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mark555

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  1. 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.
     
     
     
  2. 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.
  3. mark555

    The first gig

    By mark555,

    After only being together for about four weeks, we were playing our first gig. We all looked forward to it, having rehearsed as much as we could. We had arranged to meet at the venue at 5pm because that would be the only time we could set up and get a sound check (more of the sound check later).
     
    On the way to the venue, I decided to stop into a guitar dealer in Leeds and pick up a couple of guitar stands for the gig as I don't have any, and I bought a new mic clip to take my mic as the one on the stand I use is too narrow. While I was there I had a look at some PRS guitars as I may have to sell my 555 because the neck is too narrow and thin for my left fore finger to cope with when the tendonitis (well, I think that is what it is) flares up and it becomes painful to play). So, I am looking at a double cut PRS with a trem as a possible replacement. I really like PRS.
     
    So, on to the gig where we all met up and proceeded to set up. The stage wasn't particularly big, but not too small, we all managed to get enough space to play. However, we could not get a sound check because of the way the event was organised and that caused problems from the word go.
     
    The venue was very nice and we were made very welcome. The event was not as supported as well as the organisers would have liked and instead of about 150 minimum attending they got about 45, and about half of those people were 60 plus, some in their late seventies. Our target audience is people anywhere between 35 and sixty, and there were not many of that age group there. But, we were approached by the organisers who knew exactly what music we play.
     
    We played two sets, a mix of Rock and Roll, R&B (Proper R&B, not this awful stuff the kids call r&b toay) and some good plain classic rock. I am pleased to be able to say that the feedback we got was that we went down really well and that on the whole, the audience really enjoyed our playing. And, we can honestly say that there were people on the dance floor all the time when we played.
     
    However, there was another side to the gig that made it one of the hardest gigs I have ever played. From the word go we had sound problems, none of us know why, but we were getting signals that our vocals were not getting through. We were not playing any louder than we do at rehearsals where we have no trouble hearing ourselves, the drummers powered monitor was feeding back, it was as if every gremlin there is was coming out of the box. However, undaunted we carried on using a secondary sound system in the building. It worked fine for the audience, but we could not hear our vocals at all which made it very difficult. We know we have enough sound equipment even if it is not the latest technology.
     
    So we used the gig as a learning curve, and when we practice next we are going to spend our time set up as if we were in a gigging situation and get the sound right, taking note of all the amp and PA settings. The next time we gig we want everything correct right from the word go, even if we can't get a decent sound check. It was hard work all night, but on the whole well worth it.
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Mark.
  4. 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.
     

  5. 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.
     
     
     
  6. 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.
     
  7. 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.
  8. mark555

    it never rains....

    By mark555,

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

    it's going well....

    By mark555,

    After a few weeks of not making an entry into my blog I am back to keeping those kind enough to read it up to speed on where we are at and the life and times of a would be semi pro player here in Northern England.
     
    Life in the band has been interesting, my Fender Hot Rod deluxe had valve issues and was horrendously noisy. It turned out it was a pre amp valve. This particular amp has three of those so I decided that as one of them was on the way out and causing so much trouble, I might as well get them all replaced. The guitar tech who worked on my guitars recently had recommended an engineer only a couple of miles away from where I live in the next village, so that was excellent in that there was no distance to travel, and on top of that the guy was very honest and very reasonable in his costs. I had used our other guitarists old amp, a Peavy Valve King for one rehearsal. It was as noisy as my fender before it was repaired. I think it also needs to go to the engineer.
     
    Anyway, we have moved our practice time from Saturday afternoons to Thursday evenings. Mainly because Dave, our other guitar player has met the woman of his dreams and moved in with her and wants to have weekends free for now. It's fine with me because it frees my time up on a weekend to do some jobs round the house that are in need of completion.
     
    We are almost at the point now of having enough numbers ready to play a gig with. We are aiming for thirty. It has taken quite a while on this journey to get here, but we have all put our families first and there have been times when we have all had to cancel rehearsal for various reasons. Another thing is that we have discussed what sort of songs to we rehearse: a) easy ones that we can get six of down in two weeks, or do we: do some that will be more challenging but perhaps give us a much better set. We have gone for the latter, the most recent one being Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. I have never been a big pink Floyd fan, but I have to say that this is a stellar song and credit to Dave for nailing the two guitar solo's in it.
     
    We are also finding that the midweek practice makes us focus more, as we don't have a full afternoon to go at.
     
