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mark555

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  1. mark555

    a different practice

    By mark555,

    Normally we practice as a full four piece, but today was a little different in that Terry, our drummer called me today full of flu and not only that, his home was bugled on Thursday night while he and his wife slept in their beds. In truth, he just needed some time to unwind and rest. So, undaunted, Dave, Shaun and I decided to practice and just kick some songs about that Dave did in his last band and just concentrate on guitar and bass parts.
     
    It was actually time well spent, and we didn't have to play as loud as we normally would. On top of that, Shaun and I got a nice surprise, Dave turned up with a full PA and a brand new mixer, saving us a lot of money. Now what I can't understand is why singers do not want to spend money on anything but a mic, yet here we have a guitar player who has spent money on some nice PA. Mind you, he was earning in his last band for eighteen years.
     
    So today we kicked the following numbers about to see if we want to progress them to completion.
    Won't get fooled again
    Substitute
    The last time
    Keep on Running

    I think we will get them all to gigging standard, but I turned my nose up at Born to be wild, but it was pointed out to me that Bikers like it. I don't know about that one, it seems a bit cheesy to me.
     
    On topic that came up is when do we start looking for gigs. I have always wanted everything right before I even think about looking for gigs but I am being pushed in this situation to start looking before I think I am ready to look. I have to remember that I am one of four band members, but I am sure Shaun will come down on my side because he saw what happened when one previous band members pushed us to play before we were ready. When I gig I want the people watching to be impressed and enjoy what we do.
  2. mark555
    There is a saying that go's "While the cat's away, the mice will play".
     
    Now I am not saying Mrs 555 is a cat, that would not be nice! But she and our youngest daughter went to Liverpool on Friday and got home at Midnight on Saturday, and I like having the house to myself! Friday night I watched what I wanted on TV and found that a Billy Joel concert from back in 87 in Moscow was being shown, and it was very good, so after that i climbed into bed and read for half an hour.
     
    Normally on a Saturday morning, after a week of getting up at 5.15am five days a week, I like to surface at a time of my choice, but not today. I was awakened by the sound of high pressure jetting going on at seven, not too far from the bedroom window where I was sleeping soundly. What had happened was that the sewer that tuns under our garden and the neighbours garden, had blocked up, and our very good neighbour had called out the water authorities to get it cleared. Those poor guys have an awful job to do, but I was glad that they came, even if it did cost me my lie in bed.
     
    So, after a morning of shopping for the family groceries for the week and going to the garden centre for new hanging baskets, it was time to set of for band practice. We always say that family comes first, and because of commitments we have had among the band within our own families we haven't rehearsed for a couple of weeks. And I was dreading the rehearsal because I ad not picked up a guitar since our last one. But how ironic, the first song we ran through was Whiskey in the Jar (I play lead on this one) and I played flawlessly! Would you believe it? Maybe two weeks of not playing unscrambled some of the wiring in my head and allowed my brain and fingers to communicate with each other a little better than usual! I was very surprised.
     
    We learned two more songs, Tom Petty's Running Down a Dream, and the Gary Moore version of Thin Lizzy's Don't believe a word, both great to play. And here's where the strength of this bands line up was showing, I could concentrate on playing as Dave, our other guitar player took the vocals on both songs. Just playing guitar is great, you do so much better, on saying that I take the vocals on Whiskey in The Jar.
     
    Today we had our first practice at our new rehearsal venue, which is our church in another town, about ten miles away from where we rehearsed previously, but this building has much better access than the previous one, and for some reason, we like it much better. I think that there was a very positive vibe going on between us all, it worked to our advantage and we were all pleased with the days results. We finished off with Rock Around The Clock, just for a bit of fun. By five pm we were all away heading for home.
     
    Last Thursday, Allen, the drummer from our old band dropped me an e mail inviting me to meet up with him at a gig he was playing about eight miles away across town. I always liked Allen, and when he left the band we parted on the best of terms and have stayed in touch. His band is called Roller Coaster. So after getting home, cutting the grass and getting a shower, off I went. The Venue was what we in England call a club, but is not anything remotely like the LA club scene that became famous. This is what you would call a Working Men's club, which are places where drinks are usually less expensive and the place has bands and other entertainment on at various times of the week. This was quite a nice club, but the concert room was not so big. The stage was triangular in shape, across one corner of the room and was very full with five people on it.
     
    I was interested to see this band because they work regularly and it would give me an idea of what was about as far as other bands go. They were very much what I would call a "Clubland Act", any Brits reading this would know exactly what I mean. In the 50's,60's and 70's the working Men's club scene was huge for bands to play, bands would work all over, sometimes playing what was known as a "Noon and Night gig" where they played at lunchtime and again in the evening. You got varying quality of acts and bands, but some were really good. Some bands came off the club circuit and made a good living. Anyway, Roller Coaster would fit in the bracket of "clubland" very easily. The youngest player would be about fifty, with the eldest two being 70. However, they were warmly received and what they played went down well for the audience they had. Twenty minutes before the end of their second and last set, the rhythm player broke an A string and didn't have a spare guitar with him, so as my own guitar was still in the boot of my car, I offered it to him to finish off the set with, he was very grateful.
     
    I was pleased to note that as a band we were much better. Now I don't mean that in any way big headed or egotistically, but when they played some songs such as Bad Company's "I can't get enough" and a couple of Stones songs, we would not have played them at that level as we would want them played correctly, and though they were obviously playing the songs, they weren't played correctly and some of those songs were lacking something. You can't play "I can't get enough" and not let that solo rock, it was like the Carpenters were doing a sacarin sweet version of it, there was no "Go" in the guitar. But I have to say, these were lovely friendly people who made me very welcome at their gig and also as we all sat together. I felt as though I made some new friends and they thought it was extraordinary that I would let their guitarist borrow my own guitar. I now know that we can really go out and offer a good quality show in comparison to some of the bands. However, please understand that I am not being big headed. I am also aware that many other bands are far better than us. But given what we have decided to do, we do it very well and no other band in the area will do it any better.
     
    Once again, thank you for reading my blog. I really appreciate the kind words and comments often written but just now for some reason I can not reply to them within the blog page.
  3. mark555

    Almost ready.

