Who are the bass players you most admire?I love what Peter Hook did with Joy Division and New Order. Kim Deal did some great stuff with the Pixies. When I first started playing, Nikolai Fraiture’s bass lines on the first Strokes record really stood out to me. The melodies he played were incredible— I learned a lot from him.
You use two Ampeg 8x10 cabinets turned on their side. Why do you use that combination in that position?With just one 8x10, I had to turn the volume up a little hotter. If there’s any kind of a buzz or noise onstage, having a high volume setting on your amp just magnifies the problem. With two cabinets and the amp volume set at around noon, I can get enough low end so I don’t have to crank the volume.
You play both fingerstyle and with a pick. What triggers that switch?I play with my fingers to get a lower, more rounded-off sound. And when I play really high up on the neck and pluck with my thumb, I get a haunting sound that a lot of people think is keyboard.
What basses have you played over the last few years?My first bass was a Fender Jazz, then I moved on to a late-’60s Gibson EB-0, a Fender Precision Bass, and a Gibson EB-3. I tried out a Gibson Thunderbird for one show a while back and I haven’t played anything else since. It’s got a great, nasty sound, and it just makes you feel confident when you’re playing it. Now I have two Thunderbirds— a white one and a black one. I actually prefer the black one, because it sounds super gnarly. But the white one has more high end, which helps the guys onstage.
Describe your ideal bass tone.I want the bass to sound like a fuzzedout baritone guitar—clean sounds freak me out. I want it to sound like there’s always a natural-sounding overdrive. Sometimes I flick my amp’s ULTRA HIGH button, which creates so much treble that the bass starts to fuzz out.
Do you have a practice regimen?I’m not the kind of guy who sits around playing. On tour we have pretty extensive soundchecks, so with gigs and all, I play upwards of three hours each night. Before a show, I just try to get my hands warmed up. I’m starting to sing background vocals lately, so I do a full vocal warm-up beforehand. For bass, I just run through a couple of scales and get my hands loosened up, and I do a bunch of stretching.
CHECK HIM OUT
Kings Of Leon, Only By the Night [RCA, 2008]
GEAR
Rig Ampeg SVT Classic with two 8x10 cabinets
Effects Boss ME-50 multi-effect, Boss TR-2 tremolo, MXR Micro Amp, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro controller, Avalon U5 DI/preamp