    One thing that is happening now is that plenty of people are wanting to know when we are going to play so they can come and see us, which is a good sign for us. Of course, in the back of my mind I am thinking "are we going to be good enough"? Yet I know for a fact we can play some knock out songs in our own style. I Keep telling myself that we are not going to be playing to people who are saying "Go on then, impress me". The people I want to play for are just your everyday people who want to hear live music, may be they might want to dance a bit. I think we all have to remember that this thing we love, the guitar, if we choose to get up and play live gigs, that the we are paid to entertain people. I really hope that the songs we have thus far chosen will do exactly that for the cross section of people that we get in our British pubs that put bands on. When our set list is complete I will post it here.
     
    So, there we are, five more numbers and our set list has enough for a gig, then all we have to do is rehearse it until it is sharp enough to play for money!
     
    Thanks for reading and best to all.
     
     
     
     
     
     
  10. mark555

    The year ends....

    By mark555,

    As 2018 comes to a close, the band I play in, Route 62 has had two changes of personal and we are re establishing our selves on our playing circuit and we're happier than we've ever been. Our old guitar player's wife cost us all just short of £2000 but we are now 18 months rid of them both and we no longer hear anything from them. Robin has been playing guitar with us just over a year and has fittted in well, he uses three guitars on stage, a Les Paul RI, a Strat and a Tele. Our Drummer, Graham, is well and truly in the driving seat and fits right in with us personality wise. He's brought a great sense of humour to the band and we like having him around.
    This year we have added a few new venues to our customer base and have gone down well at each of them, getting return bookings. Over here in the UK you get to play the same place three times a year if you are very lucky,  and we have two venues that give us three gigs each. We are aiming to play 26 dates next year, not a lot, but we are al family people, with the exception of our bass player who is divorced, his kids have grown up and he more or less lives alone. He would play three nights a week every week if we would, the band helps him with the loneliness he often feels. However, we now have a very happy line up and for the first time ever we feel that all of us are friends and there are no strains in any of the band relationships. 
    For myself, the year has brought two big challenges. At the end of April I was made redundant from work when the company I worked at started making cutbacks, and I was one of them. The second challenge has been losing my driving licence. This has been because of an accumulation of penalty points on my driving licence. Over here in the UK road side cameras have proliferated alarmingly and if you are one mile an hour over the speed limit they get you. This leads to an automatic 3 points on your licence. Get twelve and you are banned from driving. I was driving 50,000 miles a year with work and just before a lot of points came off my licence I was caught by a camera over the limit. I thought I was in an area with a higher limit than it has and was making an effort to stay within that limit unaware that I was completely wrong. Well, you could say it's my own fault and the courts banned me from driving but I have tried to be very careful and I really do believe (along with any one I speak to) that these cameras are not about safety but are about raising revenue. Even the police refer to them as revenue cameras.
    Not having a driving licence has impacted on me in two ways. First of all it has severely affected my job search and I firmly believe I'd have been back in work by now. The second way it has affected me is the inconvenience. I really do not mind being a passenger, but I now depend on others in the band to help me. A couple of years ago our car broke down and had to go to the repair shop to be put in working order again. not one of the band offered me any help and I had to hire a car ( I was out of work then also) and fuel it. It took more than my share of the gig money to go and play the gig. Not one of the band offered to share a bit more with me and had I just cancelled the gig (due to unforseen circumstances) every one would have lost their share. However, this time, Robin sent every one an e mail telling them that as a band they needed to be willing to help me. So, my wife drops me at all local gigs, and if it's not local she take's me to Robin's house and we go in his VW van and he brings me home from the gig. Also our drummer has brought me home, so it's a different experience for me and no one has said it's my own fault. I've had lots of support from the guys.
    We finished the year with our last gig on Saturday night at a Club in Wakefield, the next town to us. It was only a twenty minute drive there, and it's the third time we have played this venue. They have a new Concert Secretary at this venue and he told me that they are looking for a band to play for the last Saturday of the year next year. Our normal fee for this club is £400, but as it is the New Year event they will pay £1000. So, that will be our biggest fee to date if we get it. Years ago in the UK when the pub and club scene was really in full swing, a semi pro band, if good enough, could ear some really nice money pro rata to what they can earn today. But things change and the industry that led to the organisation of many of these clubs has died. Over here there was lots of coal mining and engineering plants, which have all gone. the Clubs we play are what we call in the UK "Working Men's Clubs" where working people can come out as couples and enjoy entertainment and a social life at greatly reduced costs. Often the clubs had their own Snooker, Pool, Soccer, Crown Green Bowling and other sports teams which would be involved in the local community. They still provide a great night out for people but they are getting thinner on the ground. However, the bigger ones are surviving for the time being. In their hay day, some of the clubs would book top singers such as Tom Jones and other big names and they would be packed. Something else you may find interesting is that the Clubs formed a "Federation" where by if you were a member of one club you could visit another club without paying an entry fee. The Federation of Clubs owned it's own brewery in the North of England called "The Federation Brewery" and distributed beer to the clubs of the federation at greatly reduced prices compared to the big commercial brewery's and the saving was passed on to the club members. Today the aim of the clubs is to plow the profit's back into the club so the members can enjoy a less expensive night out and it is certainly noticable that when we buy drinks we pay 30% at least than when we play in bars and pubs.
    During 2018 I have taken more notice of pedals and how they are used to a better effect. I'm not talking about having a lot of them for the sake of it, but for enhancing the sound. My friend now plays in Wishbone Ash and I've noticed how he and Andy Powell use pedals to great effect. So next year I'm going to try and enhance my own sound just a little bit where it is applicable, and that it the key word - Applicable. I don't use a lot of pedals but for some songs I'd like to combine two or three - for example, the end solo of Throw Down The Sword uses reverb, overdrive and boost. I'd like to be able to switch these on all at once and off together. I am also hoping to get a new amp and guitar. The Amp I would like is a Fender 30 watt Vibroverb which has a beautiful clean tone. I play on a clean setting and use the OD pedal when I need to, I don't channel switch. I will sell my Fender Hot Rod then the Vibroverb will be the number one amp with my Peavey Classic 30 as my back up amp. 
    Now for guitars. I have over the years had a hankering for a PRS but never really had the money. I've always admired them as a quality product and I've decided to try and get one by the end of next year if things go well enough for us. I will never buy a guitar over the needs of our family or home, and over the last few years I could have had several very nice guitars with the money we have elected to make our home a nice place to live in. But if I can, I will save my gig money next year, sell off one of my guitars and buy the PRS I've wanted. There are other guitars I would like just as much, such as a Gretsche Country Gentleman but what has made me settle on the PRS is that every time I have picked one up and played, my playing has been more fluid. On a personal level I find them very comfortable to hang on a strap and stand up for 90 minutes with one round my neck. I know there are other great brands out there, and I would enjoy any one of them. But I am talking about a working tool here that earns me money and the PRS has come to the fore for that reason. when I win the lottery I'll buy a couple of nice H150's, a Music Man Sihouette the Gretsche, and have a few more hand built ones to my speck by top luthiers. Until then I will just make do with the PRS. I've got to find the right one, but the fun is in the search, the work is in the practice and the playing.
    The band always takes January off from gigging for a couple of reasons. First of all, every one has spent up over Christmas, the bills are coming in and it's cold so the venues are all about empty. Secondly, we use January to rehearse new numbers for our set list and now we need two different set lists. One for pubs and bars and a seperate one for the clubs which demand a different type of set. The song I am looking forward to playing most is Blowin' Free by Wishbone Ash, it's a song we all love in the band and to me it fills me full of joy. 
    We finished the year off with a great gig and had to play a twenty minute encore at a club that is known for letting you know if they don't like you and they would have let us play for linger had we done so. But finishing on such a high note has made me look forward to next year and the gigs we will play. I hope you all have a great Christmas and that the new year brings everything you need.
    Thanks for reading, and best wishes to all,
    Mark.
  11. 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.
     
