I've gigged around for a good few years, in London, Scotland, Ireland and Germany. On the way I have made many contacts in Pubs, with festival organisers and so on. I'm between bands at the moment, so thought I'd whack an appeal on here and see if I can round up a few people to get a great band going. I play the Banjo mainly, but can play a few other instruments too.
Ideally i'd want to get a five peice together, consisting of;
Myself,
A great guitarist/singer
another trad musician such as a flute or something
a bass player
and a bodrhan player, that more or less makes his drum sound like a tabla. i mean like a really cool bodrhan player
I'd love it if people could get back to me as to whether or not they are interested. My names Eddie and my email is edmckeon@live.co.uk or my mobile number is 07724177827
Sorry, Eddie, you've disqualified yourself from me, because you play the banjo and only want one other melody instrument.
Even though I can play the guitar, bass, bodrhan, and sing, I wouldn't want to join your band.
I'm not sure where you should go, but this forum really doesn't seem quite the place you need to look in.
Could someone try and define the difference, for us that linger here, between a "pub band" and the third level of Hell ?
I'm sure Fast Eddie is beside himself with dissappointment and despair that multi tasking and rather snooty Guernsey Pete won't join, especially as he just happens to play all the things required by him. But at least Eddie won't have to choose whether to have Pete as the bass player, the bodhran player or the great singer/ guitarist. Tragic waste as it plainly is.
I would think this forum actually is quite a good place to put feelers out. Not all posters here are hitmen for the Trad Mafia, in my experience quite a few do all sorts of music. And some aren't even frightened off by a gig or two!
And what's wrong with 'pub band'?
Pub and bar bands have been the roots and trunk of dozens of genres of music for decades, maybe a hundred years!
Cheers Krick Stahlschwanz, great reply. And to Guernsey Pete, i forgot to put Knobheaded Egotistical twits who believe they're alot better then they actually are. Theres nothing wrong with pub bands! Four men and a dog, Altan, The Pogues and plenty other bands thousands of musicians model themselves on started in pubs.
Just as an FYI to others, Yes, it would start out as a pub band, to have a few gigs, make a bit of money, and pay for recording albums etc, so it doesnt have to come out of our own pockets. Also, as i stated above, im in close contact with a lot of folf festival organisers, so that would be an option too.
If any one is interested, no matter what they play/do, as long as they dont love themselves, and over rate themselves as much as Guernsey Pete, then please get on to me, It'd be great to hear from some Down to earth people, whose heads could fit in to the pubs and venues i could secure gigs in
I hope I don't overrate myself, I just can sing, play guitar, bass, and bodrhan. I didn't say I was brilliant at all of them. It's just that the Irish Pub Band Syndrome ( IPBS ) produces the lowest common denominator of the musicians working in it, not a sum greater than the parts. It's basically for people who like noise.
There ! I've said it !
not all pub bands make noise. 15 years ago, bands like schooners rig were absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!! not noise atall. and im not looking to make noise, im looking to make music. if you have nothing good or helpful to post on someones discussion, how about, you just dont post anything atall!!!!
and bands like hungry grass at the moment are great too. Peter the singer is pretty much a reincarnation of Luke Kelly, and Mark Conyard on the banjo and fiddle absolutely puts all you "folk-club, music makers" to shame. Not noise in my opinion, but great music
Just out of curiousity, Eddie, how old are you exactly ?
"Gigged around for a good few years", but now you're at Uni. What age did you start gigging, or are you a 'mature' student ?
My two kids are both now graduates, so that ages me a bit.
Also probably shows why I don't like noisy pub bands.
Actually, I did like Elephant Shelf. "The Cleavage of Death". Are they still going, anyone ?
Meal Ticket used to be good too.
I'm so old I remember Amity.
And the Dransfield Bros Band.
i dont know if any of those are still going. im in my 20's but started gigging with a pub band that made noise when i was 15. moved away from the noise, and travelled around with an amazing singer songwriter called peadar farrelly. And he played in pubs! not noise, but amazing music. and yeah, i go to uni. finishing up at the moment, then hoping to do the traditional irish music degree at university limerick
Hi Eddie - nowhere near London so can't really help, either myself or with suggestions of folk. If you have myspaces, etc with sound clips for previous bands then it might give folk an idea of the sort of music you are looking to create.
There must be loads of folk in the London sessions looking to be in bands though so you shouldn't have a problem. If you are the same Eddie McKeon from West London CCE that came second in the senior banjo and mandolin in the "London and Southern Regional Fleadh 2009" then you can't be too shabby a player.
Maybe I should just fess up I don't like tenor banjos.
I think, bearing in mind this IS "The Session" forum, that an instrument so loud that the musician playing it has to stop to be able to tell that the other musicians have changed tunes is not one suitable for the music.
depending on who is playing it. john carty and gerry o'connor dont get too many complaints. i am the eddie who was placed at the fleadh. cheers for the reply no cause for alarm. I'll put up some links to previous things i have done,
Pete, are you saying uilleann pipes are not suitable for the music because if your set is loud and/or someone else is playing quietly you occasionally can't hear the tune change?
so in petes opinion, pipes, accordion, banjo are all sh*t instruments that shouldnt be allowed in sessions. send us a link of your amazing playing i'd love to hear how amazing you actually are!!!!!!!! you really are the fountain of all knowledge in regards to trad music!!!!!
I think Pete simply stated his own personal preference strongly, and actually was self-deprecating enough to say he never claimed to be a great player. Also, it seems to me he is actually trying to hold a conversation, don't fault him too much for having strong opinions. This is coming from one who disagrees and likes the banjo in ITM.
and he is entitled to his opinion, but would you not agree that if you have nothing nice/helpful/constructive to say, maybe you shouldnt say anything atall???
good luck to ya eddie...I walked into many pubs and wished there was trad playing rather than the tripe I usually used to get served on Landahn tawn...and do post if you gig down the west country...so I'll come and see it. more power to ya boyo.
I wasn't trying to necessarily defend anyone nor to discourage you in any way, Eddie. If you're new to this site, as I am, you'll find out pretty quickly that there is no shortage of provincial trad thinking here. That I will defend, as it's a trad site and anyone posting here needs to expect that.
If you were posting at a trad bluegrass website that you were looking to put together a bar band in the states that had drums and electric guitar, you would encounter the same thing. Some may remember that Bob Dylan showed up and played electric instruments at the same folk festival he had played for years and at which he had been idolized, and was largely booed and rejected. Not exactly the same thing but I hope you understand the analogy.
i understand. but i dont see how a band playing in a pub, trying to make a bit of money and then record some albums along the line, then makes the band rubbish, and only capable of making noise not music.
I'm new to the website too, and have come across Guernsey Pete's elitist way of thinking before, and it usually comes from the not so capable musicians.
There is a chance you guys are talking about two different things here. Pete may be expressing his dislike of the sort of "pub band" that sings "pub songs, " which include 101 ways to murder Wild Rover, Black Velvet Band, 7 Drunken Nights, Dirty Old Town, etc. Eddie may be talking about that, or he may be talking about putting together a band that plays tunes and songs in pubs but not in the way described above. I doubt Pete, or anyone here, has problems with the latter but the former take a good slagging on this website and deservedly so.
yeah, there are absolutely awful bands out there. im not looking to put together anything like that. im hoping to go for a four men and a dog style band! i dont think anyone can call four men and a dog rubbish!
That may very well be. There are scores of awful bands in the states that are basically rock bands who add an electric fiddle or mando player, call themselves an Irish band, but are basically a caricature of Irish cliches, playing f***ed-out rock versions of "Finnegan's Wake" and the like to cheering drunken frat boys. I'm not sure if that's what you're talking about, but personally I dislike this unfortunate genre with a passion. I am, however, a fan of the Pogues. I was just telling Eddie that he can expect some traditional thinking from a traditional website, that's all.
Eddie, if you are used to pubs you will be used to idiots. Do what you do, do it as well as you can, try to do even better. When there is *meaningful* criticism from people who *know your music* and who know what they are talking about, then listen and learn. As for the rest... life is short, let it go.
