How was your gig last night?

[dclaassen]

On 21/10/2024 at 21:18, leschirons said:

Ariel Square four? You were spoilt rotten. 1968? Ford Thames van? Two seats? We were a trio! I had to sit on the engine cover in the middle!! Arse already on fire when we arrived at every gig!!!!!

Ariel Square four?...you had it EASY....

Our van was a VW micro-bus without an engine. We ran it Flintstone-like down the road in our bare feet. 

[msb]

I hit a point in my 30’s where I decided that I was done travelling and was only taking gigs in town. The circuit was a misery. I was tired of the road food and the hours sitting in a van.

It was a good call.

[dmccombe7]

21 hours ago, msb said:

I hit a point in my 30’s where I decided that I was done travelling and was only taking gigs in town. The circuit was a misery. I was tired of the road food and the hours sitting in a van.

It was a good call.

To be fair we all travel in separate cars these days as we are scattered across approx 100 miles. We try to aim for gigs somewhere between Wanlockhead and Perth.

What i have found is that after a gig a nice wee McDonalds burger sets me up for a longer 2hr+ drive home altho A9 doesn't really have many service stops so you need to be "adaptable" after drinking a pint of cola before you drive. 

Dave

Edited October 25 by dmccombe7

[Leonard Smalls]

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

nice wee MacDonalds burger

I understand the words "nice" and "wee" together, especially at my age, but not the Macdonalds and burger bit...

I can just about cope with a Burger King Angus, but it's just the disappointment associated with the Big Mac. It's not particularly Big, and it's a tired looking thing when compared to the pic.

A portion of decent chippy chips is another matter entirely!

[Norris]

On 22/09/2024 at 08:23, ricksterphil said:

 

I'm told The Donkey is to close (again) soon, which is a shame if it happens. Always liked gigging there.

 

On 22/09/2024 at 09:18, bassbiscuits said:

Yeah I keep hearing that every couple of years and I’m never sure what the story is. I think it’s closed and reopened in the past.
 

It would be a shame tho as it’s one of the few proper live music venues around here. 

I've just seen a post from the new manager saying that he will be continuing with live entertainment.

 

What my guitarist sent me...

 

Hooray!

[ricksterphil]

1 minute ago, Norris said:

 

I've just seen a post from the new manager saying that he will be continuing with live entertainment.

 

What my guitarist sent me...

 

Hooray!

Yes, saw that, excellent news

[dmccombe7]

17 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

I understand the words "nice" and "wee" together, especially at my age, but not the Macdonalds and burger bit...

I can just about cope with a Burger King Angus, but it's just the disappointment associated with the Big Mac. It's not particularly Big, and it's a tired looking thing when compared to the pic.

A portion of decent chippy chips is another matter entirely!

100% on the Angus burger but BK are rare outside of city centres around this area whereas MacD's are far more common. The smaller Big Mac is a good size for me before a long drive home. Not sure i could eat an Angus burger before driving 2hrs +. 

Dave

[bassbiscuits]

2 hours ago, Norris said:

 

I've just seen a post from the new manager saying that he will be continuing with live entertainment.

 

What my guitarist sent me...

 

Hooray!

Fantastic! We are meant to be playing there in December so hopefully that’s back on the cards. 

[Norris]

1 hour ago, bassbiscuits said:

Fantastic! We are meant to be playing there in December so hopefully that’s back on the cards. 

Yeah, so are we. We don't yet know if he's going to honour existing bookings. It's been a bit of a surprise. Even Gaz Birtles (the usual sound guy) didn't know

 

Maybe we'll find out some more on Sunday afternoon...

[stewblack]

Busy Bandeoke in Bristol last night. 

 

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Busy Bandeoke in Bristol last night. 

 

Curious what the bass is in your pic there @stewblack ?

Dave

[MichaelDean]

16 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Curious what the bass is in your pic there @stewblack ?

Dave

It's an Epiphone Embassy. I had a go on it at a recent bass bash. Very light weight and very easy to play.

