Jump to content
Heritage Owners Club

mark555

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    357

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    39

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by mark555

  1. mark555

    Going shopping

    By mark555,


    Going shopping
    It's now one year and seven months since I left my band, route 62.  I have found that it was the right thing to do and I haven't regretted it once. One thing I am glad about is that when I left, I kept the real reasons to myself and didn't tell the other guys - after all, we'd had some good times together aswell as the frustrations that led me to leave. When I did leave, Robin in particular was very angry with me, but there were times when he had caused some major upsets and he was aware of that. Robin was our other guitar player. But despite the issues he had caused from time to time (and some of them were very awkward) beneath it all was a good friendship. It was a long time before we were in contact and I used this Christmas as an opportunity to send him an e mail (i'd tried phoning) and wish him all the very best. I received a really nice one back and we're going to meet up for a drink sometime and have a catch up. Shaun, our bass player has been a friend of mine since we were thirteen and we never fell out, he never got upset at me when I left even though he was disappointed and asked me to come back. We've been in constant touch and our friendship is solid.
    But over all this time, I have hardly picked up a guitar as I had got to the point where I was just sick of it all and needed a really good break. But slowly but surely my desire to play has been creeping back - not to the extent of playing in the band again, or joining another - but to just enjoy the guitar.  What I would like to do with some spare time is learn to read music.
    As some of you may know, I ahve always had a desire for a core range PRS, but the cost of them new has risen so much over the years that I just can't justify almost £4000 for one. However, I've not written off the idea of buying a used one at some point. But to carry on - I've been watching all the you tube reviews of the SE line new models, paritcularly Paul's guitar and the SE DGT. As I had all the day to myself yesterday I decided to explore them and made the twenty three mile drive up to the city of Leeds to Professional Music Technology where they had told me on the phone they had everything in stock. They didn't have the DGT SE, but they did have the core DGT, which they offered me the opportunity to play. I declined the offer because I felt that at £4000 it was not right to play a guitar I had no intention of buying when some one else would be buying it at some point and whoever that person is deserves it to be as new and unplayed as possible. 
    T did however play three SE models - Paul's guitar, the McCarty and custom 24. I was somewhat disappointed after all the hype. They weren't bad guitars and sounded very good - perhaps the fact that the shop had made no attempt to set them up. I'd still like to try the DGT SE, but I am coming to the conclusion that if I do ever buy a PRS, it will have to be a core model and also used. What I did find that I really liked when I played it was the Yamaha Revstar, which sounded and played great, I will definitely be having one of those with P90's at some point. So, I left the shop somewhat underwhelmed with the SE guitars but glad I'd played them. This morning I took my Japanese Tokai Love Rock (think 59 Les Paul) out of it's case for the first time in ages and really enjoyed playing it, the quality is excellent and surpassed the quality of the SE range by quite a distance. I got to thinking that I do have some nice guitars, not all of them in the price bracket of my H555, but none the less good guitars. Oneof my favourite youtube channels is five watt world, where the emphasis is using what you have, and for now, I think that is just what I am going to do. Here's the MIJ Tokai.
     

  2. mark555

    Life after being in a band

    By mark555,


    Mark's blog
    It's some months now since I left the band, Route 62. I was at the end of my rope with it all, the whinging of our other guitar player, no end of things and I'd just reached that point where I had had enough. I thought about it, and the positives of leaving outweighed everything else. I knew that once I said I was done, there was no turning back and I still left.
    So, four and a half months on, where am I up to, and with the benefit of hindsight, did I do the right thing?
    Well, I can answer yes, a resounding "yes" to having done the right thing in leaving. 
    I have already started reaping the rewards of having free time on my hands. I see more of my family, do more things with my wife, and I am able to plan so many other things I want to do. One such event was just taking a week out and going to the Highlands of Scotland, renting a house in spectacular Glen Coe for a week and touring the Highlands - I can't tell you how beautiful the Highlands are, you just have to go and see for yourself. I haven't done all the things I want to with my newfound free time yet, but I am far more relaxed, and I am enjoying the weekend evenings much more.  I just feel released from dealing with everyone else's expecting me to run everything, and then them coming and taking an equal cut.
    I have kept in touch with the bass player, who has been a lifelong friend, but who in fairness played his part in my decision to leave. Robin, the other guitar player is pretty angry at my going, but this is because I was the enabler who made it possible for him to go out and gig on a weekend after a week at home because he is wealthy enough not to have to work. Now, he has no gigs to play because they haven't been able to find a lead guitar player who can also take the lead vocal role and front the band, building rapport with the audiences. As Shaun, my bass playing buddy told me a couple of weeks ago, all they get at auditions are wannabe's and dreamers. I gained some sense of satisfaction when Shaun Told me that Robin finally admitted that "Mark was the biggest part of this band and made it work".  At the risk of sounding smug, I feel that I have finally been vindicated, and that their departing from the vision and formula I was working to is what brought it all down for them. They pushed me beyond my tolerance limit, and they are now the ones that are frustrated because they cannot find a replacement and get things going. I wish them well, but I don't think they will make it work. I have seen their ad for a singer to go down the route of becoming a tribute band.
    So what have I been doing? Well, the truth is, as far as playing guitar is concerned, absolutely nothing. I haven't had a guitar case open with the exception of taking one in to work to show it to a colleague, it's my MIJ Tokai Love Rock , which is a clone of a 59 les Paul Standard and plays beautifully. But I have to admit to almost getting my tele out and having a few moments with it.
    So where do I go next, musically speaking? For the time being, nowhere. I hope I get to play with other musicians at some point, but where I am now, there doesn't seem to be other musicians around who are easy going and on the same wavelength as myself so for now I'm just not interested. What I do want to do is swap my burst for a gold top, and I really do want a core range PRS, so one of my guitars is going to have to go. 
    But as I began, I will finish - with hindsight I really did do the right thing. Thanks for reading.
  3. mark555

    In the which I leave the band

    By mark555,


    The final chapter
    It seems like forever since I have made an entry in my blog about the story of my playing in a band, maybe all the lockdown had a lot to do with that. 
    After Lockdown, we started trying to gig again but the market for bands had really slowed down and many of the social clubs we were playing were no longer booking bands. Bars and pubs were booking less also, as they were building their trade up after Lockdown.
    We were playing several gigs, but something was just not sitting right with me. We had lost our drummer to a serious stroke, although we had already decided to replace him as we were fed up of his forcing his political viewpoint on us all, in that there was no discussion and if he didn't like your opinion, he took offense. We got a fabulous new drummer after some long auditions, but that didn't work out personality wise. Eventually we settled on a guy in his late sixties who had a wife a fair bit younger than him, which has some relevance. The point being that wives were always welcome at gigs but any wife interfering in band business was considered very bad form and well out of order. It had caused extreme trouble previously.
    But back to the main plot. I had for some while feeling that I wasn't really doing what I wanted to be doing by being in the band, I had a vision for it that was successful when that vision was followed, but others were not sharing the vision that I had set the band up with along with my bass playing friend when we decided to give it a go. Because that vision was not being followed, it was getting harder. I'd taken on the role of lead vocals and I know the songs I can sing and can't sing - for example, I can really do well on singing Rolling Stones songs. And, because the vision was harder for me to fulfill, I was losing interest.
    On top of that, it was down to me to find gigs, no one else made any effort. Put all this together with the effort to rehearse, play gigs, lose weekends with my family because of gigs and all the effort involved, slowly buy surely, and with accelerating speed, I was losing all desire to be in the band, and just over a week ago, the day before a gig, I decided I'd come to the end of the road. I played the gig, wasn't happy in doing so, and then the new drummers wife told the rest of the band and their wives that she'd been told I was seen playing at venue during the week with another band - a total untruth. Shaun, our bass player, is not just a friend, he's my brother from a different mother and we have a deep brotherly love, we know each others extended family and we used to hang around as kids, stopping over at each others homes. The relationship is close. Anyway, Shaun's wife, Debbie, is a lovely woman who understands how things are, and she tactfully told me what had been said, which didn't make me angry, but just made me even more sure that I'd come to the wright decision. I didn't tell anyone that night because I didn't want to cause any upset, or have people try and tell me I was just being silly. And of course, I wanted one more night to sleep on it. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I knew the decision was right for me, and prior to going out to church, I sent an e mail to the guys in the band explaining how I felt and why I had come to my decision.
    The decision was made because my priorities have shifted. I'm now 62, have six grandchildren who live quite a distance from me and I want my weekends free to spend time with them. I want to spend Saturday nights with my wife Helen, we have busy days and after doing all the Saturday jobs round the house, I want to sit down with her and enjoy our time together. Going out for a day is also something we want to do and not worry about what time we need to be back for. The bottom line of why I've decided to put the band down can be condensed into one word, and that word is "family"
    Shaun, my partner in the band, has taken it really well, hes been very supportive and I hope they carry on with a new singer and guitar player, they are good musicians and the band has a good name. But for me, it's time to call it a day with bands. The highs have been great and the lows terrible, but that is life in a band for you. For now, I'm gig to sit back and enjoy others playing, and sitting at home enjoying my guitars and maybe, just maybe, I might get that PRS custom I've always wanted.
    Thanks for reading - Mark.
     
