Barenaked Ladies DB bassist

[f'nar f'nar]

Hey guys, have you ever heard of him. I can't remember his name but I like him.

For those who do know him and know his bass lines, would you consider him a good double bassist or just average?

[Marcus Johnson]

Google tells me that his name is apparently Jim Creeggan. He's always sounded good to me. Dunno what's "average", but I like some of the bass work on their stuff.

"Average' is a funny term...Ed Fuqua's recent comments on the state of bassists in NYC come to mind. I'd love to be considered average in that town!

[Bob Gollihur]

Originally Posted by f'nar f'nar

Hey guys, have you ever heard of him. I can't remember his name but I like him.

For those who do know him and know his bass lines, would you consider him a good double bassist or just average?

It's really hard to judge his capabilities from BNL's more or less "pop" sort of material, though I do remember he sat in on a female vocalist's (can't remember her name) CD and threw some nice lines. From what I've read he is a trained player.

[larry]

Listen to some of his stuff with "The Brothers Creeggan". That is a group with Jim and his brother Andy on piano & vocal (formerly a BNL member). Some of it gets a bit too wierd for my taste, but it seems clear to me that Jim is really an excellent player. He bows well, his time is awesome, he is also very inventive. I'm fairly certain he has had legit training from a young age as well (like Bob said). I've had the chance to see him in a small club and watch him play from about 10 feet away. I think he's a really great player.

[SteveC]

I saw him - BNL - live a while back and it was one of the best concerts I've seen. They have a great time, some of the songs are...quarky...but it's a great time. I thought his playing was excellent. He did a great solo - arco and pizz - and his groove was appropriate for their tunes on upright and electric.

[Damon Rondeau]

That's Jim Creegan (one "g".)

Barenaked Ladies were happening in Canada for quite a while before they broke in the States. I remember seeing them back around '91 or so and thinking they were a great band with lots of pop potential based on songwriting and the presence of actual thinking, feeling and competent musicianship.

Creegan's a real bass player fer sure; trained and been at it for a very long time. He and his brother released an album of their own music a few years back that was met with critical confusion. It was pretty outside apparently (I haven't heard anything but a bit of radio play that went along with promo interviews at the time of the album's release.)

[larry]

Originally Posted by Damon Rondeau

That's Jim Creegan (one "g".)

http://www.brotherscreeggan.com/
He spells it with two g's.

The Brothers Creeggan have six albums out, one just recently released.

[Damon Rondeau]

So that's why the Google hits were so sparse! Thx, larry.

[Marcus Johnson]

It's weird, at first I couldn't even find Ggoogggle.

[ee-san]

Saw the band in concert around 1994 or 1995. I usually don't attend pop concerts but it was sort of a "date" so it was difficult to refuse. Everyone in the band was/is a very good musician including the bassist who mostly played a real double bass and sometimes played an electric upright kind of thing on a stand. I thought the bassist performed very well that night but the house sound was terrible for the real DB. I guess people doing rock sound don't confront DB very much. The bassist did one arco solo which sounded very rough and unschooled and not well thought out. Maybe that was intentional, I don't know.

[chrismmc]

...I found an article on Jim in an old Bass Player magizine...Jim is a classically trained player,started playing electric in high school,and studied classical at the University of Toronto for 2 years...I am not a fan of BNL,but he is a great player!

[Rob Hunter]

I'm a huge fan of Jim's. I've been listening to BNL since "Be My Yoko Ono" was a demo tape. I found his playing quite inspiring. Let's face it, how often do you hear arco bass in pop music? Despite all their quirkiness, those guys are all serious musicians....

[lownotes02]

I'll have to ck them out. Ive heard of them, but I always thought their name was a ploy to get people to come out and see them, and once they got signed, the rest is history. When I lived in So Cal, there was a band called "Free Beer" who usually managed to get people to their shows based soley on their name. Obviously, people who showed up to the club felt jilted, but they at least had a "folllowing," short-lived as it was.

[Doug Ring]

He's had to give himself a second 'g' to avoid confusion with Jim Cregan who once played bass with British rock band Family, who had hits like "Burlesque" in the 70's.

I reckon.

Unless it's the same guy.