How was your gig last night?

[asingardenof]

A return to the Plumbers Arms in Huddersfield last night. The usual postage stamp-sized area for the band to set up in, with the added bonus of our drummist having some sort of tree-shaped lighting fixture next to him that took up one of the two available plug sockets, meaning that everything was daisy-chained off my 4-way extension with me having been the first to plug in.

 

The lack of space also meant that I was stood facing perpendicular to the rest of the band because I was positioned right behind one of the PA speakers and I was in constant danger of knocking the thing into some unsuspecting punters as it was.

 

I used the Siredowsky, and the lack of space encouraged me to give the Elf it's first outing since New Year's Eve and it performed admirably despite the terrible acoustics. For most of the first set I could barely hear myself while our singist who was stood next to me claimed I was too loud, until at the break we realised that one of the PA speaker's input levels had been set too low, and after that everything sounded pretty good.

 

We all played pretty well apart from a minor stumble in the breakdown of A Town Called Malice when our keyboardist randomly missed a beat, but fortunately it was right before the bass solo so we righted ourselves after that. We had a few people dancing through both sets, and afterwards a few people came up to tell me we'd played well, which was nice.

 

After having no gigs since August we have another one next Saturday, at a larger venue which promises to be rammed, so looking forward to that!

 

[StingRayBoy42]

LAST NIGHT!

Azura (ignore the posters that say 'Azure band') at O'Neill's Leicester!

We always have a good one here so we were really looking forward to it.

We did it as a 3 piece due to the singer/guitarist being in the prcoess of being sacked (due to continued and sustained acts of egregious knobbery (with arseitude aforethought) and a complete lack of theology, geometry, deceny and good taste).

Horrendous journey up (down?) the M6 through biblical rain courtesy of storm Bert (who names these storms? Seriously... 'Bert'?!), load in was the usual with the added fun of heavy rain, setup was good - the drummer and I had it 80% done by the time singer/keys/guitar had gone and dumped the van.

It was pretty busy and the dancefloor was already packed when we started (I think the East Midlands Drop Dead Gorgeous Blonde Convention (EMDDGBC) was on in Leicester that afternoon) and the floor stayed full all the way through the first set, which was ace and went really well.

Singer/keys/guitar (he's called Henry but it's probably easier to just call him singer/keys/guitar) had a gaggle of EMDDGBC alumni in front of him who were giving him loads (in a good way - asking for Justin Bieber songs, trying to put him off, asking him for mad announcements and suchlike), we got asked to sing Happy Birthday to Chloe (?) then someone else came up and said it was Alison's (or Alistair's?) birthday and they wanted Happy Birthday as well and before you know it, we're singing Happy Birthday *again* to NINE different people.

I sang Shake Ratlle and Roll which we did in the wrong key so it was a Paul Robeson remix, I got all the words in Escape (The Piña Colada Song) right for (I think) the first time ever (singer/keys/guitar cocked up the BVs which is always hilarious (there are SO MANY words and all the choruses (chorii?) are slightly different)), the drummer got propositioned again (happens every gig, he always says no thank you (he's engaged)), quick vape and shandy break, second set was even better than the first (except some spunktrumpet grabbed singer/keys/guitar's mic which is attached to his keyboard and got some choice anglo-saxon from me, singer/keys/guitar and a bouncer), Country Roads had the whole place up and singing their hearts out, the holy trinity (Dakota, Sex on fire, Brightside) took the roof off, three encores (oh... go on then), we were all knackered and very sweaty by the end of it.

Pack down (we have got way too much stuff), load out (bouncer gave us a hand with the big stuff), back down (up?) the M6 (rain: biblical), back to singer/keys/guitar place, stuff out of the van into my car, back up (down?) the M6 (the rain had somehow progressed from biblical to apocalyptic) to my Dad's place in Brum about 2am for a pint of Old Pa StingRayBoy's homebrew pear cider (ABV unknown) and the world's loveliest cat (and two other cats who are also very nice) and bed about 3.

(Up at 10 and back down (up?) along  the M6 to Jazz Orchestra rehearsal (with Birmingham's best japanese non-binary morris dancing trombonist) which was really good (first set Bond themes, second set christmas) but that's not really about last nights gig)

I'd planned to take the P for a change but I picked up the wrong case and took the Sterling (no great hardship, it's a lovely Bass (did I ever tell you Ernie Ball gave it to me for nothing?)) -> small board -> amp board (VTDI set to fliptop) -> MB 802 -> PA (Newly re-soled cherry red DMs, foot fans).

