Interviewing bassist stories

[Arthritic_Tom]

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.

You're welcome. It's been my pleasure.

For you, a quick revelation:

One of the highest-profile female bassists in the world refused my interview request, because she'd had "bad experiences with male interviewers."

Her people wouldn't tell me what she meant. Did they demean her? Did they grope her? Did they tell her to make them a sammich?

It was always a mystery. I couldn't help thinking it was a little histrionic, too. One thing that always drove me crazy about certain women was the swinging back and forth between "I am woman! Hear me roar!" and "Stop being mean to me! I'm just a girl!"

Nothing bores me more than the battle of the sexes and gender identity. All my girlfriends were what other people would call "butch." I don't mean they had crew cuts and smoked cigars, but they preferred jeans, boots, leather jackets, and didn't wear makeup. They had an aggressive walk. I loved them because they were pals as well as "significant others" (puke).

I never thought of them as girls, women, females, etc. They were my other half, and I liked the ones I could wrestle with. They all would've laughed in this bassist's face, especially since she was so rich and successful.

 

[Lady Kayri]

Tom, don't wait to get a publisher for your memoires. Lots of authors - even established ones... Write their stuff, pay to have their work copy edited and formatted, and then sell it themselves thru amazon.com, iBooks, etc. 'independent publishing' or 'self publishing' is a heck of a lot different than when it was all dead tree 'vanity press' stuff, and lots of folks make decent money at it. Better yet, your cut of the profits ranges from 25% to 75% compared to less than 5% from main stream publishers. You have to do your own promotion, get cover art done, etc. but you've already encountered not having main stream publishers not pubizise your books, so nothing new there. In fact, with the interwebs you can certainly push your book pretty effectively. I know I'm considering doing that with the fantasy novel I've been working on... Yep, it would be available only as an eBook, but that segment of publishing is growing by leaps and bounds. And there have been a number of books that have sold so well that way that mainstream publishers had bidding wars to buy rights to publish dead tree copies of them...

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Tom, don't wait to get a publisher for your memoires. Lots of authors - even established ones... Write their stuff, pay to have their work copy edited and formatted, and then sell it themselves thru amazon.com, iBooks, etc. 'independent publishing' or 'self publishing' is a heck of a lot different than when it was all dead tree 'vanity press' stuff, and lots of folks make decent money at it. Better yet, your cut of the profits ranges from 25% to 75% compared to less than 5% from main stream publishers. You have to do your own promotion, get cover art done, etc. but you've already encountered not having main stream publishers not pubizise your books, so nothing new there. In fact, with the interwebs you can certainly push your book pretty effectively. I know I'm considering doing that with the fantasy novel I've been working on...

I'm definitely considering that. First, I want to hear from the editor. If he thinks it's viable, I'll believe him. I also want to give him the chance to edit it, because he's a genius.

But I'm definitely open to the idea of e-publishing. I wouldn't do a vanity press run, because you can end up with a warehouse full of books you can't sell. But e-publishing might be just the vehicle for this book.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.

For you, a short L.A. story:

I decided to write a novel about the L.A. music industry. I had no idea what I was doing, of course, and I produced a gigantic t*rd that could have been easily broken up into three t*rds that would also have failed.

One of the characters in it was a collectibles dealer. To do research for the novel, I went to a store in a certain city and asked the owner if I could interview him. I brought copies of Bass Player to show him I was a "real" writer, and he agreed.

I went to his store a few days later with my tape recorder, and we chatted as he worked. He was an older man, very muscular, with a salt-and-pepper beard and glasses.

After we'd been talking for an hour, he said, "Hey, why don't we lock up, pull down the curtains, and get to know each other better?"

I lied and said, "Well, I'm spoken for."

"He's a lucky guy," he said, and we went on with the interview.

I guess I've been giving off a vibe without knowing it. No wonder I've always loved butch women!

Oh, well.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

All right, people. You don't know what you've started. If I'm going to do this, I have to do it right, so that includes confronting my most painful failures and losses.

I just went back and looked in a small wooden chest for the first time since 1991. The first photo shows my late singer Steiv Dixon, my friend and sometime nemesis, who loved me without me knowing it. I'm on the right, and a nameless drummer is on the left. (I know his name, but I don't have to broadcast it.)

The second photo is our band A Window during a show in Tokyo, 1989. I made the pickguard for my J-Bass out of orange Plexiglas. Since I didn't have any power tools in Japan, I cut it out out with a coping saw by hand.

Another chapter in the memoir, which will add context to the crippling anger and hate I felt for so long after my career in music journalism flamed out.

It's really all gone. Thanks, everyone. I hope to reward you with the best music memoir ever written. If it gets published, everyone reading and commenting on this thread can take credit for it.

I'm not done here yet. I'll tell you when.

 

[Spectrum]

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.

