How was your gig last night?

[stewblack]

Just having a cuppa having made it home from my Thursday Bandeoke in Bristol.

Chaotic drunken night but no knob-heads so that was good. 

Been playing my Epiphone Embassy lately. It's a hard bass to put down. Sits in the mix, light on the shoulder and easy on the hands.

[BigRedX]

Hurtsfall played at The Chapel in Nottingham last night supporting Byronic Sex & Exile with Jan Doyle Band also.

 

There was a decent turn-out for a Thursday night and a sizeable portion of the audience dancing during our set including some people who I didn't know from other bands or previous gigs. Sound on stage was probably the best that we've had at the venue. It's always difficult judging how much an audience is going to damp down the bounce back of the FoH speakers which has a tendency to change the on-stage mix from the one we have painstakingly set up at the soundcheck. This time the mix was reasonably similar to what we had set up earlier which definitely helped us produce a good performance. 

 

We played a lot better than we did on Saturday when we only had enough time to set up and play which is always a bit more nerve-wracking than it should be. It helped that none of the bands playing had drummers and only Byronic Sex & Exile were using backline which meant there was plenty of room on stage, still there were a couple of close calls when our singer nearly trod on the footswitch that controls our drums and second synth backing parts. I had to quickly move them out of the way in a suitable moment between songs.

 

Sold CD copies of our new single, but unfortunately no T-shirts after I spent 2 evenings getting the new designs sorted and ready for sale. But overall it was a great gig.

 

We have a break while we're working on recording our album and getting two new songs ready to perform, and will be back for our next gig on 5th November again at The Chapel when we will be opening for gothic icon Aurelio Voltaire. Apparently the show is nearly sold out so if anyone here is interested in going I suggest that you get tickets ASAP.

 

Photos hopefully coming soon...

[Burns-bass]

Precariously placed double bass. Was a good gig at a great Bristol pub.

 

Brings my total weeks gig earnings to £500. Feel like a pro!

[stewblack]

9 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

Precariously placed double bass. Was a good gig at a great Bristol pub.

 

Brings my total weeks gig earnings to £500. Feel like a pro!

If a pro is someone who earns their living from music then I am one and you have out earned me by a very long way!

[dmccombe7]

Last nights outing with Emergency Exit punk covers band at The Dreadnought in Bathgate.

Love this venue with both bands. PA and lighting already in place with great SE's. Owner or Manager whichever is there on the night are both top guys and look after you really well and are so easy to get along with. Has to be one of the best run venues i've ever known. 

Anyways the gig wasn't very busy maybe around 20-30 folks in. It holds approx 150 but they were all up for a dance / pogo almost all night from approx the 3rd song.

We did our usual invite to "Big Hastie" to come on stage and sing Into The Valley with us and as a treat we let him sing Hurry Up Harry as well. Just great fun.

From what folks were telling us including one of the SE's who was on his weekend off but came along to see us, that Fri nights have been extremely quiet recently and tonight was fairly busy for a Fri night. 

My attitude to quiet gigs is that they are just paid rehearsals.

Band played well altho guitarist had hand cramp a few times but he carried on like the trooper he is.

Only one more gig this year before the band takes a break and considers whether they want to continue. No ill feeling within the band but a personally a little disappointed. Guitarist has been doing it originally since 1977 but on and off over the years. Been constant last 16 yrs and i think he's getting a little bored with it. We'll get together in the New Year and see how folks feel about it.

I've only been with the band 3 yrs so i still enjoy playing the songs as they have so much energy and the band are all just really nice people.

Used my Sandberg MarloweDK into Shure Wireless and then the Mesa TT800 and SW 210 & 115 cabs. The Marlowe sounds amazing thru the Boogie channel on this amp. Every note is so clear across the neck but has a wonderfully warm deep tone and with the flick of the Brightness switch i get a terrific edge for those more rasping type songs.

So happy with this Mesa rig, plus i can lift the amp with my little finger whenever needed 

Dave

   

Edited October 12 by dmccombe7

[Thor]

10 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

Precariously placed double bass. Was a good gig at a great Bristol pub.

 

Brings my total weeks gig earnings to £500. Feel like a pro!

Great work - well done Sir!😊

 

 Which pub in Bristol out of interest?

[Thor]

36 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Last nights outing with Emergency Exit punk covers band at The Dreadnought in Bathgate.

Love this venue with both bands. PA and lighting already in place with great SE's. Owner or Manager whichever is there on the night are both top guys and look after you really well and are so easy to get along with. Has to be one of the best run venues i've ever known. 

