Interviewing bassist stories

[Arthritic_Tom]

An L.A. story:

In college my punk roommate was named Joe. He now lives in Paris and is helping create some kind of scary Matrix-like Internet-within-the-Intenet. He isn't a punk anymore but still plays music.

joe cady sings and plays guitar real cool at the Galway.MOV - YouTube

He's the one who introduced me to Gentle Giant, so Joe is one of the Immortals in my life.

Joe also introduced me to another bassist who shall remained nameless. He was an experimental artist with an utterly unique approach. One of his bass lines defied all my bass teachers. I used to play it for bassists and tell them I'd give them $1000 if they could duplicate it. Nobody could even get the first note.

I always wanted to interview this bassist, but other projects kept materializing first. One day I was in a CD store on Sunset, and there he was! Right there. What an opportunity. I walked up to him and said, "Excuse me. Aren't you ______ _______?"

He whirled and almost went into a crouch. He's a huge man, and he'd gotten much fatter than when I first learned about him.

"What the f*ck do you want?" he snarled.

"I write for Bass Player magazine, and--"

"So what? F*ck off! Leave me alone! Get the f*ck outta here!"

The weird thing about him is he has this piping voice, like the actor Ed Burns. It doesn't match his massive frame at all. He also stank. His jeans had that brownish tinge you get from not washing them in years, and the long, stringy hair hanging out from under his bandanna was filthy. Even his leather jacket stank. He smelled like a musky animal, like one of those deformed Asian black bears. I imagined him living in a den, surrounded by bones and tufts of fur from his kills.

So, I left him alone. It took me years before I could listen to his music again. He is by no means whatsoever a celebrity. I'm sure he's never been swamped by screaming teenagers or paparazzi. I couldn't imagine why he'd be so hostile.

He eventually got a feature article in Bass Player. I didn't read it. He may actually be the nicest man in the world who was simply having a bad day. But first impressions are hard to erase, aren't they?

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Great contributions from Mike, as well! I remember reading him in those magazines back in the day.

Have you kept in touch with Jim Roberts at all?

I contacted him recently to thank him for the opportunities he gave me and to invite him to watch my farewell-to-the-bass video. We had a nice exchange. He edits and publishes the Cornell Alumni Magazine.

I'm not in touch with anyone from my music-journalist days. The exchanges you read between Scott Thunes and me last night were the first time we've corresponded in years. He's a busy man who has been working very hard, but as you can see we were able to pick up right where we left off.

All the people I contacted to thank for the opportunities they created for me or the excellent interviews they gave me responded, and all were very nice.

One, the bassist Bryan Beller, said, "I'll be your hands for you."

He's another of my Immortals.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Okay, listen up:

You have all have been granted a rare privilege. You must all take this as a stunning complement. It's not that The Great Lord From On High has deigned to reward you or anything like that, but rather because you have all shown yourselves to be serious, thoughtful, and most importantly KIND-HEARTED people, I have been granted permission to post this link.

Here is 12-year-old Hazle Nova, Scott Thunes's daughter, playing one her compositions, "City Love."

Hazle Nova - City Love - YouTube

I'm proud of all of you. Good job.

 

[audreycashin]

Tom, now i'm worried about you....promise you'll get some rest tonight? i reaaaaaally want you to keep entertaining us, but not at your health's expense....BTW, i just want to sit around the campfire forever and listen to your stories....

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Tom, now i'm worried about you....promise you'll get some rest tonight? i reaaaaaally want you to keep entertaining us, but not at your health's expense....BTW, i just want to sit around the campfire forever and listen to your stories....

Thanks very much. I feel great. I can't actually explain how relieved I feel about everything. Several giant boulders have been lifted off my shoulders. Overall my health is quite good, because I can't eat any food that's bad for me! And I've had to start exercising religiously as part of the treatment. I'm an old man with a tight, muscular young body. I keep her in the closet! HAW!

By the way, I certainly don't "own" this thread. If there are any other music journalists reading, please feel free to chip in with your own stories.

I think you should use your real names, though, and not write anything that gets TalkBass in legal hot water.

The more the merrier. This is about interviewing bassists or trying to interview them, so if there are any more funny, horrible, or inspiring experiences you have to share, jump right in.

