How was your gig last night?

[lozkerr]

17 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I have a red firey glow under mine, got them when I got my pedalboard,

https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_spaceship_pedalboard_red_led.htm

 

Thanks! Just given Thomann some beer tokens for a strip. Hopefully they'll arrive before next Saturday's gig.

[Bluewine]

12 hours ago, stewblack said:

I too played a depressingly empty venue last night. It used to be buzzing, a great gig, but alas it's on its arse these days.

Luckily the band I was with really clicks; all top musicians, all in fine form. We had a blast.

This was my rig

 

 

and boy did it sing.

 

We had a lot of bars that did well with live local music.  I'm not sure what change in ownership means to you guys but in my little world it has always meant, no more live music put in pool tables and they're closed within a few months. Out of business. 

 

Daryl

[Mudpup]

6 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Sorry to hear you're calling it a day with the band.

Don't know what age you are but i fully understand and appreciate your reasoning behind it so no point in offering suggested solutions but hopefully we'll still hear from you on BC @Mudpup. You need to do what's right for you.

I can only hope that like me you take a break and get back into playing again but with people around you that appreciate what you do and bring to a band.

All the best in whatever you do with your time off. You'll be back 

Dave👍

I'll still be loitering around on here I expect. But my main motivation was always the gigging and I definitely need a break from that for at least 6 months or so. The guys did appreciate the extra value I gave but just saying thanks isn't enough - they needed to step up and actively help out and take some weight off me and they didn't. One of the guys was on sick leave from gigging due to a hernia between between about July 2023 and March this year. He didn't do a single thing behind the scenes - didn't approach a single venue for a gig, learn any new material or even view some recent gig videos and see where he could improve anything. It was all stuff that could be done at home easily. That doesn't cut the mustard for me. I'm going to keep most of my gear for now (just in case) and I'll probably use my time learning a 5 string - i've tried before but couldn't get my head round it because of the weekly gigs on a 4 string so maybe now is a good time to give it another go.

[Bluewine]

6 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Sorry to hear you're calling it a day with the band.

Don't know what age you are but i fully understand and appreciate your reasoning behind it so no point in offering suggested solutions but hopefully we'll still hear from you on BC @Mudpup. You need to do what's right for you.

I can only hope that like me you take a break and get back into playing again but with people around you that appreciate what you do and bring to a band.

All the best in whatever you do with your time off. You'll be back 

Dave👍

 

I could go on playing forever. Unfortunately I can't go on traveling and loading in and out and setting up and tearing down 

 

Daryl

[Norris]

18 hours ago, Norris said:

Anyway I'll see how it is with the spare PSU at tomorrow's gig

I used my spare PSU that I repaired last time and it worked fine - hooray, it's not the pedal, phew! I decided to buy another as it's only about £30 from Anderton's, not worth faffing about. So I logged into my account on Anderton's and... double bonus... I had £20 of loyalty points sitting there from when I bought my Sire. DEFINITELY not worth faffing with the broken PSU when I can get a replacement for a tenner!

 

Anyway the gig went really well, lots of larking about musically, chasing each other around the stage. Also a lot of people dancing and having fun for a Sunday afternoon gig

 

I'm still loving the Sire + Fender Rumble v3 500

[Norris]

7 minutes ago, Mudpup said:

i've tried before but couldn't get my head round it because of the weekly gigs on a 4 string so maybe now is a good time to give it another go.

Definitely! If you want 6 months off that's how long it might take you to immerse yourself in the world of 5-strings and get your head round it properly. Your technique will probably improve too - floating thumb is second nature to me now

[Len_derby]

The covers band, Top Deck, did a 5pm-7pm slot today at The Pear Tree in Ripley Derbyshire. We picked the gig up yesterday after the pub had been let down by the band who were booked and then put a help message on Facebook. 
Anyone who knows Ripley won’t be surprised to hear that there was a mixed sex ward-full of lairy drunks at 5pm on a Sunday ready for dancing and singing along.

Less fun was the torrential rain that started to seep into our playing area. Some quick improvisation with the log pile.

 

 

Edited October 6 by Len_derby

[dmccombe7]

47 minutes ago, Norris said:

I used my spare PSU that I repaired last time and it worked fine - hooray, it's not the pedal, phew! I decided to buy another as it's only about £30 from Anderton's, not worth faffing about. So I logged into my account on Anderton's and... double bonus... I had £20 of loyalty points sitting there from when I bought my Sire. DEFINITELY not worth faffing with the broken PSU when I can get a replacement for a tenner!

