How was your gig last night?

[msb]

Quiet night for the Sunday Jam in the bar we call the Land of Dreams. Wet , and soggy. Rain and drizzle. We did’t get the regular crowd but had some good players. An old friend is getting back to playing bass , so it was lovely to have him up.

 

The days are numbered in the old dive , it will change location in January. Parking and loading will not be as easy in the new location. 
 

It’s just a mid sized room and just vocals are in the PA. I can easily fill the room with a single 12 in cab. A Bergantino HDN , usually powered with a Forte head (the first version without the drive) and a tube preamp. I brought two basses , a Dano Longhorn from the first batch of reissues , and a vintage UniVox HiFlier Mosrite copy. The Dano still has the factory strings and has a wonderful old school thump , the Flier has some not too old chrome flats. Sometimes I will bring a Yamaha Samurai.
 

I seem to have become a cheap bass , nice amp kind of guy. I’m ok with that.

[Muzz]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

I would imagine that they would actually just assume you are lazy!

...and you'd be wrong; I've been trying to convince the BL that the band in general has waaayyyy too much gear for the pub gigs we play, my example is evident each gig...my other gigging band has literally half the gear. The drummer always arrives last, and because I set up last (see breakdown activities but in reverse...again, three minutes) I'll help set the PA and lights up and give him a hand, tho he's nearly 40 years younger than me and therefore far more qualified to lift heavy things...

[ricksterphil]

17 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

Saturday night played in Stowmarket and it was a classic nightmare venue and gig !!

Turned up and it’s town centre so no car park, still raining and where we needed to setup a match was being shown on the big screen !

Very drunk and slightly indifferent crowd and and pack away time there was a punch up that then spilled into the street. 6 police cars arrived and it was a quickly dealt with.

Late night band trip to McDonald’s and arrived home around 2pm 

We won’t be going back even though they wanted to book 3 gigs next year !! I don’t think so !!   
 

 

The telly on showing the footie drives me bonkers.  You can usually find the on/off switch of that particular telly and turn it off.

 

Nice Ampeg rig btw

[Bluewine]

7 hours ago, Muzz said:

"by 11 it was banging, which made a change from the last few evenings of sparsely-attended indifference we've had of late...it's also nice to see a well-run pub can still make live music" 

 

Live bands in bars and pubs use to work and thrive here in Milwaukee now it's almost a dead scene.

 

I think part of the problem is bars and pubs are not music venues. 

 

I went out Friday night to see a friend's band playing a local bar. People would come in with their friends and family have their Friday night " fish fry" chat and then leave. By 8:00 they were playing to 3 people.

 

Daryl

 

 

[casapete]

45 minutes ago, ricksterphil said:

 

The telly on showing the footie drives me bonkers.  You can usually find the on/off switch of that particular telly and turn it off.

 

Nice Ampeg rig btw

We have a strict policy with our acoustic duo of no TVs being on whilst we are, not even with the sound off.

If people want to watch the footy then don’t come to see live music.

( Likewise I don’t expect to see footage of live bands if I ever went to the footy!)

 

[Bluewine]

2 minutes ago, casapete said:

We have a strict policy with our acoustic duo of no TVs being on whilst we are, not even with the sound off.

 

 

 

We can't impose band policies anywhere. The bar imposes their policies on us. 

 

Daryl

[JapanAxe]

18 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

Saturday night played in Stowmarket and it was a classic nightmare venue and gig !!

Turned up and it’s town centre so no car park, still raining and where we needed to setup a match was being shown on the big screen !

Very drunk and slightly indifferent crowd and and pack away time there was a punch up that then spilled into the street. 6 police cars arrived and it was a quickly dealt with.

Late night band trip to McDonald’s and arrived home around 2pm 

We won’t be going back even though they wanted to book 3 gigs next year !! I don’t think so !!   
 

I check access and parking before accepting a dep gig - some load-ins are just not worth it!

[BassAdder60]

23 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

I check access and parking before accepting a dep gig - some load-ins are just not worth it!

Yep that’s normally our policy but we thought we would try it once !!

 

Never again !! 

[dmccombe7]

5 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I would imagine that they would actually just assume you are lazy!

 

I arrive, get all the stuff from the car, set up the PA, do the gig, break down the PA, load the car.

If the drummer is there, I help him with the drum kit from the car and back to the car and he helps with the PA. The singer also carries stuff from the car and back, and does a little of the PA setup. The guitarist does FA. Because he is lazy. He stands around chatting.

I usually help drummer in with his gear and let him get started. While he's setting up his drums i'll rig up the PA cabs and lights. Drummer runs the desk so he sets the desk up. I run in mic cables etc. Once PA cabs in place i'll set up my own bass rig which only takes me a few minutes. 

At end of the gig i pack away my own gear first and then strip PA down and pack away while drummer packs his drums away. I'll then give him a ahand to load his drums etc into his car. 

