Gottastopbuyinggear Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Played my first ever gig last night, at The Plough in Aberdare as part of the Cwmaman music festival. Debut gig for the whole band (we've been going since early this year), stepping in to fill the last slot after a band pulled out a couple of weeks ago. So it may be stretching the point a bit, but we're claiming our debut gig was the Saturday night headline slot on a stage at a music festival... I say stage, but there was no stage - precious little room at all, but we are a six piece (drums, bass, 2 x guitar, keys and vocals) and the keys player has a full width 88 key keyboard. No sound check, just set up and go. I was stood immediately in front of my cab, and couldn't so much hear it as feel it - now I know what people mean by trouser flapping. Our singer is very energetic, and how he missed jumping on my pedalboard I don't know. Didn't make any howling mistakes, other than one technical one - I used my new VT Bass Deluxe, which I set up the same way as I've always had my BDDI programmable - 1 for thump, 2 for clank and 3 for grind. Now, the VT bass has a fourth switch, which gets you to presets 4, 5 and 6. The factory setting for 6, which is what you get when your great big feet accidentally hit the two end switches at the same time, is "Fuzzed Out". Took me a few seconds to work out what I'd done, and those few seconds were the fist time I've had feedback from a bass... Interesting crowd. Quite a lot of alcohol had been consumed by quite a few. Had a few people dancing, one request to "play something we know - Stereophonics - don't you know where you are?" (we play 60s and 70s R&B and rockier soul stuff, so it wasn't going to happen), and one slightly worrying episode where a lass grabbed one of the guitarists' strat from it's stand mid song to pose for a few photos. Oh, and we did have to stop between songs at one point while a fight was stopped. Rock and Roll! All in all a pretty good night, rounded off with a very welcome (and free!) pint. Now I just need to prize my share of the fee out of our drummer, which will cover about half the cost of the equipment insurance I decided at the last moment might be a clever thing to have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Well done! Sounds like a good start. Has your band got any clips to download yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Well done mate, it's highly addictive, half my life feels like just waiting for the next gig (most of the other half I spend asleep!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandad Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Congratulations - many happy returns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushbo Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Good work fella! First gigs are always...eventful... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seashell Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Brilliant! You won't want to stop now. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Welcome to the club and well done that man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number6 Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Nice one.....sounds like the usual kind of gig night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SICbass Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Popped his gig cherry, yayyyyy! Well done matey. It's amazing how much, by the way of clangers dropped, punters (and for that matter bandmates) don't notice, isn't it ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gottastopbuyinggear Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 Thanks all! I can certainly see how it could be addictive. [quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1474799170' post='3140539'] Well done! Sounds like a good start. Has your band got any clips to download yet? [/quote] Nothing yet, though we're hoping that the drummer's mate got some video with reasonable audio on his iPhone - if so I'll post some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gottastopbuyinggear Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 [quote name='SICbass' timestamp='1474811888' post='3140680'] Popped his gig cherry, yayyyyy! Well done matey. It's amazing how much, by the way of clangers dropped, punters (and for that matter bandmates) don't notice, isn't it ? [/quote] What do you mean, we're always note perfect! Yeah, we had a couple of interesting ones, but nobody seemed to bat an eyelid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josie Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Congratulations, well done, and look forward to many more! Gigging is pretty addictive. Mistakes have to be horrendous for anyone but you to notice. I've twice - starting a fast blues after a slow one - played two bars while everyone else played four, and I don't think anyone else even noticed that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Nice one, chap. And many more to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 [quote name='Gottastopbuyinggear' timestamp='1474797658' post='3140518'] All in all a pretty good night, rounded off with a very welcome (and free!) pint. Now I just need to prize my share of the fee out of our drummer, which will cover about half the cost of the equipment insurance I decided at the last moment might be a clever thing to have... [/quote] Congrats I've gotten spoiled over the pass 5 years I've always been paid in cash 5 minutes into "tear down". Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Congrats on your first gig, may there be many more enjoyable ones to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbandit599 Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Congratulations! Never be intimidated by any bedroom internet hero - you're a real live bass player now 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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