• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

John Kerry - BASSIST?!?!

Just found out recently that U.S. Democratic Presidential Candidate, Sen. John Kerry is one of us (!) Turns out he played bass for a band called The Electras in his prep school days in the early 60s.



Read on:

Rocking the Vote, John Kerry Style

September 14, 2003
New York Times

WHEN the recording artist known as Moby headlined a $75-a-ticket fund-raiser in Boston for Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts the other night, some were stunned to see Mr. Kerry take the stage, grab a guitar and bark to the crowd, "Let's rock and roll."

Mr. Kerry joined a local band, Popgun 7, in Bruce Springsteen's "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," after which he pumped his fist in the air, Springsteen style. "Don't say it — don't give up my day job," he begged the audience. "If I weren't running for president so hard, I'd rock all night and have fun."

It turns out, despite his usual blueblood reserve, Mr. Kerry is a rocker from way back.

As a prep school student in New Hampshire, he played a mean bass guitar. How does anyone know? At the concert, Erik Lindgren of Middleboro, Mass., brought along a 1961 album by the Electras, Mr. Kerry's band, with liner notes that said he was "producer of a pulsating rhythm that lends tremendous force to all the numbers."

After showing Mr. Kerry the album, Mr. Lindgren said: "He flipped. He hadn't seen one in years."

Mr. Lindgren left the concert a believer in Mr. Kerry — as a musician, if not as a president. "This is proof that the guy rocks out," he said.
 
Yeah man, pretty cool eh!

:bassist:



Not really news though... Maybe for some.

A while back when he was running for Senator, he had this BIG party in Boston that CSN played (a few other groups too) at and he got up and jammed (on guitar though).... I remember marveling over that when a friend of mine (an older gigmeister) said that he was a bassist for a HARD ROCK band and played in qand around the Northeast, especially many of the clubs in Boston (RIP: The Channel) and the North-Shore.


I think (again I could be wrong), he attended Phillips Academy, Exeter Prep School back then.
 
I think it's cool. I'll keep an eye on it in case it turns political, but as far as I'm concerned we can talk about political leaders till we're blue in the face, as long as it is about them playing bass or whatnot. I didn't see how the other John Kerry threads ended, so maybe I'm making a mistake, but it wouldn't be the first.

Carry on! :D





:ninja: I'm watching you...
 
Jay said:
I think it's cool. I'll keep an eye on it in case it turns political, but as far as I'm concerned we can talk about political leaders till we're blue in the face, as long as it is about them playing bass or whatnot...


gotcha, Loud and clear.

Capisco.




*Anybody have pix of him playing bass?
:bassist:
 
Here's a pic of Kerry and The Electras:

Link Removed

He's to the left of the drummer, slinging a P-Bass.

Info from Link Removed

The back cover says "John Kerry, electric bass, is a resident of Oslo, Norway, and the producer of a pulsating rythm that lends tremendous force to all the numbers." Norway? yep, his father, Richard Kerry, worked at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, as a chief political officer when Kerry was a boy. He attended a Swiss boarding school before transferring to St. Paul's School in Concord in 1956.

here are the song titles:

Side One
1. Guitar Boogie Shuffle
2. Three Blind Mice
3. You Can't Sit Down
4. Greenfields
5. Shanghaied
6. Summertime Blues

Side Two
1. Bulldog
2. Ya Ya
3. Sleepwalk
4. Electra
5. Because They're Young
6. Torquay
7. Yellow Jacket
 
Jay said:
I think it's cool. I'll keep an eye on it in case it turns political, but as far as I'm concerned we can talk about political leaders till we're blue in the face, as long as it is about them playing bass or whatnot. I didn't see how the other John Kerry threads ended, so maybe I'm making a mistake, but it wouldn't be the first.

Carry on! :D





:ninja: I'm watching you...


I agree with my partner in crime here. If this gets political it will be shut down and deleted very quickly.

:ninja: I'm watching you too. MUHAHAHA
 
Newsweek did a short article on Kerry's bass playing which consisted of quotes from his former bandmates which were interesting.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4271819

A few non-political quotes from the guitarists that said he was a good bassist.
The pianist and maracas player made no bones about being Bush supporters.
The sax player was clueless - couldn't remember that Kerry played in the band.
The drummer was the only one supportive of Kerry's campaign.