Saturday 28 January 2012

Posted by david_statter |

The Demise Of The Bassist

By David Statter

Illustrations by Sonia Whitehead

The bass guitar has played a fairly pivotal role in popular music for decades, from the double bass in Elvis’ TCB band to the Gibson Thunderbird IV electric bass played by The Who’s John Entwhistle.

Lately, however, Toast can’t be alone in noticing an increasing number of bands who no longer feel the need to have a low-end theorist among their number, which has led us to the question: Is the bassist no longer an essential element of a band’s musical DNA? Is it now being used more as a supplement to a band rather than an inherent part of its setup? To be fair, the exclusion of a bassist isn’t entirely a new development. One of the most famous bands lacking a bass player is The Doors; active between 1965-73, they produced some of the biggest classic rock anthems of all time, all with the aid of a Fender Rhodes piano bass. The Rhodes covered the ‘low end’ notes that a bass would, and so by using this early incarnation of the keyboard bass The Doors achieved a significantly more distinctive sound than they would have done with a traditional bass instrument. Despite not employing a full-time bassist they did tend to employ studio musicians to give them a richer sound on their albums, pretty much refuting the myth that they were strictly non-conformist in their band setup.

Sorely-missed garage rock duo The White Stripes managed to make a hell of a noise, despite only having a guitarist and drummer. With regard to the number of members some bands have, Jack White has stated: “you can keep going and going and going. It’s scary. [It] would break up the thing of vocals, guitar and drums.” The stripped-back purity of the band’s sound is clearly aided by the economical nature of their lineup and Jack White has gone on record as stressing that as “there’s just the two of [them] in the band it means the music is less structured and can be more ‘on the moment’ so to speak.” They have employed the help of a few guest contributors to albums in the past but most were only favors to friends and artists or when they had an idea that couldn’t be fulfilled by the two of them alone. The White Stripes have also relied on some synthetic bass in the studio but it is arguably not enough to warrant a challenge to their status as a two-piece band, though it’s worth noting that as their studio experimentation expanded, their ability to replicate their more complex tracks in a live setting became more of a challenge, ‘Seven Nation Army’ being a notable example.

The Black Keys share an approach and sensibility with The White Stripes, but whereas the latter take in a range of garage and rock n roll influences, The Black Keys take traditional blues as a jumping-off point. By eschewing the standard setup of a double bass, drums, guitar and a selection of woodwind and brass instruments in favour of stripped-back vocals, guitar and drums, The Black Keys manage to create a tight, modern blues sound. Unlike a lot of other bands who seem to have actively left out the bass, there’s no deep meaning behind the lack of it in The Black Keys, just the simple fact that, as drummer Patrick Carney states “Bass players are hard to find, especially ones that can really play.” What is clear is that bassists are in short supply and there seems to be less desire to take up the bass than in the past. From the sixties onwards and right up until the nineties very few bands were seen without a bassist but it appears that the trend of replacing bassists with piano, or at least having multi-purpose instrumentalists is catching on, with a countless number of modern bassists being able to play several instruments.

While their sound does include bass guitar, eight-strong Montreal chamber-pop merchants Arcade Fire can often be seen to swap and change roles and instruments across the spectrum of their musical output, and this eclecticism is perhaps the key to this discussion. An eclectic approach to multi-instrumentalism inevitably means not sticking to a single instrument. Bassists such as John Paul Jones or Paul McCartney can play over 25 different instruments between them, so could it be that the concentrating solely on the bass guitar represented limitations that made them look to other instruments as an outlet for creativity? As there’s no pressure to pick a single instrument, the bass guitar seems to have been relegated to the bottom of the pile. Perhaps it’s an image thing. As Matthew Johnson (Fat Possum Records) puts it “Jean designers and lead guitarists rule the world, we all know that”. This is a point you’d struggle to dispute. Maybe it just isn’t cool to be a bassist. When Toast dreamt of being in a rock band as a kid, we pretty much thought of being the front man or the lead guitarist, or possibly the drummer as a last resort. It’s a safe bet that very few of us at that stage even knew what a bass guitar was. Perhaps it is due to the disproportional amount of guitarists in the world that bassists are being left out of bands, as they just aren’t readily available.