    By mark555,

    We finally gave our band a name! We have opted for "Route 62" which is a spoof on Route 66. The M62 motorway runs from the east coast to the west coast and passes just north of my home town by about three miles or so. It is actually Englands busiest motorway. So, as we travel along it on a regular basis, we thought why not? the last band Shaun and I were is was given this name but it didn't get off the ground.
     
    I think (and this is only my personal opinion) that so many bands start rehearsing all the stuff that can at times take for ever to get done and no momentum is gained. Once again we have rehearsed songs which although simple are very effective, some more so than I thought would be. This week they were very easy, so we got five in. On saying that though, sometimes the ones you think will be easy end up throwing a spanner in the works. Terry, our excellent drummer, was having quite the time sorting out the beat to Wonderful tonight, which is our obligatory end of dance "bum squeezer". How ever, we came up with a good version of it and we were all pleased. As our first gig is a dance, we have put a lot of sings in that folks can dance to, including some good old fashioned rock and roll, my personal favourite being the old JOnhhy Kidd and the Pirates number, "I'll never get over you". One number I really like that we put in as an extra that took us no more than two goes to nail was "Knife and Fork", which is an old Rockpile number, really good.
     
    One thing we now need to do is get some pictures taken of us. We have started a facebook page just last night, so it is really early days on that. Our bass players son is really good with computer stuff so he is going to help us build a web site, I don't know how long it will be before we get it up and running, but sooner rather than later. We have not looked for gigs yet, but we have two to play so far. One on April 26th and another in May.
     
    We've now had four rehearsals and we have 19 songs in the bag, next week will be our last practice before our first booking, we have worked out that we will have enough material for two forty minute sets. I myself would rather play one longer set but the event organizers want two, so two it will be. Next week the main object will be to run through our set and just add a couple more.
     
    I now have my strat back from my son, he has neglected to wipe the strings clean after using it so the first thing I will do is put new strings on.
     
    We are getting very tight now, which is great, and we are getting to know each other really well "musically", if you know what I mean.
     
    Thanks for reading.
  4. mark555
    Today our auditions came to a close for a further guitar player to compliment the line up. Earlier this week we organised today's sessions with three different guys coming at intervals of one hour and fifteen minutes so each one could have fifty minutes with us. Well, that was the intention. Earlier on this week I had an e mail from one guy who said he had gone down with a really nasty cold and was getting worse, he would let me know on Friday if he was able to come. I don't know if he was really saying "I don't know if I want to do this or not, give me until Friday night to decide". But Friday night came and I got an email from him saying he was really ill and couldn't come, good luck with the band. He didn't ask if he could come next week or another time, so I am guessing that he wasn't really wanting to make a commitment, or his heart wasn't in playing in a band, so strike out one. The guy I was really interested in hearing play sent me an e mail saying that he had really thought about it, but he had too many family commitments and that two bands would be too much for him. Well, we want some one who will give us their loyalty. But, having had a couple of conversations with the guy I did like him very much and we agreed to keep each other's phone numbers because who knows what the future will bring.
     
    So there we are, one guy left called Simon. Now Simon did turn up and brought his son with him, a nice kid of about sixteen called Mark. I am a big family man myself so I have no problems with him bringing his son and actually thought it to be a big plus because I have huge respect for guys who do things with their kids. Simon came with an Epiphone Semi, one of those 335 styles with the leaves inlayed into the headstock. His amp was a 75w line 6. Now I am always a bit concerned when people turn up with solid state and modelling amps, because being a traditionalist, I think that there can only be one type of amp for a guitar player, and no matter what brand the amp has, for me it has to have valves.
     
    However, I digress. We enjoyed a couple of hours with him, our session was slowed down by Terry the drummer's bad back so we had a few rests, no problem for me with the Tokai strapped on, always good to take it off for a few minutes. So, we played the same songs we had played with the other guys, whiskey in the Jar etc. We liked Simon, nice guy, even if his amp didn't have valves in it! as a person he would have fit right in and that is a big part of this band. We played some rock and roll standards to see how quickly he could pick up a song without it being rehearsed. As a rhythm only player he would have done well, but as a lead player he wasn't quite there, although he was on the way. So after a good hour and a half with him we all shook hands, thanked him for coming and explained that we had other players to see, which he knew any way. We didn't really, but we wanted to discuss things. We genuinely enjoyed the audition.
     
    So, after Simon had gone, Shaun, Terry and myself sat down and had a good talk between ourselves. As none of us wanted to spend any more time on auditions, having done three weekends of them, we felt we needed to move and complete the line up as we knew that we were happy with at least one of the guys we'd seen. Terry thought that Simon would fit in well as a person, which we all agreed with. But I asked Shaun and Terry that if it was a gut feeling, which guitarist we had seen would they choose? We all said it would be Dave, because we felt he could bring more to the band (a valve amp is always a good stat!!)and that his ability would allow me to step back at times and also allow a twin lead format when we want it. As a huge Wishbone Ash fan I want to cover a couple of their songs.
     
    So, while we were all together I phoned Dave up and invited him to join the band, and he was thrilled to have been asked and said yes please. So we start rehearsals next week for our first gig in six weeks time. More of that in a minute. I am going to wait a week or so before I call Simon and tell him we went for some one else, and There is a reason for that. I want Simon to feel that he wasn't dismissed out of hand and that we considered him carefully. I am mindful that when you say no thanks to some one who has bothered to come and put them selves on the line that they deserve treating respectfully, and I shall call him up and explain that it was a very close decision and on another day it may well have been he who we asked to join. Also if some one can turn up, they deserve the courtesy of a phone call. I hope we swap phone numbers because he will get to be a better player and there is always the future. However, we want what is best for us and I am glad we went through the auditions as we did.
     
    So, Next Saturday we start rehearsing properly. Shaun works for the inland revenue, or as the Americans would call it the IRS. His office is closing and he is transferring to Sheffield, which isn't far from where he lives. His office have organised a big party for about 150+ people and have asked him if he would get the band to play. We are doing this as a shake down gig to sharpen up and get a reaction to what we are going to play, so there is no charge as these are all Shaun's colleagues. Next week I am going to try and post some pictures, If I can work out how to get pictures on here from my tablet. A big thanks for taking the trouble to read this.
  5. mark555

    Are you experienced?

