Dug Pinnick Joins MC5 Kick Out The Jams 50th Anniversary Tour
This year marks the 50th anniversary of The MC5’s seminal album Kick Out The Jams, and Wayne Kramer is going to celebrate it in style. The guitarist, who founded the band in 1964, has assembled an incredible band for the MC50th Anniversary tour featuring Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, Zen Guerilla singer Marcus Durant, and King’s X...
Bass of the Week: Amnesia Guitars Leo Bass
Italy’s Amnesia Guitars is a workshop run by luthier Carlo Carbone, whose imagination creates beautiful and functional instruments. This week we’re taking a look at his Leo model. The Leo comes standard as a five-string fretted bass, though options are available. Its contoured ash body is topped by a rich ziricote cap. The bolt-on neck is made from maple and...
Marco Mendoza Burns It Down on New Dead Daisies Album
The Dead Daisies have released their fourth studio album, Burn It Down, featuring the bass work of the mighty Marco Mendoza. This time around Mendoza is joined by his newest rhythm section partner, Deen Castronovo, who joined the band last year. The rest of the lineup includes guitarists Doug Aldrich and David Lowy with vocalist John Corabi at the helm....
Trickfish Amplification Releases the TF408 Bass Cabinet
Trickfish Amplification’s new TF408 bass cab is scheduled to ship this month with pre-orders available now. The company’s latest product features four Eminence 8-inch ferrite speakers plus an HF compression driver to offer 1200 watts peak handling and 600 watts RMS. The TF408 is constructed from Baltic birch with dado and rabbet joints. It has a 22 oz. sharkskin vinyl...
Failure Returns With “In The Future” EP
Failure has released the first of a set of new EPs that will culminate in a full-length LP this fall. In The Future is the band’s first new music since their 2015 comeback, The Heart Is A Monster and will set the stage for the 2018 releases, which will focus on the disconnect between technology and humanity. “Living inside a...
Davie504: Quadruple Neck Bass Jam
YouTube bassist Davie504 makes some incredible videos. No matter what or how well he plays, people comment with a challenge for his next video. This time he’s playing a four-string bass, but not like you’re thinking. “[I’m] playing a four strings bass, but every string has its own neck,” he writes. “Here’s a four necks bass / quadruple neck bass!...
Story of the Year Splits With Philip “Moon” Sneed
Story of the Year has parted ways with longtime member Philip “Moon Valjean” Sneed. Both the band and the bassist announced the news on social media. “Story of the Year is announcing the departure of guitarist/bassist Philip “Moon” Sneed today,” the band wrote on Twitter. “He will be dedicating more time to Greek Fire, Goldfinger, and The Rizzuto Show on...
Xlson Audio Announces the Chuck Israels Signature Microphone
Xlson Audio has teamed up with jazz bass legend Chuck Israels to release the Chuck Israels Signature Microphone. Developed by Peter Axelsson, the condenser microphone is designed specifically for the upright bass on the stage or in the studio. “Peter Axelsson has developed a mic that rejects enough extraneous sound that it is practical to use in live situations and...
Jay Leonhart Releases “Don’t You Wish” with Tomoko Ohno
Bassist/vocalist Jay Leonhart has teamed up with pianist Tomoko Ohno for a new album entitled Don’t You Wish. Leonhart, who bassists may know from his songs like “It’s Impossible to Sing and Play The Bass” and “Bass Aboard a Plane“, offers up his humorous tales of the musician’s life. “I am a jazz bassist with interests that roam far and...
Nordstrand Audio Unveils the NordyMute
Nordstrand Audio has expanded their bass offerings with the NordyMute, a bass mute featuring a foam body and wood cover. Available in four or five string versions, the device imparts a darker tone for an old school vibe. “The essence of the NordyMute’s effect is akin to upright-like inhibition of resonance, a kind of execution of sustain—its body subject to...
François Moutin and Kavita Shah Team Up for “Interplay”
The duo of a double bass and voice is one of the most powerful musical configurations. That’s clear on the new album, Interplay, by François Moutin and Kavita Shah. Sometimes intimate and sometimes exuberant, the 11-song collection ranges from jazz classics like “La Vie en Rose” to modern instrumental tunes like Dafnis Prieto’s “Blah Blah”. “There’s a nakedness to playing...
Ibanez Unveils the BTB845V Bass
Back in 2015, Ibanez introduced a five-string bass to their Bass Workshop Series they called the Volo. The bass featured a shorter 33-inch scale and was tuned E to C for a higher range. Now Ibanez has brought the model back as the BTB845V. The spirit of Volo lives on through the new bass has a few differences in materials....