scalpy

Dancing in the Street is our current set 2 opener. Does what is says on the tin.

Do a Pino in the Who.

Thread won and over.

We had a few of our songs used by itv on their F1 coverage. We’d recorded them at AIR with a producer called Matt Butler, who has recorded some other bass players in his time, like Geddy Lee, Marcus Miller and Paul McCartney. One of those songs was going to be in a Hollywood movie as well, but 9/11 happened, and as the film featured some terrorists it was pulled never to resurface.

Thank you, that’s us in the middle of our Knock on Wood skit. Head on to the Hey Yahs Facebook page, we’ve been a little quiet of late but there’s some videos on there, mostly of us being idiots!

Eurolite for the 4 panel LEDs, got a package with case, footswitch and stand, around £250 each. I wouldn’t get them again though, the stairville stuff is better, better autorun programs, brighter, and not as fussy if you want to use xlr cables instead of dmx (which I don’t have a clue about.) Can’t see the exact bundle doing a turbo search for the uplighters but there’s be loads of applications for something like this one- https://m.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_bar_240_8_rgb_dmx_3_bundle.htm?o=31&search=1525705879

We were in a similar boat and I’ve started to get a basic rig together. I made the classic mistake starting out thinking it was about lighting the band, so have two pole mounted 4 panel LED bars for either side of the stage. We leave them on a basic slow fade from one colour to the next, they’re the same brand so I just set them off at the same time! The best things I’ve bought so far are two LED bars for uplighting the the back of the stage. Thomann jobs, 70 quid for a pair. They make a huge difference, especially if you’re playing in a marquee or up against a white wall, the colour gets soaked up and it’s like you’ve got a screen behind you. I also have two single floor mounted flood panels hooked up to them, lighting the drummer’s silver kit (we call him Ginger Bacofoil) What I’ve since learned however, is that you light live music from the back, going out to the audience. Next step for us is a basic frame and some moving heads running on automatic. Thomann is amazing for lighting gear and it’s easy to carry, small and cool as well- gone are the days of Turkey basting bulb powered lamps. Obligatory photo of our rig in action (also highlighting how hard it is to keep leads tidy on a white floor!)

Good quality wedges do sound immense, but in my experience the monitor guy will be so intent on proving it you spend half of soundcheck going ‘that’s great, just turn it down, no further please, no more....’ One guy even stopped me during an interval and said I needed to turn down- my amp was set at less than we rehearse at, and didn’t realise the bass drowning out the pa was his rig.

I had a really nice JJ jewel, which I used at work to take soul band rehearsals. It had got knocked over once before and had a hairline crack around the neck pocket. One day we were working on ‘performance’ and they decided I should demonstrate the Pete Townsend leap I was on about, which I promptly did. Upon landing, I felt the strings go slack and the body drop, which I caught. Looking down the neck was completely separated from the body. I put the dismembered guitar on the floor and the trumpet player asked me ‘Is it dead sir?’ When I confirmed i thought it indeed was he picked up his instrument and played the last post as solemnly as he could manage, the cheeky begger.

I was stood by the desk at V festival in Weston Park one year. Their sound engineer and the hire guy were having a blazing row about something, from what I could gather about what he could or couldn’t do, and when the band started they sounded terrible. The sound guy got to work, 8 bars in and the kick sounded exactly Questlove should, then the whole kit. By the chorus the vocals were loud and proud, and the end of the song they sounded magnificent. The guy worked like a dervish, and it was a proper insight into how to mix on the fly and make the best of a bad job on unfamiliar gear.

Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough just came on in the car. Nothing on that track that isn’t perfection but can’t imagine it without the percussion part, especially on that outro, which has a groove deeper than Zuckerberg’s pockets.

13 when I attended this. Ray Cooper can certainly power a song, when he cuts across to the tambourine still gives me chills. Vocal energetic more than musical mind. Also, whilst on the topic of Ray, he once featured in a documentary made by George Martin where he duetted with a slowed down recording of tree cells rejuvenating and I’ve never been able to find it. If anybody knows I’d love to see it again. Seriously, I would!

If I was buying new I wouldn’t touch Aggies, but I got my pair of db112s in boss tweed for less than the price of a single new one, with covers. Doing the kind of playing I do the only cab I’d need to purchase now would be a barefaced one ten. But it would have to be silver grill or limited run ‘posh’ finish, because of the clients requirements, not mine.

I know they are stupid money now but one thing I will say in their defence, and I have said it before on here so my apologies- they look great. It may not make a huge difference to some, but I play mainly weddings and small/mid theatres. I swear blind if you rock up with cabs that look like they fell out of a astra in the 90s (unfortunately many top end cabs do) the client thinks you’re too loud before you’ve even put the cab onstage. Only TKS can rival Aguilar in my book, and I saw a big increase in bookings when I got mine.

They live in Pershore in Worcestershire, right in the centre of the town.

I’m delighted- bought mine ages ago for less than the price of one new db112, makes me feel like a right rich (more money than sense) git.

I saw them at Colston Hall in 2007. Orlando was really knocking on by that point, he had to be helped onto stage, someone held his bass as the other draped him over it, where he proceeded to play beautifully for two hours. My wife and I then went back to the hotel and had the night ruined by a drunken Irish stag do throwing plant pots down the corridors all night. When we went down to breakfast they were all being arrested and I tucked into the free coffee. We had finished eating when my wife said to me ‘I think we’re sharing breakfast with some special people’ Thinking she was referring to the drunken idiots I looked up to see the Buena Vista guys queuing up for a full English. Amped up on no sleep and four coffees I promptly charged over to Orlando and they all instantly crowded round him, but seeing that I only wanted to shake his hand they all relaxed. It was a bizarre way to meet a hero, but every time I hear that hear his playing wondering just how on Earth he did it I’m grateful to a bunch of yobbos who spent the night shouting they were the IRA.

A studio drummer I know says if the click- “Ah, the fifth member of the band no one likes and can’t play in time.”

I trained as a trumpet player, and have my own theories about why so many brass players end up playing bass (not cash or spelling errors) Eventually it was the realisation the bass player is completely in charge that put paid to the trumpet for me. Laying down a bassline means you’re in control of the dynamic, the excitement level, the harmony- it’s blinking ace.

A ‘this is my rig’ post but I run my LMT500 through Aggie DB112S. I either use an ASAT with rounds and the rig is very clear, responsive to settings etc or a LB100 with flats for the vintage thing, which again is hard to beat. Not the lightest or smallest of rigs but hasn’t been too big or not loud enough yet!

Had to be a viola player didn’t it?

Paying me taxes but not claiming back compressor expenses!

I just about qualify for semi-pro. The day job is classroom music teacher- but I’m adamant that career is the craft of education first subject specialism second. I do ok as a reading bassist round here, the function band does 20 or so gigs a year and I pick up the occasional session or two a year. Of course semi pro can mean lucky to get paid as well!

Do the thing with the lead where it goes underneath a foot of the head or a handle. I once lent my rig to the support band, who played away merrily until the very last note, where he stood on the lead, snapped the input jack and left me rigless, 150 Miles from home. Pre PA support for that type of gig as well.