Scott Thunes

[TheThumb]

Anyone heard this guy play?
He was in Frank Zappa's band throughout most of the 80's and was totally nuts, especially on live stuff. Played his *** off, but hated his 'voice' in the band (wished he played a more 'expressive' instrument). The rest of the band thought he was a real *******. But **** was he good

[James Hart]

Welcome to TalkBass... Yeah, Scott is/was a monster bassist... I'd love to hear more from him.

Scott Thunes Interivew I don't get it?

Who's Your Favorite Zappa Bassist?

Zappas Bass players

[chrismmc]

Yes,Scott's great!He has also played in Dweezil Zappa's band Z,as well as with the punk band Fear,among others.

[Mojo-Man]

Scott Thunes is killer.
And one crazy, dude.

[cowsgomoo]

he's my favorite bass player

I never heard the quote about him wishing he 'played a more expressive instrument', but he's gone on record as saying this about his tone and playing on the 1988 tour-recorded albums ('Make A Jazz Noise Here', 'The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life' and 'Broadway The Hard Way'):

"In '88, when he [Zappa] gave me complete and utter carte blanche, I shone in the ultimate ways a bass player can shine. I had the tone I wanted, I had the amplification I wanted, and I had the performer's arena. "

(full interview here: http://www.cidanka.nl/keneally/stbp0397.htm )

his most contentious quote was probably "If you're a bass player in a rock band, you are by definition a moron" - which got him into loads of trouble... his position was that the role of 'bass player' was something he felt restricted by and a function he wasn't prepared to perform 'without irony' - his playing perfectly mirrored Zappa's smart-ass way of speaking as if everything he said was in quotation marks... it's almost as if the bass playing is a smart-ass parody of bass playing

just go listen to him.. it'll give you the idea a lot easier than reading my ramblings!

[michele]

He's a GREAT musician. I mean Scott has great tone, great timing but FIRST OF ALL he has GREAT MUSICAL IDEAS!
One thing can explain Scott's musical talent: on the '88 Tour when Zappa was unable to attend the rehearsal 'cause of his illness he wanted Scott to direct the band. Unfortunatly this caused a lot of problems 'cause Scott is a direct person who , unlike other members of that band, take music seriously: Frank was this kind of person too and I have the highest grade of respect for people able to feel music in this way.

[brianrost]

It's interesting that he quit playing music altogether becasue he felt that there weren't any gigs available to him that were worth taking!!

Has he started playing again since that infamous BP mag interview?

[TheThumb]

Hey, thanks for the links, didn't realise this has been discussed before. His attitude to music has been well and truely analysed, I just like to focus on his playing skills: his '88 stuff is amazing, Best Band You Never Heard and Jazz Noise demonstrate this; he has a really harsh aggressive tone and flies all over the place (...with a PICK!! Darn him, makes it look so easy!)
I have Broadway the Hard Way on order from amazon now, so I'll be looking forward to hearing that.
Plus, his bassline on Valley Girl (from Drowning Witch) is ridiculously fun to play.


...lol i have his email address... Don't worry, I' not a homosexual groupie.

"You could get better results with ANUSOL!!!" heh heh, classic.

[michele]

Thumb, try to get the DVD "Does Humor Belong In Music?" ... You'll see almost an entire concert from the '84 band with Scott in action: it's a joy for the eyes as well as for the ears!

[TheThumb]

Thumb, try to get the DVD "Does Humor Belong In Music?" ... You'll see almost an entire concert from the '84 band with Scott in action: it's a joy for the eyes as well as for the ears!

Had it for some time - Scott, Ike, Bobby Martin and FZ crack me up (especially when Thunes completely spazzes out and sticks his bass between his legs!)

Amazing musicianship all round.