Bands with 2 (or more) bass players

[mario_buoninfante]

Hi,

I was checking out Dele Sosimi (keyboard player with Fela Kuti, who's playing in London this Sat) and I saw on YouTube that sometimes in his band he has 2 bass players.
I've always been fascinated by the idea of having more than 1 bass in a band. I remember the first time I heard about it was when I was a teenager and they told me there was an Italian underground band that had 2 basses. Never seen/heard them though.
Then I remember years after that, I discovered Tortoise and they used to have 2 basses in the early days. I liked that a lot!

Any other band worth sharing that have 2 (or more) basses? Any direct (or not direct) experience to share?
 

[BigRedX]

Ned's Atomic Dustbin

 

Some line-ups of Talking Heads from the early 80s have both Busta Jones and Tina Weymouth on bass.

[BassTractor]

Maybe tangentially, but King Crimson, during their Double Trio period, had one guy on Stick and one on Warr guitar.
Those do go lo'.

[lidl e]

Spinal Tap!

 

But only for Big Bottom.

[toneknob]

King Crimson's 'double trio' line-up in the 90s - Tony Levin and Trey Gunn

[Leonard Smalls]

One of my bands!

Here's me on my ACG (with broken leg)and Raph on his Cort at Morecambe nice'n'sleazy fest:

 

[mario_buoninfante]

4 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

One of my bands!

Here's me on my ACG (with broken leg)and Raph on his Cort at Morecambe nice'n'sleazy fest:

 

Nice!

What genre do you guys play?

[mario_buoninfante]

and what's the name of the band?

[Leonard Smalls]

6 minutes ago, mario_buoninfante said:

What genre do you guys play?

Spose you'd call it PunkFunk with a psychedelic edge!

We've got shouty (and occasionally melodic) vox, slightly crazed guitar that's a bit Hawkwindy, funkyish drums, bass that plays simple root type punky lines and me going widdleywee - sometimes with full Royal Blood split tone and sometimes with my newly programmed Bootsy tone.

Here's a hint of mobile phone footage from the excellent Percy's in Whitchurch: (edit, we're Choked)

 

https://fb.watch/gPhGKLXt0l/

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Leonard Smalls

[Len_derby]

BB BlackDog, a steampunk band led by our own @BB BlackDog.

They’ll be launching their new CD on the 27th November at The Bull Shed, near Belper, Derbyshire.

I have no personal connection apart from being a local fan.

[itu]

SMV = Stanley, Marcus & Victor.

Stan has played tenor and he has had a 5-string bassist in his band whose name I do not recall.

 

African bands may have lots of drums and bassists.

[Happy Jack]

I've been in a couple of bands with two bassists.

 

In The Junkyard Dogs @mcdaddy played lead guitar while I played bass. In The Soul Seniors @songofthewind plays bass while I play keyboards (although @mcdaddy depped on bass for a couple of gigs too).

 

Don't think that's what the OP had in mind, though ...

 

[mario_buoninfante]

2 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

I've been in a couple of bands with two bassists.

 

In The Junkyard Dogs @mcdaddy played lead guitar while I played bass. In The Soul Seniors @songofthewind plays bass while I play keyboards (although @mcdaddy depped on bass for a couple of gigs too).

 

Don't think that's what the OP had in mind, though ...

 

Yeah, I meant 2 bassists both playing bass, that's good to know anyway

[Skin Lewis]

Delta 5

 

 

[Rich]

Monkey Boy

 

[mario_buoninfante]

don't know neither of them...
(goes and launches YouTube)...

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by mario_buoninfante

[MacDaddy]

Bros.

[TheGreek]

Mass Mental - inc Robert Trujillo

 

 

[toneknob]

I was quite keen on Tits Of Death back in the mid/late '00s. I'll be surprised if this post doesn't get auto-corrected, but here's a link to photos from one of their 12 Bar Club shows https://nicolai.click/tits-of-death-12-bar

Ah, yes - also they had two bass players, which was the point I had almost completely forgotten. Sadly none of the photos shows both in the same shot, but anyway.

 

[TheRev]

Double bass:

Ned's Atomic Dustbin (as already mentioned)

Girls Against Boys

 

Triple Bass:

Rothko

 

Dunno if quad bass exists.

[tony_m]

With apologies for inflicting them on people again, may I present Evil Blizzard.

 

Line-up used to be four bass players, a singing drummer, and a dancing pig, now it's three bass players (one of whom usually plays baritone guitar), a guitarist who used to play bass, a singing drummer, and a synth-playing pig.

 

 

 

[ambient]

Rothko.

 

Stanley Clark had a second bassist in one of his bands a few years ago.

 

I’ve played in a few electric bass duos.

[asingardenof]

Any band featuring Peter Hook.

[BassFace1991]

The omnific

https://youtu.be/t_d3osflZTQ

[toneknob]

Seems the appropriate place to mention - years ago I saw something on telly, possibly the artsy show on BBC2 which probably became Jools' Later at some point - anyway, imagine a dozen or so bass players in a crescent up against a white background all playing the main riff from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" at a progressively slower and slower tempo. Anyone else remember this or any idea what it might have been?