Jonathan Randall

Musician / Bass Player

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BLOG Entry - 2009 February (Monday 22nd)

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Well it been a busy few weeks...having played in Bairnsdale (just after the bushfires), Portsea and then again last night at the Bayswater hotel.

So here is a run down in order :

Bairnsdale : Great country gig where we were well looked after by Wendy and John. From a band perspective this is a nice easy load in and play kinda gig where you can have a few drinks and really enjoy it. I would love to play here anytime. (Bit of a weekend away)

Portsea : This time we played in the front bar (which has a smaller crowd (200+) but is a much easier load-in/load-out.

This is one of my favorite venues because : 

    close to home,  

    get big crowds, 

    is very well run

I am looking forward to getting back to Portsea as much as possible !!!

Bayswater : Contraband did a free charity gig for Bushfire victims which ended up raising $2000 (Fantastic). Id never played this venue before but we had a nice size crowd and didnt have to bring our PA (but we did take a while to figure out the house foldback). Our gig was only 2 sets,  but a lot of fun. Id like to play there again in a “full-show” type arrangement.

Other stuff: 

        •  Ok -  my new bass is almost here (on its way from the US)

        •  I have a new student starting up which is fantastic and will push me into some new musical directions

        •  I managed to pick up two 4x8 bass cabinets (MaxTurbo) from ebay. These appear to be great little cabs...very light and they seem to work pretty well in a band situation. Still have to run a few more tests - but things are looking good. More on this soon...

        

Edit (2016)….When re-reading this blog and entering on my new website I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on a couple of things….

1. New bass from the US arriving soon - Who thought I would end up moving here !

2. 4x8 Cabinets….I tried them for a while but in the end they just weren’t punchy enough. As always (even now) I love my Trace Elliot and Markbass stuff. Im running both systems in  500watt dual 2x10 cabinet formats (mainly because I can’t fit a 4x10 in the car)