20/05/2025
Guitar/Bass geek post:
I was listening to some late '80s pop/rock whilst hedge cutting today and reckon one of the defining sounds of that stuff is the Wal bass. Not being, primarily, a bass player, I never had one of my own (or could afford one). But, I was lucky enough to borrow a 5 string fretless for a track from Dan K. Brown of The Fixx, as my musical partner in crime at the time, the late Brian Marshall, knew him. I didn't realise it was fretless until we picked it up. Consequently, I had to quickly get to grips with that before recording the part.
The track with the Wal on was one I wrote called She Knows which was co-produced with Brian for the Some People project and I'll put a link to a YT vid somebody (unknown to me) has put up in the comments.
Most of the tracks on those Some People sessions were recorded using my own butchered Fenton Weill bass, that I'd turned into a fretless. However, we did also borrow Dan's Steinberger bass for one of the tracks.
I have very fond memories of that project and particularly working with Brian, a great bloke and a hugely talented writer/producer with a stunning voice.
Although only one single was released (My Blue Heaven), we did record an album's worth of material. Some tracks received a final mix, whilst others remain in monitor mix mode to this day. The whole album is available on Bandcamp should anyone be intetested. I'll put a link in the comments.
Thanks for reading...if you've got this far...x
