"Bassicly Speaking" February 2017 Update

What a start to the year! It's been a month & a half of ups & downs but I wouldn't change it for the world!

Band Work

The Special Brew

I've been busy with The Special Brew the last couple of weeks, preparing & performing our first date of the 2-Tone Tribute tour with Special Kinda Madness. It's been a great opportunity & the response from the audiences have been amazing!

We've just performed at the 229 Venue in London & what a show it was. Our set was tight & jam packed full of Bad Manners favorites. SKM's sets were amazing & the overall consensus was a job well done. We have a few new tracks to work on & are looking forward to the immense amount of shows for the year.

Dead Method

Along with touring I've been in the studio with Dead Method, tracking bass for the new EP. I managed to use my Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass V, My custom Fender Precision Fretless & my brand spanking new Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray bass. The sound was awesome on all tracks & the tones varied from straight bass to mid range synths.

Tupello Highway

I have been working hard on a new blues quartet project. We have been running through sets & preparing for our first shows next month. We have added some Jazzy tunes into the mix to keep things interesting. Stay tuned for future updates.

Red Bug

We have been refining our set & rotating a few tracks around to improve what we have built on so far.

Private Tuition

I've had a few weeks off from teaching at this time to concentrate on my health. Hopefully I will be up and running again by the end of this week. I did my first Skype lesson in French the other week and it was a great success. I also had a drama student join who needed help with an acapella audition for drama school.

There are hardly any spaces left at this moment but I'm trying to find some room for students to unleash their potential!

Session & Dep Work

Apart from the Dead Method session there hasn't been much on the radar for this type of work. To be honest I've been so overwhelmed with tour preparation I'm finding it hard to make time! I'm definitely going to concentrate more on achieving great sessions & work with as many varying artists as I mean.

Composing

I'm currently near completion of 4 orchestral tracks for a welsh language film. The tracks are 16 minutes in length & will be cut, edited & placed into the film at the editing stage.

Along with the orchestral work I'm also constantly writing for my bands & my own compositions which will become public one day soon!

It's been a quiet few months but it's all gonna change in the next few weeks! with constant touring, new projects & even more bass playing!

Other Bits & Bobs

I purchased a new bass! An Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray! It's an incredible bass & very comfortable to play. the varying tones are a great addition to my arsenal. Courtesy of A Strings

I've moved my studio around to make it feel more homely & relaxing while teaching & working in there.

I visited A Strings with Bob the guitarist of Dead Method to hook him up with a beautiful Gretch guitar & Vox AC15 amp.

My schedule now includes a minimum of 4-6 rehearsals a week with 5/6 groups (permanent member of 4) Plus all other private lessons, sessions & shows.

Learning a lot of Vulfpeck tunes & making more informative bass playing videos for my social media accounts.

Iv'e also been booked as a solo virtuoso bass player at a private party this month! I'll be playing some awesome arrangements & maybe some cool solo pieces I've written!

Upcoming Shows

Private Show - February 24th - Solo

The Claude - Cardiff - March 4th - The Special Brew

Gorilla Zoo - Halifax March - 11th - The Special Brew

Llanishen RFC - Cardiff - March 24th - The Special Brew