Gasman

Love the use of the sweet 60s term 'Hit Parade' - in today's multi-channel streaming world it must surely be meaningless... (unless someone brings back Top of the Pops or the Sunday evening BBC radio chart show!)

We do 2 x 60 usually. After-midnight finishes due to multiple calls for 'One More Song' (never just one) are getting beyond a joke, however nice it might be to feel appreciated!

Good words, good ideas, @Phil Starr - I just wish I could implement some of them! Since the original guitarist left we have had to use deps, or (this weekend) go as a 4-piece as no dep is available. The line-up is fluctuating wildly all the time so the sax set is being parked until things settle down. We are now using the old conventional PA but only vox and acoustic guitar go through it on gigs with minimal foldback, I'm back to using my bass rig in standalone mode. At rehearsals the singist plugs her mic into a portable combo to minimise load-in/out so the sound is totally unrepresentative so it isn't worth even trying to get my IEM setup sorted - those sessions are really for learning new numbers only. I am already rather depressed due to non-musical family problems, so this whole band fluster-cluck is making things even more difficult.... so should I chuck it in or do a Churchill ('just keep bu**ering on...')?

As told at length in another PA thread, difficulties in getting to grips with our new Bose setup caused my band to split. Not wanting to retell an old story, what were the problems experienced? From my PoV as the sax player in one short set I was never able to get decent foldback from either the Bose or the old PA to hear what the audience was hearing, nor was there ever any pre-gig time to let me set up my Sennheiser IEMs ('not worth it for three numbers' they said, maybe right). I use a Nux radio mic for the sax but feedback issues prevented me from going FoH to hear the mix, so believe me trying to hear what you're playing while competing with mic-ed drums, singers and amplified instruments onstage with a wind instrument is busted blood-vessel, out-of-tune and bad intonation territory. While on my main bass duties, being wireless too (Nux again) was great, allowing me to go out-front to hear the mix during soundchecks. However, although when using the Bose system everything went through the PA, foldback during the actual gig was really difficult to get right because the FB system was just cobbled together from surplus gear and there was never enough of it to give me any at all, so I found myself using my Ag700+Darkglass 1000w cab as my on-stage monitor - ridiculous! So what's the remedy? Pay serious attention to getting the FoH AND foldback gear, volumes and mixes right, and if possible go IEM for everyone - we never did because of a lack of inclination, equipment, time and skills available. Sounds simple, and it can be, but using practice sessions with unrepresentative gear in an equally unrepresentative hall without a sound guy available just won't cut it!

I haven't played with him again yet - that depends entirely upon me honouring my promise to leave the band that he walked away from, and the alignment of several stars and planets... who knows what the future holds?

Yes, me too - in my previous band minus 2 I bought the whole PA (mics and all) and still have it 'just in case' I get to start that ska band I really always wanted to!

AS the OP I owe it to the collective to say how our shared purchase ended! The new PA turned out to be great but only if its sponsor (the guitarist) got to gigs at least 90 mins before the rest of us to set up the local wi-fi, tablet, cabling etc. He didn't seem to mind this, but using the tablet to balance the whole band sound FOH was clearly too much for our roadie to get to grips with. So, he started a mumbling campaign against the sound quality and ease of use of the new system vs the old skool PA which he and the singist owned (they are domestic partners too), and so they eventually issued an ultimatum that the old PA must be used 'until the new one was sorted' (i.e. never, as it would never get a chance to be fully set up anywhere again) The guitarist promptly walked out, joined another band and then sent the other four members £600 each as a buy-out. This was crazy generous considering the year's usage we'd had from the gear. I immediately returned £200 to cover my share of the 33% depreciation that must have occurred, but I don't think anyone else did... Moral of the story? Have a written agreement up front taking account of depreciation and make sure that the gear you get is actually what you really need and have the capability of using!

Surely not 'Boners'?

It's funny you should mention that - he did indeed get in touch with me a couple of weeks ago, asking if I was OK clinging to the wreckage of band B, and that if not I should get in touch... I haven't, even tho' it would allow me to play again with the superb guitard that walked out of band B. Why will I not take the bait? Well, I feel that I have a commitment to band B that I intend to honour while I can reconcile doing that with being the full-time carer for Mrs G whose Parkinson's is gradually worsening. After that I guess it's going to be playing with myself in the spare bedroom!

