Leonard Smalls

The Beat Goes On - The Whispers

Take a lift (off my spliff) - Jacob "Killer" Miller

Even Stan's none-more-80s version? 😁

Not sure I agree with this! Having seen them on their first few gigs in the UK - the first of which was in a 200 capacity pub in Hammersmith - he was always awesome, and the backbone of the band. They wouldn't have been the Chillis without him! Not liking them is a different matter entirely., but I most certainly wouldn't call Flea's playing "struggling"! I remember seeing them at the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden - their 2nd or 3rd UK gig and and perhaps 500 capacity - with Hillel Slovak on guitar. Hillel was in the depths of heroin addiction and he was definitely struggling for the first couple of songs. Then the struggle became too much for him and he left the stage, leaving the other three to finish the gig without him. And it was one of the most memorable gigs I've ever seen - Flea somehow managed to completely cover for him while leaping all around the stage like a dervish and doing his super-speedy slap thing at the same time. Hardly struggling! However, the Superbowl thing was rather embarrassing and should probably be forgotten by anyone who ever saw it 😁

Depends on your definition. What for one person is a bit of mild frottage is for others a full-blown bag-over-the-head-and-a-bottle-of-poppers-cuffed-to-a-radiator scenario! What fills me with horror for any solo is where the band leave the stage, put on a bath and a baked potato leaving said muso (whether he/she/it are bass, guitar, drums, whatever) to fill the time with a cacophony of a-musical onanism. Like that Cliff bloke out of off of Metallica who seems to be so revered! It's only forgivable if it's completely amazing - frinstance I saw Sheila E do a percussion solo for about 10 minutes which had at least 2 minutes on the triangle, and it was awesome - or completely hilarious - like Nigel Tuffnell and his violin-guitar thang. As for bass solos, I absolutely love a good funk-bass one... Like the one Big Tony does for Trouble Funk. It's there to complement the song, and it's groovy, entertaining and full of showmanship.

They are indeed excellent! I bought my Sandberg from them quite a few years ago and pop in whenever I'm in Newtown... Also recommend my local music shop, Knighton Music, though only really for guitars; they have a huge selection of just about anything you can think of! Not much bass unfortunately, but I bought my Parker from them.

Movin' and Groovin' - Redds and the Boys

In a degrees of separation brush with greatness, my mother is a piano teacher... Her first teacher was the German pianist Emil von Sauer, who had been a pupil of Franz Liszt!

Talking of TV appearances, I managed to get 2 tracks from our home-recorded demo on the telly. One was background on a John Craven's Newsround piece about raves (!) and the other was on Crimewatch as the music playing at a party while someone got murdered. Fame!!!

Talking of Stu Hamm you can see how he stacks up against some other bass players in this ultimate widdle-fest! For me he's nowhere near the best in this group - top 3 for me (apart from Stan) are Bunny Brunel, Billy Sheehan and Jimmy Johnson - none of whom do slappyclappy stuff...

Indeed! There's jazz and there's jazz... 😁 I know that in certain jazz circles (i.e. the more acoustic end) electric bass (or anything electric!) is either kind of frowned on or not acknowledged as being suitable for use in "proper" jazz. Use of one demotes the music to "fusion" and not worthy of attention by "serious" jazzers. I had recent experience of this when I asked a local jazz promoter if he would be putting on any more electric jazz or fusion gigs. His reply, dripping with condescension, was "You’re clearly an authority, perhaps one might suggest attending one of our sessions, we’d certainly appreciate your opinion...then perhaps you’d have a better understanding of our Jazz performances!". With a reply like that I wouldn't feel like I was welcome at any of their sessions - all of them (for the last 3 years at least) have been quite straight head "traditional" (not trad!) with brass, piano, double bass and drums with Julian Siegel perhaps being the most "out there". No electric anything... And none were really in any way swinging, none were really about groove, which is what I want in any music, from punk to Vivaldi!

It strikes me that the bass players most BCers don't get is the ones wot play a bit jazzy... The usual criticisms are "no musicality or feel" but I reckon much of that dislike is due to a hatred of jazz! The bass players I find over-rated are those who simply lay down the bottom end with minimal flourishes - in other words are basic bass-players allowing the rest of the players to be the actual musicians 😁 Calling Mr. McCartney!!

Back in the early 90s when I was a trainee boom-swinger I worked on "Keeping Up Appearances". I found I got on very well with the late Geoffrey Hughes and after a few whiskies in the hotel bar we'd go and play on a couple of acoustic guitars, him strumming and warbling, me just using the bottom 4 strings. Gawd help anyone listening!

Sticking with quirky instrumentals, and staying away from jazz (for the moment), early indie-new-wave pioneers featuring Andy Warren on bass:

I done one! Remembering the Babycham ad with a bit of jazzyfunkyrock... Bass is the trusty Wal with a touch of chorus. Guitars are a strat through various Helix programmes. Horns courtesy of Loopcloud, and drums programmed in EZ Drummer. All rolled in a spot of Neutron 3 and Ozone 9.

Here's a slightly crazed instrumental, featuring micro-tonal guitar by The Fuze!

We've got a run of 4 consecutive gigs coming up - Heart of Anarchy with last Tree Squad in Hereford (poster previous page) on 27th April, Guttercrush Festival 5th May in Wellington near Telford (no poster yet!), Soap Girls in Nottingham (poster above) 11th May and newly booked with OG Punks, the Samples in Malvern 20th April:

Orgasm Addict - The Buzzcocks

I've chatted with a few people over the years about a mutual love of P Funk... Firstly, Flea - we shared a "hand rolled cigarette" after I'd blagged my way into an after show party at the Astoria. And Lenny Henry - I arranged to have lunch in the BBC bar with a mate, who brought Lenny with him. They were working on a sitcom together.

I was in a band in the early 80s in Leeds called Dredd and the Badass Weeds... We were kind of ramshackle, and played extended funk-metal and occasionally reggae jams for up to 3 hours if we could get away with it... We broke up when most of us finished at university - some members went on to far greater things. Keith and Jez went on to form MDMA, and later, Utah Saints with lots of chart success. Chris moved back to the US, met up with his old mate Henry and they became the Rollins Band Chris even went on to play with Bowie! And he got me to meet one of my bass heroes, Melvin Gibbs, when I met the Rollinses for lunch in, of all places, the BBC canteen. Our singer, Andy, went on to sing for probably the best of the Madchester bands - New Fast Automatic Daffodils. Our other guitarist - another Andy - still plays with Cassandra Complex who are huge in Germany. And our occasional keyboard player, Jay with the famous mum (Clare Rayner), went on to appear lots on telly eating fancy dinners. The Weeds are still an occasional entity - our long-anticipated debut album is due sometime in the next decade.

Our furthest east gig coming up in May, we'll have to dig out our skimpy mankinis and practice bending over backwards... First time even visiting Nottingham for me!

They're playing at Rebellion 3rd August...

Early electrofunk

Go-Go

A bit of Turkish/US fusion to add to your list!