Post-punk bassists

[Spupilup]

They used a Fender Bass VI a lot.

 

[Raman]

I always have a problem with that “post punk” concept; it’s an after-the-fact tag that’s been slapped on, and having absorbed the era in real time, it was all a continuum for me. Where do you exactly draw the line? Siouxie and Severin, as a band, as people, were right there in the beginning, playing the 100 Club along with the Pistols(even having Sid on drums!). Joy Division, as “Warsaw”, issued the standard faster/louder stuff on their earliest recordings.
Then there was all the antecedents who layed out the framework, who defined the catagory in the first place…VU, MC5, Stooges, Dolls. They were, in their very essence, punk. In addition, there was activity out in the North American hinterlands, early/mid-70’s, that most never heard of…Rocket From The Tombs(morphing into Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys), Simply Saucer from Canada, Debris from Oklahoma for example, bands already rejecting the mainstream stuff that became known as ‘classic rock’(and they were incorporating unlikely influences from people like Zappa, Beefheart, and Hawkwind). The Modern Lovers had a higher profile, but their album was recorded in 1972 and released years later. Devo even dates back to ‘72.
There was far more diversity in the NYC class of ‘75-‘77 as well…Blondie, Television, Talking Heads, and the Ramones sounded nothing alike. In the UK, which I think is your focus, you had bands like the Stranglers, who although weren’t heard until ‘77, came together before the Pistols, and had an entirely unique sound. Do you place The Jam in punk? While obviously they had their Who(and Kinks and Small Faces)influences, they drew a lot from pub rock icons Dr. Feelgood. I’d say they were ‘post-punk’ right out of the chute in ‘77, yet got lumped in with the Pistols. In a similar fashion, Magazine, started in ‘77 after singer Howard Devoto was in the Buzzcocks for one hot minute, had almost a prog flavor to what they were doing, and, while I could be wrong, I think bassist Barry Adamson was on the forefront of using modulation effects on his instrument. As far back as ‘76, you had bands like Ultravox emerging, exhibiting the Bowie/Roxy/Eno/Kraftwerk influences that you certainly didn’t hear in the Ramones, Pistols, or any other bands of that ilk.
Sorry for the rant, but I just never saw the validity of an artificial dividing line like that.
I will throw out the names of Adamson, Foxton, Weymouth, Burnell, Jah Wobble, William Mysterious of The Rezillos, Dave Allen of Gang of Four, and Colin Moulding of XTC as the bassists of that overall time period that impressed me.

This is a classic debate that goes back to the Greeks! Some like to delimit reality into categories, others like to see it as a continuum.
My take: yes, categories are artificially imposed and are imperfect, but they are useful as they help focus on specific areas of a given reality.

This said, my comprehension of punk is of a radical and rather violent rejection of oversophistication in music, lyrics, shows, clothes style, etc. Marked by the DIY attitude, knowing how to play your instrument or how to sing almost made you suspect as a punk.
Whereas post-punk is when some of those guys went from this attitude, but brought back a little sophistication into it, especially with poetical lyrics and less of a "i barely know 3 chords so I'll trash through them as loud as I can" approach to musicianship.
And then, when bands like Talking Heads made it even more artsy, showed much more accomplishment as musicians and pretty much completely abandoned the aggressive approach, they started calling it new wave.

Crude and imprecise as it may be, it's the rough definitions that I go by.

Thanks for all the band names though! Many that I will now discover.

 

[Raman]

I get your point.

I consider 77 a legit punk record. They check the “disenchanted youth”, at least some “screaming/screeching/yelling vocals”, and “fast, distorted guitar” boxes, and have NYC/CBGBs cred in spades.

But they had some stuff that was quite different even on that first album, and moved ever farther from their punk roots as their run continued. They are certainly a lot more post than punk on the whole. I’m such a huge fan of the way Tina plays!

Apparently, the term "new wave" was coined especially for the Talking Heads, as they themselves and most people weren't comfortable with the punk label and thought it didn't apply.

But as for not forgetting to appreciate Tina, I created a whole "appreciation thread" about her a while back!
Tina Weymouth

 

[GlennRH]

@Raman

While I side with @Michedelic in that NO BAND EVER declared itself or voluntarily acknowledged itself as playing "post-punk" music, I continue to enjoy the music of The Lords of The New Church.

