Chienmortbb Posted January 13 Posted January 13 18 hours ago, knirirr said: Standard practice for jazz! 😉 Once is a mistake, twice or more is jazz. 4 Quote
casapete Posted January 13 Posted January 13 Our first gig this year at The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough harbour. The weather had improved so apart from some patchy fog the journey was fine. Usual full house of diners with plenty of requests, some of which I’d not played for ages. These included ‘Waterloo’, ‘Moonlight in Vermont’, ‘Losing you’, ‘Starman’ and ‘Ever fallen in love’. ( We couldn’t manage ’Peaches’ but swapped it for ‘Golden Brown’ !!). We are there again at the end of the month and it’s always a pleasure to do. 24 Quote
dmccombe7 Posted January 13 Posted January 13 1 hour ago, casapete said: Our first gig this year at The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough harbour. The weather had improved so apart from some patchy fog the journey was fine. Usual full house of diners with plenty of requests, some of which I’d not played for ages. These included ‘Waterloo’, ‘Moonlight in Vermont’, ‘Losing you’, ‘Starman’ and ‘Ever fallen in love’. ( We couldn’t manage ’Peaches’ but swapped it for ‘Golden Brown’ !!). We are there again at the end of the month and it’s always a pleasure to do. This just looks like such good fun to watch. Dave 2 Quote
casapete Posted January 13 Posted January 13 2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said: This just looks like such good fun to watch. Dave It was a particularly fun gig Dave - this is me after I messed up ‘Duelling Banjos’ would you believe…… 6 3 Quote
dmccombe7 Posted January 13 Posted January 13 39 minutes ago, casapete said: It was a particularly fun gig Dave - this is me after I messed up ‘Duelling Banjos’ would you believe…… Yet still everyone's clapping so they must be enjoying it. Dave 3 Quote
Franticsmurf Posted January 14 Posted January 14 12 hours ago, casapete said: It was a particularly fun gig Dave - this is me after I messed up ‘Duelling Banjos’ would you believe…… It's moments like these (not the messing up but being able to laugh at the messing up) that make playing in bands so enjoyable for me. It's difficult to describe. I have a photo that sums up why I love playing in a band, and it's not unlike this one above. 11 Quote
Stub Mandrel Posted January 14 Posted January 14 1 hour ago, Franticsmurf said: It's moments like these (not the messing up but being able to laugh at the messing up) that make playing in bands so enjoyable for me. It's difficult to describe. I have a photo that sums up why I love playing in a band, and it's not unlike this one above. On Saturday, after one of my more egregious cock-ups I discovered that I'd reacted by sticking my tongue 👅 out for rather too long... 1 4 Quote
dmccombe7 Posted January 14 Posted January 14 10 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: On Saturday, after one of my more egregious cock-ups I discovered that I'd reacted by sticking my tongue 👅 out for rather too long... If Gene Simmons can do it then why not. ? Dave 2 Quote
casapete Posted January 14 Posted January 14 1 hour ago, Franticsmurf said: It's moments like these (not the messing up but being able to laugh at the messing up) that make playing in bands so enjoyable for me. It's difficult to describe. I have a photo that sums up why I love playing in a band, and it's not unlike this one above. We end up doing a lot of laughing at our gigs, and usually the audience are laughing with us rather than at us ( I think anyway…). We do have our serious moments too of course, and the best gigs are when the balance of the two are just right. We like to think our audiences leave the gig with a smile on their faces. Thinking about this, looking back to gigs I’ve seen over the last 50 years, the best ones are those which made me smile too - usually those when you can tell the band are really enjoying it. I don’t have much time generally for overly serious stuff, happy upbeat music is what mostly floats my boat. 😄 9 Quote
Obrienp Posted January 14 Posted January 14 I thought it was forbidden to smile as a bassist, let alone laugh. I’m told I look like I just heard my Mum died when I am playing but I feel quite the opposite inside. I think I need to work on my bass face! 8 Quote
dave_bass5 Posted January 14 Posted January 14 A very rare shot of us all smiling. Had a good gig last Friday. Might be the last (for a while) with our dep singer, who has such a similar voice to our normal singer that it's like we dont have a dep. As REM say, that's me in the corner (not on bass). 11 Quote
