Vox Classic Rock

Vox Classic Rock

Love this little amp. Now when my neighbours are out I can play through my headphones without disturbing anyone, and save the Orange Tiny Terror for when they're in.

Fairly cheap at £30, the Vox Classic Rock amPlug is a close match to how I remember my Vox AC30 amp sounding.

Orange cab & Tiny Terror

Orange cab & Tiny Terror

And a sweetass Orange 1 x 12 cab to go with the Tiny Terror. Playing through this set up really does an SG justice. It's been gathering dust, now I'm tempted to gig with it.

Orange Tiny Terror

Orange Tiny Terror

On a recommendation Gary (who owns more serious guitar amps as a bassist than I ever have as a guitarist) I bought an Orange Tiny Terror.

I didn't need much convincing - my Sessionette 75 packed up a while back despite some loving from Chandlers, and the youtube videos all looked awesome. So when my Mum generously gave me some money for my birthday, I was off to find one. I tried a couple in a shop in the West End and was sold. I think I had more people stop to listen me try them than we've had at some of our gigs.

Anyways, I've gone the whole hog an ordered an Orange cab as well for practicing at home. It's coming from a shop in Glasgow, and hopefully the guitar gods will be kind and it will arrive Wednesday...

Louvaine 16th December 2007

Louvaine 16th December

We playing at a bar in South London in a week or so. And the bar's closing, so we get to drink it dry :)

Scuzzbuckets

Scuzzbuckets

A photoshopped "Guitargeek" style layout of the equipment I've been using. I'm sure after a few more gigs and a record deal Guitargeek will want to do their own official version, but in the meantime... ;)

I can live without the wah wah. I used to play with various Boss pedals back in the day (delay, octave, another distortion, chorus, flanger, compression), and another no-name distortion pedal that could sustain till the audience went home, had kids, raised them, introduced them to live gigs, and then those kids came to see us. They'd find me still holding that note. Anyways, life's simpler now. And the planet waves tuner (as recommended by Devin Townsend) is a life saver.

Equipment

Never listed my equipment, because I'll pretty much play with anything. Only thing I'm picky about is the guitar. But here goes, for what it's worth.

Guitar

Currently gigging with a Gibson Les Paul. It ain't perfect. The neck is wonky and the E and A strings buzz between the 9th and 12th frets. But it sounds fucking great. But may swap to a Tokai Les Paul because it's the second Gibson Les Paul I've had with a crappy neck. I also practice with a Fender Strat and my first second guitar, a fantastically heavy no-name strat copy I fitted out with Seymour Duncan and Carvin pick ups, a graphite nut, and an Alembic Stratoblaster thing. Own a Gibson SG and a cheapo Mex Telecaster. And a Tokai Strat copy. If I had the cash, I'd have more guitars (must... resist).

Strap

Using an old Ernie Ball strap with Schaller strap locks - a must with any guitar, but more so with the weight of a Gibson. You don't want to snap the head of a Les Paul when the strap slips off. Have Schaller strap locks on the Gibsons Fender and no-name Strats.

Amp

For years, I played and practiced through a Sessionette 75 (since gone it a bit flaky on me, needs a service). Currently practicing and gigging with Marshall stacks. No idea what they are, but they sound great.

Pedals

I use a Boss DS-1 distortion pedals to fill the sound out during solos and add some sustain. Been considering picking up a Keeley modded version. Used to have an array of pedals, but they all got pinched. Still own a couple of wah-wah's (Morley and Colorsound). Might start using them again, but I ain't that great with them.

Tuner

Broken two guitar pick tuners (a planet waves and an early Strobopick - which I loved). Poised to buy a Planet Waves Chromatic Pedal Tuner after the disaster of the last gig. And probably some locking machine heads for the Gibson (my Fender Strat has them, and they are a god send). Have a pitch fork that's never let me down (A).

Strings

Ernie Ball Regular Slinky. Used Dean Markley custom lite's back in the day, but had trouble finding them of late. Never really used a light gauge, but have tried some obscenely heavy gauges in my time (till the bassist threatened to quit because I was making him redundant...). Have a slightly lighter gauge on the Fender Strat.

Cables

Whatever. Currently a mixture of Ernie Ball and Fender.

