Jacqueslemac

Last night we played a pub I've never been to before. I asked the landlord how many people he usually had in on a Saturday night. He replied that it could be anything from a handful to being packed. He said he could no longer tell and the previous night he'd had a popular local band in and the place was empty.

Two weekends, three gigs. I'm knackered. Last weekend I did two gigs with my second band. The first one was a charity gig for the lead guitarist to raise money for his charity walk up Kilimanjaro. It's an odd pub, with the upstairs room on two levels, divided by wooden uprights with the plaster between them taken out. We've played there before and it's been the same. We're in the slightly higher bit and the crowd stays in the lower bit, so we're looking at them through bars. No-one ever joins us in "our" bit, so it's a bit tough to get a vibe going. On Sunday we did a short semi-acoustic set supporting a Bon Jovi tribute band. On the back of that we got offered three more gigs, which is a nice way to go out. I've been getting a bit bored of the civilised stuff we play (Eagles, Robbie Williams and whatnot), so I told the band I was leaving. It's three months before the next gig so I promised to help them find a replacement. Last night was a stonking gig with my main band. We had a dep drummer. He is top-notch, but I understand what's meant by "playing for himself, not the song". He couldn't remember when to end most of the songs (to be fair, he's played our 31-song set twice. It's covers, but we've tweaked most of them), so they all ended with lots of cymbals crashing, rather than our usual sharp endings. We let him have a couple of drum solos to wear him out a little, but trying to keep up with his double-pedal kick drum was fun! I couldn't hear myself most of the time, but the front of house sound was "immense" apparently. The crowd loved it, and it was probably our best-ever gig in terms of audience participation. We had to extend some of our songs so the crowd could sing along and we've been asked back, which is nice. It'll be with our new drummer who's still learning our set, so I hope they don't mind/notice. Oh, and I've never been kissed by so many women after we'd finished! What a shame they were all my age (the wrong side of 50). Another gig next week for a biker event and the PA will be paid off. Hooray!

Bought some pickups and bits. Very smooth, quick transaction. Both of us were surprised at the speed they arrived on my doormat!

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1346353167' post='1788270'] The first gig I ever went to was Rockpile - Dave Edmunds & Nick Lowe - in about 1979 (my Mum took me, as our neighbour worked at the venue, and got us in for free). So Nick Lowe on bass, well I suppose a decent enough starter. [/quote] Me too! Although it was in Norfolk. (My memory is pretty shocking, though. It could have been Dr Feelgood or maybe even the Undertones.)

I know how you feel. The drummer in our band started going downhill (she's young, doing too much dope and started losing enthusiasm for everything) and eventually quit. She had also had an affair with our lead guitarist (before she decided she's a lesbian. again). The guitarist has just left his wife, who is the sister of the wife-to-be of our singer. I also used to "know" her mother. (Well, it is Norfolk....). All in all, it's amazing we hung together as long as we did. Anyhow, I put forward the names of a couple of other drummer I've worked with, only to find our lead guitarist has slotted his mate in (separate rant...). Said mate turned up, turned out it was almost the first time he'd played with other musicians, is very nervous and will take a long, long time to get up to speed. Trouble is, we've got two gigs coming up. So, guitarist found a dep who came along to rehearsal on Tuesday. What a difference! I played better than I have for ages, and the whole band buzzed. We cracked through 30 songs in three hours (all covers, although some are our own arrangements) and the drummer not only kept up, he added fills, breaks and generally made us all lift our game. Trouble is, he's more interested in body-building than being in a band. Tonight it's the turn of one of "my" drummers who will dep for us in the other gig we've got coming up. Fingers crossed he's just as good. I've gone from not looking forward to rehearsals to "bring it on"!

She does scrub up well:

Another transaction with Clarky. A bit cheaper this time (strings instead of a bass), but still as easy and straightforward. If only Royal Mail was as quick and reliable!

I think it's: Dropzone (I'll post it as soon as I can find a suitable envelope) Owen 3371 Mancunianfox Binky bass

That explains it! No, I missed the first one. All is forgiven!

To go off on (another) tangent, these documentaries always start with the premise that before punk it was all Glam Rock, Prog Rock etc and that punk exploded out of nowhere. John Blaney's excellent book "A Howlin' Wind" kicks that into touch completely. Punk rock evolved from pub rock (Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, Dr Feelgood, Ian Drury etc). I never went to a glam rock, prog rock gig but saw plenty of pub rockers and then punk gigs and, with a few exceptions, they did seem to flow from one to the other. My recollection was that by 1979 it all felt "safe" again. All the edginess that came with punk had faded away (most had signed up to major labels so no longer felt like outsiders). I could comb my hair into a DA without fear of being attacked. Instead we began to worry about power cuts, strikes, union protests, nuclear war and whatnot.

Whoever wants it next, please PM me.

Should do. At least, I hope so. My natural $$ gets a bit damp where my forearm rests (the black one is very shiny in the same area). I wipe mine thoroughly before putting it away and wax it regularly too. So far, there's no staining. I had a natural-finish Corvette Standard that was a bit discoloured on the top horn where, I suspect, the first owner wasn't as diligent with the wax.

Nudge for more...

Guess this one has vanished, then.

Three of my Facebook friends have joined already before I even noticed this thread. And one's a drummer too!

I was about to mention Tommy Shannon too! What a fantastic tone. The Who's Live at Leeds has some great moments from Entwhistle.

Many thanks for organising this. Lovely to put some faces to names and see such a range of basses and minuscule amps. Shame there were so few of us.

My Corvette

...and?

Sent to BillyApple early this week.

Regular rig? I'm a gear tart - I never stay with the same set up for more than a month!

Everything on the list or everything in my signature?!