How was your gig last night?

[Bilbo]

That'll be it

[OldGit]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='239272' date='Jul 14 2008, 04:32 PM']That'll be it [/quote]

or the β-carotene

[Ou7shined]

Sorry I meant to say "craick" but now we know.

Edited July 14, 2008 by Ou7shined

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='Galilee' post='239261' date='Jul 14 2008, 04:20 PM']Drink, usually.

:wacko:[/quote]

I have figured out over the years that it takes me two pints of 1066 before i sound fantastic.
I can confirm this because ive been to all my gigs and the ones ive had a drink at are the best.

we had a drummer who sounded really good after 7 pints. unfortunately i used to fall over just after the 7th pint so couldn't really appreciate it.

All this nonsense about acoustics and room frequencies etc is just a cover up for people who dont drink.

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='239289' date='Jul 14 2008, 04:49 PM']All this nonsense about acoustics and room frequencies etc is just a cover up for people who dont drink.[/quote]
PMSL

[dave_bass5]

stands to reason.

You start a gig and your sound is bright and maybe even twangy. End of the night its warm and more old school.
whats changed?
Well the room didnt unless the staff put up blackout curtains during the gig on the walls.
The punters haven't unless they all grew beards during the gig.
You had a few drinks? bingo, there's your answer. You just need to balance out how much you drink. Saves having to turn around and mess with those EQ thingy's.

Of course, i could be wrong.

Edited July 14, 2008 by dave_bass5

[jakenewmanbass]

Not so much last night as last week!
I played 32 sets between tuesday and sunday, Harrogate, Maidstone and Oxford
My chops feel good

[jakenewmanbass]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='239289' date='Jul 14 2008, 04:49 PM']I can confirm this because ive been to all my gigs.[/quote]

I just can't bring myself to believe this

[Mr Fudge]

I have been known to have a few beers whilst playing. I do think though that the sound does change over a night. Bass always gets warmer and fuller. Guitar and keys go up. Our drummer uses electric pads and my other job is to mix us as we play. I am a great believer in drums being right up there in the mix so I always start with that. What really goes tits up is the on stage sound as the night goes on and my ever failing hearing. Often we are lucky enough to know a few people and ask them what the sound is like as a whole. If you don't do this as a unit it's no good how you are as a whole you will f*** up. It has to be the first rule of making music.

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='239646' date='Jul 14 2008, 11:36 PM']I just can't bring myself to believe this [/quote]

Ok, most of them.

It normally gets to around halfway through the last set and i leave. The call of the Kebab is strong.


Anyway, getting back on topic i had a nice gig on Sat night. Played the Luton and Dunstable hospital Social club.
It was Cabaret night so it was us and a comedian.
Nothing really major to report but it was a nice crowd (mostly over 40's though, no nurses) but they liked us. Unusual for a social club.
Lots of dancing going on and we did sound good (even before the beer). I sound checked standing out in the room and while it had potential to be very live i got the band ot lower the volume (first time they have done it) and the mix was really nice.

Ive been recording all our gigs over the past couple of months, direct off the desk and its helping us to hear what's going wrong. quite entertaining for me.
we are getting there though. I think the others were quite shocked at how loose we are. Ive been moaning for quite a while but now they can see what im on about.
Oh, i don't know where that little rant came from but its out now so i feel better.

Edited July 15, 2008 by dave_bass5

[Sarah5string]

No gig for us BUT we had a great practice. Got together before and have agreed to do a gig and chosen a setlist. 30th August is the gig so we're working hard as it'll be our very first gig and a mix of covers and originals so got a lot of work to do! Was the first practice in a while that you could tell me were all working towards something and the feel was totally different... felt great and we were all drained at the end... Onwards and upwards from here!! I've never gigged before so needless to say am really excited. Any pre gig tips would be appreciated!

[Galilee]

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='239763' date='Jul 15 2008, 09:26 AM']Any pre gig tips would be appreciated![/quote]

At this point I'd usually say 'get completely pi55ed and get your willy out', but I suppose that's inappropriate.

[inyabass]

Did a couple of gigs over the weekend.. one was a wedding gig bl**dy miles away from me down in Somerset, and the other was The Big Moo festival in Milton Keynes. Enjoyed both of them for different reasons..