With founding members Stiv Bators (ex-Dead Boys) on vocals, Brian James (ex-The Damned) on guitar, Dave Tregunna (ex-Sham 69) on bass, and Nick Turner (ex-Barracudas) on drums, the Lords of The New Church intended not to be a punk band in a time when they - especially Stiv and Brian James - still had fame as key members of early punk bands of the USA (Dead Boys) and of England (The Damned).

The bass in, for example, Johnny Too Bad, still works for me.

Note the absence of distortion in James's guitarring. He consistently maintained a clean (i.e. not typical punk fast & distorted) sound in everything he recorded with The Lords of The New Church.

 

[Raman]

@Raman

While I side with @Michedelic in that NO BAND EVER declared itself or voluntarily acknowledged itself as playing "post-punk" music, I continue to enjoy the music of The Lords of The New Church.

With founding members Stiv Bators (ex-Dead Boys) on vocals, Brian James (ex-The Damned) on guitar, Dave Tregunna (ex-Sham 69) on bass, and Nick Turner (ex-Barracudas) on drums, the Lords of The New Church intended not to be a punk band in a time when they - especially Stiv and Brian James - still had fame as key members of early punk bands of the USA (Dead Boys) and of England (The Damned).

The bass in, for example, Johnny Too Bad, still works for me.

Note the absence of distortion in James's guitarring. He consistently maintained a clean (i.e. not punk) sound in everything he recorded with The Lords of The New Church.

I'm pretty sure Bach never labeled his music "baroque", nor Mozart labeled his "romantic". They are all categories that were imposed later on. But they're still useful in lumping together similarly-influenced composers of a same era.

 

[ElectricPilgrim]

Don't forget Steve Hanley with the Fall.

 

[Spupilup]

The Fall. Every time I hear a Pavement song I thing of them.

 

[Raman]

I like creating these threads because I end up discovering many bands and tracks that had previously flown under my radar!

 

[pablop]

David J (Bauhaus)
This is hardly a comprehensive list, but every player here kind of has their own thing going on, which I love.[/QUOTE]

+1 for David J but on Love and Rockets

 

[Phaidrus]

Yes, David J (Bauhaus)

 

[gtirard]

My 3 favorite bassists from that period of time:
- Bruce Thomas, the bassist of Elvis Costello and the Attractions (any album)
- Graham Maby, the bassist of Joe Jackson (espacially in "Look Sharp" and "I'm the man")
- Leigh Gorman, the bassist of Bow Wow Wow (any album)

I have chosen the bass because of them.

They're not really "new wave" style like The Cure, but definitely post punk.

Listen to the bass lines in these album, they still inspire me 40 years later.

 

[Raman]

They used a Fender Bass VI a lot.

I was aware of that. Never seen one in real life though. It looks more like a guitar than a bass... Anybody has experience playing it? (I see that Squier does a CV version.)

 

[Killing Floor]

David Haskins aka David J (Bauhaus)
And Tina Weymouth. She’s brilliant when it comes to crafting Bass lines that seem simple but try singing her parts with proper timing. How does she do it?

 

[Bassbubble11]

Graham Maby

 

[Spupilup]

I had a Squier a few years ago. A truly horrible instrument. A miserable bridge that made proper intonation virtually impossible. Fender should be ashamed for selling that version of the Bass VI. It’s a great concept but the Squiers are a disaster.

 

[SixtyCycleHum]

Simon Gallup is a great influence for a lot of styles!

 

[SixtyCycleHum]

I'm just going to leave this here. Two great tracks to learn and play back to back

 

[weird_hermiston]

I'm glad Colin Moulding from XTC already got a nod, he's why I started playing bass!

 

[Spupilup]

I'm glad Colin Moulding from XTC already got a nod, he's why I started playing bass!

I’ve learned dozens of XTC bass lines. They are probably my favorite band from that era. Colin Moulding for being self taught, has created some awfully creative lines.

 

[Raman]

I'm just going to leave this here. Two great tracks to learn and play back to back

And a great salute to Michael Dempsey who was also an exceptional bassist. More in the punk spirit than Gallup. I especially like his aggressiveness in the track below: Plastic Passion.

I auditioned for a Cure tribute band some years ago. They were really spot on and I got the gig, but scheduling conflicts between them and my other band ended up killing it for me. Sometimes, I wish I'd quit the other band (which never went anywhere anyway).

Playing Simon Gallup's tracks is harder than it seems. Not that they are technically very intricate, but they are often hypnotic and it's hard to stay focused I find. And execution has to be absolutely perfect because everything builds up from the bass. Just being a hair off and the whole song loses its feel.