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When I was 17 in 1988, I bought my first bass guitar, a $50 Fender Precision copy. It was terrible, and my rudimentary playing was even worse, but in my head, of course, I sounded exactly like Paul McCartney, John Taylor, Geezer Butler, and most of all, Cliff Burton, who had died just a couple of years before. As a teenage Metallica fan, I was intrigued by the unexpectedly melodic nature of Cliff’s playing. Nowadays we know that this was the result of his study of Geddy Lee, Steve Harris, and Johann Sebastian Bach, but back then, all I knew was that he was playing great-sounding lines and fills, often through a barrage of distortion. I gave it my best shot, and several decades later I should really thank my…
News and views from the bass world, collated by BP's team of newshounds Thirty-six years and counting since the premature death of Thin Lizzy’s singer and bassist Phil Lynott, his profile has steadily risen to the status of icon. These days, music historians place him squarely at the heart of a rock’n’roll epoch that is unlikely to return, which may explain the appeal of releases such as the forthcoming Phil Lynott: Songs For While I’m Away + Thin Lizzy: The Boys Are Back In Town: Live At The Sydney Opera House October 1978 package, no doubt this year’s longest-titled rock release. As you’ve probably figured out, the new collection pairs the former Lynott movie documentary with an acclaimed in-concert film, and is available as a double DVD plus CD (remember…
THE Lowdown Alec John Such, a founding member and former bass player with Bon Jovi, passed away on June 5 at the age of 70. The news was confirmed via a statement posted to Bon Jovi’s official Twitter account. “We are heartbroken to hear the news of the passing of our dear friend Alec John Such,” the statement said. “He was an original. As a founding member of Bon Jovi, Alec was integral to the formation of the band. To be honest, we found our way to each other through him. He was a childhood friend of Tico [Torres, drummer] and brought Richie [Sambora, former guitarist] to see us perform. Alec was always wild and full of life... We’ll miss him dearly.” Born in 1952 in Yonkers, New York, Such…
THE Lowdown Earlier this year, the prolific musician Cory Wong announced a new instalment of his Cory & The Wongnotes YouTube series—a variety show format he first introduced last year that sees him team up with an all-star house band and an array of guest collaborators. A recent episode is a one-hour-plus bass extravaganza which features Victor Wooten. The 70-minute showcase is front-ended with The Great British Bass Off—a five-minute parody of Britain’s The Great British Bake Off, released ahead of the episode—which in turn is followed by a performance of Wong and Wooten’s new collaborative track, ‘Direct Flyte’. See Wong’s YouTube channel for this slice of baked bass.…
THE Lowdown Back in 2019, prog-metal veterans King’s X announced that they planned to record their first album in over a decade. The band—led by the great singer and bassist Doug Pinnick—have now announced that the LP will be released on September 2. “It’s been forever since we put out a new album, and I’m ready for the world to hear our latest offering,” says Pinnick. “There’s a bit of everything that you love about King’s X; three sides of one is the best way to describe it. The groove is with us!”…
The acclaimed amp manufacturers Trickfish have announced the arrival of the Bullhead Mini 500, available now with a street price of $799. With a Mike Pope-designed low-noise preamp integrated with a 500W Class D power amp, the US-made unit features a four-band EQ, selectable input sensitivity, pre/post balanced DI out, a Neutrik SpeakON combo connector and a range of other connections. It’s a highly lumbar-friendly product, weighing in at only 3.4 pounds and puts out 500 watts at 4 ohms. Helpfully, it comes with auto-switching AC mains for worldwide use, a feature which we’d like to see on more amps as the live circuit begins to warm up again and a certain level of international touring resumes. In other amplification news, the Polish Taurus company has released a product for…
