The Colorado Bass Newsletter
I once again had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Victor Wooten, bassist for Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, one of the nicest and definitely most groovin' bassists currently puttin' foot to floor on tour.
The occasion was the Flecktones performance at Armstrong Hall on the campus of C.C. here in the Springs Sept. 10th on the eve of Victors' 32nd birthday.
What follows is some frank discussion on Victors' start on the bass, his gear, his approach towards music and much more. Due to the obvious space limitations of this publication it will be at least a two parter, if not three.
V: Thanks for the newsletters-I think they're great. R: Oh, thanks. just something I started so I wouldn't spend everyday sweating over my bass. R: What was your first bass experience? V: Playing you mean? R: Yeah, first time you picked it up. V: I don't really remember it... I was young... my oldest brother Reggie started teaching me to play bass when I was about 3.. R: So you were real young when you first picked it up. V: Yeah... My first couple years playing was with my brothers, we all had a band, a five piece band .. My first couple years when we actually started playing out, gigging, I was about 5 years old, actually my parents started booking us in clubs & things, I was playing on a guitar.. um, we didn't have a bass... and I was.. I've always been pretty short.. so my brother took 2 strings off of one of his guitars and that was my bass for the first few years. Then I got a Univox copy of a Hofner Beatle Bass like Paul McCartney. R: So that was your first "all right" bass. V: Yeah, I still have it, plays great. Yeah, so that was my first bass. But, yeah, I was about 5 when we started doing some dates, we opened some dates for Curtis Mayfield on a short tour, we did some opening dates for War, this was out in Sacramento - San Francisco area. Then when I was in the third grade we moved out to Virginia and we just started playing up & down the east coast, you know. R: So what was your first really good bass. V: After my Univox I got an Alembic, I was in the seventh grade and I got an Alembic bass, Stanley Clarke inspired, and it was just like a dream come true, you know. This store got a used Alembic and they were the first of all these nice exotic wood, handmade basses, you know, R: A Series I ? V: Yeah a Series I, the original, it came with this little letter that told all the different woods, I think it was like eleven different woods, it was amazing, zebra wood on the top. I couldn't believe when my parents bought it, you know, I was 12 years old, man. R: Man, 12 years old and you got a quality bass. V: But, you know, we were playing, we were giggin' man, I mean I had been, by that time I was 12, I had been gigging you know, not quite 9 but at least 7 years already, you know, I had been out playing the circuit. And I was very fortunate because, you know, nowadays kids get great instruments before they can play.. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that but when we were growing up, not that, I'm not trying to say I had a hard life or anything like that.. but we didn't have that stuff. R: It makes you appreciate it more. V: Yeah, and if you can make this horrible instrument sound good, by the time you got a good instrument.. man, it'll be soundin' great. So, by the time I got the Alembic, R: You were able to play past the flaws. V. Exactly. By the time I got the Alembic, my brothers had really taught me to play. We were playing all the Return To Forever stuff. R: Really? Back then? V: Back then, yeah, it was in the early '70s, oh man, yeah, we were playing all that stuff, all the Return To Forever stuff. You know, I'd get on my moms record player and I'd put the record on and I'd sit up, for hours man, learnin' that Stanley stuff. Put the needle on, grab the first few notes, you know, figure it out then get the next few notes. And I was lucky my brothers got me into that at a young age. R: Yeah, and all them records that go clickin' along after every few riffs. V: Right. Ha ha. Part 2 will continue it next issue.
A Day In The Life
This column was to be strictly a review of recent concerts, but it was such an interesting day, I couldn't resist the story.
My day began at 12 noon, having been drafted onto the road crew for the local band River Road West. We loaded up gear for the trek to the Teller County Fair Grounds, where the band was to open the Brother Cane show on Sept. 7th. Let me get this out of the way now and I'll try not to mention it again. I have nothing against bikers, I have some good friends who happen to be bikers. But, bikers should not put on rock and roll shows.I have attended a few shows this summer that were put on by bikers, including this one. * "Bikers should not put on rock and roll shows".
We arrived to find roadies setting up Brother Cane's equipment for a sound check. The band ran through some of their radio hits and even played a new song from an upcoming album. These guys are good. Even just doing a sound check, it was perfect. I talked to the band briefly, as there was no time for an actual interview. Very nice, down to earth people. See them if you can. River Road West put on a gallant effort despite equipment & sound problems *, and the crowd being kept at least fifty feet from the stage by a sloping hill and a chain link fence. * They played songs from their CD's and lead singer Doug Fisichella managed to wing a few free CD's down the hill and over the fence to the dancing crowd. As they reached the last song of a struggling set, the chain link fence was opened and the crowd surged to the front of the stage in time to dance to the last few minutes of the song. Why?! * A quick load out, and a trip to Denver at 90 MPH, arriving at McNichols' Arena 5 minutes before the curtain went up (or down) on Kiss. Having been a Kiss fan these last 22 years, this is one reunion concert I had to see. in case you've been under a rock, Kiss has put the make-up back on, reformed with the original members, and is putting on the kind of show they did at the height of their career in the late seventies. I was at one of these shows in 1978 at McNichols'. (Editors note: Cost me 8 bucks to see the '78 show - cost Steve $45. to see this show, a 560 % increase!) Opening with Duece, they put on a predictable but entertaining 2 hour show. It was all there, the solo's, the blood and the fireworks. Gene Simmons even blew a fireball during Firehouse. The crowd cheered and sang along to a near flawless show. Despite a few timing problems, the music was note for note. They moved a little slower, sang a little rougher, but for me anyway, it was like being 15 all over again. It's interesting to note, that while leaving the very mixed age show, while all of us oldsters were whooping and hollerin' about what a great show it was, the younger crowd, (many who weren't even born when these songs were first performed), were complaining that they didn't play this song or that song (from the last 10 years). Oh well, youth.
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R. Lee
Colorado Springs, CO. 80906-7733
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Copyright 1996.
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