Franticsmurf

Step Into Christmas - Elton John. I played it with the band last night and it went down well. I'd never heard it before being given it in the set list about two weeks ago.

Last night was a dep gig for a local band with a big reputation and following - I was chuffed to be asked back after the last dep with them in September. It was a new venue for them that they were hoping to add to the list of regulars so there was a little bit of self imposed pressure for me to get it right, but they're a decent bunch and I didn't feel any pressure from them. It was a local venue to me, too - less than 2 miles away. Since Tuesday's rehearsal with them, they had added 'My Sharona' to the list and all I could do was try to learn the original arrangement and trust their assertion that they played it identically (which they did). Set up was into a very small space in a raised area surrounded by a waist high glass wall on my left and a wooden railing in front. It was tight, and that meant I had to get my kit in and arranged first before the drums could go in (there being only a narrow gap between the front of the kick drum and the railing). I'd brought my headless Ibanez shorty for just such an eventuality but the glass wall was just low enough that the full sized Sterling had room. I had visions of bending down to adjust an effect and smashing the glass with the headstock but, spoiler alert, it didn't happen. Fortunately, the guitarist was able to squeeze into the space by the back door and although we weren't allowed to block it to prevent people coming in as it was a fire exit, they put a sign out side to direct people to the front door. This gave the singer a little more room. Eventually, the jigsaw puzzle was complete and after a decent soundcheck, we were ready to go. It was a small pub but the place was packed and it was very hot despite windows being open behind us. We had dancers from the start - all credit to them as they had so little space to strut their stuff. There was quiet a bit of singing along too. There was a great sound on stage and apart from a few minor mistakes on my part, I think I did well as a dep. In fact, the only major problem was the guitarist starting a song in the wrong key - which we all managed to adjust to (even the drummer 😂) . At half time the band was offered several bookings in the pub (I've told them that as a dep, I expect a commission 🙂). By the end of the night the place was bouncing and we had a couple of encores. I was pleased to have a number of compliments about my playing and my sound from punters and the rest of the band. I have to say that I was really happy with my sound - punchy without being overpowering. Some of the comments back from staff and audience were that the band had a great overall mix without being too loud. The band are very thorough with sound and soundchecks, which clearly pays dividends. Kit was my Sterling 34HH through the board (MS60b for tuner and noisegate and a synth patch for 'Just Can't Get Enough' >Nux Sculpture compressor >Nux Voodoo Vibe (for Dakota) >Ampeg SCRDI> Sine HPF (set to 40hz)) and into my Peavey Minimax 600 via the FX return. Cabs were 2 1x10" Trace Elliotts. I think I've finally found a bass/board/amp/speaker combination that gets me the sound I've been chasing for years with this line-up. Footwear was, of course, by Skechers. This was my last scheduled gig for 2025. Next planned excursion is mid January.

Last night was my one and only rehearsal with the band I'm depping with on Saturday. It's my second gig with them and they have several new songs in the list that I've had to learn from scratch. Saturday's gig is at a new venue that they're hoping to add to their growing list of regulars and is, apparently, sold out. So no pressure on me to perform and maintain their well deserved reputation. 😂 They are a very tight band and the rehearsals are hard work without being unpleasant. I like that and it's something I haven't experienced for a few years. I left after 3.5 hours last night feeling that I'd worked hard, performed well and that we'd got any minor issues sorted. Sterling 34HH into the board MS60b with noisegate and tuner and for one song a nice synth patch > Sculpture compressor > Voodoo Vibe > Ampeg SCRDI > HPF > FX return of the a Peavey Minimax > 2x 1x10" TE cabs. Plus I was DI'd into their PA which they requested. On the night, with an added bass bin to the PA, I may only use on TE speaker as a backline monitor.

Yes, I've done two Christmas party gigs so far and we've had no requests for festive songs. We played four on Friday (Wizzard, Mariah Carey, Bruce's 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' and Shakin' Stevens) and they were the least well received. We played none last night and they weren't missed.