  4. mark555

    Dealing with trouble

    By mark555,

    Running a band, as I have said previously, can be a totally different experience to playing in one. Once I am up and playing, I enjoy the experience, especially when we are getting a good response from the audience. We seem to get that regularly, playing our local venues and pleasing the audience. finding new gigs is always a pain in the neck but it has to be done. A few of our venues are closing down, due to not being able to make it pay or dwindling club membership, and some just keep on booking us which is nice. Some are really popular venues and we compete with bands across the local scene to play their. We are getting known as one of the better bands in the area for what we do, which is great, but that doesn't mean that the competition isn't out there.
    However, issues arise that never should and when they come from your own band members it really hurts. 
    We have one venue we play and go down very well at, it's called The Travellers Inn and is about 20 miles away from where I live. Unfortunately the two bookings we have for next year have had to be cancelled due to a mix up on their part, double booking with other acts who were booked their first - how these things happen is beyond me but they do. My way of dealing with this is to say OK, we will play another time. however, our other guitar player decided to tell Bev who owns the venue in no uncertain terms what he thought of her, using severely bad language and being very rude. Not only did he do that, he went on a public website used by venues and bands and posted even more vitriol about the venue and it's owner, again using unacceptable language and calling the lady concerned names that I was disgusted with. There was no need for this at all. 
    I do not do business in this manner and I have taken a pride in how I deal with venues, which after all, are making a living from their clientele where as playing in a band for us is in effect, just a hobby. I find you get more with honey than you do vinegar, so when I have difficult situations I always find that being friendly is the best way to resolve them. So, I called the venue up, spoke to the owner who I know, and gave her an unreserved apology for how she had been spoken to and for the posts made by our other guitar player, who had no business in making such posts. I apologised for abusive nature of them and said how I was ashamed to be associated with them as they were made in the bands name. (Later on that night I was at a Wishbone Ash gig with our bass player who could not believe what I told him about these posts). Well, lots was said in our conversation and the venue owner very graciously accepted the apology I made and said she knew it wasn't me and that I and the rest of the band would be welcome with the exception of our other guitar player. Just right now it would crate more problems than it would be worth to replace him so in some way I have to deal with this to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. This matter will come up for discussion, but our other guitarist has had outbursts before, usually aimed at myself when I have had to tell him about something that he didn't like. While he would apologise later on very sincerely, I am now seeing a pattern of behavior which I won't put up with, and the other guys in the band don't like either. When I tried to ask him about all this he refused to discuss it with me. So at some point in the future this will have to be dealt with. As a result of this, I have told the other members of the band that unless they get a gig, they must stay out of the management role of the band.
    What Bev (the venue owner) Did tell me was that sometimes she is let down by bands and loses custom as punters come to the pub expecting a live band and there is none, as the let down has been at the last minute. So I told her that we would be willing to help her if we are able to. I was trying to changer her perception of us from a problem to a solution. she liked that and said she would indeed give us a call in such circumstances, so the relationship is on the way to being repaired. However, I think it will be 2021 before we get a proper booking there again, which saddens me very much. But Bev and I ended the phone call on good terms which enables me to go back with a new band or with a new guitar player.
    On a different note, I am on the hunt for another guitar to add to my tonal palate. As Heritage guitars are all but unavailable here in the UK I am looking at other makes and models. The ones coming on to my radar are PRS, Duesenberg, Musicmann and similar. I would love a PRS but at £3800 for a core range model I just can not afford one and I will not get into debt for one. Maybe a used earlier USA made PRS may be affordable, but certainly not a new one. I really like the MusicMann Silhouette HSH with trem, they play beautifully and are so comfortable strapped on so definitely a contender for a future guitar in the next year or so. But the surprise on the list is the Yamaha Pacifica 611VFM. This guitar has two Seymour Duncan pick ups, (not the cheaper ones) a Wilkinson Trem sysystem, Grover locking tuners and is superb to play. These are extremely competatively priced guitars and play and sound as well as guitars which cost much more.

    I like the simplicity of one tone and one volume control which is great when playing live. With myself, I have to have a job for a guitar to do before I buy it and this guitar would be very versatile. The neck is maple with the rosewood board. I am very impressed with Yamaha guitars, every one I've ever played has been a really good instrument, although I don't bother withe the cheaper end of the pacifica range. Yamaha seem to know how to make great guitars at a good price point, check out the Yamaha SA2200 Semi - fantastic build and playability.
    So that's if from me today, thanks for reading and best wishes to all,
    Mark.
     
     
     
  5. mark555

    management

    By mark555,

    As we are back on our world tour of nowhere in particular, I I'm finding that running a band is often harder work than it needs to be. Thankfully though, I am now able to drive once more and can find my own way to and from gigs. Saturday night we were playing in Sheffield at a venue we play three times a year and go down very well at. Sheffield in one of Yorkshires largest cities, if not the largest. It is a city built on steel production and there are still some big foundries in the city. However, although there are a fair few venues in Sheffield, it's not an easy place to get bookings in without and agent.
    We're all nice people in our band of wandering minstrels, each of us with our own perculiarities, but as I go along , I am finding more and more that the un asked for role of manager which I seem to have ended up with can be very much managing people. Graham, our drummer, is rock solid, turns up, sets his kit up and follows the set up plan. PA first, Drums next, then guitars and amps. Shaun, our bass player, is so laid back it is unbelievable, the worlds greatest fence sitter when we are hammering out band policy, but as decent a human being as you are ever going to get. Robin, our other guitarist, who I affectionately refer to as Moaning Myrtle (see Harry Potter) always feels under pressure, he's landed the job of running the PA purely and simply because he owns the mixer. Complaints? Oh yes - The Pa actually belongs to me and is a pretty good one, if basic. But it does handle the venues. Poor Robin get's very frustrated, he's not a natural sound guy, but he knows more than any of us about setting the PA up as he's learned by trial and error. I'll say this for Shaun, Graham and myself, we have our sound sorted. Shaun has some great bass's, nice big bass rig that produces great sound. Me, I know what I need to do to get a nice full tone without scorching the ears of the audience. Now for the fun bit. Robin plays a lovely Gibson R9 Les Paul through a Fender Vibroking amp. The thing is so loud it's unbelievable. My main amp is an American built Peavey Classic 30 which has hade a  a rather expensive speaker put in and now sounds great. I also have a Fender Hot Rod Delux. Now I know that these two amps are far from top of the range, but they go out and do the business and I make them work. I know my tones and settings and all is well.
    So, we come to Saturday night. Robin, with rather expensive kit, can not get his amp to sound right. He may well have a superb guitar and great amp but in between those two lies his pedal board, which I personally would like to strip out, and throw all his pedals except one into the dump and start again, minimising what he has on it and replaving the cheaper pedals with better quality. In cutting a long story short, his sound was truly horrendous on Saturday and was so far up the treble scale it was hurting my ears. No matter what he was playing it sounded. Now he is a nice guy, as nice a person as you could wish to meet and will do anything to help. But he was becoming somewhat snappy with me as I was getting a couple of negative comments from the audience and the guy who runs the venue, with an audience of about 250, we had to be right as we don't like complaints. So, when the opportunity arose and we were on our own, I asked my friend why he was so short tempered with me? Right away his voice rose and he lost his cool shouting and swearing, saying that I was putting him under pressure and he can't handle it. I soaked it up for a minute or two and calmly asked him to hear me out - there's a proverb that says "A soft answer turneth away wrath". I like that and try to remember it when I'm in challenging situations. I told him that no one was being criticised, but I get all the complaints about sound and as we are being paid by the club and return bookings depend on the enjoyment on the night of the club members. Well, I reacted kindly rather than with anger and Robin soon realised that there was no criticism of him but rather we need to help him get his sound right. He's no slouch, but in my opinion, he could do with a decent quality class A 30 watt amp, a decent overdrive pedal, a delay and a boost. Add a tuner and that's enough. I have never understood having a hue amount of pedals in fro nt of you when you don't use three quarters of them. Recently I have come to the conclusion that the less gear you are using the less likely you are to have problems. 
    In fairness to my band mate he immediately apologised for how he had spoken to me and was most sincere, I told him not to worry, it's done and forgotten. So now I am finding that so much of managing the band is actually people management, making sure every one is happy while sorting out problems. Robin is, as I said a nice person and he was quite bothered that he had been the cause of a problem and apologised again several times during the evening and went out of his way to be pleasant. 
    I'm pleased to tell you that even with the sound problem he had, we went down exceptionally well, plenty people dancing and a few encores demanded and three bookings taken for next year. I get on exceptionally well with the venues management, and the boss really likes our way of doing things, which is to turn up early evening, get set up and all ready for playing long before all the club members are ready for the evening to start. I was quite surprised when I was told that many bands turn up later and are setting up while other parts of the evenings activities are taking place, which I feel is totally unacceptable. So, in the end, we worked through the problem, Robin realised he has to do something about getting his sound right and the club members were all going home having had a great night and enjoyed what we did. My next challenge is to get Robin playing sixties style guitar and to not put Led Zeppelin into ABBA - poor analogy, but it makes the point. It's amazing how many rock players can't get out of that heavy chugging style. I spent all my early teenage years as a rhythm player and it did me a huge amount of good, laying a great foundation for later years.
    By the way, I used my 555 on Saturday night, what a guitar!
    On a totally different vein, I have joined Slimming World and at the end of my first four week period, I have lost 15 1/2 Lbs. I have eaten like a horse  and not been hungry at all. I am fed up of being the fat guy in the band and now I'm doing something about it. As I was walking up the stairs in our home to go to go to bed in the early hours of Sunday morning, I was carrying something and by the time I'd reached the top, my six week old jeans had fallen round my ankles. They fitted just right when I bought them but being fifteen pound lighter they now don't stay up. I'm hoping that this time next year I look completely different.
    Thanks for reading.
     
