Bassists - Page 63

Mike Porcaro, who played bass for the seminal rock band Toto, has passed away after a long battle with ALS. He was 59 years old. Porcaro came from a musical family. His father is jazz drummer Joe Porcaro, and he is the middle brother of drummer Jeff Porcaro and keyboardist Steve Porcaro. Though Mike played on several unofficial sessions since...

As we become more connected, a deeper mixing of culture and ideas is creating some innovative music. One example is Consider the Source, and a style they call “Sci-Fi Middle Eastern Fusion”. Check out our interview with bassist John Ferrara, who talks about that and more

Meet Graham McLachlan a bassist who also plays Chapman Stick on a very cool gig – Blue Man Group Chicago. Not only that, Graham’s gear list gave me a serious case of GAS. Graham also plays bass in Electric Hawk – a band he describes as “an instrumental, prog/mathy, heavy band”. He’s the No Treble reader in the spotlight for...

We’ve featured many versatile musicians as part of the Reader Spotlight series. Iain Hodges matches up well with all of them. Starting on violin at the age of 3, he eventually migrated to the electric bass, playing everything from metal to funk to jazz – and more. Iain has at least two claims to fame that I can tell: his...

Chip Shearin is one of the most well rounded musicians in the world. He’s a top tier bassist who has worked with artists including Donald Byrd, Marion Meadows, Aretha Franklin, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Ceelo, and many more. He produces commercial music for advertisements, television shows, and even composes film music. Millions have heard his playing in one form or...

If you lean more to the old school then you’ll see Jay Yaws is a bass player’s bass player. Just take some of the phrases from his story and you’ll see: “providing a solid foundation”, “serve the song”, and “that endless search for the perfect tone”. We dig all those things, and so Jay was a great choice for this...

Meet Devin Bohart, a working bassist – and vocal coach – who often takes his Modulus Flea bass and hits the road. While he studied jazz at North Texas, Devin credits NOFX’s Heavy Petting Zoo for making him want to play bass. Devin is No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the week of February 16, 2015, and here’s his...

Danny McCulloch, who played bass for the second incarnation of The Animals, has passed away from cardiac heart failure. He was 69 years old. McCulloch was born in West London in 1945 and got his musical start in his teens. His first band was The Avro Boys, who went on to become Tony Craven & The Casuals in the late...

Meet Ben Janning, a man who loves bass so much, he ditched rhythm guitar in favor of the low end. Ben keeps busy with original music – both as a member of Strange Attractor and his own solo work. He’s No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the week of February 9, 2015, and here’s his story… Bio: I started...

Joe B. Mauldin, who helped change the face of popular music as bassist for Buddy Holly and the Crickets, passed away February 7th after a battle with cancer. He was 74 years old. The Lubbock, Texas native started music early. Born on July 8, 1940, he first recorded with The Four Teens in 1955 at only 15 years old. He...

Every Tuesday, we get to share one of our favorite features on No Treble: the Reader Spotlight. Sometimes when I bump into people, at NAMM or elsewhere, there seems to be confusion about how this actually works. So I’d like to clear it up. Really, we just need your story. You can submit it via our spotlight questionnaire. You don’t...

Meet Mike Smith, a bassist from the UK who keeps extremely busy with a life of music. What struck me is that Mike said he would love music to be his day job… it isn’t. But he does have a day job, and he plays in five bands (that we know of!) Mike is the No Treble reader in the...