You probably didn't need me to say that.
I've met people along the way who are arrogant and like to moan. thankyou for your reply. I'm hoping we can do it very well. and hopefully, i'll get some decent people like yourself to work with through this discussion.
Personally I think the debates actually help your cause, Eddie. The number of replies in this thread alone will pull in more interest, and if you're standing up for yourself and what you do, there will be some positive response along with the comments from the purists. I'm always going to defend the purists and curmudgeons to some degree because ITM needs them. I know I do.
yeah, hopefully it draws a few people in. and yeah, keep the tradition etc, but the tradition develops as young people like my self get involved. comhaltas as had to accept it. nd irish music has pretty much always been in the pub? so why is that now a problem???
I remain slightly baffled why someone who can play well enough to impress the judges wants to play in a pub band with guitar, bass, and bodrhan.
But then I'm easily confused at my age.
PS I'm prejudiced against piano accordions too.
Pipes are welcome anytime.
impressing judges at a fleadh means nothing. yeah i can get placed in the all england, but that doesnt reflect my playing atall. some of the best musicians around play in pubs. the likes of seamus mckeon, roger dinsdale rip, mark conyard, damien mullane and countless others in london. then on a wider scale, all of altan have at one stage played in pubs and still play pub sessions. four men and a dog, john carty and so on.
playing with a bass makes the music sound amazing. it really brings out the tunes, as does a good guitarist. hence the reason the best guitarists use drop d or dadgad and play bass notes through their chords.
playing in pubs doesnt mean doing dodgy covers of whiskey in a jar. For me it means well put together sets of reels and jigs, original songs, and some covers done in a tasteful manner.
it means putting together an album or two, a few tours, folk festivals, backing the likes of four men and a dog, writing some great songs, putting together some amazing sets. it means making music!
Why not put an advert in the Irish Post or The Melody Maker......That's what we use to do ..........come to think of it...that was 40 years ago. My, how time flies...!!!
yeah, im going to stick ads up everywhere. i want some top quality musicians to make some amazing music with. i've had a great response off here via my email, and hopefully i'll hear from more. thanks to everyone so far. hopefully it keeps going
FatEddie,
Good luck in your endeavors, you have impressed me with your response to this discussion. Stood your ground and made a good case for yourself.
I am one of the many on this board that loves session playing, but also enjoys being in a band (and one that even plays stuff like Whiskey in the Jar, etc, etc, and has a lot of fun with the good old pub songs).
Best wishes, Al
Free Reed, I think the Melody Maker is dead.......
.....you're giving your age away.
Yes, I remember reading the small ads too, you even used to get the odd one for folkie musos.
I still don't understand why you are not just finding the musicians in the local sessions. As you have said there are enough of them around although Damien has disappeared off to Dingle. Also are you looking for a bass guitarist or a double bass player because a double bass player really can add to the sound.
Also I am pretty sure there is no All England Fleadh. There is certainly the London and Southern Region competition that you got placed in. After that would surely be the All Britain competition? Or are you forgetting about the victorious competitors from north of the Border!
I meant the All Britain. i was placed in the mandolin, not the banjo.
And yeah, the Scottish lot take home a lot of medals. the st rocks bands are absolutely amazing.
Also, I wouldnt mind either way bass wise. The double bass and bass guitar are both great instruments.
I've been down the route of asking around at sessions I go to, only to be let down quite a few times when i have set up new sessions or tried to get a band together for practice, so i thought i'd give the session.org a go and see if i can find any more dependable musicians.
And its a shame Damien has gone off to Dingle, he's a great box player. I'm liking all his youtube stuff though.
Not sure. I have never actually been to a Fleadh competition. I think I heard someone mention it was in Scotland but I'm not sure. I will have to try to make it along.
all britain!!!! fast eddie get a life, who cares if you got placed in all britain..... next some one is going to say they got placed in all africa! getting a place doesnt mean you are any good. any pub with a banjo, a bass, a bodhran (played like a tabla for crying out loud, ha ha ha ha ha ) and a guitar attempting to play trad = crap in my books!
awww touchy fasteddie...tim eddy is crap! why dont you go post your ad maybe on a rock site or african drumming site (you might fine heaps of takers there!)
oh and before you go any further, four men and a dog are crap too! infact pub paddy bands are crap and as far as i am concerned so is your band notion!
irishmuso!!!!!!!!!! you're a twit. four men and a dog are amazing. no one can actually seriously say cathal hayden isnt an amazing musician, and that gerry o'connor isnt absolutely brilliant. i really dont care if you dont like what i wanna do, and FYI the tabla's not african you knob, its an indian drum, and the way good bodhran players play at the moment sounds very similar to the table. the tabla has an amazing sound. the sounds a good tabla player produces are absolutely amazing, and sound realy good behind reels and jigs.
when you master the "very traditional irish small pipes" then maybe i'll listen to your opinion on cathal hayden, gerry o'connor and tim eddy.
if you were even half as god as any of the mentioned musicians, you wouldnt have the time to sit at your computer bitching and putting a downer on everyones discussions.
and ramblingpitchfork, i know what you mean, im not a fan of the fleadh's either.
And the Dubliners still sound like a pub band - bloody awful!
The tabla is a fantastic drum. I would disagree that bodhrans sound the same as them but that really doesn't matter. If you want to interpret the sound that way then that is fine by me.
Ultimately you shouldn't engage with irishmuso - (s)he is just a troll and nothing more. The sole purpose of the posts is to get a rise out of you and it seems to be working.
As a general observation attacking someone for wasting their time on an internet forum is not a particularly effective attack on an internet forum as you have to be on here yourself to do it. If someone who is a really good musician doesn't have time to post on a forum then your posting on this forum must mean that you are not a good musician. Quod erat demonstrandum.
I am on your side in this but you need to stop and take a breath. You came on looking for musicians to form a band with. Anything else is superfluous.
Well good luck to you Eddie you should have a great time. We've been playing the pub/club scene for many a year and while we're not trend setters, with a mix of trad songs and upbeat tunes and lively banter both we and the punters have a rare auld time. Surely that's what it is all about....?
The dangers with this kind of band in the US is that you run in two brands:
1. The Poguetry Flogging Dropkicked Murphy Molly
2. The Clancy Dubliners Makem Brothers
Method 1 will get you decently paying late night gigs at bars where loads of young drunks will slam into each other, screaming and hollering, spilling Red Bull and vodka all over themselves while telling you to play ‘…that one Flogging Molly song they heard that one time on their sisters’ CD when they borrowed her car…’
Method 2 will get you decently paying dinner time gigs at restaraunts or cultural clubs and will lead to loads of old drunks staggering around, clapping and shimmying while spilling corned beef on themselves while telling you to play either Danny Boy, Whiskey in the Jar or that one about the Unicorns.
Method 3 consist of playing loads of fantastic tunes in tight arrangements with the occasional smattering of great songs sung well.
Method 3 will make you broke but get you self respect? HA HA HA! No no, I tease. Good luck to all of you in your endevours.
And I didn't say good musicians did not have the time to post on this website. On the other hand I probably don't have the time if I am honest about it and I could be described as ruddy awful!
Guernsey Pete - I didn't know that the Melody Maker was defunct but I did wonder why I hadn't seen it in recent years. Back in the seventies I put a small ad in the Folk Section 'Accordionist requires gigs, Irish Trad etc' sort of thing.
I kid you not but I had a call from Malcom McLaren manager of the Sex Pistols. He wanted me to do an Irish spot on St Patrick's night in the Rainbow with the group. It was Rotten's idea, he been of Irish parents and all that. Actually his parents John and Eileen lived beside the Favourite and were regulars in the bar at weekends. Eileen used to talk all way through a rendition of a slow air.