It was my second gig of the double header weekend last night. A dep spot with a band I've played with before. Great bunch, very relaxed and very welcoming of the 'new guy' when I first played with them. Last night they also had a dep singer so I wasn't the newbie anymore. It was a golf club Christmas dinner, so quite formal and posh but we were looked after by the club - a tab behind the bar (being gig teetotal, I was gutted but ultimately it's the thought that counts). I decided to use my ungigged Ibanez SR300 and my ungigged Valeton GP5 into the FX return on my well gigged Peavey Minimax 600 and the pair of TE 1x10 cabs. Also present - Sine effect H24 HPF and Joyo wireless transmitter/receiver. At the last minute I was offered a lift by the guitarist and had to leave my spare bass (Ibanez EHB1000s) behind as it wouldn't fit into his car with all the other kit. I expect you can see where this is leading. In my defence, your honour, although half the kit was ungigged, I'd been practicing with it at home a for about two weeks so it was all tested. The singer turned up late and although he seemed a decent chap, he had been expressing concerns about half the setlist ('I haven't sung that one', 'I don't know the words to that one' etc) to the band in the days leading up to the gig. So in the soundcheck before he arrived, I had a go at singing 'Sultans of Swing', only the second time I'd sung it in front of a band. I remembered 80% of the words and was about 80% in tune that was deemed good enough in the cirumstances.😂 Three songs into the set, with the audience up and dancing, I started to notice that the volume from the amp was fading slowly up and down from the full gig volume to about half over about 10 seconds. My first thought was that I'd hit an unexpected patch on the GP5 ('Slow, Annoying Trem' or similar) but the GP5 was set on the Ampeg patch I'd set up for the night. Then I started to smell something burning. The Minimax is on it's way out, I thought. No problem, I can DI. But someone in the audience had knocked over a candle and it had smouldered on one of the napkins for a bit. Meanwhile the slow tremolo was now speeding up a bit and my bass was spending more time quiet than at gig volume. I reasoned that the battery on the bass was going and as I was due to start 'Keep On Running' with the bass riff, I called a time out. While the rest of the band played a longer intro with the guitarist covering the riff, I changed the battery. I managed to get through the song but the problem was still there. I didn't have any time to do a 'one thing at a time' test of the signal chain so between songs, I got rid of everything between bass and amp, plugged into the amp's 'proper' input with a cable and to my great relief, finished the set without any problems from my side. There were a few dodgy moments with the singer not knowing/forgetting/making up lyrics but nothing that couldn't be dealt with. 'Sultans' went well (by now I'd remembered 95% of the lyrics and scored 90% on the 'in-tune-o-meter') and got a good response from the audience. I even got a bonus on top of my fee from the band - presumably for stepping up to sing, or perhaps entertaining them with the harried, rabbit-in-the-headlights look I had as I tried to sort my problems out. This morning will be taken up with identifying the culprit, taking it into the garden, beating it with a baseball bat and burying it. My suspicion is that the Valeton was playing up, as apart from it and the Ibanez all the other components of the chain have been played 'live'. I was using the wireless transmitters at the previous night's gig with no problems. Another option is that there is some strange interaction between the Valeton and the H24 or the H24 and the FX in on the Minimax. Although the bass wasn't the issue, as the problem developed it would have been reassuring to have the spare just in case. As an advocate of bringing a spare to gigs, I hang my head in shame at the lapse. Ironically, the SR300 was purchased with a view to it being a light weight spare itself. You will be relieved to hear that my footwear of choice - black Skechers - performed admirably throughout the night. EDIT: In testing this morning, I was unable to recreate the problem but suddenly the sound cut out completely. Replacing the cable from H24 to the FX Return on the Minimax with the one I used to plug directly into the amp last night fixed it. I suspect I have my culprit. Found 'Not Guilty'.

