How was your gig last night?

[RandomBass]

4 minutes ago, lurksalot said:

I'm not so sure , I know a fair few youngsters that have bikes , but they don't do the hairy arsed bike 'scene' if you will. 

They enjoy a party but not necessarily the stereotypical hog, classic or Brit type thing 

Agreed. It's the hairy arsed bike scene to which I referred earlier.

However, I am old so my derrière is permanently hairy.

 

[RandomBass]

Just now, RandomBass said:

Agreed. It's the hairy arsed bike scene to which I referred earlier.

However, I am old so my derrière is permanently hairy.

 

Oh. The clever censor turned my a-word for bottom into derriere. It even added the correct French accent. Impressive.

Mange tout Rodney.

[josie]

4 hours ago, lurksalot said:

I'm not so sure , I know a fair few youngsters that have bikes , but they don't do the hairy arsed bike 'scene' if you will. 

They enjoy a party but not necessarily the stereotypical hog, classic or Brit type thing 

Younger son - a good drummer, who took up bass seriously after I did - subtly arm-twisted me into buying him a new MIA Fender P and then lost interest in playing bass in favour of re-building and riding bikes. Needless to say I'm not completely happy. If I wanted a P I could at least take it off him, but I don't :-(

[Bluewine]

11 hours ago, martthebass said:

Hard sometimes Blue.  I nearly always get a crap sound on stage when I use a Mustang, but the 'sound lady' always said it sounds great FOH, it was only when I started going wireless again that I could come out and check the room and verify she was spot on.  Doesn't help the on-stage vibe though...

It's really tough. The way I think bass should sound and mixed is based on 50 years of gigging. A millennial sound guy might have different ideas on how bass should sound and fall into the mix.

I'm not getting involved with sound engineering. Knowing my parts and performing is enough as it is.

Blue

[peteb]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

It's really tough. The way I think bass should sound and mixed is based on 50 years of gigging. A millennial sound guy might have different ideas on how bass should sound and fall into the mix.

I'm not getting involved with sound engineering. Knowing my parts and performing is enough as it is.

Blue

The thing is that there is more than one way to skin a cat as it were and there are many different great bass sounds, just as there even more crap ones! What any bass player needs to do is find one that works for them and the type of music they play. 

My approach is that ideally it should be a tone that can be recognised as being a 'your' sound (hence I basically use just one sound and only use effects sparingly) and once you have found the sound that you want, then you forget about 'tone chasing ' and concentrate on playing! 

Edited May 26, 2018 by peteb

[steantval]

Just got back from a great gig in Peterborough, a proper live music pub with a really appreciative audience.

Several local musicians in there watching us, as it was the first time we had played there, a couple of bass players came up at the end and complimented me on my bass tone, it was nice to hear.

[Woodinblack]

5 hours ago, lurksalot said:

I'm not so sure , I know a fair few youngsters that have bikes , but they don't do the hairy arsed bike 'scene' if you will. 

They enjoy a party but not necessarily the stereotypical hog, classic or Brit type thing 

When I rode bikes all the time I tended to avoid the 'biker' scene and didn't like to be refered to as a biker, even though we tended to ride round on the bikes all the time, and all my mates had bikes. Some were closer to the bikers though. We would occasionally do the rallies but stayed away from the biker types!

 

[Graham]

A nice wedding last night deep in the Sussex coubtryside, the bride was really into it which meant the dancefloor was busy for most of the night, really makes all the difference.

Tonight we're at a nightclub in Eastbourne, so don't start until midnight; very pleased Monday is a bank holiday to recover 😁

[12stringbassist]

On 5/20/2018 at 18:36, Bluewine said:

Wow, do you know why he quit in that fashion? Was he whizzed off at something?

Apparently he had some issues with the rest of the band.
Spectacularly unprofessional to pack up mid-gig.

[FinnDave]

Just back from a gig in central Swindon. We've plated the venue quite a few times, but this time saw the smallest audience. I was half expecting it when we had had our start time knocked back by half an hour earlier in the week so they could televise the football match. We had a similar thing a couple of year ago when we  had to delay our start so Australia could thrash England at Rugby, and the general mood of the audience was so low that most of them went home as soon as it finished. Same tonight, when Liverpool (I think) were beaten by whoever they were playing, the place more or less emptied. It picked up a bit later, but it wasn't much of a crowd for a Saturday night. Quite enthusiastic, but lack enough people to get it going.

Drove home through a landscape lit by continual lightening, though it didn't start raining until the last 2 or 3 miles.

Playing an outdoor festival tomorrow, so hope the weather blows through overnight!

