First of all, thank you! For being interesting in booking a show, and taking the time to find out what that entails. That’s v, much appreciated.

So, I’m available for solo gigs, collaborative gigs, session work, festivals and masterclasses. Pretty much any of the collaborations I’ve got on Bandcamp can be booked live if the will and the budget are there…

Solo gigs tend to fall into either house concerts or small venue shows. I’m also happy to come and open for your band, if the gig fits the criteria below as well…

A few things that are worth noting:

• I love playing house concerts. If you can get 20 people to chip in a tenner each, I’ll happily come and play to them in your living room. With all the caveats below, but seriously, they’re the best. If you want to talk specifics for your situation, email me.
• I need time to set up – all this stuff takes a while to assemble, so if your venue has 10 minutes for the band to set up, that’s no good. If we’re playing arrival times and start times etc, try to have at least 90 minutes between me getting there and needing to play. Preferably 2 hours.
• I don’t need a bass amp. If I’m not bringing my own stuff and you haven’t got the same Aguilar set up as me, then I’ll go through the PA. No, the house SVT isn’t going to work. If you’re not sure, email me.
• I don’t cost a lot, but I very rarely play for free, and never where it actually ends up costing me money because there isn’t even any travel money. Make me a sensible offer and we’ll worth something out. I get that solo bass gigs aren’t about to make anyone rich, but if I want to make £20 for a gig there’s a gorgeous venue just round the corner from me where I can book shows as often as I like at about three weeks notice…
• I can’t play to audiences that are standing up. Yes, I know that cuts me off from 80% of all venues that are likely to want to book me, but that doesn’t suddenly make it work. 20 years of solo gigs tells me that pretty much all the crappy ones were when the audience was standing. I sit down to play, and having an audience standing around waiting for exciting stuff to happen just doesn’t connect with the music, or feed into the improv vibe of what’s going on. So no, I don’t want to play in your bar.
• I don’t do background music. Well, I DO but it’s way way more expensive than booking me for a gig where people are listening. If you want someone to play at your party or corporate event, feel free to email me, but don’t try to pitch it to me as a house concert. House concerts are the most amazing listening experience – my favourite place to play. There’s an acre of difference between that and me playing while you and your mates chat. And a cost difference of about a grand.
• I do like playing bass. Yes, normal old school dum-ti-dum-dum bass. I didn’t choose this instrument by mistake. No, I don’t want to join your garage band, or to rehearse endlessly for no money or to play covers for fun (I already get to play covers for fun at home), but if you want me to play bass on your record or tour, that can be arranged.
• I’m not militantly DIY. If you have ways that you can help me out and we can both get paid, I’m 100% into that. If you start by asking me to ‘play something a bit more upbeat’ our conversation ends here, but if you dig what I do and want to help book a string of shows in venues somewhere in the world that fit the criteria here, and we can both pay some bills while we do it, I REALLY want to hear from you. Truly.
• I’m definitely up for doing a masterclass at your college or university. Again, make me a sensible offer. Happy to play, talk, lead improvisation workshops, do a gig, answer questions. It’s all good. Happy to be the smiling voice of dystopia of you’re talking about marketing and social media too…
• I don’t do requests, and I don’t know any of my own already-recorded tunes. It’s improv, baby, embrace the adventure 😉