No...I didn't have to guts to take the gig. The thoughts of all those 'spring heel jacks' spitting on me and me box was too much to bear. 'Never mind the Boll**ks' followed by 'The Sally Gardens' just didn't seem right somehow.
looks like a few who post here are writing out of their own egos about how good they are, and that anyone else must be a bad player.....get a grip of yourselves! fast eddie i know exactly what a tabla is and it doesnt sound like a good bodhran player! so you are the twit...also we are going to have to agree to disagree...the banjo is a sh*te instrument in all but a very very very few musicians hands. go learn an instrument where a little more skill level is required!
tell that to gerry o'connor, and modern bodhran players make a similar sound to a tabla player. or can any way. and the banjo is my favourite instrument. i think its one of the best instruments used in trad music. i also play the mandolin, the flute, the pipes and the fiddle, but the banjo is my favourite instrument. and i think it actually takes a lot of skill to play it well. its not all about hitting it as hard as you can. it produces some amazing subtle tones and compliments instruments like the accordion and the fiddle. its an amazing instrument. and im pretty sure, what ever you play, you dont play with much skill
well fasteddie, you are very quick to bite arent you...... hope you find your motly band members...be great to listen to a banjo toting indian drumming band!
and on another note, just because you are young and seem to play everything, and seem to know everything doesnt mean you can go around with the notion of being "the tradition". its not there for you to change, it evolves all of its own accord. do i detect a wee touch of elitism in you fasteddie..all britain (snigger) place holder??!
not really. i dont class myself as the tradition, but people of my age are now keeping the tradition alive. and through young peoples playing, it again is evolving.i didnt bring up places at fleadhs. i didnt even play well in the fleadh. the fleadh's i have entered do not reflect my ability or style as a player anyway.
young and old peoples play is keeping the tradition going...remember that fast eddie! it was there before you and it will be there long after you have finished wrecking it with pub paddy indian drumming bands.
You have made some valid points, and I respect your stand. I posted this much earlier in the discussion: this is a trad site by and large, you must expect that you are going to get friction, as there are a large number of purists here. I always say "evolution is a fine thing taken in moderation." Actually, that's the first time I've ever said that, but whatever.
I haven't the least bit of derision for what you're doing. You do seem to have a bit of contempt for the purists that seeps through, however, whether it is intended or not. As for myself, I'm generally going to side with the purists because no matter how the music evolves, the purists are still needed to keep the whole thing grounded and in check for the rest of us. I think that's what I mean by evolution in moderation. I think it's healthy to nod to tradition. Nodding is a sign of respect that does not require bowing nor scraping.
We don't see exactly eye to eye, but whatever you do, do it well, nod appropriately to tradition, and to hell with what anyone thinks. The purists will keep doing what they do as well, and God bless them for that.
Hey irishmuso, who put a burr under your saddle? Off to a rather nasty start on this website, I must say. Only a dozen or so comments, and almost all negative!
while you keep putting a downer on absolutely anything anyone has to say then yeah, you are a knob headed small pipe playing t w a t. when you realise that your thoughts about what is good/bad/traditional/irish arent actually the "right" thoughts, and that other people are absolutely entitled to their own opinion then maybe you could move away from that great title. no one cares whether or not you like the banjo, no one cares whether or not you like bands that play in pubs, no one cares what your think bands that play in pubs are capable of. I like bands that play in pubs, hence the reason i started this discussion to find like minded people to play with me. i didnt start this discussion to have arguments with petty people like yourself, or to praise myself and tell everyone how wonderful i am, or to cause offence. i started this discussion to try and get a band together. and FYI i got about 30 responses off some absolutely brilliant musicians who are all interested in playing in pubs. the people replying varied from a fiddle playing barrister to a fretless bass skinhead. all of them equally good musicians whom, if i had the chance, i'd love to play with each and every one of them.
yes, "purists" dont like the banjo, oh well. keep that opinion to your selves purists. i dont like "purists" much, but i dont voice that opinion at any given opportunity.
the traditions and culture develop. instruments are bought in to that tradition, from the banjo and bouzouki to the sax and so on. if we really want to be purists, then we'll play home made drums and lilt on street corners or in shebeens.
the fiddle isnt an irish instrument, neither are the pipes, or the flute. yes, they have become accepted traditional irish instruments, but they are every bit as irish as the guitar, bouzouki and banjo.
the traditional instrument is the drum, not played like a bodhran today, the feet, and the voal chords. the harp isnt even irish.
so to the "purists", get a life and allow others to enjoy traditional irish music in the form it has evolved in to.
what band at the moment, and by band i mean really good band doesnt have accompaniment in the form of the guitar or bouzouki?? and pretty much most of the best bands around have banjo players, or have used banjo players here and there.
also to the "purists", comhaltas was set up to keep ITM pure, yet they allow pian accordions, banjos, guitars and bouzoukis to compete in their competitions. they even allow saxophones, oboes, cello's and dulcimers any instrument you like played in a traditional manner.
That is all traditional irish music is about, the enjoyment, passion and feeling put in to the playing of great tunes written many years ago, and some written not so many years ago.
its not the instrument that makes the music "traditional" or "pure", its the musician
The funniest part of this flame war is that irishmuso says in his profile that he likes the Dubliners, Chieftains, and Flook. Yep. That's about as "pure drop" as it gets.
A fella asks if anone would be interested in forming a band and you all end up talking about traditions and purists and what instruments are acceptable or not acceptable........
Get ye're heads outta ye're asses. A tune is a tune whether its played on a fiddle or a kazoo.
Good luck with your venture, FastEddie.
The so called "tradition" has to evolve if it will survive, and whats more it has to remain FUN and not kept within the confines of the stiff-lipped, poker faced "virtuoso" musicians circles.
It's hardly much of a discussion about purists and tradition so much as a bit of trolling and people taking it seriously. Better argued debates on the aforesaid topic have been had here. Hell, we've even had better trolls.
mcknowall your bodhrans look lovely. how much do you sell them for?? the 18x8 looks great.
and thankyou dennis regan, thats exactly what i've been trying to say
and silver spear, i know, how pure are flook?? great band, but they have a guitarist and use a silver concert flute. dubliners, sh*t pub band with a dodgy banjo player and guitars. and im pretty sure i've even heard the cheiftans with banjo players!
im sorry mcknowall but i think i have said this before...but your website in the FAQ is still so so wrong, please change the whole how do i know i am ready question mate....i cant count how many times i have sat down in a session only to hear one of your bodhrans being bashed by some incompetent player beacause you say that they are ready!!!! really mate for the sake of our sanity!....i am probably going to be shot down too...but really please i beg you for the sanity of all musicians!!!!
Fat Eddie, meet Big Al!
(priceless.) LOL.
I want one of mcknowall's four foot wide bodhrans, the deep ones. They're great.
mcknowall uses kangaroo skin as well, so there's no stuffing around. His tippers are excellent as well - people try to pinch them, so you have to drill a string through them and attached them to yer bodhran...you know, like surfers do with surfboards roped to their ankles. See mcknowall, value add, man, value add.
I like my mcknowall bodhran - and tipper.
BOTTOM
Let me play the lion too. I will roar that I will do any
man's heart good to hear me; I will roar that I will make the
Duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again.'
QUINCE
An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the
Duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were
enough to hang us all.
ALL
That would hang us, every mother's son.
BOTTOM
I grant you, friends, if you should fright the ladies out
of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us;
but I will aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as gently
as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale.
"johnd, that's just great, that foreign poetry stuff is just great.
Did you make that up just now?! Very well done."
I really hope that is a joke. Perhaps my ability to interpret humour in posts has been diminished by the constant thud thud thud of the goat whackers over the years. It has destroyed something of my inner being.
yes, there's about four of them, one inside each other, like Russian dolls, to share around at sessions; in England, where they are very popular.
.
How big do you think kangaroos are usually, anyway?
no corrs for a lama
I really can't see what everyone has against bodhran beginners. The same people will implore beginners at any other instrument to pollute the session with their lack of expertise till the cows come home.
Where you should be getting the twelve gauge out are punters who couldn't keep time with a large clock (I said CLOCK!)
Had one the other night who claimed to be a music teacher who clapped very loudly in everyones earhole, way out of time all the time. Then started playing the tabletop with clenched fists, boom boom boom.
Give me a bodhran beginner any day.
because a bodhran beginner will never be a ble to play tunes.
