Double Bass Kevin Smith and High Noon

Slaphound

Slaphound

Jun 16, 2003
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#1
I have heard of him but never heard him play. I never heard of his band High Noon. A rockabilly trio.
I was reading about Wayne Hancock and how he started out and all. He mentioned that as he was developing his style he was looking for the Chung sound that made the guitars go Chung, Chung Chung and realized that it was the upright bass that did that.
Then I was listening to Djordje on his Youtube channel interviewing Kevin Smith. Then I got a the first High Noon album and listened to it. Excellent music. Really good stuff that incorporates some fine songwriting.
If you haven't listened to any High Noon and your a fan of Wayne Hancock, then you're in for a real treat. I think so anyway.
 
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#2
Kevin Smith is unbelievable and Djordje's interview with him is great! He and Ric Ramirez are two of the most influential slap bass players of the last 30 years in my opinion. Before YouTube and the internet if you wanted to know anything about slapping a bass and lived and gigged across Texas, you would ask him or Ric about it if you crossed paths.

I started slapping the bass after seeing a High Noon show at the Black Cat Lounge in Austin back in 1995. He was nice enough to speak with me for about a half hour after the show and he let me mess around on his bass. He gave me tips on what strings to start out with and how to use Johnson & Johnson Coach Tape until my calluses formed (which I still use when needed). I had been an electric bassist strictly before that, but my band was gradually transitioning from a blues band to a rockabilly band with some Stray Cats and Elvis covers. I got my Kay soon after that High Noon show and I’ve never looked back. He was so helpful to me (and many, many others, by the way) as there was nobody in my town in those days who knew anything about upright bass - let alone slapping a bass. He and Ric always offered up advice and tips on technique at a time when this kind of information wasn't available. It's funny how both of them ended up playing with Wayne, who is legendarily hard to play with. He just calls out slap bass solos two or three times per song sometimes!
 
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#4
Keith Rawlings said:
Kevin Smith is unbelievable and Djordje's interview with him is great! He and Ric Ramirez are two of the most influential slap bass players of the last 30 years in my opinion. Before YouTube and the internet if you wanted to know anything about slapping a bass and lived and gigged across Texas, you would ask him or Ric about it if you crossed paths.

I started slapping the bass after seeing a High Noon show at the Black Cat Lounge in Austin back in 1995. He was nice enough to speak with me for about a half hour after the show and he let me mess around on his bass. He gave me tips on what strings to start out with and how to use Johnson & Johnson Coach Tape until my calluses formed (which I still use when needed). I had been an electric bassist strictly before that, but my band was gradually transitioning from a blues band to a rockabilly band with some Stray Cats and Elvis covers. I got my Kay soon after that High Noon show and I’ve never looked back. He was so helpful to me (and many, many others, by the way) as there was nobody in my town in those days who knew anything about upright bass - let alone slapping a bass. He and Ric always offered up advice and tips on technique at a time when this kind of information wasn't available. It's funny how both of them ended up playing with Wayne, who is legendarily hard to play with. He just calls out slap bass solos two or three times per song sometimes!
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Very cool story Keith. I love what Ric Ramirez recorded on Waynes records. I also admire Huck Johnson of the Jackknives and Todd Wufmeyer. The two of them played a few covid shows on Huck's Facebook page live. Huck plays guitar there but he also recorded with Wayne (Wayne calls on Huckleberry on the recordings) on upright bass. Excellent bassist. Zack Sumpnor is another master at the art of slap bass. I had a hard time sitting through Djordje's interview. Its very long and a bit slow in developing but thankfully its up on Youtube still so I can digest it slowly a piece at a time.
The band I play upright in now is also a blues band and we cover a lot of Grateful Dead, Allmans and some classic rock. I can't say we are a great band in the mold of High Noon or Wayne the Train but we are doing it none the less. Plus we have a drummer who we brought in to play with us that had absolutely no experience playing drums. He had taken a few lessons maybe. Long story how we ended up with him. He makes it hard sometimes to really feel confident in the bands performance. But we keep (or I do really) trying to guide him. Just the other night I had to tell him to lay off the high hat so much. He was taking up the click parts with his high hat. And His timing can be off. Really tough sometimes. But we got a gig on Friday night coming up. I run a hard practice sometimes like last week. We ran through about 15 songs ranging from Doc Watsons, "Deep River Blues" to Waynes "Johnny Law" at a breakneck pace. The songs do sound best when we play them at the tempo that the artist recorded them in. Sometimes my band leader drags his tempo down and I'm thinking, "This sounds like we are on Heroine." For real. I gotta remind them that the pace is HERE and not here.
I imagine myself getting down to Austin to meet these guys and maybe get a few lessons. Something to help with some solos or just some general information and technique improvements. I'm sure I could be well served by hanging a little bit with the masters.
 
