Honestly, a lot of the bassists in the backing bands of top-tier pop stars aren't exceptional looking and aren't expected to sing. See Rihanna on SNL recently:
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
When bass playing is secondary...
- Thread starter PBrown
- Start date
In the late 90s and early 2000s, I was doing tons of studio work in Toronto and got onto the call lists of a few of the major Canadian management companies. I got called to audition for Nelly Furtado and Avril Lavigne among others. Here's how the calls went:
Caller: Hello Mr. Fullbrook, we've heard a lot about you and would like you to come and audition to tour with a new artist we've recently signed.
Me: OK that sounds alright. What exactly are you looking for? I want to make sure I'm prepared.
Caller: Great question! We're looking for someone who looks great and can play bass with a pick.
Me: Just so I'm clear...the first thing you need is someone who looks great, and the second thing you need is someone who can play bass with a pick?
Caller: That's right.
Me: I'm sorry, I don't think this is the gig for me. I'm just too handsome.
I'm probably a bit crazy, but I never really regretted skipping the auditions even after some of the artists blew up. Besides, I ended up with the gig of my dreams.
Caller: Hello Mr. Fullbrook, we've heard a lot about you and would like you to come and audition to tour with a new artist we've recently signed.
Me: OK that sounds alright. What exactly are you looking for? I want to make sure I'm prepared.
Caller: Great question! We're looking for someone who looks great and can play bass with a pick.
Me: Just so I'm clear...the first thing you need is someone who looks great, and the second thing you need is someone who can play bass with a pick?
Caller: That's right.
Me: I'm sorry, I don't think this is the gig for me. I'm just too handsome.
I'm probably a bit crazy, but I never really regretted skipping the auditions even after some of the artists blew up. Besides, I ended up with the gig of my dreams.
NWB said:I look awesome and get loads of gigs (and girls) because of it. Heck, I spend more time on my hair than I do practicing my bass. In fact, I can hardly play it.
I also play a cheap used Arbor bass because I spend most of my money on fashionable clothes and hair stylists.
But I look so amazing that every band in town wants to hire me. Or they just want to be me.
I hope you still look awesome when your pushing 60.
Blue
Just for you Blue.
Definition of SATIRE
1: a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
2: trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly
In the earliy 1980s I was living in south Florida. I was refered to a local management company that was putting together a national tour band backing several country artists. I sent them an audition tape and publicity photos. They liked my playing and thought that I had "the look" that they needed. I showed up for the audition and as soon as they saw me, they said "no thank you, you're too short". I'm 5' 6", yes, I'm short. But I was going to be playing drums and seated. They said that "at the end of the night everyone had to bow together at the front of the stage and they couldn't have anyone too tall or too short".
Really.
Really.
KC Roberts & the Live Revolution. Here are some clips:
Official video for Love Enough
Free the Funk off of our latest record, Between the Cracks
Opening for Spectrum Road this summer.
To be honest, as a cocky 20-odd-year-old, I didn't think twice about turning down those gigs. I didn't have many responsibilities (e.g. mortgage), and I figured I'd turn out to be a rock star anyway. Turns out I get to have my cake and eat it too, except maybe for the "star" part.
I was a chick magnet in high school but went bald by 20...end of chick magnet phase. So, as an adult I never had "the look." Bald and haven't shaved in 35 years. The LA music scene has never been in my sights. Who cares? Not me, not my wife, not my bandmates, and apparently, not our audiences. Although an elderly lady at the old folks home I play at every month (I play guitar and sing there) kept referring to me as "that old grandpa" the last time I was there.
I don't have any particular look, just my own.
For the most part, if the need for looks greatly outweighs the need for talent, I wouldn't be interested in the gig.
But, unfortunately, I have seen this idea perpetuated, especially with some internet trolls and non-bass players, that we bassists take up bass because we weren't good enough to play a "real" guitar. So what we are capable of gets marginalized. Sure, a monkey could probably be taught to do root/fifth or root/octave bass lines all day long, and many people, even some bassists, seem to think it stops there.
A lot of people still don't see the bass as an instrument in its own right, despite the number of amazing players who have really pushed the limits of it in many genres.
For me, if all someone wants is a hot and/or "cool" looking guy who can play simple plodding crap all day while the rest of them show off, I 'm just not their guy anyway.
For the most part, if the need for looks greatly outweighs the need for talent, I wouldn't be interested in the gig.
But, unfortunately, I have seen this idea perpetuated, especially with some internet trolls and non-bass players, that we bassists take up bass because we weren't good enough to play a "real" guitar. So what we are capable of gets marginalized. Sure, a monkey could probably be taught to do root/fifth or root/octave bass lines all day long, and many people, even some bassists, seem to think it stops there.
A lot of people still don't see the bass as an instrument in its own right, despite the number of amazing players who have really pushed the limits of it in many genres.
For me, if all someone wants is a hot and/or "cool" looking guy who can play simple plodding crap all day while the rest of them show off, I 'm just not their guy anyway.
Similar thing happened to me coincidentally in South Florida. I had auditioned for a band that had a bit of a name and was told that despite the fact that I was by far the best guy that came down, had nice gear, a good attitude and had my act together they said that I was too short and it "wouldn't look right". I'm 5'5" and they were all over 6 foot. Weaksauce.
Similar thing happened to me coincidentally in South Florida. I had auditioned for a band that had a bit of a name and was told that despite the fact that I was by far the best guy that came down, had nice gear, a good attitude and had my act together they said that I was too short and it "wouldn't look right". I'm 5'5" and they were all over 6 foot. Weaksauce.
That is waaaayyyy weak! What did you guys do? I am curious for more information. Seems like that would take some of the wind out of my sails. Did a better gig arise for you?
