Your year making music

Teetonetal

Too much talk about gear on these pages and not enough about making music..

hows your year been? had any good gigs? released a record? done lots on sound cloud?

Let us know!

GavRichList

Ask me again next year 

Teetonetal

I swapped bands mid year and started a country duo which has been a huge learning curve and a lot of fun. Plan next year is to get the duo into a full sized band. Thinking of jacking my other band in as it's not going anywhere.

Been fairly creative though - my soundcloud has grown hugely - mainly of 1 min sketches, but I'm having a lot of fun with fx and next year I plan to get good at logic and vsts...

did a fair number of gigs, with one being huge so can't complain! Should have stuck with that band really..

eSully

I entered the solo of the month competition at least once, and got nil points. It's been a good year

Teetonetal

GavRichList said:

Ask me again next year 

Yeah, well I hope you have a cool year coming up - if nothing else, it should be exciting to get something released...

bluechargeboy

- 36 gigs so far
- 12 festivals (no biggies but lots of nice smaller ones)
- Supported Jah Wobble
- Supported The Quireboys
- Played dressed as pirates, fairies and vikings
- Played at a marathon as people ran past!
- We managed to get booked onto a main stage for a major festival next year

One of my highlights was a man in a real full suit of armour dancing for an entire 40 minute set!

Lowlight: Still haven't recorded an album.  

Snap

I thought I'd been busy, but actually I haven't. I put 8 songs on SC in a whole year. One went on a low key tribute album release. I've bought a fair bit of gear, mostly software, so my excuse is I am still learning it. Or not.

@bluechargeboy - that's great stuff, nicely done.

guitarfishbay

Nothing went to plan this year and I took several months off doing music entirely due to family stuff taking priority. So all I've done this year is a few gigs in a samba band on percussion, and infrequently worked on an album I'd hoped would've been finished before summer. Hoping for a better 2017!

failed_astronaut

My main thing this year was the Police tribute band but we're on a break now whilst the drummer decides what he's doing with his life.

Last month we had the first rehearsal of what looks like a promising wedding band line-up, which will hopefully start working next year.

Aside from that, I've had a few thrashes with mates making vaguely indie-rock, emo-esque noises.

I am thoroughly enjoying these end of year round-ups from everyone.

bluechargeboy

Snap said:

@bluechargeboy - that's great stuff, nicely done.

Ta, we haven't had many lucky breaks as a band but we have worked bloody-mindedly at it. Considering we play original instrumental acoustic music, it's amazing to have people listen, dance and even sometimes pay us for it! The last couple of years have been good.

I am proud of what we have done so far, it has far surpassed any other band I have been in. Just the right combination of people with the right attitude.

I just remembered another 2016 highlight: At a wedding, playing an improvised two chord jam in march time at about 180bpm for 20 minutes, with impromptu drunken breakdance challenge on the dancefloor!

Teetonetal

It's so hard getting the right people with the right attitude crossed with the right chemistry... I've been in so many nearly awesome bands but there was always one person making life too awkward.

stickyfiddle

Honestly, very little. No band, no gigs, no recording. Too much work and not enough time

Winny_Pooh

No gigging, just worked on demos and finished writing enough material for a full length album (after 1st EP in 2014) to record next year.

2017 wish: find a good bassist for gigs and do a great recording

Sporky

I started playing cello at the beginning of January. Now, most of the time when I play no-one gets upset.

thecolourbox

Guitar wise I did a solo gig early ish in the year and have achieved the square root of zero since. Nothing recorded, nothing written, no progress made with playing whatsoever. Even the gig I did do was frankly pretty poor.

Piano wise I played a solo in a concert, that I can honestly say was my best ever performance of anything ever. I did my own solo arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue on a big old grand piano with lovely low lighting in a big church so the sound was incredible. Unfortunately only 25 people bothered to attend said concert, 8 of which were my family whom id brought with me, and i also got punched in the face whilst manning the doors before the show kicked off when a drunk stumbled in and took exception to be asking him to leave

mudslide73

Had a good year with the band despite multiple illnesses and bereavements. We've done a few low key pub things and a nice fete/festival. 