    By mark555,

    OK, the gig was played, the autopsy was performed and we have hunted high and low for would be singers. We have put ads on internet sites, in music shops, and asked around. We are auditioning for a singer!
     
    One guy called us up, and wanted to come for an audition, but when we said that we would expect a singer to bring a pa with him to the band, he said he was going to buy his own mic and stand, Well, I suggested to him that when the rest of us have spent a lot of money on guitars, amps and drums, it was not fair that we should subsidise a singer and let him take an equal cut of the money. A couple of days later he e mailed me and thanked me for the offer of an audition but said that he wasn't prepared to buy a PA. Well, lets see how many people will take him on those terms, good luck to them if they will.
     
    However, one guy did very much want to audition with us and he said that he has his own 1200 watt PA, which is a good start, so we asked him what experience he has had, does he sing, has he been in bands, all of which brought positive answers, so the audition was set up for seven pm tonight. The band members made a special effort to get there and set up ready for when he came, and to give him his due he was ten minutes early, always a good sign. We had given him six songs we wanted him to sing and provided the PA so he didn't have to bring everything with him. Now our PA isn't the best, but there is worse, and what we have is very adequate for a rehearsal.
     
    Well, it turns out that the guy has dome lots of singing, as a karaoke singer in local pubs, has never actually done a live gig and just rehearsed with bands that never got anywhere, and hasn't any experience as a front man at all, which we specifically asked for. I don't think this guy was a liar, I just think that in his mind, he met all the criteria. Anyway, he wasn't up to the job and did in fact struggle. We didn't say yes or no tonight, because we wanted to discuss it thoroughly, as was the plan from the start, but the poor guy left somewhat dejected and I think he knew that he wasn't going to get the gig. However, we treated him well, did not criticize him in any way and made him very welcome and gave him an hour and a half to show us what he could do, even encouraging him to sing other songs he knew. But there was no escaping it, we need to look elsewhere.
     
    So we have made further plans to expand our search and we will be visiting music shops further afield and contacting stores where we buy our gear from. Also, making a strong effort to contact music stores that specialise in PA where singers tend to go. On a personal level, I was so thrilled just to play guitar tonight and concentrate on the playing, I felt so free and able to play mush better without having to stand behind a microphone stand. Now, lets see if we can't get a half way decent singer...
     
    Thanks for reading, Mark.
  6. 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.
     
     
     
  7. 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.
  8. mark555
    Here we go again. As you will know, if you have been reading my blog, that we worked really hard to find a singer to front our band, Route 62.
     
    One of the essential criteria for the singer would be his willingness to buy a vocal pa. After all, I would not join a band and expect them to buy me two or three guitars and a nice valve amp, but when it comes to singers, they seem to expect the band to provide their equipment. After all, we are not asking any one to buy a mega rig, just something to get their voice over the guitars and drums. We are not very loud, a couple of fender forty watt valve amps, bass and drums.
     
    "Oh yes" said our new singer, "buying a pa is no problem - blah blah blah, can I join the band"?
     
    So we got our new singer, had six weeks of rehearsals and were getting ready to look for gigs. So, off we went to a local music shop which specialises in band equipment and has plenty of pa for sale. The guy was extremely helpful and was giving us good advice about what we needed and not what he wanted to sell us. A very adequate pa could have been sorted out for £1200. Well, our singer took loads of notes and as there was a practice that coming wednesday we decided to let him think it over and then see what decision he had come to.
     
    Wednesday came and we were all at the practice waiting for the singer to turn up, and as time went by it was obvious he was not coming. He had sent one of us a text message to tell us, but we all know that in our band, we do not text because text messages do not always get picked up, there is an agreed rule that if you can't make practice, you phone and speak to one of the others in the band who will let others know.
     
    I knew there and then that our singer was not going to stay in the band, and the next day I sent an e mail (having tried to phone and speak to him several times) and asked how he was and how is search for a pa was coming along. It was my intention to get him to come right out with what he was thinking about, and sure enough he replied saying that he did not think it was the right thing for him to do to spend money on a pa at this time. This was very disappointing to us because we had been very straight with him at his audition and asked him if buying a pa was a problem for him because it was a requirement, and would the money be a problem? His answer had been very positive and that he would be very happy to get what ever he needed. I e mailed him again and expressed our disappointment in his decision and pointed out that we had been very clear and that he had lead us to believe he was quite willing to invest in a pa. At this point he has not replied. I firmly believe that had we had a pa which was powerful enough, he would have been happy to stay with us, taking his cut of the gig money and putting nothing into the band.
     
    So, where does that leave us? Well, my main concern is that Allen, our drummer, will go elsewhere as he could get a gig with a band very easily, for now there is a four piece line up just seeking a singer. I hope Allen stays with us, the personality mix in this band is excellent, nice guys and we all get along. I know that no matter what, the two guitarists and bass player will hold solid, so the nucleus will be sound enough.
     
    But I never thought for one minute that it was going to be this tough to get a working line up together. So for us, it's back to the search for that most elusive of band members, a vocalist who can actually sing. (And who will buy is own pa, after all, a couple of new Heritage guitars costs you far more than a good pa does here in England.)
  9. 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.
     
     
     
  10. 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

  11. 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.
     
  12. mark555
    So, the story begins again. After trying so hard to get a band up and running a year or two back, and failing at the last hurdle of finding a singer, over a year on Shaun my bass playing buddy and I have decided to have a go again. Following a really good gig we went to last December to watch English Rockers "Status Quo" (American's might not know them, but they have sold 130million albums) we got motivated to play again.
     
    The first step was putting ads out for fellow musicians, namely a drummer and another guitar player and a vocalist. I felt uneasy about advertising for another guitar player because Pete who played in our last band is a very close friend and a wonderful person who we would love to play with. However, these days he spends six months of the ear at his place in the South of France, which does put a spanner in the works. He would love to get together musically and play, but I am not going to set up a full session just for fun because if I am going to do something, it has to have a point to work for. So, after a week or so we got replies from a few guys who were up to throwing their hats into the ring.
     
    We singles out two guys to start with, one a drummer and a guitar player who has a Rickenbacker, a Telecater, vox valve amp and a PA - He sings so that is a huge plus for us. We do own a PA, but it is nothing special. It could handle a three hundred seater gig, but that's it.
     