I'm not doubting you, but I have my own idea of the worst smell in the world. Call it "a South Jersey story".

When I was 18 or 19 I worked as a welder's assistant at a small mom and pop company outside of Philly. I was basically a low-paid go-fer, always getting stuck with the crap jobs around the shop, cleaning up and so forth. The boss and his two sons liked to hunt, and one day one of their buddies showed up with a fresh-killed deer and decided to butcher it in our workshop.

The deerslayer decided to leave all the unwanted deer parts in a 50-gallon drum in the scrapyard next to the shop where we kept all our metal stock. He took his meat and left behind a stinking, rotting pile of hooves, bones, guts, brains, etc. I distinctly remember the boss's older son using a handheld bandsaw to cut up the kill, and for fun he cut off the snout and was walking around the shop holding the snout in front of his crotch while he casually talked to people and freaked them out.

All of these parts festered in the pipeyard for a couple of days, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I was asked to do something about it. The stench became unbearable and flies were massing in black clouds. Being proactive, I told the boss that I wasn't going near that godawful thing under any circumstance. Cleaning up bio waste for a buck over minimum wage was a no-go.

So the boss decided to go out there and pour kerosene on the can of deer guts to get rid of the flies. This resulted in an even more sickening stench of dead animal guts and fuel. Going within 20 feet of this horrible thing made you fight the wretch reflex. I think they set it ablaze finally hauled it off; one day I came to work and the can was gone.

Stories about horrible smells are always entertaining. I am guessing your book won't stink.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Stories about horrible smells are always entertaining. I am guessing your book won't stink.

Thank you for that.

Dude, I once removed a liquified raccoon from under my parents' house. In Los Angeles. In the middle of the summer. It was bad, but doable.

The smell of rotten potatoes and dirty clothes worn by European oil workers made me vomit instantly. It was, "(Sniff.) Oooooouhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrup." Just like that.

A brief L.A. story for you:

The last time I saw my friend Roy the bassist and his lovely wife Linda, they were running a business out of what was essentially a garage in an industrial park. I hadn't seen them in months.

I approached and they smiled.

Linda called, "Tom! Wow! How've you been?"

When I got within a few yards, I saw that both had matted, greasy hair. A few feet cloer and I realized they both stank as though they hadn't bathed since the last time I saw them.

"We're really busy now!" Roy said as he rummaged through his piles of detritus. "Can't really talk right now!"

"Oh, okay," I said. "Sure. I just wanted to drop by, since I hadn't seen you for so long."

"We'll call you!" Linda said.

I left and never heard from them again. I'd known them for ten years. They stopped hanging out with me after my career at Bass Player cratered.

 

[imustscream]

'An L.A. Story'. Seems to be the working title unofficially. Unless there's some crazy japan stories...I can't get enough of these memoirs.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

'An L.A. Story'. Seems to be the working title unofficially. Unless there's some crazy japan stories...I can't get enough of these memoirs.

A publisher will demand something punchier, since I'm an unknown author.

The way it works, newbies have to be more exaggerated than the old pros. If I were already a best-selling author, I could call my next book Envelope, and everyone would tell me what a geeeeeeeeeenius title it was.

I have tons of Japan stories, but I wasn't interviewing bassists then, which is the topic o' this thread. Those will go in the memoir that you-all have convinced me to write. I've tried to keep all my posts here related to the topic of music-journalist-interviewing-basists, except for in one post.

I can tell you that this guy, Yoshihiro Naruse of Casiopea, once played my slapping composition "The Dinosaur Song" at a show. He's the most famous bassist in Japan, so it was fun.

Casiopea - The Bass Greetings (Yoshihiro Naruse Bass Solo) - YouTube

 

[Stumbo]

It's not painful anymore. I don't mind posting my ramblings in the threads. But I don't think a column would be of any use to anyone trying to get anywhere in the business. After all, even with ten years under my belt, I got nowhere in the business.

I will say this: If you want to get anywhere on the business side, you have to be able to schmooze and kiss you-know-what. If you want to get anywhere on the artistic side, you first have to have a modicum of talent, but you have to have connections up the wazoo. You have to go out and sell yourself, but only to the people who count. And never, EVER pass up an opportunity from an established artist.

I know a guy who was playing on the street in New York, and he was approached by a woman who really liked the way he played his slide guitar. She asked him if he'd be willing to record a song with her. He said sure. She introduced herself as Diamanda Galas.

When he told me he'd never heard of her, I sent him this link:

Diamanda Galas with John Paul Jones - Skotoseme (live) - YouTube

He then decided he was creeped out by her and blew her off. I asked him if he'd heard of John Paul Jones. Of course he had. Who hasn't? Well, you cretin, did it occur to you that you blew off a woman who knows one of the members of Led Zeppelin. You screwed yourself out of untold opportunities.

