When will you start gigging again?

[Silvia Bluejay]

1 hour ago, Oopsdabassist said:

Intrigued, tell me more, one of our guitarists must live within a mile of this place but he's never mentioned it. is it a proper rehearsal room?

It's a small private wood, with lots of beeches and a few oaks and fir trees.

The guys played for the cameras (recording for band reference only, not intended for publication), for yours truly behind the cameras, for Jack's couple of hundred thousand bees in their hives, and for the occasional jogger or dog walker stopping by for a few minutes. Good fun.

[Happy Jack]

As an aside, a full colony of bees in their bee hive will routinely count 50,000 bees during the Summer. I currently have 12 hives on the go, building up to full strength after a series of 'splits' (don't ask unless you're genuinely interested), and if they were all to reach that full strength then there will be about 600,000 bees in my wood.

I'm confident that I'll at least hit half a million this year.

[Happy Jack]

54 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

It's a small private wood ...

I have about two acres (think a square 100 yards on each side, or two football pitches, or about 50 Olympic swimming pools, or 200 London buses) set in the middle of many square miles of mature beech trees, planted before WW2 to supply the furniture industry centred on High Wycombe.

By the time the trees had matured, Ikea had happened. No more furniture industry, so the big forestry estates parcelled up their woodlands into small plots of 'leisure woodland'. When I stand in my measly two acres, it feels like I own the entire forest. 

[Silvia Bluejay]

30 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

I'm confident that I'll at least hit half a million this year.

That's quite a sizeable audience, if you decide to play there again...

[Happy Jack]

Just now, Silvia Bluejay said:

That's quite a sizeable audience, if you decide to play there again...

Not a paying audience ... we'd be doing it for the exposure.

[ambient]

32 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

As an aside, a full colony of bees in their bee hive will routinely count 50,000 bees during the Summer. I currently have 12 hives on the go, building up to full strength after a series of 'splits' (don't ask unless you're genuinely interested), and if they were all to reach that full strength then there will be about 600,000 bees in my wood.

I'm confident that I'll at least hit half a million this year.

I know a couple of people who keep bees. It’s something I’d love to do.

[Happy Jack]

1 minute ago, ambient said:

I know a couple of people who keep bees. It’s something I’d love to do.

Very satisfying, but at certain times of the year really quite demanding. If you're retired (like me) or self-employed then fine; if you have a 9-5 or a young family then best postpone for a while!

[Lozz196]

28 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Not a paying audience ... we'd be doing it for the exposure.

Doing it for the buzz maybe?

I’ll get my cloak....

[Oopsdabassist]

1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

I have about two acres (think a square 100 yards on each side, or two football pitches, or about 50 Olympic swimming pools, or 200 London buses) set in the middle of many square miles of mature beech trees, planted before WW2 to supply the furniture industry centred on High Wycombe.

By the time the trees had matured, Ikea had happened. No more furniture industry, so the big forestry estates parcelled up their woodlands into small plots of 'leisure woodland'. When I stand in my measly two acres, it feels like I own the entire forest. 

Sounds really cool!!

[MacDaddy]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

When I stand in my measly two acres, it feels like I own the entire forest. 

That's because you can't see the wood for the tree's.

[Happy Jack]

7 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

That's because you can't see the wood for the tree's.

Troo dat.

[musicbassman]

10 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

That's because you can't see the wood for the bees.

There, fixed it for you 

[Trueno]

Our guitarist has just laid down an enormous patio. He lives in a semi-rural location (actually, we all do) and has suggested a socially-distanced rehearsal outside... with some friendly neighbours gathering nearby. Maybe in July sometime.

Sounds like a reasonable idea... but having had underlying chronic conditions for the last half-century, I'm rather risk averse. For me, if you have to take ANY precautions, it's not safe.

[ricksterphil]

Hopefully before 3rd October this year as we're booked to play the Dublin Castle in Camden on that date. For a little Bowie Tribute band from Nottingham it's quite a big deal to play a gig in 'Nodnol'

 

 

 

 

 

[julietgreen]

On 01/06/2020 at 16:33, BigRedX said:

 

IMO by the time there's zero chance of catching Covid-19 there will be something just as bad if not worse.

The impact of climate change and the 'ramping up' of authoritarianism?

[julietgreen]

On 01/06/2020 at 16:49, ambient said:

There’s a friend of mine from university who’s been in hospital for the last five weeks with Coronavirus. He spent four of those weeks in a medically induced coma. I only found out last week, he posted a video on Facebook.
 

It’s a horrible disease. You might be lucky and just have mild symptoms, then again it could kill you. Those it doesn’t kill are often left with life changing health problems. Why take the risk is what I think

Almost snap. A good friend caught it at his last gig before lockdown. Has not come off the ventilator yet. There will be damage.

