Reader Spotlight: Becky Baldwin
Meet Becky Baldwin, a bassist from Bristol England and our player in the spotlight for March 22, 2011.
Bio:
I grew up in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and got my first bass guitar for my 13th birthday. It has been my biggest passion in life since that day!
I moved to Bristol in 2009 to study bass performance at BIMM university, and my playing and confidence has really come a long way since taking these classes and meeting so many like-minded musicians.
I am a true metalhead at heart, but I also love old school prog rock and musical theatre. Aside from music, I am very much into animal rights and feminism.
Location:
Bristol, England
Day gig:
I am a student of the Bristol Institute of Modern Music… and sometimes the gigs pay!
Years experience:
6 years
Bands & Gigs:
I currently play in three bands: Metalhead my heavy metal covers band. This was formed to make some extra cash at uni, but apparently venues don’t like paying for metal covers. Who knew!? But it’s so much fun, I get to play songs by all my favorite bands and people really enjoy our shows!
Control The Storm is my female fronted power metal band. Some great musicians in this band. It’s rare these days to hear original metal that is actually quite tuneful! We’re quite new, our demo is nearly complete and our first gig together is in just a few weeks.
The Baronesques – my all girl rock band. I’ve always wanted to form an all-girl rock band, there’s just not enough of them. I can’t understand why there are so few women in rock music. We’re trying to avoid gimmicks, we’re just going for solid musicianship and great songs!
Gear:
- Cort Curbow for some slappin’ & tappin’
- Rickenbacker 4003 – just for being awesome.
- I have some kind of SWR combo + cab. (unfortunately I am a typical women – a total technophobic)
I would love a 5 string (or another 4 string which I could set up to downtune nicely. I’m not a fan of 5 strings really but I need to go lower sometimes). I wish I could afford another Rickenbacker, because there is literally no other bass I ever want to play! I suppose I ought to get a Fender Jazz though, just to be normal.
Why I play the bass:
I always thought bassists were the cool ones in the band. I was really into Motorhead at the time, so the Rickenbacker has always been my dream bass, and I finally bought one last year. Also, my best friend and sister had both just started playing guitar, and I wanted to play with them. But I could only play piano, and we wanted a rock band.
My bass superpower/claim to fame:
Simply rocking out! So many musicians just can’t engage an audience visually. Don’t let the guitarist hog the spotlight! Give it some powerstance, foot up on the monitor, yell at the audience, then windmill like you’ve never windmilled before!
My influences:
Geezer Butler, Cliff Burton, John Entwistle, Steve Harris, Angela Gossow, Devin Townsend
More on the web:
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aww…it was all good until she said “unfortunately I am a typical women – a total technophobic” How can a feminist say something like that? Ugh!
Being a technophobe doesn’t have anything to do with being a woman.
Aside from that, I think she’s still got a ton of awesome.
Sorry that comment about being a technophobe didn’t come across right at all. It was more to draw attention to the expectation of women within society than to put women down. Personally I think it is important to bring attention to these gender stereotypes so we can find out why they exist and what we can do to help.
From my own experience I have found it common for women to lack confidence with technology and this can become a burden when trying to become a professional musician.
My concerns really didn’t come across here at all, I didn’t mean to cause any offense.