  6. mark555
    What a twelve months I've had, it's been a roller coaster to say the least. It all started at the end of April last year when I was redundant from my job. Thankfully I have always had a mortgage protection insurance policy, so my mortgage is paid for up to two years from one month after the job loss, so we've done alright. It wasn't long before other companies and recruiters were showing interest in me but there was a huge obstacle to over come, which was the possibility of my losing my driving licence in October. Over here in the UK the police have placed so many speed cameras on the roads that it is unbelievable. If you are one mile an hour over the limit, they have you, and three points are on your licence. Get twelve over a three year period and you get an automatic ban for six months. When, like me, you normally drive 50,000 miles a year you are going to get caught sooner or later. This obstacle was too much and no one would take a chance. And, on 23rd of October last year I received a six month driving ban from the court. So, I thought I'll find something where I don't need to drive for work, it was impossible because every prospective employer I approached took the view that as soon as I got my licence back I would go for better employment - in fairness, they were right. But come 15th December, this became a moot point as events took an unexpected turn.t
    With two weeks to go before Christmas, My wife Helen and I had not bought each other our Christmas presents and Helen insisted that we go to a shopping mall about thirty miles south of where we live and she was not taking no for an answer. However, she did not know that rain was falling and as soon as it hit the ground it was turning to a layer of thick black ice which in the dark, we could not see. As Helen was driving, I walked down our drive to get in the passanger door. However, I never made it into the car. I fell forward on the ice, with all my weight going on the front of my foot which turned under itself, giving me five breaks in various bones in my lower leg and ankle. It was rather painful to say the least. I spent two nights and three days in hospital, and was superbly looked after.
    Well, Helen and I thought if trouble comes in threes, we've had three big ones and things can only get better. However, on Sunday January 13th Helen was coming driving home from church on her own (we usually go together but with my broken leg I was unable to attend for a while) when she was blinded by low winter sun and she lost control of the car and wrote it off smashing down some steel railings and taking out a traffic light. She was taken to Hospital in an ambulance and spent the day there getting checked out and getting X rays and what have you. Thankfully, all she suffered with was some very nasty bruising, but that took quite a few weeks to heal - what we learned was that no matter what, your health is all that matters.
    Anyway, without going into it in depth, it's four months today since the injury, and I can now walk without my big plastic support boot if I take it slowly and use a walking stick. But the injuries meant that we had to cancel three months of bookings. In a way, it worked out well because Robin, our other guitar player started with some health issues and the bands down time was helpful to him as well. One of the side effects of my leg break was my getting very fed up with many things in general, but what drive me round the bend was cabin fever, and not being able to get out. Also, because of the cast on my leg I could not take a bath or a shower so every morning I would sit in front of our wash basin and wash and clean up. I remember the first shower I took  after I got the OK from the surgeon (I had two scars, one either side of my ankle from the surgery), that shower felt so luxurious!
    I'd given myself three and a half months recovery time from the accident to the first gig, and we played a venue we go down well at in a town near us on Saturday 6th of April. We were rusty, and even though we'd had a couple of full rehearsals we were out of practice playing live shows and I have to admit that we were nowhere near as tight as we needed to be. However, we are our own worst critics and the crowd enjoyed us. My 27 year old daughter has never seen me play live, so she brought her friend with her and came for the night, she was very impressed and even said she was proud of what I'd done and my playing.
    This last Saturday saw us play our second booking of 2019 at The Lion Pub in Castleford, West Yorkshire. Castleford is very much what you would call in America a Blue Collar town. It's a run down town which had its history in the coal mining industry, and when the mining industry went into rapid decline in the 1980's, many were made redundant and lost their jobs The town has never recovered and the jobs there are low paid. So the crowd we played for were very much a down to earth group of people. The pub itself was quite rough, but the crowd were a nice enough bunch of folks who just want a good Saturday night out with what they have. The Lion is also known as a heavy rock venue and  as we are not a heavy rock band, we did wonder how we would get on, Robin, our other guitar player (AKA Moaning Myrtle) as usual was making his forecasts of doom. But he needn't have worried because right from the word go we had the crowd with us. At the end of the night, many of the pub regulars told us how much they enjoyed the two sets we played and that it was nice to have something different than the usual bands they have week in week out all playing the same stuff. As a band, we do pack a punch when we rock and one of the highlights of the night for us was when we played the old Bad Company song "I Can't Get Enough" complete with the twin lead guitar solos and it sounded superb. We have a return booking for there next year. One last interesting fact about this pub. Mark, whom plays guitar in Wishbone Ash, is from Castleford, we've known him over twenty years and he is currently touring the USA with Wishbone Ash and this is a pub he is well known at. Robin was talking to him on Saturday afternoon via WhatsApp and he said to give the locals his best wishes, so we did, and we got a real cheer and round of applause for that.
    Last of all, I've decided that as soon as I am able to, I am going to pull the trigger on a PRS. Since buying a Telecaster, I have come to love the simplicity of one volume and one tone control. I've also played a couple of PRS guitars and on a personal level they work for me very nicely, and give me all that I require in a working guitar. I feel it would immediately become my go to guitar once I got it. The one I get will be a custom 22 or 24 with trem and mahogany neck, nice burst with a red mahogany back.  Hopefully I will be working in June and that will be when I start looking at the options. The question is, do I sell some guitars to fund one or just buy the PRS? What I may well do is buy the PRS and sell a guitar I don't use. Watch this space, and as usual, thanks for reading.
    Best to all,
    Mark.
    2

  7. mark555

    The year ends....

    By mark555,

    As 2018 comes to a close, the band I play in, Route 62 has had two changes of personal and we are re establishing our selves on our playing circuit and we're happier than we've ever been. Our old guitar player's wife cost us all just short of £2000 but we are now 18 months rid of them both and we no longer hear anything from them. Robin has been playing guitar with us just over a year and has fittted in well, he uses three guitars on stage, a Les Paul RI, a Strat and a Tele. Our Drummer, Graham, is well and truly in the driving seat and fits right in with us personality wise. He's brought a great sense of humour to the band and we like having him around.
    This year we have added a few new venues to our customer base and have gone down well at each of them, getting return bookings. Over here in the UK you get to play the same place three times a year if you are very lucky,  and we have two venues that give us three gigs each. We are aiming to play 26 dates next year, not a lot, but we are al family people, with the exception of our bass player who is divorced, his kids have grown up and he more or less lives alone. He would play three nights a week every week if we would, the band helps him with the loneliness he often feels. However, we now have a very happy line up and for the first time ever we feel that all of us are friends and there are no strains in any of the band relationships. 
    For myself, the year has brought two big challenges. At the end of April I was made redundant from work when the company I worked at started making cutbacks, and I was one of them. The second challenge has been losing my driving licence. This has been because of an accumulation of penalty points on my driving licence. Over here in the UK road side cameras have proliferated alarmingly and if you are one mile an hour over the speed limit they get you. This leads to an automatic 3 points on your licence. Get twelve and you are banned from driving. I was driving 50,000 miles a year with work and just before a lot of points came off my licence I was caught by a camera over the limit. I thought I was in an area with a higher limit than it has and was making an effort to stay within that limit unaware that I was completely wrong. Well, you could say it's my own fault and the courts banned me from driving but I have tried to be very careful and I really do believe (along with any one I speak to) that these cameras are not about safety but are about raising revenue. Even the police refer to them as revenue cameras.
    Not having a driving licence has impacted on me in two ways. First of all it has severely affected my job search and I firmly believe I'd have been back in work by now. The second way it has affected me is the inconvenience. I really do not mind being a passenger, but I now depend on others in the band to help me. A couple of years ago our car broke down and had to go to the repair shop to be put in working order again. not one of the band offered me any help and I had to hire a car ( I was out of work then also) and fuel it. It took more than my share of the gig money to go and play the gig. Not one of the band offered to share a bit more with me and had I just cancelled the gig (due to unforseen circumstances) every one would have lost their share. However, this time, Robin sent every one an e mail telling them that as a band they needed to be willing to help me. So, my wife drops me at all local gigs, and if it's not local she take's me to Robin's house and we go in his VW van and he brings me home from the gig. Also our drummer has brought me home, so it's a different experience for me and no one has said it's my own fault. I've had lots of support from the guys.
    We finished the year with our last gig on Saturday night at a Club in Wakefield, the next town to us. It was only a twenty minute drive there, and it's the third time we have played this venue. They have a new Concert Secretary at this venue and he told me that they are looking for a band to play for the last Saturday of the year next year. Our normal fee for this club is £400, but as it is the New Year event they will pay £1000. So, that will be our biggest fee to date if we get it. Years ago in the UK when the pub and club scene was really in full swing, a semi pro band, if good enough, could ear some really nice money pro rata to what they can earn today. But things change and the industry that led to the organisation of many of these clubs has died. Over here there was lots of coal mining and engineering plants, which have all gone. the Clubs we play are what we call in the UK "Working Men's Clubs" where working people can come out as couples and enjoy entertainment and a social life at greatly reduced costs. Often the clubs had their own Snooker, Pool, Soccer, Crown Green Bowling and other sports teams which would be involved in the local community. They still provide a great night out for people but they are getting thinner on the ground. However, the bigger ones are surviving for the time being. In their hay day, some of the clubs would book top singers such as Tom Jones and other big names and they would be packed. Something else you may find interesting is that the Clubs formed a "Federation" where by if you were a member of one club you could visit another club without paying an entry fee. The Federation of Clubs owned it's own brewery in the North of England called "The Federation Brewery" and distributed beer to the clubs of the federation at greatly reduced prices compared to the big commercial brewery's and the saving was passed on to the club members. Today the aim of the clubs is to plow the profit's back into the club so the members can enjoy a less expensive night out and it is certainly noticable that when we buy drinks we pay 30% at least than when we play in bars and pubs.
    During 2018 I have taken more notice of pedals and how they are used to a better effect. I'm not talking about having a lot of them for the sake of it, but for enhancing the sound. My friend now plays in Wishbone Ash and I've noticed how he and Andy Powell use pedals to great effect. So next year I'm going to try and enhance my own sound just a little bit where it is applicable, and that it the key word - Applicable. I don't use a lot of pedals but for some songs I'd like to combine two or three - for example, the end solo of Throw Down The Sword uses reverb, overdrive and boost. I'd like to be able to switch these on all at once and off together. I am also hoping to get a new amp and guitar. The Amp I would like is a Fender 30 watt Vibroverb which has a beautiful clean tone. I play on a clean setting and use the OD pedal when I need to, I don't channel switch. I will sell my Fender Hot Rod then the Vibroverb will be the number one amp with my Peavey Classic 30 as my back up amp. 
    Now for guitars. I have over the years had a hankering for a PRS but never really had the money. I've always admired them as a quality product and I've decided to try and get one by the end of next year if things go well enough for us. I will never buy a guitar over the needs of our family or home, and over the last few years I could have had several very nice guitars with the money we have elected to make our home a nice place to live in. But if I can, I will save my gig money next year, sell off one of my guitars and buy the PRS I've wanted. There are other guitars I would like just as much, such as a Gretsche Country Gentleman but what has made me settle on the PRS is that every time I have picked one up and played, my playing has been more fluid. On a personal level I find them very comfortable to hang on a strap and stand up for 90 minutes with one round my neck. I know there are other great brands out there, and I would enjoy any one of them. But I am talking about a working tool here that earns me money and the PRS has come to the fore for that reason. when I win the lottery I'll buy a couple of nice H150's, a Music Man Sihouette the Gretsche, and have a few more hand built ones to my speck by top luthiers. Until then I will just make do with the PRS. I've got to find the right one, but the fun is in the search, the work is in the practice and the playing.
    The band always takes January off from gigging for a couple of reasons. First of all, every one has spent up over Christmas, the bills are coming in and it's cold so the venues are all about empty. Secondly, we use January to rehearse new numbers for our set list and now we need two different set lists. One for pubs and bars and a seperate one for the clubs which demand a different type of set. The song I am looking forward to playing most is Blowin' Free by Wishbone Ash, it's a song we all love in the band and to me it fills me full of joy. 
    We finished the year off with a great gig and had to play a twenty minute encore at a club that is known for letting you know if they don't like you and they would have let us play for linger had we done so. But finishing on such a high note has made me look forward to next year and the gigs we will play. I hope you all have a great Christmas and that the new year brings everything you need.
    Thanks for reading, and best wishes to all,
    Mark.
  8. mark555
    It seems like a long time since I last wrote in my blog, yet lots has happened. For those of you who read my blog, you will recall that we were auditioning a new guitar player. Well, Robin is now well and truly embedded in the band and is taking on his share of the load. He's a Les Paul player at heart and his go to guitar is an RI that cost an arm and a leg, but I have managed to switch him on to Telecasters, which he uses on Honky Tonk Women. He's become a real member of the band and has a huge input. I did actually buy the PA from Peter Alton.
    Would you believe it , the old guitarist and his wife were still causing us trouble and making a nuisance of themselves well into this year, but finally we seem to have them off our back. they even contacted Robin, our new guitar player.
    Just when we thought we had the band settled again, we were hit with another problem. Allen, our terrific drummer, had to retire from drumming because he was in too much pain from arthritis, it was making playing impossible and after our last gig of last year he called it a day. I was straight on the phone to Tony, who had stood in with us before and who had said he would gladly join us if Allen ever called it a day. Well, it turns out we missed getting him by two weeks as he had joined a band and was committed to them. However, he has played a couple of gigs with us and we have had a great time playing with him in the band. We held the usual auditions and had the usual range of ability or inability... One guy turned up and by his own admission didn't even try. We did eventually find a cracking drummer called Pete and offered him the job there and then, he accepted and we thought "great, we're away here". He played two gigs with us and three days before the third gig told us he was leaving to join a prog rock band. So, back to the drawing board. to cut a long story short, we offered the drum seat to a really nice guy called Rob, but after one gig it became very apparent he would not be able to make many gigs because of his work as a prison officer and his shift rota. So, back to the drawing board. Our Bass player has a mate at work who is a drummer, he stepped in totally cold and helped us out on a gig, and as we liked his as a person and a drummer, we offered him the gig. He went home to think about it and left the band he was in to join us. Sadly, when he told them he was leaving they got unpleasant and gave him a hard time. Well, he's more than welcome with us.
    Now our aim is to put some more songs into the band and open the set list a bit. Two must do songs are Brown Sugar and 19th Nervous Breakdown by the stones, along with some other standards that go down well.
    We have also bought more lighting, which is a side we want to expand and make the gigs a little more professional. we know we are not a big name band, but we like to try and offer our best. Also we are working on stage craft, looking at what we can do to make more of a show. There's nothing more boring than a band that just stands there. Shaun, our bass player, can be a bit of a BIll Wyman, so we're trying to get him in on the act a bit more. He's a good player and very laid back, so we either play to that or get him moving about a bit.
    This year we could not chase many gigs because of line up changes, the priority was getting the band stable. But we've made a fair few friends along the way and we will get plenty next year. e 
    On the Heritage front, I have put a Duesenberg Les Trem on the 555. There is no drilling and all you do is swap the stop piece for the trem, which is very neat and tidy. Duesenberg trems are superb and it's given the 555 a new lease of life for me and it's been great to gig with, superb on a good old rock and roll where you can just get a bit of sizzle on the pick ups. I couldn't upload a picture of my 555 so I have posted a picture of a Duesenberg with one of their trems on it, although the one in the picture is very different to the one on my 555 fixing wise. I love the Duesenbergs, maybe one day I will get one.
    Meanwhile I am looking forward to the coming summer, we have new venues to play at and new songs to rehearse. One I am really looking forward to playing is Jailbait, by Wishbone Ash.
    Thanks for reading.

