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Interviewing bassist stories

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#321
From the article Bass Player killed about the bassist who also managed a recording studio used by huge artists. The reason given for killing the article was that the bassist hadn't signed with a major record label, so the readers wouldn't give a hoot about what she had to say:

Q: Isn't it frustrating working at ____________, after all the time you've lived in Los Angeles? Isn't there envy or other negative feelings involved in working so close to the mega-successful?

A: Well, there could be, I guess. But for me, what balances out the frustration is the fact that I'm learning. What balances out the envy is I see the reality of what people go through. Everything has a balance, and you just have to find it. Everyone in this town is like, "I just want a record deal," but they don't know that a record deal doesn't do anything. If they're really conscientious about their art, they'd say, "I'd love for a million people to hear my album." That's way harder to achieve. Anybody can get a record deal. But after you're signed, the album may never be made. Or you may start making the record but never finish it. Or the band might break up before the record is made. Or the label decides they're not going to release a single. Or the label decides to drop you before the record even comes out. Or the record is released, and then the label does absolutely nothing to promote it.

I have a friend in a band whose first record went platinum, and they put a single from the second record out, and when after thirty days it hadn't reached number one or been picked up by any of the majors, the record company just let that record fall. This was after they were a platinum-selling artist on their first record, and it broke my heart to see them treated so shabbily after they had done so much for the label. They're just sort of scrabbling now.
 
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#322
Arthritic_Tom said:
Another L.A. story:

The bassist told me that his band hated opening for No Doubt because Gwen Stefani was too flat chested.

"She had no t*ts at all. None! How could she even appear in public looking that way? No-t*t b*tch. Disgusting."

He also told me he hates watching women eat.

"How can you eat with a woman? You’re sitting there watching as she’s going 'Mlymm, mlymm, mlymm,' chewing like a cow. How are you supposed to get it on with her later?"

I wanted to ask him how he ingested his own food. Did he insert it directly into his stomach, like James Woods did with his gun in Videodrome? Did he liquefy it and suck it up like a housefly? Or did he just stuff it up his butt?

Maybe he had a toothed anus, like something out of The Naked Lunch.
Click to expand...

Huh. Gwen in the No Doubt years sure worked on me...
 
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#323
Oh, and Tom - re "killed this thread"...
<vincent price voice> It's ...aLIIIIVE..."</voice>

Really. Freakin' abso-bosco-lutely.
Threads on TB don't get legs like this much, and when they do, the daily posts go up and down - that's Teh Interwebz, such as it is.

But trust this - there are still a ton of us reading, enjoying, and occasionally posting.
There are only so many times a person can say "effin' brilliant" without feeling like a syncophant.

And Scott - thank you for the music you have made, and continue to make. You've been a bass inspiration of mine for decades. And been one of the people who alternately makes me think "why do I even bother? I can't do THAT..." and "I know why I bother - because THAT is possible, and even if I can't do THAT technically, music can move people like that".

Thank you.
 
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#325
Arthritic_Tom said:
More Mother Hips:

The Mother Hips, Showbox Seattle 2-4-12 - YouTube

Somebody needs to be more on the ball and post more links to his band's videos...
Click to expand...

:mad::mad::mad:

This is sooo typical for me. I find out about some really great musical performance in my area after the fact.

Grrrrr!!! Several years ago, I missed seeing Jack Bruce in the small town next to mine. As usual, I found out after the fact.:mad:
 
#326
aight, i've been lurking in this thing since it began... holy crap. i don't think i've seen more entertaining things in my entire forum history. Tom, thanks. and i found a new musical interest thanks to people posting Mother Hips vids... geeze.

*edit* i will also be picking up the albums and other things mentioned here. good Lord is this some good stuff.
 
