Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 477

Incognito has been putting out great music since 1981, with most of their greatest songs being fueled by incredible bass lines. Now bassists can dig into the music with The Incognito Bass Book from Bassline Publishing. Transcribed and compiled by Stuart Clayton, the book features songs from throughout the British acid jazz band’s career. “From their early eighties work with...

Entheos has returned with their second full length album, entitled Dark Future. Anchored by bassist Evan Brewer, the recording is described by the band as an expansion on their songwriting. “We wanted to evolve the sound a little bit,” drummer Navene Koperweis says. “Evan wrote a lot more. You can feel [guitarist Travis LeVrier’s influence in there. We didn’t have...

U2’s Adam Clayton is getting a new pair of special basses from Fender this year. The limited edition Adam Clayton Precision and Jazz basses come with maple fingerboards and a unique purple sparkle finish. Both basses are built with an alder body, carbon-reinforced maple neck, and maple fingerboard that’s adorned with abalone inlays. Fender fits them with their Custom Shop...

Thundercat has a style all his own. His playing is unbelievable and his songs are earworms. That’s evidenced on his recent NPR Tiny Desk Concert from October. With bandmates Dennis Hamm, Justin Brown, and Miguel Antwood Ferguson, the bassist plays through three tracks from his album, Drunk: “Lava Lamp,” “Friend Zone,” and “Them Changes.” Check out his chording technique on...

It’s been 25 years since R.E.M.’s iconic album Automatic For The People and Concord’s Craft Recordings is celebrating with a deluxe reissue. Available in three versions, the remastered album includes their hits “Nightswimming,” “Man on the Moon” and “Everybody Hurts.” While it’s a hugely important record to so many people, the band members didn’t necessarily set out to make it...

Acoustic Amplification expanded their bass amplification lineup with the B410C bass cabinet. Featuring a 4×10-inch speaker configuration, the cab handles up to 400 watts at 8 ohms. The cab’s traditional ferrite speakers are also accompanied by a defeatable high-frequency horn driver. “This great cab harkens back to the original bass speakers that consistently delivered amazing tone for serious bassists,” says...

Kenny Passarelli’s place in music history was cemented when he co-wrote Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way,” but that just scratches the surface of his career. He also worked with Elton John, Hall and Oates, Stephen Stills, Tommy Bolin, Dan Fogelberg, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), and more. Naturally, he has more than a few stories to tell. The bassist grew up...

Michael League and Snarky Puppy have announced a U.S. tour for 2018 with support from fellow GroundUP artists Forq, Alina Engibaryan, Sirintip, and Banda Magda. The Grammy-winning band will begin their trek in Atlanta, Georgia on February 14th before heading north to Maryland then west. It is currently slated to wrap up March 4th after a four-night residency at SF...

S.I.T. Strings unveiled a new set of bass strings called the Foundations line at Bass Player Live this year. The new strings are built with a “state-of-the-art core material” that the company says makes them extremely responsive. “Designed to be the brightest and most flexible bass string available, The Foundations are sure to become the building blocks of your sound,”...

31 years after its release, Metallica is paying tribute to their iconic Master of Puppets with an incredible reissue box set. The band’s third album has been remastered for sound quality in CD, vinyl, and digital formats. An expansive deluxe box set includes the album in several formats and much more with three vinyl records (with a MP3 Download Card),...

American Head Charge bassist Chad Hanks has died after fighting a terminal disease. He was 46 years old. Hanks co-founded the Minneapolis-based band in 1997 and, along with frontman Cameron Heacock, was one of only two consistent members throughout the group’s history. He’s featured on the band’s self-released debut, Trepanation, as well as The War of Art, The Feeding, and...

Just months after playing his final concert with Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne has announced his own Farewell World Tour that’s slated to last into 2020. The metal pioneer may be finishing up his time on the road, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be done with music altogether. “People keep asking me when I’m retiring,” he says. “This will be my...