Flash@TMB

Full details here: http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10763 New rejuvinated house band. Much more scope for other bands to get on stage and perform. If a band is missing a player or 2 then the house band will attempt to fill any holes. Hmm. Not sure that came out right. Solo performers welcome. Free drink, and perhaps evern a gig, for those that perform.

We are going to fire up our new format Open Mic Night / Jam Session this Sunday from 7pm onwards. The Hexagonal Pensioners will act as the new 'house band', they are there to kick the session off, and then fill in the blanks in any bands that turn up missing a player or two. All bands are welome, but how many tunes they are permitted to play depends on crowd response... This is early days for the new set-up, and hopefully everyone will help us make this a success. BTW we are competing head on with the old school at Billy Bundys under the supervision of our 'ex house band'. They reckon that they are 'irreplacable' - let's prove them wrong! Lets demonstrate that people under 35 can participate in this type of event LOL! Let's operate a jam where nobody plays 'Black Night'... EVER... Flash

PHEW - I was worried there for a minute. I guess we're more ELO.

heh heh The doors are a special design. The usual method for vandalising a toilet door is to enter the cubicle, lock the door, climb over the top, then kick the door in, breaking the lock. These doors jump of their hinges when you start to boot them, ultimately falling into the cubicle. This saves the lock from breaking. The doors are also quite tough being steel plated, so they take a fair few kicks. If someone gives up, or is distrubed in the process then the doors are sometimes left just on the hinge and no more, the next time someone opens it, whallop! That's probably what you experienced. We had 3 doors attacked during the course of the night - one of them twice. There was no lasting damage, and I only had to tighten a couple of screws. The screws are also designed to fail before the lock, or hinge, so worst case scenario I have to replace a screw. A similar attack was carried out on our opening Friday. Provided this person continues to attack the doors, then sooner or later we'll catch up with them - it's only a matter of time. The tapes from both nights showing who headed into the toilets prior to the attack have helped us narrow it down, so hopefully once more and we've got the fucker. I'm guessing that the same person is responsible for breaking the locks in the ladies at HJBs and Moshulu, so I'm sure Robb will be interested in the outcome... Never mind there's always the Schooner for them to drink in. BTW Simon - the tape also shows you 'apparently' entering the ladies (either that or visiting the cleaning cupboard for 27mins) a week ago Friday night whilst OFF duty. Please refrain from doing this in future! Flash

Ehrm... Midnight Music by The Runaways?

OK so all I want to know is... AM I EMO? YES OR NO!

one thing I'd like to add In this thread I've already posted the economics from the venues perspective relating more to 'proper' gigs. BTW IMHO a 'proper' gig constitutes an installed PA, a stage, a lighting rig, and a sound engineer. So if you've had to hire a PA, and are located halfway up the fire escape, in front of the toilet door, and behind a plant pot then no it's not the real thing LOL! No doubt I'll get flamed for that A few months back I posted information on what to charge a bar for the typical pub rock type deal. So in the event that someone is seeking to play The Tilted Wig, Claire's, The Rusty Nail, or Bundys then you know what the going rates are and how to deal with the bar owner Anyhow, back on topic... At The Moorings Bar we operate a policy where bands are only charged cost price throughout the day from drink, from the time they arrive to setup and soundcheck until the time they leave. This applys to band members only. I see no reason why a venue should ever seek to charge a performer full price - especially where there is gate money involved. So if you push the venue for one concession, then make it cost price drink. Now you might be wondering why not FREE drink... heh heh believe me a bar will only ever make that mistake once! For reference, cost prices are usually in the ballpark of 1 for a pint, 70p for a nip & dash, 30-40p for a large soft drink. Much less if it's a big chain (but those are unlikely to have a means of discounting - YEAH RIGHT). It might be best to make this approach via the promoter though. Venues that are using promoters are probably seeking to avoid any direct dealings with the bands. Hope this helps. Flash

yeah But we have the fastest bar staff - no poncing around etc.

There will be a reward for anyone that can provide information, such as the name or a description of the person that was foolish enough to vandalise some of the doors in our ladies? toilet last night. Although this behaviour may be tolerated elsewhere with little or no retribution, we are located in the harbour area and different rules apply. If we ever catch the fucker then I'll have a nice pair of concrete jeans tailor made and will enjoy watching them learn to breathe water. Get the drift? Seriously, if you have any information relating to this then PM me and there will be something in it for you. And them. Flash

Ross I am really dissapointed that a man of your experience would be unaware that Spinal Tap played original material heh heh. The band I am referring to are a local covers band that have become such an institution (or is that so institutionalised?) that someone formed a tribute band in their honour. If you'd like to book either then I'll gladly pass on their details. I also have a copy of their most recent CD, perhaps you'd like to play it at Bondage. This I'd pay to see. If you get negative comments concerning G&R and The Shamen then just wait till they hear this Our particular favourite is 'Basket Case'. It's the only version that a group of pensioners can (and do) do the 'slosh' to. Flash

