How did you get started as a bassist?
I grew up in Toronto, where Prakash John took me under his wing when I was a teenager. He’s an unsung bass hero who has played with George Clinton, Alice Cooper, and Lou Reed. He gave me his old bass, which inspired me to start shedding big time. He got me into all the right music for pocket playing—old Motown, Atlantic, and Stax recordings, and bassists like James Jamerson, Larry Graham, Willie Weeks, and Chuck Rainey. Prakash John had me learn James Brown’s “Night Train” in the particular way he played it, and it would break my hand. He played it at a fast tempo and made me stick meticulously to using one finger per fret. Some of that has gone by the wayside as I’ve developed my own style, but I’ve stuck with the main thing he taught me: Get a good grip and dig in to make each note sing.

What’s the essence of your own particular mechanics?
Dub Trio changes from reggae to punk in a split second, so I have to be ready. For dub, I like to add a harmonic overtone by plucking softly [at the point on the string] an octave above the note I’m fretting. The result sounds almost like a sine wave. Otherwise, I use traditional two-finger plucking and take out the highs with a lowpass filter. To mimic a pick sound, I’ll go to a Jamerson-style one-finger “hook” approach. When I was roommates with Matt Rubano of Taking Back Sunday, he taught me to keep that motion perfectly even to get a very pick-like attack.

Who decides when to dub-out the sound in the middle of your onstage improvisations?
I do. I control two Roland Echos—one for the guitar signal, and one that’s miking the drums. I trigger one or both of those and all of a sudden it’s dub city. I don’t usually put echo on the bass because I want it to stay supportive, but controlling the overall effects aesthetic from the stage is essential because our songs are so improvisational. Sometimes I stop playing altogether and hit the echoes, which can make the breakdown more effective. You have to see it live to appreciate how the dub factor almost acts as the frontman to our stage show and our sound.

CAN BE HEARD ON

Dub Trio, Cool Out and Coexist [ROIR, 2007]

CURRENTLY SPINNING

Bad Brains, Build a Nation [Megaforce, 2007]
“I love their style of reggae, and Darryl Jenifer’s bass is the best part.”

GEAR

Basses Atelier Z with heavy La Bella flatwounds
Rig Aguilar AG 500 or DB 750 head with Aguilar GS 412 4x12 or DB 810 8x10 cabinets
Effects Two Roland RE-150 Space Echos, Moog Moogerfooger MF-101 Low Pass Filter, Pigtronix Disnortion, Boss OC-2 Octave
Picks Dunlop Tortex 1mm
“I use the AG 500’s distortion channel mainly for overdrive because it sounds killer. Most distortion pedals don’t work well with my bass.”