And I can't understand why people could have a problem with loud punters. Just ask them to keep it down. It's not rocket science. If anyone on any instrument ore even no instrument is wrecking your tune. Just ask them to stop. sheesh
Ah, it's a grand bit of craic we're having here.
All I basically said at the beginning was that I wouldn't want to play in Fast Eddie's band because he had a tenor banjo in it.
He probably plays too fast too, these young 'uns with their testo-sterone poisoning, think the world was made by themselves.
And nice of one or two people to come to my defence.
Hey, Eddie, let us know what your band's gonna be called, and where yore playing; we'll all come and sit in the bar in silence and not buy any drinks.
bowlocks llig a bodhran beginner can go on to learn anything, except when they come across a cranky-eyed bleating pile of puss (like yourself for instance) who turns them away.
Then instead of having a lovely life playing at the session, they probably end up on hard drugs or murdering somebody.
Aren't you ashamed?
And I know some of those people. Wrecked for ever, broken shells of humanity, wandering the streets, bleating to the wind in lonely, forgotten places.....
ha ha i am with llig leahcim all the way on this one!!!! mate all we are asking is that you stop telling begginner bodhran slappers that they are ready to join in a session when clearly they are not! i would say the same thing to a guitar, fiddle maker what ever who writes that on their website. you only are encouraging more usless talentless people from causing industrial noise pollution on poor helpless session goers...... i once broke a string on a drunks guitar beacuase he was playing G all the way through everything...i will resort to bodhran destroying too if need be!....reminds me side cutters and knife in fiddle case, check right !!! off to the session!
i think i have started another bodhran bashing argument.... i am sorry to all awesome bodhran players you are brilliant...but i can count two in australia that i know!!!!
And that's not all. Up mcknowall's way they can nut sheep at forty yards with a stock whip with one flick of the wrist. The sheep don't feel a thing. And they all play bodhran.
I personally don't have any problem with a bodhran player at a session.
But honestly, telling someone with no experience that they are ready to sit in a session as soon as they hand over their money for the drum is the worst piece of advice I've come across in relation to this music. Smacks more of a sales pitch than genuine musical advice: "buy my product and you can sit in with a session without putting in any work".
But regardless of why it appears in your fact it is patently wrong (something I rarely say). It might be correct to say they would be welcome AT YOUR local session. But telling the naive punter that they will be magically ready to sit in an sessions in general is doing them a diservice.
We like beginers and encourage them. Encourage them to start a set of tunes, but above all encourage them to learn. Encouraging them in the delusion that the simple act of buying a drum qualifies them to sit in with a session is something altogether different. And the fact that mnay bodhran owners have in fact acted in this manner is the main reason why the bodhran has such a dubious public image amongst many traditional musicains (at least IMHO, others think the poor image is more fundamantal to the bodhran itself.
I'll qualify my above post by saying that I'd find it acceptable to say the bodhran gives the player the abilitity to instantly start on the musical journey, allowing one to tap out a simple rythm. With practice greater heights can be reached.
But certainly not: buy this for instant session-playing-access
I really appreciated Dave Spencer's tuition at Doolin when buying one of his excellent bodhrans. Dave will sit you down, show you how to play it, then get you to try it, then try it with you, and over again until you've got it. That's before he sells you the bodhran.
That first step, Dave allows as long as it takes, but around the one to one and half hours mark. That's complementary. If you want to go back for lessons, if you're in town long enough, he charges a very moderate cost. Has an excellent lot of recordings there too, to show you the different styles and methods.
Dave will tell you haven't got it yet, until you've got it, or if you don't get it, he'll tell you that too.
That first hour is worth years of trial and error and misinformation.
Dave also emphasises the disruptive affect a wrongly played bodhran will have on the music and the musicians because it can be such an intrusive element in a session. The message I believe is that the bodhran is as much an influence as a set of drums in a rock band, for example. If they aren't played exactly - exactly - right in all respects and complementary to the band's music, the whole thing is a wreck.
Same with the bodhran.
Fast Eddie - Forget the Bodhran - What you want is a good drummer with a sense of humour to add sparkle to your group. The drummer from this Korean Pub Band would fill the part quite nicely. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MP3liGIV6I
I recommend reading lessons chaps, the advice on my website does not encourage beginners to turn up to a session and bash away.
Quite the contrary, I recommend that people practise playing along with CDs before attempting to play with others.
Fact is when someone gets to the stage of wondering whether they are good enough to turn up to a session they are. SIMPLE! There is no other way of finding out. I then, as anyone who can read will see, advise listening, playing softly etc.
Hang me by all means you great Gods of the session, but at least get the charges right.
I am happy to go along with Michael Gill and his arselickers being the only authorities in the world capable of defining when where and how Irish music is played and I wish them a speedy recovery.
Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Hi,
I've gigged around for a good few years, in London, Scotland, Ireland and Germany. On the way I have made many contacts in Pubs, with festival organisers and so on. I'm between bands at the moment, so thought I'd whack an appeal on here and see if I can round up a few people to get a great band going. I play the Banjo mainly, but can play a few other instruments too.
Ideally i'd want to get a five peice together, consisting of;
Myself,
A great guitarist/singer
another trad musician such as a flute or something
a bass player
and a bodrhan player, that more or less makes his drum sound like a tabla. i mean like a really cool bodrhan player
I'd love it if people could get back to me as to whether or not they are interested. My names Eddie and my email is edmckeon@live.co.uk or my mobile number is 07724177827
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Sorry, Eddie, you've disqualified yourself from me, because you play the banjo and only want one other melody instrument.
Even though I can play the guitar, bass, bodrhan, and sing, I wouldn't want to join your band.
I'm not sure where you should go, but this forum really doesn't seem quite the place you need to look in.
Could someone try and define the difference, for us that linger here, between a "pub band" and the third level of Hell ?
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I'm sure Fast Eddie is beside himself with dissappointment and despair that multi tasking and rather snooty Guernsey Pete won't join, especially as he just happens to play all the things required by him. But at least Eddie won't have to choose whether to have Pete as the bass player, the bodhran player or the great singer/ guitarist. Tragic waste as it plainly is.
I would think this forum actually is quite a good place to put feelers out. Not all posters here are hitmen for the Trad Mafia, in my experience quite a few do all sorts of music. And some aren't even frightened off by a gig or two!
And what's wrong with 'pub band'?
Pub and bar bands have been the roots and trunk of dozens of genres of music for decades, maybe a hundred years!
Good luck to Fast Eddie.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Krick Stahlschwanz
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
There is no such thing as the Trad Mafia, and there is nothing wrong with Eddie's request, either.
Signed,
-Not a hitman for the trad mafia
PS can you move a little to the left, please?
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Seosamh Ui Sinan
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Cheers Krick Stahlschwanz, great reply. And to Guernsey Pete, i forgot to put Knobheaded Egotistical twits who believe they're alot better then they actually are. Theres nothing wrong with pub bands! Four men and a dog, Altan, The Pogues and plenty other bands thousands of musicians model themselves on started in pubs.
Just as an FYI to others, Yes, it would start out as a pub band, to have a few gigs, make a bit of money, and pay for recording albums etc, so it doesnt have to come out of our own pockets. Also, as i stated above, im in close contact with a lot of folf festival organisers, so that would be an option too.
If any one is interested, no matter what they play/do, as long as they dont love themselves, and over rate themselves as much as Guernsey Pete, then please get on to me, It'd be great to hear from some Down to earth people, whose heads could fit in to the pubs and venues i could secure gigs in
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I also forgot to include on my list of who to exclude, Jack-of-all trade, master of none pirates as well Guernsey Pete
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I hope I don't overrate myself, I just can sing, play guitar, bass, and bodrhan. I didn't say I was brilliant at all of them. It's just that the Irish Pub Band Syndrome ( IPBS ) produces the lowest common denominator of the musicians working in it, not a sum greater than the parts. It's basically for people who like noise.
There ! I've said it !
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
PS Fast Eddie, watch out for the Black Spot !
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
not all pub bands make noise. 15 years ago, bands like schooners rig were absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!! not noise atall. and im not looking to make noise, im looking to make music. if you have nothing good or helpful to post on someones discussion, how about, you just dont post anything atall!!!!