[tauzero]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='238367' date='Jul 13 2008, 10:37 AM']Let me get this straight OG, this other service you mention is it "near marriage guidance" or "copping a feel". As if it is the latter, I have some experience in this field and would be willing to help out too. I am north of the border but would be willing to travel if you operation was limited to the west country. [/quote]
It could be operated as a franchise, surely?

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='tauzero' post='240878' date='Jul 16 2008, 02:16 PM']It could be operated as a franchise, surely?[/quote]
Brilliant idea!
I'll get my application off to Dragons Den for some funding tout de suit.

[fifeq]

we played yesterday in 10FeetTall in Cardff, new venue, nice stage, good soundsystem, but drums were really loud so we had play guitars and drums louder that is why i think it sounded too loud. we thought we will be playing about 9.30 10ish while we started 11.30. our guitarist was already quite drunk so it did not went well. now im just angry and want to practice more.
cheers

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='239763' date='Jul 15 2008, 09:26 AM']Any pre gig tips would be appreciated![/quote]


There are lots and lots of different things you pick up after years of gigging but I think the two main ones are if you f*ck up don't stop just carry on and don't make it too obvious and have fun, people love a band who are having fun.


Right last nights gig was great, it was at The Beer Cart Arms in Canterbury.

It is like our home gig we know everyone there and a good friend is the sound man so we always feel good there.

We where headlining and got on about 10.30 and played a mixed Ska and Punk set and had a lot of fun exchanges with the audience including having an aeroplane thrown at us

Anyway I got to open the Trace up for the first time sounded awesome and we got 2 encores

[OldGit]

A Thursday wedding (!) in a posh wedding Mill/Tithe Barn place near Bath.

Booked us a good year ago and we had all the normal conversations about liking about 2 hours to setup and sound check, once we gain access to the room, more if it's up stairs etc . Couple came to see us play elsewhere and were dead keen.

Then about 4 weeks ago a "wedding organiser" got involved.
"You'll start playing at 7:59, You will play until precisely 9:15 when something else will happen and I need your set list to co-ordinate with everything else"
Eh?
"Start at 7.59? Sure, if you can give us cleared room and unfettered access to the stage area at 5:59"
"Oh but the speeches don't start til 6.45 so you'll get in at about 7"
7? wedding speeches that start on time and only take 15? ROTFL At this point I was wondering if the wedding organiser had ever done a wedding reception with a band ...

"OK well we'll set up as fast as we possibly can but, after 15 years of doing this, I can tell you that it's extremely unlikely that we'll be ready to go much before about, say 1hour and 59 minutes after we gain access to the room ... oh and that's what I've been telling the bride and groom for about a year now, and it's not changed ..."

It went on "Did we really need 2 hours? Could we play CD's through the PA whilst we setup and sound check? Could we come in before the reception to setup up and then hang around for 5 hours before playing (yes, but that's 4 times the normal fee 'cos then we can't go to work that day and we are very very expensive consultants on a massively huge daily rate - liar!)

That and the fact that of a whole side of the family was coming down from Glasgow for the wedding made for a few nerves before.
Rock ceilidh and men in kilts do not always co-exist happily as the Scots tend to know how it "should go" and which tune goes with which dance and how to do the dances correctly etc. They learn it in School.. Well we don't really play it like that. Sadly Brides and mothers of brides don't always judge their family's approach to this subject well so we have had a few "interesting" conversations in the past with men in kilts about the way we do things ...

Ms Wedding Organiser re-arranged the day and shifted the speeches. When we arrived at 6:30 for our revised 6:55 get in time, they were on puddings.

We got in at 7:05! I missed The Archers but, hey, life in a band is tough some times..

We set up tucked in a corner of one of a pair of pretty tiny rooms, with arches and a step between (ooops broken leg alarm!) and on the floor .. no stage and a room full of reeling Scots in wedding reception mode ... hum I feared for my teeth and foot pedals ..

Kicked off at 8.45 with a CD track for the Bride and Groom to lean against each other and shuffle round to for their first dance .. Jack Jones, pretty good, added that to our list of songs to learn.. 30 seconds in everyone joined in. That ended and we grabbed them for the first called dance. A crucial time as this is when you find out just how keen they are and how well the instructional part of the evening will go.

