throwofftom
Sales Assistant UK
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+1More Cowbell.
+1More Cowbell.
Could I ask, if you have ever been really tired of bass playing, and if so, what you`ve done to get you out of the mud?
This is something that bothers me too. What you do to keep the fire burning? Sometimes (like now) I feel like everything sucks, music sucks, the audience sucks, life sucks, beer is good. How to get out from this?
Hi James,
You performed with great bands, but also sometimes very different styles - from White Lyon, to Black Label Society, to Megadeth.
How you approached this - tried to bring a specific sound with you, or tried to understand the current band, and help them do their best?
You are renown as a monstruous finger player, still, with Megadeth you played with a pick. Was it difficult to bring the pick playing to your fingerstyle level? Because I think you did an amazing job!
Hello, again, Mr. LoMenzo!
I was wondering how'd you first became an avid Warwick Enthusiast, and what basses did you use from the start to taking hold of a Warwick?
In order to explain what excited me about Warwick basses I have to digress to just before White White Lion. In 1983 I bought a wonderful used 1977 Alembic Series I. I loved this bass because of it's multi laminates of wood, neck through construction, active eq which was really the beginning of the "boutique" bass thing. Any way, for touring it definitely had some drawbacks. It required a power supply with a special 5 pin cable, it was physically cumbersome to run around with on stage especially considering the 80's metal hair thing and frankly, I became concerned about it getting messed up or lost with all the touring we were doing. At the time, I was approached by several companies to endorse their instruments and that's a long story in itself. In 1988, White Lion toured Europe and a rep of Warwick, who were friends with our German promotor simply contacted my tour manager and had a couple of basses left at my hotel room to try out. One was a Midnight Blue Dolphin and the other a White Streamer. I liked them both but the Dolphin had that real immediate tone and a fantastic feel so I used it for the rest of the tour. Absolutely fell in love with it. I later found out that it possessed all the construction details that I loved in my Alembic basses and yet was far more road worthy. In many ways the sound was much better for all types of music from heavy to delicate. So, then I was sold and decided to commit one hundred percent to the company brand as an Endorser. Later on, I was introduced to the Buzzard (that's much better story) and it was like "falling in love" all over again.
What got you started?
James
Greetings, Señor Lomenzo!
I didn´t know about the existance of this thread. I´l like to thank you for taking your time to share all that stories, knowledge and experiences.
Besides White Lion, BLS, and Megadeth, I discovered few months ago that you were playing with Slash in the Slash´s Snakepit "It´s 5 O´Clock somewere" tour. I saw two videos: one from a gig in some festival in Italy where you were playing a very rare bass, and the other from the ´95 Monsters of Rock, where you used a red Dolphin.
Those Snakepit songs are just amazing. I know the bass lines from that record were recorded by Mike Inez (another Warwick player), and I think those lines are very groovy and heavy, and rock, at the same time, and I think you did a great job playing them live. What was your aproach for those songs? Did you get the freedom to play the lines your way, or Slash asked you to play them the way they were recorded? In another thread in the forum, we´re talking about how flexible we, bassists, have to be when playing in a band, so I would love to know your point of view.
Thanx for reading and welcome, again, to this great forum.
Wow, a question for me? Well... I started out with cheap basses, getting my first really good bass around graduation, a Rickenbacker. I loved it, and still do.
But it wasn't long til I wanted something different. I wanted 5 string that had as much growl as my Rick, as well as something with an active sound. I found out alot of my favorite players used Warwicks and had a deep growl with active electronics. I also wanted to give fretless a try. So, I first got a Fretless Corvette. I was amazed about it's tone for a fretless (and passive) bass, and it wasn't long after that when I finally bought myself a 5 string with active EQ: Corvette $$. I ended up loving the sound of a Warwick even more.
Then, just a month or so ago, I just picked up my Thumb. Once again, I am still blown away with how they sound.
And I've had this Profet 300w amp and 211 cab for a while, which is another bonus, because I feel the growl is even more amazing through the amp and cabs.
You don't use Warwick amps, right, Mr. LoMenzo? Have you tried any and compared them to your current setup?
Mr LoMenzo, out of all the various groups and musicians that you've worked with, who would you say was the most inspiring to work with and how?
I just read your reply to CaracasBass' question and it just hit me: Have you had the pleasure of playing a Status Buzzard and, if so, what is you opinion of the Status model vs the Warwick?