 

[KPJ]

Please! Any other journalists with stories jump in! By all means don't provide the names of the "guilty" parties but do give your name and who you wrote for. I remember almost all the writers I've read over the years so it would be nice to hear from you all. I was very excited once I realized Arthritic_Tom was Tom Wictor. Post away!

 

[Bassragerstitch]

I just wanna let you know that I've enjoyed reading this thread it frickin great to read all of these interviews I also plan on buying your book cold sweat Keepi t up Tom

 

[pklima]

One funny thing about this thread... you seem to have had the bad luck of running into a lot of large, meaty, scary musicians. I think most are smaller than the average guy, especially in the US.

 

[Gazman]

Thank you Scott for sharing that video, it was wonderful, a delight.

 

[makohund]

Thank you Scott for sharing that video, it was wonderful, a delight.

+1

Very nice voice, too. A remarkable resemblance to my youngest sister got me all thinking about my own little ones and wondering what sort of musical interests they might be pursuing down the road. Being Dad is awesome. Thank you for sharing!

This thread is great, couldn't "put it down", just like a good book. (And I'm surrounded by way more books than the average Joe.) Will definitely have to check out Tom's other writings, as well as chase down recordings of bassists mentioned and check 'em out. Mr Thunes included, of course. Seriously, this may be blasphemy, but I haven't really listened to any Zappa, nor his more recent work. Always meant to remedy that, and it sounds like I'm in for a treat.

 

[dave64o]

Wow, I finally got through the entire thread. This was a fantastic read! Thanks, Tom. And Scott. And Mike.

I'll be tuning in for more as it unfolds.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

One funny thing about this thread... you seem to have had the bad luck of running into a lot of large, meaty, scary musicians. I think most are smaller than the average guy, especially in the US.

I'm six feet tall myself, so some of these people are gigantic.

Personally I think bassists tend to be larger than average, because the instrument is often so heavy. Here's an excerpt from my killed Bass Player article "Why Don't More Women Play the Bass?" I won't identify the player, because she seemed pretty angry at discussing the subject anyway, so maybe she was relieved that the article never appeared.

Of the four bassists I interviewed for that article, only one thought it was a legitimate question. The three others participated in the interview, but seemed upset. This one was particularly impatient with me, sighing a lot and using that sing-song cadence you use with children, as though I were impugning her musical ability simply by asking for her thoughts. Oh, well. I'm really used to being misunderstood now, but back then it kind of hurt my feelings.

Here's the quote:

"The only problem I've had is that bass guitars are very large. I used to play a Fender Mustang, which was the right size for me because I'm small. But it just didn't sound that good. I couldn't find a small-scale bass that sounded as good as the J-bass copy I use now, so I'm looking into having a bass built for me. I'd like to have my arms and legs measured for it, like a bike racer getting a custom bicycle. There's an optimum way a piece of equipment can fit your body, and I haven't experienced it yet. I'd like to feel that I'm not contorting myself to reach certain notes. As more women play bass, my feeling is that instrument manufacturers will start making stock women's models for them. Hopefully, they'll be good instruments, too. I don't like women's sneakers as much as men's, and women's bikes are silly. I hope we don't end up with 'girlie' basses!"

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Quickie:

A bass legend told me with no sense of self-irony or ruefulness or Yup-I'm-an-A-hole-ism that he stopped his practice of inviting bass players in the audience onstage to jam with him after a young kid turned out to be a better player. And this is one of the biggest of the big, I mean, someone whose massive talent is so apparent you'd think he'd never be threatened by anyone.

He showed me how he made the cut-across-the-throat gesture to his roadies and said, "Get him off. Get him off!"

I always wondered if it was like those scenes in movies where the Secret Service suddenly mobs the actor playing the president and whisks him away from the podium in this fast-moving scrum.

Imagine being that kid, playing with your idol at a concert, "I'm on the top of the world, man!" and suddenly all these ogres with flattened noses bum-rush you off stage, down the stairs, and out the back door, where they yank the bass off you, knock you down and kick you a couple times for good measure, and then slam the door, and you're lying there bleeding, going, "What just happened?"

It must be like what I read Tony Curtis supposedly said after William Holden died: "Screw him. One less guy I have to compete with."