 

Anyway the gig went really well, lots of larking about musically, chasing each other around the stage. Also a lot of people dancing and having fun for a Sunday afternoon gig

 

I'm still loving the Sire + Fender Rumble v3 500

That just reminded me that i have points with Andertons too.

Dave

[Piers_Williamson]

52 minutes ago, Norris said:

I used my spare PSU that I repaired last time and it worked fine - hooray, it's not the pedal, phew! I decided to buy another as it's only about £30 from Anderton's, not worth faffing about. So I logged into my account on Anderton's and... double bonus... I had £20 of loyalty points sitting there from when I bought my Sire. DEFINITELY not worth faffing with the broken PSU when I can get a replacement for a tenner!

 

Anyway the gig went really well, lots of larking about musically, chasing each other around the stage. Also a lot of people dancing and having fun for a Sunday afternoon gig

 

I'm still loving the Sire + Fender Rumble v3 500

The rehearsal studios we have been using all have Fender Rumbles in them.  Call me an amp snob, but I get a really good sound out of them (with my Fender Jazz)....and having neutralised the sound that the death metal band before me has been trying to emulate.  Presumably that's what they are made for ?

 

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

 

We had a lot of bars that did well with live local music.  I'm not sure what change in ownership means to you guys but in my little world it has always meant, no more live music put in pool tables and they're closed within a few months. Out of business. 

 

Daryl

We're just suffering a massive downturn in pubs/bars and very few actually specialise in live music in the first place. 

We have pubs desperately trying to turn around a failing business. So they pay a booker to fill their calendar with bands. The booker doesn't give a damn, just needs the calendar filled, so books anything he can get. The venue doesn't understand music does not have any facilities (stage, lighting, PA etc) so doesn't attract a live music audience and so the pub ends up in more financial trouble.

 

[taunton-hobbit]

About a million years ago I used to site amusement machines (Space Invaders stuff) in pubs. I lost count of the landlords who wanted me to supply kit (at my expense) in an attempt to attract clientele to a run down scruffy pub - I fell for it a couple of times on promises of how much they were going tgo put in. They usually left a few weeks later. Most publicans don't have a clue.

 

😎

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

We're just suffering a massive downturn in pubs/bars and very few actually specialise in live music in the first place. 

We have pubs desperately trying to turn around a failing business. So they pay a booker to fill their calendar with bands. The booker doesn't give a damn, just needs the calendar filled, so books anything he can get. The venue doesn't understand music does not have any facilities (stage, lighting, PA etc) so doesn't attract a live music audience and so the pub ends up in more financial trouble.

 

 

Really, there's nothing worse than showing up at gig and your primary contact is nowhere to be found and the staff knows nothing about live music and bands .

 

I always wonder if when a band is booking a new bar gig if anyone ever asks " is your clientle interested in  live rock music?"

 

Daryl

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

We had a lot of bars that did well with live local music.  I'm not sure what change in ownership means to you guys but in my little world it has always meant, no more live music put in pool tables and they're closed within a few months. Out of business. 

 

Daryl

 

Several venues around here slashing their band budgets, so dropping live bands or cutting the number of gigs  - I think it's probably all the same chain.

Irony is my club has ten bands on this month (and it would have been 11, but the one ticketed performance had to cancel). They had a jazz quintet doing a matinee (2:30pm) and the room was packed (about 50 people). Followed by the Sunday open mic in the lounge (not included in the gig count) which started slow but ended up doing OK.

Sadly, after 10 years the Monday night OM has ground to a close, looks like it will become a once a month jam on Friday aimed at bands.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

I could go on playing forever. Unfortunately I can't go on traveling and loading in and out and setting up and tearing down 

 

Daryl

 

Try and put some gig money away so you can save and invest in a class D amp and a neo cab when you need to. They take so much stress out of gigging.

[Stub Mandrel]

8 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I always wonder if when a band is booking a new bar gig if anyone ever asks " is your clientle interested in  live rock music?"

 

Daryl

 

We are very lucky that rock music is very popular in south Wales, especially the Valleys, it seems to go with the industrial areas like Birmingham and the Black Country.

[Bluewine]

6 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Try and put some gig money away so you can save and invest in a class D amp and a neo cab when you need to. They take so much stress out of gigging.

