March 23rd – Two of the reasons I’m partially deaf…I SAID TWO
OF THE REASONS I’M PARTIALLY DEAF is my involvement with game shooting and my
involvement with rock bands.
From the shooting point of view, as a gamekeeper for many
years, I used to go to large scale driven days as a loader; game shooting when
the birds come over the guns so thick and fast they need two guns per person in
order to keep up. There was a time, back in the 1910’s, when they
used three and four guns per person but this was the heyday of driven game
shooting. Post the 14/18 war these large scale bateaux all but ceased and I
doubt there are many low-ground, double-gun shoots running these days; grouse
is another thing, but not many pheasant shoots of that calibre any more.
Well, as a loader and pre the
intrusion of H&S, I’d stand alongside the shooter, take one double-barrel
shotgun from him as he/she emptied it, pass back a full one, load the empty one,
take back the by now empty one one, pass the loaded one, load it…… No ear
defenders back then hence the deafness, which had already started to take hold.
Earlier deafness had been kick-started by my days as a rock drummer in the 60’s
through to the 90’s. I seem to remember, somewhere in ‘The Hitch Hiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy’ about a rock band setting up their equipment then riding off to
a distant planet because, “…this was going to be a seriously loud gig…” Well,
in the 60’s this was the everyday.
Nowadays, musicians are cushioned
from the effects of hyper volume by tailor-made earpieces that also act as
foldback, hence the lack of speakers along the front of the stage (so nothing
for the lead and bass guitarists to lift a foot onto and pose…thank god). However,
drummers are a law unto themselves even with all this technology. Even now they
still insist on running a speaker the size of Kent
Everything these days is mic-ed up
and sent through the PA so the ultra high volumes the audience hear bypass the
band; they get fed what’s known as a monitor signal. This allows them to hear
all the other members of the band at a sensible volume and so keep in time and
in tune…unless you're a member of The Bay City Rollers; then nothing will save
you. But back in the day there was none of this protection and care;
particularly for drummers.
A list of the kit in one of the bands
I played in may help here.
The lead guitarist had 4 – 4x12
Marshall Speaker Cabs split left and right along the back wall plus 2x100 watt
Marshall Amps.
The rhythm guitarist had 2 – 4x12
Marshall Speaker Cabs split left and right along the back wall plus 2x100 watt
Marshall Amps.
The Bass guitarist had 4 – 2x15
Marshall Speaker Cabs split left and right along the back wall plus 2x100 watt
Marshall Amps.
The organist had a Leslie cabinet
passed through 1x100 watt Orange Amp and into 4 – 4x12 Orange Speaker Cabs
split left and right along the back wall.
The vocalist ran 1x100 watt Marshall
Amp into 2 – 4x12 Marshall Column Speaker Cabs split D/S extreme left and
right…
Me? I had an
acoustic drum kit with five toms, two kik drums, snare, hi-hat and several cymbals….that’s
‘acoustic’ as in ‘no amplification’.
A small gap was left roughly centre
stage where I would set up in front of the distributed speaker stacks out of
which emanated a veritable tsunami of noise and from where I was expected to
make my presence felt.
Were we loud? We were so loud that,
when we were in full flight and conversation was impossible and breathing
difficult; you know those excellent CGI sequences in ‘Gravity’ when the debris
hits? It was like that but just sound. Those able to move about on stage (so
guitarists and vocalist) could at least find dead spots in which to avoid the
upper limits of acoustic-drama and the organist, set S/R for most of our sets,
was on the periphery of the massive volume we released. Set S/C and fixed, I
sat in this tortuous position for months, years, often-times five nights a
week. So, be warned…I SAID, BE WARNED…Y’ DEAF OLD TROUT!
It was on this day in 2010 that Jim
Marshall died; is it too late to sue? I SAID……
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