Franticsmurf Posted January 14 Posted January 14 2 hours ago, casapete said: We end up doing a lot of laughing at our gigs, and usually the audience are laughing with us rather than at us ( I think anyway…). We do have our serious moments too of course, and the best gigs are when the balance of the two are just right. We like to think our audiences leave the gig with a smile on their faces. Thinking about this, looking back to gigs I’ve seen over the last 50 years, the best ones are those which made me smile too - usually those when you can tell the band are really enjoying it. I don’t have much time generally for overly serious stuff, happy upbeat music is what mostly floats my boat. 😄 100% agree. 1 Quote
dmccombe7 Posted January 14 Posted January 14 6 hours ago, casapete said: We end up doing a lot of laughing at our gigs, and usually the audience are laughing with us rather than at us ( I think anyway…). We do have our serious moments too of course, and the best gigs are when the balance of the two are just right. We like to think our audiences leave the gig with a smile on their faces. Thinking about this, looking back to gigs I’ve seen over the last 50 years, the best ones are those which made me smile too - usually those when you can tell the band are really enjoying it. I don’t have much time generally for overly serious stuff, happy upbeat music is what mostly floats my boat. 😄 Oddly enough when i saw the ELO band the thing i remember the most was the 2 female cellists just having a great time. Aprt from the smiling all night they seemed to work off each other with little dance sequences that looked spur of the moment to me but brilliant to watch. The full band did come across as having a fun night. Dave 4 Quote
casapete Posted January 14 Posted January 14 1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said: Oddly enough when i saw the ELO band the thing i remember the most was the 2 female cellists just having a great time. Aprt from the smiling all night they seemed to work off each other with little dance sequences that looked spur of the moment to me but brilliant to watch. The full band did come across as having a fun night. Dave Thanks Dave - in the ELO Experience it was intended to appeal to theatre audiences. We tried to strike a balance between doing the songs justice but also being entertaining and not taking ourselves too seriously and we hopefully achieved that. The cellists worked out some routines that seemed to work and the audience loved them! The band is still going strong too - people want entertainment. 5 2 Quote
Bluewine Posted January 15 Posted January 15 (edited) We're back out this weekend at The Twisted Pair. 2:00-5:00. Usually I like Sunday afternoon gigs but more in the Summer time and playing outside. Daryl Edited January 15 by Bluewine 6 Quote
Muzz Posted Thursday at 12:57 Posted Thursday at 12:57 (edited) OK, a catchup from before Xmas; a mix of the good, the bad and the indifferent...lots to cover, but I'll keep it brief(ish)... First off the Bad; a Black/Mad Friday gig before Xmas at the Weasel Dust Palace up in Burnley; packed out when we walked in at eight (he really didn't need a band on), we play on the dance floor, so early drunks had to be forcibly removed (some several times) so we could set up. We went on early (for this place) at 9, and from the off there were drunks falling all over. We asked for some security, nothing happened until a pair of 20+ stone blokes hugging each other fell into the band area (I stepped back so they didn't hit me) and just lay there like stunned elephant seals until they were hauled up by their mates. Broken rotating spotlight (£350), broken mic stand (mine), broken iPad screen and stand (singers), they just stumbled off. Then a 60-ish pisht woman (I'd been keeping an eye on her swaying dancing) just fell backwards and deposited her drink through the air about three inches from my Stomp; again, she just stumbled off. Mic stands getting knocked into singers teeth, people stepping int the band area to walk onto the stage to demand songs (one woman three times for the same song; in the end I just physically barred her way; she still tried to push past me), the whole nine yards. We stopped till they brought a bouncer to stand by the stage. Then the AC unit about three feet to the side of the band (not my side) started pishing water, again the staff did nothing till we stopped, then some half-hearted mopping commenced. At the end I saw the guitarist's pedal board (and the case on which the mixer stood) was in a puddle about an inch deep. Half the drum carpet was soaked, if I'd seen it I'd have pulled the gig, but the guitarist