Stub, I'm actually thinking about the Kemper Stage Floor . I'll go direct out into the sound system and use the monitor.  I'll be able to show up at a gig with a backpack my bass and a stand.

 

All my gig money goes towards my property taxes 

 

Daryl

Edited October 6 by Bluewine

[Bluewine]

5 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

We are very lucky that rock music is very popular in south Wales, especially the Valleys, it seems to go with the industrial areas like Birmingham and the Black Country.

Over here in the Milwaukee area Classic rock has a bit of a chance but not much else.

 

For example;

 

 

Daryl

[Clarky]

23 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

Nice video, bass sounds great.

Was just the bass into a Tech21 Sansamp Bass Fly Rig v1 with DI out. Easiest load-in ever!

[casapete]

Played again at The Lookout ( on the pier in Scarborough) tonight with the acoustic duo.

Full house all dining when we arrived at 5pm, the food here is really good, with the seafood

being a speciality - it arrives by the boats moored along the venue so couldn’t be more fresh!
Our usual requests led set list with some more Kris Kristofferson stuff asked for, as well as

some we haven’t done for a long time - ‘Son of a preacher man’, ‘Wishing well’, ‘Dancing in

the dark’ and ‘5 o’clock somewhere’. During the second set one of the house PA speakers

gave up the ghost - an Alto column type - but we managed with the others that were still

okay. That’s two gigs this week with PA issues , strange. Anyway, the evening went well,

happy punters and lots of nice comments. We have a few more gigs booked here before 

the end of the year, and they are always great to do. Home by 9.30pm for a nice glass

of red with some cheese with crackers and chilli olives, marvellous. 
 

 

[stewblack]

Just started a month of Sunday Bandeoke gigs at a new venue in Bristol. 

Quiet start which picked up as soon as the punters began to join in the fun. Hopefully it will continue to grow and become a residency. 

[WalMan]

2 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Stub, I'm actually thinking about the Kemper Stage Floor . I'll go direct out into the sound system and use the monitor.  I'll be able to show up at a gig with a backpack my bass and a stand.

 

All my gig money goes towards my property taxes 

 

Daryl

If you don’t need all the Kemper bells and whistles the TwoNotes Bass Revolt is worth a look. I’ve used mine for a few silent stage deps and it sounded great. 🙂

[EssexBuccaneer]

Great gig on Saturday night at The Chadwell arms, which is become a regular haunt of ours, now. The small crowd were singing and dancing from the off. I knew we’d cracked it when one older chap who’d been nodding along throughout the first set gradually edged closer, and by the mid point of set 2 was belting along with us and full-on dancing! 4 encore songs(!) was a first as well. 
 

Absolutely over the moon!

[cetera]

I played a weekend of deps with local covers band 'The Lee Aaron Band' (NOT the Canadian rock goddess Lee Aaron 😉) in the NE Hants area.....

Great nights, lots of compliments from punters.... and the landlord on Friday was a bassist too (and owner of a few Goodfellow basses)! He told me my bass sound was the best he's ever heard in his pub, which was nice! I was using my Spector Euro Classic with GK Legacy head/Genz Neo212 cab.

Saturday's gig saw me debut my new 'oddity' (see pic below). See thread here: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/502803-nbd-spectorbacker-or-is-it-a-rickenspector-or-maybe-a-kipenspector/

 

 

 

Edited October 7 by cetera

[Chienmortbb]

12 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

That just reminded me that i have points with Andertons too.

Dave

I once misplaced my bass stand and was chuffed to find a nice one on Andertons would only be pennies as I had accumulated points.

[cheddatom]

Crauford Arms in Milton Keynes supporting The Men They Couldn't Hang on Friday night. I can't find any photos! It's a great venue we've played before. No kit share this time as TMTCH were recording for a live DVD (does anyone buy DVDs any more?) and didn't want to move anything. No problem for me as my bass drum is only 10" deep! Great set, super tight, and we were staying over so we all had a few beers and watched TMTCH on their last gig of the year. Hopefully we'll get some support slots with them again!

 

Dogfest at Boston Gliderdrome in Saturday. We were scheduled for 6:15 but a band pulled out and they moved us back to 7:30. Terrible house drum kit. Terrible monitors. Terrible sound. Great crowd who sang along to every word. Must have been 800 at least but again I can't find any photos! This is a great old venue and hopefully we'll get to play there with a decent sound some time

 

Only 4 left this year now. I'll try to remember to take some pics at those