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Bass
Player Interview
with Channing Azure July 2015 Photos by Ashley N Warren
Photography, www.ashnwarrenphotography.com
Name: Channing AzureBands: Alpha Cop, Static is a City Websites: http://www.alphacop.com
QRD – What was your first bass & what happened to it?
Channing – My first bass was a really junky Lyon (by Washburn). I think I tried to take the frets out & then it was basically junk & was probably thrown away or given to a friend. QRD – What’s your typical set-up from bass to effects to amplifier? Channing – Typical setup goes from an American Standard Jazz Bass to my pedalboard to my Orange AD 200B. Pedalboard flow is Boss TU-3 Tuner, MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe, MXR Phase 100. QRD – What’s the most important part of your rig - bass, amplifier, or effects? Channing – I would like to say that they are all equal; but if I had to pick one, everything starts at the bass. QRD – What’s your main amplifier & why? Channing – I’ve been using an Orange AD200B for a few years now. It’s amazing & I love it. QRD – Do you prefer upright or electric bass? Channing – I’m much better at electric. QRD – Do you prefer to use a pick, fingers, or a bow? Channing – I’m definitely a pick guy. QRD – How many strings do you think a bass should have? Channing – As many as you like is fine. I prefer four strings. It just feels right to me. However, I recently bought a Gretsch Jet Baritone that I love to play. It’s basically Gretsch’s Bass VI. So, I do like a good six string bass too. QRD – Why do you play bass instead of guitar? Channing – Mostly because bass feels right. It’s easier for me to express myself on bass than any other instrument. More natural. I have picked up guitar recently. I’ve been taking some lessons for the past year & a half or so. QRD – How is a bass different than a guitar other than being lower in pitch? Channing – It serves a slightly different function in the band. You also don’t feel a guitar the same way you feel a bass. Few things are better than standing in front of a huge bass amp feeling your clothes shaking. QRD – What’s your main bass & what are the features that make it such? Channing – My main bass is a Fender American Standard Jazz Bass that I bought in 2001 or 2002. It’s so comfortable. Like an extension of your hands. It’s always in tune. QRD – What do you think of the thumb rests on some basses? Channing – Never had one, but I can’t imagine it’s all that useful for someone like me. They look sort of cool though. Probably not enough to leave it on the bass. QRD – If you had a signature bass, what would it look like & what would some of its features be? Channing – It would either be basically the same as my main bass or it would be a double neck bass with a four string neck & a short scale six string bass neck. QRD – If you had a signature pedal, what would it be & what would some of its features be? Channing – Something like a sub octave fuzz pedal would be amazing. If it could sound like Chris Squire’s Taurus Bass Pedal on all those old Yes albums, that would be perfect. QRD – How many basses do you own? Channing – Four that work, three more that need restoration, & my wife has a five string that I occasionally play. QRD – How & where do you store your basses? Channing – In stands or cases all over the house. QRD – What features do you look for when buying a bass? Channing – At this point I just want more Jazz Basses. Ha. That could change at some point, but probably not. QRD – How much do you think a good bass should cost? Channing – As much as you want to spend. For me, I’d like to not spend more than $1000 the next time I buy a bass, but I don’t really see that happening. QRD – Do you upgrade & customize your bass or just stick with what you get? Channing – I basically leave it. I don’t know enough about all the options that are out there & I don’t have enough money to try a lot of things. I did swap out the antique white pick guard on my bass to a three-ply black pick guard. QRD – Are you after one particular bass tone & locking into it, or do you like to change your tone around a lot? Channing – My ideal tone is a lot like a lot of the old prog rock bass tones. John Wetton. Chris Squire. Those are the two big ones. I do not like to change my tone. I am not a knob tweaker. QRD – What are some basses, amps, & pedals you particularly lust after? Channing – Gretsch has a double neck guitar/baritone guitar that I would really like. I would love an American Deluxe Jazz Bass. I really want another AD 200B head & a Thunderverb 200 head; like I said, I really love Orange Amps. Pedals, way too many to name; but a few are the Factotum by Red Witch, the Hail Satan Deluxe by Abominable Electronics, & Blackarts Toneworks has some pedals that I want to look in to. QRD – What do you think are some important features to be on a person’s first bass that aren’t always there? Channing – Good tuners, decent fret work. QRD – What have been the best & worst bass related purchases you’ve made? Channing – Best purchase was my Jazz Bass. Worst purchase was probably a Dean six string bass that I briefly owned. QRD – What are some effect, amp, & bass brands you particularly like? Channing – Fender, Orange, MXR, Abominable Electronics. QRD – What’s the first thing you play when you pick up a bass? Channing – There are few things, “Quarantined” by