    So, last Saturday we invited Terry the drummer to come and have a session with us. When we met, he could have been our last drummer's twin brother, he even had a similar colour kit. Anyway, we got set up, played "Down at the Doctors" by British R&B band Doctor Feelgood (real R&B that is) and I hear you Knocking. Now normally when we audition some one we want an hour with them and then want to discuss it. But after these two songs we knew we had the man for us. We offered him the job there and then and he was as happy to join us as we were to get him. We all sealed the deal with a handshake and now there are three of us. I will post some pictures soon, all being well.
     
    So, this coming Saturday we audition a guitar player, but this time there are three of us making the decision. When our drummer joined he became one of us, there are no ego's in this band, nor will we allow any to come into it, we don't care how good they are. Watch this space!
  13. mark555

    getting back on track.

    By mark555,

    This entry the story continues of our band trying to consolidate with a new drummer, Allen, an old hand enjoying retirement from work. You can see pictures on the thread I started entitled Band Practice.
     
    We very sadly had to let our last drummer go. We liked him very much as a person, who ticked the essential box as being a nice guy. He could play well and we all liked him. However, he was the weak link in the chain and was the reason we were not going forward. Alongside a lack of communication from him, Shaun, Pete and I had a three hour meeting at my house to decide what we were going to do and we came to the conclusion that as three nice guys, it was against our nature to want to throw some one out. But we came to the conclusion that if we kept our drummer, we would be no further down the line in six months time.
     
    So, off I went and did the rounds of the notice boards looking for drummers who wanted to play with a band. I phoned Allen, who had put an ad on one of the notice boards looking for a band. I invited him for an audition, and he duly accepted.
     
    The audition was not as we anticipated because we had not played together for a while and we did make the fatal mistake of letting the drummer audition us. We offered him the job of drummer in the band and he was a bit none committal, so we pushed him to give us a yes or no and he said he would turn up at the next practice, the rest of us thought he was going to see how it went and make his mind up after the rehearsal. So, we decided on four numbers to rehearse and went our way. Pete (our other guitarist of the yellow telecaster fame) and I felt very strongly that we would find out at the practice if Allen was in or out, and we said we would have none of this 'you practice and I'll turn up and drum' business. If we got any of that we decided that we would shake hands with him and wish him well, we want a band member with full commitment. At this rehearsal we really took charge and showed our new member what we expected of him and that we were not push overs desperate for a drummer.
     
    The practice went really well and we nailed four new numbers, one of them being one of my favourites, Whiskey in the jar. At the end of the evening we planned four more numbers for next week, one of which is Bad Compnay's 'I can't get enough' which is another one of those songs I just love to play. I really like Mick Ralphs guitar style and I can get into it without any problems. We always sit round the table for fifteen minutes at the end of rehearsal and plan our next practice so that there is no wasted time, we are very business like at rehearsal, although we have a good time and we enjoy one another's company very much, in this band there are no ego's and no arguments, just a good work ethic.
     
    So, for now we have a full line up and and we are gelling well and getting things together. We aim to learn four numbers each week and get on the road in the new year. One thing we have learned from this experience in changing drummers is that if we need to, from now on we will be ruthless in getting rid of the drummer if he does not give us the commitment he has promised us. Three us go back twenty years, and we are aware that it can be hard as an outsider to come into such an established trio of friends, but we do make a great effort to welcome the newcomer and it is up to them to make that commitment.
     
    But here's the question I want to finish this entry on: Why do drummers think that every one else should rehearse and they should just turn up occasionally and take the money, without putting in the rehearsal hours with every one else?
  14. 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.
     

  15. mark555

    Getting re organised

    By mark555,

    It's been a while since I last updated my blog here on the HOC, Been meaning to, but I have been waiting until some developments came along so I had something more to write about.
     
    Our band of four more was seeming to grind to a halt this year, Pete's daughter's brain tumour surgery took him out of action for two months, then he ended up in France picking grapes for three weeks, came back insect bitten but sun tanned and having a good time. He has a house of some description down in France and was getting it ready to shut down for the winter and decided to stay around a bit. Our drummer, Tony, works shifts and and has had all sorts of reasons why he can't practice, the main one lately being that he has hurt his shoulder.
     
    But, Shaun our bass player, Pete and I decided that something needed to happen to progress this along as we feel that we have a fair bit of potential for a half way decent band, so we sat down in my living room and had a three hour meeting and chat about what was holding us back. We knew already that it had been the lack of band practices and we knew why, but now were facing a more permanent situation because of our drummers lack of availability. The common consensus was that if we stayed with our present drummer we would be no further along in six months time than we are now. AS three very nice guys, we do not like the idea of kicking some one out, it seems to be against our nature, but what is in effect happening is that we can not achieve our goals because one of the four of us seems to take it or leave it. Coupled with a lack of communication because he doesn't like e mail, which makes getting messages to him somewhat awkward because he doesn't answer his phone much either.
     
    So, the inevitable decision was that we find a replacement drummer. Shaun and I had played in the past with a really good rock drummer called Jonathan and we thought we would invite him along as we felt that he would slot right in, however he never returned any messages so we have had to look elsewhere and we are not prepared to hang around.
     
    The next step was a trip to the local musical instrument stores where there were ads placed from people looking to connect with other musicians, I found three, one of which was a guy called Alan who seemed to be a good fit for us, and last night I called him up and had a chat for fifteen minutes with him and the upshot is that next wednesday night he is coming for a session with us and a chat to see if we all like each other. Hopefully things will work out, then if they do we shall have to find a nice way of letting our drummer go. I am not one for unpleasantness.
     
    On a different note, Shaun and I went to see Wishbone Ash last week, Which is Andy Powell and three other musicians, but Andy Powell has been the one member of the band that has evolved to it's present stage, which is an extremely competent band with excellent musicians forming the line up. The gig was excellent, the sound, everything was top notch. For those of you who are not aware of Wishbone Ash and their brand of music, it is very much twin lead guitar and it would be fair to say that they are more or less the originators of that style. They were incredibly tight and not a note out of place. Playing over 150 gigs a year they should be. But the venue was a 550 capacity building, no seats. What made me really sad was that here was a band with a tremendous pedigree, unsurpassed ability and a back catalogue of great music, playing to 500 people, while the dross on the X factor (UK talent show) America's got talent etc all end up touring the stadiums, and even those who appear on these shows with the audacity to call them selves a band, don't have a guitar between them, and very little talent. Yet bands such a Wishbone Ash (and others like them) not one only play to a very high standard, they write their own material.
     
