Tony Levin Trivia

[merello]

Just watched Classic Albums, “So” by Peter Gabriel. Larry Klein did Mercy Street (“So I put in 10th’s”) But Tony Levin spoke about Sledgehammer and how he used a fretless, octaver  and a pick (rare for him).

Biggest revelation was on “Don’t Give Up” where, and I paraphrase, “I started looking for foam to dampen the strings, then I remembered, I had lots of diapers in my bass case because of my 2 month old daughter. I had assumed England wouldn’t have any. So I packed one under the strings and ever since then , Peter and Dan (Lanois) have called that the Big Deep Nappy Bass sound.” 

Now you know unless you knew before!

 

Any other trivia ?

 

[itu]

He had a three string MM, factory built.

His studio burned.

Bass Player had an extensive article about him years back. Motorcycling and nappies included. Funk fingers.

[merello]

Oh....”Don’t Give Up” was written with Dolly Parton in mind but her people said “No...”

[ezbass]

I recommend TL’s Beyond The Bass Clef for many more anecdotes, including this one. 

[stewblack]

Affordable copy of TL's book not to be had anywhere at the moment. I shall look out for it. 

[wateroftyne]

Tony Levin trivia?

I once saw him sitting on a park bench in Whitley Bay, feeding chips to seagulls whilst singing Calendar Girl in a Jamaican accent. He was wearing one of those ties with a piano keyboard design on it.

[Steve Browning]

Don't know if it still does but his website did chronicle the studio fire and the correspondence with Music Man, when he sent a very badly burned bass back and told them their quality control was rubbish. Much hilarity ensued.

[toneknob]

"Some years ago, while I was touring with King Crimson, there was a terrible fire at my barn. Everything in it was destroyed, including many basses and amps. I heard about it the same day, and drove home after that night's show. Of course I was saddened by the loss, and sifted through the remains. One charred relic of a bass caught my attention. Its blackened body was shrunk to half its size, with the pickup melted right onto the charred wood. The neck was gone - the truss rod had survived, but the heat had bent it in half. All four strings were annealed to the bridge, and stuck out at odd angles, one with a tuning peg melted onto its end. A sad sight. I took the bass to that night's show with King Crimson in New Haven - we set it up on stage next to the other basses- quite a sight. And it smelled awful. In doing that, Michele, my tech, noticed that it had no volume controls, which meant it must be the 3 string bass which Music Man had custom made for me, and which had been featured on a magazine cover only months before. They had put so much work into the bass, having to redesign the neck and pickup for only that one instrument. How could I break them the news that it was gone? I shipped them the bass, and preceded its arrival with the following fax:

Hello Sterling. I am having some trouble with the neck of my custom 3 string, and have shipped it to you to adjust. Sincerely, t.l.

Days later, I received this answer:

We have received your bass. Please be advised that this instrument is out of warranty. California no longer allows smoking in bars, which has substantially reduced the odor problem your bass exudes. We have otherwise checked it out and everything appears to be to factory specifications.
Regards."

 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

I remember him saying somewhere that the crew always stood to the side of the stage to watch him when he played 'Don't Give Up' as chances are he wouldn't make it though the song without screwing it up. For anyone that's ever played it, it's one of those songs that has a riff that is played in two different places and the run up and down are slightly different. It's a bit like trying to say 'red lorry, yellow lorry' a thousand times with a mistake. He is human 😀

[Steve Browning]

Thank you. I wasn't far out.

[SICbass]

1 minute ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I remember him saying somewhere that the crew always stood to the side of the stage to watch him when he played 'Don't Give Up' as chances are he wouldn't make it though the song without screwing it up. For anyone that's ever played it, it's one of those songs that has a riff that is played in two different places and the run up and down are slightly different. It's a bit like trying to say 'red lorry, yellow lorry' a thousand times with a mistake. He is human 😀

I think I read the same story. If I remember correctly, at some point the keyboard player informed him that this was going on. Tony Levin says that up until that point he’d always been quite relaxed and had never thought about it, but from then on in his pants were full every night at that spot.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

2 minutes ago, SICbass said:

I think I read the same story. If I remember correctly, at some point the keyboard player informed him that this was going on. Tony Levin says that up until that point he’d always been quite relaxed and had never thought about it, but from then on in his pants were full every night at that spot.

Yes, that was it. You wouldn't think that sort of thing would bother him would you. Just shows you 👍

[ezbass]

I love playing it, the problem I have is that PG’s vocals come in on slightly different beats and I really have to concentrate in order to follow the pattern and not the voice.

[SICbass]

1 minute ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Yes, that was it. You wouldn't think that sort of thing would bother him would you. Just shows you 👍

Precisely. There‘s a useful saying in German “auch er kocht nur mit Wasser“ - which loosely translates as “even he cooks using water“  i.e. we‘re all human.

[toneknob]

The jazz years.

 

[merello]

Wee chat from the man backing up earlier posts.