Hot Lady Bassists - Why?
Posted by smurphy on 16 June 2008 - 5:15pm.
This is Advice for young mothers to be by the very good Veils, featuring a delectable lady bassist!
Whether it's Kim Deal of the Pixies, or Debbie Googe from My Bloody Valentine, girl bassists are HOT! Why should this be and who are the hottest?
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Well Carol Kaye and Gail Ann Dorsey are both
shit hot session players. Is this what you meant?
No
Nothing so decent. I was being a male, chauvanist indie pig and wondering why the sight of a pretty girl with a bass guitar is such an appealing thing. Is it just me, or do others get hot under the collar? Ooh. Kim Gordon. There's another one. See.
Not sure that’s quite what he means but
I love those pictures you see of Carol Kaye in the studio looking like a prim librarian.
Think Suzi Qhatro might be more what he’s getting at.
"indie band" bass players...
Quite a few very good bass players in this vein. What was her name in Smashing Pumpkins? And there was the one in Courtney Love's band, who I think went into Smashing Pumpkins for a time..
There have been several eye catching bass players on the indie 'scene' over the years. I can't remember any of the bands, but I can remember them. Dunno what that says about me...
Melissa auf Der Mar was the Smashing Pumpkins/Hole bassist .....
Yes the Pumpkins
it was Darcy, wasn't it. Lovely lady with a bass. Sorry, is this just a really male strand?
Very male....
And just for you:The Victorian English Gentlemens' Club.
I saw...
...Victorian English Gentleman's Club supporting Mystery Jets in 2006- that bass player made more of an impression on me than their music did. A friend has that album though and quite liked it, I believe.
Also in this category, see Aynsley Lister's bass player...
Wow
she can come to tea in my treehouse any time.
Jo Wadeson
Saw Thea Gilmore several times and also the Waterboys - all tremendously enhanced by the presence of Jo Wadeson - superbly funky player and great to watch (ahem).
Ohhhh - and Tina Weymouth!
Jo Wadeson
On the money with this one - Jo Wadeson is a great bass player.
Definitely!
Saw her with Thea at the Leadmill in Sheffield a couple of years ago, and turned into a babbling, stuttering fool afterwards while getting a CD signed.
*sigh*
You'll need a cold shower after this one
Cuteness
Speaking as something of an expert in the subject of all things cute, I think it's all about scale.
The humble kitten, for instance, is much admired amongst appreciators of cuteness for its outsize head, ears and eyes in relation to the rest of its body. Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz identified this as an evolutionary tool developed to ensure that parents looked after their offspring.
With female bass players, the outsize instrument has the same result, making the player appear smaller, more vulnerable, and more in need of paternal protection and affection. And if you're not the father? These feelings become confused with other emotions such as longing and lust.
Hence, we fancy Kim Deal.
And Maria McKee
Not a bass player admittedly but on the Whistle Test DVD clip of Lone Justice her big voice, hair, boots and Telecaster are "what the boys like" (approximately quoting Heppo). And of course it's on You Tube.
Digressing
into a Maria McKee sub thread, this is fantastic too - "Panic Beach" 100% on the money, no fat, and live too.
Maria McKee
I went mad for Lone Justice after seeing them on OGW. I saw them at Dingwalls around the same time. Linking into the covers thread actually...they did a great version of Sweet Jane.....I'll head over there right now!
Back to bass-ics (sorry)
Oh Yeah! It's the name of the song.
Surprised no one's mentioned these two…
and
More Tina Weymouth
Actually just an excuse to post this clip which I feel to be rather excellent. She is there somewhere - a few years older:
You all disappoint me
Eighteen posts in, and still not a mention of Gaye Advert?
But she's there
See first of Larry's clips.
Hard to spot, though
I struggled to find a clip where she's anything but a shadowy figure lurking in the background.
She was my first big musician crush!
2 more
Worked with Prince and Bowie (more recent period) - not sure of names though.
Wendy And Lisa
Worked with Prince during his "any good" period (That's Wendy on the stool in the Kiss video) and they also did the music for Heroes (the TV Superhero thing). They are both talented and scrummy. Can I also just mention that I went to see The Runaways in 1976 when I was 15. Their bass player - Jackie Fox made quite an impression on me.
Do you mean Gail Ann Dorsey?
If so, check this out:
Fantastic!
She's brilliant, and that bloke singing with her's not too bad, whoever he is.
Does the double bass count?
If so see Aristazabal Hawkes of the Guillemots.
