Reader Spotlight: Shane Andison

Meet bassist Shane Andison, a busy musician who started fast in his music career, and never seemed to look back from there.

Shane is the No Treble reader in the spotlight for the week of April 7, 2014.

Bio

I’ve been playing bass guitar professionally for over 10 years, starting off laying down the low end with Melbourne singer-songwriter Justin Murphy for three years, achieving mild radio success and touring up the east coast of Australia.

Shortly afterwards I got the opportunity to play in disco-funk cover band Funkadelique in the French/Swiss Alps for two years, which was an amazing experience, getting to play in ski resorts from Morgins in Switzerland down to Chamonix in France. Often we were gigging twice a day – après-ski and night time. At one point we did 14 gigs in 10 days, and I quickly learnt how to play with my third finger in order to save the other two from ripping on stage!

I then travelled to London and stayed for 2 years, back to my day job, but also playing regular gigs with singer-songwriter Kelly Woods in venues such as the world famous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

Now I’m back in Melbourne providing the bass lines for upcoming Melbourne alternative blues band Smoke Stack Rhino, who have recently achieved Triple J and Triple M airplay with their track “Till The Day”.

Location

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Day gig

I work within the digital production and online marketing area of the IT industry.

Years experience

14 years

Bands & Gigs

I’m currently playing in Melbourne based alternative blues band Smoke Stack Rhino. We run with two vocalists, resonator and baritone guitars, a blues harp and Hammond organ sounds, five-string bass, and along with drums and percussion are exploring what the blues might sound like in the 21st century.

We’ve gigged with Aussie blues legends like Phil Manning (Chain), Geoff Achison and Jimi Hocking, and in June 2013 released our debut EP titled Riverside – the five-track release showcases our alternative blues-rock sound which takes influence from artists like Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, The Black Keys and Howlin’ Wolf.
We’re back in the studio April 2014 for our next release and can’t wait to unleash it!

Gear

• Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray 5 string
• Fender Jazz Bass Deluxe 4 string
• Gallien Krueger 2001RB Head
• SWR Goliath Senior 6×10
• Mark Bass New York 122 2×12
• Korg DTR 1000 Rackmount tuner
• A bunch of random stomp boxes and tricks

Why I play the bass

I have that same old story which seems to occur more than it should with bass players – my friends were starting a band when I was around 14, and someone needed to play bass – so I started! I was initially taught by an old guitar player who taught me very basic root notes of popular songs on the radio, which I practised at home on an old nylon string acoustic I borrowed from school, as I didn’t own a bass yet. Quickly afterwards I started researching bass players on the Internet, and as soon as I heard slap bass and crazy stuff like that, I was hooked! I still remember the first time I heard “Portrait Of Tracy” by Jaco Pastorius and just being absolutely in awe of the sounds he was making come out of that bass.

My bass superpower/claim to fame

My first gig was supporting Billy Thorpe in the Palms Showroom at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, to an audience of 1000 people. That was two weeks after meeting the band. Lots of pressure… nailed the gig though!

My influences

Flea, Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius, Les Claypool, Drew Dedman, Louis Johnson, James Jamerson, Francis Rocco Prestia

Videos

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More on the web

• Smoke Stack Rhino on Facebook
• Smoke Stack Rhino on YouTube
• Smoke Stack Rhino on SoundCloud
• ShaneOnBass YouTube