How was your gig last night?

[NancyJohnson]

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

 

Iirc on the Facebook he's Spizz Energi 🙂

 

He's a lovely bloke.  Very engaging and incredibly funny.  He's known Eddie for decades, so that made things easier.  He arrived at the H&A on a pushbike!

[Greg Edwards69]

Redonizm played out first ever school prom last night.  Our drummer's wife is the head of a local SEN school and so volunteered us for their prom. As I mentioned before, we learned a few more recent songs for the occasion and both of our singers were replaced with deps. Luckily they were a dream to work with and made our job much easier.

 

The gig itself went well, we played well (much better than at last weekend's gig) sounded great out front and the kids danced pretty much through the whole set and seemed to really enjoy themselves. It was refreshing to see so many kids singing along to near enough every song, even the older one. So job done!

 

Only a couple of issues.

We had been told to arrange a single 90min set, to start at 7.30 prompt and finish and 9pm. Only to find out halfway through they wanted us to keep going until 9.30. We realised at aroun 8.45 we weren't going to have enough songs in the pre-arranged set to string out, so we threw in several last-minute additions, one of which hadn't been rehearsed with one of the singers, but he did a great job. He also had the gift of gab and was able to talk to the audience and eek out a little more time!

 

Also, although we turned up in seemingly plenty of time to set up (allowed a couple of hours), time quickly got away from us and it was 7.30 with kids waiting outside before we knew it. If we'd had another 5 mins to finish the soundcheck, I would have been completely happy with the monitor mix, but it wasn't quite there. I didn't even have time to change my shirt or get a fresh bottle of water! It worries me that our next gig we only have 1 hour to setup, soundcheck and play.

[dmccombe7]

24 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Redonizm played out first ever school prom last night.  Our drummer's wife is the head of a local SEN school and so volunteered us for their prom. As I mentioned before, we learned a few more recent songs for the occasion and both of our singers were replaced with deps. Luckily they were a dream to work with and made our job much easier.

 

The gig itself went well, we played well (much better than at last weekend's gig) sounded great out front and the kids danced pretty much through the whole set and seemed to really enjoy themselves. It was refreshing to see so many kids singing along to near enough every song, even the older one. So job done!

 

Only a couple of issues.

We had been told to arrange a single 90min set, to start at 7.30 prompt and finish and 9pm. Only to find out halfway through they wanted us to keep going until 9.30. We realised at aroun 8.45 we weren't going to have enough songs in the pre-arranged set to string out, so we threw in several last-minute additions, one of which hadn't been rehearsed with one of the singers, but he did a great job. He also had the gift of gab and was able to talk to the audience and eek out a little more time!

 

Also, although we turned up in seemingly plenty of time to set up (allowed a couple of hours), time quickly got away from us and it was 7.30 with kids waiting outside before we knew it. If we'd had another 5 mins to finish the soundcheck, I would have been completely happy with the monitor mix, but it wasn't quite there. I didn't even have time to change my shirt or get a fresh bottle of water! It worries me that our next gig we only have 1 hour to setup, soundcheck and play.

Yep your full band needs discipline when setting up and sound checking. No faffing around or blethering unless its about the gig. Once set up and sound checked you can chat all you like until gig starts.

We give ourselves 1 hr with punk band and 2 hrs with Glam band mainly because it takes time to get dressed up plus we have 2 lead singers and 2 BV's plus sound effects altho desk is a digital one and we store the band settings to give us a starting point at the gig. We also have back drop and more lights with Glam band.

If we need to eat before playing depending on travel times we allow an extra 30-45mins. 

Dave

Edited June 29, 2023 by dmccombe7

[Mickeyboro]

Days don’t get much better - rocked a 50-plus lunchtime crowd in Bournemouth’s St Peter’s Church with the Otis Jay Blues Band. And it was St Peter’s Day…who knew!

 

Off later to see @casapete and his ELO Experience at the Pavilion theatre about a quarter of a mile away. It’s splendid, but I reckon our venue is even more spectacular.

 

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Mickeyboro

[Greg Edwards69]

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

Yep your full band needs discipline when setting up and sound checking. No faffing around or blethering unless its about the gig. Once set up and sound checked you can chat all you like until gig starts.

We give ourselves 1 hr with punk band and 2 hrs with Glam band mainly because it takes time to get dressed up plus we have 2 lead singers and 2 BV's plus sound effects altho desk is a digital one and we store the band settings to give us a starting point at the gig. We also have back drop and more lights with Glam band.

If we need to eat before playing depending on travel times we allow an extra 30-45mins. 

