The funk bassist extraordinaire delivers new, amped-up music
If one single isn’t enough, why not release a new song a month? That’s the philosophy of Cincinnati-based bassist and bandleader Chris ‘Freekbass’ Sherman, who kicked off his new run of music for 2020 with a single, ‘Runaway’, back in August. As he tells BP, “‘Runaway’ had a distinct blueprint we were going for with feel, groove, and sound. We were going for that early-80s, robotic sound, right before drum machines and keyboard-sequencers hit the world. We’re still playing the funk, with an ultra-tight feel. Our producer Eddie Roberts said to think of the sound of those early Cameo albums, which painted a perfect picture. As with everything, whatever we grab from the past, we try to pull it into the future, and this track feels like we accomplished that – moving our sound forward, while living in the funk we are so familiar with.”
Freek anchors his band, the Bump Assembly – also featuring Sammi Garett on vocals, Sky White on keyboards, and Rico Lewis on drums – with an arsenal of bass gear. He tells us, “I’m rocking my custom Eisenberg Pink Panther bass, and the Freekbass signature model by Stonefield Musical Instruments, which both sound awesome. I’ve been with Gallien-Krueger for a while, and I also use the MXR Bass Envelope Filter, the Pigtronix Filter 2 and the Future Impact Pedal, which is a reissue of the Deep Impact pedal that Akai came out with in the early 2000s – and two of my go-to pedals are the Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron, and the DigiTech Whammy pedal for octaves.”
Expect an EP in November. freekbass.com
RIP Pete Way
UFO bassist departs.
For over 50 years, the image of Pete Way in full flight with a bass slung low around his striped trousers was the epitome of the rock bassist. Three stints with rock heavyweights UFO as well as Fastway, Waysted, the Pete Way Band and Ozzy Osbourne cemented his standing as a highly capable bassist and vocalist. Way used Fender Precision, Ibanez Iceman, Washburn B-20 and Epiphone Thunderbird basses, but his choice of a Gibson Thunderbird sits in the mind most vividly. He helped to create the concept of the mobile bassist at stage front, rather than at the rear of the stage, onto many musicians who went on to take up the instrument. Way died on August 14 at the age of 69, from injuries sustained in an earlier car accident. He leaves his wife and two children. Mike Brooks
New Gnome amps incoming
Three portable heads announced by Warwick.