For your own safety and sanity I should probably withhold the information that it used to be Betty Burkes and is located in Langstance Place. I believe it's a similar vibe to pre Flash & Laura era Moorings. Before we refurbished we held a rock jam every Sunday evening. Unfortunately there were certain issues relating to the house band. Ultimately we were forced to bar the drummer for his second public tantrum, and they've moved up? to Bundy's. This is a good solution that works well for all parties. Fortunately nobody is irreplacable, and we now intend to host a new formt jam/open mic session on Sundays. This will kick off a little earlier, and be more open to other bands coming in to play. I've recruited a new house band that fits better with the type of thing we want to do. I'll post more details soon. Let me know how you get on at Bundy's - just don't don't expect Moorings standard sound LOL. Flash

Not all of them, just one in particular I'd rather not mention any names, but let's put it this way... they are the only covers band I know of that has a tribute band formed in it's honour??!? Flash

Well it must have been a good weekend everywhere.. We only polled 6 people yet we were busy and had a great night, so I guess everywhere also had a good weekend.

Let me shed some light on this... When we took over The Moorings Bar, the previous owners had bookings arranged for the next 12 months. Those were all with the top local covers bands. The charges for those bands were 150-300 depending on how many people palyed in the band. It works out at 50 per band member. There was no charge at the door, and the bands were paid out of bar takings. The bands had to be paid regardless of whether 10 people showed up of 100 people showed up. If a band cancelled then the bar would be pretty much deserted. I recall one weekend night not long after we took over with just 7 people in the bar. OUCH! Takings were so poor without a band that the bar would make a significant loss. With a band, the bar would usually break even or slightly better, but not always. The competition at that time also had bands on. Not because they wanted to, but because they were damned if they didn't. Over the course of 2 years we modified the bar to the extent where people came regardless of whether we had a band on. If you make the effort then people will come. This was bourne out late last year when we went through a spell of 11 straight weeks without any live music on Saturdays (due to bands cancelling I may add - you know who you are). The drop in takings was only 100 for the entire day. We were actually busier through the daytime because there was no soundcheck. In order to pay a band 200 you need to be taking at least 400 extra once you take product costs into account, so we were down 300 by paying a band. HA! This didn't stop covers bands trying to raise their prices though! Nowhere short of Chicago Rock is paying bands much over 300. I know because I talk to the other bar and club owners. There is also a flipside to the costs thing. The bars and clubs with PA have an enourmous expense. When a good quality 100W HiFi can cost 5000 how much do you think a 5000W PA costs? Little wonder that at least one venue charges for use of theirs!!! Then there are stages, monitors, curtains, carpet, lighting rigs, mics, those mic stands that are treated like shit but cost 80 each... and last night I had 8 of them on stage - we're lucky if mic stands last a year. The people that must foot the bill are the people that want to see live music. The solution for The Moorings Bar was to use promoters. Promoters are entitled to charge at the door. All this money goes to the promoter, and the promoter must cover their own costs (and I know that like bands and venues the promoters also have operating costs), and pay the bands. The more people that come through the door, the more the everyone gets paid . None of the door charge goes to the bar. But yes I do agree that EVERYONE deserves to get paid. The door charge system is fairest. There is still a small risk to the venue in that less people might come in due to the door charge. But I'll let you into a secret, those are mostly people you wouldn't want in the bar anyway ie neds. BTW with regards to covers bands, look at the punters that those venues have to endure. One night 18 months ago, the replacement costs for all the glasses that were broken came to over 100. Leave the covers bands to Claire's, Bundys, etc... Flash

And less distance to stagger.

latest changes In goes: Soil - Redefine Black Label Society - Blessed Hellride Machine Head - Burn My Eyes Jet - Get Born Blink-182 - Blink-182 Deftones - Around the Fur Distillers - Coral Fang Nickelback - The Long Road Him - And Love Said No On order: Young Heart Attack - Mouthful of Love Fields of the Nephilim - Revelations Manic Street Preachers - Holy Bible Could not locate any of the suggest Iced Earth albums yet. Interestingly when they didn't have Holy Bible in stock, Fred offered my 3 other MSP albums free of charge, but they had all the 'hits' on them so I politely declined, saying something like "NO FUCKIN WAY MAN! GIVE ME A BREAK I'M NOT TAKING THOSE!". Removed from the jukebox are: Hard & Fast - compilation Wierd Al Yankovic - Poodle Hat The Best Glam Rock Album in the World Ever Avril Lavigne - Let Go Jefferson Starship - Hits Nickelback - Silver Side Up Blink-182 - Enema of the State U2 - Boy Ian Dury - Reasons to be Cheerful more to follow...

