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Thanks for your kind words. I can quickly set up any pa in a any room to your requirements if you are having problems. Interesting as Brian is not a quiet singer . . sounds like a mike placement problem? I favour older amps as they are easier to fix compared to the thin pcbs on modern ones. I admit i dont like the peavey gtr amp or solid state marshall very much but i can get a useable sound out of either one. And some people like them and ask for them. The sessionette is brilliant provided you use the clean channel and a pedaI (especially if you hook up another cab). Same with the JC-120's .I try and keep the valve amps going but its hard due to the level of misuse they have to put up with. I put out what I can and try and fix the rest. Not everyone likes Marshalls. The drum kits . . yes very true they have issues from time to time. I spend a couple of grand a year on hardware alone. Ever wondered why every drumkit in every Aberdeen venue is a bit ratty? Because the people who use them don't own them and don't care how brutal they are adjusting them. I do the best i can given limited funds Hard walls and wooden floors? As opposed to what? Ones made of custard? There are sound dampening measures in place just because they are not expensive sculpted foam doesn't mean they don't do the job. All the rooms and bits of equipment are are someones favourite, dont see why i should make them all the same. I agree we should stock strings but we've had plectrums for ages . . but we are NOT a music retail store! Batteries sweeties and juice are available from Morrisons garage 100yds away at prices we couldn;t possibly compete with. Generally people manage to remember their equipment before they leave the house? and if you forgot your lead or strap theres usually ones lying about in the office . . I say usually because a whole lot of them get stolen . And there are sets of old strings in the office if you ask you'll get one gratis if you can find the right gauge. That'll be the locked office , automatically locked with a keycode everytime its closed because we have been robbed before. Please knock ? I find the locked in the office to smoke weed jibe very below the belt. We are building a reception desk at the moment as we realise it would be good to have someone at the front to meet and greet, I admit my associates are not very technically minded . . i have tried to address that issue but they, i'll admit , have not grasped the basic concepts yet. One is a jazz guitarist the other a brass player. As to the texting thing and the sheets, are YOU high? Its a studio. There's noise, there's recording sessions i cant afford to employ someone to sit by a phone 11 hours a day. Plus with texts i have a note of whats been agreed which makes sense to me. But i do answer the phone when i can.. Basically I'm doing the best I can given the resources available, I have met you and am a bit disappointed by the tone of your post. I hope i have answered your points and have tried to keep this to an acceptable tone, even though according to you i am lazy and half assed. Thanks for that. Onward and upward.

Woah, this is cloak and dagger stuff! I can't find the thread but I didn't say Snow Patrol 'sold out'. I don't use that phrase, because it's stupid. I did say Snow Patrol don't make music I like any more, and I did say I think they write terrible, overblown stadium pop songs now. Which in my opinion they do. I also vividly remember acknowledging that Final Straw is a terrific guitar pop album, and probably their best release. That albums is rammed with choruses and singalong melodies, and that's the point you would say they 'sold out', if you were a dick. I did not say that. My beef with them is the albums they have released since that have been sub-par. Really, truly, bad. I'm sure they couldn't give a flying minge-nut if I like them or not, because they have millions of fans and sell millions of records, which they didn't when they were putting out albums like 'Songs for Polar Bears'. Fair play to them. As I say, I was all ears when they changed to a more poppy sound. Final Straw is a terrific pop album. The more recent ones, however, are grey drudgery. I don't dislike the direction per se, I dislike the inherent lack of quality. As an aside, if you 'can't vouch for how much truth there is' in what I said, why are you so up in arms about it? As for Muse, I do think they need to change the record (see what I did there). That's a good few albums of intergalactic-space-explosion-starburst-alien-revolt-implosion stuff, and I find it a bit tiresome. I don't really see how this is linked to the debate. Who said Muse 'sold out'? It certainly wasn't me. It's a sad, cold world if I'm not allowed an opinion on the latest output from one of the biggest bands in the country. This is a pretty weird rant Calum, particularly because I don't even see how these two examples are linked. Or how either of them are linked to the 'selling out' debate. And next time my opinions mortally wound you with their caustic poison, why don't you ask me at the time? It's a bit creepy that you've been sitting on this for months...