  9. mark555
    We're having quite the time in our band just now, we finally feel we are rid of the troublesome pair that was our last guitarist and his wife. We thought we were rid of them after our last gig but they could not let things go. They were sending us e mails, phoning our bass player, they phones my home to cause trouble but Mrs 555 is not a woman you trifle with. She answered the phone and told Mrs Satan never to call our home again and to stop causing trouble. So far she has not made any further attempts to call our home. They have also tried to cause a lot of trouble for us by phoning our venues and cancelling gigs, telling the venue that the band has split up or changed its name and they would take the booking over. When the venues found out the truth, they were not at all happy about being lied to and being used in some petty game to cause trouble. One venue rang them back and told them that they were now black listed and would not be welcome there again. I cold go on but you get the picture. I cannot believe that we ever got involved with such people.
     
    Over the last few weeks we have been busy holding auditions for a new guitar player. On the whole it's been a pain in the neck. We've had some good players come but some of them wanted to be THE lead player and just have us back them, which is never going to happen because the ethos of the band is to ensure what is best for the band and have it sound as good as possible. We had three guys who said that they wanted to join us and then before the week was out they gave back word, two for the reason of wanting to be the main man in the band and the other because he had decided, in the space of three days to move to Vancouver. We got to the point where we were cancelling gigs so we thought we would just take our time and get the right guy in.
     
    This last week I was looking on a site called "Join My Band" and found an ad from a guy who wanted a band to join and he lived in the locality we rehearse at so I talked with him for a while and tried to ascertain where he is at musically and competancy wise. We decided to meet up this Saturday (today) and have a session. It turns out that Wishbone Ash are his favourite band, as they are very much one of the favourite bands of myself and our bass player, and he is a friend of Andy Powell. We also both know Wishbone Ash's new guitar player. But that is by the by. What it does mean though, is finally there was a guy who would play some Wishbone Ash numbers in the band. So we set it up.
     
    He came at the agreed time, and we had two hours. He had not had time to learn our set having only two or three days notice, so I just asked him to play lead on certain numbers and invited him to take leads where ever I could and he did just fine, so we know he has the ability. We offered him the place in the band and he accepted. When I got home I received a really nice e mail from him thanking us for giving him the job in the band and promising to be committed and to learning the songs we need him to. What more can you ask?
     
    We are slowly building our PA up as we need to do so. Our good friend and fellow forum member Peter Alton is selling some nice speakers, stands and cables as he is thinning his gear out (but not his guitars. On a side note he has just sold a 1962 fender 15 watt valve amp that sounds fabulous). So on Tuesday I will pick those up from Peter who lives about sixty miles from me. Peter is a true gentleman and I consider myself fortunate to have him as my friend. It was Heritage guitars that really sparked our friendship as Peter was working one day a week at a guitar shop (not that he needed to) I used to drop in at and as we got to know each other I mentioned that I wanted a Heritage 355 and that I was tired of the Gibson Corporate attitude. It was that which brought us together as Peter at that point, and still does own two very nice Heritage guitars, along with other superb guitars which you will be lucky to see in any retailer.
     
    Anyway, the constant in the band has been our drummer, bass player and myself and we want to keep control of our sound system so we are not left without one again. Although our PA amp is older, it works and is powerful enough to do what ever we need. in case you are wondering, it's a Peavey 600 watt mixer amp. Our new guitarist has a mixer, so we will see how that can enhance the situation.
     
    We really hope that this is now the end of auditions and the start of the new constant line up. our new colleague seems more than willing to learn the songs and parts he needs to. When he comes back from his holidays we are going to have three good rehearsals before we start gigging again.
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Mark.
     
     
     
     
  10. mark555
    A new chapter is about to begin with my band, Route 62. We are finally rid of our other guitarist and his wife, Mrs Satan. It didn't go without trouble though, but we expected it. However, the deadly duo of the Satan's sank to new lows.
     
    We were playing a gig fifty miles from my home and it was the last one we were playing with the present line up, and it is important to state that he left because he chose to do so.
     
    I knew that it was imperative that one of the three of us collected the fee for the night because if they got hold of it because if they did, we knew we would not see a penny of it. So I had a word with the venue manager and she made sure she gave it to me. We actually played very well and we got a return booking for when we have a new guitar player. Even Satan's guitar amp breaking down didn't ruin the set during "Before you accuse me", I just took over lead and played it superbly, the crowd really liked how I played it - think Mrs Satan didn't like that either. He got his amp changed and off we went again.
     
    So, the end of the evening came with four encores and then we packed up. I split the money equally to the penny, and when we were all packed up and we ensured all band gear was in our individual cars and each car was locked, we then then got together to discuss the lighting rig we had all put in equal amounts to buy. We had all put £133 each in to buy a light rig. We knew we would have to give Satan something for his share, we didn't want to, but we knew it had to be done, so a couple of weeks ago after a gig, Allen, Shaun and I got together and decided to offer him £100 for his share, and not a penny more. We know that it we had to sell the lights and split what we got four ways, we would all get less than £100 each because the second hand market is full of light rigs etc.
     
    Well, we got together after the gig in the car park (of all places) and they asked for their share in cash, as we had just collected our fee in cash and they knew we had that on us, they demanded we give them the full £133 they had paid in for the new rig. Right away Allen, our drummer, said no, that is not going to happen because the lights are now used and we were not giving them the full amount. We told them they were getting £100 and that we were being generous with that offer. Well, it's a good job our cars were locked and everything was safe. when they realised there was no way they were getting the full amount, that's when things got very nasty indeed, in fact most of it from Mrs Satan.
     
    They could not grasp the concept of once something has been bought, no matter how recently, the value has gone down. We were extremely fair, giving them 75% if the purchase price. In the UK our equivalent of purchase tax is called Value added tax and is at the rate of 20%, so they virtually got everything back except the tax. Where else would you get that?
     
    Well, Mrs Satan kicked off with abuse that I will not repeat here, all aimed at myself, every four letter word you have ever heard of came out with vitriol that I have never experienced before, she also attacked me for my faith, even though our church has provided free rehearsal facilities which they were more than happy to take advantage of. I have never experienced such hatred and vitriol in my life. She then turned on Allen who told her the reason this was at the stage it is is because of herself. As it got nasty, Shaun, our bass player, who always sits on the fence, just said we should give them the money to put an end to it. Allen and I looked at him in disbelief at what he had just said and we instantly said not a chance. After they had gone, I gently told Shaun that we succeed in these situations by standing together. Well, things continues for quite a while at a very nasty state, I was threatened with violence, and also that they would smash my car. The funniest thing was that they said they would sue us for £33. I just said that was fine if they chose to do so. They were beaten from the word go because none of us raised our voices or retaliated at them in an undignified manner, for which I am truly glad. They showed their true colours and it was very unpleasant. Imagine a situation as bad as it can get and there you have it.
     
    We all feel that a huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders and that we are rid of a great burden. We are auditioning new guitar players on Saturday, and each guitarist has been told in no uncertain circumstances that if they join us, their wife or girlfriend stays out of band business. Break this rule and you will be fired instantly.
     
