OP lives in Bangkok. If this is true then lighting a bass on fire seems pretty tame compared to what goes on in that city.
Still not a good idea.
Still not a good idea.
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Setting your bass on fire
- Thread starter AaronVonRock
- Start date
Poison Idea f-ing rules....so does fire.
In the mid to late 90's in Portland many rock bands used fire in their shows. Go Go Girls twirling fire balls at the ends of the stage, grind wheels to make lots of sparks and fire. A lot of the singers would spit fire over the crowd at random points of the night, usually a long guitar solo, and to end the night. I thought it felt good on the cold nights to get that blast of warm spit from the stage.
Want a spectacular show? Use a Tesla transformer to generate a thunderbolt.
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Thanks for the GG suggestion, but I prefer our performance to be sans feces.
No need for me to get huffy and serious. I'm just asking a question and I got a few legit, helpful answers in 5 pages so far. That's not bad for TB. I realize that a large portion of people on this forum are not into this kind of stuff and are more into playing music at church or in a cover band.
In the 80s and 90s, I've seen plenty of bands use fire in their performance and no one was hurt: GWAR, Butthole Surfers, Nashville Pussy, God Bullies, Brutal Juice, etc. Since Great White seems to be the main point of reference for shows using fire on TalkBass, here is what those mulletheads specifically did:
The fire started just seconds into the band's opening song, "Desert Moon", when pyrotechnics set off by tour manager Daniel Biechele ignited flammable acoustic foam on both sides of the drummer's alcove at the back of the stage. The pyrotechnics were gerbs, cylindrical devices that produce a controlled spray of sparks. Biechele used three gerbs set to spray sparks 15 feet (4.6 m) for 15 seconds. Two gerbs were at 45-degree angles, with the middle one pointing straight up. The flanking gerbs became the principal cause of the fire. The foam was in two layers, with highly flammable urethane foam over polyethylene foam, the latter being difficult to ignite but releasing much more heat once ignited by the less dense urethane.
I am not going to use 3 cylinders that shoot sparks 15 feet in the air for 15 seconds directly into two layers of flammable foam. I would maybe use lighter fluid or possibly rum or some other flammable alcohol. There is a distinction between pyrotechnics and fire.
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I've been watching this thread for awhile.
Final thoughts, OP wants to get attention. Lighting bass on fire, playing naked, singers in trash cans with feet sticking out, that's his cup of tea.
Obviously it's not the majority of TBers cup of tea.
OP is obviously going to do what he wants from his last post. Set it on fire, use rum, lighter fluid or whatever.
If OP thinks this is a good idea, then he obviously knows what he wants.
My advice to OP, do what ye will and harm none. Fire vs. Pyrotechnics...Fire is fire.
I'm sure those mulletheads in Great White trusted their tour manager despite their hairstyles. The mistake was made and lives were lost. I'd hate to have that hanging over my head for the rest of my life.
Gimmicks, antics, stunts, it's all been done. I'll stick with my original opinion, dazzle them with the music. If I want to watch tomfoolery there's this show called Jackass...
Final thoughts, OP wants to get attention. Lighting bass on fire, playing naked, singers in trash cans with feet sticking out, that's his cup of tea.
Obviously it's not the majority of TBers cup of tea.
OP is obviously going to do what he wants from his last post. Set it on fire, use rum, lighter fluid or whatever.
If OP thinks this is a good idea, then he obviously knows what he wants.
My advice to OP, do what ye will and harm none. Fire vs. Pyrotechnics...Fire is fire.
I'm sure those mulletheads in Great White trusted their tour manager despite their hairstyles. The mistake was made and lives were lost. I'd hate to have that hanging over my head for the rest of my life.
Gimmicks, antics, stunts, it's all been done. I'll stick with my original opinion, dazzle them with the music. If I want to watch tomfoolery there's this show called Jackass...
- Oct 7, 2000
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People can be dazzled with music on recordings. I treat performances as much more than that. Because they are much more than that.
Good post and thanks for the feedback. I agree with a lot of what you said, but I also believe that it is possible to dazzle a crowd with music and theatrics in a rock band. Gimmicks, antics, stunts; I love all that stuff.
Yes, it's all been done before. So does that mean it can't be done again? To use the terrible example of "Hendrix did it better", is that supposed to be the measuring stick before a band or a musician does anything? Because if that's the case, everyone on this forum should immediately stop playing music and sell all their gear because none of us are going to be as good as Jimi Hendrix.
By the way, I'm a big Jackass fan. Have all the shows and movies on DVD.
Mr. VonRock, My question to you is this: if you realize TalkBass is full people who play in church and in cover bands, then why are you hear asking a majority of people for advice on things they don't seem to want any part of? I would assume there has to be a performance art forum where people regularly light things on fire and do things us "normal" people don't. Maybe, you should go there and ask the opinions of those experts.
People are not required or obligated to comment on this thread if they are not interested in setting their bass on fire. I am not interested in playing music in church, so I don't comment on those threads. I don't even click to read them.
In 5 pages, I did get some good and helpful information from people who are not so "normal" (Pyro Gel, anyone?). Those are the people whose feedback I am interested in. Sometimes you have to cast a wide net. I reckoned someone on a bass forum has at one point lit their bass on fire. Maybe I'm wrong.
Good idea about performance art forums where people regularly light things on fire. I'll Google it.
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Might need to get a sacrificial bass to finish the night with. Preferably something cheap.
I guess I was just wondering if advice from others involved in the things you like was available. It seems a lot of people out there enjoy performance art and do these things that you want to do. I wasn't saying stay away from TB. But advice on setting things on fire may be a topic not suited for TB and you should expect "us" to react accordingly.
I will state that I have been a huge Skinny Puppy fan since their inception. They do things right when it comes to theatrics. Definitely not spontaneous but a good example of how to mix music and theatrics.
Good luck and be safe.
I learned today there are only three kinds of musicians in the world: cover bands, church music, and people who light stuff on fire.
My my my.
It is badly staged and cliche, guy isn't in tune anymore because of the heat so it sounds like crap, it has no artistic meaning whatsoever.
Dude looks like a drunk idiot desperate for attention.
Seriously, this is the image you want to give? Don't you have other ways to get noticed, like I don't know, playing awesome music?
I agree this guy pulls it off badly. I was just trying to find an example of fire vs. pyrotechnics. There didn't seem to be any real danger in what he was doing.
Honestly, if I set my bass on fire at the end of a song, I'm not going to be too concerned if it isn't in tune anymore. And I'm not concerned if it has artistic meaning.
"Idiots desperate for attention" would describe a good portion of rock bands. It would also make a good album title.
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I know which one I would want to go see on a Saturday night.