First gig of a double header for me this weekend was the annual Crown Court Christmas Party with the Hulla band. Our singer is a barrister and so we get the Court gig every year - they actually ask for us! You could say we are called to the bar. But you probably wouldn't. It was a new venue for us at the Bay View hotel on the Swansea seafront. With the wind and rain last night, the view of the bay was mostly large waves and spray. We're a 13 piece so the set up was quite tight but we're used to it. After the soundcheck there was time for a swift ice cream at the nearby Joe's Ice cream parlour (given the weather, the staff were surprised out our late evening arrival). The venue was an odd shape - the building has been a pub and hotel since the mid 1800s and occupies the end of a street that joins the main road at an angle. At the junction end it is very narrow but it expands in a wedge back away from the main road. Inside there are pillars and several areas divided by bits of wall and single or double steps. From a sound perspective, it seemed as if it would be a nightmare with the pillars getting in the way of the throw of the PA tops and the 'dance area' in front of the band was about the size of a couple of commemorative postage stamps. In actual fact, the sound was very good and there wasn't the nightmare sound reflections that we anticipated. Instead, the nightmare reflections came from a big mirror behind the bar in which I was able to watch myself in all my performing glory during the soundcheck. I stepped to one side for the actual gig as it was very off-putting. The place was closed for the private party so our audience was around 60-70 people. Most started off in the little area in which the food was being served but as we started to play the dance floor filled up (3 people) and the dancing spilled over into every available space, included that reserved for the neck and headstock of the bassist (I was on the far left of the band line up). What looked like a lively and dancing bassist was actually me trying not to batter members of the legal profession as they laid their moves down. 30 songs and 2.5 hours later we finished with Hey Jude. I think the singer would have gone on and on but his voice was decidedly croaky and much to the relief of the rest of us (and perhaps the remaining audience) we came to a halt. It was a very local venue for me so I was home 10 minutes after I left. Kit for the night was my Sterling 34HH through a board - MS60b for tuner and noisegate > NUX Sculpture compressor > NUX Voodoo Vibe (only for the end of Hey Jude) > Ampeg SCRDI and into the desk. Monitoring for me was via a Behringer P16m fed from the X32 desk and into a Gear4Music wireless system with KS Z10 earphones. Footwear were slightly damp (from our visit to the ice cream parlour) black Skechers.

I was offered a short run of gigs as a rhythm guitarist a couple of years ago. I had a Squire Tele but I fancied a back-up and bought a Les Paul kit from Thomann. I expected to have to replace the pick-ups and possibly the tuners (and use a decent set of strings). I was very pleasantly surprised by the overall quality (considering it was less than £100) and with some advice from a carpenter mate regarding the finishing (I wanted a natural oil finish) I had a nice, playable guitar with a decent sound from the stock parts (and Ernie Ball strings). It took me a long afternoon to put the guitar together to the point that it was playable and I used it for half the set of the first gig the following day. I then took it apart to sand and stain the body and neck, which took a few more days (drying between coats took the longest time). By the time the second gig arrived, I used it for the whole night and the Tele was relegated to spare. I have replaced the pickups since and I managed to snap the top of the pickup selector switch which has now been replaced as well. I'll never be a luthier (my carpenter mate stifled a giggle when he saw the way the finish had turned out - a little messy and uneven in small patches - but he is a perfectionist), but I have been contemplating a bass kit as my experience with the LP was positive and thoroughly enjoyable.

Best wishes. Keep the goal of getting back on stage in your mind to help you through.

After a few frustrating rehearsals (arrangements unarranged, mistakes and confusions ignored, keys changing hourly etc) last night's rehearsal for Friday's big gig went really well. It all came together and while it wasn't perfect, we were all aware of the little things that need tidying. Our sound engineer was dancing to some of the songs (always a good indicator), there was laughter from the band and cups of tea all round. And we managed to finish early enough to avoid the worst of the amber rain warning. We play the local Crown Court Xmas party on Friday - its a fun gig but knowing there are judges and barristers there (including our singist), and that it's for people he works with and has to maintain a certain reputation with, there is an extra element of pressure.