He shrugged. And he's still struggling, the dummy.

Hi Tom,

What you consider ramblings, I think most TBers would call them "stuff that all bass players should know".

I think your experiences and the ability to make them entertaining would be very welcome here at TB. Maybe this thread can be made into a sticky you could use as a kind of blog?

Based on what you've written already, I think you kinda undervalue what you can contribute to all TBers here, especially the younger ones getting started.

You could also write about interviews that were successful and what you learned from those musicians w/o mentioning names. Maybe add some observations/comments that weren't included in the article or add things you learned later on based on your life experiences in and out of music.

I think there are whole lot of possibilities for your unique perspective on the topic and you most likely have a waiting audience at TB for your "ramblings". Many TBers enjoy writing and would soak up everything you post. I would be in that club as well!

Thanks for putting up what you've done so far. I think just demonstrating your writing skills would help give TBers a one up on what level of talent is needed to produce good copy for a major magazine. Even that alone would be priceless to me and many other TBers.

Another thought, for the 900,000 stories that don't make it into your book, how about eventually posting them on TB? That might work. Or maybe start your own blog.

Best regards,
Stumbo

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Hi Tom,

What you consider ramblings, I think most TBers would call them "stuff that all bass players should know".

I think your experiences and the ability to make them entertaining would be very welcome here at TB. Maybe this thread can be made into a sticky you could use as a kind of blog?

Based on what you've written already, I think you kinda undervalue what you can contribute to all TBers here, especially the younger ones getting started.

You could also write about interviews that were successful and what you learned from those musicians w/o mentioning names. Maybe add some observations/comments that weren't included in the article or add things you learned later on based on your life experiences in and out of music.

I think there are whole lot of possibilities for your unique perspective on the topic and you most likely have a waiting audience at TB for your "ramblings". Many TBers enjoy writing and would soak up everything you post. I would be in that club as well!

Thanks for putting up what you've done so far. I think just demonstrating your writing skills would help give TBers a one up on what level of talent is needed to produce good copy for a major magazine. Even that alone would be priceless to me and many other TBers.

Best regards,
Stumbo

Thank you, Stumbo. I appreciate it. I've allowed you implacable bassists to talk me into writing my memoirs, but I'll have to draw the line at a column for now. Columns are tough, and the reality is that I've been out of the biz since 2003. An "Ask Arthritic Tom" deal would be easier.

But first, the memoir!

As for producing good copy, my only advice is to try and find your own voice. Never try and copy someone. In my fiction, I copied the authors I liked, and it tanked. It was only in my nonfiction that I used my own voice, based on years of keeping journals. In my youth and pre-Meniere's days, I traveled the world: Europe, Asia, Latin America. I wrote about everything I saw, because I loved it.

I was able to interview bassists whose music I didn't like, because I loved music itself. So we would always find something we could talk about and I could write an honest article that wasn't stuffed with false praise.

I'm not a Kiss fan, particularly, except for Carnival of Souls. I think "Hate" is the band's best work and Simmons's best bass playing, best lyrics, and best vocals.

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But even though I wasn't a fan, I loved the idea of Gene Simmons and I respected him, so we were able to work together. There's a way to insert yourself into a story without making yourself the focus of attention. As the writer, you can be right smack-dab in the center of a story without being obnoxious, presumptuous, or self-aggrandizing.

I never had an ego, so I could always get a good interview. One of the benefits of low self-esteem!

 

[SoVeryTired]

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...

Conversely, I think everyone that's read this thread should turn up with a book by another author. We could subvert the original weird rudeness into an in-joke.

 

[mcj2x]

I can't believe i got to the most current page. I literally was reading this while i was brushing my teeth, making my kid food, paying bills, etc..... for DAYS. Just registered specifically to say that these posts are fabulous.

I have had the pleasure of recording Scott T. on several occasions, and I agree.... he is an amazingly fantastic player and a great human. Sessions with him are always fun and working on his tracks are such a joy that I periodically email him just to say "thanks for that tasty lick on that one track" or something lame like that.

Last time I worked with him, we did a marathon session for an album of music set to the poetry of W.B. Yeats (which turned out fantastic). He played upright bass, which I didn't even know was in his repertoire. It wasn't his, it was borrowed. There was a bit of a rattle in the instrument, and after laying on the ground with the bass above his body, shaking crap out through the F-hole, he found a crack in the wood. After some trial and error, we discovered that if he propped his foot up on something and jammed his knee into the back of the bass with a certain amount of pressure, he could minimize the rattling. We proceeded to track the bass parts for the ENTIRE ALBUM that session, and he played in this position the entire time. I think it was 8 hours..... and he was learning the songs as we worked!

I am glad you have this relationship with each other..... it really seems like you are both better for it. Thanks for sharing, I hope it keeps coming. Off to buy your book now.....