She only continues to be a cunt because cunts follow her cuntish non-existence like it was meaningful. How many books can one person write saying "I do nothing, have tits and kids. Love me" that people actually buy en masse? Heaps apparently.People are cunts. Not just her.

Definitely not. It's a crime against music that the original doesn't contain a key change, the X Factor lot are doing Biffy a favour by slinging one in. Smart move on the part of the producers to give the winner a song with a bit of indie cred. Should stave off some of the sense of rebellion that made itself known last year with all the RATM nonsense.

It's the thing at the top of your legs, cunt.

Couldn't agree more about the whole 'sellout' thing.. I used to be as bad as anyone (when I was 16 and thought the whole fucking world owed me something) but now I've realised that musicians grow up.. Green Day are my favourite example.. They've went from writing songs about dicks to having a few years hiatus and coming back with a hugely political (albeit a slightly simple minded, FUCK BUSH, YEAH!! kind of political) couple of albums and people brand them sellouts.. Not denying there's a breakneck change in direction towards the commercial here, but they are fucking 40somethings now... obviously they had to grow up a little.... no? It's always teh so called fucking 'punk scene' that does it too and that really irks me... So called punks who spend so much time arguing about what does and doesn't fit into their definition of 'punk', but at the same time trying to hold on to the ideals that what they stand for is being anti-elitism and anti-establishment... The irony staggers me... xx

I hate this "they've sold out" pish that happens every now and again when a band changes their direction. I'll be honest, I only got into Biffy off the back of the Mountains single. I was aware of them, but I somehow just hadn't really heard any of their music. I saw the singer doing an acoustic stripped back version of Mountains on some T In the Park programme and thought it was ace. Bought Puzzle and thought it was ace too, and then bought the new album which I think is even better and then bought the first three albums which I just don't think are as good. There's not much of a "change of direction" from them either so the sold out comments are complete bollocks in my opinion. As for Muse, I really don't think they've sold out either. I'm not quite sure how I came to getting so into Muse, but I had their first album when it came out all those years ago, and have always loved Muse. I see a progression more than a change of direction from them to be honest. But I really don't see a problem with a band changing direction. People's musical tastes change, so why can't someone who's in a band that you like not have a change of taste, which ends up being reflected in the music they write? And, a band can do whatever the fuck they like to be honest. I really don't have that much of a problem with a band going "fuck this, as much as we love this music, it's getting us fucking nowhere, if we tweak it slightly (or a lot) it will have a lot more commercial appeal and we can continue to play this music that we still think is good, or we could go and get day jobs and get paid money to do something we don't like" How many people around the world are doing a job they really don't like? If the offer was there, I'd probably join a Take That type band if it meant getting to be a full time "musician" and get to go on tour etc etc. I quite like most of the Take That songs that come out, but they're very far away from the kind of music I would play in a band through choice, but you know - I'd rather be a full time Take That member than sitting in an office for my day job!

I reckon the festive charts will probably look a bit like this: 1. 'Dribbling Shit Bubble Ballad' - Kandi Piss (or whoever wins the X Factor, I don't follow it....) 2. 'Simon Cowell Is A C**t' - Very Angry Young Men 3. 'Hillbilly Line-Dance Peado Support Novelty Jive' - Old McDonald and the Farm Gang 4. 'Jesus Is Love (Even Though He Probably Smells Of Piss) - Cliff Richard 5. 'Don't Stop Believing (Techno-Woof-Woof-Gabba-200bpm-Squirrel Vocal Dub) - Journey 6. 'Whiter Than White Christmas' - Shane Ritchie ft. Daz 7. 'All I Want For Christmas Is A Clean Piss Sample' - George Michael 8. 'Twinky-Dee-Dee-Dee-Dee Glitter Ball' - The Fluffy Doilies (from their self-titled CBeebies show) 9. 'Relight My Fire' - Rock For Chilean Prisoners (various artists) 10. 'Royalty Cheque Sing-A-Long Rock' - Slade ft. Wizzard/Shakin' Stevens/Jona Lewie/etc Probably.