How was your gig last night?

[Mickeyboro]

1 minute ago, asingardenof said:

It's a Two10S and was definitely a worthwhile purchase. I'm keen to get a One10 for rehearsals and smaller gigs, as though the Two10S is relatively light it's still a bit of a faff.

I regularly use an Elf and One10. We play blues at average volume.

 

I have a second identical cab if needed but it stays in my room for 19/20 gigs.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

Played an ‘ex-serviceman’s’ club last night. Decent enough stage and a good sized room. During soundcheck an early punter said it was too loud, which didn’t bode well, but they were the first ones up dancing; people are weird. An OK gig, but again there were timing issues of starts, stops, etc, which is starting to grind my gears a bit and it looks like I’m going to have to start counting everything for everyone else’s benefit, to bring them in with nods, etc. Audience seem very low key and felt it wasn’t a good venue for us really, as it all felt a bit flat.

 

Another gig in 2 weeks, hopefully, that’ll be better.

We've found that soundcheck in an empty hall always sounds louder. Once audience get in they deaden the volume a bit and all is well in the world again. 

Dave 

[casapete]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

We've found that soundcheck in an empty hall always sounds louder. Once audience get in they deaden the volume a bit and all is well in the world again. 

Dave 

As our sound guy always says, once the meat baffles are in everything changes.😆

Edited August 6, 2023 by casapete

[dmccombe7]

5 minutes ago, casapete said:

As our sound guy always says, once the meat baffles are in everything changes.😆

I'll need to remember that next loud gig we do Pete. 

Dave

[Bluewine]

6 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I did have some minor noise interference with the Smooth Hound wireless. Since changing to the Shure GLXD i've had absolutely no issues at all. Literally power up, plug in and play, its that simple plus the pedal has a built in tuner meaning one less pedal in my chain.

Can't fault the Shure wireless, built like a tank altho i did replace the cable with a right angled jack and slightly heavier cable.

Dave

I'm hoping my issue is the transmitter. I have a spare .

 

Daryl

[ezbass]

A photo from last night's gig.

 

[SuperSeagull]

5 hours ago, ezbass said:

Played an ‘ex-serviceman’s’ club last night. Decent enough stage and a good sized room. During soundcheck an early punter said it was too loud, which didn’t bode well, but they were the first ones up dancing; people are weird. An OK gig, but again there were timing issues of starts, stops, etc, which is starting to grind my gears a bit and it looks like I’m going to have to start counting everything for everyone else’s benefit, to bring them in with nods, etc. Audience seem very low key and felt it wasn’t a good venue for us really, as it all felt a bit flat.

 

Another gig in 2 weeks, hopefully, that’ll be better.

We’ve just changed our drummer, in part because the old one couldn’t be arsed to count in on time and refused to use a metronome app to help him. It  culminated with him counting in Rio at our last gig with him so fast I could barely keep up until some how we got it under control. New drummer uses an iPad with a note of the bpm and metronome for the whole set. It’s basic stuff, like using a tuner instead of relying on tuning by ear. 

[Stub Mandrel]

Two gigs this weekend.

 

Saturday was the Exchange, a pub that loves its blues rock, and we had a great night with much uproarishness. The vocalist of a very good local classic rock band was in, and he congratulated us at the end. You can see I was prepared for a boisterous evening.

 

 

On the subject of bass stands, I have a 'new' car and forgot to put, my stands in it., After encores I rested it on the bach of a wall seat, and it slid over. I thought it had knocked the G. We got hauled back for a final song, so we did Sultans of Sing as we've never played it live, I checked the G, and it needed a tiny tweak and we dived in. Of course, my A string was almost half a semitone flat. I gave up trying to tune it on the fly, muted myself and used a tuner, got back in time to finish the first verse!

 

This afternoon was a small benefit for Alzheimer's in Llanelli. We all underestimated the travel time, and the drummer was quite late. The acts and landlady were very helpful and swapped round, so we could go one about an hour late.  It wasn't packed, but was slowly filling up over the day until we left about half six. We were very different from the other bands/performers - swing jazz to the jazzy end of blues, so I was worried how we would go down, but it was great and the landlady said we were bloody amazing and should insure our guitarist's fingers. My partner and I stayed around, so we saw about five other acts. Not a paying gig, but we have been invited back to do a full gig for them.

