How was your gig last night?

[PauBass]

We played The Engine Rooms in Brighton last Saturday. The gig went fine, everything according to plan and all the bands on time. Good atmosphere and quite a few people turned up. We play a 30 minutes set because there was 4 other bands but it was awesome! it was a great gig, people were really into the music, jumping and singing to the songs...
At the end of the gig lots of people approached us and told us how good we sound and how much they enjoyed the set. Lots of interest about where we were playing our next gig.

The really annoying/upsetting thing is that someone stole a couple of planet waves custom cables and a set of elixir strings from my gig bag! I was around all the time and didn't see anything at all, just went to set up everything for the soundcheck and they were already gone!
It could have been worst, like taking the whole gig bag with my '78 Jazz bass or opening one of the other pockets and taking my Sadowsky preamp, Korg floor tuner or EBS Multicomp... Just trying to be a bit positive here but I can tell you, I was really pissed of!!!

My only other complain was the sound guy and how rude he was towards everyone...sorry in advance if any of you know this guy but it's the truth.

Anyway, apart from having this things stolen, it was a great evening and an awesome gig.

Edited May 31, 2008 by PauBass

[WalMan]

First one for a few weeks in a regular pub for us - though first time this year as I was a little late ringing them.

The place has had a refurb and has been transformed.

While we were setting up we could hear a car alarm going off and after some while our vocalist realised it was his - he was tho only one who could not actually hear is as his HF range is shot from shooting guns without protection as a boy. Most bizarre he spent ages locking & unlocking the car, going through the manual, trying to work out if he could kill it at the fuses all to no avail and all the time with the damn alarm going. I went out to try and help / provide moral support before he lost it with the car. Then an inebriate female wandered over from the pub insisting that she knew exactly where the cut-out was & what to do, but that seemed to require pulling most of the front passenger side of the car, which was not going to happen. I was really proud of Steve, because I could see her attentions were not helping the situation, or his mood, BUT he managed to hold it together and not turn to her and scream "LOOK WILL YOU PLEASE JUST F*CK OFF!!!" which is what I would have been close to. And then the alarm just sorted itself out and stopped, probably because we had stopped opening & closing doors and blipping the key fob

So to the gig. Well tonight it was a 5 piece with duelling guitars again. We think that our keyboard player has probably decided that he just cannot make it down from London, but cannot bring himself to actually come out and say it. It will be a great shame, but there is so much new stuff in the set he might have difficulty in showing up and going for it anyway.

Still Mike was with us on second guitar again tonight and we had a blast. A bit slow to get started, but much dancing & singing along in the second set.

My voice took a few numbers to settle down on B vox, but got there in the end

The L2500 [i]still[/i] sounds gorgeous in this rocky set, nice bite, but a good solid fundamental. [url="http://planetsmilies.net"][/url]

Almost dropped God Gave R'n'R to You for time, but I am glad we didn't as it went really well. Finished off with a couple of Lizzy numbers complete with harmony guitars. Marvellous.

And finally I got home to find some nice positive comments on KVR about an instrumental I posted there, the first thing I have been working on, on my own that I have actually managed to finish off. Gives me the impetus to try to get some more of the bits & pieces I have got sorted into some semblance of order & finished off.

And not my pit beckons.

[bassninja]

Second of 3 bands on, last minute gig at a mate's 30th birthday. It was one of those downstairs gigs in an old cellar with three parallel tunnels, so wasn't expecting much in the way of a decent sound but pleasantly surprised at times. Good reception and the other bands were friendly and gave good gig.

My luthier/repairer colleague brought me a Stagg EUB for a week's trial. I think he wants me to buy it, and I'm looking forward to fumbling around on it later today, once I'm awake. I like the idea of the phones/mp3 in thing so others don't have to hear my dodgy intonation.

More in the appropriate forum later...

Edited June 1, 2008 by bassninja

[allighatt0r]

Second time in The Blue Boar, Walsham Le Willows last night.

We turned up and drooled at a BMW in the car park, clicking and popping as it was cooling down...

Got everything in and set up, I used my old Peavey Milestone III, it really kicks some a*se for what it's worth.

Anyway, once we were set up and sound checked, we got the drinks in and relaxed, during our relaxing time, our lefty guitarist got told by a group of three fifty something women, that they had come from Eye (a half hour trek) just to come and see us, and that they had been listening to the Top Gear album to get psyched up for us. Within the first few bars of our first song (Can't Get Enough Of Your Love) they were dancing like it was the 70s. If I had had a hand free I would have been hiding my face in embarrassment. Still, it was great to be appreciated like that.

The landlord said he would settle our first two rounds then we'd have to go on a tab (which we did) but in the end he told us to forget about that too, the same as he did last time we played there.