    I can only say that mediocrity rises to the top and the mass markets are fed a musical diet of straw.
  16. 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.
     

  17. mark555

    Going to the pub...

    By mark555,

    Our first gig was played, and we were not 100% happy with it, gremlins in the works the week before for me. As I said, I really went for it, but as I have reflected on it over the past week, I know I was way below the standard I should have been at on the night. I had too much stuff going on in my head - unemployment, a lousy job interview the day before, and other stuff. In truth, I did not feel personally ready to play live. But as I said before, we were well received by a welcoming audience. But something was still not right and we decided to meet up together and see what plans we could make to go forward.
     
    So, we decided that this week, instead of having a practice, we would all get together at a pub for a drink and a chat, and chose a nice pub in a nearby village to us called The Foxglove (see picture) and see what direction to go in. There was no way we were going to waste the investment in time we had all made in the band, so a way round the mountain had to be found.
     
    The mountain, so to speak, is the fact that I am the lead guitar player and singer, and to be honest, it is too much to deal with, unless you are Mark Knopfler or some one else with such a high level of ability. I never wanted to be a singer, although it is true to say that I do enjoy singing and always have done. When I was six years old I got out of bed early one morning, got on my bike and woke the street up by singing Manfred Man's Doo wa Diddy diddy at the top of my voice. But mainly, I just want to play guitar. When I was about five years old I say a sparkle red electric guitar, I can't tell you what make it was, but I just knew at that point I was going to have an electric guitar one day, it was what I wanted. I knew one of our neighbours had an electric guitar in his downstairs bedroom, I used to sneak round the back of his house to look at it through the window, it was probably a cheap one, but I didn't know, or care - it was a real like electric guitar, I can see it now propped up against the wall, some sort of sunburst finish if I am right.
     
    Anyway, to get back on track. I can sing (not the worlds best, I grant you) and I can play. I can do both on many songs, but in fairness, not too brilliantly. Any other guitarist worth his salt would pick up on this. So, we all met up at seven in the evening and had the autopsy and see what we could do to improve. Pete, our Yellow telecaster owning guitar player and general nice guy, was taking the attitude that as so much was on my shoulders, what could the rest of them do to help and contribute more? I told them that I never really wanted to be a singer and if that part of the job could go to some one else, I would be able to contribute much more by way of guitar playing, and that I would play much better with just the odd song to sing and the opportunity to concentrate on lead playing.
     
    As there are no real vocalists in the band in the other three members, we have decided to look for a singer to take care of vocal work, leaving each of us to concentrate on our own field of playing, be it bass, lead, rhythm or drums. There will be three of us capable of singing some good backing vocals to help a singer. We formulated a plan to recruit a singer as soon as possible, each of us taking some area of responsibility, mine is to contact some of the music stores and see if there are any singers in the area looking for a band. Pete is going to get some ads out on websites, Shaun and Allen are also doing various things such as putting ad's in music stores near their homes.
     
    What has been great is that there was never one suggestion of my singing and playing not being good enough, it was totally supportive of the fact that I have had most of the work to shoulder and they all wanted to make things easier for me, and the first question they asked last night was what did I want to do? The answer was just play guitar, and they are all now doing everything they can to help me do that. For me to just play guitar in a band is my life's ambition!
     
    I have attached a picture of the pub we met at, we sat round a table just to the right inside the door way, the pub is about 150 years old - it's great just to sit down with the guys and just sort things out. I am really fortunate because each one of the guys in the band is a really decent person, not one of them has an ego and we just help each other try to succeed. As far as people go, I could not be with a better bunch of guys, they are all good friends.
     
    Watch this space, and thanks for reading, Mark.
  18. mark555
    For those of you kind enough to read my last blog entry you will recall that we had lost our other guitar player to another band, and that had come at a bad time, as we were all about ready to gig, just working on a final few song ideas to get up to the magic number of thirty songs in the set list. So, we have had to look hard and find another guitar player good enough to fit in. I had placed several ad's on websites and was getting little response when a guy from Doncaster (about fifteen miles from where we practice) replied. So, we had a chat on the phone and arranged to get together for a session. That was this afternoon.
     
    We were very pleased when that he was happy to turn up so quickly and we had sent him our set list during the week. It's always a good sign when the guy you are auditioning actually prepares for the audition and has taken it seriously. He turned up with a PRS Swamp Ash Special with a trem and what looked like mini humbuckers without covers. The guitar certainly sounded very nice. Anyway, after an hour we had a break and offered him the gig. He was very pleased to be invited to join and accepted right away. He had brought his wife with him who was a very nice lady, and she enjoyed what we did. We immediately went back to playing with a serious look at the set list and started to play and gel together as a unit. The sound was as tight as you can expect for a first time get together, and a few of the songs we played sounded as though we had rehearsed them for a few weeks. So, next Saturday rehearsals start as a new line up in earnest.
     
    It is often the case that something you initially think is bad news (in this case our previous guitarist letting us down and leaving) can turn out to be a blessing in disguise given time. Dave, our new player is less highly strung and his choice of songs is more in keeping with the rest of us and I think, that given a few rehearsals, we will have a better band and will progress faster.
     
    Terry, our drummer, actually went to see our old guitarists new band and said that although they seemed to have a good following, they were very unprofessional in their attitude, going on stage half an hour late, letting their "followers" come on stage and mess with their guitars etc when the band should have been on, and their language on stage was very bad and their attitude was poor. Dave, (the old guitarist) told Terry that he had gone for the money, but they had not told him if he was in or not even though he was gigging with them that night. they have since lost their drummer. So the grass is not always greener on the other side.
     