 

[throughthefire]

Great thread, Tom.. Makes me want to read all about Flame Throwers, to see if your writing style is the same on that subject!

 

[KPJ]

Here's the quote:

"The only problem I've had is that bass guitars are very large. I used to play a Fender Mustang, which was the right size for me because I'm small. But it just didn't sound that good. I couldn't find a small-scale bass that sounded as good as the J-bass copy I use now, so I'm looking into having a bass built for me. I'd like to have my arms and legs measured for it, like a bike racer getting a custom bicycle. There's an optimum way a piece of equipment can fit your body, and I haven't experienced it yet. I'd like to feel that I'm not contorting myself to reach certain notes. As more women play bass, my feeling is that instrument manufacturers will start making stock women's models for them. Hopefully, they'll be good instruments, too. I don't like women's sneakers as much as men's, and women's bikes are silly. I hope we don't end up with 'girlie' basses!"

That sounds a lot like what Tina Weymouth said in her Bass Player cover story about her basses. That was the same issue as the "Requiem for a Heavyweight" piece, wasn't it?

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

+1
Seriously, this may be blasphemy, but I haven't really listened to any Zappa, nor his more recent work. Always meant to remedy that, and it sounds like I'm in for a treat.

I'm going to say something that will make Scott very angry, but too bad.

All you have to buy is Make a Jazz Noise Here. If you're a bassist, you will hear a voice on the instrument that is found nowhere else in any of Zappa's music. Nowhere.

On that album, the bass is pure emotion. It is soaring, uplifting, sublime perfection. It anchors the ensemble but also leads it into realms of artistry that you will find on no other Zappa records.

Personally, I have no use for jokey songs about Catholic girls, hemorrhoids, painful testicles, spankings, sex toys, etc. The only thing I care about is the music. On Make a Jazz Noise Here Thunes achieves a level of artistry I find nowhere else in Zappa's entire body of work. Yes, the album has its share of ca-ca jokes, because apparently Zappa couldn't live without them. But they're kept to a minimum.

I don't care what Scott says about his contribution; I get to say how I perceive his playing. No other Zappa album moves me. Make a Jazz Noise Here has such moments of beauty that it's hard to believe humans produced it, and the vast, VAST majority of that beauty is coming out of an instrument with four strings.

 

[T Bassman]

And the hits keep coming! Tom, you are just awesome! Thanks to Scott for sharing his daughter's song on Youtube as well. Really great, and inspiring from such a young person!

This thread 'feels' the most like a TRUE community of musicians than I've ever encountered on ANY Music-centric site. I hope other journalists are able to chime in as well with their stories and experiences!

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

That sounds a lot like what Tina Weymouth said in her Bass Player cover story about her basses. That was the same issue as the "Requiem for a Heavyweight" piece, wasn't it?

Yes, but this isn't Tina Weymouth. I'm not being coy. It really isn't.

Here's an excerpt from the same killed female-bassists article by the only bassist who wasn't offended by the question. At the same time, note her reason for not reading Bass Player, so even she had some issues about gender roles. I think in the end, the magazine killed the article because everybody--bassists, advertisers, editor, publisher--were just too uncomfortable with the topic. The Austrian painter Egon Schiele did portraits of the underaged prostitutes of Vienna, and he was reviled for even bringing up the topic.

Here's the quote:

"In terms of physical constraints, my hands are smaller than most men's, so when I play on the low frets I'm frustrated every now and then if I want to reach a tenth or something. Somewhere there might be a part I can't play, sure. I've never tried using smaller basses, though I couldn't say why; I guess I've always just tried to use whatever instrument was in front of me and not think about the limitations. I realize I could play a little more smoothly and I could reach certain intervals more easily if my hands were bigger, but it's never felt like much of a problem.

"Although the 4% female subscribership to Bass Player might be smaller than the actual number of women who read the magazine, I've always felt publications like Bass Player, Guitar Player, or Drummer's World represented a very male culture. The female readership might increase if there were more women featured in the magazine. It's circular: If you feel comfortable in a place, you might be more likely to go there. I've rarely picked up Bass Player because it's not a place where I feel comfortable. It feels very male-oriented to me, though maybe it's changing."

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

And the hits keep coming! Tom, you are just awesome! Thanks to Scott for sharing his daughter's song on Youtube as well. Really great, and inspiring from such a young person!