[Linus27]

Superb gig at The Mill in Elstead, near Godalming as part of their Millfest event. Wasn't quite sure how well we'd go down but we actually went down a storm and received loads of great feedback. The sound guy who'd never heard us before came up to us after and said it sounded amazing and wanted to know about us and even another bassist said to me after, "from one bassist to another, you are an inspiration". That made my weekend 😁

Edited August 6, 2023 by Linus27

[Paul S]

9 hours ago, ezbass said:

A photo from last night's gig.

 

 

Looks like the guitarist didn't get the dress code memo  

[StingRayBoy42]

Saturday:
O'Neills Leicester.
Our singer/guitarist was away, so we did it as a 3-piece.
Played the EBMM Sterling for a change.
Decent crowd, the new songs went down well, all good.
Half way through the first set playing one of the Rock 'n' Roll numbers, the singer unexpectedly introduces me to the crowd and shouts the two most bone-chilling words known to mankind....

"Bass Solo!"

The colour drains from my face.
Time stops.
My hands turn to lead.
I forget everything I have ever known about music.
I am suddenly seven years old... cold, lost, lonely and afraid, adrift on an ocean of self-doubt.
My life flashes before my eyes.
The earth stops turning.
I very nearly soil myself.
The ghosts of my ancestors arise and turn up to watch.
I pray for the sweet release of death.

Time restarts, autopilot kicks in and I blunder through a barely servicable attempt at a solo as the sweat gushes from my every pore.

The crowd goes ballistic, the whole place erupts in a frenzy of whooping and hollering.
Joy is unconfined.
Fireworks go off.
That soldier kisses that woman in Times Square.
Grown men weep tears of joy.
World peace is declared.
I recieve several offers of marriage.
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair.


Oh, and the van's turbo unit broke on the way home, we had to limp up the M6 at 40mph.
Terrifying, but not as bad as having to do a solo.

[Tim2291]

Had a great gig on Saturday, small crowd but everyone enjoyed themselves which is the main thing! 

 

Got a break for the rest of August as multiple band members are on Holiday and didn't co-ordinate 😪

[dmccombe7]

3 minutes ago, StingRayBoy42 said:

Saturday:
O'Neills Leicester.
Our singer/guitarist was away, so we did it as a 3-piece.
Played the EBMM Sterling for a change.
Decent crowd, the new songs went down well, all good.
Half way through the first set playing one of the Rock 'n' Roll numbers, the singer unexpectedly introduces me to the crowd and shouts the two most bone-chilling words known to mankind....

"Bass Solo!"

The colour drains from my face.
Time stops.
My hands turn to lead.
I forget everything I have ever known about music.
I am suddenly seven years old... cold, lost, lonely and afraid, adrift on an ocean of self-doubt.
My life flashes before my eyes.
The earth stops turning.
I very nearly soil myself.
The ghosts of my ancestors arise and turn up to watch.
I pray for the sweet release of death.

Time restarts, autopilot kicks in and I blunder through a barely servicable attempt at a solo as the sweat gushes from my every pore.

The crowd goes ballistic, the whole place erupts in a frenzy of whooping and hollering.
Joy is unconfined.
Fireworks go off.
That soldier kisses that woman in Times Square.
Grown men weep tears of joy.
World peace is declared.
I recieve several offers of marriage.
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair.


Oh, and the van's turbo unit broke on the way home, we had to limp up the M6 at 40mph.
Terrifying, but not as bad as having to do a solo.

I feel your pain. Only ever happened to me once and like you i muddled thru enough to get decent applause but i've made it clear in every band since that i don't do bass solos and if the band hits me with an unexpected request to solo i would leave the band. (probably won't but it would be considered)

Dave

[tony_m]

This weekend saw two rather odd outings for Rascallion, I'll split the saga over two posts!

 

First up, on Friday afternoon we'd been asked to provide the entertainment for a "Family BBQ" at the care home where Mr Lead Guitar's mother resides. Given the poor weather forecast all week, we half-expected the event to be cancelled, but after a decent morning's weather they decided to go ahead with it.

 

The original idea was for us to play under a canopy in the back garden, but by the time we were ready to set up it was looking a bit black over Bill's mother's (literally) and then the heaven's opened, so Plan B was rapidly invoked. After the half-dozen residents who were sitting comfortably in the front lounge had been moved out, we set up in there with me and Mr Drums tucked in the window bay (Trace AH200 + BLX-110 cab for me, cut-down electronic kit with just a kick, snare, hi-hat and single crash for Mr Drums) and the other three across the middle of the room, and proceeded to knock out a few of our gentler numbers (e.g. a somewhat ironic Sunny Afternoon, Have You Ever Seen The Rain?, and Handle With Care, while carefully avoiding the likes of Knockin' On Heaven's Door) to an appreciative audience composed of Mr Lead Guitar's mother, and a few members of staff who watched through the door from the corridor. 

