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Interviewing bassist stories
- Thread starter Arthritic_Tom
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Well, there's another artwork to track down. I've read Crane's fiction, but not his poetry.
War is Kind and Other Lines...Was that the inspiration for John Taylor's album title? If so, did you two ever talk about him?
I didn't know about Crane until after my career in music journalism crashed and burned. The title of Taylor's CD is actually very similar to the titles of Crane's collected poetry. The CD has a single titled "Feelings 'r Good," so the title Feelings are Good and Other Lies is a description of the contents of the CD.
I wouldn't be surprised if John had read Crane. He's a very intelligent, literate man. Here are excerpts of what he said about the album, which included Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols playing guitar:
"The songs aren't accumulated over any period of time. There was a lot of personal sh*t going on in my life. I was separated from my wife and I was dealing with a lot of bollocks in that respect.
"The album is quite primal compared to Duran. I think in order for it to work it has to be put over with the kind of absolute sense of one-ness. In other words, sometimes bands pull in different directions, and that's okay. These songs have all got very simple messages. I just don't think they're sophisticated enough for Duran. But it's where I was coming from. I really needed to go back a bit, actually. I needed to get a bit more primal. When you and I spoke before, I remember speaking about sequencers and overproduction. I was a bit disillusioned. I really wanted to get away from that. This seemed to be a way I could go back to what was truly me. It's quite punky, really. There're a couple of ballads, but they're quite primal. I just had to go back somewhere that felt comfortable to me.
"There's a song called 'Trust the Process,' which is about believing that you're going to make it through the day. It's about just enjoying the process of living, not being obsessed with having to be somewhere. It's about being in the moment and not always projecting forward. There are songs about dysfunctional relationships. There's quite an arc to the mood of the album. I'm toying with the idea of actually putting the songs in that order.
"I actually did go through a tunnel of sh*t as I was doing it. My marriage was in a terrible state. We spontaneously combusted and split while I was recording these songs. Then the sun came out and I thought, 'Hey, it's not as bad as I thought.' I'm still alive. I'm so codependent, I thought, 'God, if this woman leaves me I'm not going to live anymore.' And of course it's not true. And actually it's a lot better. I'm actually more optimistic then I was when I started the album. The album sort of starts out very dark and ends up very la la-la laaaa!
"The album wasn't really something I knew I was going to do. When you get in a band like Duran and you're off, it's such a whirlwind. When you're either incredibly successful or suddenly incredibly unsuccessful, you've really got your work cut out for you. You really have to dig the trenches. I don't know if it was just Duran, but everybody just got really set. Everyone's gig got really set. I don't know why that is. I've been playing in a band as a team player for fifteen years. After awhile, I just wanted to be more self-expressive. I want to sing, basically. I want to tell my own stories."
John Taylor "Feelings 'r Good" - YouTube
An L.A. Story:
A bassist I'd interviewed was so happy with the article that he invited me to his band's show. I was conflicted, because I was interested only in his solo material. Also, this was the bassist whose photo shoot had lasted only ten minutes because my passive-aggressive photographer had tinkered on his mountain bike right up until the moment we were supposed to be at the manager's office for the appointment. I asked the bassist if it was a good idea to invite me, and he assured me that all was forgiven. They'd even loved the photo that appeared in Bass Player. We'd all laugh about it.
With no way to gracefully decline, I accepted. He sent me two all-access passes the next day. FedExed them, in fact. These were real all-access passes, laminated in plastic with a photo of the band leader, his name, the date of the show, and the words "ALL ACCESS" stamped in red across them. Each pass had a hole with a little metal grommet at the top, with a woven green cotton cord laced through it so you could hang the pass around your neck. It was the real thing, a totally professional job.
Since I didn't know anybody who liked the band, I asked the same photographer who had almost torpedoed the shoot. He agreed, claiming to be anxious to get back in the good graces of the management. L.A. is a very small town in some ways. Every torpedo you fire at an artist or publicity firm or manager has a way of circling back and hitting you.
We arrived at the show and breezed past layer after layer of security. Those passes really worked! We had decent seats and watched a bit of the show, and then the photographer said he wanted to go backstage to find the manager and apologize. So we went down to the stage and were let in through a gate by a security guard. The first person we saw was the band manger. His eyes almost popped out of his head, and his face went purple.
"YOU!" he shouted. He turned to a guy with a walkie talkie and said, "Get these a**holes outta here! Now!" A phalanx of very large men began trundling grimly toward us, but we stayed a few steps ahead of them and went back out the gate under our own steam. Since there was no point in staying to listen to music we didnt like, we left.
"Guys got a long memory," was the the photographer's only comment in the car on the way back to his house.
A bassist I'd interviewed was so happy with the article that he invited me to his band's show. I was conflicted, because I was interested only in his solo material. Also, this was the bassist whose photo shoot had lasted only ten minutes because my passive-aggressive photographer had tinkered on his mountain bike right up until the moment we were supposed to be at the manager's office for the appointment. I asked the bassist if it was a good idea to invite me, and he assured me that all was forgiven. They'd even loved the photo that appeared in Bass Player. We'd all laugh about it.