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. mark555
    Just an up date on the band and how things are progressing. One thing I did during the week was to buy myself a new mic lead. Thankfully that was all that was needed and not anther microphone. I like decent equipment and just right now I don't have a lot of spare cash for band equipment. We bought a 600 watt Peavy pa amp a few weeks back, that proved a good investment. It's old but good and kicks out the power nicely. A bit like a big V8 engine, gets you there nicely without putting your foot down to the metal.
     
    Our goal was to get another four songs down, Black Magic Woman, Before You Accuse Me, Rock and Roll Music and The Promised Land. All good rock n roll that will get your feel tapping even if you don't want to get up and dance.Today though, I just kept tripping over my fingers in the lead to Black Magic Woman, which I can normally play straight off. It was just one of those days.
     
    So, another target reached, which is nail down four songs a each rehearsal. We are purposely learning easier songs in our early days, so that we can get a momentum going, we want to get twenty songs down quickly. When we've done that we will go for some that take a bit more effort and maybe only learn two at each practice.
     
    The only problem we have now is thinking of a name for the band.
     
    Once again, thanks for reading.
  15. mark555
    It's been a busy day. Usually on a Saturday morning I treat myself to a lie in bed and get up when I want to and not when the alarm go's off. However, this morning I had to be at church to take my turn with some other guys to clean the building. It's quite a large church building with two wings away from the Chapel area and also the hall, when those two area's are opened it will seat 800 people very easily. So it was a very busy morning and with the early start I was tired before I went to band practice. I work 52 miles away from from home and the 5.15am alarm clock gets to you by the end of the week - I don't suppose I am young any more. So afterwards, it was strait home and load the car up for a noon start for band practice.
     