I've just realised - there's a band-wrecker on the loose around here! I'd define this type of person as someone that joins a band, leaves on a whim with minimal notice to join another, then repeats this over and over, leaving a trail of broken bands, disappointed venues and bad feelings - except, of course, for him/her self. The current scenario I'm experiencing: let's call the bands Z, A, B and C and the wrecker W Band A is a 4-piece, G1-G2-B-D. W has joined band A as G2 after quitting band Z in his usual style. After six months, W emails the rest of us with breaking news - he's leaving to join band B! We cannot do any gigs in the book as a 3-piece, can't find a replacement G2, so band A folds. W acts as personnel fixer for band B. As I'd been gig-less for 6 months I answer a JMB ad for a bass player, not knowing that W placed it, so a big surprise at the audition for me, but I get the job with band B (S/G, G1, G2, B, D). this goes OK for six months, then W announces that he needs a break and will have to leave almost immediately. Panic stations - but band B finds a KB player and the band continues, although the sound, setlist and dynamic has to be reworked at the cost of a lot of extra work. After three months W contacts our BL and says he would like to come back, he's missing us. He's told that there is no way the KB player can be sacked now, nor can the gigs we have fund a 6-piece, so no thank you, but there is a period where he could dep several gigs with us to cover the KB player's hols. W says yes. A month later band B is going through an internal personnel crisis due to misunderstandings over the new PA, and G1 leaves overnight. W hears about this and refuses to cover the dep gigs he'd agreed to do 'in solidarity'. How strange! But then we then find out that W has in the meantime joined band C and has persuaded our ex G1 to join it too! Band B is now struggling to find deps for upcoming gigs and has had to cancel several already. Can you see a pattern here or is it just me being unhealthily paranoid? Have you had similar experiences? Do tell!

If the OP decides to go along with this new trend, he'll have to change his handle to 'BassSubtractor'...

If you get stuck on a section, use a DAW like Audacity to loop it and play along on headphones until you get it. Most important, get agreement with all band members on what key you're all going to use before starting to learn anything with special ref to guitards who will often slip on a capo...

Saturday night to Trowbridge Steam Fair - usual set up, gennys rattling away, traction engines puffing about, beer tent with pallets for our stage, soggy field after epic rainstorms during the day. It was a closed event for the exhibitors who had clearly decided to have a good time and get into the cider and ale for a serious session. Our dep gitrist from Weymouth (even further to drive than my 65 miles) fitted in well, just lost it a couple of times in my sax set (he did OK considering how few covers bands in the area suddenly launch into sax-led numbers like One Step Beyond, Midnight Hour and Geno after the standard guitry crowd pleasers) Long day, got home at 01:05. Cat was not pleased at the lack of pandering since 5.30pm previous afternoon! Pic below is of me being a poseur (aka knob) on sax during 'Geno'

