‘Nothing derails music faster than a bass player who’s not taking care of business,” says Tony Markellis of Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio’s solo band. The live Elektra release Plasma showcases the eclectic ten-piece band’s compelling mixture of Afrobeat-inspired funk vamps, neo-swing big-band dance music, and groovy improvisational jams. To Markellis, this stylistic schizophrenia doesn’t change his job description. “Each song is a separate entity, a world of its own. I play what’s called for, even if that means playing the most basic parts imaginable all night. That’s fine. I need to hold down the fort.”
It’s hard to refute Markellis’s unerring commitment to the groove. How did the mild-mannered bassist, who has worked mostly with hard-charging acoustic groups and mellow singer/songwriters, develop his unflappable pocket? “Time is something you can’t learn. It’s a mystery why some bass players can’t keep good time. I mean, if you can walk, why can’t you play root-5 lines in time?” Markellis recommends listening to legendary R& bassists like James Jamerson, Chuck Rainey, and Jerry Jemmott for examples of patient, just-right bass playing. “The more I listen to Jamerson, the more I realize he’s the Old Testament of bass. It doesn’t get much better. All those guys recognized what was right for each song. As a bass player, that’s all you can hope for.”
Originally formed in 1998 as a trio, Anastasio’s solo band is a respite from the ungainly Phish organization and a creative outlet for the prolific and enigmatic guitarist. Markellis, Anastasio’s longtime friend, was honored to get the call. “Being in this band is one of the best experiences of my musical life. The variety of musical talent represented is amazing. My background is different from everybody else’s, so I welcome everybody’s suggestions. Also, it’s a great opportunity to play good music, travel, and interact with enthusiastic audiences night after night. I consider myself lucky.” Markellis, who moonlights as a producer, collaborated with Anastasio on several compositions. “Many of the tunes are grooves that Trey, [drummer] Russ Lawton, and I built from the ground up. The whole band is based on each member’s strengths. For Russ, Trey, and I, it was about coming up with solid grooves.”
Astute observers are likely to notice that Markellis plays his bass on a stand. Thirty-plus years of hard gigging with heavy basses, and a household mishap, have taken a toll on Markellis’s shoulders. “I have pinched nerves in my left shoulder, and I separated my clavicle doing some misguided lawn maintenance. With a bass’s weight on my neck, my left hand goes numb, so I use these Gracie instrument stands. I don’t have to drill into the bass or anything. It’s a real lifesaver.” With Anastasio’s band, Markellis uses two similar basses, one fretted and one fretless. The fretted has an alder Schecter body, maple Warmoth neck, ebony fingerboard, Hipshot tuners with an E-string Bass Xtender, Leo Quann Badass II bridge, and DiMarzio PJ pickups with passive electronics. The fretless is identical save its maple body. He uses a Sabine AX-2000 body tuner, and each bass gets a set of D’Addario Slowounds. For bigger rooms, Markellis uses an SWR SM-400 running an SWR Big Ben 1x18 and an SWR Goliath III 4x10 in stereo. For smaller dates he uses a Gallien-Krueger MB150E combo. He often uses a Presonus Acousti-Q to warm up his tone and to filter out feedback with its notch filter, especially when playing his fretless Taylor acoustic bass guitar on folk dates.
When asked if playing in the relatively high-profile Anastasio band has changed his career, Markellis answers with the same sort of measured patience found in his playing. “It’s affected me only as related to this group. I still do all types of gigs. But regardless of what I’m playing—elaborate and complex or folksy and simple—I’m never bored. I find many bass players get bored easily; that’s a real occupational hazard. If you bore easily, you have the wrong job. But if you understand the importance of each note and how your part is an important chapter in each song’s story, I can’t imagine a better job.”