#328
Hey Tom, I’ve got one for you:

For a bit of time I worked for a fairly well known producer who got his start thanks to the meteoric rise of a certain slacker. I worked with him at his boutique record label and was invited up to his Northern California home where he had an annual gathering. It was a great time and he really was a decent guy. My wife (girlfriend at the time) got to make camp in his studio control room while we stayed there. A cozy little arrangement on an air mattress amidst the knobs and sliders out in the woods. When the producer came in in the morning he got to talking about the board (apparently used on some Lennon recordings) and about some of the people he had recorded up there. There was one immensely famous hair band that he worked with on one of their later releases and we of course got onto the topic of the bass player. He spoke of how the bass player could barely play at all and of some of the recording goings on. It was always something I sort of expected, but it’s still difficult to fathom such a successful “rock star” not being able to handle his or her instrument.

Years later I would have this notion reaffirmed by a friend that toured with the group. He mentioned how the guy could have given a lick about being able to play and was just concerned with making money. He apparently was the real driving business force behind the band and was responsible for guiding much of their success. You wouldn’t know it if you looked at him from a far, he hid his business acumen well, his playing though, not so much.
 
#330
Everybody has been very kind and supportive here. You've enjoyed my stories and have expressed gratitude for me offering this glimpse into the music world. Now, I'm going to ask all of you to do something for me in return. I need your help.

As always, Scott Thunes is being obstinate and perverse. I asked him to watch my farewell-to-the-bass video, and he won't! He gave me more of his patented incomprehensible twaddle, something about having to force me to the breaking point first, and I'm just not going to have it.

He's been complaining about my praise of his playing for 15 solid years, and now that I've given him the chance to critique me back, he refuses! Well, too bad. For once in our relationship, I want what I want. I want him to spend four minutes watching me performing at my peak as a bassist, and I want him to post his reaction--good, bad, or indifferent--here, on this thread. I don't want a private message or private e-mail. I wrote about him publicly, and he damn well is going to write about me publicly, too.

What I want is feedback on my bass playing from the person who may know best in the world what bass playing means. This video is very important to me, and Scott Thunes is going to tell me what he thinks about it! Most of all, I want to know how it makes him feel. I want to know if my performance--NOT MY FAREWELL--moved him in the slightest.

The way you can help me is that all of you--posters and lurkers alike--can inundate his message box with the question, "Will you watch Tom's farewell-to-the-bass video?"

Guilt trip him! Ask him how he can be so callous to me, a pitiful remnant of what I once was? How can he do this to an arthritic, dizzy, housebound projectile vomiter who can't even play his beloved bass anymore? Scott has been known to feel regret about his actions on occasion, so maybe, just maybe--PROBABLY NOT--but maybe we can force him to bend to our will just this once.

Think of it as a fun experiment. It's science! He's at work now, so by the time he gets home, his mail box will be overflowing!

One thing: You've seen the video of his daughter Hazle Nova playing her song. Ask yourselves this: Could the father of such a child possibly, under any circumstances, ever be someone to fear? Of course not! He's not going to hurt you. So let him have it!

For your reference, here's my video. Tell him he MUST watch it, and he MUST post his comments about it here on this thread!

Gentle Giant "Mobile" bass cover - YouTube

I'm working on a couple of longer additions to this thread that you will all love. So, let's see if we can make Mr. Thunes for once in his life toss his habitual schlebertyflabble out the window and just cooperate, without all the drama. Just once.

P.S. Oh, I forgot! Meniere's causes hearing loss. I'm going to be deaf, as well as vomiting. So how can Scott Thunes turn down the simple request of a puking deaf man who won't even be able to hear Thunes play anymore? He can't toss one little crumb to this shambles, this shell, this mendicant, this supplicant? Really?

Time's running out, Scott. What? What did you say? See, I can't even hear you anymore! Are you going to wait until I have to learn to read lips? How the effity-eff can I lip read your bass playing?
 
#331
CGramazio said:
Hey Tom, I’ve got one for you:

For a bit of time I worked for a fairly well known producer who got his start thanks to the meteoric rise of a certain slacker. I worked with him at his boutique record label and was invited up to his Northern California home where he had an annual gathering. It was a great time and he really was a decent guy. My wife (girlfriend at the time) got to make camp in his studio control room while we stayed there. A cozy little arrangement on an air mattress amidst the knobs and sliders out in the woods. When the producer came in in the morning he got to talking about the board (apparently used on some Lennon recordings) and about some of the people he had recorded up there. There was one immensely famous hair band that he worked with on one of their later releases and we of course got onto the topic of the bass player. He spoke of how the bass player could barely play at all and of some of the recording goings on. It was always something I sort of expected, but it’s still difficult to fathom such a successful “rock star” not being able to handle his or her instrument.

