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MEGA THREAD:: Favorite/Best Punk Bassist

#681
SMASH said:
You’ll have a very hard time finding in a bassist in any genre who can outplay or outgroove Daryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains.
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Yeah man! He's the most underrated and best bassist in punk imho.

I also like:
- Chris Bauermeister from Jawbreaker. He doesn't stand out a lot in the band, but the lines to "Parabola" really move me.
- Jason Black from Hot Water Music (now in The Draft). Fuel for the Hate Game has so many great bass lines.
- Brendan Kelly from The Lawrence Arms. His lines don't seem like anything special to most, but they fit the songs well, and he does sing while playing.

Any publication that mentions Sid Vicious with the term "bassist" I take with a grain of salt. The Sex Pistols are easily the most overrated punk band ever. Dee Dee was a much better bassist than him. Much more likable guy, too, though still crazy.

Flea was a jazz trumpet player.
 
#682
anechoic said:
Actually, if everyone's referring to the magazine article I think they are, it specifically excluded Sid from their list of punk bass greats. There was a small sidebar pointing out he was actually pretty worthless on bass. Aside from the one song or so recorded while Glen Matlock was in the band, Steve Jones did all the bass on Never Mind the Bollocks.
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Ok. Then it's the same article that I read awhile back. I remember getting a good laugh at their intentional mention/exclusion.

anechoic said:
Chuck Dukowski and Kira Roessler from Black Flag are certainly worth a mention.

Husker Du's Greg Norton has long been a favorite of mine.

If Mission of Burma is considered punk, then throw Clint Conley in there as well.
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A terrific list.
 
#683
Dude, I am all about this thread, so many awesome bass players mentioned. If you think about it there are alot out there that we don't even know about as of yet. Sid was basically a marketting tool, you could say he was like the mickey mouse of punk, the way people think of mickey when they hear disney same applies with sid and punk rock. Malcom needed an image that personified punk rock and he found that in sid, it didn't matter that the guy couldn't string 2 notes together or that he was incoherant most of the time, thanx to Nancy. Malcom just wanted something that would help him sell records. Anyone know who gets the money from all those sid posters, t shirts, I think dolls and whatever else has his likeness on it. Also, on a side note, Sid was creamated 4 blocks from my house. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
 
#688
MakiSupaStar said:
Steve Garvey is great, but no one mentioned Mike Watt yet? He just cranks.
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Everyone and their mom mentioned Mike Watt, dude :)

I give massive props to Klaus Fluoride and Fat Mike.

Joe Lally and Paul Simomon, too.

Also, although they were local, they achieved some national notoriety [a lot, actually], Matt Butler of Treephort was incredible.
Don't believe me?
Check out "Hemp Necklace" and "So I Do" from "...and the streets will run red with the blood of the nonbelievers".
 
#689
You know what I like about this board over many others? There wasn't any elitist in the corner saying "_____ sold out, they're not punk". Thanks guys, I was kinda worried I was opening a can of worms for second ;)...

But if we want to get into 90's punk (more my stuff, I'm a young'n), how about Kelly Lemeiux from Goldfinger, Matt Wong from Reel Big Fish (more ska/rock than punk) and one of my favorites in the ska punk scene is Mingus from Catch 22.. he was a really cool guy, he talked to me for a good half an hour before a show.. He lays down grooves.
 
#690
On Sid Vicious...I could be wrong, but didn't he play on one or two tracks at least on "Never Mind the Bullocks"? I thought I remember reading he played bass on "Submission", but I could be wrong. I do know Steve Jones played most of the bass parts after Glen Matlock, though.

I remember in Johnny Rotten's autobiography, he mentioned that Sid was really trying to learn the bass at one point, and was into reggae bass lines a lot. Too bad he let himself self-destruct completely, otherwise he probably would've played bass in PiL.
 
#691
Ed2Strings said:
I actually mentioned Matt Freemann before...
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Heh, I have this annoying habit of skimming posts way too fast sometimes, which often results in me posting "I can't believe ______ hasn't come up in this thread before!" Like the "bands with 2 bass players" thread "Hey, nobody mentioned Ned's Atomic Dustbin yet!" (there was a link to a Ned's Atomic Dustbin video clip or something in the first post).
 