    So Allen, Shaun and I are very positive about the bands next chapter, on Saturday Shaun bought a fabulous new bass rig, a 200w USA built Ampeg rig that sounds incredible and looks like it just came out of a showroom. Our first job in finding a new band member is to buy some new PA speakers as the ones we have at the moment won't take a a bass drum being mic'd up through them.
     
    So there we are, rid of a giant monkey of our backs and looking forward to moving onwards and upwards. Thanks for reading, I am sure my next blog entry will be far more positive.
     
  11. mark555
    Where on earth do I start with today's entry? I seriously don't know where to start on this one.
     
    The news of the band is that after six weeks out, our superb drummer Allen has returned to playing with us. It's great to have him back, I know exactly when he will hit the beat and when to come in. I've missed his playing. Although, through having a dep drummer, I have made a really good friend in Tony and we are going to meet up socially and build on our friendship. He's made friends with Shaun and I and also our drummer Allen, who phoned him to thank him for standing in for him and helping us out.
     
    I was hoping that all the troubles I have written about so far with Mrs Satan had calmed down, but sadly this has not been the case. While setting up on stage at our best venue two weeks ago, totally unprovoked, she said at the top of her voice so I heard it that I sounded ****. I did not rise to this and ignored it. We played two good sets that night, with the crowd up on the dance floor all night. This was out last night with Tony drumming for us and we had a good time. Lots of pictures were taken, which I have yet to get onto my lap top.
     
    Fast forward one week to last Saturday and we have a gig at a social club and Allen is back with us at last. However, our other guitarist and his wife came and as soon as she sees me she is making comments to the others. After the fist set her husband announces he is leaving the band, and at that point his wife joins in and is abusive and nasty, all of it aimed at myself. This is in a public room at the venue and we don't need it, I said this is not the time to have this discussion, wait until later. However, she and drink don't mix and she is off at full throttle. At this point Allen is telling her to shut up and also saying that this is not the time or the place.
     
    We played our second set and then things got nasty, and there was no going back. What was a real shame for me was that my son was up from where he lives 250 miles away and came to watch us for the first time, and he had to see it. Mrs. Satan was just so nasty but Allen, was not having it and said that the problem isn't Mark, it's you. She then started on him. It was a no win situation for anyone. We got them packed up and on their way home first and the three of us had a chat. We all agreed that this could not go on any longer. She had been making her nasty comments and digs for six months and the three of us have had enough. We were not going to ask him to reconsider and stay with us. I had got to the point where I just didn't want to go out and gig with the band and I considered leaving myself at Christmas.
     
    Shaun, Allen and myself gave it a few days before we phoned each other to see how we felt, and we all felt the same. Move on and get some one else. And that is what we are doing. I went on a website to advertise for a new guitarist and look to see who wanted to join a band. I found an ad placed by a guy who lives in the same town as Shaun who is looking for a band and got in touch. He is the same age as us and after a chat we found we are on the same wave length. I've sent him our set list and we are going to have an audition for him in about two weeks after next weeks gig. I explained everything to him and he said he had experienced the same thing in a band he had played in. he seems a good guy on the phone, if he fits in with us, then he's in and we're up and running again.
     
    This has been quite upsetting for me, I have put up with so much nastiness and let it go, but last week was it for me, and there's no going back. We are all relieved that we will not be having this awful woman come and poison the good spirit we try to have in the band. It has worn us all down and we've all had enough. I'll let you know how we get on with the audition, it needs to work as we have gigs to play.
     
    Thanks, for reading,
    Mark.
     
     
     
     
     
     
  12. mark555
    I thought I would put a picture of our drummer Allen on the blog picture today, Allen has been in hospital for surgery on his back and his leg and is taking six weeks out to get back to full health and recover from the surgery. Allen is an excellent drummer and an extremely nice person. And, this is where our tale starts today.
     
    we have had two drummers dep for us so far, the fist one did a couple of gigs for us, another extremely nice chap called Mick. Tony is depping for us for about four or five bookings and is more my style of drummer, also we hit it off as friends instantly and have enjoyed being in each others company and getting to know each other as friends and band mates - it is true to say that I hope to play in a band with him at some point, and I think it will happen. We click musically and have the same groove.
     
    Now, here's where it gets interesting. Tony comes from the same town as our other guitarist, and indeed it was he who brought Tony in to help out Saturday night in the city of Sheffield, about thirty miles south of where I live. It's one of our favourite venues with a nice big stage that lets you move about a bit. We used our new lighting for the second time and it was great, I think the audience liked them and they certainly added the effect we wanted. However, for the first set, only the two Derby lights at the end of each side of the light bar were working and we couldn't understand why. It turns out we had not switched the foot control on! Needless to say, the second set was a lot brighter! We went down really well and are at the same venue again later this year.
     
    After the night was over, we got packed up ready for home, and our other guitar player and his wife, Mrs Satan, were away first. I am usually ready to go last as I sort the money out and make sure every one was happy that we played to. So, that left Shaun our bass player, Tony the drummer and myself. Now what you need to know is that Madam Satan is all over every one else in the band hugging and kissing them at the beginning and end of the evening, with of course, the exception of myself - and that is how I like it. We are on civil terms and it's left that way. When we were about to go home, I explained to Tony about how things are with Madam Satan, just incase he noticed anything funny. I was worried that he might think he was being negative, but his reply stunned me.........
     
    Tony had played in a band before with our other guitar player for a little while, and he told me that he knew exactly where I was coming from, and that her behavior had caused her husband to be kicked out of the band he was with previous to this band! Not only that, but it was a band he himself had started. He then told me what a nice guy the other guy in the old band was, but Madam Satan had caused so much trouble that they just could not tolerate it any longer.
     
    So, it seems at some point the truth comes out everytime. But I feel totally vindicated in taking the stance that I did and being prepared to get a replacement player if needed, and at this point, Shaun, Allen and myself are ready to implement the change if we ever need to. On a positive side, it's been great getting to know Tony, a top bloke (as we say over here) and making a new friend. The band is playing well and we plan on adding some new material in July.
     
    Thanks for reading,
     
    Mark.
     
     
  13. mark555

    Moving forward

    By mark555,

    It's a Saturday night off gigging, which to be honest, I am glad about because I have been very tired and could do with a rest. No church tomorrow either so I will get up a little later than I usually do and enjoy the rest. Today I have enjoyed a day on the north west coast of England, where our daughter lives, we went to look after her as she is having a rough time with her pregnancy, the new baby is due in August. Today me and Mrs 555 did the seventy mile trip and had a wonderful day with our daughter and granddaughter, taking little Penny out and spending some Nana and Granddad time with our favourite three year old.
     
    Any one who read my last blog and my recent thread about our fellow band members wife causing great difficulty will be aware of the trouble this has caused and how the band was ready to part with our other guitarist. In the end I decided that a change of band member just wasn't in the best interest of the band and it's ability to gig and earn money. In the end I decided that I would be civil with Mrs Satan and speak to her, but at the same time showing her there was no way was I going to give any ground on this and put up with any such behavior again.
     
    I've come to the conclusion that something must have been said between her and her husband privately, because she has changed her attitude and is far better behaved at gigs, and has been pleasant with me. The other two guys have suggested that our other guitarist is enjoying being in our band and earning the money that comes with it. (Not that we earn fortunes, but easily enough to buy a couple of tasty guitars a year if we want). For her behavior to change so quickly we think that she has been told to stop her problem causing by some one! So, the outcome from all this is that she is backing off from interfering with band business and she has probably realised that there is no mileage in causing trouble and that I have the full backing of the bass player and drummer. She has also not been drinking as much alcohol at gigs, but I am pretty sure she is still drinking very strong lager. She seems to have accepted that she has no say in the band and that there is (for want of a better word) a "senior" band member and that is me, and that causing trouble hurts her the most. So the three of us who were united in the decision to fire her husband if needs be are glad that this very difficult and unpleasant period of six months seems to have come to a close and some sort of balance has been restored with Mrs Satan seeming to have realised her place in the grand plan of the band, which is, she is not in the band and has to butt out of business. As a result, we are all nice to her and we seem to have sorted things out by holding back from being aggressive, but still having a plan B for replacing her husband prepared and ready to put into action.
     
    I am really glad the situation is resolved and we are all getting along without the strain, I am glad I held back from speaking my mind too strongly and holding it all together, I think it has been well worth it. Also, calling in an exorcist was also a good move......!!
     
    We have played a few pub gigs lately, in and among the clubs (clubs generally pay more money). We have a total of three gigs at one particular pub this year and the manager of the questioned us as to why we don't have lights, because there is a much better atmosphere with bands that do. So we considered this and decided to invest some of our money in a small lighting rig that will work nicely in a pub or club environment. I was up in the town of Darlington, which is about 100 miles north of me and found a lighting dealer who had a good showroom and was able to demonstrate to me several combinations of what we could get for our budget. The guy really knew his stuff. I had done as much research on the net as I could and found that none of the music shops kept anything we could look at in store or set up, and the store I was recommended to go to was in fact a DJ specialist. But it was obvious they knew what they were talking about and they told me that they sell to a lot of bands. Mike, the owner, was able to educate me and show me that what I came in thinking I wanted, wasn't what I really needed, and what I was asking about was out of date. He showed me a rig he had set up on his wall as a permanent display and played the unplugged version of Hotel California through one of the sound systems while the lights did their thing. I got what he was telling me there and then, which was that we should use that lighting behind us and two warm white spot lights illuminating us from the front. That way we stay lit up naturally but have a stunning light show coming from the stage. So, I went back and told the band what I had found and sent them a couple of links to see the rig working. They were all impressed and said get it ordered. So on Monday, we take delivery of the two warm white spot lights which are bright enough and have enough spread the light us up between them, and the lighting rig. The lighting rig has two Derby Lights, Two cans, four Strobes and a laser which can do no end of stuff. It comes multi programmed with a foot board for changing settings and has wireless technology. When I was talking to our bass player, (he and I are the core of the band) we decided that we would like two of these rigs and to link them together. The effect would be stunning. So it would not surprise me if in another couple of months we are not ordering another one.
     
    I firmly believe that having a good light show will give us more return bookings as the customers of the venues will get a better experience when they come to see us. Once we learn how to get the settings we want for our set list, I think it will definitely give us an edge over many local bands who do not bother with lighting. This will mean a longer wait for my next guitar, but will perhaps enable us to raise our fee's if we can give a more complete and enjoyable experience to the customers of the venues. After all, once you get up on a stage, you are there to entertain your audience, regardless of the genre of music. I just want to be able to give my audience as good a night as I can.
     