    We went to our usual rehearsal venue, which happens to be the church hall of one of our churches in the next town. We get it for free and no one disturbs us, plus the fact it is ideal. I didn't really want to have a practice today, but when I met up with the rest of the guys in the band it was good to see them, they are all great guys and we get on really well. Dave had done a self build telecaster and it sounded pretty good, so he had brought three guitars today.
     
    We didn't try to learn any new songs, just play some of the ones we've already learned as we need to have them perfect, although the next song we are going to learn is the old stones hit ""paint it black".
     
    I am getting real grief from my amp right now, it's a fender Hot Rod 40 watt valve amp and I am wondering if it was modded before I had it,(it was bought used about 12 years ago. It seems to be incredibly loud just set on 2 and has no gradual sound increase. I am going to have it looked at as soon as I can afford some spare cash. This month I have so far had to pay £330 for auto maintenance, £200 for our gas boiler to be repaired and that still hasn't cured the fault. So we will have to be patient. I am wondering if the previous owner put different valves in it than it should have. I have decided to get it to a good amp tech as soon as I can afford. Dave, our other guitarist is convinced some one messed with it before I got it.
     
    While we were rehearsing today we got a real compliment. A guy we know who used to see our old band saw us today and said that he was really impressed, he said that two years ago we were just another garage band (Thanks...!!) but now we are streets ahead and sounding fantastic. (It's because we have a new line up and hte dynamics are better). That is good because he isn't a musician but is really into his music, so good feedback from a guy in our target audience age who knows his music. We had to vacate the hall today pretty early because there was a birthday party for an eight year old girl. This kid was hyper - as if she had drunk a crate of Red Bull energy drinks. The first thing she said when she saw us was "are you the music for my party?" When we said no she almost demanded that we were!! I was just glad to pack away and leave her with her worn out parents who looked desperate to get rid of her for a few days respite!
     
    Thanks for reading, it's much appreciated.
    Mark.
  16. 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.
  17. mark555

    Wading through mud...

    By mark555,

    So, the band is gigging and audiences are going away having had a great night. Of course there are better guitar players in bands out there, but this band plays a selection of songs that works for the audience. More of Saturday's gig later in this entry.
     
    I don't talk about the family much in my blog, but this last week has been great, my son, George, turned thirty on Friday, he and his wife came up from Kent, it's a four and a half hour drive for them, and Kimberley is five months pregnant so it's quite a trip for her. My daughter, who is also expecting her second child and her husband came over from Southport, which is a town on the north west coast of England, and of course, my youngest daughter who is almost 26 is living with us so she was already here. We all went out to a Persian restaurant, which I have not experienced before, the food wasn't stunning, but it was very enjoyable and the staff were very good. I had a fabulous night out with the family, it was great to see our adult kids all enjoying each others company.
     
    George treated himself to a very nice Yamaha acoustic guitar for his birthday, he paid £300 for it and I have to say it's excellent for the money. He brought it up with him to show me, and I showed him how to oil the fretboard and generally maintain it. We're very close and I am very proud of him, he's carving himself a career in Law as a solicitor at an excellent law firm and he is well thought of. I'm lucky, I have three great kids.
     
    I've been out and about trying some nice guitars this week and was really impressed with a used metallic musicman silhouette with a trem. I really think those are excellent guitars, although it's only the Silhouette I have a liking for. It sounded really clear and played very nicely, but at £1100 used I don't have the cash for it yet. I also played a Duesenberg because I have had a serious bout of gas for the sparkle red or blue single they make. When I tried it though, I didn't think it gave me the sound I was after. A few weeks ago I played a Gretsche Country Gentleman with a Bigsby on it and it played itself and sounded wonderful - instant George Harrison and the tones were fantastic, so I decided that there was no contest between the two for now. So I have narrowed my choice down to the Musicman and the Gretsche for a choice the next time my gig money mounts up enough to let me pull the trigger if the right one comes along.
     
    Saturday night's gig was at a venue we have now played three times and we go down very well at, so we like going there. I have developed a good relationship with the people who run it and call in to spend half an hour with them when I am in the area, it's about an hour north of where I live. I have to say that after all the nastiness that went off the week before, I was not looking forward to the gig at all, worrying about what might occur if our other guitarists wife was in the mood for trouble. However, that morning I'd had a telephone conversation with our drummer, Allen, who is very level headed and easy going. But he told me how disgusted he had been at the conduct of "Carole" and how she had shown the band up in a bad light with her foul language and her drunken antics and that he wanted to sit elsewhere when we were not on stage. Our bass player is not related to me, but we are "brothers", we share the same beliefs, we have known each other since we were young and our parents are friendly with each other. I don't think I have ever had a more loyal friend. But when I found out how our drummer felt and that he was on side with our bass player and myself, it made me feel a lot better. we all agreed that we don't want to lose our other guitar player as he brings much to the band, plays well and we like him. However, the nastiness towards me from his wife has been going on since before Christmas now and it is wearing us all down and we agreed that if it doesn't stop we will cut him loose and replace him. Ad's have already gone out on a website to see who responds.
     