[Woodinblack]

Just back from a gig at a venue we haven't played before. Was a bit of a slow start (and late as we had to wait for the football to finish), but they warmed up and as is always the way, at the 2 hour, 15 minute, 3 or 4 song to go part they really got to serious dancing, so a lot of final songs, an older woman came up on stage trying to tell us that she was sues sister (I have no reason to doubt her, whoever sue was), and on leaving went flying over the monitor, luckily drunk enough for it not to hurt.

Really difficult to leave with 'one more song' then almost begging at the end. Where are those people near the beginning?

Anyway, back home, stuff still in the car as we are doing 3-6 tomorrow afternoon and then 9-12 later on. all local though

[Woodinblack]

21 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

Same tonight, when Liverpool (I think) were beaten by whoever they were playing, the place more or less emptied. It picked up a bit later, but it wasn't much of a crowd for a Saturday night. Quite enthusiastic, but lack enough people to get it going.

Drove home through a landscape lit by continual lightening, though it didn't start raining until the last 2 or 3 miles.

Playing an outdoor festival tomorrow, so hope the weather blows through overnight!

Yep - same here, both the crowd leaving after the match and the lighting, except it was earlier for us.

[lurksalot]

A new venue for us last night , the old red lion in little Sutton , a proper music pub and well looked after , plenty of sockets , extension cables, lighting rig and a couple of electric fans for us !

we have been trying to get a gig there for quite a few years , but they book a year up and it is almost a closed shop.

we took a cancellation and stormed it , we set up at 6.30 which meant they could put the match on, as the big screen is on the stage area,  ok, the match result didn't go as hoped but the place stayed very busy , we will be asked to fill in more this year and will be on the booking roster next year , result 

a 15 minute drive home , with the sky lighting up in the distance it was quite surreal 

[RandomBass]

34 minutes ago, lurksalot said:

A new venue for us last night , the old red lion in little Sutton , a proper music pub and well looked after , plenty of sockets , extension cables, lighting rig and a couple of electric fans for us !

we have been trying to get a gig there for quite a few years , but they book a year up and it is almost a closed shop.

we took a cancellation and stormed it , we set up at 6.30 which meant they could put the match on, as the big screen is on the stage area,  ok, the match result didn't go as hoped but the place stayed very busy , we will be asked to fill in more this year and will be on the booking roster next year , result 

a 15 minute drive home , with the sky lighting up in the distance it was quite surreal 

Nice one, glad you got a result there.

[Graham]

Brilliant last night, set up and break-down was a bit hard work - second floor of a nightclub with no parking available out front, so sweating before we'd begun in the humidity yesterday, but a really good gig.

Midnight start, so punters already quite happy, place was pretty busy and they were all up for it, so we had a blast. The venue has a house engineer which makes everything so much easier and not having a PA to break down at the end of the night made it worthwhile.

Got to bed at 3, kids got me up at 7.....

Only sour note was the intermittent fault on my EBS head seems to have returned and I basically didn't have an amp for the second set, though that was partly down to me turning the input gain down and not noticing.

[dontregartha]

Played a return gig in Rothwell (northants) last night. The town had a carnival and fair, parking for unloading was rubbish. We had to be in early for set up as it was a football club presentation, followed by the match on the big screen. We went and got a kebab and a couple of beers and started at 9.30. Great crowd, including a lot of 'faces' from other gigs. Finished at 12.30, got on the road at about 1.45 and drove back to Wing (bucks) in  the torrential rain and amazing lightning all the way back. 

 

[Graham]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1860672713988833&id=426362820753170 

Some video from last night, sorry for the song they filmed, I'll bet we're all a bit sick of it 😁

[Bluewine]

I'm still not happy with the last two gigs.

1.We played a Harley Event yesterday,

2.Nice stage and back drop

3.Awesome sound

4. Great pay

5.Great weather, 89° and sunny.

6. Professionally Organized

Nice tent with beer, water, soda and sandwiches for the band.

However, with an 11:30am-1:30pm slot it was more like a paid rehearsal, no crowd.

Blue

Edited May 28, 2018 by Bluewine

[FinnDave]

Just got in from a village pub festival in south Oxfordshire. I wasn't really expecting much from it, but it was exceptionally well organised and run, so was a pleasure to play at. Quite a good weekend, overall, and tomorrow's a second 'Sunday' so should be able to catch up with my mates locally down the pub before the wife goes back to work on Tuesday. Which also happens to be her birthday (one of those that have have a zero in them, too) so I've suggested she doesn't make any plans to cook dinner that night!

