Rob Derhak of moe.

I recently saw MOE. No offense, but if you think this was the most amazing bass performance you've ever seen, you don't get out much . . .

 

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Derhak is a fantastic bassist. Let's judge him in his own right and not let this devolve into a another comparison p*ssing contest. We all know about Victor, Jaco, Stanley, Oteil, etc. For what he plays, Derhak is awesome.

What I love the most about his playing is the way he "frames" jams. His lines during jams often truly make the jams special.

I've been a huge fan of his for years and I've seen him play umpteen-leven times. Always blows me away.

 

i have a sticker on my bass case that says "derhak for president" with a picture of him and red white and blue in the background. pretty cool, i got it last year at their merch table

rob still blows me away after seeing moe. close to 20 times. i wish he pulled out his stingray more often though.

if you haven't heard his solo on brent black from "L v3.1" then that should make you a believer

Justin

 

nm - I had that same sticker on my truck!

As for his Stingrays, now that he endorses Ibanez, don't expect to see his other basses too much anymore.

 

I really admire Rob's playing, and Moe in general!
The idea of cutting the rhythm tracks on Wormwood live & overdubbing the vocals worked out great!

 

Wormwood is simply an amazing CD - their best, most complete recording to date.

I have so many moe. bootlegs that I don't have enough room for 'em anymore. Yeah, you could say I'm a fan(atic).

 

I agree! I think Wormwood is their best studio album & best songwriting.

 

I saw them when I went to see the Frog Brigade and I thought they were boring as hell and left early. However, a lot of times I think something is boring the first time and then the second time I give it a chance, It blows me away(I've done this with Sunny Day Real Estate, From Autumn to Ashes, and At the Drive-In, wich became one of my favorite bands). Maybe Moe deserves another shot, any suggestions on what to download?

 

I played a post-Moe. show at a club here in Atlanta. We had carte blanche, so we walked upstairs to the main hall to check out Moe. a bit (I had never heard their music). I went up there with my bandleader, and we listened for a bit, and I said to him 'that mix sucks'. He replied 'it's not the mix. They're rushing everything'. I listened a little closer, and he was right. I didn't realize that playing so on top of the beat could make it sound like a bad mix! Wonder how many times I blamed the mix when it was the players.

 

peter: Actually, it may very well have been the mix. In my opinon, and from my experience, moe.'s mixes have been TERRIBLY inconsistent, even to the point where the drums may be too loud one night, then the very next night in the same venue, the vocals may be too loud and the bass is barely audible. This is the one problem I've had with them.

Listen to a band like String Cheese Incident, whose mix is ALWAYS excellent. Makes all the difference in the world, as you well know.

 

could've been, but they were definitely rushing too.

 

In the "good old days" we used to go see moe. at broadway joes in buffalo. They played in front of about 25 to 30 people, it's cool to see these guys are now actually making a living playing music (something I could only hope for)

As far as the "you don't get out much" comment, Well i do, I go to 2 or 3 shows a week, I've seen about 80% of the bassist on all of the talkbass "greatest" list and I would put rob right up there. sure victor can slap faster, and and marcus can holder a tighter grove, and stanley- well is just STANLEY but I have seen all those guys and t although i respect there talent- they put me to sleep.

Robs style works great with moes sound. 1 example- try learning the bass line to timmy tucker (pretty hard huh!!!) now try singing lead over that

 

Actually, I use Timmy Tucker as my warmup song quite often.

As for your comment about Rob's sound working for moe., nothing could be more true. His lines really make the groove for their jams.

I always love it when someone says "he isn't that great". My question is, what criteria are you using? Mike Gordon comes to mind. I've read posts claiming that Mike was "average" and not that great. Really? What is it that he does or doesn't do that makes him so "average"? If watching him slap himself silly is what someone wants, that's great - he can do that - but it won't necessarily fit the music. His lines are as tasteful as I've heard in terms of fitting the music that he plays. His technique is incredibly sound and his playing is VERY tight (I have a Palo Alto show from the early 90s in which Mike is VERY prominent in the soundboard mix if anyone needs proof).

Anyway, sorry to get off on a rant, but FatFunker's point about Rob's style working so well with moe.'s sound is right on. If anyone needs proof, PM me - I'll burn a disc for you.

 

yeah but the dude seriously needs to do something about that beer belly. I think he actually sets the bass on top of it while he plays now!!!

 

I have seen moe. 7 times and every time Rob dose something to blow me away like in cleveland something went wrong and to kill time Rob busted out the peanuts theam and didn't break sweat amazing keep rockin moe.

 

moe is a band I'd love to see live. I've checked their calendar probably a half dozen times over the past few years without finding a date near me.



Rob is an outstanding player. I wouldn't put him on my short list of favorites, but I'd like to check them out live to give him the chance to up that status...

 

Rob was the first bassist to blow me away when I first learned of the jam scene. I saw him in Tucson a couple years back and he pulled off one of the most incredible solos I have ever witnessed all alone on stage.

Does anyone know what effect he uses to get that amazing slap tone? I've always been curious. And also, does he use Eden cabs? People tend to overplay gear, but I really want to know how he gets that tasty slap tone!

 

Not sure which Slap tone you're talking about (i.e., if there is a specific funkified, envelope-filtered tone in a song you may be thinking of), but his basic "slap tone" is just the product of the basses he uses (he endorses Ibanez and plays RD and SRX basses and he also plays Stingrays and Modulus Fleas, as well as others) and his amps. He has played through Eden heads and cabs (4x10s) for as long as I can remember, but I'm not sure what sort of other rack processing he may use, if anything.

He does use pedals, but those are mainly bass synth, flanger, delay, etc.