Four and a half gigs in three days for me - famine and feast style! The half-gig was a solo effort at 08:00 last Friday morning. Ever since my wife stopped driving last year I've ferried her to her Rotary club breakfast meeting at 07:30 every Friday in Dorchester. I initially sat in a corner at the meetings and did a crossword, but later realised that looked a bit churlish, so I joined the club - not really my thing at all, but... New members are encouraged to do an introductory presentation about themselves, so mine was entitled 'How I failed to become a Rock Star!', recounting my year on the road in a van with my band ('Sweeney') in 1972 with all the horrors of sequential gigs as far apart as Bath, Lincoln and Deal, breakdowns, band rows, the business side of trying to get gigs and at least break even, how the music business works, etc etc. I finished my story by playing 'One Step Beyond' on my sax to a backing track. The reactions were priceless, ranging from 'thank god for something different' to sheer horror at the sight of me capering around the aging members blasting out the Madness classic. That same Friday evening Mustang Sally had a birthday gig in the posh room at the Mere social club. Our BL had found a 20-something lad to dep on rhythm in place of our suddenly-departed (flounced out) previous lead guitarist - he did OK, bless him. Our KB guy lugged his best instrument along (split 88 note job) which sounded really good when thumping out the bass lines in the three sax numbers that I do, so that was a bonus and a lifesaver setlist-wise, as we couldn't do any lead-guitar-centric numbers, an instant loss of 6-7 songs. On Saturday we had two back-to-back gigs - a beer fest in Gillingham - 2-4pm, followed by a ladies' rugby post-tournament party also in Gillingham, 6.30 - 9.00. Both went very well indeed with the same lad depping on guitar. Nice to see some very fit female rugby players giving it large on the dance-floor! On Sunday we were booked in an afternoon slot (1.15 - 2.30) in the beer tent at the Gillingham & Shaftesbury agricultural show, again appreciative audience, but with a different dep; this guy was a 35 YO music teacher and a proper lead guitarist, who'd been in this band before and knew almost all the numbers. He'd certainly get my vote as a replacement in the unlikely event of a democratic vote... So in summary, 4.5 gigs in three days, 450 miles and 10 hours driving, 8.5 hours playing, three cans of Red Bull, 4 Snickers bars, 1 Asda cheese sandwich and a dozen cheesy numbers sandwiched between some slices of good stuff. Got to keep telling myself that this is an emergency band survival/rebuild situation so I must be grateful that we're still functioning at all!

Acrimonious? Violent? Boredom? 'It's not you, it's me...' (or vice-versa)? Well, my band managed to disassemble itself in 24 hours, largely by Whatsapp. I wasn't too surprised because the new PA had become a running battle between the guy who had managed the old analogue one for years (tbh not too successfully) but couldn't get to grips at all with the new digital one that our gitrist had specced and obtained for a good price. Trouble was, the setup time for the new one seemed to be two-plus hours versus 40 minutes or less for the old one, often leaving little or no time for a proper sound check. A further complication was the emergence of unexplained feedback, that in retrospect might well have been due to an acoustic guitar and/or my sax sitting on stage ready for use but not muted (could only mute them at the desk, and desk operation by the original mix-man was one of the big issues...) Anyway, after last weekend's gig the old guard's spokesperson messaged all saying that they had decided to use the old PA until things were sorted (that is, probably forever) without discussing it openly with me and our guitrist; he saw a conspiracy theory, read people their horoscopes and walked out. I was left in no-man's land, initially inclined to follow him as the band is going to be very bland without him, but then relented somewhat, agreeing to play the upcoming gigs until the others find a new bass player - I will then leave and probably regret it, but something will turn up. Such a shame really, but when I consider the vast differences in experience, background and musical ability between the two 'sides' I'm amazed the band lasted as long as it did... Whatever, I will remember it for the good times, and move on - what else is there to do?

Another day at the seaside for Mustang Sally, one of the very few gigs we do that's within walking distance for me, on the seafront at West Bay. It's the annual Pirates' Day event so lots of plastic cutlasses, funny hats and shouts of 'Avast behind!' (not I hope aimed at any of the punters' a*ses...) Weather was iffy, bright sun mixed with sharp showers. There were two stages (curtainsider trailers) so plenty of room width-wise but no depth, especially unfortunate as the open side faced south-west; guess where the weather was coming from? We're still having trouble taming the Bose PA, but then having to set up and get it sorted for FOH and foldback in an hour was always going to be a challenge. The outdoor venue made it even more so - no natural reverb/feedback from France (70 miles straight ahead) rather than the concrete warehouse walls where we played in two weeks ago! Musically it was good - no blunders, fast follow-on between numbers, radio-link for bass (Nux) makes its handover to our Gitrist easy when my sax set comes up in the middle. I put the setlist together specifically avoiding the new under-rehearsed numbers that fell apart at the last gig, so the punters danced and sang along but we had to chop our single 90-minute set by five at the end as the rain finally came down - nice to have the curtain-side slid along to keep us dry as we packed up! There's trouble brewing between the original band members who really want to go back to a classic three-box PA with knobs to twiddle and a ten minute set-up versus the more avant-garde who think it's worth persevering with iPad mixing, wifi links and quality speakers. Which side am I on? I couldn't possibly say!

