“Our music has a primeval attraction,” says DeVotchKa’s bassist and tuba player Jeanie Schroder. “You hear it and you don’t even know why you like it.” DeVotchKa’s eclectic sound recently caught the ear of Les Claypool, who invited the band to join his Spring ’09 Oddities Tour. “We try hard to get in front of as many audiences as possible, because we’ve found that we hardly ever had a bad reaction,” says Schroder. “People would see the sousaphone or the accordion and laugh, but then when we start playing, their response changes.”
What’s a lesson you’ve learned from playing upright bass?
I had the honor of taking a master class with Milt Hinton, who came to Denver for a jazz festival years ago. He recommended learning lots of different styles to help your bass playing. I thought this was great advice, and have tried to follow it. I’ve played in Celtic bands, jazz trios, and even a Civil War reenactment band.
How do you decide whether to play upright bass or tuba on a given song?It’s an intuitive feeling. On tunes that need more punch, I tend to use tuba.
How are you finding new ways to keep your music interesting?I’m hoping to work a Mexican guitarrón into our next album. It’s different from a regular bass because you plucking two strings at a time—almost like a harp—playing in octaves. It has a really unique sound and it looks cool!
CHECK HER OUT
DeVotchKa, A Mad & Faithful Telling [Anti-, 2008]
GEAR
Bass 3/4-size upright with K&K Sounds Golden Trinity pickup
Rig Acoustic Image Clarus I head, Euphonic Audio Wizzy 1x12 cab
Other Boss TR-2 Tremolo and TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
Strings D’Addario Helicore Hybrids or Thomastik Dominant
Other Coda bow, Pops’ Bass Rosin