Music Live
Current Projects
The other group, which started in January 2002 but does not yet have a title, includes Brian Richey (guitar), Don Metkiff (drums/percussion), the incomparable Kenney Polson (sax), and me (bass). We're working on some original songs that could best be classified as jazz, fusion, and new blues-influenced instrumental rock. Our work really covers a diverse range of styles so it's hard to narrow it down exactly; but in any case, we try to work on good chord progressions and an enjoyable feel. While we're still working on new material, we plan to record some songs as we get them into shape. We're hoping to eventually record an album, choose a band name, and start playing live occasionally.
Update: we played one live wedding gig in June of 2002. It was fun but I got really sick of playing in formal shirt/slacks. Bleh. (No pictures, at least!)
For this project I'm using quite a lot of fretless bass work. Most of this is from my Carvin 5-string fretless bass, which sounds absolutely incredible with the new Lane Poor pickups. Lately, my new Modulus Quantum 5-string fretless bass has found its way into most of the songs, and it's really versatile for having only one pickup. Other songs need a more punchy feel, so I'm using my Zon 5-string fretted bass too.
Watch this space for future news, and maybe some MP3 audio clips!
Past Projects
In early 2001, I rehearsed and performed with a local (Salt Lake City) band called DESIbels, which is a mostly-Indian band, including students attending the University of Utah, and other local musicians in the Indian community. We performed at a local fund-raising event on April 21, 2001. Additional shows were played a few weeks later, for University of Utah students, and at a festival (whose name escapes me) with many other musicians.
Most of the music was Indian vocal pop songs (sung in Hindi and Tamil), so my role as a bassist was more of a background player, and supporting the rhythm of the percussionists. It was pretty fun to explore this style, as it stretched me and encouraged me to be a team player.
For this music, my main instruments were my Ibanez fretless 6-string Soundgear bass, and my Zon Legacy Elite 5-string bass. These basses best fit the sound of the music, with a smoother and more controlled tone that isn't too aggressive.
As of August 2001, I have departed from this band due to moving out of Utah, and I wish DESIbels the best in their future efforts. I made good friends, learned a lot, and had a great time. I hope they can find another bassist though...
Music Recorded
In the past two years, I've been doing some recording for a good friend of mine, Andrew Miller, an independent musician in Iowa. So far I've laid down bass and Stick tracks for a good number of the songs on his forthcoming album, Subtlerage: Meditations. (The link has more information about the album and the songs.) The music is best described as expressive, tonally rich, synthesizer/sample heavy, and very cathartic. For this music, my role was to work within the framework of Andrew's well-written songs, yet still add my own elements of style and expression. My goal was to craft a well-defined and supportive bass line for each of the songs (which vary quite a bit), while adding enough character to keep the low end interesting and subtle.
Working with Andrew has been a total blast, as well as a test of our technical abilities and the limitations of technology. As Andrew lives in Iowa and I lived in Salt Lake City, the entire project has been coordinated remotely over the Internet. The core tracks were mailed as data files on CD-Rs, and imported into my home PC for recording. All my recording has been through an aging sound card that has its own quirks. Finally, I sent back CD-Rs of my bass tracks, and Andrew mixed them into his final projects for mixing and mastering. Extensive e-mails and MP3 file transfers were necessary to keep good communication.
For this music, I used pretty much all of my basses. The styles of each song were varied, and each called for its own different tone and approach to the bass line. My Zon Legacy Elite worked very well for "On The Way Out", as its unique deep bass and midrange tones seemed to be the best for that song and its style. My Chapman Stick (10-string) has a wonderful attack and crisp sound that was used on the track "Sleep", which called for an agressive, percussive, and syncopated bass line. I'm really looking forward to hearing the finished result for all of these songs, and I'm happy to be able to contribute to Andrew's musical efforts.