likes the place and didn't. I've told him I'm not playing there again, it's always awful. Better gig on the 27th, but that's no fun to report, it was all just OK (tho we got overpaid because the landlord liked what he heard), and no NYE gig (because the guitarist wanted to go out on the lash). First time in 16 years I've been at home for NYE, my other half was working but the Boy was back from Uni so we hung out and had a good night in. Since then another three gigs and one to come this weekend, only high/lowlight of which was playing the night the snow came down (4th?) up in the wilds Chorley way. Quietish pub, we played the first 45, and then in the break I noticed the snow getting serious outside, and given I had 30-odd miles to drive home back into the hills, we went back on quickly and played the second 45 and then just the one encore. I apologised to the landlady, she was happy and understood. As we were packing down, I saw a bloke talking to the singer. I'd clocked this bloke in the second set standing off to one side of the dancers, standing there with his arms folded. We've all had one of them at least once; they're always on their own, they're never well dressed, and they just stare without clapping. Anyway, I was over that side, and I overheard 'You lot are stealing a living; that wasn't 45 minutes.' Now I might have mentioned before, but the older I get the less patience I have with drunks or opinionated arses, so I stepped in and said 'Are you paying us, you personally? No? You got 30 miles to drive home in this? No? We've played 50 minutes, so you can...' Yeah, to prevent pinging the sweary filter I'm sure you can fill the rest in yourself. It takes a very sad mindset to think you can personally give a band the TripAdvisor critique to their faces and imagine you're not gonna get some pushback. Next time I looked up from packing he'd left. Anyhoo, another one at the weekend, and possibly another the last weekend in the month, so a 5-gig January will do me...I think we've a weekend off in Feb, but the calendar's very busy (apparently we're booked 28 weekends so far this year), so I'll put up with the idiots a while longer... Edited yesterday at 08:32 by Muzz 5 9 Quote
Chienmortbb Posted Thursday at 14:17 Posted Thursday at 14:17 1 hour ago, Muzz said: OK, a catchup from before Xmas; a mix of the good, the bad and the indifferent...lots to cover, but I'll keep it brief(ish)... First off the Bad; a Black/Mad Friday gig before Xmas at the Weasel Dust Palace up in Burnley; packed out when we walked in at eight (he really didn't need a band on), we play on the dance floor, so early drunks had to be forcibly removed (some several times) so we could set up. We went on early (for this place) at 9, and from the off there were drunks falling all over. We asked for some security, nothing happened until a pair of 20+ stone blokes hugging each other fell into the band area (I stepped back so they didn't hit me) and just lay there like stunned elephant seals until they were hauled up by their mates. Broken rotating spotlight (£350), broken mic stand (mine), broken iPad screen and stand (singers), they just stumbled off. Then a 60-ish pisht woman (I'd been keeping an eye on her swaying dancing) just fell backwards and deposited her drink through the air about three inches from my Stomp; again, she just stumbled off. Mic stands getting knocked into singers teeth, people stepping over the monitors to walk onto the stage to demand songs (one woman three times for the same song; in the end I just physically barred her way; she still tried to push past me), the whole nine yards. We stopped till they brought a bouncer to stand by the stage. Then the AC unit about three feet to the side of the band (not my side) started pishing water, again the staff did nothing till we stopped, then some half-hearted mopping commenced. At the end I saw the guitarist's pedal board (and the case on which the mixer stood) was in a puddle about an inch deep. Half the drum carpet was soaked, if I'd seen it I'd have pulled the gig, but the guitarist likes the place and didn't. I've told him I'm not playing there again, it's always awful. Better gig on the 27th, but that's no fun to report, it was all just OK (tho we got overpaid because the landlord liked what he heard), and no NYE gig (because the guitarist wanted to go out on the lash). First time in 16 years I've been at home for NYE, my other half was working but the Boy was back from Uni so we hung out and had a good night in. Since then another three gigs and one to come this weekend, only high/lowlight of which was playing the night the snow came down (4th?) up in the wilds Chorley way. Quietish pub, we played the first 45, and then in the break I noticed the snow getting serious outside, and given I had 30-odd miles to drive home back into the hills, we went back on quickly and played the second 45 and then just the one encore. I apologised to the landlady, she was happy and understood. As we were packing down, I saw a bloke talking to the singer. I'd clocked this bloke in the second set standing off to one side of the dancers, standing there with his arms folded. We've all had one of them at least once; they're always on their own, they're never well dressed, and they just stare without clapping. Anyway, I was over that side, and I overheard 'You lot are stealing a living; that wasn't 45 minutes.' Now I might have mentioned before, but the older I get the less patience I have with drunks or opinionated arses, so I stepped in and said 'Are you paying us, you personally? No? You got 30 miles to drive home in this? No? We've played 50 minutes, so you can...' Yeah, to prevent pinging the sweary filter I'm sure you can fill the rest in yourself. It takes a very sad mindset to think you can personally give a band the TripAdvisor critique to their faces and imagine you're not gonna get some pushback. Next time I looked up from packing he'd left. Anyhoo, another one at the weekend, and possibly another the last weekend in the month, so a 5-gig January will do me...I think we've a weekend off in Feb, but the calendar's very busy (apparently we're booked 28 weekends so far this year), so I'll put up with the idiots a while longer... We have only got 5 gigs booked for this year! 1 Quote
Norris Posted Thursday at 18:03 Posted Thursday at 18:03 3 hours ago, Chienmortbb said: We have only got 5 gigs booked for this year! I was thinking it's a bit quiet because we only have 3 in January. Hope your 5 are really good ones! Quote
Bluewine Posted Thursday at 18:54 Posted Thursday at 18:54 5 hours ago, Muzz said: OK, a catchup from before Xmas; a mix of the good, the bad and the indifferent...lots to cover, but I'll keep it brief(ish)... First off the Bad; a Black/Mad Friday gig before Xmas at the Weasel Dust Palace up in Burnley; packed out when we walked in at eight (he really didn't need a band on), we play on the dance floor, so early drunks had to be forcibly removed (some several times) so we could set up. We went on early (for this place) at 9, and from the off there were drunks falling all over. We asked for some security, nothing happened until a pair of 20+ stone blokes hugging each other fell into the band area (I stepped back so they didn't hit me) and just lay there like stunned elephant seals until they were hauled up by their mates. Broken rotating spotlight (£350), broken mic stand (mine), broken iPad screen and stand (singers), they just stumbled off. Then a 60-ish pisht woman (I'd been keeping an eye on her swaying dancing) just fell backwards and deposited her drink through the air about three inches from my Stomp; again, she just stumbled off. Mic stands getting knocked into singers teeth, people stepping over the monitors to walk onto the stage to demand songs (one woman three times for the same song; in the end I just physically barred her way; she still tried to push past me), the whole nine yards. We stopped till they brought a bouncer to stand by the stage. Then the AC unit about three feet to the side of the band (not my side) started pishing water, again the staff did nothing till we stopped, then some half-hearted mopping commenced. At the end I saw the guitarist's pedal board (and the case on which the mixer stood) was in a puddle about an inch deep. Half the drum carpet was soaked, if I'd seen it I'd have pulled the gig, but the guitarist likes the place and didn't. I've told him I'm not playing there again, it's always awful. Better gig on the 27th, but that's no fun to report, it was all just OK (tho we got overpaid because the landlord liked what he heard), and no NYE gig (because the guitarist wanted to go out on the lash). First time in 16 years I've been at home for NYE, my other half was working but the Boy was back from Uni so we hung out and had a good night in. Since then another three gigs and one to come this weekend, only high/lowlight of which was playing the night the snow came down (4th?) up in the wilds Chorley way. Quietish pub, we played the first 45, and then in the break I noticed the snow getting serious outside, and given I had 30-odd miles to drive home back into the hills, we went back on quickly and played the second 45 and then just the one encore. I apologised to the landlady, she was happy