Muzz

I am on record on here as being (self-confessed) as shallow as a puddle when it comes to looks: for example, I don't care how good Foderas are, I'll never own one, because I can't stand the looks...

On regular (often lairy) pub gigs I play a Squier Sonic P (£145, plus a rummage through my Parts Box for bridge, tuners and pickup, even though it didn't really need it, it was more my irrisistible urge to tinker) so I don't worry about drunks (and worse) around my Shukers. It's not the same as the Shukers, but I'd put it up against any P under £750 these days, and it's super-light. I gig a lot, and I have lovely works of art in wood which will get used appropriately (posh Xmas hotel gig last night I took 2 Shukers) and cheaper ones. They all earn their money and justify their existence. If they don't, they get moved on. Funnily enough, I sound like me with all of them... If I had the spare money I'd get another (Superleggera) Shuker custom-made, but I don't (and I don't want to sell any of the ones I have to fund it), so that's that. The only potential purchase basses I look at these days are lighter ones (the Cheapo P is 7 3/4lbs) because my left shoulder isn't getting any younger.

Very posh Do* last night at the Radisson Hotel (ex-Free Trade Hall) in Manchester last night; a national solicitor's company, so I had a bath before I went, and dressed tastefully (for once)...didn't get time for a soundcheck, and no time to set up monitoring, so all I heard was floofy sub-bass, but played most of it on muscle memory, and of course no-one else noticed. It sounded good out front, though, and that's what matters, and the punters danced all night. Done for midnightish, home after dropping the drummer off (he's a fantastic pro (reading) drummer, a talented producer and music-tech guru (his day job is teaching Logic), but he doesn't have a car, so swings and roundabouts...) about 01:45. The alarm for work this morning was a bit gritty, but the money was four times a pub, so... Off now till the 20th, when I'll be up at Weasel Dust Central in Burnley, fending off the chemically-altered denizens of the place and stopping them turning the tops round on their stands (the new Funniest Thing In Burnley). Oh, the rich tapestry of experience... * BL went to the bar, no draught, so he got two 330ml bottles of lager. £12.40. In Manchester, for Buddha's sake...we both photographed them, in a vain effort to get more out of his £12.40...didn't help...

A late one for last weekend, a decent night at a place we like playing; it's a fair trek, being up in Barrowford North of Burnley, but always worth it for the lively crowd; it's one of those 'last place open in town' pubs, which is middling till about 10:45, then someone flicks the Crowd switch, and instantly the place is rammed. Played it as a trio, which meant more room onstage and more money - I mean, seriously, what's not to like? The drummers situation is settling down now, it's a choice of #1 or #2, and I love playing with either of them, so all good. Only fly in the ointment is that was apparently our last gig there, down to some hoohah between the agent, the landlord and the BL - he didn't go into detail (he controls all the gig arrangments (his choice)), so I just shrugged and loaded up. I did have an interesting conversation afterwards with a girl in her 20s who'd liked the band, and introduced herself as 'Brooke Nutter'. Given where we were (in the deeps of Pendle) I asked the inevitable question about Alice, and she said yeah, she was related on her Mum's side. Good job she liked the band; it's hard to load the gear out if you've been turned into a newt... Lightweight Cheapo P, Stomp, inears and, erm, trainers*. * I'm not very shoe-focused; they might be Asics or something? I've had them years. Sorry.

I had an old Cortina Estate (yeah, that dates this one) which was on its last legs: the next MOT was never an achievable dream, so, with it being well insured, I took to leaving it unlocked (with old Fords this was pretty much the same as locking it) when I was in Manchester city centre clubbing in the hope someone would nick it and I'd make money on the insurance. The best thing about it was the gear knob, which was made from a pool ball. I came back to it one night and the door was open...you can guess what was gone. I was gutted.

Active, but exclusively John East's preamps - I know them inside out, and I can dial in what I want on the go when required (and without looking); I have no amp, and I wouldn't want to be turning round and fiddling with it mid-set anyway. Having said that, my main gigging bass (a very cheapo but crucially very light Squire Sonic P) is passive right now, but mainly because I'm waiting for an East P-Tone to pop up somewhere...

Not for much longer, I fear, if Satdy night was anything to go by...

As an addendum to Satdy night's thoroughly Meh gig, I witnessed one of the most extraordinary shows of indifference I've ever seen; I've played for a very long time in all sorts of venues and, like most of us, have experienced many types of indifference: the Working Men's Club Institutional indifference(1), the Wrong Band In The Wrong Pub Indifference(2), the Wrong Couple On The Wrong Night Indifference(3), the Passive Aggressive Offended Indifference(4) and many others, but this bloke was something else: he sat off to one side, on his own, drinking steadily but not quickly, looking across the room. No paper, no book - at one point I had to check he didn't have earbuds in and an audiobook on the go - nothing to entertain him but his own company. He'd glanced at the band as we were setting up, and then completely ignored us for the rest of the evening. It got to the point where I was trying to catch his eye to give him a thumbs-up or something, anything to provoke a reaction, but nope, nothing. As we were packing down he finished his pint (possibly his third or fourth, it's not like he was there for a session) and left. Very odd. (1) The one where everyone yaps incessantly to each other all the way through the first set, and then if you drop a plectrum during the bingo you get shushed and tutted as they concentrate on winning that late-dated hamper that's been dusted down especially...they might get up for the last song for a stilted dance if you're lucky, and then bizarrely at the end tell you at the bar that they thought the band were great... (2) You can feel this one coming a mile off from the clientele's dress sense/age, and they've made the same assessment of you at the same time. Works at both ends of the age spectrum. See also 'That NYE the agent booked our semi-acoustic trio as a 7-piece Soul Band' (3) That couple that sit at a table right where the PA speaker's being set up, but refuse to move and spend the rest of the night alternately rolling their eyes and hollering across the table at each other... (4) OK, this one's fairly specific, but I had a bloke come up to me before a gig and tell me my bass was 'All wrong; it's got the wrong neck' - this was the Shukerbird, and he wouldn't hear about Leon Wilkeson or John Entwistle, he went back to the bar and spent the rest of the evening standing sideways to the room, except when people were applauding, when he turned to face the band and didn't move...

