Q: How long have you been playing bass?
A: I’ve been playing electric bass a really long time.
Q: Were you a guitar player first?
A: Nope. I’m an honest-to-goodness bass player. Bass was my first instrument. I started playing guitar a couple years later.
Q: Why did you choose bass over guitar?
A: I wanted to spit fire and have blood dripping from my mouth and wear really big dragon boots. And the bass player was the guy that did that. I saw a KISS concert on HBO when I was seven or eight years old. When I saw how cool Gene Simmons looked I knew I had to be the bass player in a band.
Q: Do you play any other instruments?
A: Guitar is my secondary instrument. But, if it’s got strings I’ll try to figure out how to play it. I like to mess around with a mandolin and sometimes a banjo. I also sing, program drums and synths and play keyboards, but only one-handed; just enough to compose parts in studio.
Q:Who are your favorite bass players?
A: David J from Bauhaus and Love and Rockets is one of my all-time favorites. He plays in a very melodic, almost vocal style, but doesn’t overdo it and knows exactly when to lay down the foundation. I really dig Michael Anthony from Van Halen and Chickenfoot and I’d love to hang out and drink margaritas with him.
Q: Who influenced you the most as a bass player?
A: Jack Bruce from Cream and Joe Satriani probably influenced me the most as a developing bass player. While going through my uncle’s record collection I discovered Cream. Jack’s playing, and the band’s music, knocked me out. I learned almost every one of Jack Bruce’s bass lines. Even though Joe Satriani is a guitar player I used to love listening to the melodies on his records. I learned a lot of his melodies on bass. Those two are directly responsible for the melodic style of playing I’ve developed.
Q: What kind of basses do you play?
A: I don’t endorse any one brand or play any one bass exclusively. I play a bunch of different 4-string and 5-string fretted and fretless basses and an upright bass.
Q: What’s your favorite bass?
A: It’s a tie between my 1990 Ibanez SB1200 and my 2006 Music Man 5-string fretless Bongo Bass.
Q: Of all the places you have played what city is your favorite to play?
A: I love playing in New York City, but when I’m touring my favorite city is always the city I haven’t been to yet.
Q:What kind of music do you like?
A: I like all kinds of music, but I mostly listen to Goth, industrial, punk and Ska.
Q: What are some of your favorite bands?
A: My favorite bands changes daily, but Rammstein, Placebo, Love & Rockets and the Cult top the list. Then there’s Blur, The Replacements, Paul Westerburg, NIN, The Cure, The Who, Depeche Mode, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Specials, Bauhaus, Joy Division.