    I will let you know how things develop with the lighting side of things, I think it will be a good investment and I am willing to invest some more into lighting later this year. When I can, I will post some pictures.
     
    Thanks for being kind enough to read and best wishes to all.
    mark.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  14. mark555

    Wading through mud...

    By mark555,

    So, the band is gigging and audiences are going away having had a great night. Of course there are better guitar players in bands out there, but this band plays a selection of songs that works for the audience. More of Saturday's gig later in this entry.
     
    I don't talk about the family much in my blog, but this last week has been great, my son, George, turned thirty on Friday, he and his wife came up from Kent, it's a four and a half hour drive for them, and Kimberley is five months pregnant so it's quite a trip for her. My daughter, who is also expecting her second child and her husband came over from Southport, which is a town on the north west coast of England, and of course, my youngest daughter who is almost 26 is living with us so she was already here. We all went out to a Persian restaurant, which I have not experienced before, the food wasn't stunning, but it was very enjoyable and the staff were very good. I had a fabulous night out with the family, it was great to see our adult kids all enjoying each others company.
     
    George treated himself to a very nice Yamaha acoustic guitar for his birthday, he paid £300 for it and I have to say it's excellent for the money. He brought it up with him to show me, and I showed him how to oil the fretboard and generally maintain it. We're very close and I am very proud of him, he's carving himself a career in Law as a solicitor at an excellent law firm and he is well thought of. I'm lucky, I have three great kids.
     
    I've been out and about trying some nice guitars this week and was really impressed with a used metallic musicman silhouette with a trem. I really think those are excellent guitars, although it's only the Silhouette I have a liking for. It sounded really clear and played very nicely, but at £1100 used I don't have the cash for it yet. I also played a Duesenberg because I have had a serious bout of gas for the sparkle red or blue single they make. When I tried it though, I didn't think it gave me the sound I was after. A few weeks ago I played a Gretsche Country Gentleman with a Bigsby on it and it played itself and sounded wonderful - instant George Harrison and the tones were fantastic, so I decided that there was no contest between the two for now. So I have narrowed my choice down to the Musicman and the Gretsche for a choice the next time my gig money mounts up enough to let me pull the trigger if the right one comes along.
     
    Saturday night's gig was at a venue we have now played three times and we go down very well at, so we like going there. I have developed a good relationship with the people who run it and call in to spend half an hour with them when I am in the area, it's about an hour north of where I live. I have to say that after all the nastiness that went off the week before, I was not looking forward to the gig at all, worrying about what might occur if our other guitarists wife was in the mood for trouble. However, that morning I'd had a telephone conversation with our drummer, Allen, who is very level headed and easy going. But he told me how disgusted he had been at the conduct of "Carole" and how she had shown the band up in a bad light with her foul language and her drunken antics and that he wanted to sit elsewhere when we were not on stage. Our bass player is not related to me, but we are "brothers", we share the same beliefs, we have known each other since we were young and our parents are friendly with each other. I don't think I have ever had a more loyal friend. But when I found out how our drummer felt and that he was on side with our bass player and myself, it made me feel a lot better. we all agreed that we don't want to lose our other guitar player as he brings much to the band, plays well and we like him. However, the nastiness towards me from his wife has been going on since before Christmas now and it is wearing us all down and we agreed that if it doesn't stop we will cut him loose and replace him. Ad's have already gone out on a website to see who responds.
     
    Anyway, my brother came to the gig on Saturday and we are very close, he also knows our bass player very well so the three of us kept each other company between sets and stayed out of the way of Mrs Satan, I was pleasant to her when I was in her company but did not make too much effort to bother with her much at all. She did not like the fact that she was not the centre of attention, and we all feel that is part of her problem, she's a spoiled brat who needs to grow up and act like an adult. No trouble started and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
     
    Now for the good stuff....! The stage at Saturday's venue enabled us to have plenty space each, so for the first time ever in this band I took my 555 out and played it live! Oh boy, did it perform for me! It was great to play it and it was the classiest guitar on the stage!! With the £ dropping against the $ here in the UK, a new 555 must be the best part of £3,500 now. So buying it used for £800 a few years back was an excellent decision. I played a variety of numbers on it, from Chuck Berry's The Promised Land, Santana's version of Black Magic Woman to songs by the Stones, The searchers, Dave Edmunds and others and I loved it. I will definitely take it out again when we play on bigger stages. I used the Tokai for the second set. After playing strats and a Tele for all the other gigs we've done, I felt the humbuckers gave me that bit more depth. The Heritage is an excellent guitar, built by great guys at a factory that has, pardon the pun, "Heritage". But the Tokai can really do the job and I have to say that I really do think the Japanese know how to produce great guitars. Over here in the UK USA built guitars cost a lot of money compared to what you pay for them in the States, so a good Japanese guitar will equal a gibson at half the money. So the Tokai Love Rock (Les Paul Standard) really did the job and when called for I could let it rip with a bit of lead playing and it gave me the tones I wanted for the songs. I also loved the neck which is modeled on the 59 Les Paul Standard, nice and meaty.
     
    But what amazes me was how the sunburst went through a spectrum of colours as the lighting changed, the most spectacular one looking like a Tobacco sunburst, which I have posted here, you can see some of the other colours it went on my thread on the family tree. All the colours it went were spectacular and must have looked great from an audience view. Seeing the Tobacco sunburst really made me think I ought to get one!
     
    So, the night passed without incident and I got home at 1.30. As I drive home I try not to listen to music so that I can unwind, so I listen to BBC Radio 4. at 00.45 each morning they give the "shipping forecast", which is a detailed weather forecast for each area of sea around the British Ilse. It is preceeded by a piece of music called "Sailing by" which I have grown to really like, and although I am not on a boat or ship somewhere at sea, I just find listening to the forecast - how odd is that?
     
    Well there you go, life in a band, let's see what happens next. Our drummer go's into hospital for an operation next week, so we have a drummer depping for him for six weeks, that will be interesting.
     
    best to all and thanks for reading,
     
    Mark.
     
     
     
     
     
  15. mark555
    Music is fun, Right? Or at least it's supposed to be. I've always thought that if you play in a band you do it to enjoy playing and when you get paid for it then you are worth the money you earn. The best thing about being in a band other than playing music you really like, is being out with your mates, or as you Americans say, your buddies. To me, getting along well with all the other guys and enjoying their company is the number one priority.
     
    On the whole the relationship within the band is really good, no ego's getting in the way of getting things done and a common aim of being the best band we can be. At our age some of the younger guys are leaping about a bit more and what have you, but we put on a good show.
     
    For the first time in our two years, coming up to Christmas and the new year an element of rot set in between the guys. And what was it caused by? One of the guy's wife putting her oar in where it was not needed. One band member always brings his wife to a gig - nothing wrong with that at all and she is most welcome. But the three other wives leave "the band" to manage and get along with running things, Keeping out of band business and not giving any opinions. We all try and bring what we have to the party for the benefit of the band. But we will call this wife Carole, it's not her real name. But Carole likes to pass comments and organize where she is not required, and when she has had a few drinks she becomes a little different. One night the band has played a gig, it's a month or two away from Christmas and the club we are playing wants to book us for new year at £600. Not a fortune, but £150 in my pocket is well worth it to me as I have been out of work for a while. The figure is being negotiated and behind the door from where the guy who says yes is, Carole is giving me grief that we are not asking enough and we should be going out for £1000 on new years eve. Well, that was the case in years gone by, but the Working Men's Clubs don't have the money they once had and depending on which club you are at, £600 is very nice for an evening's work. Every one of us agreed, having raised the guy up from £400 to £600. The very next day Carole's husband says he won't do it. We all agreed that all he was doing was making a point with his wife. We didn't do any think about it as it would not have been in the bands interest and I am not interested in scoring points over any one. But Carole had been coming to gigs and muttering things to our bass player such as "Mark hates me", which is nonsense, but I was getting tired of her antics, which usually start when alcohol is involved.
     
    So, what do you do? At one point I was ready to leave and call it a draw, or even get a replacement for the band member concerned. But putting my business head on I knew that if the situation could be manged without any further upsets, the band would progress because the basic line up is right and the formula we have seems to be successful. I talked it all over with a couple of friends who are musicians in working bands to get their perspective on the situation, they were pretty much on my wave length, One of my friends said "it's your band, don't put up with it", another said "the next time you get up to play tell the audience that Carole is going to sing the next song, and when she looks and says I'm not in the band, then tell her to stay out of band business". No
     
    What I decided to do was not stir the pot. As we had a few weeks of playing, I decided to leave things alone and calm down. We all e mailed each other with Christmas greetings and took a break. Coming back together in January to rehearse a couple of new numbers there was no ill feeling, every one got along really well as we do 99% of the time and we had a good get together, and added a superb version of Roy Orbison's "Pretty woman" to the set. We played it at the first gig of the year and it went down a storm. We are also adding "The Summer of 69" into the set list because almost every where we play we get asked to play it.
     
    I think think the moral of the story is use your head and stay cool about these situations, and if there is a way to avoid a rift, find it and implement it so that the good of the band is the first thing. I still believe that each member of our band is a really great guy and we all have our own flaws and imperfections which we just have to live with. We get on well and it shows in the music we play and the gigs we put on. My big buddy in the band is our bass player, Shaun. He has been my mate since we were kids and he is the opposite of me, he's extremely quiet and will never come down one way or another in a band disagreement, which can be very frustrating. On Stage he is like Bill Wyman, he just stands and plays, never cracks a smile.... But we compliment each other, sometimes I bring some life into him and he will get more animated and he will keep me level headed when I need to be, it's a good balancing act - like an old fashioned set of scales with a half pound weight on one side and two two ounce weights and four four ounce weights on the other side. The scales are balanced by the same weight but coming in different formats.
     
    I did hold back from phoning round for gigs at the end of the year, because I wanted to see what happened, but now that things are steady I shall be seeing what's going on and trying to find some new venues to play at.
     
    As far as guitars go, I would really like to add a couple to the stable this year. I would love a Gretsche and also something like a Duesenberg. I really have a fancying for something that looks fantastic on stage, maybe in candy apple red or some finish like a blue sparkle. Anyway, I will add a picture or two of what I have in mind.
     
    Best wishes to all and thanks for reading.
     
     
     
  16. mark555

    It's not always fun

    By mark555,

    Well, this band business isn't always as easy as we would want it to be. I still find that I am the only one chasing the gigs and when our other guitar players wife chimed in with all that she "does" to get us gigs I said that if she was trying there would be results to show for it, which went down like a brick in a swimming pool. So I have backed off the phone for a while to give myself a break although I keep going back to it to get us more gigs. We're earning better money just now which also helps.
     
