Tackhead Live At Sweetwater: Doug Wimbish Content

[Dr. Cheese]

The new Spector Wimbish Signature bass, put the man on my mind and Tackhead is my favorite band of his.
This is more of a deep groove and less experimental than I expect from Tackhead, but I am enjoying it. Doug Wimbish and Keith LeBlanc have great chemistry and I absolutely love Wimbish’s tone when he slaps that Spector!

 

[Gsnorgathon]

One of the best shows I ever saw. Had my sleeves rolled all the way up; afterward even the cuffs were soaked through.

 

[cxcxcx]

This piece is about a year old and was captured prior to the recent death of the great drummer Keith LeBlanc.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

This piece is about a year old and was captured prior to the recent death of the great drummer Keith LeBlanc.

I did not know he had passed! I am so sorry to hear that!

 

[jerry]

I went through a huge Tackhead/ Adrian Sherwood phase in the late 80's-90's, still love the alchemy of styles!

 

[burgerdj]

Doug’s tone is unmistakable. What a deep nasty slap tone! Killer

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Doug’s tone is unmistakable. What a deep nasty slap tone! Killer

My local shop has a nice Spector Pulse NS-2 with EMG’s and a Mini Tone Pump. It sounds close enough to Wimbish’s tone that I am tempted to buy it at times.

 

[ardgedee]

Tackhead has been a sleeper band for me for decades. I don't know why I never followed them more closely because once every couple years they'll pop up on my radar out of nowhere (thanks, Dr. Cheese!) and I'm reminded again of how amazing and versatile they are.

 

[Gsnorgathon]

Adrian, Doug, and Keith all live in a very cozy place in my heart.

 

[jerry]

Tackhead has been a sleeper band for me for decades. I don't know why I never followed them more closely because once every couple years they'll pop up on my radar out of nowhere (thanks, Dr. Cheese!) and I'm reminded again of how amazing and versatile they are.

I have quite a few favorite bands like that from different periods of my life, like great old friends and memories its always great when they come around.

 

[LowendG]

I did not know he had passed! I am so sorry to hear that!

Dang, me neither! Some time ago I played on an album he was the drummer on (was done remote--never met him unfortunately). RIP--amazing musician.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

this kinda bums me out. I was slated to play with Keith LeBlanc last year but he had to bow out due to his health issues. I wonder when this live at Sweetwater was recorded. Doug and Keith, what a spectacular rhythm section.

 

[jerry]

this kinda bums me out. I was slated to play with Keith LeBlanc last year but he had to bow out due to his health issues. I wonder when this live at Sweetwater was recorded. Doug and Keith, what a spectacular rhythm section.

It looks like it was taken from a VHS tape if that tells you anything. Awesome stuff!

 

[ardgedee]

this kinda bums me out. I was slated to play with Keith LeBlanc last year but he had to bow out due to his health issues. I wonder when this live at Sweetwater was recorded. Doug and Keith, what a spectacular rhythm section.

It looks like it was taken from a VHS tape if that tells you anything. Awesome stuff!

It was shot at Sweetwater last year. The VHS stuff (and some grainy film stuff) is digital effects.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

It was shot at Sweetwater last year. The VHS stuff (and some grainy film stuff) is digital effects.

If you look at info on the video, Sweetwater posted it April 2023.

 

[jerry]

It was shot at Sweetwater last year. The VHS stuff (and some grainy film stuff) is digital effects.

If you look at info on the video, Sweetwater posted it April 2023.

Wow, shows how much I know. Doh!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

 

[Michedelic]

I went through a huge Tackhead/ Adrian Sherwood phase in the late 80's-90's, still love the alchemy of styles!

Then there was all the On-U stuff, which could be described as prog reggae, perhaps? At any rate, it was out there.

 

[ardgedee]

Then there was all the On-U stuff, which could be described as prog reggae, perhaps? At any rate, it was out there.

Adrian Sherwood, Gary Clail, On-U, Tackhead, and many other people all seemed to be continually swirling and recombining. Ranging from some of the noisiest dub ever, some of the funkiest industrial, and all other points on the coordinate system. It honestly wasn't until relatively recently, with Wikipedia and Discogs helping out, that I got any sense of what was going on around Sherwood and co. I'd guess only Bill Laswell roamed more broadly and prolifically while keeping dub as a stylistic anchor.

For me one of the most memorable albums from that era was the relatively obscure Invalid Link Removed by Barmy Army, probably meant to be a one-off gag but it worked better than it should have, mixing football chants with industrial and dub. Pretty far out even by Sherwood's standards for how much the samples stood in front of the musicians.

It should be ignorable but sit down and listen to the album start to end and see if it doesn't stick in your head.