Bobby K

+1 from another B Bass owner. Mine is now defretted. My battery compartment is also fooked lol but it matters not. Could be a bargain!

[quote name='LemonCello' timestamp='1360356374' post='1969396'] Wasn't Andy slung out the band for a short while? [/quote] Yeah, before they toured The Queen is Dead, Morrissey famously sacked Andy by leaving a note on his car windscreen. It apparently read something like... [i]"Dear Andy, [/i] [i]you have left the Smiths. Goodbye and good luck!" [/i] This story has been said to be untrue over the years, but I met Mike Joyce (Smiths drummer) a few years ago and he told me that it was totally true! So yeah, Andy was sacked because of his heroin habit. Mike told me that there would be times that Andy was so out of it, that he just [i]wasn't there! [/i]The band apparently came to an agreement that he should be given his notice and Moz delivered the note as described above. Craig Gannon was recruited as Andy's replacement, but Andy ended up getting reinstated for the Queen is Dead tour and Gannon ended up as a second guitarist. He also ended up on a few recordings, such as [i]Panic[/i] and [i]Is it really so strange[/i]

[quote name='Stephen Houghton' timestamp='1360355288' post='1969366'] Love the Smiths and Morrisey, love his warbling it does get addictive especially there early stuff. Also love Kate Bush, so Bobby will deffo check out your tour details, will they be on the link below? [/quote] I was a fan long before I learnt the bass lines. I too love Moz's voice, but appreciate that it's not everyone's cup of tea. People either love his voice, or hate it. Yes mate, all the KB dates are on there

[quote name='mike257' timestamp='1360336707' post='1968913'] Hi Bob, I do quite a bit of playing with your Johnny Marr, heard plenty about you guys - hoping to catch a gig when your Moz has got time to get back over here! Hope the KB tour goes well! [/quote] Cheers mate, Liam is a tremendous player isn't he [quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1360336725' post='1968915'] I met him once, in Nottingham, when he was playing in Vinny Peculiar [/quote] I've got to know Alan (Vinny) quite well over the last couple of years; he was the support on our tour in 2011. I've played bass for him a couple of times myself. These were covers gigs though - he loves his glam rock, so we did loads of Bowie, Roxy Music, T-Rex, as well as a bit of Slade - all good fun! He's hysterically funny and a brilliant front man, very entertaining! I love his original stuff too. He's touring with Bonehead from Oasis at the moment. They're project is called Parlour Flames - they're in Liverpool tomorrow night, gonna go and watch hopefully.

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1360333395' post='1968824'] He Headmaster Ritual. Also one of my favourite Johnny Marr guitar parts, all done in open E, massive chords and Rourke just fits around him so well. [/quote] Totally agree, one of my faves to play in the set. Same goes for [i]Nowhere Fast [/i]from the same album, tremendous line

Don't blow all your PD's at the services!

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1360285547' post='1968244'] Bugger off? Heaven knows I'm miserable now! [/quote] Ahh, you know I don't mean it, my friend. I'm just jealous of your fine collection of old Yamahas

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1360281262' post='1968183'] Jonny Marr played a lot of Smiths songs with a capo on the 2nd fret (or he tuned his guitar up). I imagine it was easier for Andy Rourke to have the open strings in the same place. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTBkML3iUNo[/media] [/quote] I've never been sure but this was the only reason I could ever come up with for Andy's F# tuning, so it's good to hear somebody else say it I first learnt the songs in normal tuning, but later re-learnt it in F# tuning - it's actually much easier to play that way, so it made total sense. It should be noted though, that not all of the songs were played that way. There's a lot of stuff in standard tuning too (but the older stuff is predominantly F#)

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1360274707' post='1968066'] Naw, that TheSmithsIndeed bass player uses a natural Yamaha BB1200. He really should be using a BB2000. [/quote] Yep, the BB2000 was a somewhat [i]secret weapon [/i]on Smiths recordings (Everyone usually associates Andy with his '64 P bass) The BB2000 was used on several recordings, most noteably on [i]Barbarism Begins at Home[/i]

[quote name='tredders' timestamp='1360272391' post='1967988'] Someone on here is in a really good Smiths tribute band - I noticed a link in their sig, and checked them out. I think they were called The Smiths Indeed - very authentic. [/quote] cheers mate As for you Noel K, bugger off

[quote name='LemonCello' timestamp='1360272989' post='1968012'] .......I've just noticed your 'footer' Bob - not just my ears that are defective!! And checked out your website - Fantastic. When are you in Cardiff again? [/quote] Unfortunately, we're not doing that much this year. Our [i]would be Morrissey [/i]lives in Belgium 90% of the time (he's a native of Antwerp!) and he recently became a dad, so he's quite busy with that. Also, me and the drummer are going to be busy shortly with the kate Bush tribute (starting a British tour on 22nd of this month) We've done the Smiths tribute for almost 8 years now and it's been great fun. Hopefully this is just a break and not the end; we've had some great gigs in Cardiff, by the way!

Andy is very under rated, to say the least and brilliantly inventive. The bassline to [i]Heaven knows I'm miserable now [/i]is a wonderful example of his musicality; it's probably my fave bassline of his. The gig on Sky Arts was probably the one from Rockpalast, Hamburg in 1984; it's been shown a few times. Did you notice he played in F# Lemoncello (each string up a whole step) - I've never really got to the bottom of why he did that..... John Porter, formerly bassist with Roxy Music produced a lot of the early Smiths stuff. Might explain the prominent bass in the mix; he apparently always insisted Andy put new strings on before each recording, for maximum punch and brightness. It shows in the recordings.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1360108872' post='1965114'] I actually quite like his youtube channel. Some nice skills there. [/quote] i agree, EBS (what a tremendous avatar you have there!)

oh I've missed it... is it on your Youtube channel Inti?

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1360013751' post='1963668'] They are both very differnet in subtle ways that I will explain below. The Yammy is good. The Epiphone is crap. There you go. [/quote]

YAMAHA YAMAHA YAMAHA (did I mention yamaha?) Simply for the versatility. You never get a duff one either (unless it's been abused by a previous owner! ) so buy with confidence. Been a lot of 614's going cheap as chips on the 'bay recently