    Last night Shaun (bass player) and I went to see Wishbone Ash as they were in town. They were nothing less than Superb! Afterwards they did a meet and greet and were very nice to talk to. We got some stuff signed by Andy Powell and the rest of the band, for me the three high spots of the night were Blowin' Free, Jailbait and Pheonix, all three were fantastic. HOWEVER.... The support band had come to the back of the theatre where we were and were making a lot of noise with some people who had come to see them and this was while WA were playing Pheonix. Now, if you're not a Wishbone Ash fan, you have to understand that this is an epic number that just builds and builds, and the noise this band were making as they talked loudly with their friends was just too much, so I walked over to them and told them that they were spoiling the night for all the WA fans, and that we had come to see Wishbone Ash and not them. They didn't like it, but they needed telling. The trouble was that they didn't shut up, but several people said "well done" to me afterwards. Their conduct was certainly unprofessional, let alone rude and inconsiderate. But I also thought it was very disrespectful to Wishbone Ash who are always very considerate of their fans. When I spoke to Andy Powell about it he was very disappointed about that. But it just goes to show that professional courtessy is a must, and if you are going to play live in any given situation, a professional attitude is required at all times.
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Mark.
  19. mark555

    Hi Ho Silver...

    By mark555,

    Another four songs in the bag today, once again rehearsed to gigging standard. We practice every Saturday afternoon, meeting up at 12.30 and after setting up we work until 4pm. And in a good rehearsal session, it really is work, getting all the mistakes ironed out until it is right. Last week it was my fingers and brain which were not connecting, this week, Terry the drummer was having a difficult time by his standards. All I can say is that if that was a bad day, he must be incredible on a good one. As is often the case, drummers are the butt of jokes. However, Terry is the bedrock of the band laying down a very solid beat. His fills and endings are superb, and Shaun and I offered him the job in the driving seat after only two numbers and we have been proved right at every rehearsal.
     
    We have been given a gig at a private function in the Yorkshire city of Leeds, an event run though the church Shaun and I belong to. It is regional and means that there could well be more gigs coming as a result. The gig is in April 26th and we now need to work out how to give a one and a half hour show at standards we set. #We have three weeks to get 12 more songs. So, we will be upping the pressure on ourselves.
     
    Dave, our other guitar player is a great guy, easy to get on with and willing to do what's best for the band. But today he did say that he wanted to sing more and give more to the band. He said it in a positive way, he was just being enthusiastic. I told him that he had come from a band where he was the best in the band by far and every one else probably depended on him to hold it together, to which he agreed. I then said that he'd joined a band where there are four strong musicians who can all do what is needed, and that is a lot different to his last band. He smiled and agreed, and I said that we have only had three rehearsals and over the next few weeks he will have those opportunities. He was happy at that. He wasn't complaining, I just think he wants to contribute to the fullest extent he can.
     
    Buying a 600 watt pa was a master stroke, it enables the band members with weaker voices to be brought into the mix. This was shown to great advantage in two of our choice of songs for this weeks rehearsal, Riot In Cell Block Number 9 and Hi Ho Silver Lining. You may know Riot in cell block number 9 by the Robins or from the Blues Brothers film. Those two versions are two slow for me and don't cut the mustard, so we beefed the song up a bit and put more fire into it, playing the Dr Feelgood version. It was superb, and I do not know of any other band playing this song. Hi Ho Silver Lining is a great number for an audience to dance to, and even of I say so, we did a great version of it. With three of us singing the chorus, it really made a difference. The other two numbers we rehearsed were I'm Hog For You and Tulsa Time. We are purposely looking for good numbers to play which other bands in our area are not covering. We know that we need to have a unique selling point, and as there are good bands out there, we need to be good but also different enough in our set list that we will get attention without being turned away.
     
    My good friend and fellow forum member Peter Alton, always uses a guideline for buying a new guitar which is "do I have a job for it?" So far in this band I have only needed to use my Tokai, which is performing admirably. But soon I will need to get my Strat back from my son and use that for some of the songs that we are planning to do in concert gigs. Also, there is a need for a Telecaster and I am sure that at some point in the near future I will be posting pictures of one, it's just a case of finance right now. Hopefully we will get gigs which will provide the funds so that I don't take the money out of the family budget.
     
    I know this band is going to be very good. There are better guitar players than Dave and I out there in the band world, but our two styles are very complimentary and Shaun and Terry are excellent in their own rights as bass player and drummer. The band's strength is that it is turning out to be greater than the sum of its parts. The timing is spot on and we are getting very tight. After three weeks we have twelve songs down to gigging standards, so it won't be long before we are good to go.
     
    Thanks to all for reading and best wishes.
    Mark.
  20. mark555
    What a week it's been, the hottest week of the year so far, but when we get heat in England it can also get very muggy and can drain you and make you very tired.
     
    Last Friday a friend I have known for thirty five years or so invited me to go and watch his band as they were playing in the local pub in our village. I was very pleased to meet another of my friends who was also at the gig. Pete, owner of the yellow telecaster had come back from his place in the south of France for a week or so as he was going to a Neil Young gig in London later the following week then back to France. However, it was nice to see him and to learn he is actually gigging as a duo in France with another English guy. Our mutual friend, Rob, was the drummer with the band we had gone to see and each musician was of a good standard. What was interesting was the the guitars and bass had all been built buy the guitar player in the band, and were of a high quality. I was interested to see the band as we will play many of the gigs they play and I wanted to know how we would compare. They did play a few of the songs we play, but although this band was very good, I am pleased to (modestly) say, that the songs that both bands play, we play them better! However, I have to say that they were very good and did some songs that we wouldn't have done. they were nice chaps.
     
    At the pub there were two couples in their mid 20's and the girls were rather tasty, we had chatted to them on and off during the evening and for the last half hour of the final set, one of them came and got me up dancing with her! Now, I have no false hopes, but I have to say that it was very nice to dance with a rather attractive woman of half my age!! I am still basking in the glow of it!
     
    So, the next day was band rehearsal. We were all tired, I had stayed up too late the night before and could hardly stay awake for band practice. We were disorganised, too tired and just out of sorts. We weren't learning anything, just wondering which song to play next. Dave, our other guitar player was not a happy camper, and when we asked him what was the trouble, he said he was fed up. So, we all sat down and had a chat. He said we weren't accomplishing anything, just playing songs. He was spot on, we had got 24 or so songs in the bag and we needed to get down to it again. So, we kicked some ideas about and decided that we would learn a Snow Patrol Song "Chasing Cars" and Brown Sugar by the Stones, both his choice. Well, I am great with Brown Sugar, but my music tastes seemed to end with Bad Company back in the seventies! So a Snow Patrol song was a very new idea to me. But, as we all have input, we said OK, lets go for it.
     