Anyways the gig wasn't very busy maybe around 20-30 folks in. It holds approx 150 but they were all up for a dance / pogo almost all night from approx the 3rd song.

We did our usual invite to "Big Hastie" to come on stage and sing Into The Valley with us and as a treat we let him sing Hurry Up Harry as well. Just great fun.

From what folks were telling us including one of the SE's who was on his weekend off but came along to see us that Fri nights have been extremely quiet recently and tonight was fairly busy for a Fri night. 

My attitude to quiet gigs is that they are just paid rehearsals.

Band played well altho guitarist had hand cramp a few times but he carried on like the trooper he is.

Only one more gig this year before the band takes a break and considers whether they want to continue. No ill feeling within the band but a personally a little disappointed. Guitarist has been doing it originally since 1977 but on and off over the years. Been constant last 16 yrs and i think he's getting a little bored with it. We'll get together in the New Year and see how folks feel about it.

I've only been with the band 3 yrs so i still enjoy playing the songs as they have so much energy and the band are all just really nice people.

Used my Sandberg MarloweDK into Shure Wireless and then the Mesa TT800 and SW 210 & 115 cabs. The Marlowe sounds amaing thru the Boogie channel on this amp. Every note is so clear across the neck but has a wonderfully warm deep tone with the flick of the Brightness switch i get a terrific edge for those more rasping type songs.

So happy with this Mesa rig, plus i can lift the amp with my little finger whenever needed 

Dave

   

Hope you getting on with the TT800, Dave?

[dmccombe7]

50 minutes ago, Thor said:

Hope you getting on with the TT800, Dave?

Yep 100% worth the 4 yr wait. Absolutely loving the tones from the Boogie channel. Its so good that my original intention of flicking between channels to go from a warm deep bass tone to a more Ric edge type tone has literally never happened. I just turn the tone up full on the bass and flick the Brightness switch and its all there.

No matter what bass i use it sounds great thru the TT800. So glad i waited and went for it as soon as exports to UK started again. 

Mesa @agedhorse should consider putting the Boogie channel out as a single amp. Its that good and i think many folks with the TT800 would probably agree. I've only used the SW channel on one gig but loved the Boogie channel that much i tend to prefer that channel for everything now. I think it would be a big seller for Mesa.

 

Dave

[Thor]

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

Yep 100% worth the 4 yr wait. Absolutely loving the tones from the Boogie channel. Its so good that my original intention of flicking between channels to go from a warm deep bass tone to a more Ric edge type tone has literally never happened. I just turn the tone up full on the bass and flick the Brightness switch and its all there.

No matter what bass i use it sounds great thru the TT800. So glad i waited and went for it as soon as exports to UK started again. 

Mesa @agedhorse should consider putting the Boogie channel out as a single amp. Its that good and i think many folks with the TT800 would probably agree. I've only used the SW channel on one gig but loved the Boogie channel that much i tend to prefer that channel for everything now. I think it would be a big seller for Mesa.

 

Dave

That’s good to hear you’re chuffed with it, I know you’d been waiting on one for a long while, but didn’t realise quite how long…time flies n all that😊

 

[neepheid]

Pile o' sh!te last night.  Played with Nine Lives last night at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh.  First half was dire - about 10 folk in the bar and absolutely none of them gave a flying f hole if we were there or not - in fact they would have prefered we weren't there as they got one of the bar staff to come over and tell us that we were a bit loud and they couldn't talk at the bar - cheeky bar stewards!  I was quite hacked off by that, angry enough that at half time I postulated to the rest of the band that we offer to end it now and take half pay.  The drummer sorta half agreed with me but the other two wanted to carry on and see if things improve.

 

Thankfully, some extra folk came in during the break who were actually up for a boogie and improved things immeasurably and I ended up having an OK night, but it was very much a case of the second half cancelling out the first.  Hey ho, got paid, packed up, went home.

 

Gear - Squier Affinity Jaguar H then Yamaha BB1200 into the usual Markbass tone cubes.

 

[ezbass]

3 minutes ago, neepheid said:

they got one of the bar staff to come over and tell us that we were a bit loud and they couldn't talk at the bar

 

If you don’t want music and want a blether, go to a ‘Spoons; FFS! Punters, eh?

[Burns-bass]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

Great work - well done Sir!😊

 

 Which pub in Bristol out of interest?

This was the Hobgoblin on Gloucester Road. I didn’t know they did music but have booked us for a monthly residency. So that’s good.