You OK trainers are allowed, just NOT in conjunction with shell suits, same goes for slip on shoes, white socks, string vests, braces, etc only worse. Flash

It doesn't seem that long to me. Enjoy the illusion of forever while you still can! I was speaking to this pretty cool old pensioner geezer recently. I commented on how much faster time was passing for me these days. He told me that it would be a lot worse when I got to his age. He told me that he wasn't supposed to say anymore in case he scared me. I asked him what he meant. He said "well put it this way, in terms of perceived time, you only have about 2 weeks left". OK I'll check the track listing for Greatest Hits. If it's shit then II goes in, and in another eternity AFD returns. Deftones I can go with. Today I purchase CDs - although inlays must be written for them to go in the machine. If anyone fancies writing some, then there's free drink in it for them, just be there this afternoon. Flash

cuts The 'cuts' that you mention in your listening to section and in your footnote... which 'cuts' are those?

I haven't had the experience of recording anywhere - I can only go by what I've heard produced. I'm not suggesting that any studio is incapable of recording a certain style of music. My point was that someone considering recording should contact various studios for demos, and that they may be a chance that one studio betters suits their musical style. Please don't take my example too literally! On the issue of control, both methods can produce equally good results. It really depends on the band. Whenever paying to consult an expert, I personally subscribe to the 'why buy a dog and bark yourself' school of thought, but that's just me. At least we both agree that the Mill produces a good sound Flash

Recordings I've become a good listener over the past 2 years since I started doing the sound for gigs in the bar. Over that period I've done something like 300 gigs, so I also know a little bit about sound. This new ability to listen sparked an interest in HiFi. Our home HiFi is a 150Wpc Muisical Fidelity system with Monitor Audio Gold Reference 4 way speakers. It's an excellent system for listening to both modern and classical music on. If it sounds good on that system it will sound good on pretty much anything. This has been bourne out by what we play on our jukebox through our equally excellent Funktion-One and MC2 PA. We listen to A LOT of demos. We've probably heard recordings from virtually every studio in Scotland. Here's my feedback based on listening to many offerings from local studios. Both Exile and the Mill are routinely producing excellent recordings. However the people that use the Mill usually have more means at their disposal. People low on cash can't even afford to get to Crathes. This pretty much eliminates anybody seeking to record on an ehrm, limited budget. Given sufficient resources, Exile produces recordings to an equally good standard. Mark often takes on relatively low budget projects. If the band are prepared to listen to him, and make the most of his time, then he can (and often does) work wonders. I've seen instances where, if the band are good to work with, and he likes their sound and their material, then he really pushes the boat out. If something extra is being given at no additional charge then the penalty may be time; you can't expect a business to shelve their paying work to put a few extra hours in FOC on a low budget project! If I was looking to record then I'd call both Exile and The Mill and ask them to send me copies of recordings they've made on a similar budget, and also recordings of a similar style of music. You might find that material closer to the prog end of the spectrum would be better done at The Mill, whereas poppy punky stuff would likely fare better at Exile. Flash

We MIGHT include it but if anyone made our life hell with it, like 'Air Guitar Kenny' did with The Beast of Alice Cooper then it would have to come back out. I'm sure I'll live to regret this... Flash

PHEW only 3 people! This will be our first real gig with the new PA and I'm shitting myself. I was worried that it was going to be busy, especially going by last weekend when we had no bands on and the competition was fairly stiff...

You missed Boston, it just came out after close to 2 years. More than a Feeling is on one of the few comps though. It's probably safe to put Live & Dangerous in now that we've barred 'Air Guitar Kenny'. AC/DC and Sum 41 are both due a rotation so what the fuck... ZZ Top - err no. Your Iced Earth vote is added to the others. Guns 'n Roses - I didn't know there was a greatest hits but we already have all their albums and rotate them. I'll check this out due to laziness issue though. Slayer I need some convincing on, but are you aware that Napalm Death once spent an afternoon in The Moorings? Flash

made some changes on Sat... more to come, in went: Rage Against the Machine - self titled Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Greatest Hits Coutney Love - American Sweetheart Misfits - Collection 1 Out went (heh heh): Red Hot Chilli Peppers - By The Way Double Jack - Phantom Energy John Lennon - Legend Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Delilah Soil and Young Heart Attack albums are released this week. I'll swap Blink182 out for their latest release at the same time. Already have Wildhearts in there, will put Soundgarden back in for a second innings, thinking about Iced Earth. Not sure I could handle the Manics though... Will put Inept303 in for you Keilan - I found it downstairs. We can't put burns in the jukebox but if you give me them to listen to, and I think that they'll do the job (I don't have to like them to appreciate them) then I'll go out and *GASP* purchase the original. Flash