To be fair we all work that way in both my bands so that everyone leaves the gig at same time except our guitarist in Glam band as he normally has further to drive than us lot and we tell him to head off as soon as he's loaded up.

Most gigs he'll stay and help pack drums, lights and PA gear so its all very friendly and helpful.

Dave

[neepheid]

We played a gig once where they had forgotten to put the telly behind us off (sound was off though). Was on rolling news and something significant had happened in the Russia/Ukraine war so it was quite ominous to have Putin looking over our shoulders at various intervals...

Edited October 23, 2023 by neepheid

[asingardenof]

On 22/10/2023 at 22:31, BassAdder60 said:

Saturday night played in Stowmarket and it was a classic nightmare venue and gig !!

Turned up and it’s town centre so no car park, still raining and where we needed to setup a match was being shown on the big screen !

Very drunk and slightly indifferent crowd and and pack away time there was a punch up that then spilled into the street. 6 police cars arrived and it was a quickly dealt with.

Late night band trip to McDonald’s and arrived home around 2pm 

We won’t be going back even though they wanted to book 3 gigs next year !! I don’t think so !!   
 

 

Having lived in Stowmarket I feel your pain and desire to not go back.

[12stringbassist]

Last Sunday was our regular jam night.
We're in our 7th year at this venue and we've got a good little scene going and it's well-supported.
It's also very orderly. we get new people sometimes and that stops it being groundhog day.

We're getting some promising younger people along to take part and it's all good.
We rehearse new songs at the jam (by learning them at home and rattling through them to get them together.
We haven't done that for a short while. I'd like to get a few new things together.
We HAVE been playing things that have fallen out of the set list, so we can slot them back in.

After the jam finished on Sunday, we were packing up and I fell over some mics stands in a carry case in front of the drums and fell down hard to the stage floor with a very loud crash. Ii hurt like hell and I felt bruised for a few days and was knocked sick at the time. What I really couldn't get my head round was a weird woman who's there every week, acting like she owns the place, who laughed and clapped when I fell over. She saw how annoyed I was with her and she said she 'thought it was part of the act'. Lame. I said 'keep digging'. I was furious. I'm not looking forward to this Sunday.

[Bluewine]

On 22/10/2023 at 16:31, BassAdder60 said:

 

Late night band trip to McDonald’s and arrived home around 2pm 

We won’t be going back even though they wanted to book 3 gigs next year !! I don’t think so !!   
 

Good move Bass Adder. No sense in going back to a bad venue.

 

Daryl

[lonestar]

On 24/10/2023 at 07:48, asingardenof said:

 

Having lived in Stowmarket I feel your pain and desire to not go back.

We played a few gigs at the John Peel Centre in Stowmartian. Terribly pay but very nice venue and gigs.

[dmccombe7]

On 23/10/2023 at 12:54, cheddatom said:

Wroot Rocks in Wroot near Doncaster on Friday night. It wasn't packed but there were plenty in. Apparently quite a few couldn't make it due to closed roads etc. caused by the weather. Abdoujaparov were on first and I loved it. It's just super tight, quirky rock and roll really, but a great show. They're fronted by Les Carter of Carter USM fame and he's a lovely bloke. Our set went really well, we sold plenty of merch and signed lots of stuff so that's a win. The promoter here really takes care of the bands with food and drink etc.

 

A long drive back in the rain managed to kill the van not long after the dropped me off. I really hate the van, nicknamed Vantanamo for it's lack of leg room, cupholders, fans in the back... the list goes on, so fingers crossed this is terminal and we can get something I actually fit in! Here's a terrible low light photo from just before we started.

 

 

Saturday in Corby at the Ex Servicemen's Club, which was very "pheonix nights". The venue was too big for the audience really, only about 40 people turned up, which is cool in a small venue, but this was a big old room with loads of horrible echoes. It sounded alright anyway, and everyone seemed to love it. 

 

 

I was down that way on Sunday at Retford during the day and A1 was closed just after i was leaving for Worksop.

Scary when a main road is closed. I had no idea England got the storm so bad but you could see the flooded fields each side of the A1 in that area.

Well done with the gig under those circumstances.

Dave

[EssexBuccaneer]

Had a great gig at the Chadwell Arms in Essex last night. Had the option of playing their hall or the pub and we opted for the pub as it was more intimate and the crowd was enthusiastic but small. Totally the right decision, felt like a proper pub gig with the punters just a couple of feet away. We went down a storm and the landlord wants us back 3-4 times in 2024. Our first full length set (90 mins) and were asked for an encore. Am still buzzing this morning! 
 

[Mickeyboro]

5 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

Had a great gig at the Chadwell Arms in Essex last night. Had the option of playing their hall or the pub and we opted for the pub as it was more intimate and the crowd was enthusiastic but small. Totally the right decision, felt like a proper pub gig with the punters just a couple of feet away. We went down a storm and the landlord wants us back 3-4 times in 2024. Our first full length set (90 mins) and were asked for an encore. Am still buzzing this morning! 
 