Whether bass players are surplus to requirements or aspiring bands and musicians have simply had to manage without them, the fact remains that the noble bass player is clearly not the staple of a band’s setup that it once was. Gone are the days from school where a group of guitarists had to draw the short straw for who would move onto bass to join up with the only kid in school who could play drums. We’ve now very much entered an era of the ‘Multi-instrumentalist’. We no longer have popular ‘big bands’, everything is condensed and stripped down, with a few artists playing the part of many, and the modern drummer alone can replace the majority of a percussion section. This idea is further supplemented by synthetic production where you can effectively create whatever instrument sounds you want on an album. All in all, perhaps it’s not so much a demise of the bassist but more an evolution.


CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Posted by david_statter |

In the modern popular culture where music is part of every day life, the music journalist is incredibly important. From easy listening in your bedroom to heavy metal music in a rainy field in Donnington, music is an intricate part of your life whether you realize it or not. Virtually everyone will hear some form of music every day and this will be across a broad spectrum of mediums from live street music to the radio. This is brought to you by a range of people but the music that popular society is exposed to is decided almost solely by music journalists and to a certain extent bloggers. Traditionally the leading magazines of each genre will decide whether a band will make it and when leading to many bands not getting coverage no matter how hard they work. More recently, with the creation of social networking sites and sites such as ‘blogger.com’ it has been much easier to get coverage in places that would have been just impossible to without the help of a established magazine. Artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Lady Gaga made their own fame on MySpace and twitter or through other less conventional methods such as publicity stunts and free giveaways which left them being the ones being actively sought after by the magazines.

Posted by david_statter |
Hailing from Southampton, the hometown of Craig David and Scott Mills, Fly Frankie Fly join the long list of indie-electro club bands on the circuit. They have the dedication to produce a catalogue of songs long enough for a live set list but like so many before them, they lack the skill to produce an EP viable enough for a label to be interested. Having said this they have appeared on the ‘Radio One – Rob Da Bank show’ and have received a mixture of reviews from “[the] most amazing front man” to “kind of indescribable!” which you can take whichever way you wish. As a band, the sound is upbeat, catchy and you can feel yourself dancing to it to a certain extent but it is definitely not a band I would find myself listening to in preparation for a night out. The live reviews are positive and they may be a band that performs better under the imperfect but somewhat satisfying conditions that you can only encounter in a claustrophobic clubroom with a few hundred screaming fans in front of you. And they do have a fan base, comprising of over five thousand members (according to MySpace) so there’s obviously some “Fly Frankie Fly bug” that you can only become infected with after direct contact with the band, that you just cant contract from the music alone. I won’t go out of my way to watch this band but to those who are interested to sample them, the Solent duo can be found in a Southampton club in the near future.
Posted by david_statter |

...Despite it only being midway through the ‘all-dayer’ at Hamptons, and just before dinnertime, it was surprisingly busy. The atmosphere is relaxed, with people seated at tables or milling around the bar area, listening to the last song of a group of children that quite frankly must have slipped through the net at the try outs. Hamptons is a small venue with a capacity of less than 50 people but it’s this intimacy that gives much of the venue’s charm, complimented with ivy and tomato plants, lulling the audience into the illusion that they could be in a local tapas bar on the Costa del Sol. The event has been set up by Jimmie Chills, Hamptons’ friendly events organiser who, whilst running the sound and lights on the night still had time to add insightful pieces of information about some of the artists as the night went on. Its small clubs like this that are the first rung on the ladder for many bands and it’s the friendly staff and organisers of these gigs who are genuinely interested in the acts they promote that are key to the success of many bands we know today.

The next act steps onto the stage with the familiar re-tuning of guitar and adjusting of the mic stand we’ve seen multiple times today, introduces himself as Andy Hawkswell and begins his set. The first song is a rather downbeat love song leaving the listener feeling rather melancholy and the little rush of curiosity that accompanied Andy’s arrival on the stage was replaced once again with the polite disinterest of before. The next song however perked up the ears of even those in the deepest of discussions, with its animated intro and the guttural tones of the first verse contrasting greatly to the soft song of before. From this song on we see a mix of different tempo songs from Andy and to make up for the variety in style it seems he decided to focus five of his six songs on “this girl [he] thinks is fit” but this detracted nothing from the quality of his song writing, with each song personifying a different aspect or experience he has had with this girl. Sprinkled in-between the songs are brief pauses for a bit of interaction with the crowd, with his accessible humour Andy proves to be an all round entertainer rather than just a singer-songwriter. When he plays his final song named “Baby Elephants” he gets the largest applause of the day and leaves the crowd with a few witty comments to ponder and can himself exit the stage with the satisfaction of knowing that he truly set the bar high for the remaining acts…