Post Arch Aid

Simon (drummer) has quite a philosophical approach, and after this gig he said "Well, it's all a learning experience". And I learnt that sitting outside for an hour (we were supposed to play at 7.30, but didn't go on until 8.30) meant that my hands froze. And while Simon quickly realized he couldn't spin his drum sticks, I quickly realized I was having trouble playing at all.

And things got worse: my guitar went out of tune during every song. I've no idea why, but first the A string, then the E string, then the B string. I would play a power chord, discover that it sounded shit, guess which string was playing me up, and quickly shift to playing that chord in a different position. Which would have been ok had my hands not been frozen.

After four songs (we were playing a short set - there were seven bands due to play), I was glad it was all over. I thanked the audience, my guitar strap came off, the leads came out, and I looked up to see the rest of the band staring at me. We had another song to go. Sheeesh. Plug back in, strap back on, and we knock out 'Too Drunk Too Fuck'. In this case I was too cold to play. And slightly too wired. But since a disastrous Inn On The Green gig I've learnt to play it cool with getting wasted before playing. Now I've learnt too stay warm too.

As for the Gibson going out of tune, well, that I don't know about. I was weighing up between taking the Fender Strat and the Les Paul before the gig, and Kirk (my son) recommended the Gibson because of the sound. Which was a good call - it sounded great. Just wish it had stayed in tune too. Perhaps locking tuners are in order.

Arch Aid

Scuzzers

Karim (from Firemouth) is trying to raise rent after Railtrack repossesed their studio. We're playing in place of a band that dropped out. If I can get a babysitter...

Gig details here

Post gig rehearsal

I didn't quite manage to get the Foo's 'Times like these' together in time for this practice, but brought along Bowie's 'Hang on to yourself', the Damned's 'New Rose' and 'London Calling' by The Clash, all of which we got into fair shape. We also played 'Pump It Up' by Elvis Costello, which is a keeper. And the Sex Pistols 'God Save The Queen' just for the heck of it.

Shattered when I got in, the wide awake till 3a.m, which had an impact on a competition at work...

Well, I enjoyed it: Scuzzbuckets play Hydro

I don't look forward to gigs. In fact, I hate playing live, but it's better than not playing live, and tonight was good one.

A few days before the gig I changed to a fresh set of strings because I was expecting another guitarist to use my guitar, and didn't want a string breaking mid set for either of us, but in the end he had his own guitar. The new strings gave me grief, though, and I ended up having to tune the B string in the intro to 'Can I Sit Next To You Girl...', and fought to keep them in tune for the rest. Ah well, shit happens. The rest of the gig was great, with a good turn out, and the other four bands rocked. and the only thing that could have made it even better would have been if a certain someone had turned up, but c'est la vie (although I do have to say thank you for the DVD).

A bit too much...

Scuzzbuckets

A long long Friday night, a lost Saturday, a very heavy Sunday, and then a practice tonight which felt like the whole weekend again squeezed into three hours. Not sure I can keep this up.

But the set is a lot tighter, and Gary was on form, getting the sound together and tweaking the arrangements. We were beat by 9pm, and I was a bit gutted we were going to call it a night without adding anything new, but pestering Gary to show me the bass line for Elvis Costello's 'Pump It Up' meant we ended up giving it a go (after plugging everything back in), and I while I doubt we'll get a chance to practice it again in time for the next gig, I'm sure it'll be in the set soon. Probably sounding somewhere between the original and The Wildhearts version.

Been lusting after this guitar...

I had a look in a couple of guitar shops in the States for a Gibson BFG, but they weren't shipping yet. Mores the pity, as the usual £ = $ price hike in the U.K means that I can't justify buying one for the foreseeable future.

But I love the look of this guitar. When you hand over your Les Paul to another guitarist who's broken a string you end up worrying about the pounds being knocked off by his belt buckle. Hand over a BFG and he'd be adding character.

So I'm blogging it here to get it out of my system. And in case anyone gets a sudden urge to buy me a surprise present ;)

(photo courtesy of Gibson Germany)

Practices for upcoming gig

A couple of practices under our belt, with a couple of new songs (including one I wrote many years ago currently getting reworked as a Scuzzbuckets song) in preparation for a gig on the 23rd of September.