and understood. As we were packing down, I saw a bloke talking to the singer. I'd clocked this bloke in the second set standing off to one side of the dancers, standing there with his arms folded. We've all had one of them at least once; they're always on their own, they're never well dressed, and they just stare without clapping. Anyway, I was over that side, and I overheard 'You lot are stealing a living; that wasn't 45 minutes.' Now I might have mentioned before, but the older I get the less patience I have with drunks or opinionated arses, so I stepped in and said 'Are you paying us, you personally? No? You got 30 miles to drive home in this? No? We've played 50 minutes, so you can...' Yeah, to prevent pinging the sweary filter I'm sure you can fill the rest in yourself. It takes a very sad mindset to think you can personally give a band the TripAdvisor critique to their faces and imagine you're not gonna get some pushback. Next time I looked up from packing he'd left. Anyhoo, another one at the weekend, and possibly another the last weekend in the month, so a 5-gig January will do me...I think we've a weekend off in Feb, but the calendar's very busy (apparently we're booked 28 weekends so far this year), so I'll put up with the idiots a while longer... 28 weekends, Nice! Daryl 1 Quote
knirirr Posted Friday at 09:47 Posted Friday at 09:47 (edited) Last night's gig was at the Three Horseshoes in Charlbury. A rather nice pub, but the performance area is barely large enough for the band, no cards are accepted and it's pretty much drinks and crisps only. IIRC the landlord runs it as a hobby. The pub was empty when we started at 8:30 (the rumour was that the 7:30 lecture by the local gardening club had over-run a little) but soon filled up. There were even some Spanish tourists in addition to the locals. As usual, the jazz-adjacent long grooves seemed to go down well. Headroom was a bit of an issue... Edited Friday at 09:51 by knirirr 18 Quote
Stub Mandrel Posted Friday at 19:39 Posted Friday at 19:39 On 16/01/2025 at 14:17, Chienmortbb said: We have only got 5 gigs booked for this year! You need an SM58 for your vocalist 😉 Quote
skidder652003 Posted Saturday at 08:36 Posted Saturday at 08:36 On 16/01/2025 at 12:57, Muzz said: OK, a catchup from before Xmas; a mix of the good, the bad and the indifferent...lots to cover, but I'll keep it brief(ish)... First off the Bad; a Black/Mad Friday gig before Xmas at the Weasel Dust Palace up in Burnley; packed out when we walked in at eight (he really didn't need a band on), we play on the dance floor, so early drunks had to be forcibly removed (some several times) so we could set up. We went on early (for this place) at 9, and from the off there were drunks falling all over. We asked for some security, nothing happened until a pair of 20+ stone blokes hugging each other fell into the band area (I stepped back so they didn't hit me) and just lay there like stunned elephant seals until they were hauled up by their mates. Broken rotating spotlight (£350), broken mic stand (mine), broken iPad screen and stand (singers), they just stumbled off. Then a 60-ish pisht woman (I'd been keeping an eye on her swaying dancing) just fell backwards and deposited her drink through the air about three inches from my Stomp; again, she just stumbled off. Mic stands getting knocked into singers teeth, people stepping over the monitors to walk onto the stage to demand songs (one woman three times for the same song; in the end I just physically barred her way; she still tried to push past me), the whole nine yards. We stopped till they brought a bouncer to stand by the stage. Then the AC unit about three feet to the side of the band (not my side) started pishing water, again the staff did nothing till we stopped, then some half-hearted mopping commenced. At the end I saw the guitarist's pedal board (and the case on which the mixer stood) was in a puddle about an inch deep. Half the drum carpet was soaked, if I'd seen it I'd have pulled the gig, but the guitarist likes the place and didn't. I've told him I'm not playing there again, it's always awful. Better gig on the 27th, but that's no fun to report, it was all just OK (tho we got overpaid because the landlord liked what he heard), and no NYE gig (because the guitarist wanted to go out on the lash). First time in 16 years I've been at home for NYE, my other half was working but the Boy was back from Uni so we hung out and had a good night in. Since then another three gigs and one to come this weekend, only high/lowlight of which was playing the night the snow came down (4th?) up in the wilds Chorley way. Quietish