    Anyway, my brother came to the gig on Saturday and we are very close, he also knows our bass player very well so the three of us kept each other company between sets and stayed out of the way of Mrs Satan, I was pleasant to her when I was in her company but did not make too much effort to bother with her much at all. She did not like the fact that she was not the centre of attention, and we all feel that is part of her problem, she's a spoiled brat who needs to grow up and act like an adult. No trouble started and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
     
    Now for the good stuff....! The stage at Saturday's venue enabled us to have plenty space each, so for the first time ever in this band I took my 555 out and played it live! Oh boy, did it perform for me! It was great to play it and it was the classiest guitar on the stage!! With the £ dropping against the $ here in the UK, a new 555 must be the best part of £3,500 now. So buying it used for £800 a few years back was an excellent decision. I played a variety of numbers on it, from Chuck Berry's The Promised Land, Santana's version of Black Magic Woman to songs by the Stones, The searchers, Dave Edmunds and others and I loved it. I will definitely take it out again when we play on bigger stages. I used the Tokai for the second set. After playing strats and a Tele for all the other gigs we've done, I felt the humbuckers gave me that bit more depth. The Heritage is an excellent guitar, built by great guys at a factory that has, pardon the pun, "Heritage". But the Tokai can really do the job and I have to say that I really do think the Japanese know how to produce great guitars. Over here in the UK USA built guitars cost a lot of money compared to what you pay for them in the States, so a good Japanese guitar will equal a gibson at half the money. So the Tokai Love Rock (Les Paul Standard) really did the job and when called for I could let it rip with a bit of lead playing and it gave me the tones I wanted for the songs. I also loved the neck which is modeled on the 59 Les Paul Standard, nice and meaty.
     
    But what amazes me was how the sunburst went through a spectrum of colours as the lighting changed, the most spectacular one looking like a Tobacco sunburst, which I have posted here, you can see some of the other colours it went on my thread on the family tree. All the colours it went were spectacular and must have looked great from an audience view. Seeing the Tobacco sunburst really made me think I ought to get one!
     
    So, the night passed without incident and I got home at 1.30. As I drive home I try not to listen to music so that I can unwind, so I listen to BBC Radio 4. at 00.45 each morning they give the "shipping forecast", which is a detailed weather forecast for each area of sea around the British Ilse. It is preceeded by a piece of music called "Sailing by" which I have grown to really like, and although I am not on a boat or ship somewhere at sea, I just find listening to the forecast - how odd is that?
     
    Well there you go, life in a band, let's see what happens next. Our drummer go's into hospital for an operation next week, so we have a drummer depping for him for six weeks, that will be interesting.
     
    best to all and thanks for reading,
     
    Mark.
     
     
     
     
     
  18. mark555
    It seems like a long time since I last wrote in my blog, yet lots has happened. For those of you who read my blog, you will recall that we were auditioning a new guitar player. Well, Robin is now well and truly embedded in the band and is taking on his share of the load. He's a Les Paul player at heart and his go to guitar is an RI that cost an arm and a leg, but I have managed to switch him on to Telecasters, which he uses on Honky Tonk Women. He's become a real member of the band and has a huge input. I did actually buy the PA from Peter Alton.
    Would you believe it , the old guitarist and his wife were still causing us trouble and making a nuisance of themselves well into this year, but finally we seem to have them off our back. they even contacted Robin, our new guitar player.
    Just when we thought we had the band settled again, we were hit with another problem. Allen, our terrific drummer, had to retire from drumming because he was in too much pain from arthritis, it was making playing impossible and after our last gig of last year he called it a day. I was straight on the phone to Tony, who had stood in with us before and who had said he would gladly join us if Allen ever called it a day. Well, it turns out we missed getting him by two weeks as he had joined a band and was committed to them. However, he has played a couple of gigs with us and we have had a great time playing with him in the band. We held the usual auditions and had the usual range of ability or inability... One guy turned up and by his own admission didn't even try. We did eventually find a cracking drummer called Pete and offered him the job there and then, he accepted and we thought "great, we're away here". He played two gigs with us and three days before the third gig told us he was leaving to join a prog rock band. So, back to the drawing board. to cut a long story short, we offered the drum seat to a really nice guy called Rob, but after one gig it became very apparent he would not be able to make many gigs because of his work as a prison officer and his shift rota. So, back to the drawing board. Our Bass player has a mate at work who is a drummer, he stepped in totally cold and helped us out on a gig, and as we liked his as a person and a drummer, we offered him the gig. He went home to think about it and left the band he was in to join us. Sadly, when he told them he was leaving they got unpleasant and gave him a hard time. Well, he's more than welcome with us.
    Now our aim is to put some more songs into the band and open the set list a bit. Two must do songs are Brown Sugar and 19th Nervous Breakdown by the stones, along with some other standards that go down well.
    We have also bought more lighting, which is a side we want to expand and make the gigs a little more professional. we know we are not a big name band, but we like to try and offer our best. Also we are working on stage craft, looking at what we can do to make more of a show. There's nothing more boring than a band that just stands there. Shaun, our bass player, can be a bit of a BIll Wyman, so we're trying to get him in on the act a bit more. He's a good player and very laid back, so we either play to that or get him moving about a bit.
    This year we could not chase many gigs because of line up changes, the priority was getting the band stable. But we've made a fair few friends along the way and we will get plenty next year. e 
    On the Heritage front, I have put a Duesenberg Les Trem on the 555. There is no drilling and all you do is swap the stop piece for the trem, which is very neat and tidy. Duesenberg trems are superb and it's given the 555 a new lease of life for me and it's been great to gig with, superb on a good old rock and roll where you can just get a bit of sizzle on the pick ups. I couldn't upload a picture of my 555 so I have posted a picture of a Duesenberg with one of their trems on it, although the one in the picture is very different to the one on my 555 fixing wise. I love the Duesenbergs, maybe one day I will get one.
    Meanwhile I am looking forward to the coming summer, we have new venues to play at and new songs to rehearse. One I am really looking forward to playing is Jailbait, by Wishbone Ash.
    Thanks for reading.

