Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Mick Karn - you gotta love him!


matski
 Share

Recommended Posts

The recent bad news news about Mick Karn's poor health has reignited my love for his unique style of playing, and I realised I had never really read very much about his background as a musician so I have also been surfing the web looking for snippets.

I came across a great online article from the archives of Bassplayer.com. Now I had always assumed that as he is not only (in my opinion) a master of the bass, but also a saxophonist etc., that he must have had extensive musical schooling. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong!

To illustrate my point here is a quote from that interview:

'Because they were self-taught and developed their skills in tandem, the young members of Japan were also ignorant of much that more-conventional musicians take for granted. "When we first went into the studio, the engineer told me and Steve we were very tight," Karn recalls. "We were absolutely horrified; we had no idea what he could possibly mean." '

Isn't that just great?

The full article can be found here: [url="http://www.bassplayer.com/article/mick-karn-sonic/jan-00/5942"]http://www.bassplayer.com/article/mick-kar...nic/jan-00/5942[/url]

Apologies in advance to the 'theory and reading skills are essential' members of the board :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great interview, thanks for posting that.

As a self-taught non-reader who relies on my own way of working around the instrument it's good to know I'm not alone in sometimes not understanding conventional instructions from band members! Even better to know that players of Mick's calibre find their own way too.

And what calibre - [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SagT216S_m0&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SagT216S_m0...feature=related[/url]

As for this - [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35trBS-LWok&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35trBS-LWok...feature=related[/url] how cool were the whole band full stop, but in particular check out Mick, grooving away in his shades.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Percy Jones was a huge influence on his style/sound, which he readily admits to - in particular the Brian Eno album Another Green World album that PJ guested on

Check out the track "Sky Saw" on a Streaming site like Grooveshark

[url="http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search/songs/?query=Brian%20eno"]http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search/son...ery=Brian%20eno[/url]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great interview! Thanks for the linkage. What an honest guy. I like the fact that he's a complete technophobe, like myself. I've little understanding of musical theory but major and minor and a few scales are about it for me! I play mostly by ear.

I'm suprised there is no mention of his collaboration with japanese bleepmiester, Yoshihiro Hanno, (might have been after this article as was released April 2000, I've also seen a 1998 release date!) one of his most influential (for me) recordings... take a listen and buy the album if you can find it.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiE0GkVTWKo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiE0GkVTWKo[/url]

Edited by bh2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was a massive Japan fan when I was young. Tin Drum is an epic album! When I heard about Mick Karn's illness I went and searched YouTube for some of their tracks. Hearing the bassline on Gentlemen Take Polaroids again really raised the hairs on the back of my neck!

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpYoBXTnhyU&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpYoBXTnhyU...feature=related[/url]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Sumbabba' post='872513' date='Jun 20 2010, 11:02 AM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpYoBXTnhyU&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpYoBXTnhyU...feature=related[/url][/quote]

I've got a videotape from the 'Oil On Canvas' tour stashed away in a box somewhere, and went to the gig at the Brighton Dome. I was already of fan of Mr Karn and when the gig started was well freaked out by his peculiar style of moving around the stage - there was knee high dry ice on stage and he had this weird method of seemingly sliding forwards and backwards and sideways.

At first I thought he was on some sort of trolley, turns out he was shuffling about on the tips of his toes at high speed!

And like it says in the interview, always staring impassively straight ahead with not one single look at the bass or what he was playing, and not missing a single note. Cool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='matski' post='878099' date='Jun 26 2010, 12:56 PM']I've got a videotape from the 'Oil On Canvas' tour stashed away in a box somewhere, and went to the gig at the Brighton Dome. I was already of fan of Mr Karn and when the gig started was well freaked out by his peculiar style of moving around the stage - there was knee high dry ice on stage and he had this weird method of seemingly sliding forwards and backwards and sideways.

At first I thought he was on some sort of trolley, turns out he was shuffling about on the tips of his toes at high speed![/quote]

yeah- I've got the Best of Japan DVD, and in the live show included on it he does that- quite funny how he moves around the stage like a computer game character- a neat visual trick.

Edited by SJA
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Rich' post='870728' date='Jun 18 2010, 12:57 PM']I wonder if his approach to the bass would have been quite so unique and left-field if he [i]had[/i] received an extensive musical education?[/quote]

there seems to be a school of thought which suggests musical training holds you back or in someway restricts your ability. Possibly for another thread, along with the old chestnut of 'it's good that I don't know the rules, coz I don't know when I'm breaking them.' :)

In reply to the above, did Arnold Schoenberg's extensive musical education stop him been unique and left-field? How about John Coltrane?

Edited by MacDaddy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...