Colin Edwin

PeppermanL2K · #1 06-22-2006, 04:45 PM

I tell ya what. I've been into Porcupine Tree only a couple of years now, and Colin Edwin is one of my absolute favorite bassists. Playing in what I would consider to be a true modern progressive band, what he is asked to play just covers the gamut and he makes everything sound so easy! From smooth to funky to riffy to crunch...sometimes all within the same song, he does it all without sounding wankery, ya know? "Halo", "3", "Don't Hate Me"...wow. VERY underrated, IMNSHO. What do y'all think?

vashts80 · #2 06-23-2006, 03:28 PM

Edwin for the win. I love his lines in Radioactive Toy and Hatesong the most.

Guest_Deleted · #3 08-11-2006, 08:07 AM

Agree! Agree! Agree!
Very underrated player! His syncopation chops are out of this world. Syncs are often affiliated with funk music, but he blends it with a certain kind of prog music and makes it sound like it always should be like that. the HATESONG from Lighbulb Sun are ALSO my favorite! The middle section is un-countable!!!!

My main bass excercises in the recent 4-5 years has been to PorcTree records, just due to/thanks to Colin Edwin. Dropped D tunings, DDB* fretless lines, and have the good taste of bringing out an acoustic upright now and then. Also, odd time signatures like it's nothing.

Me having played bass for quite a while, he is the one that really got me into listening for micro-rhythms, playing on and off beat, and not be so exact about it, yet sounding very solid. Also, "pre-notes" or grace notes played prior to the one note that it should be gives an inflection of very good timing sense, very beyond and above average. And gorgeous tone, timbre in spite having minimal equipment.

Well, enough of all this over-intellectualizing. He's just my kind of guy.

*DDB = Drop Dead Beatuiful.

/Mats

Halftooth · #4 08-27-2006, 10:55 AM

He's one of my favorite players for sure!
His play is so complex yet subtle...it's amazing!

leftybassist · #5 12-07-2006, 10:12 AM

Colin Edwin has quickly become my favorite bass player. The bassline in the middle of "don't hate me" is frickin' evil. Watching him play on the new DVD "arriving somewhere.." is awsome and has made me want a bongo bass soooooooooo badly.

PeppermanL2K · #6 12-07-2006, 02:12 PM

No eff'ing kidding!!! He's my new favorite! Very fundamental, yet so appropriate and tasty!

Halftooth · #7 12-08-2006, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leftybassist

Colin Edwin has quickly become my favorite bass player. The bassline in the middle of "don't hate me" is frickin' evil. Watching him play on the new DVD "arriving somewhere.." is awsome and has made me want a bongo bass soooooooooo badly.

He's playing a Bongo now? Is he not playing his fretless Wal? Everytime I've seen him play, he plays nothing but the f-less Wal.

PeppermanL2K · #8 12-08-2006, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halftooth

He's playing a Bongo now? Is he not playing his fretless Wal? Everytime I've seen him play, he plays nothing but the f-less Wal.

Oooohh... yeah! Check out the "Arriving Somewhere..." DVD and that Stealth Bongo just thunders!

ack · #9 12-24-2006, 07:36 AM

I just started listening to PT about 6 months ago. With Gavin Harrison on drums and Colin Edwin on bass you can't help but become enchanted by their music. I can listen to "Arriving Somewhere, Not Here" all day long, and it will never get old. As soon as I'm good enough, I'm going to emulate that bassline. It's a thing of beauty.

James Hart · #10 01-22-2007, 08:50 AM

I've heard of the band but don't think I'd ever actually heard them in the past.... My friend that mentions them most is into "cookie monster" vocal bands and for some reason, I was expecting Porcupine Tree to have them too.

Well I've hooked up with a prog drummer (wicked porkpie drum set) and he turned me on to the band... they are his favorite.

I'm hooked! Colin and the whole band are smokin'!!!!

Silver Moon · #11 01-23-2007, 08:18 AM

Hello,

Colin Edwin is awesome!! I have heard he is such a sweet guy, and when I found out he played a Wal--Well, that was even cooler! One of my favorite basslines is "Slave Called Shiver"

-K-

MysticMichael · #12 06-16-2007, 07:32 PM

Some of my favorite Colin Edwin lines are found in Point 3, Slave Called Shiver, The Creator Has A Master Tape, and Waiting Phase One. (His line on Piano Lessons has a loping, melodic quality that's reminiscent of Paul McCartney.) He's such an excellent groove player, and his tone has all the delicacy of an oncoming freight train...

