The Last Bass Outpost

OK, OK, I'll leave the Epi TRC for now. I'm familiar with the Ric Police, but not the Epi Police.  It's mostly obscured by strings anyway.

So this bass... It's made a T-bird lover out of me. It hangs on my body unlike any other 'bird I've played (which is admittedly few). Very much like my Alembic or former Epi Explorer. No real neck dive to speak of. And it's light. I haven't plugged it in yet, but soon enough. I'll probably bring it to Who's Who rehearsal on Sunday. Love the neck. The guy put TI Jazz flats on it. Those will go to another bass to make room for my usual DR Hi Beams.

Anybody wanna buy a Peavey 6 string bass?  Gotta make room and appease the wife. https://reverb.com/item/81110366-peavey-tl-six-6-string-bass-bartolini-upgrade

Long time ago - I have neither the room nor the remaining lifespan for it!

And I haven't really played bass seriously since last summer. My last band petered out so frustratingly, it's created a psychological barrier. No doubt this will go away eventually and I'll get my momentarily rusty playing up to scratch again, but I need a band to motivate me. And that is currently difficult or maybe I am: I want a band that plays at a professional level and with professional commitment even in the absence of gigs. I'm fine with gigs and can slot into a band comparatively quickly (I tend to be prepared), but really the live experience is not the major reason I do it. I prefer a good, productive rehearsal to a so-so gig; gigs aren't really about creating, they are about re-creating. I've also realized that playing in a tribute band is not for me, it bores me to tears, faced with being the Roger Glover or the Ian Hill in a DP or JP tribute, I think I'd give up bass-playing for good. I'm ok with doing a few covers, but then I lean towards radical rearrangements (I'm a so much better arranger than I am a songwriter, I never run out of alternative ideas) - that doesn't seem to be a popular thing anymore, people don't want to go the Vanilla Fudge or Manfred Mann's Earth band route, they want to replicate as close as possible - that bores me to tears. I don't even like real bands that replicate their studio material too close live.

So I really want the impossible:

- a band not only consisting of 20 year olds that still (perhaps rightfully, but I can't join them in that) believe they can be rock stars,

- that does its own material (with all or most band members chipping in) plus a handful of excellent, alternative-arrangement covers that really floor people,

- that features a nimble-footed drummer, a keyboarder/organist that can fluently improvise plus a similar guitarist as well as a singer who works well within her/his limits and knows how to handle an audience,

- that rehearses twice a week on average for several hours and really get's something done, even if not everyone can join for a particular rehearsal (there is always work to do) plus

- has a dozen decent gigs or so annually. Less is more if the gigs are good, yet at the same time the band should have a playing standard to at any moment be ready to play a good gig on the next night.

Surprisingly, for the last 30 years or so I haven't found a band like that. You will notice that I have not written anything about the style of music - that is because it is of secondary importance to me as long as it is well-made and I can contribute meaningfully to it.

Perhaps, allerliebster Mark, you should consider a stage name change to "Miss Fanny Fünquette"?

I can't get worked up about any of this. Whatever works better.