    A few weeks back I thought it would just be much easier if we got an agent because they seem to have some of the gigs we want sown up. I can only say how much a regret even thinking of that. We ended up playing a "showcase" for an agent and I have never been to such an unprofessional event in my life. In fact, before we even set up two of us wanted to put our gear back in the cars and just go home. I haven't the inclination to go into it in detail but what a waste of time it was and the agent concerned has put some poison down for us a result. Well, we can deal with that in our own way. But from now on we see to our own affairs.
     
    One thing that really upset me was that on Saturday we played a really good venue for us in the city of Leeds, it was a well paying gig and the venue was a big social club. We hadn't played together for three weeks and I had made the mistake of concentrating my practicing on learning some new instrumentals by one of my favourite bands, "The Shadows". I wanted to learn Foot Tapper because it is brilliant for getting the flow element of your playing going really well. anyway, we were playing three sets that night, and we opened the second set with me playing lead on Whiskey In The Jar (thin Lizzy version). Well everything that did go wrong could go wrong and I really made a right mess of it all and really had a mental block. I just could not find those notes and it left a huge hole in the song. What I did was play an improvised melody within the scale of the chord sequence. I was sickened because I had found the episode with the Agent very upsetting and I really needed to get back on the horse (so to speak) with some positive experiences. Well we carried on of course, but although people enjoyed our set, I was sickened because I felt that I had let the rest of the guys in the band down. I can not tell you how upset and negative it left me feeling, it left me feeling that I just did not want to play the guitar at all for a while but also knowing that it was imperative to open the case, strap it on and practice,
     
    We have another gig at one of our favourite venues this coming Saturday, so I have been really practicing what I got wrong to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
     
    I think sometimes we can all forget how important it is to practice the stuff we know so well or we will forget it and risk doing what I did which was make a fool of myself on what is usually one of the high spots of our set list. I am going to make sure that never happens again.
     
    On to guitars: I recently played a fabulous strat style guitar made by Levinson, it has the "Blade" logo on the headstock and had a HSS pick up format, with a coil tap and boost switch for the pick ups that upped the volume from rhythm to lead volume in one switch, the pick ups were active and sounded fantastic. The colour was a translucent purple on a solid ash body with an ebony fretboard. this guitar was made in the far east and was the equal of anything out of the any of the California custom shops, Fender or otherwise. For what it was, £1200 was not a lot of money. I'm out of work just now, if I was in work I would have seriously considered buying it because by its nature it would have become my go to guitar instantly. Maybe later on next year if I can find another one that I can afford. They come in at about £1800 new, but you are not buying a brand when you buy one of these, you are buying a proper player's guitar. Here's a picture of it.
     
    Thanks for reading.
  17. mark555

    it can be frustrating

    By mark555,

    Well, the band is gigging on a regular basis and we are all getting along incredibly well, no ego's, we all have a great time when we're out and about. this year we almost have the diary filled with the bookings we want, we only want to play one venue each weekend, it suits us all and earns us enough money to buy some more gear as and when we want it.
     
    But as well as pleasure, it can be somewhat frustrating for me as I feel that I am the only one trying to get us gigs. A couple of weekends ago I was in the phone all Friday and Saturday night trying to speak with the right people, I got us one good gig. We don't use agents, they take a big cut and who's to say that they will give you their best efforts? For example, I phoned one agent who's secretary said to email them. I did so over a week back and have not had any acknowledgement of my e mail at all.
     
    Our target audience are in Pubs and Clubs. The clubs I am referring to are Working Men's Clubs, something perculiar to the UK as far as I am aware. These are members only and over the years have provided great venues for bands to play and in the past earn good money. However, they are sadly in decline now. In the sixties and seventies, the clubs could provide a half decent musician with a full time living, and being professional did not need you to be Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck. Some of the clubs actually had some of the top names in British entertainment play at them.
     
    The guy who books the acts for the clubs is the concert secretary. Some of these guys are a total pain in the neck. They should be booking bands on the members behalf, but they often only book who they like, and many a band will play a venue, go down really well, and then get told they can not get a return booking. This has happened to us a couple of times lately and we find it very frustrating. We know there are good bands out there but some of them are nothing special and are getting bookings at places we can't get through the door at because they use an agent. A lot of venues are now booking singers with backing tapes, we call them karaoke singers and can not take them seriously. How can you call them a live act when their backing music is all tapes? In years gone by each club had a resident drummer and organist, and each singer would bring their music with them and have live backing.
     
    As a kid I would go and watch bands in the working men'/s clubs, and I saw some really good players on some of those stages, as well as some really mediocre stuff. But we didn't care, it was live and we were watching people play real guitars through real amps and we loved it.
     
    I have been looking at Musicman Silhouette guitars of late and they really appeal to me, but first I need a new amp, I will only buy for cash, no credit, no credit cards, just the old fashioned way of doing things these days. Debt is to avoided at all costs.
     
    Anyway, we keep finding new places to play, I target individual towns and cities to find out what venues they have and then spend several hours over a few days calling them on the phone. No one is unpleasant, they are all helpful even if they don't want to book you.
     
    Thanks for being kind enough to read.
  18. mark555

    catching up.

    By mark555,

    The band has been very busy gigging these past few months and on the whole we're doing alright. We went down really well at a club down in South Yorkshire and the audience want us back, but then we found out that the concert secretary has decided that he is only going to book entertainment through an agent, so they won't give us a return booking even though they know firsthand how good we are at what we do. It's a shame because it was a well paid gig and on top of that, the club members who pay their membership fees do not get to see the entertainment they want. Our band does not want to work through agents because they take a big cut and do nothing. Right now so many of them are sending out singers who sing to backing tapes and when we go out we here people say that they want a live band that plays it's instruments and brings some excitement to the place. We have twenty gigs lined up for next year so far and hope to add another ten or twenty to that number.
     
    However, last night we were booked to play at a club here in my home town of Huddersfield. We turned up at seven in the evening to set up and have a sound check, ready to go on stage at nine. However, not one person turned up to the club and at five to nine we took our fee for the night and packed our gear away. I have never experienced that before, what we saw was actually a badly run club which is dying and will probably close down in a couple of years.
     
    We've played some good venues lately and the band is earning good money. This year I have bought two new guitars from my band earnings and I have a nice pot of money that grows weekly. However, with work on our home needing doing, for now that is going to be where I spend my gig money on. Next year I hope to buy a Fender Vibroluxe and possibly a really good guitar. I don't know what brand, I will know when I find it. I have a hankering for something that is not widely available and will stand out from the rest. It won't be a Gibson, that is for sure, I will never buy one again, Also not a fender. I fancy an Anderson or possibly a Musicman Sillhouette.
     
    Well, here is wishing each of you the very best in your playing and thanks for reading.
  19. mark555

    It comes in threes

    By mark555,

    Our band of merry minstrals have been playing an awful lot lately, and in fairness to blog readers, reading about this gig and that gig gets repetative, so I haven't posted lots of duplicate blog entries. But these last few weeks have been eventful to say the least.
     
    They actually started off with a celebration, as my best mate and fellow band member Shaun married his girlfriend of the last eighteen months. I actually spoke at the wedding which was held at the church we both attend. It was a quiet event, not many people there are the bride wanted a quiet affair, and so it was.
     
    The Friday after, we were playing at a Social Club in Doncaster, which is in South Yorkshire. The club is very nice, full of friendly people. On that night it was mainly older folk in the audience so it was pretty much laid on that there would be a lot of rock and roll played, as that is what goes down very well at these venues. The club was filling up early so we expected a good night. We were on stage at 8.30 for the first of three sets. At quarter to nine I looked at our bass player and let him know I felt sick. Ten minutes later the room was spinning and I could not stand up. I managed to get outside for some air, but ended up laid down on the floor by the front door of the club being sick and sweating. The club insisted that an ambulance was called and I was taken to hospital. There was no way I was finishing the gig, I just wanted to lie down with my eyes shut.
     
    To cut a long story short, it turns out that I had experienced a viral attack which manifested itself with a very nasty case of vertigo. I spent 24 hours in hospital and in the late evening on Saturday night I was allowed to go home and rest. Shaun and his wife were visiting me that evening, so he took me home, which was appreciated, he is a really nice guy. I was glad to be home and in my own bed.
     
    But the real bombshell landed this weekend. I found out that my friend's new wife had tried to take her own life just ten days after the wedding. It was all to do with stuff from the past and goodness knows what else. my friend is devastated, and of course the question is; will this happen again? we and is extended family will rally round with support, but we really don't know where this is going to go.
     
    So, Saturday we had a practice to go over a couple of songs we want to put in the set, well three to be exact. It then turns out that Dave's Marshall amp wouldn't work, so he is going to have to sort that out this week as we have a gig on friday. It wouldn't surprise me if he turns up with a new amp. It has made me realize that I need to get a second amp for back up.
     
    Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of where we played in Doncaster.
     
    Thanks for reading and best wishes to every one.
     

     

  20. mark555

    Telecasting

    By mark555,

    Another gig under our belt, we played a venue called Netherton Conservative Club. With a small audience of about eighty, we played two sets of forty five minutes and one hour. The venue has the smallest stage I have ever played on - we had our mics fully extended and set on the dance floor. The club was well out of town and located in a nice setting, but humping the gear in and out was a pain in the neck because the door was a long way from the car park. We did not get a return booking there and then, which I would have liked to have secured, but I will be phoning back in a day or two as it's two weeks since we played. I must admit that I will not be too bothered if we don't get back there, but I see getting a return booking as part of a successful gig. We went down well, but I made a couple of howling mistakes in that I totally forgot some of the words of one song, and while playing a popular instrumental, I completely forgot where I was supposed to put my fingers. What was nice though, was a friend I haven't seen for a long time came about fifty miles to watch us play, he had seen my ad for the gig on facebook and decided to come over. We were a little rusty because our bass player had been in Australia for his son's wedding and had stayed a month, so we had only had one practice before the gig.
     
    Anyway, we're still finding venues to play, social clubs around Yorkshire in the main. I don't know what the US equivalent of these clubs are, but at one time the club circuit was huge in Britain.
     
    Well, today the main high spot of my rehearsal session with the band was using my Tokai Telecaster. That guitar is just a joy to play. As I am getting used to playing a telecaster, I understand why so many players love them. I am finding that I can use it on more and more numbers that we play, and it just cuts right through the mix and rings like a bell. I love it for playing early rock and roll and it just does the job so well, My friend Dave who plays in another local band, calls them a "Grown ups guitar". i waited a long time to get this instrument and it has been well worth the wait. Sometimes, somethings just work really well, and this guitar is one of those things, On top of that, it is so comfortable to play.
     
