In Memoriam: George Hawkins, Jr.
Sad news to report today: George Hawkins, Jr. has passed away after battling cancer for the past year. The bassist and vocalist was a seasoned member of the music community and worked with artists ranging from Jimmy Reed to Roger Waters to Michael McDonald, who shared his grief on Facebook. “Today I’m wrestling with the sad news that one of...
Cannibal Corpse Heads Out On Fall Tour
Cannibal Corpse is heading out on a 29-date tour covering all of November and stretching into December. The massive trek will see the band start on the East Coast and circle into the Midwest before finishing up in their home state of Florida on December 6th. They’ll be joined by Hate Eternal and Harm’s Way, meaning you’ll be able to...
Cort Guitars Introduces the Vintage-Styled GB54P Bass
Cort’s GB Series has a new member: the GB54P bass. The bass pays tribute to the classic P-style bass with vintage features including an alder body, a 9.45” fingerboard radius, a 20-fret hard maple neck, and its pickup. “The GB54P’s vintage-style VTB-P pickup produces the timeless P-style bass sound that launched a musical revolution,” Cort states. “The resulting tone is...
The Claypool Lennon Delirium Announce New Album, Release First Track
While Les Claypool said that Primus may be on the back burner for a bit, that gives him time for other projects. That’s clear now as the bassist has announced a new album called South of Reality with The Claypool Lennon Delirium with Sean Lennon. The duo says the record is an organic extension of their 2016 debut, Monolith of...
TC Electronic Introduces BC208 Bass Cabinet
TC Electronic has just announced the BC208, a portable bass cabinet fitted with two 8-inch drivers. It delivers 200 watts of tone that the company says features low-end punch. “Featuring a pair of powerful 8″ custom-engineered drivers, BC208 produces clear and focused bass tones with an immediate response and super-tight feel,” they write. “BC208 is built from hard plywood covered...
Esperanza Spalding: No More Bass?
Esperanza Spalding has followed up last year’s Exposure with 12 Little Spells, a twelve-song album that focuses on using music as therapy. It came to her in a wash of inspiration while trying to write a single song before “developing the next full thing.” Each of the songs focuses on a different part of the body with videos and art...
The Omnific: Objets de Vertu
The Omnific is an Australian progressive instrumental band with two basses and a drummer, so of course I dig it. Matt Fack and Toby Peterson-Stewart handle all of the melodic and harmonic content while drummer Jerome Lematua holds the beat. “Objets de Vertu” showcases the bassists’ prowess on the instrument while creating a cool groove.
Nazareth Celebrates 50 Years With New Album
Nazareth has been rocking for 50 years, and they’re not stopping anytime soon. The “Hair of the Dog” band is celebrating with a new album called Tattooed On My Brain, which marks their 24th full studio release. It’s the first to feature new vocalist Carl Sentence, who replaced original singer Dan McCafferty after health issues made him retire. Of course,...
Purple House: An Interview with Ryan Madora
If you’ve been reading No Treble at all for the past seven years, you’ve probably read the work of Ryan Madora. Her popular columns run the gamut from mastering the blues to understanding your instrument to bass players you should know. If you haven’t heard her play yet, you need to check out Robben Ford’s latest album, . The effort...
Catalinbread Introduces the NiCompressor Pedal
Catalinbread has expanded their line of pedals with the NiCompressor. Inspired by the vintage Loco Box “The Choker” compressor, the new stompbox is described as offering “exceptional compression dynamics while keeping higher-frequencies intact.” Alongside Gain, Compression, and volume controls, the NiCompressor has Bass and Treble knobs for extra tone shaping. Its all-analog design is FET based and offers 4.8ms of...
Metallica: To Live Is To Die, Live
Metallica is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their album …And Justice For All by posting live versions of each song from the album. They’ve just posted a clip of “To Live is To Die” from its first ever (and only) full-length live performance in 2011. The song is mostly instrumental and was written as a tribute to Cliff Burton, who...
Matt Ulery Releases “Sifting Stars”
Bassist and composer Matt Ulery has released a new album called Sifting Stars that expands his musical palette to include orchestral art songs. The music includes lush string arrangements plus a five-movement piece for brass quintet inspired by the Ivan Albright painting “Into the World There Came a Soul Called Ida.” Ulery admits the ambitious record is a step away...