Greetings Brothers o' Bass (and sisters...)

[UncleMeat]

Hello,

My name is Sam and I've played bass for 15 years, but amazingly never came here to basschat before. I like it. Lots of great info here and a good friendly supportive vibe.
Got burnt out on internet forums a long time ago thanks to bad attitudes and morons (you know the deal) - but you guys seem to be pretty cool!

So, a little about myself:

I play bass and lead two bands - the avant-punk trio Elephant Vs Leopard, and the currently 'sleeping' prog instrumentalists Tunguska Butterfly (bass, drums, guitar, alto sax and violin). (Sleeping due to an unfinished album and a large outstanding studio bill!!).

Musical heroes/influences - Zappa, Faith No More, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, King Crimson, Geddy/Rush, Chopin, Primus/Claypool, Mick Karn, Stanley Clarke, Steve Harris, Allan Holdsworth, Terry Bozzio, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Bill Bruford, Percy Jones, Meshuggah, Mike Patton (and associated projects like Fantomas, Mr.Bungle etc), Erik Satie, John Zorn... I could go on but you get the idea already.

The EvL line-up consists only of bass, drums and vocals. No guitar.

NO GUITAR!!

Think Henry Rollins/Nomeansno/Primus/King Crimson with a somewhat aggressive delivery and a heavy dose of sarcasm and narcissism.

I use an A/B box and run one side into a Sansamp BDDI and then my trusty mid 90s SWR Bass 350; the other side through a bunch of fuzz pedals into whatever tube guitar head is available. I'm currently on the search for a second hand Orange Thunderverb or a Marshall JMP Superlead/bass 100 head. Oh and an SWR 8x8 to replace my tired 4x10 Goliath.
My rig sounds like a cross between Geddy Lee, a chainsaw and a large diesel engine. I cut the low end from my sound and I play chords a lot. It sounds like I use a pick but I don't. Many people think I'm a frustrated guitarist but I'm not.

In my other projects I dispense with the guitar head and just play 'bass'. After spending many years as a dumb rocker I developed my reading writing and theory abilities after hitting a wall a few years ago, whereby i was struggling to realise my musical aims. (e.g. you can't walk a jazz line if you don't know about chords, and you can't score for strings and write for sax players if you can't write notation, and you can't play Zappa if you don't know what a quintuplet is etc)

Said bass is a 1996 Warwick Corvette Standard 4 (bubinga), with passive pickups, and strangely, a Corvette Pro-line badge on the headstock. I had been playing 2 years when I got this new, and it's the only bass I've used since, apart from my fretless. (More news on the fretless another time - I think you guys would dig it).

If you wanna check out EvL (please do!) then get down to

www.myspace.com/elephantvsleopard

(Sorry I'm not well 'netucated' so can't do a link!! Maybe you tell me how!)

There are tracks from our debut album there and our music video too. Would love to hear what you guys think.
Thanks for reading my blurb, maybe speak to you soon

Sam

[cocco]

Hey Sam. Welcome to the forum, you're right it really is a great resource. I've learned a lot in my time here and am still learning now. I'm gonna check your band out next time I'm on a computer. Sounds sorta DFA1979 esque . I enjoyed reading your blurb. Enjoy the forum.

Ash

[Cat Burrito]

Hi Sam - Welcome to the Forum

[Lozz196]

Welcome to Basschat

[karlfer]

Welcome to the site and enjoy.
Be prepared for the terminal GAS brought about by Gear Porn and For Sale.
You have been warned

[paul_5]

Welcome on board. Nice to see more Zappa enthusiasts on the forum, I'll be listening to EvL later on tonight, thanks for the link.

Paul

(Nice name by the way, it's one of my favourite albums).

[alanbass1]

Welcome aboard

[LemonCello]

[quote name='alanbass1' post='1031857' date='Nov 21 2010, 08:38 PM']Welcome aboard[/quote]

Welcome Sam... Teenage Prostitute is still one of my faves.

Enjoy, there are a lot of good people here.

LC