One of my absolute favourite parts of being in OLDER is playing bass, which ought to be the case as I am primarily a bass player! Not writing songs, not mixing, not even releasing the album. There’s something about finally plugging the Rickenbacker in after months of ideas and half-finished conversations and doing the job I’ve had in music the longest.
Bass is a strange instrument. Most people don’t walk away from a song humming the bass line, but take it away and suddenly the whole thing feels like it’s floating off into space, untethered. A good bass part isn’t always flashy. Sometimes it’s just the thing skillfully holding the emotional weight of the song together. For me it sits somewhere between the drums and guitars.
When I’m laying down the backing tracks for an album, the bass line is written to be integral to the melody I have in me head. I don’t even play bass like a lead guitar, but I do like lines to be interesting. There’s something incredibly immersive about recording bass too – its the foundation that drives the song – get it right and it works, take a half-arsed approach as though it’s not important and the track can flat line.
What’s funny though is that once an album is done I often barely touch the bass again for a long time, sometimes a year or so. People probably imagine musicians constantly sitting around playing instruments every day, but for me it’s more seasonal than that. When we’re in album mode, music takes over everything. Then once it’s complete, there’s almost a silence afterwards – usually filled with shooting and editing videos and all the collateral needed around releasing the album. Of course many musicians are off on tour between albums but as we are not a band that plays live we get to have a balanced life away from music.
I think part of completing an album is emotional exhaustion. You pour so much of yourself into the songs and get so close to the detail in them that when they’re finally released, you need distance from them, and often writing music all together. So the bass goes back on its stand Life shifts onto other things. And then one day, usually without warning, I’ll pick it up again only to start a new direction recharged and refreshed.
The strange thing is the excitement always comes back immediately. That same feeling of possibility. Like reconnecting with an old friend you haven’t seen in years but you instantly fall back into conversation with like it was only yesterday.
We’re currently working on our fifth album and I recently thought I’d play along to one of the tracks again just for the fun of it.