...After such an exceptional performance from Andy, on stumbled two students from Solent University, dressed in mismatched clothing in an attempt, I believe, to be artistic. Katie was wearing leggings with a colour-clashing top straight from the wardrobe of DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Tom was wearing three-quarter length jogging bottoms with a smart shirt and tie; presumably wanting to appeal to both the sophisticated music fan, and to the students by remaining true to his roots. An unexceptional looking act to say the least; but like all the acts before them, they were given the respect of the audience who eagerly await the next performance. Seated at the back of the audience the drop of the audiences shoulders was clear when the set opened with the words: “We’re going to start with a cover of a song you all love.” As this song was a song we all loved you’ll be surprised to find that it was a good minute before I realized that the track was in fact meant to be “Use Somebody” by the Kings of Leon but it was definitely pushing it. What topped off their opening track was the over the head acoustic guitar solo, which unsurprisingly lead to several smirks in the audience and in my case I actually felt goose pimples of embarrassment just being there. Whilst I feel sorry for the couple I believe its necessary to carry on describing their performance accurately.

When it came to a song they felt they could harmonize in, they couldn’t. Katie, to her credit, sings with power in her voice that does predominantly come from shouting rather than projecting her lyrics, but this is easily fixed with a few singing lessons and a bit more practice. With a style comparable to Juliette Lewis, Katie did produce some interesting covers of some classic tracks and with a bit more work I believe she could do well. Tom, on the other hand, despite knowing the songs he was singing, struggled to keep a tune as he was singing in a style that I can only describe as choral, which really didn’t fit the songs at all. To round of their selection of rock anthem killer covers they decided to play The ‘Middle’ a song that I hold up in my top five favorite songs of all time, so I was a little on edge not wanting to hear them ruin it but living up to the rest of their set they well and truly destroyed it. And that was that, with a small mention of their new EP coming out they were gone, supported by a polite round of applause. For those interested, the album is out, quite ironically, on the 1st of April and they have a string of promotional gigs at that time…



…This band shall be named ‘Unknown’ as rather unprofessionally they failed to introduce themselves, but putting this aside they were a very intriguing act and if you can track them down I would recommend going to watch them. Walking onto the stage they were a much more striking collective as they all left the house wearing clothes that were acceptable in public. The lead singer, and overall spokesperson for the group took to the mic and with the words “not gonna lie… we haven’t practiced any originals because we’re too lazy” they broke into a cover of ‘Purple Haze’ by JImi Hendrix. So yet another cover band to hit the stage but in this case it was a breath of fresh air as they genuinely did the originals justice. They performed a varied mix of songs ranging from ‘love isn’t a competition’ by the Kaiser Chiefs to ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley, but it was the acoustic cover of ‘Hey Ya’ by Outkast that impressed me the most as it was such a far cry from the original that it just worked so well. Lisa the front woman was confident, bubbly and engaging and didn’t mind making fun out of her own over-enthusiasm the ‘lead’ guitarist had evidently been playing for years and was very quiet but very secure in the fact that his talent was not being lost on the audience. The second guitarist’s purpose however, I’m not entirely sure of, as for the majority of the set he was watching the other two, or strumming along to a basic version of the lead guitar work. Towards the end of the performance we find out that he is in fact the singer’s boyfriend, which goes some way towards explaining his appearance on set, maybe there was nothing worth watching on television. This band actually had time for an encore, which I think secretly they planned for, as after a moment of mock surprise and modest appreciation they started playing ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus. This was were Lisa’s true skills as a performer were exposed as she managed to get more than half of the audience to start singing along, and even some of them stood up, although I’m half convinced these were her carefully placed friends. All in all a very successful set, that these three (although largely the singer and lead guitarist) young artists should be very proud of…

