Archive for August 2010 - Page 9

The Dropkick Murphys, led by bassist/vocalist Ken Casey, will be coming to the U.S. after a small break from their worldwide tour. The group will be have dates in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada and then join the Vans Warped Tour for about a week. The group is continuing to tour in support of their latest releases, Live on Lansdowne,...

Derf Scratch, founding member and the original bassist for the L.A. punk band Fear, passed away late last week after a long battle with an unspecified illness. Scratch, born Frederick Milner, founded the band with vocalist Lee Ving in 1977 and was with the group when they performed on an infamous episode of Saturday Night Live that allegedly cost NBC...

Q: How do you prepare for a tour with a new band? A: There is much that goes into properly preparing for a tour. First, the nuts and bolts: Packing Do you have days off for doing laundry? Always try and pack as light as possible. If you can get by on four days worth of clothes (including gig wear)...

Here’s one of my favorite tunes by solo bassist Trip Wamsley: “Chicken Boy”!

Iron Maiden bassist and founder Steve Harris recently admitted to considering dissolving the band after vocalist Bruce Dickinson quit in 1993. “I was a bit down when Bruce left,” he explained. “I was going through a divorce, probably at my lowest ebb ever, and for a couple of hours I thought about finishing Iron Maiden. Then I thought, ‘What are...

Meet bassist Scott Kemp, our player in the spotlight for August 3, 2010. Bio: Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and a graduate of the Humber College Jazz Studies Program in Toronto (2004), Scott Kemp is a busy bassist in Toronto for the last ten years. Scott has recorded four albums (two juno nominations) with the multiple award winning artist Elizabeth...

Level 42 is celebrating their 30th anniversary with a new 4-CD box set, Living It Up, released today. The set brings together 34 tracks from Level 42’s A-side singles, 10 previously unreleased tracks and two B-sides only available on vinyl. The final disc is new material, recorded in early 2010 by singer/bassist Mark King and keyboardist/vocalist Mike Lindup, featuring acoustic...

Here’s a live video from 1991 featuring Al Di Meola’s band with Tony Scherr on the bass playing the tune “Kiss My Axe”.

Rancid’s Matt Freeman will be making the switch to upright for his side project, Devil’s Brigade. Devil’s Brigade will be releasing a self-titled debut album on August 31st with a tour to follow through September and October. The project began between Freeman and guitarist Tim Armstrong, who wrote songs between their tours. Devil’s Brigade recorded a few EP’s, but ultimately...

Hal Leonard has released a new Jazz Play-Along book featuring the music of Jaco Pastorius. As with all books in the Play-Along series, the book/CD set includes melody cues with proper style and inflection, rhythm tracks, choruses for soloing, removable bass and piano parts as well as the full stereo accompaniment tracks. Jaco Pastorius: Jazz Play-Along Volume 116 includes music...

Today I’d like to talk about another historical great who I’m sure is familiar to many, Mr. Paul Chambers (1935-1969). I think I have a treat for some folks who already know about him: a transcription of a tune called “Mopp Shoe Blues” off the record First Bassman. “P.C.”, as he is commonly known in many circles, was born in...

This is bassist Paulo Gustavo playing his virtuosic bass version of Steve Morse’s tune “Tumeni Notes”. And pretty much nailing it.