  19. mark555

    Life after being in a band

    By mark555,


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

    sharpening up

    By mark555,

    Since my last entry on my blog, the band, Route 62, has had two practices. Last week we added the final two songs to our set list for our forthcoming gig, and now we have the luxury of just polishing them up and bringing them to an acceptable level for public performance. As this is going to be our first gig, I am sure that we will be ok, but not as sharp as we are going to get through playing a few more live situations. The one pain in the neck though is almost having to re learn the earlier songs we put into the set list.
     
    Looking back a few months, it is now totally obvious to me that getting a new drummer was the best move we made to progress the band forward. Since Allen, (the old man of the band) joined us, we have had weekly rehearsals and this has been the thing that has made the difference. The band has moved forward much faster for it. And in fairness to Allen, he did bring with him an expectation that we were serious and it made us raise our game. We now have twenty four numbers which are more or less ready to play, and there is enough experience in the band to overcome any live hiccups.
     
    One thing that is bothering me is that our PA is not fully up to the job of gigs, although it is loud enough, what we do not have is a monitor system. Normally that would not be a problem, we would just go out and buy what we want. However, right now only one of the band is working, one of us being retired and the other two being out of work. So, today's task is to beg a second pa to use as a foldback system. WE have speakers we can use, but not a power amp. It will have to be the next thing on the shopping list when we get some gig money in.
     
    Other events which are band related have been a trip to our very own Peter Green's home, which I have made an entry about on the Family Tree. Peter and I have been friends a few years now, and he has a good working knowledge of wiring pick ups and also setting guitars up. Peter has some beautiful guitars of various brands, all if which are great player's. Anyway, Shaun, our bass player, has a new Precision, which is really a "bitsa" - bits a this and bits of that... It's a lovely white body with rosewood neck, and he needed everything wired in, with the Seymour Duncan bassline pick up it sounds excellent, Peter did a great job. I also changed the strings on the 555 because I wanted a lighter gauge for the style I am playing in the band. It did have 12's on it, but I have gone down to 10's for the string bends. I didn't know how to correctly adjust the truss rod, and Peter taught me how to do it, so now I am ok with that, which is a big help.
     
    Next wednesday is our final rehearsal before the gig, and we are going to do an afternoon and evening to polish everything up. We are almost there now, perhaps those less that perfect songs will just give us that raw edge - as the songs says, "it's only rock and roll, but I like it."
  21. 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.)
  22. mark555
    After the fantastic success of last week when Shaun and I found Terry the drummer, we were eager to start looking for the next band member, so we started scouring the usual web sites where hopefully we could find a few likely candidates for joining us. We were looking for a vocalist and guitar player, or if needs be, one guy who could do both.
     
    During the week I had contacted one or two more people who seemed to fit the bill and we invited a guy to come for audition. I asked many questions of him, but missed the really obvious one, which was "what experience do you have?". I don't know why I didn't ask this question, from the way he was talking, I just took it for granted - I won't make that mistake again. He told me he had really good gear, which is important because good gear makes for good tone. So, a time was arranged and we all turned up.
     