Years later I would have this notion reaffirmed by a friend that toured with the group. He mentioned how the guy could have given a lick about being able to play and was just concerned with making money. He apparently was the real driving business force behind the band and was responsible for guiding much of their success. You wouldn’t know it if you looked at him from a far, he hid his business acumen well, his playing though, not so much.
Click to expand...
There are some very big names in the biz who have done exactly the same thing. I've even heard rumors of taped shows or live musicians offstage, playing while the joker in question mimes. I don't know how you could keep it a secret, but maybe if you pay people enough...

Almost everyone has a price. SCOTT THUNES USED TO NOT HAVE ONE, but since he's not playing nice with me again, I wonder if someone from Bass Player or even the whole music industry has slipped him a little somethin-somthin' to try and sink the S. S. Arthritic Tom before it does more damage?

Could that be it, Scott?
 
#333
Excellent Mother Hips, with excellent Thunes:

The Mother Hips - YouTube

See how generous I am? I could serve as an example for some people whose names I won't mention.

Edit: Holy crap. I lied. Not excellent Thunes. EXCEPTIONAL THUNES! This is the best work he's done in years. Stop filling his mailbox for 15 minutes and watch this all the way through. It's truly out of this world. He uses a pick here; I knew him mostly as a pick player and was surprised to see him using his fingers with Mother Hips in other clips, but in this one you see his absolute mastery of the pick. This is genuinely a Thunesian showcase, for all of you who haven't seen him really let loose. This should convince you of what I've been saying. The astonishing thing to me is that he lost none of his skills during his long hiatus. Incredible.

And for all the bass players who refused to listen to him after I first wrote about him, screw you. Idiots.
 
#335
Arthritic_Tom said:
What I want is feedback on my bass playing from the person who may know best in the world what bass playing means. This video is very important to me, and Scott Thunes is going to tell me what he thinks about it! Most of all, I want to know how it makes him feel. I want to know if my performance--NOT MY FAREWELL--moved him in the slightest.
Click to expand...

It's like a bass version of Field of Dreams. All Scott has to say is, "Hey rookie, you were good."

Well you built it Tom, and they're coming . . .
 
#336
roadkill2309 said:
Generally, the audience at my band's pub shows feature heavy frat boy representation. No one in the band would have gone near that kind of crap when we were in school, and we would take great exception to being labelled as a frat boy band.

I think I'm speaking sense when I say that the audience is possibly the *least* important factor, here...
Click to expand...

I'm just being goofy about the 'hippie band' quote. I should learn to use smilies or lolz or whatever the kids are using these days.

I just re-read the 'Requiem' interview again and here's an example of how Tom's original interview with Scott has been integrated into my life:
At one point in the interview Scott breaks down some bass theory in a couple of basic sentences that make so much sense in such a simple way, then says something along the lines of "I just gave away $2000 worth of bass lessons."
I've been using that line with my bass students and bass players in my bands for the past 10+ years and I'd totally forgotten who I'd stolen it from in the first place. Makes sense now.
 
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#337
Tom, please bear with me here. I mean no harm.

Why is it that Mr. Thunes opinion on your video is so important to you? What do you expect him to write? I'd like for you to think about that.

Mr. Thunes has freewill and may choose to do or not do whatever he wishes regardless of expectations placed on him.

On another tangent, you are a gifted writer and you can look back proudly on your body of work with Bass Player. Remember that success oftentimes doesn't end well. But it was still success and nothing will ever change that fact.

Moreover, the thread that you started here has brought joy to a good many readers and you can take heart that your words still reverberate with power.
 
