Cosmo Valdemar

I was lucky enough to have an endorsement deal with Ashdown a few years back, I was about to buy one of their amps but a mate who worked for Sound Control at the time knew their artist relations guy and put me in touch with him. He liked my band and offered me an artist's deal - I didn't get anything free but was able to buy stuff at really reduced prices. This suited me down to the ground as I was going to buy their stuff anyway. I don't use it anymore as I left the band and decided I wanted to explore new avenues of sound. Although my band toured quite a bit up and down the country we were never 'big', they just either liked our music or saw some potential for exposure there somewhere! They looked after me really well and it felt great to be honest, one of my proudest moments. I'm still on the Ashdown website though, hidden away...

But remember, "[b][size="2"]Mat Mathias made mondo high voltage look like something you want to run your tongue accross[/size][/b]".

[quote name='spongebob' timestamp='1324401382' post='1473879'] Glad to see this thread back! Superb album, still remember the day I bought it - felt timeless on release, and still sounds great. IMHO, the best set of lyrics to any album...so affecting. How JDB sang them is beyond me - if you listen with the lyric sheet, it's phenomenal, and so amazingly powerful...the references, the imagery... I've always been in the Ric camp - but TBH, the album could be a mix of P and Ric. He played a P on the dates around the release, and on a bootleg I'd thought it was a Ric until I saw some footage, and it was a P! I suppose it's the amp, the eq...maybe we'll never know for sure. [/quote] I remember when I first heard it, one of the defining moments of my teenage years. At that time I was a fully commited metal head, and then this came along and just totally outstripped any Slayer record in terms of imagery, dread and sheer horror. Truly a landmark album, and one that hasn't aged at all. Every time I listen to it I'm astonished, especially considering they purposefully chose to record it in a cheap and dingy studio in Cardiff - a deliberate reaction to the 'rock star' excesses of the previous album. As for the lyrics, Richey (and to a lesser extent Nicky) gave no thought to how his words would fit into a 'conventional' song structure, and it was then up to James and Sean to wrestle and distort them to fit, resulting in the jarring and alien emphasis and pronounciation.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1324305075' post='1472791'] I still maintain, to my ears at least, it's predominantly a Rickenbacker. Revol might be a P, at a push. There are several moments which just scream Rick to me, these being the outro of Archives of Pain, the little bass fill toward the end of 4st 7lb, and The Intense Humming of Evil. A Precision bass just doesn't sound like that. [/quote] Examples: From 1:10 onward: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbITPljzybE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbITPljzybE[/url] Intro and outro in particular: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiG7lxhJ0-0&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiG7lxhJ0-0&feature=related[/url] This one sounds like a Rick in stereo - one amp bassy and clipping, the other clanky and slightly overdriven. The outro seems a lot more distorted.

I still maintain, to my ears at least, it's predominantly a Rickenbacker. Revol might be a P, at a push. There are several moments which just scream Rick to me, these being the outro of Archives of Pain, the little bass fill toward the end of 4st 7lb, and The Intense Humming of Evil. A Precision bass just doesn't sound like that.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1324122863' post='1470989'] A Beatles tune....if you don't get this, you have no soul. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IyrETsYM8w[/media] [/quote] Oh my word.

My all-time favourite Phil bass line. So simple yet it says so much. Beautiful guitar solo too. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFmNGPyq9eE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFmNGPyq9eE[/url]

I know the name but can't remember for the life of me who this chap is.

Being hopeless with crosswords, can anyone put me out of my misery? By that I mean reveal the answer, not shoot me.

The bass player from The Answer uses one of the Zemaitis bass models. This one if I remember correctly: [url="http://www.zemaitis-guitars.jp/our_guitars/bass/"]http://www.zemaitis-guitars.jp/our_guitars/bass/[/url] Still hideously expensive.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1323550590' post='1464561'] Must admit, have only really got the MSP stuff since Everything Must Go, but that track Sllepflower, well I can see the rock influence - James Dean Bradfield is a big fan of Slash apparently. Think I`ll have to get Gold Against The Soul, really liked that. [/quote] You would probably like their first album, Generation Terrorists, as well then.

Five minutes away! EXCELLENT!!!! Expect to see LOTS of me come new year.

The basslines from Everything Must Go onwarda have for the most part been pretty dull, but The Holy Bible is one of my top bass albums ever* - stark, angular lines that often dominate the song and tend to define the whole tone of the album. This in particular has always been a favourite. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiG7lxhJ0-0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiG7lxhJ0-0[/url] The previous album, Gold Against The Soul, is very shiny and influenced by US rock of the time. It's disliked by a lot of fans but contains some fantastic songs and some wonderful Rickenbacker clank throughout. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGYnEtqU8u8&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGYnEtqU8u8&feature=related[/url] *Actually it's one of my favourite albums ever, bass-related or otherwise.

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1322859764' post='1456872'] Jim Lea played bass on all of Slade's recordings, Dave or Nod would sometimes (rarely) do a bass part onstage, if Jim was playing violin. I think Jim Lea was the reason I took up bass - far more so than McCartney. My Slade site is at [url="http://www.slayed.co.uk"]www.slayed.co.uk[/url] [/quote] That's a fantastic website! I'm just trawling throught the guitar and bass pages now. Heaven.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0u1PdFzIx4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0u1PdFzIx4[/url] Quite restrained for Geddy, but punctuated with some stunning runs and, in my opinion, his finest studio-captured Rick tone. For those unfamiliar with the song, the bass is absent for a lot of the song when the keyboards are taking centre stage. You can hear the Rick at 1:40 - 2:17, 3:32 - 3:59, and 4:18 onwards.

Sound as a pound!

One of my favourite Jim Lea bass lines, from one of their lesser known songs. Great 'chase on the bass' at around 2:50. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDg9gPNw5gM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDg9gPNw5gM[/url]

I too am boggled by the lack of recognition Jim Lea gets as a bass player, he's an absolute demon. The same goes for Slade as a band really, I think most folk tag them as a good time party band but they were [i]so[/i] much more than that. Slade Alive is mandatory listening.

I've been there several times and have always found them to be rude and miserable, and one one occasion where I had a problem with a bass, highly patronising. The Fort Knox-ness of the place doesn't bother me.

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1321448290' post='1439217'] So....who's Michelle then? [/quote] Guitar player's Mum.

To everyone who suggested the Gallery, the OP did insist on a 'customer-friendly' shop...

I saw them a couple of years back at Wembley, I was a little worried as Gillan's voice has been has been a bit hit and miss over the past few years. Any worries I had were gone straight away, he was on top form. They even did Into The Fire! Glover was fantastic as ever although I'm afraid his Vigier tone leaves me cold, there's just no charater to it. Bring back the Rickenbacker and Marshalls and have done with it I bloody love Purple.

I'm a bit confused now as it doesn't seem to appear in tomorrow's schedules on my freeview box...

[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017zwq8"]http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/b017zwq8[/url] Looks interesting. Dartford eh!

What I would do: 1)Agree to try the song with the pick and proceed to play intentionally badly. Make it clear that playing with a pick is not your natural style. They will soon realise that, in your case, fingerstyle sounds better. And hey, you gave it a go! 2)Begin the song with the pick, then halfway throught move around so they can't see how you are playing. Switch back to fingerstyle. After the song, see if anyone noticed a difference.