It was immediately obvious that there were two camps .. the sober (many of whom were pregnant) and the Young Male (mostly) Scots ...
One set of dancers got it fast and danced great. The other set just freestyle hoolied .. and that set the tone of the whole evening.


A great night was had by all and only lots of beer was spilled, some on us and our foot pedals and monitors etc. The Groom was pretty much lost to this world when we arrived and there were a few fallers, mostly the clumps of drunk men wheeling around the dance floor in between their set-dancing relatives .. It is possible to dance at a ceilidh holding two pints of lager but it's not advisable ...

We pulled everything in close but still had to fend off a few wobbly people, and the boom mic stanbds went fully upright .. an SM58 in the mouth hurts ...

We were mentioned in dispatches for a great night, our extreme tolerance and for coping well with the challenges but, really, once the wedding planner had decided to do it our way, it was an easy one because whatever we played they got up and danced, not always in the way we had planned but that doesn't matter ...

Oh and the Kiera Knightly - alike young woman really going for it in a very flimsy "diving in the fountain" stile diaphanous dress was very distracting ..... Summer Weddings

My gear sounded great. I restrung my pretty Shuker Bolt on 5 string E-C and this was its first gig like that. It went very well and only a few fingerings were strange enough to need a bit more work .. Thomostik strings are a bit hard on my delicate Elixir liking fingers though so I may have to address that.

Got in at 2.30 so a bit wrecked today. ...

My next gig is a dep for a quiet Welsh Tympath band at a wedding in the Orangery at Bristol Uni .. That will be a tad different

Edited July 18, 2008 by OldGit

[Ou7shined]

Great read OG.

[quote name='OldGit' post='242591' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:10 PM'].......Could we come in before the reception to setup up and then hang around for 5 hours before playing (yes, but that's 4 times the normal fee 'cos then we can't go to work that day and we are very very expensive consultants on a massively huge daily rate - liar!)[/quote]must remember this ploy... although when they see me they'll realise they've been duped.

[quote name='OldGit' post='242591' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:10 PM']... the Scots tend to know how it "should go" and which tune goes with which dance and how to do the dances correctly etc. They learn it in School..[/quote] true.

[quote name='OldGit' post='242591' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:10 PM']We got in at 7:05! I missed The Archers but, hey, life in a band is tough some times..[/quote] if only they knew the sacrifices we make.

[quote name='OldGit' post='242591' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:10 PM']Oh and the Kiera Knightly - alike young woman really going for it in a very flimsy "diving in the fountain" stile diaphanous dress was very distracting ..... Summer Weddings [/quote] Pics?

[OldGit]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='242623' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:34 PM']Pics? [/quote]


Sure I have one of my working area, amp, cabs, EUB and stuff .. is that what you mean?

I'm afraid the others are for our private collection/band website ...
She was extremely nice and chatted to us old guys - how rare is that for a very attractive young woman - and told me all about the Scots (Scotch?) diaspora and working as a croupier in one of those posh wedding mobile casinos ... and she was sober

[Merton]

[quote name='OldGit' post='242591' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:10 PM']Booked us a good year ago and we had all the normal conversations about liking about 2 hours to setup and sound check, once we gain access to the room, more if it's up stairs etc . Couple came to see us play elsewhere and were dead keen.

Then about 4 weeks ago a "wedding organiser" got involved.
"You'll start playing at 7:59, You will play until precisely 9:15 when something else will happen and I need your set list to co-ordinate with everything else"
Eh?
"Start at 7.59? Sure, if you can give us cleared room and unfettered access to the stage area at 5:59"
"Oh but the speeches don't start til 6.45 so you'll get in at about 7"
7? wedding speeches that start on time and only take 15? ROTFL At this point I was wondering if the wedding organiser had ever done a wedding reception with a band ...

"OK well we'll set up as fast as we possibly can but, after 15 years of doing this, I can tell you that it's extremely unlikely that we'll be ready to go much before about, say 1hour and 59 minutes after we gain access to the room ... oh and that's what I've been telling the bride and groom for about a year now, and it's not changed ..."