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
and bands like hungry grass at the moment are great too. Peter the singer is pretty much a reincarnation of Luke Kelly, and Mark Conyard on the banjo and fiddle absolutely puts all you "folk-club, music makers" to shame. Not noise in my opinion, but great music
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Just out of curiousity, Eddie, how old are you exactly ?
"Gigged around for a good few years", but now you're at Uni. What age did you start gigging, or are you a 'mature' student ?
My two kids are both now graduates, so that ages me a bit.
Also probably shows why I don't like noisy pub bands.
Actually, I did like Elephant Shelf. "The Cleavage of Death". Are they still going, anyone ?
Meal Ticket used to be good too.
I'm so old I remember Amity.
And the Dransfield Bros Band.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
i dont know if any of those are still going. im in my 20's but started gigging with a pub band that made noise when i was 15. moved away from the noise, and travelled around with an amazing singer songwriter called peadar farrelly. And he played in pubs! not noise, but amazing music. and yeah, i go to uni. finishing up at the moment, then hoping to do the traditional irish music degree at university limerick
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
setting up an Irish pub band in London?! You poor b*tds. Why would you want to do that.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Hi Eddie - nowhere near London so can't really help, either myself or with suggestions of folk. If you have myspaces, etc with sound clips for previous bands then it might give folk an idea of the sort of music you are looking to create.
There must be loads of folk in the London sessions looking to be in bands though so you shouldn't have a problem. If you are the same Eddie McKeon from West London CCE that came second in the senior banjo and mandolin in the "London and Southern Regional Fleadh 2009" then you can't be too shabby a player.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Maybe I should just fess up I don't like tenor banjos.
I think, bearing in mind this IS "The Session" forum, that an instrument so loud that the musician playing it has to stop to be able to tell that the other musicians have changed tunes is not one suitable for the music.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
London?! Get a life.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Google tells all:
http://www.myspace.com/triggerfarrelly23
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
depending on who is playing it. john carty and gerry o'connor dont get too many complaints. i am the eddie who was placed at the fleadh. cheers for the reply no cause for alarm. I'll put up some links to previous things i have done,
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Pete, are you saying uilleann pipes are not suitable for the music because if your set is loud and/or someone else is playing quietly you occasionally can't hear the tune change?
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Put a link up? Put on yer raincoat more likely.
yer royal irish band of london, oh yeah.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Duijera Dubh,
You crack me up. Are you just trying to stir things up?
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
so in petes opinion, pipes, accordion, banjo are all sh*t instruments that shouldnt be allowed in sessions. send us a link of your amazing playing i'd love to hear how amazing you actually are!!!!!!!! you really are the fountain of all knowledge in regards to trad music!!!!!
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I think Pete simply stated his own personal preference strongly, and actually was self-deprecating enough to say he never claimed to be a great player. Also, it seems to me he is actually trying to hold a conversation, don't fault him too much for having strong opinions. This is coming from one who disagrees and likes the banjo in ITM.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
and he is entitled to his opinion, but would you not agree that if you have nothing nice/helpful/constructive to say, maybe you shouldnt say anything atall???
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Welcome to the session, Eddie.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
good luck to ya eddie...I walked into many pubs and wished there was trad playing rather than the tripe I usually used to get served on Landahn tawn...and do post if you gig down the west country...so I'll come and see it. more power to ya boyo.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by mickyfong
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
cheers micky!
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I wasn't trying to necessarily defend anyone nor to discourage you in any way, Eddie. If you're new to this site, as I am, you'll find out pretty quickly that there is no shortage of provincial trad thinking here. That I will defend, as it's a trad site and anyone posting here needs to expect that.
If you were posting at a trad bluegrass website that you were looking to put together a bar band in the states that had drums and electric guitar, you would encounter the same thing. Some may remember that Bob Dylan showed up and played electric instruments at the same folk festival he had played for years and at which he had been idolized, and was largely booed and rejected. Not exactly the same thing but I hope you understand the analogy.
Good luck to you.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
i understand. but i dont see how a band playing in a pub, trying to make a bit of money and then record some albums along the line, then makes the band rubbish, and only capable of making noise not music.
I'm new to the website too, and have come across Guernsey Pete's elitist way of thinking before, and it usually comes from the not so capable musicians.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I don't know that I would call it elitist. I prefer "a little rough around the edges."
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
There is a chance you guys are talking about two different things here. Pete may be expressing his dislike of the sort of "pub band" that sings "pub songs, " which include 101 ways to murder Wild Rover, Black Velvet Band, 7 Drunken Nights, Dirty Old Town, etc. Eddie may be talking about that, or he may be talking about putting together a band that plays tunes and songs in pubs but not in the way described above. I doubt Pete, or anyone here, has problems with the latter but the former take a good slagging on this website and deservedly so.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
yeah, there are absolutely awful bands out there. im not looking to put together anything like that. im hoping to go for a four men and a dog style band! i dont think anyone can call four men and a dog rubbish!
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
SS,
That may very well be. There are scores of awful bands in the states that are basically rock bands who add an electric fiddle or mando player, call themselves an Irish band, but are basically a caricature of Irish cliches, playing f***ed-out rock versions of "Finnegan's Wake" and the like to cheering drunken frat boys. I'm not sure if that's what you're talking about, but personally I dislike this unfortunate genre with a passion. I am, however, a fan of the Pogues. I was just telling Eddie that he can expect some traditional thinking from a traditional website, that's all.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Eddie, if you are used to pubs you will be used to idiots. Do what you do, do it as well as you can, try to do even better. When there is *meaningful* criticism from people who *know your music* and who know what they are talking about, then listen and learn. As for the rest... life is short, let it go.
You probably didn't need me to say that.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Lingpupa
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I've met people along the way who are arrogant and like to moan. thankyou for your reply. I'm hoping we can do it very well. and hopefully, i'll get some decent people like yourself to work with through this discussion.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Hehe,
Personally I think the debates actually help your cause, Eddie. The number of replies in this thread alone will pull in more interest, and if you're standing up for yourself and what you do, there will be some positive response along with the comments from the purists. I'm always going to defend the purists and curmudgeons to some degree because ITM needs them. I know I do.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
yeah, hopefully it draws a few people in. and yeah, keep the tradition etc, but the tradition develops as young people like my self get involved. comhaltas as had to accept it. nd irish music has pretty much always been in the pub? so why is that now a problem???
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I remain slightly baffled why someone who can play well enough to impress the judges wants to play in a pub band with guitar, bass, and bodrhan.
But then I'm easily confused at my age.
PS I'm prejudiced against piano accordions too.
Pipes are welcome anytime.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
impressing judges at a fleadh means nothing. yeah i can get placed in the all england, but that doesnt reflect my playing atall. some of the best musicians around play in pubs. the likes of seamus mckeon, roger dinsdale rip, mark conyard, damien mullane and countless others in london. then on a wider scale, all of altan have at one stage played in pubs and still play pub sessions. four men and a dog, john carty and so on.
playing with a bass makes the music sound amazing. it really brings out the tunes, as does a good guitarist. hence the reason the best guitarists use drop d or dadgad and play bass notes through their chords.
playing in pubs doesnt mean doing dodgy covers of whiskey in a jar. For me it means well put together sets of reels and jigs, original songs, and some covers done in a tasteful manner.
it means putting together an album or two, a few tours, folk festivals, backing the likes of four men and a dog, writing some great songs, putting together some amazing sets. it means making music!
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Well then, Eddie, it sounds like something I might like, but I'm in Arizona, so I can't help you
If you feel like posting links to some of your stuff, I will certainly take a look.
Cheers.
# Posted on November 3rd 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Why not put an advert in the Irish Post or The Melody Maker......That's what we use to do ..........come to think of it...that was 40 years ago. My, how time flies...!!!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by Free Reed
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
yeah, im going to stick ads up everywhere. i want some top quality musicians to make some amazing music with. i've had a great response off here via my email, and hopefully i'll hear from more. thanks to everyone so far. hopefully it keeps going
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I'd be interested (although I am hardly top quality) but I am in in Glasgow.