[BrunoBass]

Just in from tonight’s gig in Banbury, unfortunately one of those nights that you get sometimes. We had the option to play outside with a strict 11pm finish, which appealed to me - early finish and 80% of the pubgoers were outside. Unfortunately I got out-voted on the strength of the ‘early’ finish and so we played for two and a half hours in a hot, stifling room until five past eleven with about five people watching us, who didn’t give us anything back at all despite our best efforts. One of those nights when I wonder why I bother. Our next gig is a new venue for us with completely the wrong clientele, I fully expect that one to tank as well...

Oh well, Summer festival season is nearly upon us and we’ve got three well attended outdoor shows coming up to look forward to.

[Bluewine]

5 hours ago, BrunoBass said:

Just in from tonight’s gig in Banbury, unfortunately one of those nights that you get sometimes. We had the option to play outside with a strict 11pm finish, which appealed to me - early finish and 80% of the pubgoers were outside. Unfortunately I got out-voted on the strength of the ‘early’ finish and so we played for two and a half hours in a hot, stifling room until five past eleven with about five people watching us, who didn’t give us anything back at all despite our best efforts. One of those nights when I wonder why I bother. Our next gig is a new venue for us with completely the wrong clientele, I fully expect that one to tank as well...

Oh well, Summer festival season is nearly upon us and we’ve got three well attended outdoor shows coming up to look forward to.

I know exactly where your coming from, been there more times than I care to admit.

Love your honesty too, it happens to all of us that are working in the trenches of local level gigs.

 I still maintain, at the local level even if the band is great your going to lose under those circumstances.

Hopefully next weekend will be better for both of us. We have our second outside gig of the season and it's a new venue for us.

Any land Lords or owners here? If yes why do you book bands if your clientele has no interest?

I'm not trying to be flipant, I'm thinking there must be a reason or some sort of logic here.

Blue

Edited May 28, 2018 by Bluewine

[Leonard Smalls]

Bit of a weird one...

It was the gig with almost no promotion, where our band name was billed wrongly, where we foolishly accepted the fact we weren't getting paid due to the possibility of "good future gigs" (I know, I know!).

Anyway, 'twas in a small Shropshire village, even smaller pub frequented by an odd mix of walkers, tourists and local heavy drinkers. PA was set up by the band who were actually getting paid - we had a 1 minute sound check which was pretty good when the landlord's wife came out of the kitchen next door saying could we turn down as they couldn't hear orders in there... So we turned down a touch, closed the connecting door which made it extraordinarily hot, and started playing; of course I'd turned down much more than the guitarist so had to keep fiddling. But we played well; at one point about 30 women, all dressed to the nines, came past the stage into the 3 cubicle Ladies toilet by the stage - it was like the initial walk-on in TV's "Take Me Out"; we were playing our one and only blues-ish song, which has a verse inspired by Killing Joke's "Change" and a funky slap chorus if you can imagine that. It also has some quite long pauses where the singer sings his line, then we come back in. One of the women came up to guitar/singer and asked if we did "Summer of 69" (we don't do any covers!), so rather than going back into the song, our Tim quickly sang the 1st verse of the Bryan Adams classic (!), stopped, and we all somehow continued the interrupted song - which showed we could busk it a bit!

Of course, the young women -who turned out to be young farmers along with a similar amount of young men- weren't interested in us (if we'd been the Wurzels it would have been different!), but there were quite a few rockin' locals who enjoyed us - and at least 1 older hikey type who'll no doubt leave an appalling TripAdvisor review for the pub. She ran into the Ladies toilet clutching her head as if the demons of Hades were clawing at it - which in a way we were!

Still, last unpaid gig. Not sure if the pub will ask us back anyway as we were a touch too "rock" as opposed to "pub rock" for them! 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Leonard Smalls
speelig

[Guest adi77]

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Edited August 5, 2018 by adi77

[BrunoBass]

16 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

 

Is that a Midtown? Looks great!

Edited May 28, 2018 by BrunoBass

[DrBike]

On Saturday we played at the Maidens Head in Maidenhead, the gigs here are arranged through a promoter and it's not particularly well paying but it's a great venue that has live music every weekend so really needs congratulating on that. There's also a decent stage area so you don't have to negotiate with customers/bar staff to move chairs & tables before setting up! 

We'd played there back in March for the first time and according to the promoter the pub had specifically asked us back (which is always a positive). 

From previous experience we knew not to start before 9pm but it was the night of the CL Final and they weren't showing the footy so the place was quite empty. First set went OK  but the place filled up about 10pm and we rocked the joint for the 2nd set plenty of singing along and dancing. 

After doing an extra long encore and packing up the van we made a point of "mingling" and got lots of good feedback from the punters and more importantly from the landlord/manager who commented on the fact that we entertained rather than just played. 

Hoping we'll be back there again on a regular basis!