[FinnDave]

29 minutes ago, ricksterphil said:

Hopefully before 3rd October this year as we're booked to play the Dublin Castle in Camden on that date. For a little Bowie Tribute band from Nottingham it's quite a big deal to play a gig in 'Nodnol'

I hope so too, we're supposed to be playing at the Fiddler's Elbow that night, also in Camden

Edited June 4, 2020 by FinnDave

[bigjohn]

The other members of my band are keen to start rehearsing again. I’m not keen at all. 
 

I don’t really see it as a risk that I might catch it and get ill. see it more a risk, however small, that if I put myself in a place where I might catch it, then even if I don’t get sick I might be passing it on. So trips to the shops for instance become far more stressful. I’m happy feeling confident I don’t have it and can’t have it other than contracting it in the one or two local shops I’ve been in. There have been zero cases locally. I really don’t want to be the one who brings it in. 
 

it does t help that one of us is a social worker who has spent the whole of lockdown working and going into people’s houses, going into an office, using the trams etc. 

[fretmeister]

38 minutes ago, julietgreen said:

The impact of climate change and the 'ramping up' of authoritarianism?

If gigs remain banned I bet they'll be an exception for a band that writes songs praising Johnson.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Watch out for politics-related derailments, guys, please. Thanks.

[Lozz196]

45 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

Edit - just saw your post above Silvia, si have deleted my comments although they were in jest
 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Lozz196

[Silvia Bluejay]

They were OK, Lozz, and I knew they were in jest, but I appreciate that.

[Earbrass]

Since the crisis began, I have seen some wonderful livestreamed gigs from several of my favourite artists. Such gigs offer advantages for both the audience and performers. As a virtual gig-goer, I did not need to travel (the gigs I watched were from Finland, but they could have been from almost anywhere in the world), I didn't have to deal with the idiocy of fellow gig-goers playing constantly with their mobile phones, I could watch them whenever and wherever I wanted, pause them for a loo-break or to put the kettle on, and the sound was excellent, and not at the mercy of room acoustics or dodgy PAs. Performers can play a gig to a virtually unlimited audience - it's just up to them how many people they can attract. No need for much of the heavy gear they usually have to lug around, or for anti-social levels of volume which have increasingly made small venues less viable in our overcrowded  cities. No having to deal with drunken punters falling into their gear, asking for requests, or to be allowed to sing or otherwise making a nuisance of themselves. The gigs I have seen were free, or in one case with optional tickets for those wishing to support the artists financially, but they could be monetised fairly simply (much as online music lessons have been). Just as watching films at home is steadily replacing trips to the cinema, perhaps this could be the future trend for many gigs, and those bands that learn to exploit the new technology fastest could be ahead of the game. Just a thought.  

Edited June 6, 2020 by Earbrass

[Lozz196]

It’s a good thought, Earbrass, I’ve spoken with my old band about events like this, get a good promoter involved and go from there. Get a venue on board that can safely accommodate a band, couple of camera people and sound/lighting engineers and get a live gig in your own home. I think people in the live music scenes are going to really need to rethink, much the same way as when giving music away on YouTube etc became par for the course. This is the next development, those that embrace it should see the rewards.

[ambient]

54 minutes ago, Earbrass said:

Since the crisis began, I have seen some wonderful livestreamed gigs from several of my favourite artists. Such gigs offer advantages for both the audience and performers. As a virtual gig-goer, I did not need to travel (the gigs I watched were from Finland, but they could have been from almost anywhere in the world), I didn't have to deal with the idiocy of fellow gig-goers playing constantly with their mobile phones, I could watch them whenever and wherever I wanted, pause them for a loo-break or to put the kettle on, and the sound was excellent, and not at the mercy of room acoustics or dodgy PAs. Performers can play a gig to a virtually unlimited audience - it's just up to them how many people they can attract. No need for much of the heavy gear they usually have to lug around, or for anti-social levels of volume which have increasingly made small venues less viable in our overcrowded  cities. No having to deal with drunken punters falling into their gear, asking for requests, or to be allowed to sing or otherwise making a nuisance of themselves. The gigs I have seen were free, or in one case with optional tickets for those wishing to support the artists financially, but they could be monetised fairly simply (much as online music lessons have been). Just as watching films at home is steadily replacing trips to the cinema, perhaps this could be the future trend for many gigs, and those bands that learn to exploit the new technology fastest could be ahead of the game. Just a thought.  

I watched a friend of mine and his wife doing a ‘kitchen session’ this evening. It was brilliant. It’s simple to monetise by having people pay before being given an invite to the Zoom session.