    Our guest was an extremely nice guy, he came complete with Telecaster and what he said was a Vox Valve amp. Now I have owned a Vox AC30 and I know what the sound like and what they look like, and this certainly was not an AC30 valve amp. I can tell a valve (tube) amp as soon as I hear it and this was not what he said it was. Perhaps he was inexperienced in the amp market, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say that perhaps he wasn't as knowledgeable as he needed to be when he bought it.
     
    We had e mailed him some very easy songs to get to grips with that he could sing and play at the audition, twelve bar stomps etc, the most complex song he had to learn was whiskey in the jar, chords only.
     
    Well, we started playing and it just was not working at all. Last week, when Terry joined us, it was Bang! Off we went and it came together instantly. This week, we knew from the word go that it was not going to work. However, the guy had turned up, and he deserved the courtesy of being given a chance, But half an hour later I had lost the will to live and our drummer was just desperate to go home. Shaun of course, as relaxed and laid back as ever, was just kicking the bass lines out, but we both shook our heads when we looked at each other.
     
    So here's today's lesson. There are loads of bedroom players who really think they can play and sing because that's all they do, but put them in with a full band, and the noise of it hits them and they are out of their depth. Our guest couldn't hold a tune and his timing was truly terrible, he had no strength in his voice and generally was terrible. After an hour (we were very generous) we cut it short and having already told him that we wouldn't make a decision there and then, we thanked him for coming and helped him pack his gear away. We then all agreed that I wold give him a call to thank him for coming but tell him that we needed some one with band experience and playing live.
     
    I really felt that it would only be good manners to actually speak to him, so I phoned him only to get his answer phone, so I left a nice message and e mailed him. he replied, saying that he had enjoyed himself but did find that he was not comfortable with the genre we play. So, there we are, all nice and polite and done properly.
     
    Next week we are auditioning a guitar player who says he has a lot of live experience and claims to be a good player. If he is good, that's great. But we will give him one hour and then hopefully audition another player i am trying to contact. Lets see what happens. Thanks for reading.
  23. mark555

    Telecasting

    By mark555,

    Another gig under our belt, we played a venue called Netherton Conservative Club. With a small audience of about eighty, we played two sets of forty five minutes and one hour. The venue has the smallest stage I have ever played on - we had our mics fully extended and set on the dance floor. The club was well out of town and located in a nice setting, but humping the gear in and out was a pain in the neck because the door was a long way from the car park. We did not get a return booking there and then, which I would have liked to have secured, but I will be phoning back in a day or two as it's two weeks since we played. I must admit that I will not be too bothered if we don't get back there, but I see getting a return booking as part of a successful gig. We went down well, but I made a couple of howling mistakes in that I totally forgot some of the words of one song, and while playing a popular instrumental, I completely forgot where I was supposed to put my fingers. What was nice though, was a friend I haven't seen for a long time came about fifty miles to watch us play, he had seen my ad for the gig on facebook and decided to come over. We were a little rusty because our bass player had been in Australia for his son's wedding and had stayed a month, so we had only had one practice before the gig.
     
    Anyway, we're still finding venues to play, social clubs around Yorkshire in the main. I don't know what the US equivalent of these clubs are, but at one time the club circuit was huge in Britain.
     
    Well, today the main high spot of my rehearsal session with the band was using my Tokai Telecaster. That guitar is just a joy to play. As I am getting used to playing a telecaster, I understand why so many players love them. I am finding that I can use it on more and more numbers that we play, and it just cuts right through the mix and rings like a bell. I love it for playing early rock and roll and it just does the job so well, My friend Dave who plays in another local band, calls them a "Grown ups guitar". i waited a long time to get this instrument and it has been well worth the wait. Sometimes, somethings just work really well, and this guitar is one of those things, On top of that, it is so comfortable to play.
     
    One thing I have decided upon is that for the time being I have enough guitars, and what I really need is another amp I would be comfortable gigging with. For two reasons, the first is that I need a back up if my amp breaks down, and second, I can use humbuckers through it without having to take one guitar out and change all the settings. I am saving my gig money up to pay for it, with the gigs we have booked, I will soon have another amp.
     
    our next gig is in July, hopefully soon I will have some pictures to post of our gigs.
     
    On a different note, I have started to try and lose weight. I am way heavier than I should be and I am sick of it. I do not want to be the fat one in the band and so far I have lost four pounds - it's one small step for mark and one giant leap of hope! I have given myself a year to get to where I want to be. Here's hoping I can stay the course.
     
    To all those kind enough to read my blog, thank you so much, it is much appreciated.
     