An absolutely top night.

[mep]

We played a Christmas Party for some Bikers last night in Paignton. They hired a function room in a good venue on the seafront, which was much better than the glass box they hired last year nearby. We used the venues parking spaces which was a bonus. A local gig for us all, so no big deal with storm Bert. There is a stage area that doubles as seating, so a balustrade in front of us. We had plenty of room and good setup and stage sound, although we couldn't hang our backdrop behind us. The venue turned all the lighting off when we started, it felt a bit dark, as they only had some Christmas decoration lighting. Our stage lights just about did us justice. There was some dancing at times, but a slight decline towards the end which was a bit surprising. We played well and I used my usual rig, Stingray into RM500 and BF210, which also went through the PA. They will book is for next year, and we will be increasing our party prices a bit.

[msb]

Our Sunday night jam gig has resumed , second week back at it , the original dive was legend but the building was in sad shape , the new dive is actually nice. It’s a different room , but the sound is good and the usual characters have all returned , so I know most of the faces. Unfortunately it’s in the downtown core , and parking is a misery. That’s the only downside. 
I think it should work out well. Had four bass players up. Several horn players , several drummers , the usual line up of guitar players. It was a good one. Hopes are high. 
Herself and I dropped in for lunch the other day , it was quiet , I took some pics of the new dive in daylight.

The food is excellent!

Edited yesterday at 04:13 by msb

[Boodang]

From a gig the other week, but only just got around to editing the video. Our relatively new blues band, this was the first time out with just us on the bill. Pulled in a nice blues loving crowd who really appreciated the set. 

[Norris]

11 hours ago, StingRayBoy42 said:

(Newly re-soled cherry red DMs, foot fans).

I think every rig report needs to include the footwear! 😂👍

[Leonard Smalls]

3 minutes ago, Norris said:

include the footwear! 😂👍

Mine are usually either leopard or zebra print suede brothel creepers...

[Burns-bass]

3 hours ago, msb said:

Our Sunday night jam gig has resumed , second week back at it , the original dive was legend but the building was in sad shape , the new dive is actually nice. It’s a different room , but the sound is good and the usual characters have all returned , so I know most of the faces. Unfortunately it’s in the downtown core , and parking is a misery. That’s the only downside. 
I think it should work out well. Had four bass players up. Several horn players , several drummers , the usual line up of guitar players. It was a good one. Hopes are high. 
Herself and I dropped in for lunch the other day , it was quiet , I took some pics of the new dive in daylight.

The food is excellent!

This looks like a lovely place!

[BigRedX]

Two gigs for Hurtsfall at the weekend.

 

First on Saturday playing "In The Bl4ck Midwinter" festival in Sheffield. The venue (upstairs at Shakespeare's) is small but there was a near-capacity crowd for the Saturday when we played. Some niggles with the on-stage foldback (at least there was some this time) where a request for the backing to be slightly louder resulted in it being so loud we could barely hear anything else. I don't like asking for monitor changes during the set as I think it can look un-professional and diva-ish, but despite the fact that everything had been fine during the soundcheck, it was far too quiet during the first few songs resulting in us struggling to stay in time. It sounded like there was a problem with one of the pots on the mixer for the foldback send as adjustments seemed to vary between almost inaudible and deafeningly loud. Eventually the engineer managed to find a sweet spot that worked for us for the last 3 songs, but it did make playing some of the set more nerve-wracking than it should have. Thankfully it appeared to sound fine FoH and everyone we spoke to afterwards said they really enjoyed our performance. It certainly didn't stop a good half of the room from dancing and singing along with our better-known songs. Didn't sell much merch, but I think that's because all those who would have wanted a CD or T-shirt already had one. There were a few T-shirts on display in the crowd.