[stewblack]

47 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Curious what the bass is in your pic there @stewblack ?

Dave

What @MichaelDean said. It sounds like a Thunderbird but in a smaller, lighter package

[BigRedX]

A bit late, but here are some photos from our gig supporting Byronic Sex & Exile 2 weeks ago:

 

BTW our next gig supporting Aurelio Voltaire on November 5th is now sold out, so if you haven't bought a ticket you won't get in.

Edited October 25 by BigRedX

[WalMan]

On 21/10/2024 at 21:18, leschirons said:

Ariel Square four? You were spoilt rotten. 1968? Ford Thames van? Two seats? We were a trio! I had to sit on the engine cover in the middle!! Arse already on fire when we arrived at every gig!!!!!

Been through them all, but remember the old Bedford van we used on occasion. Driver and one in the front, one on the engine cover, and on the way home from a Christmas gig with the club band. Three of us in late teems and the bandleader driving who was in his 30’s. Stopped by the law driving round in a car park trying to find the exit and with the drummer in the back divvying up the spoils rescued from the buffet. 
 

Copper opens the sliding side door to the van: “Blimey there’s more of them!”

Drummer: “Sausage roll officer?” 🤣

[WalMan]

Anyway, last night’s gig.

 

Small pub gig that usually has a good crowd that are up for any sort of music. Sadly tonight it was quite quiet. We are still a guitarist down but not and issue. Squeezed int a smaller space than usual which worked ok. 
 

Guitarist had issues with his radio at the start of the second set and went to a lead. I had forgotten to charge the xVive IEM’s so ran hard wired with the Behringer P1 - fine with limited space.  Second night with the new Allen&Heath desk / stage box which is is a great improvement on the XR16

 

I’m out of the plaster cast now and into an air cast boot which makes life easier to get around but I’m still not very mobile and probably shouldn’t have been stood all night.

 

Generally we played well and the sound was good, though I was told in the the break my sound needed more top - it sounded fine in my IEM’s but I re eq’d slightly. Having had a few gigs recently I felt happier with my BV’s and range had opened up.

 

Crowd singing and dancing most of the night, just would’ve been nice if there had been more.

[msb]

10 hours ago, WalMan said:

Been through them all, but remember the old Bedford van we used on occasion. Driver and one in the front, one on the engine cover, and on the way home from a Christmas gig with the club band. Three of us in late teems and the bandleader driving who was in his 30’s. Stopped by the law driving round in a car park trying to find the exit and with the drummer in the back divvying up the spoils rescued from the buffet. 
 

Copper opens the sliding side door to the van: “Blimey there’s more of them!”

Drummer: “Sausage roll officer?” 🤣

 

 

[Obrienp]

Did a gig with the covers band, at a fairly newly opened bistro, yesterday evening. I had my doubts about this before because, however low we turn down, a four piece (keys player not able to make it) is still going to make it hard for the diners to hold a conversation. However, it went well and people enjoyed it. We did the more mellow part of our repertoire, with a load of originals written by our lead guitarist. This was split over a couple of one hour sets and got a local solo singer songwriter to do a half hour set in between.

 

There could have been more folks there and I was disappointed that a few friends, who had said they would come along, didn’t show up. A few of the other guys had the same. Why do people do this? Raise expectations and not deliver. I wouldn’t be bothered if people just said nothing, rather than promise to be there and not show up. Now I’m a bit miffed at them. 

 

Despite not getting as many diners as they would have liked, the owners were very pleased with the evening and said they were going to have us back. I guess it takes time to build these things and live music can be a draw. The pay was OK for Norfolk as well.

