In Temple Of Soul, Stevens reconnects with his old friends, drummer/producer Narada Michael Walden and Bruce Springsteen saxman Clarence Clemons. He’s also touring behind Africans in the Snow, his seventh effort with his solo project, Shocka Zoolo, which pays homage to his ancestry while making a heavy, funky statement about the current cultural and musical climate.
What’s your concept behind Africans in the Snow, and how do you use bass to construct it?
The music business has turned into the business of music; the warmth of the art is lost when it doesn’t come first. My music falls between the cracks commercially, but I stay true to my vision, and I’m a bass-oholic! I hear complete songs in my head, and I generate all the parts on bass. I’ll put a drum track down, then lay down the bass, and then add some distortion for the “guitar” parts. I’ll roll off the low end and get a rhythm guitar part going with a technique I call “stutter funk.” By the time the musicians come in to track, they’ve got a pretty good idea of what I want. We generally record everything live in my home studio.
Can you describe your “stutter funk” technique?
When I first heard Larry Graham, I had no idea he was using his thumb, so I made up my own technique to get that percussive sound using my fingers. First off, I always count in 16th-notes, even if I’m playing an eighth-note feel. Stutter funk incorporates what I call “bass boogers”—grace-note 16ths that add to the funk stew—and therein lies the magic. I move my two plucking fingers up and down individually in a pick-like motion to get the funk boogers while I use my pinkie to mute and get harmonics. It’s almost like playing bass and rhythm guitar at the same time. Of course I eventually figured out the thumb-slap thing, and sometimes I put them together.
What are your favorite songs from the new record that incorporate these bass techniques?
“Mama Said So” is more rhythmic and less notey, but the funky boogers are all up in there. But you have to listen for it in the mix. I had fun getting my solo going in “Gotta Get My Move On” and then turning it over to Nuno Bettencourt for a ripping guitar solo. That’s a classic example of how you can put some flashy technique into a song, which is most important to me. John Entwistle told me, “All you guys play this widdly-woo stuff I can’t play, but I’ll be remembered forever because I play songs.” I love solo bass records because I’m a bass freak, but my kick is to put solos or flash into a vocal song format.
CAN BE HEARD ON
Shocka Zooloo, Africans in the Snow [SPV, 2007]; Temple Of Soul, Brothers in Arms [Slam Alley Productions, 2008]
CURRENTLY SPINNING
James Brown, “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” [Polydor, 1970]
"Bootsy Collins’s bass line on that tune is just classic.”
GEAR
Basses Cort T.M. Funk Machine 4- and 5-strings
Rig Two Ampeg SVT-4PROs into two Ampeg 4x10s, and two Ampeg SVT-5PROs into two Ampeg 2x18s
Effects DigiTech Whammy Pedal and Bass Whammy Pedal, Morley PBA-2 Dual Bass Wah, Dunlop 105Q Bass Wah, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, Boss OC-3 Super Octave
Strings Medium Dean Markley Blue Steels
"My bass has a built-in autowah—what I call a ‘Bootsy Box’.”