Groove bassist deluxe

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: I was truly lucky to be a part of Dan Patlanskys's band at a time of a lot of change. Dan went from being an incredible blues player to an incredible player who wrote great songs and doing very well in Europe and I am just grateful I was a part of that growth for many years and to see the inner workings of what facilitated that.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am still in a pretty hard lockdown here in SA so options are limited. I have started my YouTube channel which is a lot of fun, I give online lessons, practice songs for the multitude of tributes I am in and I'm writing another solo album (more experimental ideas).

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I am not hard to either side, it's a case-by-case question. My OC-2 is a dream because it's an old analog pedal and creates a great sound/ texture but then my clockwork v3 is an incredible digital delay pedal that has some truly incredible sounds on. I try to embrace the best of both.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: I promise to be sensitive to the music but at the same time try adding a little bit of magic.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love being creative, finding interesting ways of adding to people's vision.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: Why must I pay a bassist to do something they can do themselves? It is true you can get basic basslines down with very little difficulty but what I do is bring all my years of experience to bear to create basslines that help the music blossom, I know where to add an extra hook or where to drop out. The very nuanced job of a bassist is often severely underrepresented and is an entirely different skillset on its own.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: Playing bass is easy and you don't need to hire a specialist.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I just as what vibe they looking for, how would they like me to approach the bass playing.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Feel free to run any idea you have and we see if we can get exactly what you are looking for.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: 1 Fender Jazz Bass 2 Microtubes X7 3 Clockwork v3 by GFI 4 Mark Bass amp 5 Boss oc-2

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: My career path is ever evolving from being a full-time bassist in a band on the rise to getting involved with tons of tribute shows and now getting into doing remote sessions more and more. I have been a full-time musician for 11 years now.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I am a coffee-powered funk machine.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: I am the biggest Mars Volta fan out there so I would have to say Omar Rodriguez Lopez because I love his creativity.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I try to add a little bit of distortion, almost unnoticeable in the mix, to my bass to help it sit better.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: I mostly work with the music of a more rock persuasion.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Knowing the appropriate thing to do/ play in any situation.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I like to think I bring a lot to any song I record, first is a good bass tone. I strongly believe in getting a good tone straight from my side before anything is done to the bass sound and I feel that gives the engineer working on the song an easier job with getting the bass to sit in the mix. Also, I have a fair amount of experience working with different genres and musicians and I draw on all of that while working on your song. One of the biggest things I bring is a lack of ego, if you want the bass to just sit in the background of the music and fulfill that job I am more than happy to do and I do not need my basslines to be the center of attention. Feel is one of a bassist's best tools and I try put of much of it into each song as I can.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I normally download the song I am working on and ask the client what they looking for in their song. Then I let the song play in the background while I see if anything pops out at me. I like to send a rough idea of where my head is at to check if the client is happy with how I am approaching the song. I really don't like to rush, I want to get the song to a place where I can feel proud of the work I have done and the client is happy as well.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a simple setup. My mac is running Logic, I have a Behringer U-Phoria UMC204HD soundcard. When recording bass I normally use two lines my Little Mark Rocker 500 and a line from my pedalboard, At the end of my board, I have a Microtubes X7 preamp, and between these to I feel I get a good bass sound.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: I am inspired by a whole host of musicians but if I had to pick one it would probably be Pino Palladino just because of the variety of music he has been able to be a part of, John Meyer to NIN within a few years is incredible.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: I do a lot of live gigs. At the moment a high percentage of that is work in tribute bands.