Personally I prefer a female cellist - the sexiest film clip ever *is* Susan Sarandon shredding the cello in The Witches of Eastwick,
Yes, but that gets us into the whole
smokin posh classical thing. That's another hot topic.
If we're talking cellists....
...then surely Isobel Campbell has won this category hands down already
Gosh Yes
how lovely to see her wee glasgae knees hugging the bass-fiddle.
Not forgetting
Hillary from fleeting Indie hopes JJ72:
A great song in tribute to the genre.
And no, I have no idea why Graham Parker is on stage with the Smithereens.
I second the nomination of Tina Weymouth. The only memory that stays with me of seeing the Tom Tom Club Live is of her playing bass during Pale Blue Eyes.
"She had hair like Jeannie Shrimpton back in 1965
She had legs that never ended
I was halfway paralyzed.
She was tall and cool and pretty and
She dressed as black as coal
If she'd ask me to I'd murder
I would gladly lose my soul
Now I lie in bed and think of her
sometimes I even weep
then I dream of her
behind the wall of sleep
Well she held a bass guitar and
she was playing in a band and
she stood just like Bill Wyman
now I am her biggest fan
Now I know I'm one of many
who would like to be your friend
And I've got to find a way
to let you know I'm not like them ..."
Tune!
Not heard that version before.
Chloe Alper
from Pure Reason Revolution (and formerly The Period Pains):
Is there an opposite concept?
Where fellas play a girly instrument and come over all sensitive?
Cello seems usually to be a female domain, pace Roy Wood and anyone ever in ELO, so how about mentioning Chopper, from the Oysterband. For the laydeez.
how about Slingbacks?
although i think that singer/guitarist is excellent, and has a brilliant voice
or sheryl crow,
Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family
The Handsome Family...
... Tops!
John Prine...
....used to have a leggy blonde bass player once. Maybe even was one of his wives, but I'm not sure on that.
All the C's
Clare Kenney - loved her playing in the late eighties and early nineties. Even made Shakespear's Sister's warblings vaguely tolerable. I was so disappointed last time the Indigo Girls played over here that they weren't doing a full band tour - I had been really looking forward to finally hearing her play live.
Carrie Melbourne - great bassist and a fine exponent of the Chapman Stick too. We'll even forgive her for being a member of Babylon Zoo once!
Oh yes, and total agreement on the fabulous Ms Wadeson. On ALL counts!
This'll have you droolin' - wot about Tal
Here's my favourite
You don't actually get to see her playing her bass in this video, but trust me: (a) she is, and (b) you won't want to. Dreamy, in every way. More pics, including instrument.
Here's one for ya
No one has mentioned
Miranda Sykes (Show of Hands) or Maggie Holland (Tiger Moth), both superb double bass virtuosi in the folk field.
Exception that proves the rule
The Donnas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_g_gray/1817037291/
The lady on the right is the bass player...
Having said that, Melissa Auf Der Maur is quite clearly astonishing, so maybe they cancel each other out.
excellent choice mr jennings...
Britta Phillips wins hands down
My twin set
Candy del Mar - Bassist in The Cramps for the Stay Sick album/tour.
Hubba Hubba.
Patricia Morrison - Sisters of Mercy.
See above for comment.
Talked about this very subject with
my brother. We saw Ed Harcourt at sxsw - dont know who his bassist was but she was stunning. Sons and daughters have a pretty sexy bassist too.And the Noisettes.
I remember Suzi Quattro saying that the attraction of the bass was to feel the pulsating vibration between your legs. Maybe she had something.
Hot gossip
Wasn't that supposed to be Amanda Lear?
Rock School and the podcast...
By the way... for clarity the bass player was a bloke - Henry Thomas - but hte guitar teacher was a woman, Deirdre Cartwright
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deirdre_Cartwright
Now known as something of a jazzer in London circles I understand.
here an other
annie clements from sugerland.
boy, dontch just love red head female bass players, or is that just a whole new thread
WOW
This one takes the cake. I LOVE red head bass players. She looks like the cat who got the cream.
Is there a prize?
Yes !
yes, a harmonica as used by Van Morrison.
a new catagory....
bassist wives. should we keep this to pro musos, or open it up to the amatures
and is this a step too far?
Thanks for that
Blake - think i'll take a cold shower.
Women bass players from Tennessee
Just came across this - the fab story of two women bass players from Tennessee in the 1960s and 1970s - and had to share:
http://www.garagehangover.com/?q=taxonomy/term/70/9
http://www.garagehangover.com/images4/JeanC/JeanCallawayPhoto2.jpg
http://www.garagehangover.com/images4/JeanC/JeanCallawayThule2.jpg