Harvey Brooks: 40 years of playing with the greats
In a recent interview with Ynetnews, bassist Harvey Brooks tells pieces of his life story, which for the past four decades includes playing beside Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Miles Davis, Mama Cass and B.B. King, to name a few. In the interview Brooks recalls playing with some of the greats (an excerpt): “Jim Morrison, like Jimi,...
Gear Watch: Kasha 4 Channel Overdrive
Kasha has developed a 4 Channel Overdrive pedal built to the standards of their boutique amplifiers. Kasha applied their extensive amplifier knowledge to this pedal, the first thing you will notice is that there is no tone control! This is on purpose, Kasha explains that “A big problem that most pedals have is the addition of a tone control or...
Mark Hoppus confirms working with Panic! at the Disco
Blink 182 bassist Mark Hoppus has confirmed that he is working with Panic! at the Disco to produce at least one “gigantic” song on their upcoming LP. In a recent interview with MTV news Hoppus said: “I’ve heard a few of Panic! at the Disco’s demos for the new album, and they’re really strong… There’s one track in particular that...
New Release: Klang’s Tea Music
Chicago-based jazz group, Klang, has just released Tea Music on the Allos Documents label. Originally formed as an improvised music series in 2006 that didn’t sustain, the band lived on. Klang was started by clarinetist James Falzone and features vibraphoist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Tim Daisy. If you are not familiar with Roebke, he should be on...
A Tribute to Charlie Haden
Bassist Charlie Haden celebrates his 72nd birthday this month. After a lifetime of music (he’s been recording over 50 years!) KPLU’s Nick Morrison has compiled a top 5 list of songs which best describe Haden. Morrison describes Haden as building his own musical highway rather than running a set path: “To follow him down that freeway is one of the...
Interview with Catalin Rotaru
We posted a player-watch piece on bassist Catalin Rotaru in July. Catalin has been gracious enough to share his insight into the double bass and his career as a professional classical performer and educator. In case you missed our last post, he served as associate principal bass in the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, principal bass in the Sibiu Philharmonic Orchestra,...
RIP Larry Knechtel
Bassist Larry Knechtel has passed away. Knechtel died August 20th at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Yakima, Washington, at the age of 69. There is no official report for the cause of death, but it is believed he suffered a heart attack. Knechtel had a long music career as a player and studio musician. He was a member of the...
Bassist Cash Colligan leaves The Cab
After their latest national tour “What Happens in Vegas” as a headliner, bassist and original member Cash Colligan has decided to leave The Cab. The Cab have been doing well, they were signed to Decaydence Records in May 2007 and released their debut full-length Whisper War in April 2008. The Cab has released the following statement on their MySpace Blog:...
Free Download: The New RockStar Philosophy Book
The New RockStar Philosophy Book, a new music business book, is now available for free download. The book is the creation of two authors working as The New Rockstar Philosophy, started to “help artists learn more about what’s going on in the ever-changing music industry, to inspire them to embrace entrepreneurship, and give them them the tools for DIY 2.0”....
Gear Watch: EBS MetalDrive
EBS has released another new pedal, the EBS MetalDrive is a high-gain distortion pedal designed specifically for the bass. The MetalDrive is the eighth pedal in the “Black Label” series released by EBS. The pedal was inspired by bassist John Moyer of Disturbed. EBS had been modifying a MultiDrive pedal for Moyer who required overdrive as well as metal distortion....
Stu Hamm solo, live at Vicar Street Dublin
Here is a bass solo by Stu Hamm, during a concert with Joe Satriani at Vicar Street Dublin. You get to see him really kick it up a notch around 3:20 with his awesome slap bass style!
Josephine Wiggs rejoins The Breeders
The Breeders have been on tour this summer to support their latest release Fate To Fatal, released in April on their own label. On the tour, bassist Mando Lopez had to fly home to be with his pregnant wife. The Breeders reached out to their former bassist, Josephine Wiggs, to fill in for the last few shows. Wiggs has not...