    One thing I have decided upon is that for the time being I have enough guitars, and what I really need is another amp I would be comfortable gigging with. For two reasons, the first is that I need a back up if my amp breaks down, and second, I can use humbuckers through it without having to take one guitar out and change all the settings. I am saving my gig money up to pay for it, with the gigs we have booked, I will soon have another amp.
     
    our next gig is in July, hopefully soon I will have some pictures to post of our gigs.
     
    On a different note, I have started to try and lose weight. I am way heavier than I should be and I am sick of it. I do not want to be the fat one in the band and so far I have lost four pounds - it's one small step for mark and one giant leap of hope! I have given myself a year to get to where I want to be. Here's hoping I can stay the course.
     
    To all those kind enough to read my blog, thank you so much, it is much appreciated.
     
  21. mark555
    Hello Every one, it's time I took some time to write another entry and update the story of the band's journey. I really appreciate that some of you take time to read my blog as I really do enjoy writing it.
     
    We're well and truly in gigging mode now, and are getting more bookings than I thought we would, and going down really well wherever we are asked to play. Crowds have been of various sizes, from good to almost empty, but we have always tried to be as professional as we can be regardless of how many people have been at the venue. We are getting paid well for a club/pub band, we are reaching £350 for some gigs, which is good for where we want to be.
     
    One of the jobs I seem to have landed is that of finding gigs for us to play at, but I do get help from Sue, our other guitar players wife who is very good at making an effort and can be quite successful. To get the gigs though, I often have to spend a couple of evenings on the phone, searching out where the venues are on the internet, and trying several times to speak to the right person.
     
    I think I prefer to play at the Working Men's Clubs, some of which are quite impressive. Some of the pubs are ok, but very few have a stage, you just move a few tables out of the way and set up. A couple of weeks back we played a pub in my home town of Huddersfield and we got two return bookings right away for next year. the pubs usually give us a return booking, but the clubs are different and although we have had promises of further gigs, some have yet to materialise and the usual excuse is that the concert secretary's haven't got their 2016 diaries yet. I suppose that they haven't thought about downloading and printing one off for free.
     
    We've taken over £5000 in bookings so far, and out of the money I've already earned I have bought myself a Classic Player Strat in Fiesta Red, I did post pictures of it a few weeks back. But I intend on saving my share of the band earnings and just letting it accumulate until I decide what to do with it.
     
    Playing gigs is one thing, but it can take a lot of work to get them. Some of the venues only book through agents, and those guys can be a pain to deal with. So far we have handled our own affairs and hopefully it will stay that way.
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Mark.
  22. mark555
    Having put so much work in to the band, we are now playing live and played our first gig with the present line up, which we feel will be permanent. We all get along together and feel we have a common goal with none of us just tagging along.
     
    Our gig was at a nice pub on the outskirts of Huddersfield, called The Wagon and Horses, which is run by a young couple who seem to be doing a good job of it. With it being what we call in England a "Bank Holiday Weekend" it could have gone either way as to if any one came or not. But without the place being too full, a good crowd of local people of all ages were in.
     
    We went on and started our first set at 9:10pm and played for an hour, we opened our set with "Down At The Doctors" by Doctor Feelgood. At 11pm we played our second set and finished bang on 12 midnight. Our set list is composed of a mixture of rock and roll, 60's music, a couple of blues numbers and basic Rhythm and Blues. Lead guitar parts were shared equally between myself and Dave.
     
    I am really pleased to be able to tell you that we were really well received by the audience who applauded us after each song we played, and towards the end of the night were singing along with us and some were dancing. When we were packing up the gear, Lauren, co owner of the pub, came across to us with her diary and gave us two more bookings at £250 each for later in the year. That sum may not seem a lot, but it is good for the local pub scene. We have a booking for £300 in August. Sadly, over here in the UK band earnings have been the same for fifteen years or so now.
     
    What was really great was the fact that my 28 year old son George is visiting us and he and his friend came to watch and they really enjoyed us, there's something special about your son coming to see you play and having him tell you he thought you were great!
     
    One of the signs of being well received by your audience, as you will know, is that some of the audience will want to come and talk to you. A couple of older guys in their 70's wanted to come and and chat with us, because I was fronting the band I seemed to be their band member of choice! I considered it a compliment, although one old chap wouldn't let me get away and I was desperate to pack up and get home to bed! I finally got home at 1.30am.
     
    For the gig I used my strat, which has a Seymour Duncan JB Junior in the bridge slot, and also my Tokai Telecaster. I was so thrilled how well the Tokai performed and I can understand why so many players love their Telecasters. I used my Hot Rod DeLux amp and a pedal board which contained a pedal tuner, a reverb pedal, compressor, and an overdrive pedal. I found using the pedals an excellent way of controlling volume and effects without having to constantly turn to alter the amp. Dave, our other guitar player mainly used one of his three PRS guitars, a swamp ash special, and also a Les Paul. He uses a Marshall amp. Shaun used his 37 year old fender Precision and also his Precision bass which he built himself - a bass version of a partscaster. The one in the photo I am attaching is the partscaster precision. He plays through a Fender Bass amp with a 4 x 10 cab.
     
    It's been quite the journey to get to this point but the end result has been well worth it. Thanks for reading.
     

  23. mark555

    it never rains....

    By mark555,

    Trying to get a band up and running is full of twists and turns that you just don't expect to find.
     
    having completed a set list of over thirty numbers we are now ready to polish them to performance level and we have gigs booked. Then, this week, we all get an e mail from Terry our drummer saying he is quitting. He told me that he is not going to join any other band, but he wants to do other things. He and his brother have bought a narrow boat and want to go off on it at weekends with their wives and just enjoy themselves. Also, he has lost enthusiasm for drumming and looking back this has shown because he hasn't learned new songs he needed to and it was worrying me just enough to make me wonder why he wasn't making the effort. Terry is truly a nice guy and a gentleman, and he told me that as far as a bunch of guys go, we are terrific to be around and good musicians to play alongside. We shall remain friends, and after all, if his heart is not in it, we might as well look elsewhere.
     
    Never being one to let the grass grow under my feet, I have contacted Allen, a guy who I get on with very well who has been in a band with me before that didn't get off the ground, It turns out that his band is doing nothing and he was pleased to hear from me, we always got along very well and stayed friends. The upshot is that he is coming to play with us next saturday with the intention of joining us if it goes well, and there is no reason why it shouldn't.
     
    We still had a band practice this weekend, if for no other reason than to keep the discipline of practicing going. However, it was a bit of a waste of time because it was playing with a huge hole in the sound which just killed our enthusiasm. However, we did use some of the time to mess around with one or two new ideas.
     
    Now on to things that really matter. Tomorrow is the funeral of our dear and very close friend Peter. Helen and I have been friends with him and his wife Sue since our kids were babies, and all our kids are the best of friends. Sue and Peter are more like family to us than some of our blood family and tomorrow will be a tough day for them, so we have to help them get through it. The next couple of years will be tough for Sue, in a house on her own, she and Pete were one of the most together couples I have ever seen, you didn't find one without the other. Guitars and bands are great, but it's people who really matter.
  24. mark555

    Taking bookings

    By mark555,

    I feel like we have crossed a really important bridge now, and that things are not going to be so difficult. We are now a band that is taking bookings and the fees are pretty good for a band of our ilk. More of that later. We are now a steady line up with committed musicians in the line up. It's been an up and down journey, losing two band members along the way. However, Shaun and I were determined it was not going to finish after all that hard work.
     
    We now have 33 numbers that we can go out and gig with, all we are doing now is polishing them up and getting them right, we are 85% there and the next four rehearsals will get us to where we want to be. I have plenty of practicing at home to do, but I can do that.
     
    I spent all Thursday night on the phone trying to contact the people who book bands for their venue, I got a good booking for a venue in Sheffield for August 22nd. One booking as a result of an evenings work on the phone, but out of all the places I called I actually only managed to speak to one guy and he booked us. A big working mans club in the city of Sheffield, £300 for the night and hopefully some return gigs. We have another booking for 27th of this month, at £225 at a pub in Huddersfield. The rest of the band were very happy about my work, but I reminded them that if they want to help by doing the same themselves it would be very much appreiciated, but I am not confident the others will do it.
     
    I love having a Telecaster. OK, it's not a Fender, but it is as good as most of the fender Tele's I have played. It's great for Stones songs, Honky Tonk Woman and it's all over now sound terrific, the clarity is spot on. I can understand why Telecasters are the favourite guitar of many players, I must admit that right now, although I use it on only a few of our numbers, my Tele is my favourite guitar and not just because it is new.
     
    Anyway, The rehearsals are great now, we just go through the songs and go from one to another, where as it was taking some time to get some of them down. We have four rehearsals until our first paid gig as our current line up.
     
    One thing that has struck me, Shaun and I started out last year with just he and I, auditioning players to join us. We had previously had a band that just would not work. We got a new guitar player and lost him, a great drummer and lost him. The end result was two new band members who have brought a better level of commitment and are easier to play with. Allen, our new drummer, was in the line up we had when it wouldn't work, and now there are three of us from that line up and it's working great. The difference being the lack of a weak link. And the difference that makes is huge.
     
    Thanks for reading.
  25. mark555

    Things are looking up!

    By mark555,

    After the abismal session we had last week without a drummer, things are looking up.
     
    During the week I decided to call a friend, Allen, who Shaun and I have played with before in a band we just could not get up and running. By good fortune for us, it turned out that Allen has not been playing any gigs since last summer and was fed up with his current band's lack of enthusiasm for going out and playing.As we had always got along together and had made a point of trying to stay in touch, and we arranged for him to come and play with us today.
     
    All four of us were very pleased how the rehearsal went and we had one of the best practices we've had in along time. I really like Terry, out old drummer, he's a terrific guy who I hope to stay in touch with, but the difference in having a drummer who us really up for it from one who had lost interest makes a huge difference and we just played song after song, with playing a few once or twice again just to get right. Even though we are all at a decent level, we still had to get used to playing with a new drummer and he with us. that was soon sorted out though.
     
    We had a great rehearsal and next week we are practicing on Friday night because my little Granddaughter is coming for the afternoon and I'm not missing that for any one!
     
    Thanks for reading.
×
×
  • Create New...