Hi - have been a member for a couple of months now but not said a general hello to everyone, so, hi!
For anyone who is interested, here’s my story . . .
I have played bass since me and my mates at school decided to form a band at 15 and somehow I got consigned bass (I think because I was taller so didn’t look odd with it, someone else's dad had a guitar and I didn't want to be stuck at the back like a drummer . . .). Those were the days we were into classic metal but at 17 I discovered the Smiths and the Wedding Present and it all went a bit leftfield . . . around that time like most bass players I also discovered Jaco and, via fusion, jazz too . . .
I played in various bands in mid to late eighties in Birmingham - perhaps the most successful one was an indie band called The Cantels. They had one single out before I joined which I think John Peel had played. We were managed by the singer and her girlfriend and they used to promote gigs in Brum and then put ourselves as the support band (clever eh? do bands still do this, or is the promotion world all stitched up by a few big names now?). Anyway in this way we played with Primal Scream (Mercy Mercy era), The Shamen, Popguns and – best of all – The Stone Roses (just after the release of the first album, in Stratford Upon Avon Civic Hall).
Anyway this band split up (we couldn’t find a permanent guitarist, the manager and the singer rowed constantly and – oh yes – we were rubbish). I played in a few more bands that did nothing before deciding, at 23, to go to art school and then university. Academia took over and I know have a PhD in philosophy (hence the cheesy user name) and teach art history and theory in London.
Last musical thing I did was form a one-off band for my graduation party where we played Latin jazz and soul covers, moderately well considering how drunk we all were . . . However I have never stopped playing and learning and think I am still pretty good, so am toying with the idea of joining another band as long as it fairly serious and worth doing (nagging doubts about being a 40 something bloke with a kid and multiple work commitments notwithstanding). I haven’t seen anything I really fancy yet but if anyone knows of anything in the London area, let me know . . .
Reading this site has also made me reminisce about the great basses I have had over the years. My first bass was a Kay Rickenbacker copy. Then, when it turned out I actually had some aptitude for the thing, my wonderful dad helped me buy a real Rickenbacker 4001 (this was 1985, I was 16 and it cost, I think, £120). I learnt to play properly on this but never really got used to the necks and the sound, plus like every bassist I went through a mad Jaco phase and pined for a Jazz bass, so I got rid of it. What really irks is that this Ricky was not only a nice ’74 one in fairly good condition, but was also in a really rare colour – autumnglo (a brown sunburst). I have since kicked myself hard reading about how this is like the Holy Grail of Ricky obsessives . . . here’s an identical one:
[url="http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/774001autumnglo.html"]http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/774001autumnglo.html[/url]
I traded that for an early ESP Jazz copy, which of course I yanked the frets out of myself. I than got John Diggins to put a lined ebony fingerboard on it. At this time I also had an ‘80s Ibanez fretless with maple fingerboard which played like a dream. All of these are long gone! Soon after that I got my first proper fender Jazz, a ’72.
In the indie days I had two lovely Gibson EB2s, a fairly battered ’65 and then a near-mint ’66 I think. They looked great but sounded awful and I soon got rid of them (can you believe I paid about £300 for the mint one, in 1989). I had traded in the Jazz bass for the first of these . . oh well . . . At some point after the indie band split I decided I needed a ‘superbass’ and I went all out for a Status graphite – the first ones with the headstock and this was serial number 0004, bought from the Bass centre in Brum (cost £600, in 1991). I tortured myself over this because although it sounded great in a hi-fi sort of way, I felt it was really clinical and not really ‘me’ at all. After a few weeks I got rid of this and at the same time a mate had another Jazz bass for sale, which is the one I still have, serial number 387965 (‘73-74). I got this dirt cheap, but lost money on the Status . . . expensive lesson learnt!
More recently I built my own project Jazz fretless from a Japanese ’62 reissue body, an Allparts lined fretless neck, Kent Armstrong pickups, Wilkinson tuners . . . I got cheapo electrics though so have some new Fender gutbucket electrics to go in, once I can be bothered to get the soldering iron out. This looks pretty nice I think in gunmetal blue/grey with a mint white pickguard (and no decal!).
Newest addition is courtesy of a fellow Basschatter (sildxx) – a lovely Washburn AB10. I had been idly looking out for an acoustic bass for years and so when this came up and I saw it was local I emailed straight away. Also a great opportunity to meet a Basschatter and talk about gear for half an hour . . . I really like this bass and having an acoustic close to hand that you can just pick up and play has really revived my playing (am currently trying to get that recurring run from Havona down . . .).
This is the link to various gear pics (but none of the Washburn yet):
[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlambrianou/sets/72157622742672696/"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlambrianou/s...57622742672696/[/url]
And yes that is me outside the Royal Albert Hall with a Ukulele (as part of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain event at the proms in 2008, where I and 1000 other audience members joined in on ‘Ode To Joy’)
Phew – this has turned into quite an essay (you can tell I’m an academic . . .)
