Pinback's Bassist?

[Osama_Spears]

My friend recently has sent me some Pinback material,and I find them to be nothing short of amazing. I've seen a video of theirs and their bassist(who also does back-up vocals) is equipped with a lovely Alembic while using a very unique right hand technique.

So anyways,has anyone heard of these guys? Anyone a fan of this bassist? He seems to be into effects and seems to show great musicianship in the band,along with the other members.

[AEllis]

The bassist for pinback is Armistead Burwell Smith IV, or ABSIV for short, or sometimes called Zach. He has an absolutely amazing technique. What often sounds like a bass and one or two guitars, is really all bass. He plays with a technique similar to classical guitar finger style, where he uses his thumb for low stuff and his first two fingers for picking out high notes. He often has a melody/harmony part in the high end and a totally separate counterpoint bass line going at the same time. I tend to think of his playing as using a bass more like a piano. It took me years to realize how much of Pinback's sound was actually all bass.

I saw Pinback live in SF recently and was totally blown away.
He plays a Stanley Clark Alembic (he actually had two with him).

He has been using his very unique style for years, beginning with Three Mile Pilot.

[telekaster]

AEllis - thanks for pointing that out. I've always liked Pinback and wondered how they got their sound. I need to go back now and listen to the bass a little closer. The bassist's technique sounds interesting and it sounds like something I might want to employ some time in the future. Most importantly, I need to go check them out! I do live in SD afterall, where they are from.

[Osama_Spears]

thanks for clearing things up AE. Would you happen to have any websites on them? all I can find is their main website which doesn't have much at all. :/

[zongeek]

Didn't want to start a new thread, so I searched an old one.

I saw them live and also was learned that a lot of what I thought guitar was bass and what I thought was bass was keys. In any event, it was a great show and the bass player played well.

Here's my question, how does he get the sound? Seemed like to me he just rolled off his lows and rolled up his mids and then turned his tweeters way up. Didn't seem like he was using piccolo strings.

Either way, his technique was really cool. I imagine he probably had to practice that a lot.

[Baryonyx]

The song BB Tone is really cool, but I'm not too hot on the rest.