 

After a short break for food (during which a few other relatives popped by to express their appreciation having listened to us from various other rooms), we did a couple more tunes but then had to draw things rapidly to a close when an undertaker turned up to...... umm...... make a collection. 

 

Anyway, the home have asked if we'd go back again and do an outdoor show for them some time as they'd enjoyed it so much, and we've also had an enquiry from someone wanting to book us for a local village fete! How rock 'n' roll is that, eh?

 

 

[tony_m]

And so, onto Saturday, which saw me travelling the hour or so across to the Prince William of Gloucester barracks in Grantham where we'd been booked to provide some entertainment / background music at the Army Training Regiment's Pass Off Parade event. 

 

Nothing much in the way of details had been forthcoming since we originally took the date, but the general idea seemed to we'd do two, maybe three, 45-minute sets some time between 4pm and 8pm while folks were partying. We then got a message last week saying they were bringing the event forward due to the weather forecast, so wanted us there at 10:30am, with a view to starting at 1:00pm or thereabouts. No worries, an earlier start should mean an earlier finish,which was fine by us.

 

As forecast, the weather on Saturday was pretty foul, so when the two Corporals who'd been tasked with arranging things gave us a choice between a small, rather wet, open-sided stage with a canvas canopy, or a large, mostly dry, solidly-canopied decking area outside the bar opposite (where the audience were originally going to be while we played on the small stage), we obviously opted for the latter. After helping the two Corporals move half a dozen heavy stone benches out of the way, we got everything set up and ready to go, accompanied by the distant sound of the band on the parade ground doing their stuff as the successful recruits paraded, and their families watched on and got wet. 

 

This is when things started to get interesting... 

 

12:30pm

The parade finishes, the various service personnel and much-smaller-than-expected crowd of guests wander back from the parade ground, and mostly disappear into the bar in search of food and drink. 

 

Corporal #1 informs us that they'd like us to go on at 2:00pm, after a performance by a troupe of African dancers (whose presence had never been mentioned until now). Oh, and could the dancers put their music through our PA? Fine, says we, and the Corporal disappears in search of a suitable connector so he could attach his sooper-dooper new iPhone containing said music to our desk via our drummer's not-at-all-compatible-with-a-sooper-dooper-new-iPhone lead. 

 

2:00pm

Corporal #1 returns clutching the necessary connector, the very funky tribal music erupts from our PA, and the African dancers (four very smiley ladies) start shaking and shimmying their stuff on the now *very* wet small stage. 

 

2:20pm

The dancers finish their performance (very enjoyable it was too, a definite burst of sunshine on an otherwise miserable grey day), and we finally launch into our opening number in front of the small number of people who'd gathered on the decking with us to watch the dancers. 

 

2:45pm

After we've played our first five numbers to a smattering of applause, Corporal #1 intervenes and says they want to do the raffle now, so we stand down and let them get on with it (using our mic and PA, obvs).

 

3:15pm

Raffling finally finishes and we strike up again, totally ignoring the setlist now and just cherry-picking from our more upbeat numbers in an attempt to engage with the few remaining spectators. 

 

3:25pm

Two numbers in, and Corporal #1 asks us to pause so the African dancers can do their second peformance, which is just as entertaining and sunshiney as the first. 

3:35pm

The dancers finish their performance, and on we go again. This time we manage a whole two and a half numbers before Corporal #1 approaches me (fortunately during Roadhouse Blues, so nothing too complex) and asks would we be able to move into the bar, and carry on in there? 

 

By now, all the guests who'd attended the event were long-gone, and the only people left in the bar appear to be regulars ftom the camp, including umpteen small children racing around. 

 

We finish Roadhouse, break down all the gear, cart it into the smaller room off the side of the bar (carefully avoiding the aforementioned small children in the process), set it all up again, then sit around noodling while waiting for somebody to come and tell us when, and for how long, they want us to play. 

