Metal Bassists with non-Metal Bass Influences

BringerOvGirth

BringerOvGirth

Nov 29, 2021
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Worcester
#1
Hello there, folks of TB. I was wondering if there were any other metal bassists out there who have expanded their musical vocabulary into other genres, and gained influence from non-metal bass players. I've been playing since I've been about 13 (30 now) and when I started, I was quite ignorant to other genres and just to be some kind of "metal god", and then when I hit the ripe age of 18, I discovered Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, Stu Hamm, etc etc, and they absolutely changed my whole world.

Even "metal guys like Evan Brewer (The Faceless), Nick Schendzielos (Cephalic Carnage), Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) have expressed their love for other kinds of music, expanding upon their knowledge as a bassist, and using various funk and jazz techniques to make your typical metal bassist a bit more unique.
 
#2
BringerOvGirth said:
Hello there, folks of TB. I was wondering if there were any other metal bassists out there who have expanded their musical vocabulary into other genres, and gained influence from non-metal bass players. I've been playing since I've been about 13 (30 now) and when I started, I was quite ignorant to other genres and just to be some kind of "metal god", and then when I hit the ripe age of 18, I discovered Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, Stu Hamm, etc etc, and they absolutely changed my whole world.

Even "metal guys like Evan Brewer (The Faceless), Nick Schendzielos (Cephalic Carnage), Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) have expressed their love for other kinds of music, expanding upon their knowledge as a bassist, and using various funk and jazz techniques to make your typical metal bassist a bit more unique.
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Well... yeah, of course. There's knowledge to be gained everywhere you look.
Now go listen to some bluegrass and then come back and tell me what you learned. ;)
 
#4
BringerOvGirth said:
Does Bela Fleck count? lol. I defintely don't hate bluegrass, but it's certainly not my jam.
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When I saw the title of the thread I thought you were maybe looking for examples of metal bassists with different backgrounds. I know the guy from Intronaut has like a masters degree in jazz composition or something like that. His playing is very interesting.
 
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#8
Most good players listen to genres other than what they're known for. It's all transferrable skills. For that's when genres go wrong, if the band are too incestuous in their listening habits, the texture just isn't there. I wish I'd been like you and more open at that age!
 
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#10
I'm kind of the opposite. I started playing at 12(55 now and still gnarly as hell). What got me playing was the 60 and 70s funk I was growing up in. And jazz. But then punk happened, and hardcore, and whatever came after. Always I have just loved music, almost everything. I collected records, have always considered myself a musichead and considered genre a waste of time, particularly picking one and choosing it as a hill to die on. For me Ornette Coleman's Shape of Jazz to Come is the punkest album ever recorded. My biggest influences have been Larry Graham, Bootsy, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Jaco, Ornette, Geezer, Geddy, Graham Maby, Mingus, I could go on for days.The one thing that has always been my thing though is I like it LOUD. Loud can be all sorts things, but loud n heavy is my thing. I've always played fretless. And had a crazy fretless built for me when I was a youngster that I still play as my main instrument. In my scene(old school Austin) I'm known by that bass. I never intended to be a metal bassist but many people have considered me one. I was in a band in the late 80s and early 90s called Agony Column. We toured with Gwar, a lot. Biohazard, Rollins Band, L7, and a wide variety of bands at the time. I never really thought of us as metal but the rest of the world did. We were hellbilly music. I still play heavy ass music, not sure if I'd call it metal, but metal folk tend to like it I guess. I'm a punk first, always have been. Since the early 80s I've considered what I do Hellbilly music. Here you can see and hear my crazy fretless bass. This from about 1991 so don't judge me by today's metal please. I think it still holds up though.

 
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#11
Listening to what you want and following your own path, regardless of the art you create, is all part of it. If you told high school me that a year later I'd be listening to bands nobody ever heard of and then would be onto jazz by the end of college, I would tell you that you're crazy. I'm still playing rock music decades later, but I'll take my influences wherever I can get them.
 
#13
Metal and hard rock are my favorite styles of music and I became a bass player thanks to Steve Harris, and one of my all time favorite bass players is Geezer Butler.
In the long run, my biggest influences isn't metal bass players though. I have always liked listening to and playing a wide range of genres, and I am more influenced by Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones, Jack Bruce, James Jamerson and Donald "Duck" Dunn than Cliff Burton. If you listen to a lot of different kinds of music and bass players and draw influences from that, your music becomes more personal and unique, as mentioned earlier in this thread.
 
#14
evilfirbolg said:
I'm kind of the opposite. I started playing at 12(55 now and still gnarly as hell). What got me playing was the 60 and 70s funk I was growing up in. And jazz. But then punk happened, and hardcore, and whatever came after. Always I have just loved music, almost everything. I collected records, have always considered myself a musichead and considered genre a waste of time, particularly picking one and choosing it as a hill to die on. For me Ornette Coleman's Shape of Jazz to Come is the punkest album ever recorded. My biggest influences have been Larry Graham, Bootsy, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Jaco, Ornette, Geezer, Geddy, Graham Maby, Mingus, I could go on for days.The one thing that has always been my thing though is I like it LOUD. Loud can be all sorts things, but loud n heavy is my thing. I've always played fretless. And had a crazy fretless built for me when I was a youngster that I still play as my main instrument. In my scene(old school Austin) I'm known by that bass. I never intended to be a metal bassist but many people have considered me one. I was in a band in the late 80s and early 90s called Agony Column. We toured with Gwar, a lot. Biohazard, Rollins Band, L7, and a wide variety of bands at the time. I never really thought of us as metal but the rest of the world did. We were hellbilly music. I still play heavy ass music, not sure if I'd call it metal, but metal folk tend to like it I guess. I'm a punk first, always have been. Since the early 80s I've considered what I do Hellbilly music. Here you can see and hear my crazy fretless bass. This from about 1991 so don't judge me by today's metal please. I think it still holds up though.

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What a great track! Nice work.
 
#15
evilfirbolg said:
I'm kind of the opposite. I started playing at 12(55 now and still gnarly as hell). What got me playing was the 60 and 70s funk I was growing up in. And jazz. But then punk happened, and hardcore, and whatever came after. Always I have just loved music, almost everything. I collected records, have always considered myself a musichead and considered genre a waste of time, particularly picking one and choosing it as a hill to die on. For me Ornette Coleman's Shape of Jazz to Come is the punkest album ever recorded. My biggest influences have been Larry Graham, Bootsy, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Jaco, Ornette, Geezer, Geddy, Graham Maby, Mingus, I could go on for days.The one thing that has always been my thing though is I like it LOUD. Loud can be all sorts things, but loud n heavy is my thing. I've always played fretless. And had a crazy fretless built for me when I was a youngster that I still play as my main instrument. In my scene(old school Austin) I'm known by that bass. I never intended to be a metal bassist but many people have considered me one. I was in a band in the late 80s and early 90s called Agony Column. We toured with Gwar, a lot. Biohazard, Rollins Band, L7, and a wide variety of bands at the time. I never really thought of us as metal but the rest of the world did. We were hellbilly music. I still play heavy ass music, not sure if I'd call it metal, but metal folk tend to like it I guess. I'm a punk first, always have been. Since the early 80s I've considered what I do Hellbilly music. Here you can see and hear my crazy fretless bass. This from about 1991 so don't judge me by today's metal please. I think it still holds up though.

Click to expand...


Very cool. I lived in the Dallas area 1989-1994 and saw Agony Column quite a few times on various bills. The first time was opening for GWAR, I believe. Your bass made quite an impression on me and my buddies and I still enjoy having the occasional listen to God, Guns, and Guts.

Take it easy.
 
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