At the Drive-In, “Master of Puppets” by Metallica, & “To Defy the Laws of Tradition” by Primus. QRD – How old were you when you started playing bass? Channing – 12? QRD – At what age do you think you leveled up to your best bass playing? Channing – I was around 25 I guess. I had a brief time in college where I mostly played upright bass & didn’t really progress on electric bass. QRD – Do you feel bass lines should echo & emphasize guitar & drum parts or be their own distinct elements? Channing – I think it depends on the song & the band. I generally do not excel at laying low. I like to be right in the front with bass lines that sort of set the structure of the song that the other instruments can play off of. QRD – Would you rather people hear or feel your bass? Channing – I had a friend tell me that there was so much low end at our last show that he felt physically ill. So ideally it would be something like that, but just a little bit less. QRD – Why do you think a bass fits you more so than other instruments? Channing – Not a clue. I wish I knew. QRD – Do you see your bass as your ally or adversary in making music? Channing – Ha. Sometimes both. On our best days it is my ally. We do have our fights though. QRD – Who are the bassists that most influenced your playing & sound? Channing – Les Claypool was the first. Cliff Burton, Chris Squire, John Wetton, Geddy Lee. QRD – Do you think people anthropomorphizing their bass is natural or silly (e.g. naming their bass)? Channing – Well, maybe a little of both. We do spend a lot of time touching these objects. But they are inanimate objects. QRD – What’s the most physical damage you’ve done to a bass & how did you do it? Channing – I briefly had a BC Rich Warlock bass with a Widow headstock. I was playing in public with it for the first time & the guitarist of the band I was playing in jumped off the stage as I was swinging my bass upwards. They collided. His guitar had a large chunk taken out of it & the headstock of the bass broke in two. QRD – What do you do to practice other than simply playing? Channing – Listening mostly. QRD – How many hours a week do you play bass & how many hours would you like to? Channing – Probably between 2 & 6. QRD – What gauge strings do you use & why? Channing – I use a D’addario 45-130 Five String set & I throw away the E string. See below for the reason. QRD – How often do you change strings? Channing – Not often enough. Probably once or twice a year. QRD – How often do you break strings? Channing – Also, not very often. The last time I broke a string was November 2012. QRD – Which do you feel is more proficient, your strumming/bowing hand or fretting hand & how does that effect your style? Channing – They definitely work together. I like to do weird strumming/picking patterns that correspond to moving & static notes being fretted. QRD – What tunings do you use & why? Channing – My main bass is tuned to Robert Fripp’s new standard tuning. I heard about an upright bass player using fifths tuning while I was in college & decided to try it. I then began to use it on electric bass & discovered the guitar craft new standard tuning. It is low to high C-G-D-A. It gives me a really good mix of chords & melody that I love to use. QRD – Do you prefer tablature, sheet music, or some other notation system for writing down your own ideas? Channing – I usually get out my phone & make a voice memo. I almost never write things down unless I am trying to figure something out. QRD – What’s a bad habit in your playing you wish you could break? Channing – I don’t count very often. I generally just go by feel. Usually it works out well. QRD – Playing what other instrument do you think can most help someone’s bass playing? Channing – Guitar. Learning chord structure & scales on guitar has helped both my ear & my playing. QRD – What’s a type of bass playing you wish you could do that you can’t? Channing – I don’t think it’s all that useful, but I would love to be able to just destroy the bass like John Myung & those modern prog rock dudes. QRD – What’s a bass goal you’ve never accomplished? Channing – I still don’t have Moog Taurus Pedals. QRD – What’s the last bass trick you learned? Channing – It seems really dumb & basic, but I just recently started to bend notes on the bass. QRD – Did you ever take bass lessons & if so, what did you learn from them? Channing – I did for a month or less. I learned next to nothing. I was a horrible student though. QRD – What’s something someone would have to do to emulate your style? Channing – Tune in fifths. QRD – If a band has good bass work, can you ignore the rest of the band not being good? Channing – Sometimes. Not usually though. QRD – What famous musician’s bass would you like to own & why? Channing – Chris Squire had a triple neck bass that looks really ridiculous. QRD – Who do you think is currently the most innovative bass player & why? Channing – Juan Alderete is really amazing. He is always looking for the next pedal to use & coming up with really cool melodic bass lines that manage to support the other instruments & stand out on their own at the same time. QRD – Where can people hear your best bass work? Channing – Check out my band Alpha Cop. We have all of our records on our Bandcamp for free. alphacop.bandcamp.com QRD – Anything else? Channing – Nope.
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