 

We got £180 (between 3) a £30 bar tab and the offer of free food (can’t eat a big meal before a gig).

[stewblack]

How was my gig? Cold. That's how. Absolutely bl00dy freezing. 

The pub has the world's biggest smoking area, essentially a courtyard with a tent roof. 

So we played outside. 

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

Pile o' sh!te last night.  Played with Nine Lives last night at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh.  First half was dire - about 10 folk in the bar and absolutely none of them gave a flying f hole if we were there or not - in fact they would have prefered we weren't there as they got one of the bar staff to come over and tell us that we were a bit loud and they couldn't talk at the bar - cheeky bar stewards!  I was quite hacked off by that, angry enough that at half time I postulated to the rest of the band that we offer to end it now and take half pay.  The drummer sorta half agreed with me but the other two wanted to carry on and see if things improve.

 

Thankfully, some extra folk came in during the break who were actually up for a boogie and improved things immeasurably and I ended up having an OK night, but it was very much a case of the second half cancelling out the first.  Hey ho, got paid, packed up, went home.

 

Gear - Squier Affinity Jaguar H then Yamaha BB1200 into the usual Markbass tone cubes.

 

Its difficult when that happens but i've always just thought to myself "Lets use it as a paid rehearsal" and just try to enjoy it for what it is. Unfortunately being told you are too loud and we cant talk at the bar is a bit of a blow and for the bar staff to actually deliver that message is poor from a venue point of view. They hired you and should be telling punters to keep the noise down. I've never understood people that go to pubs where bands play and then complain they cant hear themselves talking at the bar. If they want to talk then go to a pub that doesn't have a live band. 

On a happier note i do like that Yamaha bass. Never tried one but like the look and tone they have.

Onto the next gig where it will be a belter. 👍

Dave

[casapete]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

enjoy it for what it is. Unfortunately being told you are too loud and we cant talk at the bar is a bit of a blow and for the bar staff to actually deliver that message is poor from a venue point of view. They hired you and should be telling punters to keep the noise down. I've never understood people that go to pubs where bands play and then complain they cant hear themselves talking at the bar. If they want to talk then go to a pub that doesn't have a live band. 

At one of our regular acoustic gigs, the booker actually asks people not to talk while we’re playing

when he takes their reservation! Whilst this is probably nice in a folk club environment, for a cafe

bar IMO it’s maybe a bit much - when we first started doing the gig I found having the punters so

near to me and totally silent a bit unnerving! It’s also a bit like ‘jazz club’ where they applaud my mate’s

guitar solos too sometimes, but as it’s such a fabulous gig/ audience I turn a blind eye to it. Better

that than pub punters asking you to keep it down so they can chat I guess. 😁

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

in fact they would have prefered we weren't there as they got one of the bar staff to come over and tell us that we were a bit loud and they couldn't talk at the bar - cheeky bar stewards! 

 

That to me says to turn up, the fact that they thought they could try!

[Merton]

Shit.

Blown tyre halfway to Wolverhampton. Tyre repair kits are f***ing useless.

4 hours from phoning roadside assistance to having the tyre fitted.

Missed the gig entirely.

Thankfully we had someone who knew the set at the gig who could stand in.

Missed this:

[MichaelDean]

Just got in from a great gig at Moor Brewery in Bristol. I've had to run home after our set because my daughter has chickenpox so there is no guarantee that I'll get much sleep tonight. 

 

Strange but cool venue. It's literally in the warehouse. There are tanks brewing things next to where you play. The sound guy also just wanted the amps to do the work in the room, so we got to turn up LOUD 😬

 

But, it was the most engaged crowd of the night (so far). Lots of people headbanging, which is great. A mate said lots of people were pointing at my Dingwall too. I think we're really honing in on our live sound now after 8 or so gigs. Love, love, love the Digbeth too. It was an 8Ohm cab, so I was putting half power into it, but I still filled the space at about 6/7 on the volume controls. 

 

Didn't manage to get a pic of the stage, but I was playing my Combustion into my pedalboard, then Digbeth head and another band's Matamp 610. 

 

We've curated a night there for December, and I'm really looking forward to it now!

[Chienmortbb]

11 hours ago, stewblack said:

How was my gig? Cold. That's how. Absolutely bl00dy freezing. 

The pub has the world's biggest smoking area, essentially a courtyard with a tent roof. 

So we played outside. 

Was it in Warminster?

[Norris]

We had a really good gig. The pub has been taken over by a young couple who are keeping the live music going, so that's always good news. Lovely people too.