Pete,
A lot of the best trad musicians I know do pub gigs.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
FatEddie,
Good luck in your endeavors, you have impressed me with your response to this discussion. Stood your ground and made a good case for yourself.
I am one of the many on this board that loves session playing, but also enjoys being in a band (and one that even plays stuff like Whiskey in the Jar, etc, etc, and has a lot of fun with the good old pub songs).
Best wishes, Al
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by AlBrown
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Ooops, I meant FastEddie, did not mean to imply you are rotund!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by AlBrown
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Free Reed, I think the Melody Maker is dead.......
.....you're giving your age away.
Yes, I remember reading the small ads too, you even used to get the odd one for folkie musos.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
well, rotund eddie has a decent ring to it. i took no offence. thankyou for the comments, lets hope they keep coming
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I still don't understand why you are not just finding the musicians in the local sessions. As you have said there are enough of them around although Damien has disappeared off to Dingle. Also are you looking for a bass guitarist or a double bass player because a double bass player really can add to the sound.
Also I am pretty sure there is no All England Fleadh. There is certainly the London and Southern Region competition that you got placed in. After that would surely be the All Britain competition? Or are you forgetting about the victorious competitors from north of the Border!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I meant the All Britain. i was placed in the mandolin, not the banjo.
And yeah, the Scottish lot take home a lot of medals. the st rocks bands are absolutely amazing.
Also, I wouldnt mind either way bass wise. The double bass and bass guitar are both great instruments.
I've been down the route of asking around at sessions I go to, only to be let down quite a few times when i have set up new sessions or tried to get a band together for practice, so i thought i'd give the session.org a go and see if i can find any more dependable musicians.
And its a shame Damien has gone off to Dingle, he's a great box player. I'm liking all his youtube stuff though.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Yup - all the important medals come back to Glasgow where they belong!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
well, i'll have to try and get first on the banjo aswell this year then. do you know where the all britain is this year?? cavan for the all ireland.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Not sure. I have never actually been to a Fleadh competition. I think I heard someone mention it was in Scotland but I'm not sure. I will have to try to make it along.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
all britain!!!! fast eddie get a life, who cares if you got placed in all britain..... next some one is going to say they got placed in all africa! getting a place doesnt mean you are any good. any pub with a banjo, a bass, a bodhran (played like a tabla for crying out loud, ha ha ha ha ha ) and a guitar attempting to play trad = crap in my books!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
i never said getting placed made me good if you read the above comments!!!! and whats wrong with a guitar in trad??? no one complains about tim eddy!
and who really actually asked for your opinion as to whether or not the band i want to get together is to your liking????
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
awww touchy fasteddie...tim eddy is crap! why dont you go post your ad maybe on a rock site or african drumming site (you might fine heaps of takers there!)
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
oh and before you go any further, four men and a dog are crap too! infact pub paddy bands are crap and as far as i am concerned so is your band notion!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
and by the looks of your taste in music "spagetti junction"...thats crap too!!!!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
All Briatian is in Glasgow this year. St James are hosting...
...
I'm a memember of St James CCE, but (whisper it) I don't really like Comhaltas Fleadhanna competitions.
- chris
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Oh good - the Minstrels won't need to travel far to collect all their trophies then!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
who needs britain anyway...all britain...bloody brits dont even like irish music.......
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
irishmuso!!!!!!!!!! you're a twit. four men and a dog are amazing. no one can actually seriously say cathal hayden isnt an amazing musician, and that gerry o'connor isnt absolutely brilliant. i really dont care if you dont like what i wanna do, and FYI the tabla's not african you knob, its an indian drum, and the way good bodhran players play at the moment sounds very similar to the table. the tabla has an amazing sound. the sounds a good tabla player produces are absolutely amazing, and sound realy good behind reels and jigs.
when you master the "very traditional irish small pipes" then maybe i'll listen to your opinion on cathal hayden, gerry o'connor and tim eddy.
if you were even half as god as any of the mentioned musicians, you wouldnt have the time to sit at your computer bitching and putting a downer on everyones discussions.
and ramblingpitchfork, i know what you mean, im not a fan of the fleadh's either.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
oooo, and the dubliners were at one stage a pub band!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
And the Dubliners still sound like a pub band - bloody awful!
The tabla is a fantastic drum. I would disagree that bodhrans sound the same as them but that really doesn't matter. If you want to interpret the sound that way then that is fine by me.
Ultimately you shouldn't engage with irishmuso - (s)he is just a troll and nothing more. The sole purpose of the posts is to get a rise out of you and it seems to be working.
As a general observation attacking someone for wasting their time on an internet forum is not a particularly effective attack on an internet forum as you have to be on here yourself to do it. If someone who is a really good musician doesn't have time to post on a forum then your posting on this forum must mean that you are not a good musician. Quod erat demonstrandum.
I am on your side in this but you need to stop and take a breath. You came on looking for musicians to form a band with. Anything else is superfluous.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
What about attacking someone for attacking someone for attacking someone for wasting their time on an internet forum?
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by llig leahcim
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Well good luck to you Eddie you should have a great time. We've been playing the pub/club scene for many a year and while we're not trend setters, with a mix of trad songs and upbeat tunes and lively banter both we and the punters have a rare auld time. Surely that's what it is all about....?
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by weebag
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
The dangers with this kind of band in the US is that you run in two brands:
1. The Poguetry Flogging Dropkicked Murphy Molly
2. The Clancy Dubliners Makem Brothers
Method 1 will get you decently paying late night gigs at bars where loads of young drunks will slam into each other, screaming and hollering, spilling Red Bull and vodka all over themselves while telling you to play ‘…that one Flogging Molly song they heard that one time on their sisters’ CD when they borrowed her car…’
Method 2 will get you decently paying dinner time gigs at restaraunts or cultural clubs and will lead to loads of old drunks staggering around, clapping and shimmying while spilling corned beef on themselves while telling you to play either Danny Boy, Whiskey in the Jar or that one about the Unicorns.
Method 3 consist of playing loads of fantastic tunes in tight arrangements with the occasional smattering of great songs sung well.
Method 3 will make you broke but get you self respect? HA HA HA! No no, I tease. Good luck to all of you in your endevours.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
"What about attacking someone for attacking someone for attacking someone for wasting their time on an internet forum?"
Ha ha! Well of course I wasn't attacking him. As you note I pointed out I was on his side. So that is alright then.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
And I didn't say good musicians did not have the time to post on this website. On the other hand I probably don't have the time if I am honest about it and I could be described as ruddy awful!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Although as you have pointed out before that is for other people to judge.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Guernsey Pete - I didn't know that the Melody Maker was defunct but I did wonder why I hadn't seen it in recent years. Back in the seventies I put a small ad in the Folk Section 'Accordionist requires gigs, Irish Trad etc' sort of thing.
I kid you not but I had a call from Malcom McLaren manager of the Sex Pistols. He wanted me to do an Irish spot on St Patrick's night in the Rainbow with the group. It was Rotten's idea, he been of Irish parents and all that. Actually his parents John and Eileen lived beside the Favourite and were regulars in the bar at weekends. Eileen used to talk all way through a rendition of a slow air.
No...I didn't have to guts to take the gig. The thoughts of all those 'spring heel jacks' spitting on me and me box was too much to bear. 'Never mind the Boll**ks' followed by 'The Sally Gardens' just didn't seem right somehow.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by Free Reed
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
looks like a few who post here are writing out of their own egos about how good they are, and that anyone else must be a bad player.....get a grip of yourselves! fast eddie i know exactly what a tabla is and it doesnt sound like a good bodhran player! so you are the twit...also we are going to have to agree to disagree...the banjo is a sh*te instrument in all but a very very very few musicians hands. go learn an instrument where a little more skill level is required!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
tell that to gerry o'connor, and modern bodhran players make a similar sound to a tabla player. or can any way. and the banjo is my favourite instrument. i think its one of the best instruments used in trad music. i also play the mandolin, the flute, the pipes and the fiddle, but the banjo is my favourite instrument. and i think it actually takes a lot of skill to play it well. its not all about hitting it as hard as you can. it produces some amazing subtle tones and compliments instruments like the accordion and the fiddle. its an amazing instrument. and im pretty sure, what ever you play, you dont play with much skill
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
well fasteddie, you are very quick to bite arent you...... hope you find your motly band members...be great to listen to a banjo toting indian drumming band!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
and on another note, just because you are young and seem to play everything, and seem to know everything doesnt mean you can go around with the notion of being "the tradition". its not there for you to change, it evolves all of its own accord. do i detect a wee touch of elitism in you fasteddie..all britain (snigger) place holder??!
