Two Bassists in a band

[pineweasel]

When I was in college in the 1980s, a student rock band had two bassists, and they were great. I believe the band was called "Dolores," but I'm not sure. That's the first time I saw this approach, and it was very cool.

That might have been Sasha Frere-Jones’ band. He later founded Ui, with a line up of two bassists and a drummer.

 

[themickster]

I am just throwing this out there out of curiosity. Some bands have two drummers like the Grateful Dead all the way to Lawrence Welk and other groups in between. Does anyone know of bands that had two bassist? Would it work? Thanks

The Teardrop Explodes had two for a while. Motorhead had two, when they played Johnny B Goode live on telly.

Switchblade Kitten had only bass players, three at one time.

 

[Nedmundo]

That might have been Sasha Frere-Jones’ band. He later founded Ui, with a line up of two bassists and a drummer.

I looked him up on Wikipedia, and yes, Dolores was his band at Brown University in the 1980s. I think I bought a cassette of theirs. They had a very interesting sound.

 

[zombywoof5050]

Patrick O’Hearn was known to use an Ampeg B15 on stage, I saw one on 1976 SNL footage. I saw him with Zappa in 1977 (my first Zappa concert), but I didn't even play bass back then so I wasn't paying attention to bass amps, lol.

 

[Gluvhand]

IIRC, Bryan Ferry had Guy Pratt and Marcus Miller playing together on a few tracks. Or not.

 

[pklima]

Best quality live video of Cop Shoot Cop yet?

 

[Wood and Wire]

Best quality live video of Cop Shoot Cop yet?

No way!

I keep nearly buying that DVD - for over a decade - but the price is usually a bit crazy.

I don't know why it never occurred to me to see if some scallywag had ripped it, and put it on YouTube.

 

[pklima]

In that lineup they also sometimes have two, and at the peak three, drummers.

 

[Zbysek]

There was this project/band here in the Czech republic called "No guitars". The author of the project was a bass player who recorded the guitar parts using his bass (and various effects such as octave up etc.).

For live gigs, they were having two bass players: 1. the author playing the guitar parts on his bass, 2. another bass player who played the standard bass parts.

 

[Wood and Wire]

In that lineup they also sometimes have two, and at the peak three, drummers.

I saw them a few times in the early 90's.

The last time I saw them, they'd expanded from quartet to quintet, drafting in a... (gasp!)... guitarist - Steven McMillen.

The only song I remember them utilising three drummers was "$10 Bill" where Phil was playing his stand-up scrap metal kit, Natz put down his bass and played a snare drum (and possibly a floor tom, if I recall correctly), and McMillen played snare during the verses, and trumpet during the chorus.

 

[pklima]

The only song I remember them utilising three drummers was "$10 Bill" where Phil was playing his stand-up scrap metal kit, Natz put down his bass and played a snare drum (and possibly a floor tom, if I recall correctly), and McMillen played snare during the verses, and trumpet during the chorus.

Yup, that's how it is in that video, though who takes snare and who takes floor tom, I don't really remember, as they were playing a whole lot of rim clicks in the verses either way.

Also, if you think of somebody as trumpet player and not a guitarist, it's OK. I don't like their last album all that much, but the horns stuff is cool. Seems like a huge missed opportunity for hundreds of nu-metal bands to go in that direction, haha.

 

[Wood and Wire]

Yup, that's how it is in that video, though who takes snare and who takes floor tom, I don't really remember, as they were playing a whole lot of rim clicks in the verses either way.

Also, if you think of somebody as trumpet player and not a guitarist, it's OK. I don't like their last album all that much, but the horns stuff is cool. Seems like a huge missed opportunity for hundreds of nu-metal bands to go in that direction, haha.

Do you mean "Release"?

I do really like that record - but then I like all their records - as I'm always more interested in seeing bands progress, and develop, than I am in seeing them repeat the past.

The last time I saw them was probably a year before they released that album, but they were playing songs from it - "Turning Inside Out" was amazing live.

If you can find a copy (actually, it's probably available on streaming) the album they were working on when they split up was really cool.

It was released under the name "Red Expendables".

 

[pklima]

Yeah, "Release" is what I'd call their last proper album, at least for the purposes of this thread of having two bassists. The Red Expendables album is on YT also, or at least was a few months ago. It's all good stuff, but "Ask Questions Later" is my favorite, though probably for no reason other than it was the one I could buy in a store when I was young. Earlier stuff was unobtainable, I didn't hear it until just a few years ago.

Still hoping to talk a band into covering something like "Cut To The Chase" someday.

 

[Rabidhamster]

 

[jerry]

Ayoub Houmanna band:

 

[pklima]

Whoa, that's from Poland!

 

[Hues]

LCD Soundsystem has always had two.... Oddly enough,they have identical ones made of red Strat guitar bodies with bass necks.

This clip is years old but they remain the same.

 

[VS]

That was kinda interesting, although I don't see the point. They're playing in unison the whole time?
Also, what is that sound called? That super hi-fi, mechanical, compressed, glossy sound? I hate it.

How about Dumpstaphunk? Two bassists.

You definitely haven't listened to more than one song from Omnific.

 

[devnulljp]

You definitely haven't listened to more than one song from Omnific.

Listened to what was posted. It's not for me. Ho hum.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

In a rock band, its just wrong. Like having two male lead singers. Just no.