 

It's always a bit of a strange place for me, it seems to lack that buzz. Lots of people we knew turned out to see us though, which is always an honour.

 

We never get many decent photos of our drummer, so here's a screen grab of a video that I took while he was soloing in Moby Dick (and the guitarist and I were having a sit down)...

 

[moley6knipe]

Well that was superb! Clutching at Straws, charity fundraiser in Thurlby’s (very nice) village hall. 18:00 arrival, easy get in, good sound, dancing, happy organisers! We played well… the usual Dimension USA V into GK and Barefaced. Some nice synth sounds from me eg Does Your Mother Know.

Edited October 13 by moley6knipe

[tubbybloke68]

Great sold out home town gig at the Capitol theatre in Horsham tonight ( ok last night now🤣) with the Phil Collins tribute. My set up really inspires my confidence, my trusty Wal, Tecamp puma 900 and and the fabulous LFsys monza cab, an amazing little monitor. Thought we may be a bit rusty as it’s been a while since the last one but pleased to say everyone was’on it ‘

an the audience were amazing! We collect money for a homeless charity by selling t shirts etc. we don’t put a price on things, we just ask people to give what they feel is manageable for them and tonight we collected over a £1000 for the bridge house trust, based in Tunbridge wells. Peoples generosity is very humbling sometimes x 

[Muzz]

Much posher pub (well, we were in South Manchester, dahlink) last night, although another where the band seem to be pretty much surplus to requirements (seating/tables all over, no-one standing - it's clearly a big food pub during the day/early evening), and applauding might be seen as a bit passe...half a dozen ladies got up to dance in the second set, tho, and we got a woman whose 60th was being held there (sparkly dress, big sash, balloons, etc) jump on a mic...and blew us away with one of the best voices I've heard in a while. I surrendered my mic to her, and she did a couple of numbers (Good Times and Proud Mary), which made a very pleasant change from the usual Give Us A Go pish heads...oh, and she knew when to stop, too, voluntarily putting the mic back and buggering off while she was ahead...again, making a pleasant change.

 

Oh, and one Karen type walked up to me mid song demanding something or other - I pointed at my inears (the fact that we were mid-song had apparently eluded her, too) and shrugged several times, she just persisted in that Talking Louder And Louder To Foreigners Means They'll Suddenly Understand You way. She then strode into the band space (always disconcerting when that happens, no?) and walked up behind(!) the singer to repeat her request/demands...for Oasis. Luv, we're in Timperley, it's not like we weren't going to play any...in fact we'd already done one in the first set before she arrived.

 

We should've charged her £50...no, £75...actually it's now £125...

 

Normal hours for once, home for oneish. Cheapo light Sonic P, Stomp, inears. Bliss.

Edited October 13 by Muzz

[WalMan]

A pretty good night last night. Drummer back from hols but one guitarist down however the other guitarist and I have worked for years as me him, drummer and a vocalist so really not a problem.

 

Using a different sound guy, who works with our usual guy, and the usual PA but despite him having checked all the connections during the week nothing he did would connect his iPad to the mixer, I had forgotten my iPad, but the connection from my phone was intermittent so in the end he brought his XAir in and re plugged everything from the usual one and we managed a quick last minute soundcheck but without my IEM connected, so I had to tweak that on the fly in the set.

 

Still non weight bearing on my ankle and using the iWalk to stand - let’s gloss over the fact that earlier in the day walking through the village I got overconfident, stubbed the ‘toe’ and with nothing to grab onto and unable to do the ‘skip, yes I meant to do that’ thing when you catch your foot, and went down in a heap (I’ve not admitted that to wifey as I’d never hear the end of it). It’s fine for gigging, though does mean I can’t really move about and the opposite foot has gone to sleep by the end of each set.

 

First set went pretty well. A few flubs from everyone, particularly the drummer who dropped a couple of beats but we caught it and I doubt anyone in the audience noticed. Crowd were ok and singing along so that was good.

 

Second set everything gelled much better, the sound felt better and the punters got into it and were singing and dancing so it ended as a stormer. Landlady well pleased and stuck a load in the diary for next year.

[Jack]

Nice function for Pop Rock Riot last night, playing in The Exchange in North Shields. Knowing it was a good-looking venue I borrowed some camera stuff from work and I've now got 431GB of footage to go through for our next showreel. Joy! 🫣

 

The setup:

 

The filming: (not as fuzzy as it looks, these are screen captures of the video payback not proper exported stills but it's Sunday and I'm lazy)

 

Edited October 13 by Jack