One big shout out to Gavin Harrison as well - one of the tightest, most tasteful and musical drummers playing in any rock band today. He and Colin Edwin are right up there with the best rock rhythm sections of all time, in my book...

MM

Ian Perge · #13 06-17-2007, 07:36 AM

I always like to look up to a bassist of some regard at all times so that I'm never without a new form of inspiration and skills to add to my personal "toolbox" - for the last 6 months it's been Colin due to all the posted reasons: his lines that are perfect for the songs (another reason with PT is "progressive" but isn't "Prog Rock The Genre" - no one over-or-underplays to the songs, but has the perfect talent to find what exactly is needed), the ability to do the above but still "sneak" in a tasty fill that still works for the song, coming up with funky lines without relying on slap/pop technique, amazing tone whatever period of the band you're discussing (Wal, StingRay, Bongo, Spector & BassLab) and his amazing intonation when playing his fretless Wal.

When they were over here in the States for the "FoaBP" tour the SO and I went on a mini-roadtrip and caught 3 shows in a week - we would have done more, but she's a Doctoral student and needs this Summer for "Comps", which is a hellish review of your first 2 years both oral and written to be allowed to move into the last 2/3 years and become a "Doctoral Candidate".

- and I got to speak to the band about various subjects, including Colin, his gear changes, and finally why FoaBP was screwing my head up when learning it once I got the chance to see it performed live. I had been working on getting through the entire album even though I knew he tuned to dropped-D a fair amount of the time, but not that the album was a combination of Standard tuning, dropped-D, and his 35"-scale Spector tuned to C/F/Bb/Eb. I when I told him playing the new album on a standard-tuned five-string "made for some fairly odd position changes" he laughed heartily.

As for the gear changes over the years, he explained that after more than a decade he didn't want to risk taking the Wal out on the road and picked up a StingRay, something he'd always wanted to do (as well as changing his amp setup from a Trace Elliott AH350 to the Tech 21 LM300 see on the "Arriving Somewhere..." DVD). However, he was "knocked out" by the sound of the Stealth Black Bongo and used that for the majority of the "Deadwing" tour in 2005.

Around this time, however, he purchased his natural oil Spector Euro 4 and upon hearing that the upcoming recording at the time was going to contain some of the heaviest music PT was putting to tape, they sent him his extended-scale Euro 4LX-35 for the C-tuned parts (the middle section of "Anesthetize", "Way Out Of Here", "Sleep Together"). He also has a few BassLab Soul-IVs, one reddish-orange one and one black, the latter which is on the road as backup/encore bass ("Trains"/"Even Less", "Mother & Child Divided", and "Halo").

In terms of amplification, his Tech-21 rig was trashed by a "slack road crew" on a European tour and he took the opportunity to switch to an EBS rig consisting of a TD650 head and two 4 x 10" Proline neodymium cabs, as he already had a relationship with the company when he would use and EBS rig for a show where the backline was provided and he has been using their pedals for years.

Baryonyx · #14 06-17-2007, 07:56 AM

Man, I still need to make an effort to listen to these guys!

neurotictim · #15 10-13-2008, 08:36 PM

The search function is super handy... But I'm dredging up an old thread to find out - on the "Arriving Somewhere" DVD, he's playing 2 Stealth Bongos - a 5 and a 4. I can't really tell, but is he playing roundwounds or flats? Sometimes it seems like rounds, others it seems like flats...

leftybassist · #16 10-13-2008, 09:29 PM

Nope it's only one 4 string Stealth Bongo, look real close. And those are roundwound on all songs. Same bass throughout.. no changes... Bongos are EXTREMELY versatile basses (and Colin's liquid smooth slides make you think they must be flat, but they're not) . I love that DVD... and I love my Bongo

Rano Bass · #17 10-14-2008, 02:59 PM

I think his Bongo had a Hishot detuner, maybe thats why it sounds like a fiver.

ack · #18 10-14-2008, 04:30 PM

Wow, this is an old thread...
It's been almost 2 years since my entry, and I have come to really like PT.
I'm convinced that Gavin Harrison/Colin Edwin are one of the finest rhythm sections anywhere.

The "Arriving Somewhere" DVD is truly awesome.
Colin Edwin also looks like he enjoys what he does for a living.

neurotictim · #19 10-14-2008, 04:49 PM

...watching it now...

...gonna spot that 5er here somewhere...

()smoke() · #20 10-16-2008, 08:57 AM

colin is indeed the man

the only album i have at the moment is 'in absentia'...what should i find next?