How was your gig last night?

[niceguyhomer]

We did a thirtieth birthday bash about 300 yards from my house and it was a brilliant night. About 180 people there all up for a good time and we had lots of people coming up afterwards and saying what a great band we are. Pity we're splitting up really.

I was expecting the mood in the band to be a bit solemn but in fact, it was quite the opposite and that was a bonus.

[Kiwi]

We played our first public gig to mostly clients, friends and family last night at the Kings Head in Crouch End. Awesome gig, nothing quite like playing to a room of people who are rootin' for ya. The venue was too small though, people couldn't really dance because they were so tightly packed in.

I had a situation where half way throught the first set, one of the girls must have trodden on my EBS Microbass pedal because I played the start of the next song and no sound! I couldn't waste seconds trying to find out the cause so just yanked the output cable from the Microbass into my bass and got on with it. Made a bit of a racket through the PA unfortunately and it took a while for me to get back into the pocket afterwards. The number of people in the room surrounding the band acted like an acoustic trap for mids, I couldn't hear the upper three strings of my Euro 6, played the bass breakdown in Le Freak not being able to tell whether I'd hit the open A or the D string! Just had to go by sight alone (which isn't easy on a 6 when it lies so flat against me).

The girls interacted really well with the crowd too. We'd had email conversations before the gig about the girls and the guys interacting more on stage and there were mixed opinions. Some (like me) were up for it, others didn't want the limelight. Pris and I interacted a fair bit on stage which was cool, hopefully we'll be able to work on that when we have a bigger stage. I might even start using wireless again (given I've got three of the buggers, which I don't use at the moment).

We had an agent come along who got really excited about promoting us to his corporate clients so it will be interesting to see if anything comes out of that. I wouldn't mind the occasional trip out to Tuscany to play on a boat for Tiffany like Crez5150 Mewsie showed up with some friends of hers, one of which had flown down from Dundee especially to come see us!

[Ray]

How was my gig last night? INCREDIBLE!!!

We were at the Jazz Cafe in Camden supporting The Godfathers Of Groove. Stage setup was a little odd with 2 drum kits on stage. We had to set up around the Godfather's gear.

Anyway, we were playing our last number and I saw someone coming down the stairs onto the stage and sit behind the other drum kit. This guy started playing drums with us!!

You should have seen our drummers face when he looked round to see who it was. He nearly sh*t himself. It was only BERNARD PURDIE playing drums with us!!!!!!! He's one of my favourite drummers of all time and our drummers ultimate hero.

After the show Bernard came into our dressing room and said that he loved what we were doing and was feeling the groove so much he couldn't resist joining us onstage.

We're doing the same show tonight. Hopefully he'll feel the urge to join us onstage again.

I still can't believe I played with Bernard Purdie last night!

[molan]

[quote name='Ray' post='390308' date='Jan 24 2009, 12:11 PM']How was my gig last night? INCREDIBLE!!!

We were at the Jazz Cafe in Camden supporting The Godfathers Of Groove. Stage setup was a little odd with 2 drum kits on stage. We had to set up around the Godfather's gear.

Anyway, we were playing our last number and I saw someone coming down the stairs onto the stage and sit behind the other drum kit. This guy started playing drums with us!!

You should have seen our drummers face when he looked round to see who it was. He nearly sh*t himself. It was only BERNARD PURDIE playing drums with us!!!!!!! He's one of my favourite drummers of all time and our drummers ultimate hero.

After the show Bernard came into our dressing room and said that he loved what we were doing and was feeling the groove so much he couldn't resist joining us onstage.

We're doing the same show tonight. Hopefully he'll feel the urge to join us onstage again.

I still can't believe I played with Bernard Purdie last night![/quote]

That is absolutely amazing - Bernard Purdie is proper full on legend!



Must have been brilliant.

Better watch out that Chuck Rainey doesn't appear tonight to jam along on bass

Edited January 24, 2009 by molan

[silverfoxnik]

Cracking gig last night at Mullens in Eastbourne..

Arrived at 8pm and the place was empty but by the time we started at 9.30pm, it was packed! Lots of familiar faces too which is always a good sign.. At midnight the Landlord asked us to do an extra half-hour for a few extra sheckles and we duly obliged. They also supplied us with some beverages at the end which was very generous of them, as a lot of places we play will only offer us free non-alcoholic drinks..

Anyway, all in all a great gig except for the fact that I didn't make it home until gone 3am! Back out at The Elms in Worthing tonight for hopefully, more of the same..

[Ray]

[quote name='molan' post='390313' date='Jan 24 2009, 12:19 PM'][/quote]
That cowbell groove at 2:18!! Awesome.

[bassninja]

[quote name='Ray' post='390308' date='Jan 24 2009, 12:11 PM']I still can't believe I played with Bernard Purdie last night![/quote]

Tip o' the hat, geezer...