Do tell your band name and style of music - rig too, if you like!

[Jackroadkill]

31 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

Had a great gig at the Chadwell Arms in Essex last night. Had the option of playing their hall or the pub and we opted for the pub as it was more intimate and the crowd was enthusiastic but small. Totally the right decision, felt like a proper pub gig with the punters just a couple of feet away. We went down a storm and the landlord wants us back 3-4 times in 2024. Our first full length set (90 mins) and were asked for an encore. Am still buzzing this morning! 
 

 

You guys seem like the sort of band our lot could share a stage with!

[Dad3353]

The Daub'z went down a storm (again..!) last night supporting Parpaing Papier for the 'anniversary' of our local pub. Shared backline (theirs...). As luck would have it, their drummer plays 'leftie' too, so just a snare and cymbals to swap. It's very odd playing someone else's kit. Very, very cramped, and the place (it's small...) packed to the hilt and more, despite the wet, blustery weather outside. Inside, though, an ambience inciting us to play our best, which we did (well, no-one pulled us up on the few blunders, so...). A great night (again..!); we have to go back today to recover our PA we'd supplied. The Parpaings kept the crowd pogoing, too, so all had a splendid evening. No pics; maybe some will emerge later..?

[ezbass]

36 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

Had the option of playing their hall or the pub and we opted for the pub as it was more intimate…
 

We went down a storm and the landlord wants us back 3-4 times in 2024.
 

 

That alone made it the right decision.

[EssexBuccaneer]

38 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Do tell your band name and style of music - rig too, if you like!

We’re called MLC (mid-life crisis) and our set is full of 90’s-2000’s rock/grunge with some metal thrown in. Stereophonics, Green Day, The Offspring, RATM and Metallica all make an appearance! 
 

We’ve tried to stay away from doing a setlist of *all* hits and gone niche with soem artists but we may have to rethink a couple. Example: we play Green Day ‘Longview’ rather than American Idiot or Basket Case, but on its first outing last night it was clear that the audience lost a wee bit of interest before picking up again with Nickelback ‘How you remind me’

 

Its a fine line in creating a set that doesn’t sound identical to other covers bands, whilst also keeping an audience happy!

[neepheid]

9 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

Its a fine line in creating a set that doesn’t sound identical to other covers bands, whilst also keeping an audience happy!

 

Amen to that.  There are some cornerstones you can't avoid, but we also try to include some less obvious numbers (for instance, when it comes to Feeder, we don't do Buck Rogers, we do Just A Day).  When it comes to Green Day, while we do the obvious numbers you mention, we also do Minority sometimes and have floated the idea of doing Holiday.

 

If we notice any that don't get a good reaction (and Minority's coat is on a shoogly peg in this regard) then they get binned.

Edited October 28, 2023 by neepheid

[ricksterphil]

3 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

We’re called MLC (mid-life crisis) and our set is full of 90’s-2000’s rock/grunge with some metal thrown in. Stereophonics, Green Day, The Offspring, RATM and Metallica all make an appearance! 
 

We’ve tried to stay away from doing a setlist of *all* hits and gone niche with soem artists but we may have to rethink a couple. Example: we play Green Day ‘Longview’ rather than American Idiot or Basket Case, but on its first outing last night it was clear that the audience lost a wee bit of interest before picking up again with Nickelback ‘How you remind me’

 

Its a fine line in creating a set that doesn’t sound identical to other covers bands, whilst also keeping an audience happy!

I recommend Chelsea Dagger and Dakota for your setlist. Played back to back, Dakota first, these songs as a combo get a crowd bouncing and singing along like no other pairing in my experience. Both huge fun to play on bass too  Ok so they're songs everyone does but who cares, our job is to entertain so these songs tick that box in spades in my book. 

[Jackroadkill]

7 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

We’re called MLC (mid-life crisis) and our set is full of 90’s-2000’s rock/grunge with some metal thrown in. Stereophonics, Green Day, The Offspring, RATM and Metallica all make an appearance! 
 

We’ve tried to stay away from doing a setlist of *all* hits and gone niche with soem artists but we may have to rethink a couple. Example: we play Green Day ‘Longview’ rather than American Idiot or Basket Case, but on its first outing last night it was clear that the audience lost a wee bit of interest before picking up again with Nickelback ‘How you remind me’

 

Its a fine line in creating a set that doesn’t sound identical to other covers bands, whilst also keeping an audience happy!

 

That sounds quite similar to our approach - no standards but stuff people will know.  We try and find songs by famous bands but not play the obvious ones, or songs that were huge and the artist never heard from again, for example.  The majority of our stuff comes from the 1990's, too.

[alant]

Great night for our debut at Halley's Comet in MK last night. Our drummer is quite poorly at the moment so had a dep who hadn't played with us for a while but he did a good job. Landlady very happy, paid us extra and promised a re-booking next year. No pics I'm afraid.

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by alant