Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 543

ESP will be unveiling the first batch of products from their new US factory at NAMM this year. The instruments will be part of the new E-II series and will be built in North Hollywood, California. Among the new basses will be the ESP E-II AP-4 and AP-5 models. Each of the four and five-sting versions are built with bolt-on...

My pal Seth introduced me to this song a few years ago, and for some reason it always makes me think of New York City. We featured this song with Paul Jackson before, but this version is taken from Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters 2005 tour with Marcus Miller holding down the low end. Marcus takes a solo starting around the 5:30...

The Sword, anchored by bassist Bryan Richie, has announced the tenth and final leg of their tour cycle for their latest album, Apocryphon. Kicking off in Austin, Texas on February 13th, the band will first head east, then north to Canada and back down into the U.S. The band has also released a lyric video for “The Hidden Masters,” which...

Bassist Gwil Sainsbury has quit the English indie rock band Alt-J, according to a post on the band’s Facebook page. “We’re sad to say goodbye to Gwil – the last 5 years with him in the band have been fantastic and we are all proud of our achievements together,” the post reads. “However our enthusiasm to continue working on our...

The best basses come with great stories. Jimmy Haslip’s six-string bass from Wyn Guitars, called “Gabriela Rose,” is a great example. Wyn Guitars luthier Randy Fullmer recounts the whole process on his website. “It’s a luthier’s dream to make an instrument for an artist with the stature and playing chops of Jimmy Haslip,” Fullmer humbly states. “I of course handled...

STS9 has been forced to postpone their winter tour after the band announced that bassist David Murphy will be leaving their ranks. “In life, the only constant is change. We try to embrace this in our music and in our lives and its in this spirit that we announce STS9 and bassist David Murphy are parting ways,” the band shared...

The incredibly talented Slovakian bassist Juraj Griglak just posted this awesome video from the 1985 Bratislava Jazz Festival. Griglak got to hop on stage to jam out with the Stanley Clarke Band and ripped up some crazy slap lines. Clarke shouts, “we got a good one!” just before jumping into the action himself. Too cool.

Jeff Berlin has teamed up with Cort for a new signature bass for 2014. Dubbed the RITHIMIC, the model features an alder body with a striking padouk and spalted maple top with a matching spalted headstock. Its hard rock maple neck is topped with a rosewood fingerboard. The bass is set up to Berlin’s liking with low action and a...

After a 10-year stint, Testament founder and longtime bassist Greg Christian has once again left the legendary thrash metal band. A reason for the departure has not been given, though the news comes just a few months after Christian had to sit out the group’s North American tour with Lamb of God for personal reasons. Filling his shoes will be...

Dane Alderson is one of my favorite bassists, and this video is a great example of why. Recorded with Troy Roberts’ Nu-Jive at the Charles Hotel in Perth in 2011, Alderson fills out the groove perfectly with a round, modern tone and tasteful fills. He then takes an extended solo starting at 6:15 with lots of great twists and turns...

For all the do-it-yourselfers, Mod Kits DIY has introduced the Wahtz Wah Pedal Kit. The kit comes with all the pieces and instructions to build the effects pedal. The company says the Wahtz Wah Pedal kit creates a pedal with a classic wah tone “with a hint of extra bite and growl.” It features true bypass to prevent signal loss...

I really love bass cams. Sometimes they make you feel a little dizzy, but the perspective is so cool. Here’s a bass cam video of bassist László Demeter playing with his band, byron. Demeter pins down the low end for the song “Zeitgeist,” which was recorded during their New Year’s Eve gig at Clubul Taranului in Bucharest.