Gary Tibbs

[Beedster]

Posted this vid in the Roxy Music thread, but suspect he deserves his own spotlight having played in some important bands of the time - Adam & The Ants, Vibrators two name two. I think I learned more about playing bass from hearing and studying this bass line than I learned in the following 5-years. As I said in the other thread, it's tight, present, and insistent. Nothing special in itself, but it doesn't just suit the song, it drives it along powerfully. Glorious 

 

 

  

[KingPrawn]

Quality player

[Beedster]

Bass nice and prominent and grunty in this live mix

 

https://www.facebook.com/bryanferryfanpage/videos/roxy-music-trash-nippon-budōkan-tokyo-japan-april-28-1979-pro-shot/684994735365558/

[merello]

A band with some great basslines. Loved Dance Away - although that was Alan Spencer and I dont want to hijack the thread!

[Beedster]

This was the album version of Angel Eyes from the same album, which has a far more grunty bass line, almost like the producer said 'Play it how JJB would sound....?'

 

 

[tauzero]

Has he died then?

[Beedster]

No just a bass player who I’d forgotten until today

[tauzero]

That's the trouble with topic titles that just consist of a name...

[cetera]

Saw Adam & The Ants at the Dominion Theatre in 1981 on the Prince Charming Tour. My 1st big rock gig and he was a huge influence on me wanting to take up bass.... 

Great player!

[Crusoe]

34 minutes ago, cetera said:

Saw Adam & The Ants at the Dominion Theatre in 1981 on the Prince Charming Tour. My 1st big rock gig and he was a huge influence on me wanting to take up bass.... 

Great player!

Any time I see or hear the name "Gary Tibbs" I mentally add "and yours truly".

[cetera]

This comedy clip has Gary Tibbs make a guest appearance at the end as Store Manager/Security guard.... (that's him on the right in the video still) 

 

 

[Rosie C]

5 minutes ago, Crusoe said:

Any time I see or hear the name "Gary Tibbs" I mentally add "and yours truly".

 

Exactly, if we want to be one that select number of bass players whose name the public knows, clearly we have to get into the lyrics!

 

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, Crusoe said:

Any time I see or hear the name "Gary Tibbs" I mentally add "and yours truly".

Agree, it’s difficult to get past this

[petebassist]

16 hours ago, Beedster said:

Posted this vid in the Roxy Music thread, but suspect he deserves his own spotlight having played in some important bands of the time - Adam & The Ants, Vibrators two name two. I think I learned more about playing bass from hearing and studying this bass line than I learned in the following 5-years. As I said in the other thread, it's tight, present, and insistent. Nothing special in itself, but it doesn't just suit the song, it drives it along powerfully. Glorious 

 

 

  

Look what you've started mate! now listening to hours of Roxy Music and considering a new fretless....

Agree, the bass is sublime on this. Another thing about RM, they often had incredible intros, you just had to continue listening... Case in point, Avalon.

Cheers,

[TrevorR]

And don’t forget, he was the bass player in the punk/new wave band “Breaking Glass” with Jonathan Pryce on saxophone. 😉🤣

 

[TrevorR]

13 minutes ago, petebassist said:

Look what you've started mate! now listening to hours of Roxy Music and considering a new fretless....

Agree, the bass is sublime on this. Another thing about RM, they often had incredible intros, you just had to continue listening... Case in point, Avalon.

Cheers,

They weren’t too shabby in their choice of bass players in the 70s… John Gustafson, Alan Spenner, Gary Tibbs. Not a bad roster!

[Beedster]

19 hours ago, petebassist said:

Look what you've started mate! now listening to hours of Roxy Music and considering a new fretless....

Agree, the bass is sublime on this. Another thing about RM, they often had incredible intros, you just had to continue listening... Case in point, Avalon.

Cheers,

 

Ha ha, sorry, but a new bass can't be a bad thing surely  

 

I remember at the time of Manifesto Roxy Music were pretty much Prog Rock Royalty with Ferry as the King and a court of highly acclaimed musicians - Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay especially - and then suddenly there was this punk kid not only playing bass, but putting the bass front and centre both in the mix and in the imagery (as as I said in the RM thread, Tibbs gets more video real estate than anyone other than Ferry in that video). At the time it was really aspirational 👍

[BillyBass]

On 16/05/2025 at 10:01, cetera said:

Saw Adam & The Ants at the Dominion Theatre in 1981 on the Prince Charming Tour. My 1st big rock gig and he was a huge influence on me wanting to take up bass.... 

Great player!

I managed to get in on the guest list for that gig.  It was the last time I saw Adam and the Ants, they had, by then, fully changed from punk to a teeny bopper pop band.