Dan Briggs (Between the Buried and Me)

[Afrokid]

Fingerstyle has never been so prominant since this guy joined Between the Buried and Me... In my opinion he is what bass is supposed to be, the link between the guitar and drums. Every line he produces is phenomenal, and his solo in the song Viridian is truely inspirational. Time this man gets some recognition as one of the best bass players period!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW5jk_H4TkY

[Deluge Of Sound]

Lots of people here love this dude. I've never really liked BTBAM, but he's got talent.

[purduebass]

preaching to the choir man. There was a thread started right about when Colors came out about him that went about 3 pages long.
Personally, he is the greatest bass player metal has seen in a long while and is a great inspiration.

[EADG mx]

I love BTBAM

all of them are untouchable musicians

they're like DT without the cheese

[Gawd]

Briggs is incredible
and I love BTBAM, they changed the way I think about music.

[southshoreconor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PwRk...eature=related

you can actually see him in this video, though the sound is distorted. dude can play, i will admit, but btbam is not my thing.

[Daywalker]

Originally Posted by EADG mx

They're like DT without the cheese

Perfect comparison IMO.


And yes, Dan Briggs has inspired me greatly. For the last few weeks, I've just been swappin Alaska and Colors in my truck. Their first two albums are great too, but Dan is the man!

[castingshadows]

i was a big fan of Jason King, their first bassist, as well. The stuff he and Will Goodyear (their first drummer) did on their first S/T release was amazing...

[Dr Illing]

Jason was also a really good bassist, so was Kevin. I saw them perform live twice, but I definitely think that Dan really has him beat in terms of style, originality and raw talent. It's weird though Dan was always been known as a guitarist before BTBAM.

[WMV2]

Great bassist. I saw them live on the colors tour. The bass solo on veridian is truly something amazing live.

I also met him, the vocalist, and the lead guitarist. after the show. Really cool dudes.

[Phantopeth]

I've seen them live a handful of times, most reciently the Halloween show at The Blender here in NYC. Dan's the man, as I've said here before. And I agree with his solo in Viridian: it wasn't until I heard it live that I fully appreciated it, as on the album I couldn't really pick out how he was complementing the chord changes. Live his signal was jacked!

Also, I'm pretty sure their drummer is a robot.

[Psychbass]

QUOTE=EADG mx;5037471]I love BTBAM

all of them are untouchable musicians

they're like DT without the cheese[/quote]


I couldn't disagree with this more. It was this quote and the fact that BTBAM are touring with Opeth (amazing) and DT (less amazing than they used to be, but still some of the best stuff ever), that made me purchase Colors.

As a bassist, I was enthralled with Dan Briggs. He's an amazing player and his lines are just amazing (although some parts are carbon copies of riffs on Scenes from a Memory) and I think he's one of the best metal bassists I've ever heard. HOWEVER, the band is just meh... the riffs are impressive... the vocalist is not... at all...

In my opinion, his voice is so crap and the songs are so meandering that the riffs are just that... a collection of cool riffs stuffed into a disc with an untalented vocalist burping all over it.

They are the opposite of Opeth. In Opeth, the music is incredible and when you think (meaning me of course) think that it can't get any better, Akerfelt starts to sing.. and growl or clean.. it takes it to a whole other level. With BTBAM, the music sounds great... and then the vocals start, and I just want to skip the track.

As for the cheese part of the quote, I believe that BTBAM is FAR cheesier than DT for three reasons:

1. The vocalist trying to be so hard core that he sounds like a 13-year-old kid barking about pain, and anger, and other pre-pubescent dreck (even worse than Meshugga) is FAR cheesier than the "wimpy" vocals in DT. Yes, even Lifting Shadows off a Dream.

2. The solos in BTBAM, while technical, often sound like 80-90's videogame music. Petrucci only falls into that during Metropolis Part I.

3. BTBAM often uses the same "silly" interludes in the songs that Jordan Rudess screws up DT songs with. While the western piano in The Dance of Eternity was fun once, Jordan... rein it in please. The "la, la, la, la, lale, la" part and the country/polka parts of Colors is just... cheese... followed by an extra helping of velveta cookie monster vocals.

So for anyone interested in checking out BTBAM, please download a track or two first because while the bassist is amazing, I'd much rather here him with a band with a decent vocalist/songwriting skills.

In a nutshell, BTBAM is currently just a second rate Thought Industry with a first-rate bassist.

-Just my opinion,
Seth

[jenderfazz]

Originally Posted by Psychbass

In a nutshell, BTBAM is currently just a second rate Thought Industry with a first-rate bassist.

-Just my opinion,
Seth

It's definitely just a conflict of tastes... you don't happen to like screamed vocals. I think that's a separate argument in itself, and to criticize BTBAM's singer about it is to criticize thousands of other bands in the grindcore/metalcore/metal genres that use the same style of vocals. To take it further, you're probably more of a fan of bands like DT than technical death metal bands and such. I completely accept your opinion, but you make it seem as if BTBAM is to blame, that they would be better without the screams and craziness - maybe you just don't like the vocal/band style in general, which is fair enough. But there's whole other genres out there with huge fanbases that respect and enjoy the absurd blastbeats and riffery. Yeah, they can be cheesy though but then lots of bands push those bounds in different ways. I used to appreciate DT's epicness, and I can just about stand BTBAM's power-metal choruses... barely.

But yeah, Dan Briggs is a great bassist, although I wouldn't personally emulate his style or technique. I'm a looser pickstyle player in my hardcore band, compared to Dan's more technical/tight fingerstyle approach.

[Psychbass]

I hear what you're saying, I'm ok with grunted vocals (Arch Enemy, Heavy Opeth, Amon Amarth, Moonspell, Old Sepultura... hell even Dani Filth), but the metalcore screamed vocals just aren't my thing.

I guess it just all depends on your definition of cheese. I think that metalcore is only slightly less cheesy than new country, rap, and hair metal.

But you're right, that if you like metalcore, you're more likely to like BTBAM than not.

It doesn't affect the meandering songs though. :-)

But... they are all excellent players.

-Seth

[bassaficionado6]

I've heard some snipets on iTunes. I think I must get this CD.

[jenderfazz]

Originally Posted by Psychbass

I guess it just all depends on your definition of cheese. I think that metalcore is only slightly less cheesy than new country, rap, and hair metal.

I can definitely agree with that.

To bassaficionado: I think Colors is his best showcase simply because he (and the whole band) covers more ground than on the older albums, which were technical but more straightforward in style. Not to mention his solo in Viridian.

[Audiophage]

Colors has a lot of really sick metal riffs, but it really starts all starts to sound like the same thing over and over again after repeated listenings. I do like a lot of what Dan Briggs is doing on that album, Viridian is uncannily similar to something that I did with my band back in 2006.

[Calvan]

i realize this thread is way too old to bump. but does anyone know what bass he plays? i know it's a spector.... it looks like a legend 5 custom, but i would assume he's playing a higher-end model

[Beware...]

I thought his equipment list used to be up on wikipedia, but when I checked it wasn't there. Although, I'm pretty sure it is just a spector legend-5.

[jarrhead]

Honorable Mention to Arif Mirabdolbaghi.

Sorry for the necro.