Posted by david_statter |
Our Time Down Here is a successful hardcore/pop-punk band from Southampton Solent University with two previous albums under their belt. With obvious links to the big names of pop punk such as Blink 182 and Sum 41, there is also the hardcore element where I think the band would be happy with the comparison to the Drop Kick Murphys. Having such a large following all over the country, the band have given themselves quite a challenge to keep their fans happy. In spite of this Last light, their latest EP to hit the streets is of the same high quality you can expect from such an established band. It is a very well finished studio EP, which has six upbeat tracks covering a range of topics experienced in university and life in general. From the less-than-moral antics experienced on drunken nights out at a club from their home town to the fears associated with committing to a girl you love. This band have gone from strength to strength producing a record that not only compliments their 2010 album ‘Live. Love. Let Go.’ but also successfully acts as a stand-alone product. The band is currently touring around the south of England and will be joining the tour of hardcore Italian band ‘If I Die Today’.
Posted by david_statter |
Formed from the friendship of three teens from a quiet seaside town in Devon, ‘Apollo’s Arrows’ is a very successful band that has been playing together since the age of sixteen. They found their hometown restricted them as people and also as musicians so moved around the country in the pursuit of further education and to expand their creative prowess. Touring originally under the band name of ‘Resonate’ they have performed over 300 gigs in total and have accrued a huge fan base for such a small town band. After a year’s hiatus they were to reform under the current name ‘Apollo’s Arrows’ and are soon to release their first official EP, titled ‘Young Romantic Mannequins’. The EP comes from the combined work of the trio over the last few years and is a declaration of their talent as artists. With each song comprising of skillful guitar work, strong vocals and a tight percussion section. This record truly is a testament to these boys and the hard work they’ve put into the success of their band.

Monday 22 November 2010

Posted by david_statter |
Chris “woody” Wood from the Hardcore/Metal band ‘Drowned with Oceans’ is a talented guitarist from Southampton Solent University. He is in his first year reading a Sound Technician degree where he has made great use of the studios and live sound equipment but finds a few of the units irrelevant to him as a musician as he said despite how “I can see why its useful but I'd rather focus more on the music side of the degree”. He’s been playing guitar for about five years now and has been learning drums as a side project but until he gets a contract of some sort Woody says most of the funding for his equipment and touring comes in the form of a loan from his family, which he promises to pay back when his band makes it big.

Drowned with Oceans’ is his third band, having previously played guitar in two successful bands with possibly the most famous band being ‘Crestfallen’, who have just recently booked a European tour and are managed by Enterprise Music MGMT. Having asked why he didn’t stay with the last band, baring in mind they were getting interest when he was still an active member, he replied “I'd say Uni is more important because I dropped out of my previous band Crestfallen who are now booked to tour Europe but after succeeding with a band for a year or two you need something to fall back on like a degree”. Despite clearly being very devoted to music, Chris has a sensible head on his shoulders and is clearly thinking of the future and can see that it is impractical to base all of his future on the success of his band and wants to have a job that can provide a regular, guaranteed income whilst still satisfying his passion for music.

It seems that while his current band is doing very well, it is also a chance for Chris to release some of the stresses that University life inevitably causes. When talking about rehearsals with the band he says that “[They] are more about hanging out as mates but now and then we jam out the songs, mostly just relax and practice *laughs*.” The guys in ‘Drowned with Oceans’ have been together for over a year now and have one EP and are currently working on their second named ‘Jackknife’. Having been likened to bands such as ‘Confession’ and ‘The Acacia Strain’ they have played all over the country with several big names including ‘Break Even’ from Australia ‘A Textbook Tragedy’ from Canada and ‘Awaken Demons’ from Italy. An average show will include a mixture of tracks from both albums with "integrity" "foundations" and "baby one more time" off 'foundations' and "beyond the pale" and "the pain machine" off "jackknife" being the favorites. They have a large fan base in and outside of the Uni and make good use of the contacts they have in order to get themselves gigs at some of the top venues in Southampton.

There is a chance for any music fans to see ‘Drowned with Oceans’ at an upcoming show at 'Joiners' on 2nd December when they support ‘The Ghost Inside’ and ‘For the Fallen Dreams’ both from the USA. Their 2nd EP is out in the New Year.