 

Gear wise, I used a Guild Starfire 1 with rounds for most of the numbers (tuned down half a step) and a Nordstrand Aacinonyx with flats for the numbers we do in standard tuning. This went into a Flyrig v2 -> Harley Benton GPA100 power amp -> LFSys Monza sitting on an Auralex isolator. It was the first outing for the GPA100, which had arrived the day before, so it was a bit of a risk but I had my Warwick Gnome iPro as standby. I was happy the way the GPA100 worked for this low volume scenario. The Gnome really doesn’t like going that low but with the GPA100 volume at 12 o’clock it was comfortable without working too hard. What surprised me was just how different the rig sounded in the bistro (basically a converted barn), compared to my studio. I am going to have to work on the EQ and drive settings a bit more. I was getting a touch of break up on my clean channel. About half way through the first set I noticed that the peak light was flashing on the Flyrig, so I was obviously digging in a lot more than I do in rehearsal. Dropping the drive setting a bit and turning up the volume on the GPA100 cured it. More work needed.

Edited October 26 by Obrienp

[leschirons]

1 hour ago, Obrienp said:

Did a gig with the covers band, at a fairly newly opened bistro, yesterday evening. I had my doubts about this before because, however low we turn down, a four piece (keys player not able to make it) is still going to make it hard for the diners to hold a conversation. However, it went well and people enjoyed it. We did the more mellow part of our repertoire, with a load of originals written by our lead guitarist. This was split over a couple of one hour sets and got a local solo singer songwriter to do a half hour set in between.

 

There could have been more folks there and I was disappointed that a few friends, who had said they would come along, didn’t show up. A few of the other guys had the same. Why do people do this? Raise expectations and not deliver. I wouldn’t be bothered if people just said nothing, rather than promise to be there and not show up. Now I’m a bit miffed at them. 

 

Despite not getting as many diners as they would have liked, the owners were very pleased with the evening and said they were going to have us back. I guess it takes time to build these things and live music can be a draw. The pay was OK for Norfolk as well.

 

Gear wise, I used a Guild Starfire 1 with rounds for most of the numbers (tuned down half a step) and a Nordstrand Aacinonyx with flats for the numbers we do in standard tuning. This went into a Flyrig v2 -> Harley Benton GPA100 power amp -> LFSys Monza sitting on an Auralex isolator. It was the first outing for the GPA100, which had arrived the day before, so it was a bit of a risk but I had my Warwick Gnome iPro as standby. I was happy the way the GPA100 worked for this low volume scenario. The Gnome really doesn’t like going that low but with the GPA100 volume at 12 o’clock it was comfortable without working too hard. What surprised me was just how different the rig sounded in the bistro (basically a converted barn), compared to my studio. I am going to have to work on the EQ and drive settings a bit more. I was getting a touch of break up on my clean channel. About half way through the first set I noticed that the peak light was flashing on the Flyrig, so I was obviously digging in a lot more than I do in rehearsal. Dropping the drive setting a bit and turning up the volume on the GPA100 cured it. More work needed.

A bistro with live music? In Norfolk? Where's that Pat? Sounds like a place to check out. (As a customer) 

 

Glad it went okay for you. As you say, a new venue will need to build a reputation.

[Obrienp]

32 minutes ago, leschirons said:

A bistro with live music? In Norfolk? Where's that Pat? Sounds like a place to check out. (As a customer) 

 

Glad it went okay for you. As you say, a new venue will need to build a reputation.

It’s called the Glaven Bistro at Glandford, near Holt (and Blakeney). I think they spent a packet doing the place up, so it’s not the cheapest around but the grub looked pretty good to me. Wine is a tadge expensive because it’s all English, in fact all from Norfolk I think, as is the beer.

[Norris]

The pub we played at tonight, we were supposed to play at last night, but they asked us to move because of the football match (Leicester lost badly to Nottingham Forest). I'm not sure if we've done a Saturday there before, so whether it's the switch or if it's normally quiet on a Saturday - there were not many people there when we started. The load in is a park up with hazards on, on double yellow lines, on a hump-backed bridge and a quick chuck-in to the tiny playing area before moving the cars. All didn't bode well, especially at it is not even a cash pickup at the end of the night either - invoice and wait!