Matt

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

I can't believe i got to the most current page. I literally was reading this while i was brushing my teeth, making my kid food, paying bills, etc..... for DAYS. Just registered specifically to say that these posts are fabulous.

I have had the pleasure of recording Scott T. on several occasions, and I agree.... he is an amazingly fantastic player and a great human. Sessions with him are always fun and working on his tracks are such a joy that I periodically email him just to say "thanks for that tasty lick on that one track" or something lame like that.

Last time I worked with him, we did a marathon session for an album of music set to the poetry of W.B. Yeats (which turned out fantastic). He played upright bass, which I didn't even know was in his repertoire. It wasn't his, it was borrowed. There was a bit of a rattle in the instrument, and after laying on the ground with the bass above his body, shaking crap out through the F-hole, he found a crack in the wood. After some trial and error, we discovered that if he propped his foot up on something and jammed his knee into the back of the bass with a certain amount of pressure, he could minimize the rattling. We proceeded to track the bass parts for the ENTIRE ALBUM that session, and he played in this position the entire time. I think it was 8 hours..... and he was learning the songs as we worked!

I am glad you have this relationship with each other..... it really seems like you are both better for it. Thanks for sharing, I hope it keeps coming. Off to buy your book now.....

Matt

What a great story! Thanks for that. I'd seen a photo of Scott playing upright but didn't know he did it more than a handful of times. Learning new songs and playing a bass with his knee jammed in the back, but doing a masterful job at it. A totally Thunesian moment.

Would you mind telling us the name of the Yeats album so we can buy it if it's still available?

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Conversely, I think everyone that's read this thread should turn up with a book by another author. We could subvert the original weird rudeness into an in-joke.

You also have to insult me and ask questions that have nothing to do with the subject at hand, too. Then we can recreate an authentic Thomas Wictor reading.

 

[SoVeryTired]

You also have to insult me and ask questions that have nothing to do with the subject at hand, too. Then we can recreate an authentic Thomas Wictor reading.

Do you have any 'favourite' insults or random questions we could repeat?

 

[Darko74]

It's not painful anymore. I don't mind posting my ramblings in the threads. But I don't think a column would be of any use to anyone trying to get anywhere in the business. After all, even with ten years under my belt, I got nowhere in the business.

I will say this: If you want to get anywhere on the business side, you have to be able to schmooze and kiss you-know-what. If you want to get anywhere on the artistic side, you first have to have a modicum of talent, but you have to have connections up the wazoo. You have to go out and sell yourself, but only to the people who count. And never, EVER pass up an opportunity from an established artist.

I know a guy who was playing on the street in New York, and he was approached by a woman who really liked the way he played his slide guitar. She asked him if he'd be willing to record a song with her. He said sure. She introduced herself as Diamanda Galas.

When he told me he'd never heard of her, I sent him this link:

Diamanda Galas with John Paul Jones - Skotoseme (live) - YouTube

He then decided he was creeped out by her and blew her off. I asked him if he'd heard of John Paul Jones. Of course he had. Who hasn't? Well, you cretin, did it occur to you that you blew off a woman who knows one of the members of Led Zeppelin. You screwed yourself out of untold opportunities.

He shrugged. And he's still struggling, the dummy.

I think he done himself a favour. That clip is awful, i was creeped out by it too and i love JPJ.

 

[bongomania]

I think he done himself a favour. That clip is awful, i was creeped out by it too and i love JPJ.

But that's beside the point. Diamanda has worked with MANY big names, in more than one genre. She'd be an amazing resource for anyone fortunate enough to work with her. Stopping at "creeped out" is exactly the missing-the-boat Tom was talking about.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Do you have any 'favourite' insults or random questions we could repeat?

Telling me that anyone could've written that book is a good one. I got that twice.

I was also lectured about the dangers of hotel minibars.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

I think he done himself a favour. That clip is awful, i was creeped out by it too and i love JPJ.

She's the sweetest person who ever lived! She was the first high-profile AIDS activist.

Her schtick is an act. She knows everyone in the industry, and she sells records. He wasn't creeped out by her until he saw her act. He found her fine on the street.

Alice Cooper is the brightest, funniest, nicest man in the world despite his stage persona. Diamanda Galas is kind of a female Alice Cooper.

I just think the guy made a massive, irreparable career mistake.

 

[mcj2x]

What a great story! Thanks for that. I'd seen a photo of Scott playing upright but didn't know he did it more than a handful of times. Learning new songs and playing a bass with his knee jammed in the back, but doing a masterful job at it. A totally Thunesian moment.

Would you mind telling us the name of the Yeats album so we can buy it if it's still available?

Not at all. It's called "Songs From Yeats' Bee-Loud Glade", by Kyle Alden. I'm very proud of it.

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