my taste" this can be painful. 2. Driving. I dont have to drive if I dont bring an amp. No parking stress, no traffic stress, no congestion charge (if its in the west end) no parking fees. If i do drive any post gig drinks are limited to " erm...I 'll have an orange juice and lemonade. Or a shandy?" Followed by giggles and and strange looks at some venues. 3. Idiots. People with no respect for your gear. I recently did a gig and during soundcheck the rather large beast of a bass player from another band decided to park his kilometer wide rear end on top of my amp. 4. Unnecesarily early soundchecks. Having to rush around like a maniac to get to a soundcheck at 4.45pm so another band gets to use my amp and then...more...waiting..... The upside to bring your own amp is its easier to get your own sound right. I've played through some amps I've ahted and had some unfulfilling sets as a result. Yes promoters should hire gear if there are lots of acts and its a showcase/unsigned band type night. This will never happen. Promoters for these type of gigs in my expereince do very little to actually promote any of the bands playing or even the night itself and will do whateva to make a profit. Some nights in London are pay to play night i.e bring x number of people or you give us £££££!!! When I buy my next rig no more lending and breaking my back for nothing!

I've done BV's for a couple of bands now, what I found was that if I pushed to hard my voice would break and sound shocking, so I learnt to hold back a bit but sing with confidence. Not sure if this is relevant at all but might help you out! As for singing lead and playing bass, man I find that tough particularly over syncopated bass parts ( I find it near impossible ) ! Much respect to the likes of Sting and Yolanda charles (at bassday a couple of years back she did some crazy funk- slap whilst sing lead S#it, awesome!). Yolanda said she used to practice by playing the syncopated (or just pain funky!) parts and singing an eighth note/quarter note rhythm on a single note to build up the independence.