Boys Are Back In Town

Well, almost. My hike in the States for a month, Jamie's work/holiday in Brighton and the States, and Gary's trip to Spain has meant we've all had an extended break and are itching to get back gigging.

Gary's due back in a few days, so hopefully we can hit the studio again and get back to speed with some new songs (covers and originals).

But family in Australia mean Gary will only be back for a short while, so chances are we'll only squeeze in a one gig somewhere.

Inn On The Green - Video

Inn On The Green - Dance video

Here's a video of us playing Motörhead's 'Dance' at the Inn On The Green, 1st of June. It's 30Mb, so you might want to pause it when it starts and let it download a bit before watching.

I love that Jamie has a piece of paper with the words on, and throws a bottle in the air that hits Gary on the head.

Even professionals...

Great view of a recent Vancouver gig from a humble Stewart Copeland

Inn on the Green, Second time around

As we come off, the guitarist/singer from the next band says "How do we follow that?" and that's as much praise as you could ask for. Sure, we weren't a 100% (finishing on a song we had only recently learnt wasn't wise), but we were a 100% better than last time we played here, and more importantly: I enjoyed playing this time. The songs were tight and even if Si had been drinking all afternoon, he's still too good for it too really show.

Chris came with a couple of cameras and filmed us, so it will be interesting to look back and see how we perform. I tend to enter my own world, concentrating on not screwing up, and it's easy to forget to look up every now and again and smile. After all, people have paid to be there. Gary and Si have that down, and Jamie is a stage presence unto himself.

With the offer off a lift back home (well, back to a local pub) I pop back stage to get my stuff as the band that followed us on is coming off. I've missed their entire set. The guitarist asks me if he sounded in tune, obviously worried. "You sounded fine," I lie. "Great set." It ain't easy getting up in front of a crowd in place you don't know, so anyone that does it deserves a pat on the back, but I still feel bad I didn't hear them.

Highlight of the night? Their music may not have been entirely to my taste (my Michelle Shocked days are long gone), but the Siskin Sisters showed how to entrance an audience with some of the finest cleavage I have ever seen. Highly recommended, especially if you catch them in a Jazz bar where they aren't followed by the Scuzzbuckets...

The evening before...

Tear myself away from a leaving do at work (and a girl called Isabelle) for a pratice before our Inn On The Green gig tomorrow. Aziz*, a friend of Si's comes along and seems to enjoy things as we belt through our set. I'm a bit worse for wear (free tab at the leaving do), but only 'Sheena Is a Punk Rocker' which was great last time sounds week. We may drop it. If we can't get a three chord Ramones song right, well...

Being drunk makes every song seem a minute long. Strange. I keep track of where we are in a song (just), but find myself surprised as each song ends, and struggle to remember whether we even played some of them. Must resist when we play tomorrow night, although I learnt a valuable lesson last time when the wait before playing meant I over indulged before hand and wasn't at my best (understatement!).

*As we make our way home in the van it turns out that not do Si and Aziz share the same birth date (to the year), but so does Jamie. Aziz works out he odds, and they're slim.

Completely unmusical

I'm writing a blog on writing over at writer-guitarist-coder.blogspot.com. Just so you know. I'll try not to mention it again. ;)

Post practice

A tiring practice tonight. Warm up with three or four songs, add The Ramones 'Sheena is a Punk Rocker', practice Motörhead's 'Dance', Arctic Monkeys 'Bet that you look good on the dancefloor', and Green Day's 'American Idiot', then work out a set for next Friday. It goes something like:

Blitzkrieg Bop
Pretty Vacant
Song 2
Dance
Bet that... Dancefloor
Live Wire
Too Drunk To Fuck
Anarchy In The U.K
Sheena is a punk Rocker
American Idiot

We tear through it in rehearsal, and it all works well. 'Live Wire' I either get of fluff up badly enough to consider dropping it. But it's a great song, be a shame to lose it. By the end of the set I look as though I've run a half marathon. Having to bring a towel to practices (and a change of shirt to gigs). Supposed to go to a housewarming, but it's gone 11pm and I just wanna crash.