    Well, today we had our usual Saturday afternoon practice and we kicked of with Brown Sugar. I had taken my 555 specifically to use on this song, tuned it to open G and away we went. The first two times we played it was so so, but then all of a sudden, Bang! We were in there rocking it like we were born to do it. Mick and Keith would have been proud of us. Terry, our Drummer was putting down a perfect beat. I must admit, I was very pleased how the snow patrol song went, and I really enjoyed playing it. We might be a bit slow getting to gigging level, but we are purposely ensuring each song we play can be done to the standard we expect of ourselves. Our one weakness is the vocal set up, but we are getting a sound engineer in to help us with that, we think we need better PA speakers.
     
    As for next week, we are letting Terry the drummer chose a couple of songs, which he will e mail to us. He's a big Stones and Kinks fan, so maybe something from them.
     
    Now then, about that rather shapely woman at the pub.......
     
    Thanks for reading and best wishes to all,
    Mark
  21. mark555
    Another Saturday and it's band practice - after a week of being up at 5.15 every day and lucky if I am home for 6.30 every evening, Thursday was horrendous. The motorway had been shut at a key point where two motorways merged and guess where I was. It took me three and a half hours to drive the 52 miles home from our offices.
     
    But, other good hings have happened within our family, my wife, Helen has secured a new job at a practice in the area after putting with dreadful treatment from the husband and wife team of doctors who have taken over the surgery where she has worked happily for thirteen years. She is very highly qualified in her nursing and was snapped up after a half hour interview. The people at the surgery where she is going to work could not be more different and the pay increase will be significant. On top of that, all our children are making their way in the world and we have a beautiful granddaughter who is a delight to us.
     
    As we were not rehearsing last week because I had too much to do at home, I took my Strat and Tokai (Les Paul) to the tech to get them adjusted and repaired. The strat trem block thread had completely gone rendering it useless, (it's twenty six years old and I have had it from new) the stop bar posts in the Tokai had lost their ability to hold the posts upright. It turns out that they were made of aluminium and not up to the job they were made to do. So, new parts were engineered and fitted, the trem block was drilled and a brass sleeve inserted and threaded. I also had some minor adjustments made, a set up etc on both guitars. If you read my last blog entry, you will recall I mentioned a guitar player who had made his own strat and the bass players precision bass. I took my guitars to him last Saturday lunchtime and they were both ready for me the following afternoon. They were superbly done and are a joy to play. While I was at the guy's (Dave) house, he showed me some of the other guitars he has made and I am seriously considering having him build a Tele for me. He has made a pink Strat that would rival Kuz's Kern Tele, with a stunning flame neck. He even winds the pick ups himself and builds them from scratch, they sound excellent.
     
    So, against a backdrop of good things happening, I was really up for practice today.
     
    Today we were going to learn Sunshine of Your Love and Lola, the old Kinks hit. Well, wouldn't you know it, that sometimes it's the easy songs that just won't work, and we couldn't make make Lola work for love nor money and after ten minutes scrapped it. So, on to Sunshine of your Love, which went so well it was great to play. We were so pleased with it, out of the blue I said wouldn't it be great to do Crossroads? Right away, Dave, our other guitar player went into the intro, we all hit it immediately and played a stonking version, we were all on a real high with it, we could not believe how well it went. There are not many bands with Crossroads in their set, but it's in our now, and we are very proud of how we play it. So, two really good Cream numbers in our set, so we just rehearsed some songs we had messed around with in the preceding practices. Those of you from the States will very probably never have heard of Cliff Richard, but he was Britain's first true rock and roll star and had a huge hit with a song called "Move it", which still stands up today, it is a terrific number. We revisited it and it was perfect. It was recorded with a Strat playing lead and I nailed the song perfectly. On saying that, it's not too hard to play, but you do need a specific "touch" to get it right. We also ran through a few of our other numbers to keep them fresh, one of our own favourites is Riot in Cell Block Number 9, but we play it with somewhat of a kick compared to how the original version was recorded by The Robins way back in the day. Look for Doctor Feelgood on youtube and watch their version of it.
     
    So today we are all really pleased with how things are going and very soon it will be time to start looking for gigs. The city of Sheffield is thirty miles south of here and has a lot of venues, so maybe we will be playing down there. We will soon be choosing two sets to play from our list, and polishing them until they are at a high standard.
     
    Meanwhile, Wishbone Ash are playing in our town in October, tickets will be bought!!
     
    To all of you who take the time to read my blog, thank you for doing so, and a thank you for the kind comments which are often posted, I still haven't worked out why I can not replay to them in the comments box.
     
    Once again, thanks for reading.
  22. mark555
    Another Saturday and it's band practice - after a week of being up at 5.15 every day and lucky if I am home for 6.30 every evening, Thursday was horrendous. The motorway had been shut at a key point where two motorways merged and guess where I was. It took me three and a half hours to drive the 52 miles home from our offices.
     
    But, other good hings have happened within our family, my wife, Helen has secured a new job at a practice in the area after putting with dreadful treatment from the husband and wife team of doctors who have taken over the surgery where she has worked happily for thirteen years. She is very highly qualified in her nursing and was snapped up after a half hour interview. The people at the surgery where she is going to work could not be more different and the pay increase will be significant. On top of that, all our children are making their way in the world and we have a beautiful granddaughter who is a delight to us.
     
    As we were not rehearsing last week because I had too much to do at home, I took my Strat and Tokai (Les Paul) to the tech to get them adjusted and repaired. The strat trem block thread had completely gone rendering it useless, (it's twenty six years old and I have had it from new) the stop bar posts in the Tokai had lost their ability to hold the posts upright. It turns out that they were made of aluminium and not up to the job they were made to do. So, new parts were engineered and fitted, the trem block was drilled and a brass sleeve inserted and threaded. I also had some minor adjustments made, a set up etc on both guitars. If you read my last blog entry, you will recall I mentioned a guitar player who had made his own strat and the bass players precision bass. I took my guitars to him last Saturday lunchtime and they were both ready for me the following afternoon. They were superbly done and are a joy to play. While I was at the guy's (Dave) house, he showed me some of the other guitars he has made and I am seriously considering having him build a Tele for me. He has made a pink Strat that would rival Kuz's Kern Tele, with a stunning flame neck. He even winds the pick ups himself and builds them from scratch, they sound excellent.
     
