An observation or two

Fez

Went see a local band last night and came away with the following observations.

1. Silent tuning is a must.
2. Don't all wear black.
3. Don't make derogatory comments about the audience.

To expand: The lead guitarist broke a string went to his back up guitar and it was out of tune. The band soldiered on well and finished the tune without him. A floor mounted tuner with mute would have solved his problem.

Even if you are playing to a bloke in a flat cap with a whippet, play like your in front of 50,000 at Wembley stadium.

MazzaG

All good advice!

The problem with the mute tuner is that if you are tuning and it's not audible, to non musicians it looks like you are just staring at the floor for however long it takes to tune haha.

EricTheWeary

A lot of bands do dress all in black and I have done it myself. I don't know why though! It almost invariably looks a bit naff as well.

bluechargeboy

Fez said:

Don't all wear black.

Do we have to wear shirts like in your profile pic? :P

johnnyurq

EricTheWeary;200119" said:

A lot of bands do dress all in black and I have done it myself. I don't know why though! It almost invariably looks a bit naff as well.

My reasons were twofold.

Having worked in theatre for many years where black is.... well the new black and hence my entire wardrobe was black or very dark.

Black is slimming for the fuller figured gentleman. allegedly.

Plus I could bill msyelf as the the man in black or Johnny No Cash, the lesser known cousin of JC (no not that JC).


After a while loud garish and comedic T shirts were the order of the day, adding shiny or tinselly stuff for various holidays.


Silent tuning and not slagging off punters is a must I agree and would add fighting with punters as I have seen over the years, not me I must add.

EricTheWeary

Sometimes I dress in all black (as my clothes choices are basically random grabs made when I am half asleep its coincidence when this happens - the look being heightened when I had prescription sunglasses)and MrsTheWeary calls me Ray Orbison.

johnnyurq

LOLz not Ray-Ban Orbison then.

EricTheWeary

johnnyurq;200437" said:

LOLz not Ray-Ban Orbison then.

No. Nor my twin Roy Charles.

thecolourbox

I agree wholeheartedly with 1 and 3 but what's wrong with wearing black?

EricTheWeary

thecolourbox said:

I agree wholeheartedly with 1 and 3 but what's wrong with wearing black?

it's okay I suppose but a bit cliched ( the 'everyone in the band dress all in black so we look like mean rock and rollers' thing going back to at least the sixties) and probably a bit dull looking. In general the idea of a band uniform or doing a corporate colour thing is a bit twee.

thecolourbox

I know what you mean, though ive always found it to be a fairly "suits all" kind of thing mainly due to the otherwise unpredictable nature of others fashion sense when they think they are dressing up for the occasion!

not_the_dj

Black is the easiest colour to use so the band look like a band. Everyone wearing various colours and styles can make you look like a mess, or just a bunch of random blokes who've got together for the night.

Anyway if it's good enough for the Boss it's good enough for me (silly headwear is optional):

 

 

 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/Backstreets2014/021914_351.jpg

Fez

Dunno they look they just walked off a production line to me.

Handsome_Chris

Fez said:

Dunno they look they just walked off a production line to me.

They look like rejects from the video shoot for Uptown Girl by Billy Joel.

Handsome_Chris

PS :- The one on the right looks like a retired crimelord.

johnnyurq

Handsome_Chris;204879" said:

PS :- The one on the right looks like a retired crimelord.

Currently known to be living in Lillehammer (although spelled Lilyhammer) corrupting the locals.

Handsome_Chris

johnnyurq said:

Handsome_Chris;204879" said:

PS :- The one on the right looks like a retired crimelord.

Currently known to be living in Lillehammer (although spelled Lilyhammer) corrupting the locals.

Well, @Johnnyurq, if he's doing it with amusing consequences, I am all up for that.

johnnyurq

I wholeheartedly agree @Handsome_Chris.

impmann

Slagging off the audience - well, its what our front man does best... and he's known for it... as its done in jest... and folks love it... and we pack pubs. So maybe we are the exception that proves the rule. ;-)