Aren't you getting a bit old for this, Aberdeen?

Where have all the bees gone?  Don't blame the miserable summer, they're all buzzing around in various people's bonnets in the aftermath of a serious uppercut landed in the continuing bout between supporters of retaining UTG and proponents of the CGP (and I don't believe for one minute that this bruising, attritional, weary war of words and dubious deeds is over yet).

I always said that I was against CGP.  I always said that the sums didn't add up for me.  However, once the referendum went through and my side lost, I shut the hell up about it.  So now things have swung back to my way of thinking, am I happy?  Not really.  I always had a suspicion that everyone in Aberdeen basically despises anyone they don't know. The only result we're left with post referendum is an already divided populous which has been carved almost right down the middle thanks to a merely mathematical (and as it turns out, pointless) majority.  You might as well start making up sandbags.  This isn't over.  This is just beginning.  Civil war in Aberdeen, except conducted by a bunch of Internet hard nuts and keyboard warriors.  Battle has already resumed and they didn't even have the courtesy to wait until I get some popcorn!  Now that's just rude.

Do I think that democracy has been damaged?  Hardly - it's broken by design.

Do I think that all the Internet based "debate" is damaging to Aberdeen?  Most definitely.  When I read some of the "debate" that is ongoing on Facebook or Twitter, all it boils down to for me is this:

crowd arguing

This is a pretty good approximation of what I imagine you would all sound like if we put you all in the Beach Ballroom and asked you to have a "debate".  Come on, some of you can't even spell your insults correctly.  Quantity of Facebook "likes" being used as an analogy for testicle size and the moral right to... tell people how it should be?  Reports of dissenting views being deleted because they don't tally up with the prevailing way of thinking on a particular page?  Pathetic.

To all those who engage in this tiresome charade - you all disgust me with your petty, childish, bitter behaviour.  We're going nowhere, fast, and you aren't helping one iota.

Sound engineers - will you please listen?

I've just had the dubious pleasure of listening back to our performance at Belladrum.  It's... fast.  I don't know if we were keyed up because of the event itself, or the technical difficulties that delayed our start by 10 mins (which is a lot when you've only got a 45min slot), but we're playing like we're on speed or something, and this is unusual because we're not Motörhead.

But the one thing that is annoying me is the fact that the singer has asked for more vocals in the monitors on at least 4 occasions (gave up counting after that, no wait, I think I heard a fifth).  It is clear that nothing's been done - Andy's more shouting than singing and that's because he can't hear himself.  Daryl's harmonica is a bit wayward at times because he can't hear what he's doing.  That's a big problem when you're responsible for the tuning/intonation of your instrument (that includes voice).  It's not so much of a problem for me, playing fretted electric bass.  I have a tuner on the floor and I keep my basses set up properly (intonation compensation at the bridge etc.) so as long as my open strings are in tune then when I stop the string at the correct place, I get the correct note.  I can play the fretted bass visually/by feel and it'll sound OK, but it won't be as tight as it could be as instead of "being one with the rest of the band" (which comprises a combination of muscle memory through practice and being able to hear everyone else) you're either anticipating (which can make you early if you get it wrong) or reacting (which by definition makes you late).  And I don't have to bloody well like it - in fact I hate the feeling of playing in a bubble, where you're playing the bass and have no idea if you're even contributing to the proceedings (hoping to hell that the front of house sound is better than this).

Sound engineers, can you please explain to me (like I'm a four year old - as I have no comprehension of what you do and no right to tell you what to do) why it is that some of you are seemingly unwilling (or unable) to give us decent sound on stage?  We are not moaning for the sake of it, not giving us decent sound on stage is like asking us to gut fish with a butter knife.  You'll have your fish, but it won't be pretty.  All we're asking for is to have a decent monitoring on stage so that we can do our jobs properly.  We are not professionals, but we take our hobby seriously and want to perform at our best for the good people who come out to see us, dance and generate money for the venues that employ you in order that they continue to do this.  If you hamper our performance because we can't hear what we're doing, punters will stay away, and it's as much in your interests as ours to keep bums on seats and feet on dancefloors.

Yay, it's 1997 again!

And that would make me ... 22.  Man, time flies.

Tonight is the night I decided to switch the criminally underused stereo on and put a CD on.  I'm not sure what the motivation was, I was watching the documentary "An Ox's Tale" about John Entwistle (bass player in The Who, in case you didn't know) and ended up feeling a bit sad (y'know, 'cos he's dead and all that).  Then I remembered a while back I was feeling all guilty about having hundreds of CDs that I never listen to so I decided to finally do something about it.

I didn't put much thought into choosing a CD, the first letter I looked at was S and I had an urge to put on Supergrass, "In It for the Money".  I fired up the amp, the CD player and the graphic equaliser and stuck it on.  I'd like to tell you that I was whisked away to a magical fantasy land, but the Android phone, the Intel i5 sticker on the laptop, the electricity monitor and the fact that I just tweeted the picture to the left kept me in the 21st century.

All the same, it felt like I had reclaimed or rediscovered something about me, something I had forgotten, something I used to like about myself and it felt good.

CD's nearly coming to an end ("Sometimes I Make You Sad") - one more for tonight, I wonder if I'll keep with the 1997 theme or put something classic on...

Video from the Depot

I've put up a few videos from Saturday's gig at the Last Bus Depot near New Pitsligo.  It's a little "band in a tin box" sounding, but hopefully it's good enough to tap your toes to and remember a good night - or wish you had been there and spur you on to join us at the next one!