#338
CGramazio said:
It's like a bass version of Field of Dreams. All Scott has to say is, "Hey rookie, you were good."
Click to expand...
See? See? How effing hard its that for him to get? You've hit the nail EXACTLY on the head. Perfect.

Can't I get a little validation before I vomit myself into a soundless void? My mother always said, "I'm proud of you." But Mom doesn't play the bass.

What I want to know is, Do I merit praise from a guy who has mastered the instrument like nobody else I know?

This is the chance of a lifetime, and the SOB better not cheat me out of it, or Meniere's or no Meniere's, I'm going to drive up there BECAUSE I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, SCOTT, and I'm going to stop taking my Valium and diuretics, and I'm going to load up on salt and MSG and Aspartame and cysteine and everything else that causes the rotational vertigo attacks, and then I'm going to Jack in the Box and eat FOUR ULTIMATE CHEESEBURGERS with extra mayonnaise and bacon, and I'm going to show up at your home, Scott, and...

It's not going to be pretty.

Mr. Creosote Blows Up - YouTube
 
#339
NWB said:
Tom, please bear with me here. I mean no harm.

Why is it that Mr. Thunes opinion on your video is so important to you? What do you expect him to write? I'd like for you to think about that.

Mr. Thunes has freewill and may choose to do or not do whatever he wishes regardless of expectations placed on him.
Click to expand...
You're talking to someone who knows that better than any person on the face of the earth, with the exception of his family. I know he has free will.

I don't care.

He's going to comment on my video publicly, because I demand it from him. I have to know what he thinks about it.

I don't expect him to write a thing. I want him to write something about it here, and I want it soon. I'm tired of waiting for him to figure out the most esoteric, pretzel-logicky, abstruse rationalization for why he doesn't do things.

"Oh, I can't, because it won't be meeeeeeeeeeeee! It won't be puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure! It won't be a gem of creativity expelled from my own hairless dome, so I can't dooooooooooo it!"

All of that was fine and dandy 15 years ago, but the roles are reversed now. I knew he was happy on a personal level 15 years ago. I met his wife, Georgia. Like Scott, you'll never, ever meet anyone quite like her. If you were in a car accident and they had to amputate your entire body, leaving you only with your head, Georgia could still make you happy. I get that.

But no matter what he said to me, I KNEW he couldn't possibly be artistically happy unless he was playing. I'll post this again. Watch it and marvel:

The Mother Hips - YouTube

I'm now having to rethink my view that Make a Jazz Noise Here is his best work. The second half of this video is unlike anything I've seen. And you can only make that kind of music when it's FULFILLING. So, he's now achieved actual, heaven-on-earth happiness, because he's fulfilled on all levels.

Don't get me wrong; I believe him when he says if he'd never played again, he still would've been happy. As I said, I've met the reason for his happiness. He would've been happy on a personal level, and it would have been fine.

But how the hell can someone have a total hiatus from his instrument and then come back without having lost even an iota of his talent? The only answer is that it was there inside him the whole time, waiting to come out again.

So, he's gotten there, finally, the way I always hoped he would. He's going to be okay now, and I can stop worrying about him.

Now, he has to tell me what he thinks about my video. I've had to give up the bass, and I've given up writing about music, and I've already lost some of my hearing and may end up losing a lot more of it.

So I want him to tell me, like CGramazio said, was I good? He can even tell me I was bad! It doesn't matter. The circle must be closed, and then I can finally let it all go.

I want the opportunity, for once in my life, to be told by a master of ANYTHING, what he thinks. In fact, I demand that opportunity. This is the equivalent of having the chance for Christopher Hitchens tell me what he thinks about my writing.

But he doesn't have to do it. I have no control over him, and I won't think any less of him if he declines. He likely will decline, because I'm putting a lot of pressure on him. He doesn't like to be pressured.

But I don't care. This is a the chance of a lifetime, and I want it. And he understands perfectly what I'm demanding and why I'm demanding it, and he won't think any less of me for doing so. If he declines, he declines.

My only request is that his refusal be written in plain English, so I don't have to spend half an hour trying to figure out what the hell he's saying!
 
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