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
not really. i dont class myself as the tradition, but people of my age are now keeping the tradition alive. and through young peoples playing, it again is evolving.i didnt bring up places at fleadhs. i didnt even play well in the fleadh. the fleadh's i have entered do not reflect my ability or style as a player anyway.
# Posted on November 4th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
oh, and i have never once claimed to be a good musician or "the tradition" in this discussion.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
young and old peoples play is keeping the tradition going...remember that fast eddie! it was there before you and it will be there long after you have finished wrecking it with pub paddy indian drumming bands.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
i think its knob head small pipe playing twits that ruin it all. not just by making crap music, but by ruining the fun of it all!
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
FLAMEWAR!
No seriously, can't you two play nice?
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
**'Never mind the Boll**ks' followed by 'The Sally Gardens' just didn't seem right somehow**
Pity - could've been one of the legendary gigs of all time, and we all could've pretended to have been there!
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by Bren
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KQaOiyKSDc&feature=related
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by llig leahcim
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Fast Eddie,
You have made some valid points, and I respect your stand. I posted this much earlier in the discussion: this is a trad site by and large, you must expect that you are going to get friction, as there are a large number of purists here. I always say "evolution is a fine thing taken in moderation." Actually, that's the first time I've ever said that, but whatever.
I haven't the least bit of derision for what you're doing. You do seem to have a bit of contempt for the purists that seeps through, however, whether it is intended or not. As for myself, I'm generally going to side with the purists because no matter how the music evolves, the purists are still needed to keep the whole thing grounded and in check for the rest of us. I think that's what I mean by evolution in moderation. I think it's healthy to nod to tradition. Nodding is a sign of respect that does not require bowing nor scraping.
We don't see exactly eye to eye, but whatever you do, do it well, nod appropriately to tradition, and to hell with what anyone thinks. The purists will keep doing what they do as well, and God bless them for that.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by Jimmy B
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Hey irishmuso, who put a burr under your saddle? Off to a rather nasty start on this website, I must say. Only a dozen or so comments, and almost all negative!
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by AlBrown
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
oh dont worry about me albrown...im just a knob head small pipe player twit.......
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by irishmuso
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
while you keep putting a downer on absolutely anything anyone has to say then yeah, you are a knob headed small pipe playing t w a t. when you realise that your thoughts about what is good/bad/traditional/irish arent actually the "right" thoughts, and that other people are absolutely entitled to their own opinion then maybe you could move away from that great title. no one cares whether or not you like the banjo, no one cares whether or not you like bands that play in pubs, no one cares what your think bands that play in pubs are capable of. I like bands that play in pubs, hence the reason i started this discussion to find like minded people to play with me. i didnt start this discussion to have arguments with petty people like yourself, or to praise myself and tell everyone how wonderful i am, or to cause offence. i started this discussion to try and get a band together. and FYI i got about 30 responses off some absolutely brilliant musicians who are all interested in playing in pubs. the people replying varied from a fiddle playing barrister to a fretless bass skinhead. all of them equally good musicians whom, if i had the chance, i'd love to play with each and every one of them.
yes, "purists" dont like the banjo, oh well. keep that opinion to your selves purists. i dont like "purists" much, but i dont voice that opinion at any given opportunity.
the traditions and culture develop. instruments are bought in to that tradition, from the banjo and bouzouki to the sax and so on. if we really want to be purists, then we'll play home made drums and lilt on street corners or in shebeens.
the fiddle isnt an irish instrument, neither are the pipes, or the flute. yes, they have become accepted traditional irish instruments, but they are every bit as irish as the guitar, bouzouki and banjo.
the traditional instrument is the drum, not played like a bodhran today, the feet, and the voal chords. the harp isnt even irish.
so to the "purists", get a life and allow others to enjoy traditional irish music in the form it has evolved in to.
what band at the moment, and by band i mean really good band doesnt have accompaniment in the form of the guitar or bouzouki?? and pretty much most of the best bands around have banjo players, or have used banjo players here and there.
also to the "purists", comhaltas was set up to keep ITM pure, yet they allow pian accordions, banjos, guitars and bouzoukis to compete in their competitions. they even allow saxophones, oboes, cello's and dulcimers any instrument you like played in a traditional manner.
That is all traditional irish music is about, the enjoyment, passion and feeling put in to the playing of great tunes written many years ago, and some written not so many years ago.
its not the instrument that makes the music "traditional" or "pure", its the musician
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
wow!!! there is some flames in this thread! at least it isnt directed at me for once!!! maybe we should all just enjoy the music and have a pint!
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by fiddly dee fiddly doo oh how all take it so seriously!
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
exactly! well said!
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Send me over a plane ticket, Fast Eddie, I'll play bodhran in your band.
I'll roar twere I any sucking dove
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by mcknowall
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
The funniest part of this flame war is that irishmuso says in his profile that he likes the Dubliners, Chieftains, and Flook. Yep. That's about as "pure drop" as it gets.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
This thread is hilarious.
A fella asks if anone would be interested in forming a band and you all end up talking about traditions and purists and what instruments are acceptable or not acceptable........
Get ye're heads outta ye're asses. A tune is a tune whether its played on a fiddle or a kazoo.
Good luck with your venture, FastEddie.
The so called "tradition" has to evolve if it will survive, and whats more it has to remain FUN and not kept within the confines of the stiff-lipped, poker faced "virtuoso" musicians circles.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by Dennis Regan
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
It's hardly much of a discussion about purists and tradition so much as a bit of trolling and people taking it seriously. Better argued debates on the aforesaid topic have been had here. Hell, we've even had better trolls.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
mcknowall your bodhrans look lovely. how much do you sell them for?? the 18x8 looks great.
and thankyou dennis regan, thats exactly what i've been trying to say
and silver spear, i know, how pure are flook?? great band, but they have a guitarist and use a silver concert flute. dubliners, sh*t pub band with a dodgy banjo player and guitars. and im pretty sure i've even heard the cheiftans with banjo players!
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
im sorry mcknowall but i think i have said this before...but your website in the FAQ is still so so wrong, please change the whole how do i know i am ready question mate....i cant count how many times i have sat down in a session only to hear one of your bodhrans being bashed by some incompetent player beacause you say that they are ready!!!! really mate for the sake of our sanity!....i am probably going to be shot down too...but really please i beg you for the sanity of all musicians!!!!
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by fiddly dee fiddly doo oh how all take it so seriously!
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I think mcknowall should keep it. It's very handy to post a link to when ever he shows his idiocy.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by llig leahcim
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Fat Eddie, meet Big Al!
(priceless.) LOL.
I want one of mcknowall's four foot wide bodhrans, the deep ones. They're great.
mcknowall uses kangaroo skin as well, so there's no stuffing around. His tippers are excellent as well - people try to pinch them, so you have to drill a string through them and attached them to yer bodhran...you know, like surfers do with surfboards roped to their ankles. See mcknowall, value add, man, value add.
I like my mcknowall bodhran - and tipper.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
"I'll roar twere I any sucking dove" - mcknowall.
He means he puts dovetail joints in the tippers. It's the dialect up that way you know.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
BOTTOM
Let me play the lion too. I will roar that I will do any
man's heart good to hear me; I will roar that I will make the
Duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again.'
QUINCE
An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the
Duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were
enough to hang us all.
ALL
That would hang us, every mother's son.
BOTTOM
I grant you, friends, if you should fright the ladies out
of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us;
but I will aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as gently
as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by johndsamuels
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
"four foot wide bodhrans"
DD, that's just a lambeg man, come on now.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
nah, sw, it's got a kangaroo skin.
johnd, that's just great, that foreign poetry stuff is just great.