 

Sunday was completely different. We were playing at Saltbox in Nottingham as part of a Rock Against Racism weekend event. A much bigger venue with a decent sized stage and massively loud PA. However when we played at 3 in the afternoon it wasn't particularly full and it definitely wasn't an audience composed of people who mostly knew and already liked us. Still we seemed to go down well even if the response was a bit polite compared with the previous night. Once again there were foldback problems, during the soundcheck the wedge in front of me was farting out whenever our singer hit any loud/high notes and when we actually played it appeared to be completely dead. Luckily there were plenty of other wedges on stage that I could hear. Lots of professional-looking video and photography going on so hopefully I'll have something to post later on when it surfaces on social media. We had a proper dressing room (complete with kitchen and bathroom facilities) for ourselves - it was supposed to be for all the performers but we seemed to be only ones who wanted to make use of it. 

 

Unless we get offered something good at the last minute, that's it for Hurtsfall for 2024. We'll be spending the next few months working on our album and hopefully have it ready for early 2025. We already have a load of great gigs lined up for next year, unfortunately I can't announce any if them yet. My next gig is In Isolation's farewell concert at The Salutation in Nottingham on December 14th.

Edited yesterday at 10:37 by BigRedX

[cetera]

Played a tiny pub in Send, Surrey on Sat night with a local covers band I've recently joined for sh*ts n giggles...
We had to set up down one end of the pub, in front of the roaring fireplace, which meant the drummer pleading with the landlady to extinguish the fire after soundcheck as his back was hotter than the sun 🤣
Howling wind and rain meant probably only about 25-30 in but a fun night. Played my 40th Anniversary Squier P as I seldom take my Spectors out to unknown pub venues..... but it sounded & performed admirably!
Punters seemed to enjoy the 60's/70's set (Kinks, Bowie, T Rex, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Joe Jackson, John Denver, Neil Young, Squeeze etc) and I even had two guys come up and compliment me on doing 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'! Apparently they'd never heard anyone attempt it before....!

 

Edited yesterday at 13:19 by cetera
spelling

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, cetera said:

Played a tiny pub in Send, Surrey on Sat night with a local covers band I've recently joined for sh*ts n giggles...
We had to set up down one end of the pub, in front of the roaring fireplace, which meant the drummer pleading with the landlady to extinguish the fire after soundcheck as his back was hotter than the sun 🤣
Howling wind and rain meant probably only about 25-30 in but a fun night. Played my 40th Anniversary Squire P as I seldom take my Spectors out to unknown pub venues..... but it sounded & performed admirably!
Punters seemed to enjoy the 60's/70's set (Kinks, Bowie, T Rex, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Joe Jackson, John Denver, Neil Young, Squeeze etc) and I even had two guys come up and compliment me on doing 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'! Apparently they'd never heard anyone attempt it before....!

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Mario Kart, one of only two home video games I've ever been any good at!

Edited yesterday at 12:47 by Stub Mandrel

[Gasman]

I must admit that I was rather hoping to spend Saturday slumped in the warm while storm Bert lashed Dorset, but no such luck! I was down to umpire a (field) hockey match at 2pm which for some reason wasn't cancelled but took place in rain and a gale. I accepted the ritual abuse I usually get without sending anyone off - poor chaps, running around in soaking shorts, I had to give them some leeway (I was well-waterproofed)

 

After that it was back home to change and chance my luck on the roads to get to a gig in Milborne Port (near Sherborne). No, they don't actually have a port there, but there was rather a lot of water about... The venue was a large pub with multiple side-bars around a hub where Mustang Sally set up - the event was a celebration of life for a popular local lady, and the place was rammed. As the last to arrive I got the sought-after space in front of the slot machine through which the male punters had to walk to pump ship. Luckily their bonces were not in danger as they shuffled urgently to the convenience thanks to my short-scale H-B but the Bongo would have claimed some scalps!

 

It was nice to see some enthusiastic skanking to 'One Step Beyond', [EDIT - VIDEO BELOW!] and generally a great sing- and dance-along response to all the classic pub-pop we did. I don't think our previous set-lists with rather more adventurous material would have gone down so well in this truly traditional village pub, local crowd situation. 

 

Our remote rehearsing tactic seems to have worked out well, with the Gillingham-based core band (vox, keys, drums) getting the structure and keys right, while the guitarist (from Weymouth and permanent now) and me (bass & sax, Bridport) learn them at home. No musical challenges were involved but we were able to play Monkey Man, Burning Love, I'm a Believer and This one goes out (REM) for the first time together without any problems.