[WalMan]

For me in particular distinctly average bordering sh*te and I played much of the evening like a complete @rse, still most of those there seemed to get into it. Shame for the first one back at the gig in nearly 7 years and at a gig that has seen some great nights in the past, including the last gig with our old vocalist before he emigrated, which I still listen to the tape of once in a while and still chokes me up

Overall sound took a while to get there. Bass was there when I was right on top of it but I had to be in just the right spot, though I was assured it was getting through. Not helped by the fact that it was not in my monitors, so I gave up on the 'phones completely quite early on.

Vocalist lost his voice towards the end and while he's generally a good front man on a couple of occasions disappeared off into the bottom of the L to the right of the stage for the lead break then stayed there to sing the following verse so we were playing along to a disembodied voice which kind of p1ssed me off.

Ah well there's always next Friday in Bognor, but that may be harder work as I think the second guitarist is n/a

[niceguyhomer]

Great gig last night - that's two this weekend but it nearly didn't happen. Guitarist has problems getting through sound checks without having a strop and last night was no exception. The singer stopped us half way through a song (we'd just played it right through once) when he was satisfied that the sound / balance was right .... just before the guitarist's solo. He began to act like a 5 year old so I told him loud enough for the audience to hear that if he was going to have one of his tantrums, I was off. He shut up.

Band is having second thoughts about splitting up ....what to do...what to do

Edited January 25, 2009 by niceguyhomer

[tonybassplayer]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='390780' date='Jan 25 2009, 08:49 AM']Great gig last night - that's two this weekend but it nearly didn't happen. Guitarist has problems getting through sound checks without having a strop and last night was no exception. The singer stopped us half way through a song (we'd just played it right through once) when he was satisfied that the sound / balance was right .... just before the guitarist's solo. He began to act like a 5 year old so I told him loud enough for the audience to hear that if he was going to have one of his tantrums, I was off. He shut up.

Band is having second thoughts about splitting up ....what to do...what to do [/quote]


If you have any hesitation don't split up

I feel sad when bands split as it takes a lot of hard work to get from first rehearsal to gig level again

Tony

[The_D]

See this post [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=39255&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=39255&hl=[/url]

The gig was actually going really well till that happened haha!

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='WalMan' post='390757' date='Jan 25 2009, 03:19 AM']For me in particular distinctly average bordering sh*te and I played much of the evening like a complete @rse, still most of those there seemed to get into it. Shame for the first one back at the gig in nearly 7 years and at a gig that has seen some great nights in the past, including the last gig with our old vocalist before he emigrated, which I still listen to the tape of once in a while and still chokes me up

Overall sound took a while to get there. Bass was there when I was right on top of it but I had to be in just the right spot, though I was assured it was getting through. Not helped by the fact that it was not in my monitors, so I gave up on the 'phones completely quite early on.

Vocalist lost his voice towards the end and while he's generally a good front man on a couple of occasions disappeared off into the bottom of the L to the right of the stage for the lead break then stayed there to sing the following verse so we were playing along to a disembodied voice which kind of p1ssed me off.

Ah well there's always next Friday in Bognor, but that may be harder work as I think the second guitarist is n/a[/quote]

Sorry to hear that Al.. Where's the Bognor gig as I'd like to come to that as I haven't seen you guys for a while and I'm missing my 'White Punks...' fix?

We had a really good one at The Elms in Worthing last night, so we're on a run of 3 good gigs in a row now, so going by the law of averages, I expect the next one will be sh*te.

I played the whole gig with my Fender Jazz 5 with it's EBS pre-amp and it sounded bloody brilliant... May have to rethink my whole attitude to Active vs Passive basses as a result??

[WalMan]

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='390881' date='Jan 25 2009, 12:32 PM']Sorry to hear that Al.. Where's the Bognor gig as I'd like to come to that as I haven't seen you guys for a while and I'm missing my 'White Punks...' fix?

We had a really good one at The Elms in Worthing last night, so we're on a run of 3 good gigs in a row now, so going by the law of averages, I expect the next one will be sh*te.

I played the whole gig with my Fender Jazz 5 with it's EBS pre-amp and it sounded bloody brilliant... May have to rethink my whole attitude to Active vs Passive basses as a result?? [/quote]
Glad someone had a good one.

Friday is Cheers Bar in the Bellevue Hotel opposite the pier (nowhere near as grand as that might sound ) and I think we may be a 4 piece if I understood the tail end of a conversation as I was carrying my gear out.

[molan]

Played a birthday party gig last night for my keyboard player. Quite a sw***y hotel venue which gave me the major bonus of being able to stay overnight & not worry about driving

Gig went well and I got to do the sound check for the other band (as their bass player couldn't make it in time for sound checking) who are much rockier than my gang and I played Van Halen's Jump with them. Not that hard to pick up but a great laugh to 'rock out' for a change.