It went on "Did we really need 2 hours? Could we play CD's through the PA whilst we setup and sound check? Could we come in before the reception to setup up and then hang around for 5 hours before playing (yes, but that's 4 times the normal fee 'cos then we can't go to work that day and we are very very expensive consultants on a massively huge daily rate - liar!)[/quote]
I love that conversation with the hotels.

"The meal starts at 5.30, speeches are 6.30 and you're on at 7 for the first dance. You can set up after the speeches".

"Remind me the number of guests?" says I.

"120".

"120 people, 3 course meal in an hour. Speeches lasting negative 1 hour - impossible. We'll see!"

I seem to remember starting the first dance at 9....

We ask for an absolute min of 1 hour but prefer two. Tomorrow we have 2 hours to set up and soundcheck before the meal, then we get to prop up the bar and eat food for 3 hours before the first dance

[steantval]

Went to Nottingham Arena last night to see

Thunder, Whitesnake, Def Leppard.

I especially went to see Thunder and Whitesnake, but Def Leppard stole the show with a great set and stage setup/lighting.

The bass player in Leppard had the most awesome bass sound I have ever witnessed, stacks of Ashdown cabs each side of the stage.

The bottom end coming out of the PA made your stomach rumble and made the old trouser legs flap.

[OldGit]

[quote name='Merton' post='242670' date='Jul 18 2008, 01:14 PM']I love that conversation with the hotels.

"The meal starts at 5.30, speeches are 6.30 and you're on at 7 for the first dance. You can set up after the speeches".

"Remind me the number of guests?" says I.

"120".

"120 people, 3 course meal in an hour. Speeches lasting negative 1 hour - impossible. We'll see!"

I seem to remember starting the first dance at 9....

We ask for an absolute min of 1 hour but prefer two. Tomorrow we have 2 hours to set up and soundcheck before the meal, then we get to prop up the bar and eat food for 3 hours before the first dance [/quote]


ha ha yeah Hotels must do 30 weddings a year and they still can't time them correctly. They never seem to work out that it takes 30 minutes to move 120 people from one room to another, 15 minutes to do a 5 minute best man speech, 45 minutes to hoik the guests off, clear and roll out the three big circular tables they have on the "stage" area ... .

We have a bunch of tips we send out to anyone one asking us to play their wedding (including the gigs we can't do)
It incudes "time everything carefully then double it. A laid back wedding day with loads of extra time is much better than fretting about people not being in the right place at the right time" and, of course, that way the band gets in on time, gets to play on time and gets to go home on time .....

It also includes "leave some time in the day to be alone together, say a clothes change The rest of the time you'll be too busy schmoozing the relatives to get any special time to yourselves... and it's your big day as a couple too."
That always, er, goes down well, as it were.

[Jarhead]

Was pretty awsum, by my standards (it was my forth ever) lol
Bout 100 people at the vic inn in derby, crowd was very responsive, everyone was moving, they sang along to the covers (summer of 69, wonderwall, s.o.s, same jeans)
andddddddddd, considering im still only 14, we got payed well (£47 each, after expenses)

Zach

[WalMan]

Good one last night (Friday) and hopefully tonight will be as well. I'm hoping the sound guy will surreptitiously record it so I can have a go at mixing the current twin guitar line up.

Friday at the Crown in LA was good. Only reopened fairly recently, but there was a good responsive crowd there all night.

We started the first set and sound guy was looking confused as he was getting no signal from me, and I was sure I had run the cable. Turned out in the break that I had forgotten to plug it into the MB combo. DOH!! Didn't really matter though. It was on 9 o'clock input and same output with the tone pretty much flat, but I was barely tickling the bass and it was thundering out. That combo is so good. Light, loud, and a great tone that easily holds its own in a classic rock covers outfit. Fitted the PA feed in the break and turned the master down AGAIN, and SG was still muttering at the end that he had been mixing up to me

A couple of alien abduction moments for each of us, in particular vocalist starting a second verse early over the verse intro (that's the same as the verse anyway - can't remember what now ). Guitarist, drummer & I just smiled at each other & dropped a line from the verse. I'm sure no one noticed at all

A couple of encores and some nice compliments after - always help to bring the evening to a merry close, even if we do have to pack away & hump the gear out & home.

Roll on The Fountain in Chichester South Street tonight (19 Jul)

Edited July 19, 2008 by WalMan