News - Page 313

Six-string bass is one of the building blocks of drone artist Whote’s (Thomas Watkiss) latest album, Whote II: Moons. Watkiss is the performer on and producer of the record, creating songs with not only the bass, but also distorted guitar, field recordings, and minimal keyboards. Whote is noted for its experimental music, and Moons continues in this vein, with live...

Six years ago on Halloween, Gov’t Mule dressed up in another band’s music. The jam band/Allman Brothers offshoot, featuring Jorgen Carlsson on bass, performed Pink Floyd covers from albums including Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, The Wall, and Wish You Were Here. The 2008 show at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, was recorded and is now available on CD...

Although Megadeth’s drummer and guitarist have left the band, band bassist and co-founder David Ellefson is assuring fans that the band isn’t over. He recently talked with the Megadeth Cyber Army (the band’s fans) online, and noted that his presence on the fan forum should reveal that the band is still together. He then added, “As of right now, we...

It looks like at least one Grammy category is a bass-ic affair this year. Superstar session bassist/sideman Nathan East has received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for Nathan East, his self-titled solo album debut. East has worked with a wide variety of artists in his long career, from Eric Clapton to Stevie Wonder to Michael McDonald. His...

The Foo Fighters’ tour supporting the album/show Sonic Highways will hit North America in July, opening with a spectacular show at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The tour also marks the 20th anniversary of the band’s first album release. D.C. is one of the cities featured in the Foo’s Sonic Highways television show on HBO, which documents the making of...

Do you know someone who would really love to play bass, but wants to learn in their own time and in their own way? Then DiY (Do It Yourself) Electric Bass: Learn to Play Anywhere and Anytime could be the book he or she needs. The book by Ron Manus and L. C. Harnsberger, is structured so that anyone —...

Like It Is: Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome, a 2 CD/DVD set Blu-ray disc, combines songs from two favorite Yes albums: 1971’s The Yes Album and 1977’s Going for the One, in one live package recorded during the band’s spring 2014 tour. “These are two bodies of music that many of the most devout Yes fans wanted to hear in...

System of a Down has announced a short 2015 tour to mark the 100th anniversary of the genocide conducted by Ottoman Turks against Armenian, Greek and Assyrian populations. The final date of the Wake Up The Souls Tour will be a free show in Armenia. The band members, including bassist Shavo Odadjian, are of Armenian descent. Odadjian was born in...

If John Entwistle’s iconic bass lines for The Who have always eluded you, a new book has arrived to help out. from Alfred Publishing will help you play some of the late, great rock bassist’s most famous lines. The transcriptions in the 104-page book include: Baba O’Riley Bargain Behind Blue Eyes Boris the Spider Eminence Front Happy Jack Love, Reign...

Jazz clarinetist, sax player and composer Ken Thomson has released his second album with the group Slow/Fast, again showing how to combine the worlds of jazz and contemporary classical music. Distortion even appears in the group’s music, indicating rock influences as well. The second album, called , sees Slow/Fast featuring all of its original members, including bassist Adam Armstrong, an...

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen’s 2012/13 Old Ideas World Tour featured what many critics called his best band ever. That band featured bass guitarist/upright bassist Roscoe Beck, who also served as the band’s musical director. The sound the band made with Cohen as he supported his Old Ideas album was captured in film and audio recordings in a performance at Dublin’s...

2014 proved to be a rough year for AC/DC, with illness pulling founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young’s out of the stalwart Australian hard rock band as it prepared to release its 15th studio internationally-released album. Legal problems have also left the position of drummer Phil Rudd unclear, heading into a 2015 tour to support the new album, . The music...