What the crew has to do on the sides of the stage is wild, so I realised it would be easier if I didn’t have three basses. “When I started rehearsals I also had a five-string Pensa-Suhr bass, which I love, but the show has a lot of changes, particularly with the drummers switching harnesses - there’s like six drummers up there. We’ve dialled up the effects we want for each song, and my guitar tech triggers it from the side, from song to song, and even in the middle of songs. “We’re running everything through a Kemper Audio system. The basses have completely different characters. My other bass for the show is a 1965 Harmony H22 with a semi-hollow body. They last ages and I love their character, the way they feel and the brightness that they add. There’s this new company that I’m using for strings, MJC Ironworks. Then the next three weeks were all choreography. I’m also working with David on something - I can’t say more, but stay tuned.”įor the first week of rehearsal we did six 10-hour days. “I wrote for the Empire TV show, there’s the upcoming Moulin Rouge broadway show and I’m working on exciting projects with Benjamin Clementine, Jake Troth and Loki Moon. If there are moments to breathe and stretch then I do, but it’s still very direct.” Utopian movesĪny other projects you can tell us about? “If I’m doing the single, Everybody’s Coming To My House, for instance, I stay true to the part, but it allows me a little bit more freedom to play licks and to add something. There’s no need for an elaborate intro - like Once In A Lifetime, that’s really just three notes for the entire song. He likes songs that, when they start, are just there. The new album sounds more modern, but what I love about this experience is that as a writer and producer I’m learning a lot from David. “The breakdown is 21 songs: seven Talking Heads classics, seven from American Utopia and seven things from other albums, collaborations and things like that. Your setlist has some Talking Heads classics, some later material, and a couple of curveballs. “When Talking Heads had just started, Tina was fresh to playing bass, so there’s some of the songs that I started out playing my way, but when I was listening to them on the records and the live shows, she would play them a different way, so now I do it like that.” If I’m talking about a groove, that’s just the way a song makes me feel, plus basic phrasing things like long notes and short notes. Any style I’m playing, I’m listening to the vocals, listening to the groove, and following my heart. I found myself thinking ‘That’s not necessary at all.’ The bassline is the heart of the groove, so I just give it all I can.” In the beginning I was trying some licks on Burning Down The House. Where the parts were written by Tina or some other bassist from David’s work outside of Talking Heads, I enjoy them as the part that they are. He was like: 'I’ll be calling soon.' When I got the slot on the tour that was amazing, for sure.”ĭavid Byrne’s basslines aren’t the most complicated, but they’re absolutely front and centre. “I worked with him in 2017 he wrote a musical in New York called Joan Of Arc and I was playing bass for that. How did you get the gig with David Byrne? My dad played keys for Marcus Miller in the Jamaica Boys, so when he played me those records it shot everything off.” One thing led to another, and I fell in love with bass. Then some of my friends who loved Blink-182 wanted to play together and someone had to play the bass. My dad was a keyboardist, so the first thing I played was piano. “I was born into a gospel music family in Chicago, Illinois. Any style I’m playing, I’m listening to the vocals, listening to the groove, and following my heart
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