Talking of drinks, I had too much cider, and was quite possibly a bit of an embarrassment. Got talking to a guy called Mike who was talking about being in a rhythm and blues band with a harmonica player, and told me that Bryan is not a name for a child, even miming holding a baby and going "look, what a lovely Bryan he makes" and following up with "what a lovely Michael".

Back in our home town we went to the kebab house, and i bashed the counter with my fist (for reasons that escape me) and got some mean looks from the kebab guys. My guitarist reassured me that if i ever got in a fight he would help me out, then within 5 minutes we saw a fight outside another place, and just down the road we saw a police car, and directed them to it. For once, some police when you actually want them.

Another good night.

[Kiwi]

We're in the middle of our crazy season right now. A gig virtually every week right through til September. This week we had 4 gigs but one of them was in Bognor on a Friday and there was simply no way I was going to make soundcheck or even the start of the gig. So I depped it out.

So, last Saturdays gig (a bit late I know but there we go) was at Penshurst Place just outside Tonbridge. Its a rambling country pile with various extensions and added-on bits that span the ages dating back to the 13th century We got there and the staff were reasonably helpful and I even had a short chat to her ladyship as she was helping to order people about. The hall we were playing was the large Barons Hall and immediately things weren't ideal as we discovered the best area for the stage, on a raised dias, was on the opposite side of the room from the dancefloor. We looked into setting up by the dancefloor but there was no way that we could have managed to squeeze 10 people in. So we were playing about 15m away from the punters. Not good.


This is the view from where we were to the other end, where the punters were.

Plus they'd forgotten all about our bottled water and food so we sauntered down the pub and had a meal there instead with the clients agreement. We've invoiced him £195 for that. The crowd weren't that involved, almost as if people were really there out of a sense of duty because half of them left after the meal! Anyway we had two deps on guitar and drums and basically we sounded like sh*t because both were missing cues through most of the songs. The guitarist was busking his way through and the drummer normally played with a metal band so he was a lot heavier than our regular drummer. At one point we started playing Higher and Higher and the guitarist didn't come in 4 bars after the bass so we sat on the groove for another 16 bars while everyone glared at him while he tried to figure out what he needed to do. Eventually I shouted to the singer 'just sing' and off we went. Left a few puzzled looks in the crowd though. Turns out that the caters had their share of problems too with the client leaving things until the last minute.

On Tuesday we played the Cafe de Paris just off Leicester Square. Man that place SMELLS!



Its very gaudy and baroque inside but we had excellent on stage monitoring which was a bonus. The soundman was great to work with and we managed to set up and sound check inside 90mins (we didn’t need to bring a PA or lighting this time). The party was for a property company to celebrate the 60th birthdays of both the directors and what struck us about this crowd was they were all up for a laugh. Many of them had gone to a lot of trouble to dress up for the late 60’s fancy dress theme.

What was great however was that we had our regular drummer and guitarist back and we kicked ass on stage. Tight as Gordon Brown caught between a Morie poll and Bank of England interest rates. Every note was There, all the changes were smooth and the punters went crazy for us.

On Friday we played a gig in Bognor but I couldn’t make it because of work commitments. But last night we played a wedding in Bosham, just over from Chichester. We were inside a marquee on Quay meadow for the marriage of a couple of 20 somethings, a large party of their mates and family.

The crowd at this gig was even better than Café De Paris, there was no warming up. They were straight out on the dance floor the moment we started playing the first set. Slightly more mistakes on our part than the Café de Paris gig because but nothing too noticeable. At the end of our second set, the crowd went completely mental – it was like being at a rock concert. The girls just stood there grinning sheepishly but loving the attention. They toyed with the crowd a bit and mentioned we were undecided about an encore only for someone from the back of the crowd to yell "PLAY ANYTHING, BUT TURN UP THE BASS!!" The whole room cheered their approval and then we launched into our encore "Think" only to be met with more cheers after we finished. So we played them a slower encore 'Take Another Piece of My Heart' to finish the night off.

Awesome, hope we get more gigs with mad but up-for-it punters like that.

[beerdragon]

I aint going to bother doing a revue of the plough inn after crazykiwis gigs.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='beerdragon' post='210625' date='Jun 1 2008, 05:36 PM']I aint going to bother doing a revue of the plough inn after crazykiwis gigs. [/quote]
Heheh, awwwww go on.

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='210560' date='Jun 1 2008, 03:55 PM']This week we had 4 gigs but one of them was in Bognor on a Friday and there was simply no way I was going to make soundcheck or even the start of the gig. So I depped it out.[/quote]
That's only 7 miles from where me and Walman live CK so you could've popped in for some tea!! Still, being Bognor, I think you did the right thing!!

