News - Page 351

Motörhead was forced to cut the band’s set short at this year’s Wacken Open Air festival in Germany after frontman and bassist Lemmy Kilmister fell ill. The band got through six songs of their planned 75-minute show before Kilmister left the stage. Fans reported that the rock legend was looking pale on stage. “I’ve been ill recently,” Kilmister told the...

Yesterday was a sad day in the world of bass and music in general. On August 2, 1983, James Jamerson – the man responsible for so much of the Motown sound for many years – passed away at the age of 47. As bassists gather today in Detroit to honor the late bassist, another bassist is paying tribute with his...

The bassists in Detroit have a great tradition of getting together every year in front of the Motown Museum for a photo shoot to get the most bass players together in a single picture. As if that’s not cool enough, the event has been expanded with the introduction of Detroit Bass Day, a day-long celebration honoring the legendary Motown bassist...

Phish has announced a fall tour that will cover the East Coast, including a pair of three-night residencies in Virginia and New Jersey. The trek begins October 18th through the 20th at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia before heading north and wrapping up in Atlantic City. Anchored by bassist Mike Gordon, the iconic jam band has recently revealed that...

When renowned jazz bassist David Friesen’s son Scott passed away in 2010, he knew he wanted to honor his life with a memorial CD, and after some time the opportunity arose at the end of a tour with his trio. The resulting album, Brilliant Heart, is a 13-track collection of songs Friesen composed for his son. “My son Scott loved...

Former and founding Tool bassist Paul D’Amour is gearing up on new project called Lesser Key. The group also includes Andrew Zamudio, Brett Fanger and Justin Hanson. The group describes themselves as “[representing] an exploration into personal artistic freedom,” and their sound centers around D’Amour’s steely bass tone and hard hitting lines. The Los Angeles based rockers have just announced...

Bassist Julie Slick has teamed up with guitarist Peter Alexius and Chapman Stick player Marc Mennigmann to form SAM, a progressive-rock trio that bases all their music on improvisation. They’ve just released their first album, Another Life, and an accompanying EP entitled Yet Another Life. “This record contains some of the essence of one week in the studio,” the band...

Victor Wooten has added a Music Theory camp to his VixCamps schedule at the Wooten Woods Retreat in Only, Tennessee. Scheduled for September 23rd and 24th, the educational event offers classes for beginning, intermediate, and advanced players in addition to full group classes. The scheduled instructors are Victor Wooten, Anthony Wellington and Bob Franceschini, with more to be announced. Subjects...

Horror punk icons The Misfits will be heading out on a U.S. tour this fall in support of their latest release, Dea.D Alive!. The outing kicks off on October 6th at Evolution in Nashua, New Hampshire and stretches from the Northeast to the West Coast and back again. Fronted by sole original member and bassist Jerry Only, the Misfits’ latest...

The new supergroup known as The Winery Dogs has released their self-titled debut album. Formed by bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen, the group worked on the album last year. As we reported in December, the project originally included John Sykes, but due to conflicts in schedules and work styles, the group decided to replace him...

Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage have teamed up for a North American tour this fall that will kick off October 22nd in Toronto, Ontario and wrap up November 26th at the Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland. Support for the tour includes Testament and Huntress, which brings the bass heavyweight tally up to John Campbell, Mike D’Antonio, Greg Christian and...

Here’s some news that will make death metal fans rejoice: Cannibal Corpse bass legend Alex Webster is teaming up with The Faceless’s Alex Rudinger, Nevermore’s Jeff Loomis and guitarist Keith Merrow on their new project called Conquering Dystopia. The band started as a collaboration between Loomis and Merrow, who got together for a jam session. “We’ve been talking about it...