What little things do you use as entertainment in your band, or your rig?

[Trevorus]

I have a sound activated neon on my rack rig, and I used to have a plasma globe that I would set in front of the bass drum to flash everytime the drummer hit the kick. What kind of stuff do you guys add that enhance the experience?

[wschwark]

People like it when I stand on my upright bass and play it. Good crowd pleaser. Be sure your bass doesn't make any creeking noises or any strange movements when you step up on it though. A lot of basses are tough enough for it though.

[wschwark]

Sorry for posting something not slab bass related.

[Texas Ed]

My lead guitarist, Bird, has an L.E.D. banner display that rolls across his gear that reads, "If you can read this, show your tits." Then it rolls our website address.....then the "show your".....and so on.

We sure have been gettin' a lotta nipple lately. Must be the temperatuires.

[Trevorus]

Originally Posted by wschwark

Sorry for posting something not slab bass related.

That's alright! I want to hear all the little entertainment things people do to make their show unique.

In a band I was in, we often finished with one of our fastest songs. It was a cover of "Smelly Cat" all punked up. After running around and jumping around, I'd just drop at the end. Usually board stiff backwards.

[wschwark]

Haha! Straight backwards?.................Goodnight everyone!.........thud

[tplyons]

I somehow have all white basses.

[Trevorus]

Originally Posted by tplyons

I somehow have all white basses.

That's creepy.

[dain bramage]

We havent played any shows yet. But when we do I'll probably be jumping around nonstop, and we'll have synced jumps.

[Trevorus]

Originally Posted by dain bramage

We havent played any shows yet. But when we do I'll probably be jumping around nonstop, and we'll have synced jumps.

Don't do it too much. It can become cliche.

I have heard of some band that the guitarists and bassists all have synchronized hand motions. Very gimmicky looking.

[All_¥our_Bass]

I hang a telletubbie keychain from my gothy chains and headbang with my afro. I also use "The Imperial March" as my soundcheck.

[thekyle]

I slap. Not too much, but enough.

Most people think I'm playing a Claypool line.

Is Primus the only band that has a slap bass line? I think not.

Plus, I am not Claypool.

[Figjam]

I have a fro.

[Trevorus]

Originally Posted by thekyle

I slap. Not too much, but enough.

Most people think I'm playing a Claypool line.

Is Primus the only band that has a slap bass line? I think not.

Plus, I am not Claypool.

Do you have any little light things or anything like that that help catch attention?

[Munjibunga]

I use a boom mic stand. I take a rubber chicken with a slit in its ass, and run that down over the boom so the mic clip is inside its neck. Then I shove the mic down its throat until only the ball is showing at the chicken's beak, and I sing to the chicken's head all night.

What's funny about this is that I did it in my band in the late 70's, too. At that time, I had a little friend who was 3 years old, and he used to come to our band practices. He's now about 30, and a couple years ago he told me that he still remembers that chicken, and that it totally creeped him out as a kid. I couldn't stop laughing when he told me that. I can't imagine a better outcome than to have permanently left an impression like that on someone.

[Bard2dbone]

Munji- I think the phrase you're looking for is 'emotional scarring'.

But hey, it's all good. Well...pretty good.

We did a few shows that sound like what the OP is asking for. The basic concept is a whole show improvising a soundtrack for a silent movie. Sometimes we had a screen in front of us, so the audience saw the movie and heard us, but couldn't see us. Sometimes the screen was behind us and we all wore all-white clothes and draped plain white sheets over much of our gear.

A friend of mine had an amazing practice space in his barn and several hundred milk crates. So for this one big party, we made them a stage in the barn.

First we had a one-milkcrate-tall layer for the entire stage area, (12' x 40'-ish, assuming the plywood sheets I remember were all 4'x8's) , Then we made a SERIOUS drum riser, 8' x 8' x 3' tall. We had a wall of milk crates around the outside edge of the riser, strapped with steel shipping bands, so they couldn't slide apart, and sawhorses in the 6' x 6' gap in the middle. Under the sawhorses was a fog machine and a rigged strobe light. The strobe had a rotating gel in front of it that had four colors, so the fog coming out from under the drumset glowed blinking redredredredredgreengreengreengreengreenorangeoran georangeorangeorangeblueblueblueblueblueredred...y ou get the idea.

I helped build the stage and riser set and set up the colored strobe and fog machine. My girlfriend (the keyboardist from my band and sister of the girlfriend of the drummer whose barn this was) ran an overhead projector on the wall behind the band, where she put up pics of whatever she felt like/had through colored oils. It sounds cheesy nowadays, but in 1982, it was cutting edge technology.

[bassjus]

I'm looking into making cheesy 80's stage props al la herbie hancock's rockit grammy performance in (I think) 84.

[FriscoBassAce]

My old drummer had a Muppet's "Animal" plush doll that he would hang from his drumset...does that count??? And back in the 80's, another drummer would hang lingerie from his kit that he had ahem..."acquired" the night before.

[Super Dwarf]

i was in this band with the greatest name ever Captain Chaos and the Butane Boyz. we only played some battle of bands. we dressed up in costumes i was in suits or dresses (i played guitar in the band), singer was a super hero, bassist was a miltary man and the drummer was himself (he was always alittle odd, running saying shank shank). the crowd loved us but the judges hated us but one judge liked us and said he voted for us but the rest said we were stupid.

[Bluez Dawg]

when I start playing in a band that does gig's I will be walking arounnd the ladies and let them touch my bass.