Dave

Yep. Exactly right. I've been saying this for ages, but it doesn't always sink in. Not to mention, we've been adding bits and pieces of gear lately and simply haven't found the time or availability to get all of us in a rehearsal room together to finesse the technical aspects of our setup. It will be a lot quicker once we've been able to do this.  And with dep singers this time, they used mine and one of the guitarist's xvive IEM packs and we both went wired with a Behringer P2 - however, the splitter box we used was untested and the volume to my pack was less than useful.

 

Actually, it seems there's a curve ball everytime we play. We've been in a transitionary period with our PA and monitoring for a while. All of the additions (such as sub, a couple of different IEM systems, stage snakes etc) are meant to make it easier, but without a crucial techinical rehearsal, it just seems to make it more complicated than the old fashioned backing and vocal only PA!

 

We'll get there eventually and it will be easier. Just not yet. 3 gigs coming up in July. 2 songs to learn and I doubt we'll get a full band rehearsal in anywhere.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Yep. Exactly right. I've been saying this for ages, but it doesn't always sink in. Not to mention, we've been adding bits and pieces of gear lately and simply haven't found the time or availability to get all of us in a rehearsal room together to finesse the technical aspects of our setup. It will be a lot quicker once we've been able to do this.  And with dep singers this time, they used mine and one of the guitarist's xvive IEM packs and we both went wired with a Behringer P2 - however, the splitter box we used was untested and the volume to my pack was less than useful.

 

Actually, it seems there's a curve ball everytime we play. We've been in a transitionary period with our PA and monitoring for a while. All of the additions (such as sub, a couple of different IEM systems, stage snakes etc) are meant to make it easier, but without a crucial techinical rehearsal, it just seems to make it more complicated than the old fashioned backing and vocal only PA!

 

We'll get there eventually and it will be easier. Just not yet. 3 gigs coming up in July. 2 songs to learn and I doubt we'll get a full band rehearsal in anywhere.

We are quite lucky that our drummer has a friend with a very large house he rents out for holidays. It has a large function room and he lets us use it if not being rented or there's a cancellation. We managed to set up the PA with both versions we use. Punk band normally just use QSC 12's and the Glam band playing bigger venues we use the 15's which are 3 way cabs altho guitar and bass normally just use our backline unless its a very big venue we bring the 2 subs (QSC) but we need to hire a van for them.  Lot of venues we play have their own PA these days which are normally OK gear with some cracking rigs and Sound guys. If we use the largest PA we bring a sound guy that we know.

Dave

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

Days don’t get much better - rocked a 50-plus lunchtime crowd in Bournemouth’s St Peter’s Church with the Otis Jay Blues Band. And it was St Peter’s Day…who knew!

 

Off later to see @casapete and his ELO Experience at the Pavilion theatre about a quarter of a mile away. It’s splendid, but I reckon our venue is even more spectacular.

 

 

 

Very nice pics !

 

Blue

[musicbassman]

That's excellent, @Mickeyboro, you look like you're one step closer to heaven !  🙂

Hope to get to see your band sometime 👍

 

[casapete]

4 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

Days don’t get much better - rocked a 50-plus lunchtime crowd in Bournemouth’s St Peter’s Church with the Otis Jay Blues Band. And it was St Peter’s Day…who knew!

 

Off later to see @casapete and his ELO Experience at the Pavilion theatre about a quarter of a mile away. It’s splendid, but I reckon our venue is even more spectacular.

 

 

You win Mick, looks a wonderful venue!

[Mickeyboro]

2 hours ago, casapete said:

You win Mick, looks a wonderful venue!

Yours wasn’t so shabby my friend… And we never had glow sticks!

 

Thanks for an enjoyable evening, good to meet again. The secret Basschat handshake😂

[casapete]

First of 3 this week for us at Bournemouth Pavilion theatre. Grand old place, with a very interesting

room backstage (see below). Good to meet up with @Mickeyboro and his wife before the gig too.

 

 

[Paul S]

2 minutes ago, casapete said:

First of 3 this week for us at Bournemouth Pavilion theatre. Grand old place, with a very interesting

room backstage (see below). Good to meet up with @Mickeyboro and his wife before the gig too.

 

 

 

 

 

Beats the hell out of M&Ms and complementary water.

[MacDaddy]

18 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

Days don’t get much better - rocked a 50-plus lunchtime crowd in Bournemouth’s St Peter’s Church with the Otis Jay Blues Band. And it was St Peter’s Day…who knew!

 

Off later to see @casapete and his ELO Experience at the Pavilion theatre about a quarter of a mile away. It’s splendid, but I reckon our venue is even more spectacular.