Used my new(ish) Epifani/Bergantino rig live for the first time and also my MTD 535. Took a little time getting the live sound just right as I was stuck in a corner with walls on two sides and the lower bass register was a bit boomy. Had to cut bass & low mids & then boost treble to get a sound I was happy with on stage. Also had to whack the tweeters up full on both cabs and I usually have them turned right off.

Ended up with a sound that I could hear but nothing like how I normally hear myself so that was a bit strange. However, to the best of my knowledge I didn't fluff a single note all evening so that was good

[wateroftyne]

Last night was a weird one for me - a very polite posh do in a hotel.

HOWEVER - it was a Geordie Burns night in honour of Sir Bobby Robson, so I'm not going to say no to that, am I?

It with a scratch band who'd had one rehearsal a couple of nights before, during which most of the tunes changed key. I managed, though... not a bad bit of stumbling around in the dark for a for a musically uneducated oaf like me....

The room was extremely lively, so no bass or kit though the PA - my little Walkabout Scout did a great job.

Lots of harmonies, and great tunes, including a few Geordie classics.

It was a blast, Bobby's a legend, and I found out that I like haggis. Now, I'm off to a gig with my 'main' band tonight, just outside of Newcastle. Life is good.

Here's a very ropy clip from last night - Bobby just outside of shot:

[BigBeefChief]

Played some pub/venue in Chelmsford. Was our first gig outside of Laaaandon. Was a cool venue, looked like some converted stables totally seperate from a quite normal looking pub. Was a mod(ish) tonight, think it was a regular thing for Chelmsford Scooter Club and was donr in association with them. For once with played with a couple of bands with a similar(ish) sound to us. Usually we get stuck on with some "I hate my parents" shouty music. Crowd of 150 maybe.

My playing was pretty sh*t though. Had to drive so was my first gig totally sober and was not fun. Warmed up towards the end, but struggled to get into it without a few beers. I find 4/5 is just perfect. Like darts.

Also, agreed to let the other bands use my amp, which meant I had to hang around right to the end. Last band were decent though so wasn't a chore.

The crowd seemed to like us and we even got some free drink tickets. Great - free orange juice. What a waste.

Was a good warm up for the Water Rats on Friday.

[Hutton]

Played at a 30th birthday party last night at Nice & Sleazys in Glasgow. It was great to have a sound guy who knew exactly what he was doing. Stage well set up. Power points waiting for everybody. Minimum of fuss in checking. This young guy was very professional in his whole approach. What a difference it makes to start your night like this!

[Kiwi]

Ray! Wow! Bernard Purdie? That's amazing. Did you get any souvenir snaps? How did you find locking in with him? Did he flatter your playing? I've just had a listen of your bands myspace and love what you do Nice track with Noel McKoy too.

Following a late night post-gig party and getting to bed at 3am, we had a midday start for a journey up to Huddersfield for a 30th brithday party of a young teacher. Her family ran a asphalt contracting business so the venue was this godforsaken ridge running between Huddersfield and Mirfield on the site of their contractors compound (which was next to two houses they'd built themselves.) Stunning views but the ice cold wind that blasted across that ridge stripped the heat from anyone who wasn't wrapped up in thermal gear.

Anyways, bit of a ho hum type affair. The client didn't make any attempt to warm to us. It became apparent that we were there just as the entertainment so we came, we got paid, we played and we left. Food wasn't that great (quiche and some chilli), the applause was minimal after the first set, slightly less minimal after the second set and finally, after most of them had consumed their weight in booze, they started to warm up a little. We were flagging too from the late night on Friday and I kept being on the verge of pulling a muscle in my shoulder which involved me moving awkwardly as I attempted to shift the weight of the spector sufficient to avoid pulling the muscle. Luckily one of the singers gave me a near murdeous massage that beat 11 shades of crap out of that muscle and left me feeling like I was walking on air afterwards... at least until the other shoulder started to pull.

Meh. Good job the gig was a new fee record for us or we might have thought it wasn't worth the hassle of getting there. We stayed overnight and then I came back this morning so I could go straight into work to sort out a client issue that I couldn't do on Friday because of the London gig. This was after a 2.5 hour drive and 5 hours of sleep too.

Where did my weekend go? Still, we got two confirmed gigs out of the show we put on Friday though. Good times!

[Ray]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='391226' date='Jan 25 2009, 08:56 PM']Ray! Wow! Bernard Purdie? That's amazing. Did you get any souvenir snaps? How did you find locking in with him? Did he flatter your playing? I've just had a listen of your bands myspace and love what you do Nice track with Noel McKoy too.[/quote]
No photos unfortunately.