From a nice, sedate build up to our annual Christmas performance at the local Crown Court Xmas party, I suddenly find myself with two additional dep gigs to prepare for within the same week. Both are with bands I've depped for in the past, and both involve different versions (key and arrangement) of the same song which is also in the set for the Christmas party. It's hard work going between all three and trying to keep a track of which one is for which gig. 😀

Naturlich! 😀

It six months time the 'germ' will be topping the streaming charts. There will be posts on the 'What Are You Listening To Right Now' thread, and it'll be the 'Germ' and several other tracks from the same album. Someone will post here about how they got that bass tone on the 'Germ'. And at the next Glastonbury, someone will ask what bass the bassist was using when that band were playing the 'Germ'. 😂

Last night's rehearsal (at the local village hall, our regular practice venue) was largely a celebratory home made meal and several bottles of wine to thank our sound engineer who is present at every gig but who rarely gets noticed behind the desk. His first gig with the Hulla band (before I was with them) was landed as a result of the single qualification he had - that he was available on the day. He was placed behind a 32 channel mixing desk and had to do FOH sound for several bands at an outdoor event in the village. From no knowledge of sound engineering, he has become a very knowledgeable and capable operator of the desk and now takes the annual Hullabaloo festival (last year - 6 bands, a choir and 850 festival goers) in his stride. He has even branched out into DJing. We did manage a couple of songs. Our next gig is the annual Crown Court Christmas party so we concentrated mainly on the Christmas standards we'd be expected to play. After the bottles of wine, it wasn't the sharpest rehearsal and there are only two more before the gig but with a bit of work I think we'll be ok. I was trying out my Sire Z7 last night. It needs a setup but is still very playable. I was also back to my pedal board after a couple of minimalist gigs with just a DI. Unfortunately, in wiring it all up yesterday afternoon, I mist have made a mistake as the output levels were well below normal and I had to resort to bypassing almost all the pedals and just going through the (new) Valeton GP5. All good in the end.

Last night we had our first stadium gig. 80,00 screaming fans, helicopter in and out, 50kw PA, individual dressing rooms. Then I woke up from my pre-gig nap. It's true we were in a stadium - the Swansea.com stadium - but sadly all the rest of it was fanciful daydreaming. Last night the Hull band played in support of the annual 'Big Sleep Out' event, raising money for the local homeless charity drop in centre, Matthews House. We've been raising money for them for years and we regularly play with their choir so they asked up to do a short set at the event, in which folks get sponsored to spend a night sleeping out in the open. We were due to play in the stand overlooking the pitch (the pitch itself was strictly off limits to all) but Storm Claudia put paid to any open air performance, and instead we played in the main concourse under one of the stands. The audience was limited to the people who were volunteering to sleep out, the choirs and the staff and volunteers who were helping out on the night - about 200 in total. Swansea City football club were sponsoring the whole event, hence the venue. We were due to play for about 30 minutes; the choir kicked off the entertainment and we joined them for three songs before carrying on. We ended up playing on longer than expected as the audience kept asking for one more song. Well, you can't say no to the punters. Eventually, the stadium's own noise curfew brought us to a stop. Great atmosphere, dancing, singing along etc and more than £42,000 raised by the time we'd finished playing. And no, that wasn't money paid to get us to stop. We used the stadium's events PA but our own desk as we are a 13 piece and we brought our own sound engineer. My kit for the night was my Squier PJ into a Behringer pedal tuner (I just can't get on with clip-on tuners) which also acts as a mute and my Ampeg SCR DI. Straight into the desk as usual. Outfit was geared towards remaining warm and black boots completed the look. Highlights for me included dedicating and playing the song 'Heroes' (already a favourite) to the folks staying out overnight and dancing with the choir leader at the back for our encore of 'Hey Jude'. The Matthews House choir The stadium. Ready to soundcheck Mid gig

Communication. Have a non-rehearsal band get together and talk it through. Better to get it out in the open and remain friends.