leeeroy57 Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Hello Just thought I'd share my experience from this weekend when I was lucky enough to perform at the World David Bowie Fan Convention in Liverpool and meet two of my musical heroes, George Murray and Carlos Alomar. They also guested on two songs with our band, The Bowie Contingent, with George playing my 71 P bass which was an incredible honour. George is a lovely man and was kind enough to sit with me for an hour and let me ask him anything I wanted about his time with Bowie, and about bass playing in general. A wonderful, gracious human being! Lee 28 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burns-bass Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Absolutely brilliant! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevsy71 Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Superb, what a great player - ‘Breaking glass’ and ‘Yassassin’ are two of my fav basslines by anyone. And seems a lovely bloke too! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Riva Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Fantastic! And he still looks effortlessly cool… 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeeroy57 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 54 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said: Fantastic! And he still looks effortlessly cool… He does! He told me it was Carlos's idea to wear his jacket inside out on stage with us 😂 He also talked a bit about the top hat and stetson he used to wear at Bowie shows, which unfortunately both went missing or were stolen during a tour in Japan. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The fasting showman Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I'm really glad someone from the Basschat collective managed to attend and meet him, we were on holiday. I'd have to say he's my favourite living bass player. To me, the era of Bowie's music he played on, prior to the 'Let's Dance' star and a backing band dynamic ( to my ears anyway) was a team effort where everyone from Tony Visconti, the musicians and Bowie himself interacted so well. From a recent interview where he mentioned the BC Rich, was that the bass on 'Ashes to ashes' I wonder? There's an interview I once read where Andy Newmark was discussing playing on 'Double Fantasy ' and he mentioned that there was an awareness that whatever went to tape was going to be heard by a lot of people for a long time, but also you were playing with an artist that worked very quickly. I can imagine the late '70s Bowie band must have felt like that. Trying to be creative, to put your art and identity across but within the confines of popular music. That's as good as it gets for me. I hope he stays in the public eye more, he's a greatly appreciated musician. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeeroy57 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 He did mention the BC Rich Eagle to me, and I believe he did use it on Ashes. To be honest he didn't seem to be particular about instruments or gear, he talked about trading away his original P bass for example, the black one he'd used through the Bowie tours with the jazz pickup added near the bridge. If it was me I'd never have traded something like that away! But I think he had no particular attachments to instruments and liked to experiment. Joining the Bowie band I'm in has really upped my respect levels for him. We try to base our versions on live tracks and trying to get the bass parts from Stage down for example was a big challenge for me. The bass is a lead instrument on that album, in my opinion. And on the day after our show he specifically asking around for me by name, and wanted to sit and chat with me, which was incredible really! Such a kind and humble man. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obi 2 kenobi Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 That’s really cool. The stage album and that whole band with Belew was amazing. Did you find out why he seemingly stopped playing after Bowie and kind of disappeared? Last album I have with him on it, is a Jerry Harrison solo album from 1981. Still got it on vinyl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeeroy57 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 Here are the songs with Carlos and George. The event was held in a massive marble hall, and so unfortunately the sound on stage was... difficult 😂 https://youtu.be/zRjvJgQCWAg?si=GxB3oE7tMe_2sJJa 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeeroy57 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 (edited) 11 minutes ago, obi 2 kenobi said: That’s really cool. The stage album and that whole band with Belew was amazing. Did you find out why he seemingly stopped playing after Bowie and kind of disappeared? Last album I have with him on it, is a Jerry Harrison solo album from 1981. Still got it on vinyl He told me it was basically because he couldn't continue on the money he was making, but I also think the way he was treated by Bowie had an effect. The last time he played with him was for a live TV show, SNL I think, and then he never heard from or saw him ever again. I know that's just how Bowie operated, but it can't be easy to spend 5-6 years working with someone like that just to be dumped without even a thank you. I know George spoke about it in a recent interview and said it took him a long time to get over it. Edited July 30 by leeeroy57 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The fasting showman Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 11 hours ago, leeeroy57 said: He told me it was basically because he couldn't continue on the money he was making, but I also think the way he was treated by Bowie had an effect. The last time he played with him was for a live TV show, SNL I think, and then he never heard from or saw him ever again. I know that's just how Bowie operated, but it can't be easy to spend 5-6 years working with someone like that just to be dumped without even a thank you. I know George spoke about it in a recent interview and said it took him a long time to get over it. I think with Bowie's EMI deal, and it being an era of aspiration, as I said before the intention from '83 would have been for a backing band mentality; less creative but more of a churn out the hits, play stadiums etc. I don't think George, Carlos, Dennis, Tony Visconti and Co would have fit into that. I think Bowie publicly stated that he took the wrong route many times. It's horrible feeling like you've been chewed up and spat out though. I'm still sulking about the bands I was in last year ( one that I left through choice) and they were rubbish in comparison! Leaves you unsure of whether to bother still playing at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeeroy57 Posted July 31 Author Share Posted July 31 I agree it was probably right for Bowie to change things around at that point, and obviously nothing lasts for ever, but I think the issue was that George was never told that was happening. It was like "OK George, see you next time", and the next he knew Bowie was doing Let's Dance with a new band. He literally never spoke to Bowie ever again. That had to hurt... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 George's playing on that run of albums from Station To Station to Scary Monsters is untouchable. Live versions on Stage, and more recently released Nassau and Blackout simply dial up the tone and feel of the whole band. What a player. If it's of interest here's an interview with George by Hikaru Davis, son of drummer Dennis Davis of the DAM band. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The fasting showman Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-rhythm-section/8696 I'll reattach this one from the '70s 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diskwave Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 On 31/07/2024 at 09:42, The fasting showman said: I think Bowie publicly stated that he took the wrong route many times Yep he really is a difficult person to like even tho we all love him and how he changed everything. Look at the way he treated Woody on that US tour.. and others afterwards etc. I think its fair to say he used people for their talent and then he'd move on. Anyway back to the thread. How'd he sound with that P bass thu that little Ampeg setup...I kinda know but would be intereetsing to know from someone who was there. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeeroy57 Posted August 2 Author Share Posted August 2 Unfortunately it was a very difficult room sound-wise, all marble and stone with a massive ceiling, so the noise was echoing around everywhere. The sound engineer asked us to keep the volume on stage as low as possible so there wasn't much coming from the amp. I was off to the side when George was playing so I didn't really get a chance to hear him. The videos I've seen have the bass pretty low in the mix, so it's not easy to make out much of his playing unfortunately. What I will say is that he's not been playing music professionally for over 40 years, the stage sound was not ideal, and he'd only ran through the two songs with Carlos and our band once earlier in the day. I think with all that in mind he did a great job, particularly with Secret Life of Arabia which he's presumably not played since it was originally recorded for Heroes. Bowie never played it live. https://youtu.be/zRjvJgQCWAg?si=kP89G2CJnZjuB4G7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misdee Posted August 2 Share Posted August 2 (edited) For my taste, Bowie's backing band during the George Murray-era was one of the greatest of all time, never bettered. George Murray was a major influence when I first started playing during that time, and all these years later I now know enough to understand that he's even better than I thought he was! Such a tasty and inventive player. Nowadays my main bass is a black/tort/rosewood Fender-style PJ, a bit of wish-fulfilment from watching George playing with Bowie on TV back in the day. An enigmatic bass guitar icon. Delighted to see he's doing so well. Edited August 2 by Misdee 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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