mostly david ephgrave

Despite being a bassist for twenty-five years, and probably considering it my first instrument (though that's a bit of a fluid subject), I've only ever owned one bass guitar: my trusty Tanglewood replica of a violin bass. So I think I was entitled to upgrade to a real Hofner, which I finally did this week. Arty Hofner shot (as it's known in the trade). I approached this purchase with guilt and trepidation, as I do when I buy anything significant, despite paying in instalments and not being expensive for what it is. Surely I'm allowed a new bass every quarter-century? Particularly when it's literally* for work. And yet I can't shake the sense that I'm treating myself at a time when money's tight (and that's before today's massive fall in the pound's value on the stock market, which I probably triggered by buying it). However, I bought it to be better equipped next time some muso work comes up. While my old bass has done remarkably well conside...

Of the many – some might say too many – projects me and Glyn have set up, the one I’m proudest of is 'Glad All Over!: A Sixties Celebration ’. (c) Tim Parker The show came into being in a pub; the Spice of Life in Soho, in fact. We met with our friend Rob Maskell to discuss the idea of putting together a show to raise money for one of our Edinburgh Festival runs. Me and Rob had gigged together a lot in the past, and often expressed an interest in setting up our own actor / muso show, in an attempt to put right a lot of the self-perceived wrongs of the various shows we’d worked on previously.   Suddenly we had an excuse to do it. We booked a date at The Queen Mother Theatre in Hitchin that Summer and put together a band. The premise was simple; the show would be a two-hour gig built around a four-piece band who were all singers and multi-instrumentalists, plus three additional female singers. We wanted to cover as broad a selection of Sixties music as possibl...