Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 549

Bassist Adam Neely has started experimenting with new sounds and genres with his bass. “I have been influenced recently Thundercat and Squarepusher and love the idea of melding virtuosic bass playing with modern electronic dance textures,” he explains. In “I Didn’t Know,” Neely teams up with Indie/soul singer Justina Soto to deliver a catchy groove and thick textures in a...

Guitarist/composer Justin Morell’s new album Subjects and Compliments is an experimental exploration of the relationship between the jazz and classical idioms. Compositionally, Morell reaches into the past with fugue forms on some tracks while also blending in room for solos on others. The ensemble itself fits somewhere between a big band and jazz combo and chamber group with instruments ranging...

We recently featured Jerry Scheff in a new series, Profiles in Tone. In that interview, Jerry shared insights on how he got his tone. While I was researching for the interview, I found this clip from a 1970 concert with Elvis Presley in Las Vegas. The whole band is cooking, but Scheff’s bubbling yet muscular bass line really brings the...

Seven-string fretless bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling has released the first track from his new band Nufutic entitled “Dark Full Moon.” The band, formed by Thesseling and Sadist guitarist Tommy Talamanca, blends metal and fusion with plenty of awesome bass lines. “We had ideas that we couldn’t use in bands we played in in the past, and we thought it could...

My Facebook friend Dusty Mulholland shared a picture of a Becker/Martian Bass a couple weeks ago, and I’m glad he did. It led me to find this fine specimen of a bass, known as the Mantis – a bass with a body shape that you might expect from an other-worldly bass company. While they can be made to order, this...

Leland Sklar recently took part in an episode of Studio Jams, an online series that brings together different legendary musicians to jam on songs and see what happens. The rest of the band includes saxophonist Najee, guitarist Joe Jewell, drummer Rayford Griffin and David Garfield on keyboards. The group decided to jam out the classic Meters song, “Cissy Strut.” “These...

When a band has been active for five decades, there’s bound to be some songs that fall through the cracks. That’s certainly the case with The Rolling Stones, according to bassist Daryl Jones. Jones, who has been playing with the veteran rockers since Bill Wyman’s departure, told Noise11 that there’s a wealth of unreleased tracks from the band’s recording sessions...

EBS will be releasing the Classic 500, a solid state, retro-styled bass amp. Building upon the company’s Classic 450, the 500 is rated at up to 500-watts at 2 ohms while fitting into a more compact casing. Although the Classic 500 is a solid-state amp, EBS says its sound is aimed at capturing a classic tube amp tone. Controls include...

It’s hard to believe that Lamb of God’s As the Palaces Burn is ten years old, but the band is celebrating the anniversary with a remixed reissue of the pivotal album. The original catapulted the Virginia-based metal outfit to the forefront of the metal scene due to its fresh mix of southern groove and technical, hard-hitting riffs. Bassist John Campbell...

After staging 219 performances of “The Wall” over the last three years, Roger Waters has revealed that he’s getting back to writing. The former Pink Floyd bassist is hard at work on a new record that will prove to be his first rock album in over two decades. Similar to the iconic production he’s been touring, the new effort is...

Croatian custom instrument company Aries Basses has announced a new model named the Alpeluti. Described as their entry-level bass, the simple design is built in batch to keep prices down. The Alpeluti features bolt-on construction that pairs a mahogany body with a 3-piece maple neck and Indian Palisander fingerboard. It has a long 35″ scale and an asymmetrical neck profile...

Here’s bassist Gheorghe Postoronca performing his most excellent solo bass song “On The Road” from his upcoming album. Postoronca shares that the tune – which features beautiful jazzy chords and a killer groove – was inspired by the novel of the same name by Jack Kerouac. Bravo!