Poor babies…

[Lostgallifreyan]

I'm pretty much a prepper in life. I bring all kinds of "plan B" (C, D, E, F, etc.) options with me.

Me too, if I can.. If my GM-400 had worked, there are patch modifications in it so I could have coped immediately with poor sound in various ways. Would have brought a backup GM-400 if I thought I'd need it and could have carried it.

The way the day had already (not) shaped up, I decided it might well be a test of character, it was going to 'examine my technique'. It was a near-perfect example of Sod's Law too, a switch that had worked for 14 years, never glitched, worked three times while testing in that same pub, failed right before I was due to go on.

Best laid plans of mice and men...

I later realised it must have been flaky and got knocked into instability as I carried it up the hill to the pub. Would have been nice if it had let me know the moment I tried it on arrival, but never mind.. It will work next time. I soldered BOTH poles of a new switch. Not a lot else could go wrong, no moving parts..

I think what you said counts as tactics, so more effective. Versatile...

Another guy posted earlier, he was in USMC boot camp and said that, and his dad said something like 'perfect planning prevents p...-poor performance'. Definitely true, and I bet training helps (as in learning and practise), but then I think (to paraphrase Gilbert Shelton) that tactics will get you though times of no strategy better than strategy will get you through times of no tactics.

 

[LBS-bass]

Nothing new...

I worked with bands all the way back to the 80's using sampled backing vocals, strings, and keys, and the drummer playing to a click track.

It's not new. I sang with an R&B artist who had a top 10 hit in the 80's and we played a lot of shows on the east coast. Most of our shows were without the band; the label originally wanted her to lip sync everything, but she refused and insisted on taking her backing vocalists out with her to sing live as well. So the four of us toured a lot, singing over backing tracks which, back then, were special mixes on tape.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

If you look on the side of the stage you can see the laptops. They use backing tracks and don't try to hide it. Looks like lights and the key parts. Looks like a great show.

 

[pbass2]

Autechre - probably my favorite band in the late 90s and early 00s, Incunabula was a revelation for me - only play with electronic gear, so if it goes dead then there's no show. But a more traditional - in terms of the instrumentation - band should be able to perform some acceptable version of their own stuff with minimal means, namely bass, guitar, drums and vocals. Or with even less than that, and then it's magic. Even superstars can do it.

Yeah, they pretty much do everything in Max/MSP and literally build their applications from scratch in it. It's crazy--just the amount of work is mind-boggling (I have used Max about 15 years and I still can't fathom the depths they go to). I've also dabbled in the live coding/Algorave thing a bit, where you're improvising/coding on the fly to make music. Of course, that music is most certainly not everyone's cup of tea to say the least.
But I agree that if you play trad instruments and more trad music forms you should be able to pull it off stripped down and raw - a good song is a good song after all.

 

[Lostgallifreyan]

Autechre - probably my favorite band in the late 90s and early 00s, Incunabula was a revelation for me - only play with electronic gear, so if it goes dead then there's no show.

The first time I ever did a live show was with electronics, in 1986. There were three of us, plus the girlfriend of one of the other guys, indispensible, running a mixer and routing for all the complex changes we needed. She was very well organised, and so were we, and some of the parts were running on sequenced tracks, playing instruments directly. (I always wanted to do things as Tangerine Dream did them). This gig worked, certainly the last song did, but the sheer amount of organisation and effort made me balk at ever doing it again.

I later found I was better at programming DX7 sounds, and later at making my own software, than I thought I was at making music.

One reason I play the bass now is to correct that imbalance.

I post this to show how far I can agree with either approach that seems to divide people in this thread. I certainly wouldn't treat it as a zero sum game! But I do know now which methods I prefer to use. I actually wish I'd figured this out forty years ago. I have no regrets, but I could have saved a lot of time.

 

[ThudThudThud]

IIRC I once saw 10cc live, and they used the vocal overdubs track from "I'm not in love." Everything else was live. Hard one to replicate live without the signature vocal overdubs.
I also saw ZZTop at Wembley Arena (Eliminator/Afterburner era), and pretty sure there were some keyboard tracks. I know Dusty Hill did trigger synths from his bass later, but I don't think it was happening here.
Other than that, full on ZZTop goodness.
I can't think of any other band I've seen that worked to backing tracks.

 

[Deleted member 365158]

"Blame it on the crew" he says. Nothing like being thrown under the tour bus...probably should have kept that to himself and delt with it privately.