 

4:55pm

The two Corporals reappear, and ask if we could start playing now and see if anybody comes in from the bar to watch. We play another three numbers, to an audience composed of the two Corporals and the odd small child running in and out. Nobody else in the building shows the slightest bit of interest.

 

5:20pm

Commonsense finally prevails, and we're dismissed.

 

As we broke down the gear for the second, and last, time, our two new best friends were very apologetic about how things had panned out, and also very grateful to us for just going with the flow. To be fair, they had no control over the weather, and we'd already been paid twice our usual rate so couldn't be too bolshy! Might things have worked out better if they'd put us (and the dancers?) in the small room off the bar right from the start? Maybe, but ultimately they were just following orders...

As an aside, I suppose it was inevitable that I'd get gear-stalked for the first time ever on such a strange day! While we were still standing around waiting to be told when to start, surrounded by folks eating. drinking, and generally milling about, one of the guests came over and commented how nice my '51 Precision Reissue looked. In the course of a brief natter, it turned out he had an old (1980's?) Ibanez Blazer and a Yamaha something-or-other himself, but in the general confusion I never did think to ask whereabouts he was from, who he played with, and whether he was a BC member! 🤦‍♂️

[Bluewine]

20 hours ago, ezbass said:

A photo from last night's gig.

 

 

Nice look.

 

Blue

[Leonard Smalls]

A rare double bass pic!

From Rebellion last week...

 

[Bluewine]

6 hours ago, tony_m said:

And so, onto Saturday, which saw me travelling the hour or so across to the Prince William of Gloucester barracks in Grantham where we'd been booked to provide some entertainment / background music at the Army Training Regiment's Pass Off Parade event. 

 

Nothing much in the way of details had been forthcoming since we originally took the date, but the general idea seemed to we'd do two, maybe three, 45-minute sets some time between 4pm and 8pm while folks were partying. We then got a message last week saying they were bringing the event forward due to the weather forecast, so wanted us there at 10:30am, with a view to starting at 1:00pm or thereabouts. No worries, an earlier start should mean an earlier finish,which was fine by us.

 

As forecast, the weather on Saturday was pretty foul, so when the two Corporals who'd been tasked with arranging things gave us a choice between a small, rather wet, open-sided stage with a canvas canopy, or a large, mostly dry, solidly-canopied decking area outside the bar opposite (where the audience were originally going to be while we played on the small stage), we obviously opted for the latter. After helping the two Corporals move half a dozen heavy stone benches out of the way, we got everything set up and ready to go, accompanied by the distant sound of the band on the parade ground doing their stuff as the successful recruits paraded, and their families watched on and got wet. 

 

This is when things started to get interesting... 

 

12:30pm

The parade finishes, the various service personnel and much-smaller-than-expected crowd of guests wander back from the parade ground, and mostly disappear into the bar in search of food and drink. 

 

Corporal #1 informs us that they'd like us to go on at 2:00pm, after a performance by a troupe of African dancers (whose presence had never been mentioned until now). Oh, and could the dancers put their music through our PA? Fine, says we, and the Corporal disappears in search of a suitable connector so he could attach his sooper-dooper new iPhone containing said music to our desk via our drummer's not-at-all-compatible-with-a-sooper-dooper-new-iPhone lead. 

 

2:00pm

Corporal #1 returns clutching the necessary connector, the very funky tribal music erupts from our PA, and the African dancers (four very smiley ladies) start shaking and shimmying their stuff on the now *very* wet small stage. 

 

2:20pm

The dancers finish their performance (very enjoyable it was too, a definite burst of sunshine on an otherwise miserable grey day), and we finally launch into our opening number in front of the small number of people who'd gathered on the decking with us to watch the dancers. 

 

2:45pm

After we've played our first five numbers to a smattering of applause, Corporal #1 intervenes and says they want to do the raffle now, so we stand down and let them get on with it (using our mic and PA, obvs).

 

3:15pm

Raffling finally finishes and we strike up again, totally ignoring the setlist now and just cherry-picking from our more upbeat numbers in an attempt to engage with the few remaining spectators. 

 

3:25pm

Two numbers in, and Corporal #1 asks us to pause so the African dancers can do their second peformance, which is just as entertaining and sunshiney as the first. 

3:35pm

The dancers finish their performance, and on we go again. This time we manage a whole two and a half numbers before Corporal #1 approaches me (fortunately during Roadhouse Blues, so nothing too complex) and asks would we be able to move into the bar, and carry on in there? 