 

Thanks to an early start at 7.30 we were able to finish at 10.15 and I was on the road home by 11.00. The rain had continued hammering down all evening, and once again I was glad to be in the Jeep, getting through some serious standing water and even a road that had become a small fast-flowing river with no problems on the way back!

 

PS - As I was packing up a very large and 'happy' lady crushed me against the fruit-machine and begged me to give her some sax lessons - well, I think that's what she said! Of course, being a gentleman I recommended her to our guitarist (he is a music teacher) then made my apologies and fled...

 

Pic below - very low lighting pre-first set - me and the fruit machine, I'm looking gormless as always!
 

Edited yesterday at 13:41 by Gasman
Added Video

[msb]

6 hours ago, Norris said:

I think every rig report needs to include the footwear! 😂👍

 

As it happened last night I had on a pair of Chucks from the Jimi Hendrix collection.

 

Edited yesterday at 14:10 by msb

[BigRedX]

First photo from Saturday's gig. Probably be from early on when we were struggling to hear the backing on stage, hence all the concentration...

 

[Muzz]

Back in the saddle after a weekend off, and I almost needn't have bothered; a refurbished pub in the arse-end of Bolton, we'd had a worrying 'Can you bring some people? It's been very quiet recently' from the landlord/manager; I had to inform the BL that it was 25 miles for me, and I can count the number of people I either know in the area or who would travel that far to see us on the fingers of one foot. It transpired that the landlord was thinking about one of his other pubs, and Satdy was to be a party night for the new landlady. Jolly good. Anyhoo, actual band space for a change (and a sort-of house PA which we didn't use), and luxuriously four (count em, four) double plug sockets right in the band area...unheard-of, I know. Turns out they were the best thing about the place; oh, and they'd put food on, a big buffet and a chilli, which was right next us, and putting me off a bit. As was the slightly random balloon arch in the corner.

 

We started later ('Just hang on, it'll get busy in a minute') at tennish on request, with 100% of the pub in the other side. I can proudly say we'd attracted 60% of them over to our side by mid-first-set. Sadly, though these percentages start to look less impressive when I say the actual numbers were 12 and 7. And it stayed that way all night (same people, at least they were consistent). We were firmly back in Paid Rehearsal land.

 

The buffet remained untouched until I thought I'd show willing and have some, at that point one of the audience thought the same thing which, if anything, made it all look a bit sadder; you'd have thought Free Food in Bolton might've started some sort of stampede, but no.

 

We won't be hanging by the phone for a rebooking, I suspect with that sort of business on a Satdy night they'd struggle to justify paying for any entertainment more lavish than one of the bar staff putting on a funny hat.

 

We still got paid, and trio/#1 Drummer meant we were packed down super-quick. Cheapo-P, Stomp, inears, chilli and a very dubious pie from the buffet.

[StingRayBoy42]

5 hours ago, cetera said:

 I even had two guys come up and compliment me on doing 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'!

Kudos to you for playing that live - killer Bassline!

[Bluewine]

Thanksgiving Eve is a big Gig night in the States. Maple Road will be performing at Rockfield Music & Media. We start at 7:00. And it's BYOB .

 

Very intimate Victorian vibe.

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

5 hours ago, Gasman said:

I must admit that I was rather hoping to spend Saturday slumped in the warm while storm Bert lashed Dorset, but no such luck! I was down to umpire a (field) hockey match at 2pm which for some reason wasn't cancelled but took place in rain and a gale. I accepted the ritual abuse I usually get without sending anyone off - poor chaps, running around in soaking shorts, I had to give them some leeway (I was well-waterproofed)

 

After that it was back home to change and chance my luck on the roads to get to a gig in Milborne Port (near Sherborne). No, they don't actually have a port there, but there was rather a lot of water about... The venue was a large pub with multiple side-bars around a hub where Mustang Sally set up - the event was a celebration of life for a popular local lady, and the place was rammed. As the last to arrive I got the sought-after space in front of the slot machine through which the male punters had to walk to pump ship. Luckily their bonces were not in danger as they shuffled urgently to the convenience thanks to my short-scale H-B but the Bongo would have claimed some scalps!

 

It was nice to see some enthusiastic skanking to 'One Step Beyond', [EDIT - VIDEO BELOW!] and generally a great sing- and dance-along response to all the classic pub-pop we did. I don't think our previous set-lists with rather more adventurous material would have gone down so well in this truly traditional village pub, local crowd situation. 

