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Best Punk Bassist?

#102
Klaus Fluoride was a huge influence on me as a player and a songwriter. Gotta also give it up for Paul Simonon and Matt Freeman, though - I really don't dig Rancid's music at all, haven't since I was a kid, but "Maxwell Murder" was the first bass solo that made me go "whoa, holy s***."
 
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#108
i hate username said:
Brian J. Robinson from a Wilhlem Scream is probably my pick for current bassists, if anyone hasnt heard them see below
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He gets my vote as well, plus he does a ton of singing and is an absolute blast to watch play live. He looks like he's enjoying the best day of his life 100% of the time while on stage and I love his technical lines and the way he executes.. I can't get enough of AWS.
 
#109
Lord Chopper said:
Obese Chess has to be one of the most unusual name I've seen in a while. Do you play chess? I do on GameKnot.
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Nah, it's a riff on Fats Domino and Chubby Checker that I came up with in high school, and by the time I got sick of it I'd already released a lot of music under the name so it stuck.

I'm not a bad chess player, though.
 
#112
NoiseNinja said:
Mike Watt, hands down.

I can't say I listened a lot to his stuff, but I saw him live with J. Mascis + The Fog once and he absolutely killed on bass, also heard a bit of some project he had going on with some woman I believe with them both on bass.
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The two-piece band was Dos, with Mike's then-wife Kira Roessler (ex Black Flag).

I still don't know what to make of Mike Watt, but I find his stuff almost uniquely compelling. I really don't think I'm qualified to make any sort of value judgement on pretty much anything he does, even after trawling through the Minute Men catalogue and some of the Firehose stuff. He is clearly something of a cultural gem, having never adopted any pretensions of grandeur after his first half-billion gigs in his various bands and projects. I've seen lots of live clips of his various post-Minutemen bands, and on one level I'm totally put off. The weird Beat Poetry lyrics delivered over this weird jerking Trout Mask Replica soundscape of shrill guitars and frenetic drumming. Watt pounding his bass in a totally undisciplined and sloppy manner, exhibiting a whole encyclopaedia of bad left and right-hand technique. In interviews he seems equally baffling; an unkempt man perpetually in flannel shirts and clearly high, riffing away tangentially on the subject of all thing 'Econo'; a utilitarian philosophy at times rich in nautical imagery, seemingly inspired by Ford Econoline vans (Watt's "boats") and that applies as much to music as any other aspect of Watt's life.

Yet there is something compelling about his oddly whimsical, childlike bass lines and melodies. Sort of like the toughest guy at school timidly showing you the slightly clumsy sculptures he made in art class that he's secretly very proud of. I keep coming back to Watt's music, perhaps for this reason. There is a fairly clearly defined universe of 'Watt' that keeps drawing me in.
 
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#117
i hate username said:
Brian J. Robinson from a Wilhlem Scream is probably my pick for current bassists, if anyone hasnt heard them see below

Out of OP's list Paul Simonon

*EDIT Klaus Flouride all day every day. This thread has actually remonded me how much i love DK, now i know what im going to listening to on my way home from work :)
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Reminiscent of James Johnston and early Biffy Clyro. I kinda like it.
 
#118
Not sure if he's been mentioned but Karl Alvarez from The Descendants/All is seriously underrated. Not just one of the best punk bassists, one of the best bassists period IMO. Gotta love a punk bassist who plays with his fingers! Ive pulled my hair out trying to learn just ONE of his songs on YouTube :roflmao: Especially the run from 1:05-1:20, yea, not happening for me haha. This guy nailed it though. Oh and the insane thing is they speed this song up live (see below 10:40 mark) so he's playing it even faster then this which blows my mind every time I see them.



 
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#119
mbell75 said:
Not sure if he's been mentioned but Karl Alvarez from The Descendants/All is seriously underrated. Not just one of the best punk bassists, one of the best bassists period IMO. Gotta love a punk bassist who plays with his fingers! Ive pulled my hair out trying to learn just ONE of his songs on YouTube :roflmao: Especially the run from 1:05-1:20, yea, not happening for me haha. This guy nailed it though. Oh and the insane thing is they speed this song up live (see below 10:40 mark) so he's playing it even faster then this which blows my mind every time I see them.



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Your cover is amazing!!
 

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