top of page
Search

Bass Interviews #01 Chaz(BigFatBig)

Chaz(BigFatBig)

Photo - Ryan Young

Firstly how long have you played the bass and what got you into it? From being really young I’d always loved the thought of playing music and picking up an instrument but my family were never really in the position at the time to afford it. My Mum was into, Chilli Peppers, Green Day and Sound Garden, where as my Dad was into like The Chicks, Iron Maiden, Glenn Miller, then I used to share a room with my sister and all she used to play was Cher (she really likes Cher). So I’ve had a huge huge variety of music from so young and I loved it all more than just liking a song I’ve been consumed by the drums or the bass line for most things. It was when I watched School of Rock where there was a female bass player in a band, she was kind of quiet like me and was still able to look cool and rock out on stage and it kind of pushed me into picking up an instrument. It wasn’t the bass because I couldn’t afford one but it was a ten pound pair of sticks, with a free drum kit and lessons at school when I was about 14. I got into college playing drums and they needed a bass player (I was 17 at the time) as we had one too many drummers, so I told them I owned a bass which my brother had gotten me as a late birthday present and that’s when my bass playing took off. I’ve been playing around 8 years now ... damn.


What was the first song you learned to play on bass? I think the first song I attempted was a Paramore song, Crush Crush Crush. I just looked up a tab sheet and had no idea what I was doing but I was having fun haha. The first song I actually learned to play was Sam and Daves - Hold on I’m Comin’


My first semester at college I had to knuckle down and learn some pretty hard scores for a beginner. I’d never been able to read a chord chart. But it pushed me in the right way! My teachers at Hull College were absolutely amazing. So Shout out to Craig Steer and Pat Gradwell for my experience at College because they were honestly the reason I got so much confidence in my playing from, and I cannot thank them enough for shaping me into the bassist I am.


Who are your top five favourite bass players? There are so so many that I want to give you but if I have to think of my top 5, here they are.


1. Nik West

2. Joe Dart

3. Jamareo Artis

4. Adeline

5. Kelsey Gonzales


If you could recommend any songs based on the bass line alone what would you pick? Ok so my explanation for most of these will just be ... funky af and that I like them, no more explanation needed. I’ll give you 10 as a treat.


1. Gen Hoshino - Pop Virus (I recommend any Gen Hoshino song) but this was the first song I’d heard by him.

2. Kowloon - Wake up.

3. Noga Erez - No News on TV (particularly the acoustic live track) and VIEWS.

4. Emily Bear - Dancin

5. Pip Millet - Heavenly Mother

6. Labi Saffre - I Got The ...

7. Vulfpeck - 1612

8. Tower of Power - What is Hip

9. The Hoosiers - Up To No Good

10. Dua Lipa - Don’t Start Now


Technically that’s 11 but hey, extra song for you to enjoy!


What’s your favourite BigFatBig song to perform on bass?


Ahhh to pick a favourite is hard but I have two in mind for totally different reasons.


The first is Unexpected (item in the baggage area). This song is my hype. If you told me to turn up to a set to only play this song I’d be down. But it’s heavy, it’s kinda funky and it’s got a bass break so ... what more could you want as a bass player? This was also a song that wasn’t perfect straight away and took me a while to get a bass line I was super happy with. We tend to always play this song at the beginning of our set which really does give me a huge boost in energy for the rest of the night.


And Second but just as equally good as the first is SVT the song it’s self is just beautiful. It’s a song we’re the bass line came so naturally from me and fit so perfectly. A song were I can have a little noodle that isn’t pretentious, just simple with a lot of feels. It’s a very Nirvana inspired bass line and I’m sure if I actually looked at what notes I’m playing it’s probably some variation of ‘Come as You Are’ I can imagine.

123 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
Post: Blog2_Post
bottom of page