  24. mark555

    Moving forward

    By mark555,

    It's a Saturday night off gigging, which to be honest, I am glad about because I have been very tired and could do with a rest. No church tomorrow either so I will get up a little later than I usually do and enjoy the rest. Today I have enjoyed a day on the north west coast of England, where our daughter lives, we went to look after her as she is having a rough time with her pregnancy, the new baby is due in August. Today me and Mrs 555 did the seventy mile trip and had a wonderful day with our daughter and granddaughter, taking little Penny out and spending some Nana and Granddad time with our favourite three year old.
     
    Any one who read my last blog and my recent thread about our fellow band members wife causing great difficulty will be aware of the trouble this has caused and how the band was ready to part with our other guitarist. In the end I decided that a change of band member just wasn't in the best interest of the band and it's ability to gig and earn money. In the end I decided that I would be civil with Mrs Satan and speak to her, but at the same time showing her there was no way was I going to give any ground on this and put up with any such behavior again.
     
    I've come to the conclusion that something must have been said between her and her husband privately, because she has changed her attitude and is far better behaved at gigs, and has been pleasant with me. The other two guys have suggested that our other guitarist is enjoying being in our band and earning the money that comes with it. (Not that we earn fortunes, but easily enough to buy a couple of tasty guitars a year if we want). For her behavior to change so quickly we think that she has been told to stop her problem causing by some one! So, the outcome from all this is that she is backing off from interfering with band business and she has probably realised that there is no mileage in causing trouble and that I have the full backing of the bass player and drummer. She has also not been drinking as much alcohol at gigs, but I am pretty sure she is still drinking very strong lager. She seems to have accepted that she has no say in the band and that there is (for want of a better word) a "senior" band member and that is me, and that causing trouble hurts her the most. So the three of us who were united in the decision to fire her husband if needs be are glad that this very difficult and unpleasant period of six months seems to have come to a close and some sort of balance has been restored with Mrs Satan seeming to have realised her place in the grand plan of the band, which is, she is not in the band and has to butt out of business. As a result, we are all nice to her and we seem to have sorted things out by holding back from being aggressive, but still having a plan B for replacing her husband prepared and ready to put into action.
     
    I am really glad the situation is resolved and we are all getting along without the strain, I am glad I held back from speaking my mind too strongly and holding it all together, I think it has been well worth it. Also, calling in an exorcist was also a good move......!!
     
    We have played a few pub gigs lately, in and among the clubs (clubs generally pay more money). We have a total of three gigs at one particular pub this year and the manager of the questioned us as to why we don't have lights, because there is a much better atmosphere with bands that do. So we considered this and decided to invest some of our money in a small lighting rig that will work nicely in a pub or club environment. I was up in the town of Darlington, which is about 100 miles north of me and found a lighting dealer who had a good showroom and was able to demonstrate to me several combinations of what we could get for our budget. The guy really knew his stuff. I had done as much research on the net as I could and found that none of the music shops kept anything we could look at in store or set up, and the store I was recommended to go to was in fact a DJ specialist. But it was obvious they knew what they were talking about and they told me that they sell to a lot of bands. Mike, the owner, was able to educate me and show me that what I came in thinking I wanted, wasn't what I really needed, and what I was asking about was out of date. He showed me a rig he had set up on his wall as a permanent display and played the unplugged version of Hotel California through one of the sound systems while the lights did their thing. I got what he was telling me there and then, which was that we should use that lighting behind us and two warm white spot lights illuminating us from the front. That way we stay lit up naturally but have a stunning light show coming from the stage. So, I went back and told the band what I had found and sent them a couple of links to see the rig working. They were all impressed and said get it ordered. So on Monday, we take delivery of the two warm white spot lights which are bright enough and have enough spread the light us up between them, and the lighting rig. The lighting rig has two Derby Lights, Two cans, four Strobes and a laser which can do no end of stuff. It comes multi programmed with a foot board for changing settings and has wireless technology. When I was talking to our bass player, (he and I are the core of the band) we decided that we would like two of these rigs and to link them together. The effect would be stunning. So it would not surprise me if in another couple of months we are not ordering another one.
     
    I firmly believe that having a good light show will give us more return bookings as the customers of the venues will get a better experience when they come to see us. Once we learn how to get the settings we want for our set list, I think it will definitely give us an edge over many local bands who do not bother with lighting. This will mean a longer wait for my next guitar, but will perhaps enable us to raise our fee's if we can give a more complete and enjoyable experience to the customers of the venues. After all, once you get up on a stage, you are there to entertain your audience, regardless of the genre of music. I just want to be able to give my audience as good a night as I can.
     
    I will let you know how things develop with the lighting side of things, I think it will be a good investment and I am willing to invest some more into lighting later this year. When I can, I will post some pictures.
     
    Thanks for being kind enough to read and best wishes to all.
    mark.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  25. 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.
     

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