Did you make that up just now?! Very well done.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
"johnd, that's just great, that foreign poetry stuff is just great.
Did you make that up just now?! Very well done."
I really hope that is a joke. Perhaps my ability to interpret humour in posts has been diminished by the constant thud thud thud of the goat whackers over the years. It has destroyed something of my inner being.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
no cause for alarm.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Does his four foot kangaroo skin bodhran have a little pocket with a miniature one inside?
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by johndsamuels
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
yes, there's about four of them, one inside each other, like Russian dolls, to share around at sessions; in England, where they are very popular.
.
How big do you think kangaroos are usually, anyway?
no corrs for a lama
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I'm eating lunch and I almost spit my soup all over my monitor.
# Posted on November 5th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I really can't see what everyone has against bodhran beginners. The same people will implore beginners at any other instrument to pollute the session with their lack of expertise till the cows come home.
Where you should be getting the twelve gauge out are punters who couldn't keep time with a large clock (I said CLOCK!)
Had one the other night who claimed to be a music teacher who clapped very loudly in everyones earhole, way out of time all the time. Then started playing the tabletop with clenched fists, boom boom boom.
Give me a bodhran beginner any day.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by mcknowall
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
because a bodhran beginner will never be a ble to play tunes.
And I can't understand why people could have a problem with loud punters. Just ask them to keep it down. It's not rocket science. If anyone on any instrument ore even no instrument is wrecking your tune. Just ask them to stop. sheesh
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by llig leahcim
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Ah, it's a grand bit of craic we're having here.
All I basically said at the beginning was that I wouldn't want to play in Fast Eddie's band because he had a tenor banjo in it.
He probably plays too fast too, these young 'uns with their testo-sterone poisoning, think the world was made by themselves.
And nice of one or two people to come to my defence.
Hey, Eddie, let us know what your band's gonna be called, and where yore playing; we'll all come and sit in the bar in silence and not buy any drinks.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
bowlocks llig a bodhran beginner can go on to learn anything, except when they come across a cranky-eyed bleating pile of puss (like yourself for instance) who turns them away.
Then instead of having a lovely life playing at the session, they probably end up on hard drugs or murdering somebody.
Aren't you ashamed?
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by mcknowall
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
And I know some of those people. Wrecked for ever, broken shells of humanity, wandering the streets, bleating to the wind in lonely, forgotten places.....
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by shanty
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
The sooner you diswade the bodhran beginner, the sooner they might go on and learn something else. You are doing them a favour.
All this flakey nicely nicely aproach does is hold people back.
The sooner you diswade the bodhran builder, the sooner they might go on and build something else. You are doing them a favour.
All this flakey nicely nicely aproach does is hold people back.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by llig leahcim
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
There is a happy medium between being nice, and being bluntly honest. Too bad so many of us can't find it.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by AlBrown
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
ha ha i am with llig leahcim all the way on this one!!!! mate all we are asking is that you stop telling begginner bodhran slappers that they are ready to join in a session when clearly they are not! i would say the same thing to a guitar, fiddle maker what ever who writes that on their website. you only are encouraging more usless talentless people from causing industrial noise pollution on poor helpless session goers...... i once broke a string on a drunks guitar beacuase he was playing G all the way through everything...i will resort to bodhran destroying too if need be!....reminds me side cutters and knife in fiddle case, check right !!! off to the session!
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by fiddly dee fiddly doo oh how all take it so seriously!
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
how am I not surprised by anything you say tommy
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by Random_notes
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
well it had to be said!
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by fiddly dee fiddly doo oh how all take it so seriously!
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
enjoy your session, Blade.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by Random_notes
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
i think i have started another bodhran bashing argument.... i am sorry to all awesome bodhran players you are brilliant...but i can count two in australia that i know!!!!
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by fiddly dee fiddly doo oh how all take it so seriously!
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
will do mate!
might just stick to house sessions they are more fun...and the bodhran players and bad backers dont get invited!! 
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by fiddly dee fiddly doo oh how all take it so seriously!
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
You obviously haven't heard my reputation with the wire cutters!
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by mcknowall
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
And that's not all. Up mcknowall's way they can nut sheep at forty yards with a stock whip with one flick of the wrist. The sheep don't feel a thing. And they all play bodhran.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
We need a Harry Hill style "Fight!" to settle this:
On one hand Eddie:
http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img/21621/wm/pd1348210.jpg
and McKnowall
http://www.bozigian.com/i//TomDrumCostume.gif
facing Llig and Trad's Army:
http://dirtylinen.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/sf_scottish_fiddlers_small.jpg
Let's get rrrrready to rrrrrrumbllllle!
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by Bren
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
mcknowall,
I personally don't have any problem with a bodhran player at a session.
But honestly, telling someone with no experience that they are ready to sit in a session as soon as they hand over their money for the drum is the worst piece of advice I've come across in relation to this music. Smacks more of a sales pitch than genuine musical advice: "buy my product and you can sit in with a session without putting in any work".
But regardless of why it appears in your fact it is patently wrong (something I rarely say). It might be correct to say they would be welcome AT YOUR local session. But telling the naive punter that they will be magically ready to sit in an sessions in general is doing them a diservice.
We like beginers and encourage them. Encourage them to start a set of tunes, but above all encourage them to learn. Encouraging them in the delusion that the simple act of buying a drum qualifies them to sit in with a session is something altogether different. And the fact that mnay bodhran owners have in fact acted in this manner is the main reason why the bodhran has such a dubious public image amongst many traditional musicains (at least IMHO, others think the poor image is more fundamantal to the bodhran itself.
We've wandered way OT. But while I'm here:
good luck with the band Eddie
- chris
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I'll qualify my above post by saying that I'd find it acceptable to say the bodhran gives the player the abilitity to instantly start on the musical journey, allowing one to tap out a simple rythm. With practice greater heights can be reached.
But certainly not: buy this for instant session-playing-access
-c hris
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I really appreciated Dave Spencer's tuition at Doolin when buying one of his excellent bodhrans. Dave will sit you down, show you how to play it, then get you to try it, then try it with you, and over again until you've got it. That's before he sells you the bodhran.
That first step, Dave allows as long as it takes, but around the one to one and half hours mark. That's complementary. If you want to go back for lessons, if you're in town long enough, he charges a very moderate cost. Has an excellent lot of recordings there too, to show you the different styles and methods.
Dave will tell you haven't got it yet, until you've got it, or if you don't get it, he'll tell you that too.
That first hour is worth years of trial and error and misinformation.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Dave also emphasises the disruptive affect a wrongly played bodhran will have on the music and the musicians because it can be such an intrusive element in a session. The message I believe is that the bodhran is as much an influence as a set of drums in a rock band, for example. If they aren't played exactly - exactly - right in all respects and complementary to the band's music, the whole thing is a wreck.
Same with the bodhran.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by Duijera Dubh
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
Fast Eddie - Forget the Bodhran - What you want is a good drummer with a sense of humour to add sparkle to your group. The drummer from this Korean Pub Band would fill the part quite nicely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MP3liGIV6I
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by Free Reed
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
i dunno if i'd want that much sparkle.
# Posted on November 6th 2009 by FastEddie
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
I recommend reading lessons chaps, the advice on my website does not encourage beginners to turn up to a session and bash away.
Quite the contrary, I recommend that people practise playing along with CDs before attempting to play with others.
Fact is when someone gets to the stage of wondering whether they are good enough to turn up to a session they are. SIMPLE! There is no other way of finding out. I then, as anyone who can read will see, advise listening, playing softly etc.
Hang me by all means you great Gods of the session, but at least get the charges right.
I am happy to go along with Michael Gill and his arselickers being the only authorities in the world capable of defining when where and how Irish music is played and I wish them a speedy recovery.
# Posted on November 7th 2009 by mcknowall
Re: Setting Up A New Irish Pub Band in London
all is quiet on the western front...ahh a lovely sound!
# Posted on November 7th 2009 by fiddly dee fiddly doo oh how all take it so seriously!