 

 

 

No need for added reverb to the vocals! 😆

[Gasman]

Dutifully went to Mrs Gasman’s Rotary party tonight as her guest. Live band was setting up for after-meal dancing. I escaped the table chat and went to ogle the bass player’s gear, particularly the metallic red go-faster striped Mustang, rare beast down here in Dorset. The owner then appeared and we got chatting, she was about 4’ 11” hence the short scale bass, and a sh*t-hot player. I was then most unexpectedly invited to sit in and play a couple of numbers, as we know it’s unheard of normally, I didn’t ask, she just took a gamble on me after a ten minute chat and anyway if a bloke from a band called Mustang Sally can’t play Mustang Sally on a Fender Mustang it’s a poor show!

 

It went fine, but the real revelation was how good that Mustang sounded, and how smooth and easy it was to play despite it being my first short scale dabble for 50 years; I know it was fate, I must get one!

 

 

[Bluewine]

Maple Road

This Saturday 7/1 @
The Baree
7:00
Thiensville

 

Very cool upscale outdoor venue. Probably the most important gig of the summer.

 

Blue

[King Tut]

I’m a day late on this one - sorry - but on Thursday night I played Rebellion in Manchester with Stray. We were supporting British Lion, what with Del being good mates with Steve Harris. Bit of a hero moment for me. It was a bit nerve wracking as we had to pull in a sound engineer to take with us who fortunately did a sterling job.

 

I gigged my Epi Thunderbird Classic 4 Pro for the first time. Loved it except for the fact that the side markers disappeared on the dark stage. It’s now been tastefully modded with electrical tape for the next gig! Also got Steve to sign the back of it for me.

 

Anyway, we played well and the crowd were really receptive. The British Lion guys were all really helpful and welcoming and we all had a splendid time. Shall be repeating the experience in Nottingham tomorrow!

 

Steve and I

 

 

Steve’s Basses

 

 

One bit of our two vehicle convoy with Maiden’s tour bus in the background!

 

[Simon C]

On 26/06/2023 at 15:54, gafbass02 said:

We just got a couple of videos sent through  from a recent gig. The audio is a bit 'quick 'n' dirty straight off the desk, (had to tweak the bass in post a bit cause of tech issues caused by monitor spill). But anyway, here's a 'Royal Blood' cover. Its almost all bass from my Zoom B9.1ut with a bit of help from a sparrow Di and a graphic EQ pedal. The guitarist does play a few quiet bits, but otherwise its just me doing what I could fuddle together without spending any money when the band said they wanted to cover Royal Blood! 😂😂

 

That was very good.  That woke me up on a Saturday morning😀.  

[markbunney]

1 hour ago, King Tut said:

I’m a day late on this one - sorry - but on Thursday night I played Rebellion in Manchester with Stray. We were supporting British Lion, what with Del being good mates with Steve Harris. Bit of a hero moment for me. It was a bit nerve wracking as we had to pull in a sound engineer to take with us who fortunately did a sterling job.

 

I gigged my Epi Thunderbird Classic 4 Pro for the first time. Loved it except for the fact that the side markers disappeared on the dark stage. It’s now been tastefully modded with electrical tape for the next gig! Also got Steve to sign the back of it for me.

 

Anyway, we played well and the crowd were really receptive. The British Lion guys were all really helpful and welcoming and we all had a splendid time. Shall be repeating the experience in Nottingham tomorrow!

 

Steve and I

 

 

Steve’s Basses

 

 

One bit of our two vehicle convoy with Maiden’s tour bus in the background!

 

Amazing, what an opportunity!

I saw British Lion last year in a tiny pub in Gravesend, they were really good.

 

I find  it amazing that Steve Harris happily goes from playing huge arenas to small bars because he loves playing so much

[King Tut]

30 minutes ago, markbunney said:

Amazing, what an opportunity!

I saw British Lion last year in a tiny pub in Gravesend, they were really good.

 

I find  it amazing that Steve Harris happily goes from playing huge arenas to small bars because he loves playing so much

Yup he just loves it. I saw them last year at The Craufurd in MK. When Maiden have a couple of night at a town on the current tour, he’s scheduling in a BL gig at a nearby venue, and using some of Maidens support band as their techs!

Edited July 1, 2023 by King Tut

[Franticsmurf]

We played a birthday party for a relative of the band's sax player last night. It was the other side of Cowbridge in sunny South Wales, in a little village buried in the farmland. I had a lift with the drummer and the sat nav decided to play games and sent us along an ever narrowing lane, until it became a farm track and then a rally stage. Several clunks and bumps later we emerged onto a real road and managed to find the venue. It was the birthday boy's back garden, complete with bar, barbecue and buffet (the three 'B's that complete the perfect gig). The whole village had been invited so volume wasn't an issue (although we're not really a loud band) and the relative jumped up to play a couple of songs with us.

