Reader Spotlight: Bill Bodily
Meet Bill Bodily, a bassist and software developer who manages to balance both to allow him to tour. For 26 years, Bill has been pursuing the bass – starting with a reluctant teacher before venturing out on his own.
Bill is this week’s No Treble reader in the spotlight. Here’s his story…
Bio:
Bill Bodily is a Central New York (Syracuse) based bassist/multi-instrumentalist who, through hard work and perseverance, has established himself in the music scene as the bassist of his current band Inhumatus as well as past bands Toxik, Freya, NIHIL and touring bassist for thrash metal giant Flotsam and Jetsam.
He started to perform internationally as a band member of the thrash metal band Toxik and has played music all around the world including several countries in Europe and South America.
Notable festival performances include Keep It True XVII (Lauda-Königshofen, Germany) and Alcatraz Metal Festival 2014 (Kortrijk, Belgium).
He is known for playing both the fretted and fretless bass and continues to work towards furthering his knowledge of the instrument and incorporating different styles into his playing.
Recently he has had the fortunate honor of becoming a new endorsee as an Emerging Artist for the pickups and electronics company Bartolini.
Location:
Liverpool/New York/United States
Day gig:
I do have one of these! I work as a software developer during the day as a matter of fact. Somehow I’ve found myself lucky enough to be able to juggle the day job with playing bass and touring.
Years experience:
I’ve been playing bass off and on for about 26 years now.
Bands & Gigs:
I am! I play for a progressive death metal band called Inhumatus. I had the recent honor of playing bass for Flotsam and Jetsam during their recent U.S. tour, filling in for Michael Spencer. I have also played with the thrash metal band Toxik for a couple of years playing all over the globe.
Gear:
Having good gear is great, but not the most important thing. Being able to play well is. However that being said, I have been fortunate enough to have built up a collection of some nice high quality, reliable gear over the years. Currently, I’m using…
- Warwick Thumb NT 6 Fretless
- Warwick Thumb NT 6 Custom
- Warwick Thumb BO 5 fitted with Bartolini electronics and b-axis pickups
- Warwick Thumb BO 5 fitted with Bartolini electronics and original pickups
- Aguilar Tone Hammer 500
- Aguilar SL 112 (I play through 2 of these)
- Jule Monique Pre-amp
- FEA Labs DB-CL (Dual Band Compressor Limiter)
- Darkglass Electronics Microtubes B7K
- TC Electronic Polytune
- Pedaltrain pedal boards and Volto battery packs
- Mogami Cables
Why I play the bass:
My parents had just bought me and my brother a guitar to share and I had some friends who wanted to start a band. I was the only one who had a job (if I recall correctly) at the time, so I saved up my money and bought a bass. A black Squire P Bass with a white pick guard. I was also playing saxophone at the time and tried to get the school teacher to teach me bass instead. He didn’t want to, so as a compromise he said he would teach me bass ever other week. Well, I stopped showing up for the saxophone week and only showed up for bass week. He caught on quick and said he wouldn’t teach me bass anymore. I quit going to the lessons altogether and taught myself how to play.
My bass superpower/claim to fame:
No super powers here… I do the work and get the job done. Put in the time and be dependable.
My influences:
This has changed over the years so I’ll mix it up with some people I followed when starting out and people I’m tuned into today: Sean Malone, John Myung, Cliff Burton, Alex Webster, D.D. Verni, Hal Patino, Steve Di Giorgio, Dick Lövgren, Jeroen Paul Thesseling, Robin Zielhorst, Janek Gwizdala, Tony Grey, Evan Marien, Steve Lawson, Dominic Forest Lapointe, Evan Brewer, Mark Michell… and many, many more fantastic and inspiring players.
More on the web:
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