Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 342

Fresh off of the 40th Anniversary celebration with the Stray Cats, Lee Rocker has gotten back to his solo work with a new single and accompanying video. “Dog House Shuffle” pays homage to the original rock bass players that influenced him and the genre itself.

We recently shared the modern half of Frederiek de Vette’s “new school versus old school” two-bass build. Now we’re taking a look at the more traditional instrument.

Motörhead has released a new box set called “1979” to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band’s prolific year. The core of the release focuses on reissues of “Overkill” and “Bomber.” with plenty of live material from soundboard recordings.

Two of the world’s best fretless bassists are teaming up for a new project. Steve Di Giorgio and Jeroen Paul Thesseling have announced Quadvium, a band that will blend their unique extended-range playing into a style they call “world-fusion-metal.”

EBS has reinvented two of their effects pedals in their “Blue Label” series. The OctaBass Blue Label octave pedal and BassIQ Blue Label replace their classic stompboxes.

Kneebody has returned with a new album called “Chapters,” which marks a new era for the band. It’s the first release since the announcement that bassist Kaveh Rastegar would be stepping out of the group. Now Nate Wood is handling the bass and drums.

Fuzzrocious Pedals has introduced a new pedal to their lineup called the Egg Sack. The unit features the boost, drive, and distortion portion of their Playing Mantis that was introduced earlier this year.

Ringo Starr is a guy that gets by with a little help from his friends. His new album, “What’s My Name,” teams him up once again with his old bandmate Paul McCartney. Nathan East, John Pierce, and Kaveh Rastegar also perform on the record.

Bergantino Audio Systems has expanded its Holographic (HG) series with a new cabinet called the HG312. Weighing in at 49 pounds, the 750-watt bass cab features a sealed design with three 12-inch neodymium magnet woofers and a compression driver.

Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” is a must-have album for bassists. Its songs are textbook examples of grooving by the late great Bob Babbitt and James Jamerson. Now you can hear Jamerson craft those bass lines in a newly reissued live album from 1972.

Kasim Sulton’s Utopia will be hitting the road for a tour in 2020. The bassist and his group will be performing hand-picked songs from the 10 Utopia albums on which he played.

Neil Young has played with plenty of bands over the years, but Crazy Horse is the one that keeps coming back. Now Young and Crazy Horse have teamed up again for “Colorado,” a ten-song album that is their first since 2012’s “Psychedelic Pill.”