 

First time using only IEMs for me with no back line to fall back on (literally and metaphorically). I have been working with our FOH guru to get a mix I'm happy with and I've converted out keyboard player to IEM as well. The rest of the band have yet to see the light - or is that 'hear the word'?

 

I took and used my Sterling HH - the sound cuts through nicely with this line up, which is drums, bongos, guitars x2, keys, sax, trumpet, ukes x3 and banjo along with a singer and 3x BVs. As a back up (and because I wasn't sure how much space there'd be) I took my recently acquired Ibanez EHB1000s. It stayed in the bag as I had acres. 

 

After last weeks 4 hour marathon we were all still a little weary but fortunately there was a 10pm curfew and we only played for 3 hours. Much dancing, singing along and and appreciation from the 100 or so that were there and great stage lighting courtesy of a lovely sunset through the trees in front of us.

 

 

[Len_derby]

The covers band, Night Shift, played at the South Normanton Gala yesterday. South Normanton has the distinction of being on the Which short-list for the shabbiest high street in Britain but fortunately the Gala took place in the grounds of nearby Carnfield Hall. The gala is totally run by volunteers, including the bar staff, and we just got expenses plus free beer and chips. Only a 15 minute journey too. Lots of very drunk happy people dancing around to our set. It was also the first run-out for the shirt my daughter brought me back from Bali. It was a bit breezy in the field but I took off my jacket for show time.

[Merton]

Like @Franticsmurf last night was my first gig using IEMs only. A wedding gig near Holborn, the “wedding planner” company did a fairly poor job of considering both band and DJ (stage set up for DJ booth, “oh we forgot we’d need to put a band somewhere too…”)

75dB limit, we were not allowed amps, monitors, acoustic kit, even our own DIs and mics… 

 

We ended up in the corner, with the electric kit wedged between the stage and the PA speakers. Guitarist other side of the speakers, keyboard player out in no man’s land. The singer and I were both wireless so ended up being either side of the DJ booth, or on the dance floor with the lovely crowd.

 

Going back to the organisation, we were proudly given a “green room” 5 minutes walk from the marquee which had no food, drink or toilet facilities, when we got fed our singer’s chicken wasn’t cooked and we ended up starting about 1 hour later than scheduled (which to be fair is standard for a wedding… just that by this point no one from the planners was around so no one was taking charge!!)

 

We decided to shorten our two sets into one long one, and as we neared the end we played our “last song” then immediately got switched off for the DJ. Thanks to the minimalist set up we had finished, packed and loaded the van within 15 minutes 😂

 

All in all, the playing part was ace, my first IEM-only gig and it generally worked fine (got to check a niggle with my earbuds but I think operator error highly likely the cause) plus it was an excuse to buy a Backbeat. The crowd were great and danced all night. Just a shame about the “wedding planners” and their lack of organisational skill 😃

 

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Merton
Smelling pistakes

[markbunney]

Played with The 77s last night at the Market House in Maidstone last night. It was our third gig in 4 weeks playing in Maidstone and was by far the best. Quite a tight area to set up in, but a great crowd and we ended up playing for nearly 3 hours.

 

[dmccombe7]

BLOCKBUSTARZ 70's Glam covers band at The Dreadnought in Bathgate last night, one of our fav venues.

Had some issues with Handbox WB-100 DI being too hot (no pad on the desk) Bass was clipping in first set. SE fitted a DI in the break and all sorted.

Great turnout with lots of dancers all night after the initial staring at the outfits for first few songs. Mobile cameras going all night from 8:30 till we finished 11:30 with a 10min break in middle.

No vids or pics as yet.

Group of "fans" came down from Dundee to see us after we played Beat Generator few mths back and quite a few came up from Dumfries & Galloway to see us too. Looks like we are getting a fan base 

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dave

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by dmccombe7

[Thor]

A good weekend for me, Sarum’s Lot (classic rock covers) played at a Pizzeria in Salisbury on Friday evening, played outside under a gazebo due to the usual British summertime weather - unusual place to play and all a little last minute but we advertised it well on all of the usual social media outlets and had a good turnout, quite a few of our regulars were there and by the end of the evening the crowd around the market square has swollen to around 150 or so, we all played well and have been rebooked to play another couple of Friday evenings there, so that’s cool.

Saturday night Uncle Jack (jukebox band) played at The Constitutional Club in Chippenham, a completely different affair to the night before but great fun nevertheless, 130 tickets sold so we had a good night, I had a few technical gremlins with my IEM’s but got through it unscathed. 
 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Thor
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