 

By now, all the guests who'd attended the event were long-gone, and the only people left in the bar appear to be regulars ftom the camp, including umpteen small children racing around. 

 

We finish Roadhouse, break down all the gear, cart it into the smaller room off the side of the bar (carefully avoiding the aforementioned small children in the process), set it all up again, then sit around noodling while waiting for somebody to come and tell us when, and for how long, they want us to play. 

 

4:55pm

The two Corporals reappear, and ask if we could start playing now and see if anybody comes in from the bar to watch. We play another three numbers, to an audience composed of the two Corporals and the odd small child running in and out. Nobody else in the building shows the slightest bit of interest.

 

5:20pm

Commonsense finally prevails, and we're dismissed.

 

As we broke down the gear for the second, and last, time, our two new best friends were very apologetic about how things had panned out, and also very grateful to us for just going with the flow. To be fair, they had no control over the weather, and we'd already been paid twice our usual rate so couldn't be too bolshy! Might things have worked out better if they'd put us (and the dancers?) in the small room off the bar right from the start? Maybe, but ultimately they were just following orders...

As an aside, I suppose it was inevitable that I'd get gear-stalked for the first time ever on such a strange day! While we were still standing around waiting to be told when to start, surrounded by folks eating. drinking, and generally milling about, one of the guests came over and commented how nice my '51 Precision Reissue looked. In the course of a brief natter, it turned out he had an old (1980's?) Ibanez Blazer and a Yamaha something-or-other himself, but in the general confusion I never did think to ask whereabouts he was from, who he played with, and whether he was a BC member! 🤦‍♂️

 

Wow! That story is hard to top. I can relate to all of it. We had something similar happen with a bunch of Irish dancers and musicians. 

 

I occasionally play my 51 Precision  re-issue. 

 

Blue

[mrtcat]

Two more weddings over the weekend.

 

Friday - The West Mill in Derby. Played here a bunch of times before. Load in up a flight of stairs which is mildly inconvenient but the fact that guests are eating on a completely different floor and therefore not bothering us is more than compensation. 95db limiter but in reality its not a bad one and we definitely were over that all night without any issues. Bride, groom and guests were rough as anything and, fueled by lots of booze and an abundance of Colombian nose powder, they did pretty much everything in the book to be as obnoxious and downright rude as possible. Venue were very keen to tell us the million rules we were forbidden from breaking and not even remotely interested in doing anything about the blatant drug usage going on. We did the minimum and packed up and got out of there.

 

Saturday - Upthorpe Woods nr Bury St Edmunds. Unusual outdoor woodland venue which would have been ace in anything other than Saturday's torrential downpours. We set up in the only real indoor space which was essentially a huge shed with a hollow wooden floor and a tin roof. Acoustics sounded like a huge shed with a hollow wooden floor and a tin roof. Bride, groom and guests were perfectly pleasant but not the wildest bunch you'll ever meet. Best part of the night was the pizza and the 11pm curfew. Home by 1am was definitely a welcome bonus.

This coming weekend we are in Maidstone on Friday and then Ceredigion on Saturday so will spend most of the weekend driving. Oh the joys.

[tony_m]

7 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

Wow! That story is hard to top. I can relate to all of it. We had something similar happen with a bunch of Irish dancers and musicians. 

 

I occasionally play my 51 Precision  re-issue. 

 

Blue

 

Yeah, it was a really odd day all round!

 

And the '51 is my #1 bass - I do occasionally take my 60s Jazz Re-issue out for a change, but always go back to the '51, it just works for me.

[Stub Mandrel]

Went to the Earl Haig Jam last night. An excuse to play possibly the most unexpected bass in my armoury. It actually sounded HUGE!

 

 

[dclaassen]

38 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Went to the Earl Haig Jam last night. An excuse to play possibly the most unexpected bass in my armoury. It actually sounded HUGE!

 

 

Teisco?

[neepheid]

44 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Went to the Earl Haig Jam last night. An excuse to play possibly the most unexpected bass in my armoury. It actually sounded HUGE!

 

 

 

Those jeans are far too skinny for that bass

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, dclaassen said:

Teisco?

 

Effectively identical to a Teisco EB-100 'Tulip', but a circular pale patch on the headstock means it's a Kay.

 

It oozes Kay quality... or teh lack of it, maybe 🤣 At least it's possible to turn the tuners by hand.

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

Those jeans are far too skinny for that bass

 

I take that as a compliment!