    So, against a backdrop of good things happening, I was really up for practice today.
     
    Today we were going to learn Sunshine of Your Love and Lola, the old Kinks hit. Well, wouldn't you know it, that sometimes it's the easy songs that just won't work, and we couldn't make make Lola work for love nor money and after ten minutes scrapped it. So, on to Sunshine of your Love, which went so well it was great to play. We were so pleased with it, out of the blue I said wouldn't it be great to do Crossroads? Right away, Dave, our other guitar player went into the intro, we all hit it immediately and played a stonking version, we were all on a real high with it, we could not believe how well it went. There are not many bands with Crossroads in their set, but it's in our now, and we are very proud of how we play it. So, two really good Cream numbers in our set, so we just rehearsed some songs we had messed around with in the preceding practices. Those of you from the States will very probably never have heard of Cliff Richard, but he was Britain's first true rock and roll star and had a huge hit with a song called "Move it", which still stands up today, it is a terrific number. We revisited it and it was perfect. It was recorded with a Strat playing lead and I nailed the song perfectly. On saying that, it's not too hard to play, but you do need a specific "touch" to get it right. We also ran through a few of our other numbers to keep them fresh, one of our own favourites is Riot in Cell Block Number 9, but we play it with somewhat of a kick compared to how the original version was recorded by The Robins way back in the day. Look for Doctor Feelgood on youtube and watch their version of it.
     
    So today we are all really pleased with how things are going and very soon it will be time to start looking for gigs. The city of Sheffield is thirty miles south of here and has a lot of venues, so maybe we will be playing down there. We will soon be choosing two sets to play from our list, and polishing them until they are at a high standard.
     
    Meanwhile, Wishbone Ash are playing in our town in October, tickets will be bought!!
     
    To all of you who take the time to read my blog, thank you for doing so, and a thank you for the kind comments which are often posted, I still haven't worked out why I can not replay to them in the comments box.
     
    Once again, thanks for reading.
  23. 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.
     
  24. mark555

    In with both feet.

    By mark555,

    Today was our final practice before our first gig. Thankfully the gig is a friendly environment for us, which is good. We got next weeks gig when we had only been together two weeks and only had eight songs in the bag. So, we have done our best to get as many songs as we can together. The gig will be good for us because we can treat it as a shakedown gig and see what reaction we will get. Our bass players brother got us the gig and actually invited us, we didn't go looking for it. The audience will be perhaps 200 to 300 and will be in the city of Leeds, if we are not ready now then we will just have to do it right on the night. I am looking forward to it, my one fear is getting the sound right. We can be a little loud a rehearsal, I am keen to get things right for our audience who deserve the best we can give them.
     
    This week I had my first attempt at making speaker leads for the PA. You have to understand that I am pretty ignorant about doing this kind of thing, having never done it before. We needed some decent length speaker cables for the PA, so I bought a 25 metre reel of twin core heavy duty pa cable, each core of copper being 2.25mm. I didn't realise the soldering such thick core to to a 5mm jack plug was going to be so difficult, and being unskilled, I just had to try until I got it right. The end result was successful, and I am quite proud of myself! I could enjoy doing something with electronics, maybe developing a new skill as a hobby. I have a friend who builds replica AC30 amps that are really excellent - I'd have one from him but he lives in Canada. Mind you, he is really skilled, he builds aneasthesia machines for a living.
     
    So today we learned Sultans of Swing, and as it's all bar chords it doesn't half get your left forearm! But we did a great job of it thanks to Dave our other guitar player nailing the guitar parts and the vocals.
     
    One thing we did discover though, is that because we have had such a short time to get over twenty numbers together, although we got them down to gigging standard when we learned them, we need to revisit them and replay them. However, I am confident that we will get them right on the night. There's enough talent to make a good night of it.
     
    My main two playing guitars, my strat and my Tokai Les Paul both need some attention. The Stop bar is being pulled forward in the Tokai, so I will have to get it to a good tech. The Strat just has some wear and tear issues that are the result of 24 years of good use. It needs a new nut and the frets stoning, along with the thread inside the trem block. The Tokai needs seeing to as soon as I can it done. How ironic that they both need attention a week before our first gig, but isn't that often the case in these things?
     
    Thanks for taking the time to read, it's much appreciated.
  25. mark555
    After our first gig when we really fought the sound gremlins, we decided that we would devote our next practice to sorting out the problem of sound so that we are ready next time. So meeting up at our rehearsal venue, instead of our usual rehearsal positions facing the drummer and each other, we lined up and started playing as if we were on a stage, we even allowed ourselves only a small space to play from to replicate smaller stages.
     
    How ironic though that on this day when we wanted to sort out sound problems, Dave, our other guitar player then had problems with his brand new Fender Valve amp and could only get sound from the power amp, not the inputs for guitar. So being a bit of a genius with engineering and such, he managed to got some sound out of it but more of that later.
     
    We're a bit of a traditional band in that we are back line plus an old Peavy 600 watt pa amp, after all, our money has gone on guitars, and as we're not singers we don't have enough budget for a huge pa set up with monitors. However, we are going to have to do something because we have difficulty in hearing the vocals. I actually own a 150 watt 6 channel pa amp which although would be run seperately, we could use as fold back with a pair of monitor speakers.
     
    We had been playing too loud if the truth was known, so we set a level that would be pleasant for an audience and worked from there. We had two hours and it was time well spent. We now need to continue practicing the numbers we have learned over the previous weeks and perfect them, then start learning some more songs. We were messing with the Stones old hit, Paint it Black.
     
    Getting back to Dave's amp, at four pm he shot off back to the shop he bought it from where they offered to repair it. He said that as it is under 30 days old he is entitled to a new one, so they are ordering one in for him which should be here next week.
     
    Thanks for reading and best wishes,
    Mark.
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