Hello

I'm not a usual user of Mudcat but I have been alerted to this thread by a friend. I know some of the Ship Band boys and greatly admire their music, and their cheek ;) I have never depped for them but I have played with them in sessions and have always had a great time. I am glad that they are actively promoting themselves, wherever they might play. Musicians are generally quite transient types and why on earth shouldn't they advertise themselves as a national band? How far would a commercial band get by saying they only play in Stoke on Trent, or wherever? Whether they use no deps or 4 they are going out by that name and it would not be in their interests to send out a second rate line-up.

Power to their elbow I say for generating work for skint musicians! If it wasn't for these types I'd be forced into a normal boring job!I have depped for a number of well-known bands and I am damn grateful for the work. Depping is a professional career in its own right and thank god there are professional first rate ceilidh bands out there who use deps. It keeps the music alive too! It is exhilarating playing with different players and a decent musician can easily jam in with a band and add a bit more verve than there might otherwise be in the same stagnant line up, romping through the Rochdale Coconut Dance or whatever together for the millionth time together. I love ceilidh music but it is my bread and butter work, I don't want to be rehearsing tunes I've played a million times over, clients just rely on the fact that I will know them already and have a musical enough ear to be able to follow them. Communication on stage is also a bit of an art and it's pretty easy to spot where a change is coming if you look out for it.

I am saddened by what I've seen on Mudcat and think that our only hope for a progessive future in folk is in the young people who are NOT sat on the internet on a Friday night (like me!) but out there showing people what a vibrant lot we really are. Let's move forward and be as entrepreneurial as we possibly can be to get the music we all love out there, AND earning us money too! We are love our music yes but we all need to make a living too :) It's us against the corporate commercial crap, club together people and for god's sake lighten up, we are all on the same side here! You think this sort of stuff is underhand, it's nothing compared to what the big boys are up to in the commercial world.

Phew! I'm off to play some tunes, back in reality where I belong :)