By general band member agreement on the night, Mustang Sally's gig on Saturday was 'the worst we've done', but paradoxically the punters loved us and the 80-year old birthday boy whose party it was seemed delighted to hand over the wedge at the end. I've been trying to work out what went wrong to make us feel as we did - we're normally very tight. The venue didn't help - a large sports hall with high ceiling and a solid floor - took ages to get the PA right, by which I mean not feeding back randomly - after a generous 2 hour set-up. Maybe the other thing upsetting our vibe was the over-ambitious inclusion of several new numbers which I'm ashamed to say were under-rehearsed but thrown into the mix on the basis that 'the endings and verse/chorus structures will sort themselves out'. That's a recipe for disaster, as we found out. 'Footloose' is a speedy number, but not SR71 Blackbird-on-afterburner fast, leading to a triple- instead of a double-coda then a collapse into a silence that would have gone down a storm in a Trappist monastery. As for 'Money for Nothing' with me on bass+lead vocals, I actually got it all right only to find that after the last verse about banging on the bongos our gitrist had forgotten the need for a final chorus and had gone straight into that riff instead, leaving the rest of us wondering how to stop, but no worries, it just dribbled out like an old guy's piddle in a handy hedge after one too many Mackesons... Perhaps I'm being too hard on us - it was first gig for a month due to cancellations, I was feeling very tired and wobbly due to some meds I'd had to take that day, there's angst about the new PA which some members feel is no improvement on the old one but £4k dearer; in the end I guess it was just another day at the office, to be forgotten as quickly as possible!

Mustang Sally had an unexpected gig-break this month due to the cancellation of two outdoor events due to rain and soggy ground. We now start gigging again (I hope) on Saturday, so we had a rehearsal yesterday to polish off, sorry, UP the new numbers we practised nearly a month ago. 'Footloose' went well so that's in the songbook now. 'Money for Nothing' with me desperately croaking away in an ersatz imitation of Mr Knopfler whilst trying to remember the lyrics and the bass notes in the right order - that wasn't so easy. I thought that the rest of the band were taking the piddle when they said it would be OK for Saturday's gig... The failure was 'Maneater - (me on sax). Although the Hall & Oates original has only drums, bass and keyboard behind the vocals and sax (same as our band would have had) the problem was with getting a full enough, authentic Hammond then synth keyboard sound from our chap's Korg Stage Piano, which until then I hadn't realised was just that and not actually a synth - yes, a Gasman lightbulb moment; apparently it's an electronic piano-emulator without any meaningful way of delivering sustain or other useful alternative voicings - at least, that's what our chap said - so I gave up the struggle and told the band to ditch it. Disappointing, as I'd worked hard to nail the original (deceptively simple) sax solo by H&O's Charles 'Mr Casual' Dechance. Never mind, I said, let's do some 50s-60s Rock'n'Roll with sax instead. 'Yay, result!' was the reaction...

One of my first junk-shop vinyl records in '65 - a 78 (yes!) of the good Sister singing 'Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho' - what a voice!

1. 1948 SML Rev C Tenor Sax since 1974 2. 1961 Fenton Weill Bass since 1972

Ill try it and see - might be the answer - thank you!

I'm giving up on this - will now resign myself to posting on the desktop PC only instead of enjoying contributing whilst in bed, eating, drinking, ignoring Mrs G's choice of TV in the lounge or at my daily constitutional(s) - shame but there it is... thank you for your help - as they say, it's not you, it's me!

I wish they were! But they ain't...

Still the same problem, I'm using Safari as a browser, but switched to Opera to see if it made a difference - nada. I have taken screenshots of the problem, but for the life of me cannot find where the iPad has stored them despite asking Uncle Google. Will update again - in the last resort will take a photo of the screen!

Well, I've cleared the cache and rebooted the iPad, but alas, it still won't let me input any body text. Never mind, thank you for your suggestions, it's doubtless something to do with my iPad following that update - I'll keep trying in slow time or maybe buy a new one!