I've submitted a few things here too and surprisingly got a win in SOTM which means I can die happy I just need some more low tempo challenges now

Limehouse_Blues

I had my first gig since the age of 18 and to be honest, my first proper gig (last played before the public in a small pub in Kidderminster almost 20 years ago). It was fantastic. A charity event in Central London and with over 300 people in attendance on a stage that some great names have stood on over the years. I got a real buzz from playing and singing in front of a crowd like that and hope to do it some more soon. Rehearsing with the band was great too. First and only time in my life playing at proper volumes.

sev112

After 5 months working with a singer songwriter, we found a good reliable bassist, and have now knocked out 4 gigs in a month, found a promoter who likes us,and have another gig just before Xmas, which is great.  Everyone seems to love Americana and given these were my first public performances since playing the Trumpet Voluntary at my brother's wedding in 1990, I was amazed at having absolutely no nerves and no **** ups either 

We have had 3 different Cajon/percussionists in that time !?

Rowby1

Been a busy boy with a number of bands on the go.

My folk band has only gigged a couple of times this year but we picked some Radio 2 airplay twice (one track from 4 years ago with a previous singer).

Played in a pit band for a musical for the first time on acoustic guitar and harmonica. Brilliant experience and to be repeated next year it seems.

Joined an original material band at the beginning of the year. A bit frustrating, plenty of rehearsals but no gigs yet. Maybe next year eh.

Covers band doing well, a few gigs and a replacement singer (glad to see the back of the previous one who was just a bit of a piss head really) and working in a 3 song demo with them.

Finally putting together a new wave/punk covers band with some old mates after years of sitting around in pubs talking a good band with them. First rehearsal with them next week. 

Onwards and upwards 

Col_Decker

Band recorded our 2nd album and did some good gigs, then promptly fell apart. A personnel shuffle later and we're all back together and have recorded 2 ep's and started working on a 3rd album. Lots more gigs planned for 2017. Nice.

DLM

Well done, chaps. I’ve dropped off a few Wows in admiration as I scrolled through!

My band, Cyrence, only managed to play three shows this last year.  Once again health issues stopped us from promoting our CD. Which ironically, is called The Hospital. :rolleyes: We got through 2016 with no members hospitalised, but three out of four of us were in 2015, when we released it… The bassist has joked that we should call our next release “Winning the lottery”. Our drummer quit to move to a different city four hours away. He had a mate’s rates deal on the rehearsal room, so our costs doubled. We were, however, amazingly fortunate to find an excellent replacement almost immediately. Now our mastermind, singer and bandleader has had to go on hiatus to deal with personal matters. At our last rehearsal we resolved to become something approaching a Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster parody act for the foreseeable future…

On the plus side, we placed third in a band contest we entered.

Also, at our last gig I carried through with the threat I made in this post to amplify cuddly toys with electronic “voices” through my pickups, like Steve Stevens with his raygun. Here’s my amp (gearshare cab) with my “utensils” on top:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5595/31285984280_9b00cb79b7_o.jpg

You can’t see the Mario Toadstool in that shot, that makes the noise that the Dragonforce guys copy.

http://www.footybits.co.uk/images/pictures/McDonaldsSuperMario008.jpg

My iPenguin sways to the music and produces a random coloured light display on his tummy.

http://www.virtualpet.com/vp/vpblogimages/ipenguin.jpg

The big elephant (from the Antistax ads) is wearing a flashing yellow shoelace as a garland. I wore flashing green ones on my trainers. I also impersonated a few animals with my guitar again. The smaller elephant is my thrash mascot, the Elephantom Lord, a hospitalisation present from our singer from years ago. \m/

Crap, sorry, OP, I’ve drifted into gear talk again! :rofl:

Anyway, there is video and audio of all of this, which I dare say I’ll upload.