#692
Matt Freeman is a god. Another awesome bass player is Rick from The Casualties. Defiance also has a good bass player. I recently saw Anti-Flag live, and some of the stuff Chris #2 was singing and playing at the same time was just mind-blowing. He's also good at improv, i.e., one of the guitar amps blew and he started playing something random with the drummer.

There are many punk bass players that are under-rated and awesome. Like me.;)
 
#693
powellmacaque said:
You know what I like about this board over many others? There wasn't any elitist in the corner saying "_____ sold out, they're not punk". Thanks guys, I was kinda worried I was opening a can of worms for second ;)...
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The thing is though, a lot of the good punk bands that didn't just implode quickly did wind up getting crap about selling out as they started to evolve musically. A lot of people thought Husker Du had gotten too poppy, especially by the time they signed to Warner Bros (I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks that Land Speed Record is a better album than Warehouse needs to have their head examined). Likewise, a lot of the people who got into Black Flag when Damaged came out (to say nothing of the fans of the Keith/Chavo/Dez era) quickly lost patience with Rollins' spoken word musings and Ginn's noise-jazz explorations. And I can't imagine that some of the more experimental stuff the Clash did sat too well with some members of the Class of '77.

But to me, pushing the envelope a bit (whether that be in terms of songwriting, sound, etc.) is a lot more punk than just rehashing the same thing over and over until it turns into nothing more than a caricature of its former self.
 
#694
Yeah punk bass really influenced me a lot. Mike Dirnt, Andy Wright (Andy Flag, original Anti-flag), Chris #2 (Anti-Flag), Matt Freeman, Geoff Kresge (Original AFI, Tiger Army), Hunter Burgan (AFI), Klaus Fluoride, Fat Mike, Paul Simonion, Rob Trujillo, ahh the list goes on. Sid Vicious was an awesome addition to the Sex Pistols, as long as his amp was turned off.
 
#696
I couldn't agree with you more. I love Bad Religion, but to be honest, they've been putting out the same album for 20 years, which is why they don't get too much gripe from fans.

To me theres a difference between selling out and growing. Selling out is what Avenged Sevenfold did, not only did they change their sound, but they insulted their former fans and music scene, calling metalcore "dead", when the fact is, metalcore got them signed. But in my opinion, calling somebody a sell out is childhood jealousy.

I listen to all kinds of punk from all the waves, 77, 88, 95, and even the new stuff (what's left of it). And I think to be a true fan, you have to accept the different breeds of punk as a whole instead of the "i'm better than you" games punks often play.
 
#697
anechoic said:
But to me, pushing the envelope a bit (whether that be in terms of songwriting, sound, etc.) is a lot more punk than just rehashing the same thing over and over until it turns into nothing more than a caricature of its former self.
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word up.

if you wanna check out some really sick bass playing, go listen to Arif Mirabdolbaghi from Protest the Hero. they're a bit more in the 'metal' vein, but they're on a punk label. also, they wrote an entire album of songs they couldn't play, and played them faster and faster until they got to where they're at now, which i think is awesome.
 
#698
Infernal Affair said:
Yeah man! He's the most underrated and best bassist in punk imho.

I also like:
- Chris Bauermeister from Jawbreaker. He doesn't stand out a lot in the band, but the lines to "Parabola" really move me.
- Jason Black from Hot Water Music (now in The Draft). Fuel for the Hate Game has so many great bass lines.
- Brendan Kelly from The Lawrence Arms. His lines don't seem like anything special to most, but they fit the songs well, and he does sing while playing.
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3 great bands (4, I guess), and 3 pretty good players. Good calls!
 
#700
Less Than Jake is more or less the Rush of punk/ska

their drummer writes their lyrics

the bassist is the main vocalist

all the members are good at their respective instruments

they've both achieved minor mainstream success, but have a huge devoted fanbase.

the only difference is Roger uses a MM and Geddy uses a Jazz bass or Rick..
 

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