pub, we played the first 45, and then in the break I noticed the snow getting serious outside, and given I had 30-odd miles to drive home back into the hills, we went back on quickly and played the second 45 and then just the one encore. I apologised to the landlady, she was happy and understood. As we were packing down, I saw a bloke talking to the singer. I'd clocked this bloke in the second set standing off to one side of the dancers, standing there with his arms folded. We've all had one of them at least once; they're always on their own, they're never well dressed, and they just stare without clapping. Anyway, I was over that side, and I overheard 'You lot are stealing a living; that wasn't 45 minutes.' Now I might have mentioned before, but the older I get the less patience I have with drunks or opinionated arses, so I stepped in and said 'Are you paying us, you personally? No? You got 30 miles to drive home in this? No? We've played 50 minutes, so you can...' Yeah, to prevent pinging the sweary filter I'm sure you can fill the rest in yourself. It takes a very sad mindset to think you can personally give a band the TripAdvisor critique to their faces and imagine you're not gonna get some pushback. Next time I looked up from packing he'd left. Anyhoo, another one at the weekend, and possibly another the last weekend in the month, so a 5-gig January will do me...I think we've a weekend off in Feb, but the calendar's very busy (apparently we're booked 28 weekends so far this year), so I'll put up with the idiots a while longer... That was a great description of gigs, perfect! We have a gig tonight in a fairly (for here) rough pub, lots of serious drunks but they have actually built a small stage for bands. It makes a real difference that they can't actually fall on your gear anymore ( happened a few times in the past at this place). Any pub that holds bands should have a small stage IMO, its not that difficult. They even have tables and chairs on it when there's no bands, so its not like they're loosing space. 3 Quote
dmccombe7 Posted Saturday at 10:22 Posted Saturday at 10:22 1 hour ago, skidder652003 said: That was a great description of gigs, perfect! We have a gig tonight in a fairly (for here) rough pub, lots of serious drunks but they have actually built a small stage for bands. It makes a real difference that they can't actually fall on your gear anymore ( happened a few times in the past at this place). Any pub that holds bands should have a small stage IMO, its not that difficult. They even have tables and chairs on it when there's no bands, so its not like they're loosing space. Yep no stage is a sore point with me too. I find that audiences think they are part of the band if you set up on the dance floor area. Had one experience with the Glam band on a stage that as only about 6" high and a girl came up on the edge of the stage in front of the band and started dancing to her friends. It was the last song to be fair but she seemed to think that was ok to use the stage. No gigs till 8th Feb for me. I'm actually quite enjoying the free time TBH. New classic rock project has a meet on Sun to decide what direction and songs so that a start. It started as an 80's rock project but singer found it a bit limited and suggested we try classic rock instead. Dave 1 Quote
Muzz Posted Saturday at 14:06 Posted Saturday at 14:06 That whole 'we're on the same level, I'm free to walk into the band space' thing has been made worse these days with inears replacing floor monitors which, although a pain to schlep, at least reinforced the edge of the 'stage' - a couple of mike stands and a pedal board don't really delineate much to the pisht and terminally entitled...it's like the last ten minutes of Zulu some evenings... 2 2 2 Quote
casapete Posted Saturday at 14:34 Posted Saturday at 14:34 25 minutes ago, Muzz said: That whole 'we're on the same level, I'm free to walk into the band space' thing has been made worse these days with inears replacing floor monitors which, although a pain to schlep, at least reinforced the edge of the 'stage' - a couple of mike stands and a pedal board don't really delineate much to the pisht and terminally entitled...it's like the last ten minutes of Zulu some evenings... Indeed - in my old band the monitors were our only real line of defence. We’d often play weddings in venues with no stage, and frequently encountered guests ( and once or twice the bride and/or groom ) falling onto them. A big Laney 300 watt job didn’t budge though! One of the reasons I got used to not using pedals I think. 😆 3 Quote
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