Playing with him was so easy and natural. We locked in straight away and he seemed to know where to put all the pushes and syncopated bits in the turnaround. I don't really remember that much about it. It was quite surreal. I just remember thinking "I'm playing with Bernard Purdie. I'm actually playing with Bernard Purdie. Don't screw it up!"

Thanks for the postive comments!

[tonybassplayer]

Returning from a six week break playing a 6 pm start Sunday 60th birthday party and it was a cracker !! We played with huge amounts of enthusiasm and the guests were well up for a party.

The venue was the Queen Vic at Northowram near Halifax where I am holding my 50th in a few weeks time so I was well pleased with how it absorbed the 100 plus guests.

Love playing gigs like this

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[teej]

Bit of a delay, I've been busy dtp-ing new promo material.

[b]Saturday 24th January[/b] - Busking Guildford with Red Jackson

Well, it was cold one for sure, and I was a bit later than planned getting to the pitch - discovered I'd left my wallet at home and had to head back and get it. Fortunately we knew that 4 acts had been in Guildford last Saturday, and so none of them would be there. That left the Peruvians, but they didn't show, so I was first to arrive and bagged our favourite spot.

As I say it really was pretty cold, but it only took 3 numbers to get the fingers warmed up (the first 2 with fingerless gloves, the third with left glove on, but right hand slapping, then no gloves), and for some reason they always stay warm, even during our breaks.

The first set started pretty slowly and was looking fairly grim, until the set took off and we started to get a decent crowd (now, a big crowd is not always good - people are too shy to come forward if there are lots of strangers watching - something in-between is often best), and the cds started to shift very quickly. We finished feeling extremely relieved, we'd already done as well as we might expect in January, with 2 more sets to go.

We seem to be really on it at the moment; morale is high, with the new album out, and I'm sure it helps that we played a lot in the run-up to Xmas and then took a couple of weeks off. Our show is getting better and our grooves groovier. We've all noticed that the deeper blues seems to be making us more money (a sign of the times?), and so we play a lot of Delta and Chicago slide blues, with some New Orleans style harmonica-led stuff to break it up.

By the end of the day we'd earned a well-above average payday, and had a lot of fun doing so. We also met a young photographer who took some knockout shots of us. Here's one, for the rest try his flickr.com photostream: [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29977644@N02/"]paddyoshea72[/url]

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='391131' date='Jan 25 2009, 07:14 PM']Was a good warm up for the Water Rats on Friday.[/quote]

Always loved the Water Rats as a venue but never played there myself.. Have a good one!

[WalMan]

Cheers Bar on Bognor seafront and DAMN was it cold & windy to start with but soon warmed up.

Did it as a 4 piece as the second guitarist did not know about it somehow. Not the end of the world as we have played in that line up a lot before so can get by easily.

It's quite nice to have the sparseness once in a while, but boy does it leave you exposed when an injudicious choice of notes is made.

Fairly quiet on the punter side, but that probably wasn't surprising considering the night. They were warm and friendly those that were there. Actually probably;ly no better or worse than last weekend, but I felt better about tonight (even if my stomach didn't after something that disagreed at for lunch)

Second outing for the expanded rig with the Epifani cab and it sounded good. The second 12 certainly helps.

Next week is the first one back at the Cabin in Elmer/Middleton. Kev Max & I used to play there years ago with our old vocalist doing original stuff (on the A Kind of Fury link below). Happy memories of some great gigs from those days. I just hope they aren't tarnished by going back now!!

[beerdragon]

A gig at a pub that we have played a few times before, Played with a TE 4x10 and a borrowed TE 1x15 nice sound and we went down ok despite our Guitar/singer having the flu and losing his voice, at the end of the night the landlord pays us less than we expected and explains that he's having hard time shifting enough beer to make a band pay, and he's only having bands every other week. sign o the times i guess.

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Edited February 1, 2009 by beerdragon

[lemmywinks]

Just played a private party at Bloomfield Road (home of the mighty Blackpool Football Club).

Had the best onstage sound ever, the singer and drummer were using in-ear monitors and the room had fantastic acoustics so it was like listenind to a CD! Everything was crystal clear and the LMKII/Schroeder rig kicked out a ton of bassness without ever being pushed.

Perhaps the best part of the night happened before we even unpacked our gear though. We got in the room and there was a singer/karaoke guy checking mic levels. We introduced ourselves and it was only after we'd been chatting for a bit that he realised he was at the wrong gig! He was meant to be doing a function the other side of town, so had to pack all his gear up and re load his car! Turns out he did the same gig the previous year and it was in this room so he'd just turned up and set his gear up without checking

I tried not to laugh but, being incredibly immature, i absolutely pi$$ed myself!

Ended up getting a few gigs out of it and the Hostess was really impressed with us, think we may soon become the "house band" at Bloomfield Road! (Anyone who's seen the half-staduim/construction site will know this is nothing to shout about!)