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Articles by Evan Kepner - Page 6


New Albums

The Best of Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings

Ex-Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman has released a new album, The Best of Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings,. This best-of release features 20 tracks remastered by Jon Astley and a 24-page CD booklet of an exclusive interview with Wyman. The booklet also includes track-by-track commentary by Wyman to give the inside scoop over the recording history of the band. Wyman left...

News

Benefit fundraiser for Chi Cheng

The Deftones have announced that they will be kicking off a series of fundraising events to help the family of Chi Cheng with the overwhelming medical bills accumulated for his treatment. Deftones are starting with a benefit show on November 19th, 2009 in Hollywood, California. Tickets are currently on sale and all proceeds will go to the Chi Ling Cheng...

News

John Paul Jones confirms no Led Zeppelin tour

Recently, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones – along with band mates Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham – had considered touring as Led Zeppelin with a session singer. Original vocalist Robert Plant stated in 2008 that he “will not be touring or recording with Led Zeppelin,” even after the December 2007 reunion show attracted 1 million fans for a mere...

New Albums

Joëlle Léandre and William Parker “Live at Dunois”

French double bassist Joëlle Léandre has carved a name for herself as one of the best improvisational bassists out there. Her latest release, Joelle Léandre and William Parker Live at Dunois, is a live recording with bassist William Parker where they show off their improvisational chops with a variety of bass techniques and disciplined skill. Léandre and Parker last collaborative...

The Zen of Ear Training – Part 2
Bass Lessons

The Zen of Ear Training – Part 2

In the last lesson we covered a few different strategies for starting to train your ears. This included singing with your instrument, singing over a drone, and singing intervals in all the keys. Now we’re going to take it a few steps further and work to really develop our ears ability to pick out notes and relationships. Remember that these...

Player News

Mark Hoppus bass giveaway

Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus will be meeting fans at The Fast Life in Los Angeles, California, on Halloween to give away his one-of-a-kind Fender Mark Hoppus model jazz bass with custom artwork by Chase Tafoya. He says it’s been his favorite bass on Blink-182’s latest tour. The giveaway will be in the form of a bingo showdown for 100 lucky...

New Albums

Them Crooked Vultures announce album release

Them Crooked Vultures, the supergroup made of Led Zeppelin’s bassist John Paul Jones, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, have announced that November 17th will be the date for the release of their self-titled and self-produced album. The record is going to feature the studio versions of songs Them Crooked Vultures has performed live...

Bass Gear

Gear Watch: Superior Bassworks Strings

Did you know that there are specific types of strings for the upright bass? You get different strings for the different styles of music you can play – even different tunings if you’re playing a classical solo bass piece. Now there is a company dedicated to producing bass strings specifically with rockabilly players in mind: Superior Bassworks. Superior Bassworks creates...

Bass Gear

Jeff Schmidt and Melodyne Editor

There’s a new product coming out that may re-shape the way we think of music. Melodyne Editor, a Direct Note Access (DNA) program offered by Celemony, is the first of it’s kind. You can analyze a piece of music and change any note in polyphonic material. Watching this software in action borders on spooky. Bassist Jeff Schmidt has posted a...

News

The Indie Maxium Exposure List

Let’s face it bassists, in all probability our collective bands fall overwhelmingly into the independent-music category. Whether it’s our rock band, solo bass work, free jazz or metalcore, we’re independent artists. When Billboard published their “Billboard’s 2009 Maximum Exposure List” it included many unrealistic goals for independent musicians – for example, playing on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Ariel Hyatt, an...

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Sublime Returns

The remaining members of Sublime, bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, have announced that they will be returning as Sublime. The official statement from their MySpace page is that they are “thrilled by the opportunity to reconnect with their fans around the world. While we all mourn the passing of our brother and bandmate Bradley Nowell some thirteen years...

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Mark Hoppus Op-Ed on Health Care

Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus recently wrote an op-ed piece to the Huffington Post about the current healthcare debate in the USA. Hoppus was inspired to write after an incident with caterer Ali Vatter on Blink-182’s tour. Vatter required emergency surgery to have her appendix removed after two months of being on the road, and she was uninsured. She told Hoppus...