 

Our remote rehearsing tactic seems to have worked out well, with the Gillingham-based core band (vox, keys, drums) getting the structure and keys right, while the guitarist (from Weymouth and permanent now) and me (bass & sax, Bridport) learn them at home. No musical challenges were involved but we were able to play Monkey Man, Burning Love, I'm a Believer and This one goes out (REM) for the first time together without any problems.

 

Thanks to an early start at 7.30 we were able to finish at 10.15 and I was on the road home by 11.00. The rain had continued hammering down all evening, and once again I was glad to be in the Jeep, getting through some serious standing water and even a road that had become a small fast-flowing river with no problems on the way back!

 

PS - As I was packing up a very large and 'happy' lady crushed me against the fruit-machine and begged me to give her some sax lessons - well, I think that's what she said! Of course, being a gentleman I recommended her to our guitarist (he is a music teacher) then made my apologies and fled...

 

Pic below - very low lighting pre-first set - me and the fruit machine, I'm looking gormless as always!
 

Looks like a fun gig and energetic crowd.

 

Nice.

 

Daryl

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, StingRayBoy42 said:

Kudos to you for playing that live - killer Bassline!

Absolutely. That was one i made a point of learning at home just for the sake of it and it took me a while to get the finger stamina up to scratch to keep it going all the way thru.

Brilliant  song/ I'd love to hear a gig band play that.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

Last nights gig with punk covers band Emergency Exit in The Cave went pretty well. Few mistakes as we have been winding the band down with this possibly being the last gig altho there was some discussion amongst the longer serving members last night about possibly continuing provided there are some new songs added to the set list and some other/more gigs added.

Who knows where it will end up. I'm the new guy and being the bassist just go wherever the flow takes me.

Decent wee crowd, very appreciative with several calls for encores at the end. (Please note the audience are not aware the band might be folding.)

Anyhow it was a good night. First set i decided to dust off my Geddy Jazz which was great to play but i forgot the Markbass strings i fitted a few yrs back always seemed to get lost in the mix no matter what bass i had them on. 2nd set i went back to the Godin PJ mostly just using it in P position and it was a lot deeper but just lacked that mid boost to cut thru altho my wife did say it was deeper but she could hear the notes quite clearly and much preferred that tone.

Ideally a P bass with a narrow neck would suit me better but the Godin does sound pretty close. It does have quite a nice neck on it too. Wondering if getting a pan pot added might work better with the 4 way switch for parallel and serios positions if that is even possible.

Usual Mesa TT800 in Boogie channel into Mesa SW210/115 cabs.

Dave

Edited 22 hours ago by dmccombe7

[dmccombe7]

4 hours ago, msb said:

 

As it happened last night I had on a pair of Chucks from the Jimi Hendrix collection.

 

They're pretty impressive. Not seen them before.

Dave

[Stub Mandrel]

5 hours ago, msb said:

 

As it happened last night I had on a pair of Chucks from the Jimi Hendrix collection.

 

 

Lol I wear a pair of Quecha 'approach shoes' 90% of the time - approved by my podiatrist for excellent support and fitted with a custom insole for my totally trashed ankle.

[Salt on your Bass?]

Played Daltons in Brighton on Saturday at an all day doom fest. Weather was suitably rainy, windy and the sea well rough, but great crowd and vibe. First time out with our new drummer which was cool and got some great compliments on delivery as a band afterwards which was cool. 

 

I was a Muppet though and left the back up preamp on on my board, which meant I couldn't quite dial in the tone I wanted....until I finished the set. Anyway, good fun all the same. That's it for the year for me. 

 

[Norris]

7 hours ago, msb said:

 

As it happened last night I had on a pair of Chucks from the Jimi Hendrix collection.

 

Wow. They are pretty vintage. I've not seen those before. Fabulous!

[bassbiscuits]

54 minutes ago, Salt on your Bass? said:

Played Daltons in Brighton on Saturday at an all day doom fest. Weather was suitably rainy, windy and the sea well rough, but great crowd and vibe. First time out with our new drummer which was cool and got some great compliments on delivery as a band afterwards which was cool. 

 

I was a Muppet though and left the back up preamp on on my board, which meant I couldn't quite dial in the tone I wanted....until I finished the set. Anyway, good fun all the same. That's it for the year for me. 

 

Great pic!