[b]Me[/b]
Greetings all. I'm a 37 year old chap. Musically I was primarily trained as a classical pianist throughout school and then the Royal Academy of Music. I moved on to the Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey. I'm now living in Northampton.
[b]An accidental bassist[/b]
At school, we had a yearly competition between the various houses to perform a song, usually a cover of something well-known. It turned out that the intended bass player couldn't play a note, didn't know the song, and couldn't read music. So I quickly learned how to play it for the gig, and sort of carried on.
[b]Equipment at that time[/b]
Nothing very special - it was just large, very heavy, and loud! I had a black Aria 4 string with a home-made radio transmitter stuffed into the back; I'd hire a 5 string Thumb for special occasions, and I had a Laney DP300 and an enormous HH rear folded horn 2x15. This saw me through the prog rock band that I was in during the late 80s/early 90s.
[b]Equipment now[/b]
Warwick Corvette 5, Sansamp BDDI (incoming), Samson 2 x 350w 2U amp, and various cheap pedals (all due for upgrading!). I have no cab at the moment - I'm waiting to see if I find a band before doing that. I practice at home through a mixer and PMCs.
[b]Influences/likes[/b]
My self-tuition period concentrated on playing along to Marillion and Iron Maiden, so Pete Trewavas and Steve Harris taught me bass without them realising it. More recently, Porcupine Tree have got my attention. I saw that there are some discussions of their bassist here, and I've just got a live DVD of theirs which should prove good inspiration. At heart, I'm a progger. I do like atmospheric rock like Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden, which is possibly my second favourite album of all time, and Bark Psychosis. Actually, I like all rock, from AC/DC to Mars Volta. And Pink Floyd.
My bass grail moment would be finding a Marillion covers band and accurately performing Misplaced Childhood :-)
Maine