Im glad someone else saw that, that one stuck with me when i read the article

 

[Phaidrus]

Of course, that music is most certainly not everyone's cup of tea to say the least.

Yes, that was my deconstruction period: Autechre, Aphex Twin and the rest of the acts on Warp label.

 

[callofcthulhu]

If you look on the side of the stage you can see the laptops. They use backing tracks and don't try to hide it. Looks like lights and the key parts. Looks like a great show.

Whewf....

This band does not warrant the level of discussion in this thread...

 

[rutrho]

Whewf....

This band does not warrant the level of discussion in this thread...

Yep, lol. There is a high high high likelihood that they're also playing with a click, and having coordinated midi changes of amp models and effects happen on-the-fly as well.

Wait till this crowd discovers drum triggers, LOL.

 

[JRA]

A lot of contemporary popular music depends heavily on automation. If that's the kind of music you like, you'd be disappointed to hear a show played without it.

you could make an exception for those of us who appreciate good music/shows no matter how it's delivered!

If the band can't play the show without the laptop and the laptop *can* play back the show without the band, that makes the laptop the only 'crucial member' of the band - so they should get top billing and a star's pay, right?

funny!

Yup. And many do it to great success, without selling out, staying humble, keep on creating... Just like some of the jazz cats out there who think your electric bass playing in your rock band is not musicianship. Just like some of the classical cats out there who think jazz is a bunch of nonsense. Welcome to boomertown.

dude, you need to jettison some of that load --- what the he[[ does any of this have to do with boomers?

 

[pbass2]

Yes, that was my deconstruction period: Autechre, Aphex Twin and the rest of the acts on Warp label.

I have done gobs of experimental electronic music over the years, and equal measures of totally organic often very rootsy music. I'm at the point now where I prefer the extremes. The stuff in the middle tends to bore me!

 

[turf3]

Whewf....

This band does not warrant the level of discussion in this thread...

Well, they've learned some bad words, and now they feel they've got to use them. Just like the average three year old.

As to the musical/performance content, it seems kind of sad that someone's spent hundreds of hours diddling with laptops and all that, to get that result. Like an elephant gestating for ten months and straining mightily to bring forth a mouse.

 

[Mr Talkbass]

Seems to me that they elected to respect the audience by not subjecting them to anything but the absolute best performance they could have orchestrated.
I like art n such (to an extent), but I’d feel cheated if I paid to see Phantom of the Opera and the show went ahead without key components in place.
Good for them. I’m not a fan or anything but I’m certain their audience came with certain expectations.

 

[sleddogn]

Not exactly the same, but ever see the side of a Rush concert stage. Like 80 different keyboards all midi'd up to triggers and pedals.

 

[Phaidrus]

I have done gobs of experimental electronic music over the years, and equal measures of totally organic often very rootsy music. I'm at the point now where I prefer the extremes. The stuff in the middle tends to bore me!

Yes, I see your point, there's more passion in the extremes, perhaps. But then there's stuff that combines both in an unpredicted way. Like Sly & Robbie playing with EDM minimalist Vladislav Delay and fusion trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer. Here's a very Bitches Brew influenced track with some Coltrane touches.

 

[Passinwind]

Seems to me that they elected to respect the audience by not subjecting them to anything but the absolute best performance they could have orchestrated.
I like art n such (to an extent), but I’d feel cheated if I paid to see Phantom of the Opera and the show went ahead without key components in place.
Good for them. I’m not a fan or anything but I’m certain their audience came with certain expectations.

How would you feel if you ponied up for hotel rooms for two nights and traveled 4 hours each way to see the show? More respected or less?

 

[Mr Talkbass]

How would you feel if you ponied up for hotel rooms for two nights and traveled 4 hours each way to see the show? More respected or less?

I’d be disappointed either way.

 

[Will_White]

The way they use their laptops are more akin to if a metal band showed up to a gig and only had clean DIs to play through.

 

[5StringBlues]

While quite different, and you can definitely have your opinion on their music, you also have to really respect Jackyl for stepping in on a less-than-optimal situation. I've worked with Jesse for pushing a decade now on setting up motorcycle rallies. He's one of the hardest working individuals i've ever met. From planning to marketing to building an outside festival to playing LIVE, Jesse does it all.

Was a joke, we're friends with the original bassist.