RockfordStone

so my band is currently back into a full flow and are churning out a song or two a week musically. the struggle i am currently having as the singer is writing lyrics. i used to be able to write lyrics for fun when i was younger, but for some reason i seem to be blocked. i can make up melodies to the songs no problems, but words seemt to be evading me at the moment. any one have any advice were to start or how to overcome my apparent inability to write anything?

seeing them in brum tommorrow, saw them 10 years ago and they were awesome. im expecting explosions

my view is that there needs to be give an take on both sides, the band has to endeavour to get people there, but the promoter has to promote and not just hire a room and expect others to do the work, especially if the band is from out of town an example we had was a gig in leicester we played, we came from cambridge so its about 2 hours ish journey? we got to the gig we were headlining and played to the promoter and barman (and i'm not even joking), as the promoter hadn't promoted and assumed we were bringing a crowd. its one of my major bug bears with venues and promoters, when they expect you to either pay to play, or bring people to get the gig. i will promote the sh*t out of a gig, but i expect the same from the person putting it on, and who is most likely to be making the money off it

i think people get caught up analysing a muso's quality by how flash they are. people will rave on about how great flea is based on the fact he can dance around the fretboard, but will not use for example hugh mcdonald who has held together bon jovis rhythm for the last few years. the bass is fundamentaly a rhythm instrument, and for me the sign of a good bassist is one who keeps tight with the drums and drives the song, and is able to use his instrument to add to the song from there. just because bassists such as taka hirose or alex james keep it simple, it doesn't make them any less good at what they do than jaco or geddy....

ive had a few when ive just broken down my rig and left straight away, usually depends on the venue and the attitude of other bands and promoters usually i hang around to watch other bands

my first gig was in a dingey basement of a pub in norwich, id only been in the band a few days. were some nerves early on but once i got into it its great. gigging is the one reason im in bands now, im addicted to the buzz of playing stage

ive been learning to play guitar for a while now, i can happily write and record with one now, looking to move on to live performing

so heres the story, my band are currently trying to book gigs for the coming year. im the one whos in charge of this, and so far ive tried calling in favours from friends i know and emailing promoters/venues about possible gigs. how do you guys get gigs, do you know any useful online resources that offer out promoter/venue details. also, ive not seen it, maybe i missed it, is there room on this forum for maybe a thread of good promoters and venues that people have experienced to give people like me a decent place to start?

the drummer and i usually noodle something random, but theres only 3 of us so we don't need a lot of time to tune, and i usually manage to fill the space with crowd interaction

the studios i practice at started out with good gear, but over the years these have been mistreated by the people that have used them, as is the case with a lot of places i imagine. whilst 99 percent of users will treat the gear with respect, there is always one twat who won't, and this is probably the reason why gear at practice rooms are either poor quality or broken. ive always used my own gear, yes its an arse to carry about, but at least i know that it works and that no twat has broken it

i think the worst ive suffered was having severe flu prior to a gig, and in my stubborn nature did it anyway.... i lost my voice completely half way through the set, which was awkward...

currently for me its brian marshall of alter bridge/creed

hey guys, would be most grateful if you would check out my band Paper Soldiers we are an alternative rock/grunge band from Cambridge. we can be found at [url="http://www.facebook.com/wearepapersoldiers"]www.facebook.com/wearepapersoldiers[/url] [url="http://www.reverbnation.com/wearepapersoldiers"]www.reverbnation.com/wearepapersoldiers[/url] and for those twitter bods amongst us we do have a twitter @papersoldiersuk cheers guys

mine used to live in our lounge with my secondary in the spare bedroom, now they both live in the garage (apart from the head of my ampeg rig which lives in my spare room/studio) for ease of loading in the car

if it was the progress tour, that was a poor tour by their standards, the last one was much much better they do put on a hell of a show tho. seen them twice and have been impressed every time

my boss is totally unreasonable and works on the view that cos he works 24 hours a day we should too. generally i try and get gigs for the weekend or if it is in the week, no more than an hour and a half from where i work which means usually i can make it in time. if its a long distance one or london i will take the time off as of yet ive not had the issue, but have had to miss some practices cos of work

my first gig was with an originals band,we played a place in norwich with a really dark cellar room for a gig room. id only auditioned a few days previously so had to learn their whole set pretty quick wen't well tho and i haven't looked back since

my gig last night went rather well, having put back together a band which broke up last year it was our first time out with the new lineup and it turned out to be a better show than we achieved with the last line up. was my first gig doing lead vocals and bass so was an experience. crowd loved it, we loved it, good times

my ibanez edb605, great sounding bass when recording direct, nice to play, but through an amp its lack of a wooden body means its a bastard to get a good sound out of sometimes

i turned up at a gig and managed to snap the nut, managed to get it to hold together for the show but it just sounded awful, real pain in the arse

i sold my MG in 2008 and replaced with a pick up truck great for carrying my gear and if loaded properly a decent sized bands gear and the band itself. only issue with a van/pick up is that parts seem to cost more than on a normal car, so this is worth considering, as well as increased tax etc diesel engines are usually fairly economical, my tank costs about 80 quid to fill, but will last 2 weeks normal day to day stuff, its when its on the motorway and constantly in the turbo zone it burns through it. that said, the lack of hassle when loading and unloading makes the cons worth while i saw someone mention LPG, personally i wouldnt bother, my job is to design petrol stations, and you'll find that super markets won't sell it as there is no money in it, you'll only really get it at motorway services, hence why the industry for LPG cars hasn't kicked off.

i went and very much enjoyed the master classes and live performances. however, the sheer amount of people thinking the only way to try out or demonstrate a bass is to slap the sh*t out of it meant i didnt hang around as long as i would have liked. it just sounds like noise, and not a nice one.