There’s a bit of irony here. The last time we did one of these, we found this quote, from Matt Maginn of the Omaha indie-rock band Cursive, in an article about the rising costs of touring for developing bands.
“If you’re a new band driving cross-country in a van pulling a trailer of equipment that’s getting 6 miles a gallon, and you’re getting paid 50 or 75 bucks to play a gig, I don’t know how you survive.”
And, today’s bass player quote comes from an article in the L.A. Times about rising costs of touring for developing bands. Go figure!
“The whole reason I picked up the bass in the first place was that I wanted to be Sid Vicious,” said Johnny Rioux of the Street Dogs, one of the bands on the Warped Tour.
To put this in perspective, here are a couple of items from Sid’s Wikipedia page.
Sid was not recognized as a competent bass player. During an interview for Guitar Hero III, when Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones was asked why he instead of Vicious recorded the bass parts of Never Mind The Bollocks, Jones responded “Sid was in a hospital with hepatitis so he couldn’t really play, not that he could play anyway”…
…Sid asked Lemmy, the bassist of Motörhead, to teach him how to play bass with the words, “I can’t play bass,” to which Lemmy replied “I know.” In another interview Lemmy stated “Yeah. It was all uphill. And he still couldn’t play bass when he died.”
To put this a little more in perspective…
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Tags: Johnny Rioux, lemmy, sex pistols, sid vicious, steve jones
J wrote,
Have you heard the one about…
Johnny starting playing bass as a child, and his encouraging mother always kept his spirits high and made him proud to be a bassist. One day he came home and said, “Mommy, Mommy! Today in school we did numbers, and most kids only got to ten, but I went to twenty!”
“That’s Great Johnny!” his mother replied, “That’s because you’re a bass player!”
Excited, Johnny ran upstairs and practiced the bass.
The next day, Johnny came home saying,”Mommy! Mommy! Today we did the alphabet, and everyone else stopped at P, but I made it all the way to Z!”
“That’s Great Johnny!” his mother replied, “That’s because you’re a bass player!”
Excited, Johnny ran upstairs and practiced the bass.
The next day, Johnny came home excited once again. “Mommy! Mommy! Today They measured us and I’m the tallest in my class! Is that because I’m a bass player?”
“No Johnny,” his Mother said, “That’s because you’re 28.”
And this one:
23rd Psalm for Jazz Bassists
The Lord is my drummer, I shall not rush.
He maketh me to lay out in tasteful places
He leadeth me beside cool meter changes
He restoreth my “one”.
Yeah man, though I read through the trickiest
charts, I will fear no train wrecks.
For You are with it.
Your ride and Your snare, they comfort me.
You setteth up a solo for me
In the presence of mine guitarists.
You annointeth my lines with drive.
My groove overflows.
Surely good feel and swing will follow me
through all the tunes of each set.
And I will dwell in the pocket
the whole gig long.
Amen.
(from Bob&Tom show Bass Player jokes…)
Link | July 23rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Pribek wrote,
He restoreth my “one”.
Beautiful.
Link | July 23rd, 2008 at 5:21 pm