This particular one'd be Breightmet...handyish for The Devil's Dual Carriageway out (A666), but that's about it...

Back in the saddle after a weekend off, and I almost needn't have bothered; a refurbished pub in the arse-end of Bolton, we'd had a worrying 'Can you bring some people? It's been very quiet recently' from the landlord/manager; I had to inform the BL that it was 25 miles for me, and I can count the number of people I either know in the area or who would travel that far to see us on the fingers of one foot. It transpired that the landlord was thinking about one of his other pubs, and Satdy was to be a party night for the new landlady. Jolly good. Anyhoo, actual band space for a change (and a sort-of house PA which we didn't use), and luxuriously four (count em, four) double plug sockets right in the band area...unheard-of, I know. Turns out they were the best thing about the place; oh, and they'd put food on, a big buffet and a chilli, which was right next us, and putting me off a bit. As was the slightly random balloon arch in the corner. We started later ('Just hang on, it'll get busy in a minute') at tennish on request, with 100% of the pub in the other side. I can proudly say we'd attracted 60% of them over to our side by mid-first-set. Sadly, though these percentages start to look less impressive when I say the actual numbers were 12 and 7. And it stayed that way all night (same people, at least they were consistent). We were firmly back in Paid Rehearsal land. The buffet remained untouched until I thought I'd show willing and have some, at that point one of the audience thought the same thing which, if anything, made it all look a bit sadder; you'd have thought Free Food in Bolton might've started some sort of stampede, but no. We won't be hanging by the phone for a rebooking, I suspect with that sort of business on a Satdy night they'd struggle to justify paying for any entertainment more lavish than one of the bar staff putting on a funny hat. We still got paid, and trio/#1 Drummer meant we were packed down super-quick. Cheapo-P, Stomp, inears, chilli and a very dubious pie from the buffet.

I put a Dimarzio in a bottom-of-the-line £140 Squier Sonic, and it's my main gigging bass...

A lateish recap, but only a single gig last weekend, and we had the ex-main drummer call it the day before, so a quick reconfiguration back to a trio and we could afford the A Drummer (who I play with in the other band). Always good to play with the very best, and his small triggered kit and skill with sound production always means less kit and better sound overall. Quite wasted on the pub to start with, really, but it warmed up later, and we even did a couple of requests we didn't know/don't play (via some iPad-peering) at the end, which always goes down well with the punters if it's a small crowd. Less kit means quicker packup, so back on the road and home in decent time. Cheapo P, Stomp, inears. Trio again Satdy night, more local and a reasonable crowd in the offing, so it'll be a run of decent gigs over the last three weeks...and I've got the next weekend off for a jaunt with the lads*, which will also be a nice break. * And when I say 'lads', I mean 'five 50-somethings, but we've all known each other 40 years and we'll be away from the families for the weekend, so 'lads' it is...'

That's what I use every gig; simple and useful (and cheap), not had any issues with dropout or levels or anything like that...

It was right on the estuary. Probably Lower Heswall...I just Satnav'd my way there...

So the dreaded return to the Monthly Misery place fell through (I didn't ask why, but it's always nice to get through a gig without the 5-0 making an appearance, so gift horses and mouths, etc) and we ended up doing a last-minute return gig at the Weasel Dust Palace in Burnley. We had our guest girl singer (who is very very good) and her presence means lots of changes to the setlist, which is a breath of fresh air. Most of the crowd were in Halloween fancy dress (tricky to tell some nights in Burnley, but I'm pretty sure this was the case), and it was a chemically-assisted (on the part of a lot of the crowd) Banging Night. Stooopid late finish, tho (the landlord wants bands on at 11pm), and because you play at the far end of the dance floor, the punters encroach as you're packing up: the drummer shifted his drum bags to his car, came back for his carpet, and there were three girls dancing on it... Satdy was a house party/birthday at a huuuge house on the West coast part of the Wirral (the posh bit of the Wirral where they get out of the bath for a wee), very nice people, catered, free bar (obviously, seeing as I had 70 miles to drive home...pfffttt...), nice early start to go with the extra hour later. This one was remarkable in that we lost the left hand PA top (we were using 2 x RCF 12s and the 12 sub, no amps and triggered kit) at the start of the second set, and nobody noticed. Nobody at all, other than the three of us. I turned the right hand top to point more directly at the dance floor and they all carried on oblivious... Lightweight cheapo P, Stomp, inears...