[quote]Tight as Gordon Brown caught between a Morie poll and Bank of England interest rates.[/quote]

[WalMan]

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='210785' date='Jun 1 2008, 10:00 PM']That's only 7 miles from where me and Walman live CK so you could've popped in for some tea!! [i]Still, being Bognor, I think you did the right thing!!
[/i]


[/quote]
Amen to that

[OutToPlayJazz]

Oooh, so busy that I forgot to mention last weekend...

OutToPlayJazz (the band, not me!) was out in it's proper line-up for the first time in over a year. (Most jazz band players will tell you that functions, especially weddings, are thin on the ground at the moment, as jazz seems to have gone out of fashion again... Ah well!) Wendy Kirkland played a blinder on piano, her partner Pat Sprakes filled in on guitar and did a lovely subtle job, Dave (Mr.Harmshaw) played an absolute blinder on kit & yours truly had a great time noodling on my Yamaha TRB-6 & the jazz fretless I'd just picked up. Singing for us was Lucy Rhodes (winner of the BBC choirgirl of the year a few years ago.)

Details aside, it was one of those gigs that had us all texting eachother afterwards, all of us saying it was an amazing gig - Can't wait for our full lineup to play at the Sands Venue in Gainsborough very soon.

So we're into the silly season now... Lots of bookings for OTPJ (again, the band!), the PHD rock trio is out at lots of biker rallies (we're headlining the Farmyard in a couple of weeks & the same at Anglesea in August) & weddings/functions. I'm even out next weekend playing (violin - *GULP* instead of my cello!) in a string quartet for yet another wedding!

[Kiwi]

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='210785' date='Jun 1 2008, 10:00 PM']That's only 7 miles from where me and Walman live CK so you could've popped in for some tea!! Still, being Bognor, I think you did the right thing!![/quote]
[quote name='WalMan' post='210822' date='Jun 1 2008, 10:51 PM']Amen to that [/quote]
Hehe, well the rest of the band told me I didn't miss out on anything much. We were playing at a festival there apparently. Next week I'm in Sparsholt, near Winchester if anyone's around there?

[bass player spinn]

played a song with a guitarist and a pianoist tonight. didnt really hablo thier espanol(understand what they were doing) till about the last 3 mins of practice. (this was in church) i had about 30 compliments on how good we sounded just the accoustic the piano and the base. was pretty awsome. wanna do it again@. no pay though. oh and i was playing through a crappy toneless amp. but.... you know me.... able to make everything sound good..... hahahahhaah.... good one i know...

[beerdragon]

Played a local pub just down the road, we new everyone so we to try that little bit harder. we went down well and i used my Trace elliot. every one kept telling me to turn up. in the end we had a few people telling us we were loud, cant win!. i liked the sound of the trace but there is a marked difference in volume in a 300 watt trace and a 350watt Hartke. the Hartke wins no problem.

[Kiwi]

The gig in Sparsholt was fine although we had problems hearing ourselves. The room sucked all the midrange from the bass and vocals. For some reason my middle finger didn't work properly during Good Times meaning I couldn't do the last triplet in the riff. I tried it each time and the finger wasn't strong or quick like the others. It felt like I might have strained it or something during the load in. Plus our drummer was playing it too slow and I couldn't lock in with him.

Anyway, we played "Shake Your Body Down To The Ground" and, because I'm basically playing lead bass through the whole song whenever I'm not playing the basic riff, I got another cheer from someone in the audience and some applause.

Nice. I had a chat to the cheering couple afterwards too, really warm and in their late 40's by the appearance of it.

Then I had some half drunk crazy Italian guy pulling me aside and telling me he's a bass player and a legend because he spent 11 years in New York hanging out with Ramones and Johnny Thunder back in the late 70's. This guy had on a pink satin cravat and a bad hair dye job too. *brrrr*

Smile and nod.
Smile and nod.
Smile and nod...

[Thunderthumbs]

After doing weddings, etc......last night was our last "clubland" gig for the rest of the year.

Ellesmere Recreation Club in Bolton.

We'd only been there 10 minutes, when in walks one of "the committee". She immediately starts with, "you shouldn't have come in through that door, it's the emergency door", "can you move your van when you're finished", "you can't move our speakers, we use them", "can you leave our mic stand in the middle for the compere", etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum!

Then we're on at 8.15pm for our first spot to a half empty room of very sober punters who are clearly there too early to be enjoying themselves.

Then a female compere with the worst stage presence/voice/dress sense etc. I think I've ever heard. The lack of charisma is unbelievable.

Then a female singer to backing tracks (who was actually quite good - and the backing tracks were quality for a change). She's on the lookout for a band, and we may be on the lookout for adding a female singer, so watch this space.

Then back on at 10.30pm and we had a great set. One song just flowed into the next. No gaps. Just how a dance set should be for me. All four of us really enjoyed ourselves. Great when the band just clicks.

