Reader Spotlight: Erik Scott
Meet Erik Scott, our player in the spotlight for December 29, 2009.
Bio:
Best known for recording/touring with Alice Cooper (80’s), Sonia Dada (1990-20??), and Flo & Eddie (70’s), Erik has also recorded with many other artists, including Kim Carnes, Carl Palmer, and Pops and Mavis Staples. Erik is also a composer who has written songs covered by Ted Nugent, Triumph, Alice, Sonia Dada, and has written and recorded music for hit TV shows Starsky & Hutch, Charlie’s Angels, Vegas, and Loveboat. He has also co-written music for “Nothing To Lose” with Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence, “Waterproof” with Burt Reynolds, and the National Lampoon movies with Chevy Chase. And currently, after almost 40 years of playing a more conventional approach and supporting music with singers, he has just released an instrumental CD Other Planets, featuring bass as the main melodic voice, with some bass generated effects, piano, and steel guitar.
Location:
Northern Illinois / California / USA
Day gig:
Well, at the moment, besides the writing and recording of new material, which is an ongoing, constant endeavor, I’m paying some attention to doing material from my solo instrumental Cd live. Since there are in some instances more than one bass track on a composition, and since I use FX to create what I hope is an other-worldly soundscape, I have to perform the pieces in a somewhat altered condition, and/or use some loops, to create the essence of the tracks live. And that takes some attention.
Years experience:
The first album was in 1969, so that’s… hmm… oh dear, quite a while.
Bands & Gigs:
I’ve been mostly writing and recording recently, and it’s time to resume playing live. I hope to do some stuff from my instrumental CD with some friends, and I also hope Sonia Dada will resume in some form in the near future. Otherwise I’m going to drag some friends from Nashville out into the night.
Gear:
- A frankensteined 1963 Fender Jazz with EMG pickups
- Pedulla Buzz Bass
- Lakland Joe Osborne
- Lakland Fretless
- Ampeg SVT classic from 1975
- Zoom FX pedal
Why I play the bass:
Well, I was learning guitar in high school, and a friend said I could play in his band next week if I could play the bass, so there I went. I think I played roughly the same line all that night, but I’ve been learning ever since.
My bass superpower/claim to fame
No superpowers… I’m a slave to the feel, actually… Good melodic sense, can rock. I do fondly remember playing “Wooly Bully” and “Happy Together” with Keith Moon and Alice Cooper when they came up for an encore with Flo & Eddie at LA’s Troubadour in 1974… that was cool.
This was 4 years before I started recording with, co-writing with, and even co-producing with Alice, so playing “Wooly Bully” with him and Keith M, at the Troubadour, being a new kid from the proverbial small town, was way fun.
My influences
All the classics really, the guys I grew up listening to… James Jamerson, Beatles-era Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones, Chuck Rainey… plus guys like Tony Levin, Pino Palladino, Lee Sklar.
More on the web:
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