UK or England thread?

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Wow; so I might even have heard you! I've lived and strolled within earshot of Queensbury a fair bit over the last few decades, and the Bradford-Halifax bus has long been a favourite for my little outings (and my work commute for a while). On a good day, I can sometimes hear the mill band from where I live now; though more often the phantom bag-piper of Hole Bottom (honestly, I'm not making these up; I don't really have an obsession with derrieres - and the piper is really a very friendly chap! )

Would have been 2000-2002 with that band.

^^ Very much within a window of opportunity - I'd have been having band practices of my own around that time just a stone's throw away across the head of Bradford Dale.

Big live music scene around Bradford... then and now (I presume). I ended up having to travel too much... both to rehearsals and having gigs all over the place. Ended up in a few bands closer to Huddersfield that did mostly local gigs... but I did have to switch from sax to bass to get the gigs. It's all too much like hard work now, though... truth is, it was mostly dealing with other band members that was the hard bit.

...What was your band/s?

I've played in lots of bands and in all kinds of different styles... blues, pop, jazz funk, electronica (???). The band I'm referring to in these posts was a functions band... it was by far the most successful and we played weddings, pubs, clubs, military bases (?) theatres... just about anywhere and anything. We were a seven piece soul band with our own sound guy. I played tenor sax. It was really hard work as we were playing three days a week all over the country and I was still doing a full time job. Sometimes I had 23 hour days. I seriously considered quitting the day job... but the day job was easier.

^ Is that you Dad

My dad played tenor sax in a 7 piece soul band

Son... where have you been? I always said that obsession with ferrets wouldn't amount to much. Do you still have that nasty rash?

... seriously... your dad must be a seriously cool motherfooger!

He's still playing otherwise I would be filing for a paternity test. Years of of maintenance

He's probably as cool as you Trueno.

Bloody awesome. Playing in a brass section in a band like that is like being Emperor of the Universe.

Have you lost your urge to be Emperor ?


I couldn't get on stage *shudder*

Nowhere near as good as it used to be, IMHO, though that might partly be a reflection of my taste in music and venues; and probably true across much of the UK since the licensing laws began to favour karaoke and DJs in pubs and clubs (far fewer pubs doesn't help much either!). Of the Bradford practice rooms and recording studios that we used back in my playing days, the 1in12 Club is the only one I can think of where the building is even standing any more! Bradford seems to have declined far more rapidly than the surrounding towns in general, which really saddens me - as you say, its music scene was incredibly vibrant for such a small city, but very much in the shadow of Leeds these days culturally and economically, I think.


Similar here; I never lost my interest in writing and playing music, but I just couldn't cope with the travelling and especially with the pre-/post-gig socialising that was always expected. Spending half the day cooped up in the back of a transit van, and then ending up having to wait for the after gig party to end because the host's sofa was my bed for the night, were always a trial of endurance for me - people overload!


The best place at a gig to be, for me - I did used to get a bit of stage-fright, but it was nothing compared to my "off-stage"-fright. At least on stage, I didn't have to deal with following bewildering multi-way conversations, baffling NT social behaviour, trying to think up something interesting to say, etc. Playing my music was about the most comfortable I could ever be in a room with so many people in it.


Seconded! I've always had a soft-spot for brass, too. I still have a bit of regret that I didn't carry on playing trombone after I left school.

conversation ! at a gig ? I'd be too drunk to talk and just get in the mosh pit . Gigs are easy for me when the music is blasting ( zone out dancing like an escaped patient from a lunatic asylum ) , before and afterwards not so much

How are you guys ok with concerts and stuff? I always want to be but I can't be cos of my light sensitivity and cos of to an extent a sort of sound sensitivity and just the crowds.

(I'm jealous.)

The crowds are definitely the worst part for me. I've only once or twice been to a gig where the venue held more than a hundred or so, and l didn't enjoy them at all, even though they were bands that I really liked. Even the smaller ones can get a bit too much, though it's usually a lot easier at those to nip outside for a break if I start to get overwhelmed.

I've never had a problem with loud music when it's something that I like and want to listen to at that moment. It is a bit paradoxical, because at home when I'm trying to chill out, a car alarm going off somewhere in New Zealand would drive me insane with my sound sensitivity! - it's very context dependent. One good thing is that there's very little stigma about wearing ear-plugs at gigs these days; people seem to be realising more and more that sheer volume for its own sake doesn't make the music sound any better and can be very damaging to hearing. In the last band I was in, we even used to ask the sound-engineers not to be so OTT with the volume - we wanted the audience to hear our music as intended, not to have their internal organs pulverised!

Lights can bother me. It's not so much that I'm light sensitive, but I don't like it when the light sources keep changing - it messes up my ability to work out what I'm seeing and judge the space that I'm in. The few times I played on a stage with a lighting rig, I really didn't like it at all, and had a few battles with lighting-engineers to tone it down a bit and stop flashing things on and off in my face all the time (I didn't like being too dazzled to see the audience, either). Not such a problem when I'm moshing usually, as I nearly always dance with my eyes closed - as much to prevent my own movement from confusing my vision.


That's me to a tee - eyes tight shut, maximum dervish! Quite handy for getting a bit of space on the dance-floor, too - most folks won't come within a couple of yards of me for fear of getting accidentally thumped, nutted, trodden on, or sprayed with my sweat (unless it's a proper punk mosh-pit of course!)

I'm just too knackered... and I go on too many holidays now (I know... a first world problem).

Trogluddite's right. It's easier being on stage... you're away from the crowd and you have the best view in the house. It's quieter on stage if the sound guy's got it right... you're behind the PA and just going through monitors. The lights and smoke machines were a bit of an assault on the senses, but I always wore earplugs and dark glasses (proper Joe Cool). Again, as Trog says, it was the socialising bit I hated. I'd rather turn up, play, and go home... never happened, though. If it got too frantic I go and hide in the toilets... usually found the trumpet player hiding in there as well.