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#5
Slaphound said:
Very cool story Keith. I love what Ric Ramirez recorded on Waynes records. I also admire Huck Johnson of the Jackknives and Todd Wufmeyer. The two of them played a few covid shows on Huck's Facebook page live. Huck plays guitar there but he also recorded with Wayne (Wayne calls on Huckleberry on the recordings) on upright bass. Excellent bassist. Zack Sumpnor is another master at the art of slap bass. I had a hard time sitting through Djordje's interview. Its very long and a bit slow in developing but thankfully its up on Youtube still so I can digest it slowly a piece at a time.
The band I play upright in now is also a blues band and we cover a lot of Grateful Dead, Allmans and some classic rock. I can't say we are a great band in the mold of High Noon or Wayne the Train but we are doing it none the less. Plus we have a drummer who we brought in to play with us that had absolutely no experience playing drums. He had taken a few lessons maybe. Long story how we ended up with him. He makes it hard sometimes to really feel confident in the bands performance. But we keep (or I do really) trying to guide him. Just the other night I had to tell him to lay off the high hat so much. He was taking up the click parts with his high hat. And His timing can be off. Really tough sometimes. But we got a gig on Friday night coming up. I run a hard practice sometimes like last week. We ran through about 15 songs ranging from Doc Watsons, "Deep River Blues" to Waynes "Johnny Law" at a breakneck pace. The songs do sound best when we play them at the tempo that the artist recorded them in. Sometimes my band leader drags his tempo down and I'm thinking, "This sounds like we are on Heroine." For real. I gotta remind them that the pace is HERE and not here.
I imagine myself getting down to Austin to meet these guys and maybe get a few lessons. Something to help with some solos or just some general information and technique improvements. I'm sure I could be well served by hanging a little bit with the masters.
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Hang in there with Djordje; the Kevin Smith interview was his first and I think he was really excited to have Kevin on the show and he talked over him a lot. He’s gotten much better. I’ve been checking his show out every week since last summer. The Kim Nekroman one was really entertaining; and the Mark Rubin episode was great too. So many great players and they’re giving up tips. The Matt Goldpaugh episode had some cool hammer on and slide slaps that he shows how to do and they’re killer. The Jack Hanlon episode is great too as he talks about slap bass setups and the differences cause he works for Upton.

I’m glad you’re gigging now. Here in South Texas shows are being cancelled again because of the Delta Variant. It’s certainly an unprecedented time.
 
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#8
Adam Booker said:
Kevin is one of the nicest folks I know. Learned a lot from him when I took over for Rick in the Asylum Street Spankers. Oh, Austin that was… before half of California moved in.
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Yes. It’s just not the same place. I think the penultimate moment was when the Black Cat burned down. We did a few shows at Beerland after that but the crowds were just different. All my friends who were South Austin ‘til death moved to the Burbs around then cause they couldn’t afford housing or rent anymore. Makes me sad but also thankful for the times I got to spend there back then.

Adam - you are an amazing bassist! I got to see the Spankers a few times back in those days; once in Corpus Christi at the Executive Surf Club. I don’t know how you were able to get that kind of sound playing straight unplugged and still be heard. Very cool!
 
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#9
Keith Rawlings said:
Yes. It’s just not the same place. I think the penultimate moment was when the Black Cat burned down. We did a few shows at Beerland after that but the crowds were just different. All my friends who were South Austin ‘til death moved to the Burbs around then cause they couldn’t afford housing or rent anymore. Makes me sad but also thankful for the times I got to spend there back then.

Adam - you are an amazing bassist! I got to see the Spankers a few times back in those days; once in Corpus Christi at the Executive Surf Club. I don’t know how you were able to get that kind of sound playing straight unplugged and still be heard. Very cool!
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And on Spirocores, too, muahahahahahaha!
 
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