So we do two extras at the end of the night.

As soon as the "compere" finishes, we're straight on to clear the gear down. But as soon as the punters have all gone, the steward turns off the majority of the lights while we're still packing the van, and won't switch them on again because he "can see we've got everything"......despite the fact that there was still a guitar stand and two mains reels at the back of the stage.

Aah......clubland......don't you just love it? I won't miss it.

[jakenewmanbass]

Three Glorious Days in Sussex outdoors at the South of England Show. Felt like summer and everything.

[niceguyhomer]

Friday was a localish gig in what used to be a rough dive in Leyland. Turned out ok - not many people in but the ones that were there were up for it and enjoyed themselves. A good night.

Last night was at a place called Lane Ends in Wesham near Blackpool. Tiny little alcove for the band to play in facing the bar. PA speakers 4 ft from the bar, had to keep the volume down. Five or six people leaning against said bar - two or three facing us the rest facing away - two with nice bottoms - one of them female so that became the focus of my attention for the evening.

Went down well, the man wants us back - hope aforementioned female bottom belongs to a regular punter otherwise forget it.

[bass_ferret]

New Venue last night - Witterings British Legion Must be cos it was a new venue as we were really tight. Even had some cheering from the audience and that does not happen very often in legionland!

[OldGit]

Fundraiser for the [url="http://www.wdcs.org.uk/"]Whales and Dolphins Conservation Society[/url],
Sold out so well that the nice man organising said he's thinking of doing two nights running next year (though that may have changed once he's recovered from dancing his socks off last night)

Great crowd really up for it, no problems getting dancers up for the called bits ..
Dave II on guitar, mandolin and keys on his third gig with us (we have two guitarists called Dave, usually one at a time but sometimes we have both ) He's a youngster (29!) and really gaining in confidence quickly. He even put up with us picking on his parents as they happened to be there

Had a few wedding punters in checking us out, all happy and got a few gig enquiries at the end and very likely back for the same event next year. Result!

The organiser even gave a few extra quid to cover the increase in petrol costs in the time between booking us and the gig. Very nice of him.

Dave II won a really good raffle prize

All in all a great success .

I recorded one number with my new Zoom H2 and the new Bergantino cabs sound great .. My sloppy playing is very evident but I'm fairly cool with that ...
Oh and I was too loud, apparently (tell me DURING the gig you silly people!)

Great stuff ..

Edited June 8, 2008 by OldGit

[Jase]

Good to hear it went well OG, when you gigging in Whales mon?

[OldGit]

[quote name='Jase' post='214856' date='Jun 8 2008, 01:12 PM']Good to hear it went well OG, when you gigging in Whales mon?[/quote]

Hummmmmmmmm Sorry Jase my band don't like to risk coming over from the mainland, in case they get subsumed by the culture, I guess ...

Got one [url="http://www.jellied-reels.co.uk/gigs.htm"]in Lydney in July [/url].. right side of the bridge but still in England

[Mickeyboro]

For the first time in my life two gigs in a day...a beer festival with my blues-rockers (lunchtime) and a hotel with my 'party' band (eve).

By the third encore of the evening I had grabbed a seat to stick on the stage and play from. And when the singer insisted there should be a fourth - despite most of the crowd leaving - I retaliated by hanging up the bass and playing cowbell.

I hate Wild Thing

[Jase]

[quote name='OldGit' post='214882' date='Jun 8 2008, 01:51 PM']in case they get subsumed by the culture[/quote]

[misrule]

Our newly-formed covers band played a village fete on Saturday -- the biggest crowd in my short career (several hundred, with 1,000 tickets sold) and 10k PA outdoors.

The sound was gorgeous -- but we were on too early and vanished into a pool of listener apathy without so much as a ripple. Or we were crap, depending on your viewpoint.

I prayed for the ground to swallow me up as we played song after song for 75 minutes with nothing but the faintest, polite clapping between and about 100 yards to the nearest punter. And it's amazing how a situation like that saps morale all round, leading to f-ups and blunders. We started out playing our best ever but ended up shambling about like dullards.

Then the second band came on and comprehensively blew us away.

This morning, I was dejectedly wondering if I should jack it all in. We certainly need a serious shake-up in many areas, including the set list.

The only good news -- we got £75 each, a personal best. Rant over -- thanks for listening.

Cheers

Mark

[wateroftyne]

Finally, a gig within an hour of my house!

It was only 15 minutes away, in fact. A proper home-turf gig! It was in a theatre - 300-seater, about 3/4 full. Not bad for our first time there. [i]Great[/i] PA, with a fab sound guy who knows us well.

We haven't had too many gigs recently, so we took a while to warm up. Also, our main man decided to throw in a couple of tunes we'd been throwing around in rehearsal... it was OK, though... here's a couple of pics: