StingRayBoy42

Yeah, the weather was abysmal! You didn't miss much TBH but it would have been nice to meet a fellow BC'er without handing over a stack of cash. 😀 I don't think the dying shopping centre/high street is unique to Tamworth - Kidderminster's looking pretty run down, as is pretty much every town centre. I blame the internet. 😟 And Tesco probably.

TODAY! AND TONIGHT! Two very different gigs! I use the term loosely. Up at unacceptable for a Saturday o'clock to drive to Tamworth (through Storm Darragh, mind you... pelting rain, high winds and yet *still* bellends (mostly in Audis, Beamers, Mercs and Teslas) screaming down (up? (actually, let's not get into that again)) the M6 at about 90, undertaking, tailgating some idiot fop (me) in a Hyundai who's just trying to stay alive... arseholes) for 11am to play carols in the Ankerside shopping centre with the mighty Tamworth wind band. (Em (the TWB Euph player and JJO (more about them later!) trumpet player) asked me to stand in so I couldn't say no). Imagine a depressed shopping centre in a modest regional town (with much to be modest about) with lots of closed units and not many shoppers around (it was supposed to be the christmas lights switch on but they cancelled it due to the weather) actually no, imagine dawn of the dead (is it dawn of the dead? Or day of the dead? The one where they're all stuck in that godforsaken mall with the zombies outside?) and you're probably closer to it. It was *feezing* cold (Em bought me some fingerless gloves in the break, which helped) and a pretty grim experience... we played loads of stuff from 'The Red Book' (not the Mao Zedong one), which anyone who's been near a wind band in December will know - they're all beautiful arrangments and in horrible keys - six flats, anyone?! We were supposed to play until 4 o'clock (!), but by about 2 we'd all lost the will to live, so the conductor suggested we just knock it on the head about half two (we all eagerly agreed) so we did. We played and sounded OK all things considered but it wasn't an experience I'm in a rush to repeat. Unless Em asks really nicely again, which she probably will. Then it was hotfoot to Brum for a quick pitstop at my Pa's place and to pick up Birmingham's finest Japanese non-binary morris dancing jazz trombonist and off to the Cameo Suite in Coleshill for the JJO Black Tie James Bond/Christmas (first set Bond themes, second christmas stuff. No idea why.) concert! It took ages to get there due to horrendous weather and a couple of roads blocked by fallen trees (!) but we made it in time for a quick top 'n' tail rehearsal. The first set (Bond) sounded fantastic - The main theme sounds great, Goldfinger was mint, Skyfall was really good, Writing's on the wall (how a man can sing that high is beyond me) sounded superb and Live and let die (the Stan Kenton big band arrangement) was a particular highlight, the trumpets reach notes that are far too high to reasonably exist. Oh and nobody does it better is an absolute belter - the flute in the intro which I'd never really been able to hear before was the glaze on the cherry on the icing on the cake. I drop D (Hipshot) on that one for extra phatness. Five differnt singers! Couple of minor flubs, but overall we sounded great. A friend of the BL who's a pro player (West End type stuff) said some lovely things about my playing at half time, which was nice. Second set was all the christmas stuff, not as exciting to play as the Bond themes, but a couple of good'uns in there... The opener was It's the most wonderful time of the year, which is ace to play, my part in Jingle Bells is bonkers - four pages of relentless FAST crochets... I even hit a couple of the right notes (purely by accident), we did a weird Latin style arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman which is a taste I have so far failed to acquire, we did a lovely (Tom Kubis) arrangement of O Holy Night which is really weird and tricky but it all came together (Soprano sax solo by Sarah and Flugle solo by Steve) and a cracking playout/mashup which cracks along at about 800 bpm. Sold out audience of about 90-100 people (all friends and family, we're a 'community' band) who were all dressed up to the nines in black tie/dinner jackets/posh frocks and were very appreciative. Played the 70s (reissue mex) Precision -> small board (VTDI -> Thumpinator (the secret weapons!)) -> MB 802 which sounded cracking! I was at the front for some reason and the BL commented how good the Bass sounded which is always nice to hear. Full on suited and booted affair (Midnight Blue 1460 DMs with orange laces (the band logo is orange on black)). Packed up, dropped Brum's finest JNBMDJT off, The Wondermints on the way home, back about 1230 (avoiding more downed trees) for a *very* stiff V&T and the remains of yesterdays Jambalaya. And so to bed, and looking forward to a Sunday of doing absolutely NOTHING.

That's what big foil wants you to think

Didn't he coat his fingerboard in yacht varnish or something?

Do we have to detail which handbag we're taking to the gig now?!

Love the fact that people are now including footwear in their rigs!

Oh my, she's pretty... Looks like an angel, sounds like a beast.

21st March 1992, Xaverian College Band Night with No Fat on a Turkey. We opened with Red Berry Joy Town by the Wonderstuff, we also did She Bangs the Drums (Roses), Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen) and three of our own. There's video evidence which shall remain encased in lead, buried under a volcano for all time.

When you drop Boss stuff, the floor will probably come off worse... I dropped a TU-2 down a flight of concrete stairs, still works fine!

I pronounce it 'Flanger' - never heard it pronounced 'Flanger' before.

They are beautiful... I need them!

Kudos to you for playing that live - killer Bassline!

LAST NIGHT! Azura (ignore the posters that say 'Azure band') at O'Neill's Leicester! We always have a good one here so we were really looking forward to it. We did it as a 3 piece due to the singer/guitarist being in the prcoess of being sacked (due to continued and sustained acts of egregious knobbery (with arseitude aforethought) and a complete lack of theology, geometry, deceny and good taste). Horrendous journey up (down?) the M6 through biblical rain courtesy of storm Bert (who names these storms? Seriously... 'Bert'?!), load in was the usual with the added fun of heavy rain, setup was good - the drummer and I had it 80% done by the time singer/keys/guitar had gone and dumped the van. It was pretty busy and the dancefloor was already packed when we started (I think the East Midlands Drop Dead Gorgeous Blonde Convention (EMDDGBC) was on in Leicester that afternoon) and the floor stayed full all the way through the first set, which was ace and went really well. Singer/keys/guitar (he's called Henry but it's probably easier to just call him singer/keys/guitar) had a gaggle of EMDDGBC alumni in front of him who were giving him loads (in a good way - asking for Justin Bieber songs, trying to put him off, asking him for mad announcements and suchlike), we got asked to sing Happy Birthday to Chloe (?) then someone else came up and said it was Alison's (or Alistair's?) birthday and they wanted Happy Birthday as well and before you know it, we're singing Happy Birthday *again* to NINE different people. I sang Shake Ratlle and Roll which we did in the wrong key so it was a Paul Robeson remix, I got all the words in Escape (The Piña Colada Song) right for (I think) the first time ever (singer/keys/guitar cocked up the BVs which is always hilarious (there are SO MANY words and all the choruses (chorii?) are slightly different)), the drummer got propositioned again (happens every gig, he always says no thank you (he's engaged)), quick vape and shandy break, second set was even better than the first (except some spunktrumpet grabbed singer/keys/guitar's mic which is attached to his keyboard and got some choice anglo-saxon from me, singer/keys/guitar and a bouncer), Country Roads had the whole place up and singing their hearts out, the holy trinity (Dakota, Sex on fire, Brightside) took the roof off, three encores (oh... go on then), we were all knackered and very sweaty by the end of it. Pack down (we have got way too much stuff), load out (bouncer gave us a hand with the big stuff), back down (up?) the M6 (rain: biblical), back to singer/keys/guitar place, stuff out of the van into my car, back up (down?) the M6 (the rain had somehow progressed from biblical to apocalyptic) to my Dad's place in Brum about 2am for a pint of Old Pa StingRayBoy's homebrew pear cider (ABV unknown) and the world's loveliest cat (and two other cats who are also very nice) and bed about 3. (Up at 10 and back down (up?) along the M6 to Jazz Orchestra rehearsal (with Birmingham's best japanese non-binary morris dancing trombonist) which was really good (first set Bond themes, second set christmas) but that's not really about last nights gig) I'd planned to take the P for a change but I picked up the wrong case and took the Sterling (no great hardship, it's a lovely Bass (did I ever tell you Ernie Ball gave it to me for nothing?)) -> small board -> amp board (VTDI set to fliptop) -> MB 802 -> PA (Newly re-soled cherry red DMs, foot fans). An absolutely top night.

And they say it's not a glamorous business!

Not a bit - it basically says Fenders are popular, Gibsons are not, all other makes are weird and these new-fangled 'five-stringed' Basses with their 'active electronic' wizardry are going to be quite the thing in the distant future of the year 2000.

Love the outfit. 👌 Or as the kids would say "Your drip is sick"

LAST NIGHT! The Cantina Band at The Boat in Minworth - a pub that wants to be nice but hasn't got round to it yet. Easy load in, horrible setup as we were crammed into a corner marginally bigger than a matchbox (a standard size one, not the big Swan Vestas ones). A fairly drunk bloke collared me as we were setting up and asked me what Bass he should buy 'for metal' then wouldn't leave me alone all night - throughout the evening, he confidently asserted that I was at Live Aid (I wasn't), I like 90s metal (I don't), I love Bon Jovi (I don't), I should listen to Slipknot (I shouldn't) and Nirvana were the best band ever (they weren't) amongst other things. He also asked how should he tune his Bass 'for metal' and what the notes are (presumably 'for metal'). I did my best to answer his questions as best I could and encourage him and he was friendly enough to be fair, but being talked at all night got old pretty quickly. No dancefloor as there wasn't room for one, total 'Meh' of a gig - not terrible enough to be a good terrible gig story, but not good enough to be actually any good. The closest thing to a funny story was a bloke with no legs coming in as we were playing 'Walk this way' 😳 A couple of dancers for the last two songs was about the highlight. Had the usual setup for this lot - Sterling -> small board -> amp board (have I mentioned how much I love the Sansamp VTDI?) -> MB CMD121P The Pleccy playing is getting better, I *think* I've decided where to put my right hand. Finished earlyish, paid, packed up, an hour home to a pint of Westons Vintage Pear cider (6.0% ABV), a cheese, ham and Pips La Barbacoa hot sauce toastie, a pint of Gwynt Y Ddraig Black Dragon cider (7.2% ABV) and a James Acaster Netflix standup special (very good, I recommend it). O'Neills Leicester tonight with the other band - always a good gig, fingers crossed. Actually, thinking about it, the toastie was probably the highlight.

I'd suggest 'The Bass Book' by Tony Bacon but if they're a Bass player they've already got it.