This thread 'feels' the most like a TRUE community of musicians than I've ever encountered on ANY Music-centric site. I hope other journalists are able to chime in as well with their stories and experiences!

Thanks very much.

And if other music journalists are reading this, you need to know something about me that I just told one of your colleagues: I have no ego. I was born without one.

If you post stories that are funnier, weirder, and more entertaining than mine, I will applaud you. This thread started out as a catharsis for me, but it's morphed into something else entirely.

It now belongs to the bass-playing community, and anybody who has a story should feel free to pitch in.

Heck, if there are pro bassists out there who want to share stories of the worst interviewer you ever encountered, chime in! Let's hear what it's like to be on the other side of the tape recorder when everything goes south!

I double-dog dare ya!

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Great thread, Tom.. Makes me want to read all about Flame Throwers, to see if your writing style is the same on that subject!

Excerpt from my book coming out in May. It's a historical reference, so the style has to be different. All footnotes and some other academic junk have been removed. This is the only time I'll go off topic.

The experience of Kurhessian Pioneer Battalion No. 11 illustrates how early in the war pioneers served as lethal assault troops armed with state-of-the art weaponry. Based in Hannover-Münden, Pioneer Battalion No. 11 was sent to Poland with the XI Army Corps in late 1914. The battalion’s 1st and 2nd Companies used portable flamethrowers extensively during the fighting at Hill 10 in Rawa, a town 76 miles southeast of Warsaw. In operating the weapons both offensively and defensively, the men had a relatively high number of casualties, most likely because they had not received adequate training.

The first recorded use of flamethrowers by Pioneer Battalion No. 11 took place on March 8, 1915. On March 6 the Germans at Rawa observed that the Russians were massing infantry in their trenches, and their artillery fire had intensified. At 3:30 on the morning of March 8, the artillery fire increased to a crescendo. Most of it was concentrated on Hill 10, which at that time was secured by the 8th Company of Infantry Regiment No. 83.

At 4:30 A.M. the Russian infantry attacked in closely packed lines. Part of the assault broke down in front of the German trenches, but at 5:00 A.M. the Russians reached Hill 10 and fell on the 8th Company of Infantry Regiment No. 83. A vicious close combat with sharpened spades and stick grenades raged throughout the trenches. In the midst of the battle, the German infantrymen were rescued by a flamethrower squad from the 2nd Company of Pioneer Battalion No. 11, which entered the trench and sprayed the Russians at pointblank range. Later in the morning the Russians retreated, leaving 400 dead and wounded, while Infantry Regiment No. 83 suffered casualties of 20 dead and 40 wounded.

When the Russian artillery fire increased on the night of March 7-8, the 1st Company of Pioneer Battalion No. 11 was given the alarm and made available to Infantry Regiment No. 82. These pioneers, armed with portable flamethrowers, were put in the reserve position at Indomice, further back from Hill 10. The Russian attack began at 5:30 A.M. and concentrated on Hill 10. It was partially repelled by heavy defensive fire from the German infantry and the bombardment from their light and medium trench mortars.

The Russians who assaulted the first German trench on Hill 10 encountered two defensive flamethrower posts under the command of a non-commissioned officer. He ordered the flamethrowers ignited, causing a German pioneer to lose an eye. Most of the Russians fled from this unknown weapon. The rest were dealt with by the wave of Infantry Regiment No. 82 counterattacking behind the flamethrowers.

After Hill 10 was back in German hands, a second Russian attack barely made it beyond its own trenches. The only Russians who arrived at the German lines were deserters, frantically racing ahead of their artillery barrage. Since there were too few Germans to take charge of these men, they were told to march unaccompanied to Rawa. The Russians obliged, relieved to be out of the fight. One German non-commissioned officer and eight pioneers positioned at the Rawka Bridge had collected approximately 1000 Russians by the morning of March 8.

March 10 dispatches from Petrograd reported that the Germans were using new methods of fighting, “throwing boiling pitch or some other liquid on our infantry.” Russian assaults ceased, and on March 11 the 1st Company of Pioneer Battalion No. 11 was pulled out of Rawa. Only one small command stayed to operate the trench mortars and flamethrowers.