theplumber

This might be good in reverse if I could get holograms of the punters in my living room and I would not have to go in to a pub to gig again!

Sell him a squier....

Too true! I did the same thing with an old mate who I was at school with. I had not seen him since I was 21. Met up for a drink in our late 50's and we had a good day out. In fact we did it again a few weeks later but by that time the conversation well was well and truly dried out! In fact I wasn't that sure I like him anymore......lol

Do you ever find trying to get hold of fellow band mates or starting a new project is worth the bother? I recently met an old bandmate at a recent gig I was playing. I have not seen him for 22 years and last played in a band with him in 1980!! We had laugh and agreed to meet up a few weeks later to see our old drummer play with his current band. When I arrived at the pub it turned out that our old singer had been invited and all 4 of us enjoyed a chat and a bit of banter. At one point I was taken aside by the singer and asked if I was interested in having a wee jam in view to maybe doing some gigs! I must admit it was something I had thought about over the years but maybe in a way you wanted to look up an old flame to see what they were like now! I agreed to a get together at a local studio a few weeks later and we agreed on a small selection of songs to run over. As it was it was nice to see the guys again and have a play after all the years that had past. The only thing that was a bit of a let down was that the drummer had not learned any songs.He did play along and it was sort of ok but he was very dismissive of some of the song suggestions even though he had plenty of time to come up with songs that he liked! Anyway it was decided to have another go,maybe at someones house in view of doing a one off gig. As it turned out the drummer was asked why he never bothered learning anything and he said he thought we would have just been talking! Why he thought we would book and pay for a studio is beyond me! Anyway folk had holidays and we could not agree on a date that suited everyone. Now it turns out that the singer who thought it was a good idea in the first place has not been in touch with anybody else and does not use WhatsApp and doesn't see any messages regarding getting together! I have just joined a new band and have a full set of new songs to learn,plus our guitarist is practising songs for his first gig with a new band. Maybe it still will come together and at the end of the day it is nice to be in touch with the guys again but I am not that bothered if we play together now. The moment seems to have passed! Any similar things happened to you guys?

What are you using for the IEM set up? I had to do a similar thing for my last band who were off the scale loud. I am no longer with them and the volume was a big cause in me leaving the band...that and the singers giant ego!

I was in a band and the guitarist and singer nearly came to blows one night...this lasted over the course of the gig which was cut short thankfully! Someone filmed it and for a couple of hours it was on the net! Not a good advert for the band! I managed to see it recently as the singer in a recent band I am in is super nosey and heard about it almost straight away and saved it!...its like that in Glasgow/Paisley. I seem to be telling the guys to calm down and get back to the music! The drummer is just looking down at his snare........ Even Harry Hill would not have shown it!!

I have seen pro made studio based videos of bands or location shoots with bands playing along to a pre recording backing track. It does show the band in a good light if made corectly but I do like to see a decent live video even if it does come from a punter. If it's any good it can be used to your advantage!

Any thoughts on folk filming your band without permission and sticking it on the net? I ask because in the past in my previous bands this has by and large been a good thing. Seeing your band and hopefully a good night/performance can be a good boost. However,some recent video footage I have seen of other bands have been less than perfect! Yes,I know...folk get caught up in the moment and film when whizzed usually right up someones nose or right in front of a speaker. I suppose it's the times we live in where every single thing we do is captured in the moment for good or bad! Reason I brought this up is I caught a few videos of a band I know from a gig last night. The guy who owns the pub has a habit of taking video footage of the bands playing in his pub and live streaming. Cue armchair viewers watching and dropping comments such as...ooofft a bit off and not enough guitars drop the keyboard player! Sometimes you have to be in the room....maybe as a whizzed up punter to really see how it sounds! I had the chance to be a whizzed up punter at a Glasgow pub a few weeks band seeing a mates band in the afternoon then all of a sudden having to dash for the last train after the pub jam session and another band! Doesn't time fly when you are whizzed! Oh and it all sounded perfectly fine to me and there was no video footage of the bands or me...thankfully!

I always hated the term ''Unwanted Gift''......

The 80's!! We had that Yorkshire ripper guy playing with us. Chased him in the end!!

I played with a band years back who did this. It was due to the massive effects box's that both guitarists had.One also had an effects unit that made the guitar sound like an organ.In fact the singer was an organ!! I spent most of the night standing in the corner looking at the back of a PA speaker on a stand....Fun times indeed!

BC Camplight in Glasgow.Friday 1st April.

Been gigging in one form or another since I was 17. Now at 61 I wonder if its time to hang up my bass (it's not but I do wonder!) Last few years,covid aside I have managed to gig on a regular basis with some decent bands and decent folk. Usual covers in and around Glasgow and surrounding areas. The covid break let me take stock of things and I was offered a chance with a band I had depped with a few years back. Nothing wrong with the band I was in at the time but a change is as good as a rest as they say.At first everything was great! Good number of gigs,a great wee list of songs to learn and the guys were a good laugh......very quickly it went downhill! The volume of the band was off the scale both live and in practise. No amount of talking to the band seemed to make a differance. I was made to feel as if it was my problem. Everyone pointed the finger to each other but nothing seemed to be getting done. That in itself would be enough to chase most folk away. Also the usual singer/ego/getting whizzed at gigs reared it's ugly head. I think I must have moaned a fair bit about learning new songs only for them to be played one or two times only and be cast back on the pile only to be dragged out months later when folk had forgot how they went! Shame really as despite all that it was a decent wee band lol. Hard to believe! Maybe it was a good thing to get a dear John message a couple of weeks back saying that it hadn't worked out with me and wished me all the best! There were other issues in the band but...well these things happen in bands! I heard enough about the bass player before me to know that the next bass player will be told it was all my fault! Anyway....it paves the way for another adventure in the land of dad bands in pubs!!

Just get a decent drummer...save his drumming for demos!

Joined a band a few years back through a Facebook advert. They had just sacked their bass player and had about 10 gigs needing covered. The did say that they dont rehearse as they know the songs well enough and more or less stuck to the same songs on all gigs....well that was the theory. It was a regular thing for the singer to shout out to the band...Anyone know this one? And if enough of us said yip,it got played. In a way it was good as it showed we could improvise and you surprised yourself if you got to the end of the song and it worked out! But on the odd ocasion things came unstuck. I do remember getting moody looks then a mouthful of abuse when I messed up a Led Zepplin song. I gave him plenty of abuse back and told him that they might be doing the rest of the gig as a 3 piece if I had anymore of his shite.....He did apologise but ....practise makes perfect!

Still gigging at 61 and enjoying it. Seeing the same old issues coming through in all the recent bands I have been in. Wew are all pretty complex and slightly annoying at times! But we try!!!

Buy a Westfield....£60!

Russ Ballard....

I wished I had never seen this...oh no!!!

Herbie Flowers.