 

However it was the first opportunity to try out my Sterling Sub5 since I fitted the new Retrovibe Stinger preamp. Wow - it's absolutely transformed the bass! What was a muddy and indistinct bass now has bite, growl, thump and (dare I say it) heft. I had a whale of a time playing it. The B string is lovely. It also is about 2/3 the weight of my usual Sire P7-5. Guess which bass I'll be playing at the Donkey tomorrow...

 

The only slight downside is that my Boss GT-6B seemed to have difficulty tracking the note when it was quite twangy - the octaver and synth patches I use in some songs both had a bit of a funny turn until I plucked a bit nearer the neck to reduce the overtones. I'll just have to remember to do that next time.

 

Anyway the night did seem to pick up a bit as more came in, and we kept them in the pub which is the main thing. It's not a good situation though. The pub music scene seems as fragile as I've ever known it in 40 years of playing.

 

Anyway, obligatory rig shots...

 

And to think I had it up for sale recently. £75 spent on a better preamp has transformed it, and it paid for itself tonight - it owes me nothing now.

[moley6knipe]

8 hours ago, Obrienp said:

It’s called the Glaven Bistro at Glandford, near Holt (and Blakeney). I think they spent a packet doing the place up, so it’s not the cheapest around but the grub looked pretty good to me. Wine is a tadge expensive because it’s all English, in fact all from Norfolk I think, as is the beer.

Nice. Will be checking that out on my next stay at Byfords. I absolutely love Norfolk… out of season! Good on them for going local with beer (easy) and wine (not so easy… not classic vine country, is Norfolk!)

[moley6knipe]

54 minutes ago, Norris said:

The pub we played at tonight, we were supposed to play at last night, but they asked us to move because of the football match (Leicester lost badly to Nottingham Forest). I'm not sure if we've done a Saturday there before, so whether it's the switch or if it's normally quiet on a Saturday - there were not many people there when we started. The load in is a park up with hazards on, on double yellow lines, on a hump-backed bridge and a quick chuck-in to the tiny playing area before moving the cars. All didn't bode well, especially at it is not even a cash pickup at the end of the night either - invoice and wait!

 

However it was the first opportunity to try out my Sterling Sub5 since I fitted the new Retrovibe Stinger preamp. Wow - it's absolutely transformed the bass! What was a muddy and indistinct bass now has bite, growl, thump and (dare I say it) heft. I had a whale of a time playing it. The B string is lovely. It also is about 2/3 the weight of my usual Sire P7-5. Guess which bass I'll be playing at the Donkey tomorrow...

 

The only slight downside is that my Boss GT-6B seemed to have difficulty tracking the note when it was quite twangy - the octaver and synth patches I use in some songs both had a bit of a funny turn until I plucked a bit nearer the neck to reduce the overtones. I'll just have to remember to do that next time.

 

Anyway the night did seem to pick up a bit as more came in, and we kept them in the pub which is the main thing. It's not a good situation though. The pub music scene seems as fragile as I've ever known it in 40 years of playing.

 

Anyway, obligatory rig shots...

 

And to think I had it up for sale recently. £75 spent on a better preamp has transformed it, and it paid for itself tonight - it owes me nothing now.

Turning the treble down, if that’s an option for you, can also help with tracking sometimes

[moley6knipe]

Superb gig with Clutching at Straws, Horseshoe, Thurlby. Ticketed Halloween do, couple of one hour sets. We played great - all party bangers all night and the sound was good. Key’s son brought his harps along and he can WAIL. Usual Dimension, GK, Barefaced.

[jimmyb625]

We (Fine Lines) played at Ragged Bear Festival in Nuneaton, held at Queens Hall (or EEN L according to the sign).

 

Audience seemed to like what we did (no glasses managed to hit us), despite us not being traditional "folk". 

 

Gear used was the usual (for me) Sklar Warwick Rockbass, Shure wireless, Origin compressor, DCX and Bassrig. No amplifiers were harmed in the making of this show.

 

There's also one of my really bad YouTube videos, which I won't be offended if you don't watch (there is a song towards the end of the video).