With no way to gracefully decline, I accepted. He sent me two all-access passes the next day. FedExed them, in fact. These were real all-access passes, laminated in plastic with a photo of the band leader, his name, the date of the show, and the words "ALL ACCESS" stamped in red across them. Each pass had a hole with a little metal grommet at the top, with a woven green cotton cord laced through it so you could hang the pass around your neck. It was the real thing, a totally professional job.
Since I didn't know anybody who liked the band, I asked the same photographer who had almost torpedoed the shoot. He agreed, claiming to be anxious to get back in the good graces of the management. L.A. is a very small town in some ways. Every torpedo you fire at an artist or publicity firm or manager has a way of circling back and hitting you.
We arrived at the show and breezed past layer after layer of security. Those passes really worked! We had decent seats and watched a bit of the show, and then the photographer said he wanted to go backstage to find the manager and apologize. So we went down to the stage and were let in through a gate by a security guard. The first person we saw was the band manger. His eyes almost popped out of his head, and his face went purple.
"YOU!" he shouted. He turned to a guy with a walkie talkie and said, "Get these a**holes outta here! Now!" A phalanx of very large men began trundling grimly toward us, but we stayed a few steps ahead of them and went back out the gate under our own steam. Since there was no point in staying to listen to music we didnt like, we left.
"Guys got a long memory," was the the photographer's only comment in the car on the way back to his house.
Hi Tom!
I have been following this thread since the beginning, and I just wanted to say thank you for sharing.
Tommy
I have been following this thread since the beginning, and I just wanted to say thank you for sharing.
Tommy
Thank you, Tommy. I used to live in Stavanger!
When I graduated from high school in 1980, I worked on a shore-support base for supply ships that carried food and equipment to the oil-drilling platforms in the North Sea. Norway had the best food I've ever eaten.
Here's a secret: The worst smell in the world comes from rotten potatoes and dirty clothes from oil workers which have been allowed to sit together in a sealed shipping container for weeks. We unloaded the container from one of the ships, and when we opened it, everybody instantly threw up. I can't describe the smell. Here's a close approximation: Imagine climbing into the intestines of a dead whale with a bouquet of roses, a jar of Coleman's mustard, and a pair of sweaty gym shorts held under your nose.
Our boss didn't believe us, so we opened the door for him and he instantly vomited, too.
Good times!
Arthritic_Tom said:
I'm leaving for Stavanger this Friday. It's a great city. If those streets could talk...
I loved it. I saw Nils-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen at the Red Sea House there. I was sitting no more than five feet away from him, and it was the only time I ever saw him use an electric bass.
It was a Sting Ray, and he slapped the crud out of it!
Have a good trip.
By the way, you've all convinced me.
I've begun the process of pitching my memoirs to agents and/or publishers. There was once a book titled Advice from a Failure, so the title will be something to do with failure, being haunted, and overcoming it.
I have a zillion more stories about the entertainment business in L.A. that I haven't posted here because they're not bass related, so that will make it more juicy.
It may not happen, because it's harder than hell to get published these days. Don't get your hopes up.
But you've convinced me to try, and it'll be under my real name.
I've begun the process of pitching my memoirs to agents and/or publishers. There was once a book titled Advice from a Failure, so the title will be something to do with failure, being haunted, and overcoming it.
I have a zillion more stories about the entertainment business in L.A. that I haven't posted here because they're not bass related, so that will make it more juicy.
It may not happen, because it's harder than hell to get published these days. Don't get your hopes up.
But you've convinced me to try, and it'll be under my real name.
Excellent! I think it can be said that you have a throng of buyers here.
And if you get any of those snooty 'readers' at any of your signings, well, I think we can get a 'security detail' set up here...
You can always show this thread when pitching the idea. Obviously people are interested. Lol'd at the 'guys got a long memory' story.
Thanks so much, but I can take care of myself now. I can demonstrate to them up close and personal the more unsavory symptoms of Meniere's disease.
The book will include all the of the stories I didn't post here because they're not specifically related to the bass, so hopefully it'll attract a wide audience. It'll also be a sort of object lesson in how not to handle failure and how to overcome it when it inevitably happens.
It'll be about how to un-haunt yourself.
Tom,
You memoirs would be a great HBO or Showtime series a la Entourage or Californication.
If I ever win the lottery, I will finance you 100%!
You memoirs would be a great HBO or Showtime series a la Entourage or Californication.
If I ever win the lottery, I will finance you 100%!
Thanks very much. I made up my mind and sent a query to an editor a few minutes ago. What he says will determine the next step, because he knows the publishing industry inside and out and can tell me if it's viable or not.
If he advises me not to attempt to approach any brick-and-mortar publishers, I'll try and market it as an e-book, which I could then sell for mega-cheap, likely earning more from volume sales rather than the traditional advance and royalties.
That might be a more viable alternative anyway, since the Meniere's will prevent me from going on a book tour. Which his fine. I played in a band for three years and never got over my stage fright.
Stavanger is a cool place. Can't recall the name of it, but there's a pub with a selection of hundreds of beers from all over the world.
This has been a fascinating - and educational - read. I'm sure I'm not alone in that, despite having read many magazine issues (Bass Player and others), I was never privy to much insight regarding what happens behind the scenes. Thank you Tom, your posts have added an entirely new, not to mention valuable, dimension to the Talkbass forum.
That's the Cardinal!!! I walk in and stumble out every time...
Tom, I'll have a beer in your honor and several shots of Akvavit!!!
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