S.A. Sebastian: A View From The Bottom

A couple weeks ago I recorded another bass track, a song called “Masters of Limitation,” for Freedom. It’s very cool hypnotic track that combines acoustic and electronic instruments. This is also the first release featuring me on upright bass. (I played the upright on the 2 live tracks on Atomic Brother’s Pretty Little Lunatic Ep, coming out May 25th). You can check out “Masters of Limitation” by going to Freedom’s website at http://freedom-artist.com, selecting the Age of Aether album and then click on  ”Masters of Limitation.” You can listen or download for free.

Almost monthly, a group of professional bass players gather in NYC for the Bass Brunch. I have been fortunate enough to have been invited to participate in this gathering. Hosted by Mike Visceglia, the Bass Brunch “has become somewhat of an established means of networking and exchanging ideas in the bass community.” It’s also a great opportunity to eat lunch and drink beers with some of the most experienced working bass players (Mike plays bass for Suzanne Vega, among others) in NYC, and get an earful of their experiences, hear their road stories and find out that despite some of their high profile gigs, they are just like me - always looking for the next gig.Our last gathering, at the beginning of the summer, took a more formal turn when Mike asked us to participate in a discussion for an article he was writing, called “Zen & the Art of Bass Tone,” for Premier Guitar Magazine. The topic of tone, what’s good and what’s bad, is always good for starting an argument, but Mike managed to keep this civil, and we had an excellent discussion of people’s preferences, opinions and experiences. Mike’s article does a really good job illustrating that; tone is a matter of preference, and everyone has a different preference, and handles it differently for every situation. What’s my preference? Read the article! If you are a bass player, any instrumentalist really, you should check the article out at Premier Guitar Magazine; and look for me and my buddy Bradley, from the band Leroy Justice in the group picture (numbers 8 and 9). 

A week or 2 ago I went to an IK Multimedia demo of Stomp I/O at Guitar Center in NYC, featuring TM Stevens and his band Shaka Zulu, with Mike Carrasquillo. TM and his guitar player Mike were playing through the Stomp I/O, and sounded awesome. After the demo TM let me and Mike use his bass to play with the system. The product is basically a pedal board controller for the IK Multimedia line of Amplitube plug-ins crossed with a USB 2 Audio Interface. You can use the pedal board to control the suite of plug-ins, and even mix and match between plug-in sets, “without looking at the computer.” This thing is GTR on crack. And, just like GTR, you need to have the computer if you want to use it in a live setting.

The Stomp I/O sells for about $800 and comes with all the plug-ins, which is an excellent deal. But add the computer - they recommend a Mac Mini - for an additional $500 and you’ll have a crazy live rig. Although I am deeply entrenched in the world of DAWs and digital recording on computers, I really have no desire to bring a delicate item like a Mac Mini to gigs, especially on tour. Hell, I’m not Thomas Dolby or Howard Jones. I mainly play with heavy metal and industrial bands! I do have to replace my ART Nightbass since it is on it’s way out, but this may not be the solution. I’ll be checking out the Boss GT-10 and the GT-10B when it comes out.

Anyway, after GC started to kick everyone out, TM came over and congratulated Mike on some good bass playing, and points to me and said, “but he gots da funk!” and that he was “gonna have to call the po-po” (whatever that means). So, I gots da funk. Look out Boosty!

Sometime in the summer of 2005 I got a phone call, from Atomic Brother’s James, asking me if I was available to play bass on a song for a guy named Pharrel Munch. Turns out the name was Pharoahe Monch not Pharrel Munch. He was a member of an underground hip hop group called Organized Konfusion. Either way, I had no idea who this was. They needed to cut bass immediately and they couldn’t find any one. I said sure and his manager, Angie, rang me up with the details. Anyway, I didn’t have a bass with me, but, I said if the studio could hook me up I could be there in a few minutes. Read the rest of this entry »