The feature bass player for this week is Alex Landry. We interviewed Alex, asked him about his gear and this is what he had to say. (Also, be sure to check out the video at the bottom of this article to hear some of his playing.
Tell us a little bit about you…
My name is Alex Landry from Lawrenceville Georgia USA and I’m 33 years old, and of course a bass player. I’ve been playing for about 20 years now (vocals only for a few years) and have done some cool projects with a guitar player. We gigged around Atlanta for a couple years but got burned out and have been recording originals in our home studio lately. I also play harmonica on our recordings. Some of my major influences are Victor Wooten, Tom Waits, Les Claypool, John Fogerty, Jack White, and the list goes on.
Who do you perform with?
My current band is called Shotgunloops. Our band/duo started life as cover band much like Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang. We used resonator guitars and basses and I built a home made stomp box with a tambourine.
What is the model of bass you play?
I grew up playing mostly a Musicman 4 string or a Modulus Flea bass, but have since sold them both. I currently have 3 main basses I have been using. A Dean Resonator 4 string bass and a Fodera Standard Monarch Yin Yang bass. I feel as if they are all equally my main instrument. My resonator bass has an 18 volt EMG setup which is great from couch to campfire to live and studio. I have probably put the most amount of work into my resonator, it has Gold Hipshot ultra light tuners, a gold tailpiece, gold knobs, and a brass nut. I also had to make a new saddle with holes instead of slots to keep the G and D string from jumping out of the bridge slot. My Fodera ying yang bass has always been a dream to play and I’ve had mine for a few years now. It has the EMGX pickups like Victor’s current bass. I really like those pickups you get a much more vintage type tone. I hope to purchase a custom Fodera Monarch someday. While the Fodera is very smooth and a pleasure to play, the resonator keeps my hands in shape because of the required strength to slap that bass around. I also have a Fender Mod Shop Precision bass that I have only had for about a year now. It has the compound radius elite neck with the ’63 vintage pickups. It has been a great studio bass for me, I have yet to gig with it.
What inspired you to get started?
My mother played guitar when I was young and I used to watch her hands and listen to the sounds as much as I could. I was enthralled with music from an early age. I played trumpet in middle school and at 13 years old ended up getting a bass to play with some friends who had electric guitars. As my skills grew so did my curiosity to seek out as much music as I could and to play music with whoever I could. Flea, Les Claypool, & Victor Wooten would be and still are my teachers. At age 16 I attempted to build my own bass, which turned out ok but more of a piece of art than a usable instrument. I caught the bass bug.
Who is your current inspiration?
Victor is certainly still an inspiration. His chops are of course amazing but its the natural life and spiritual teaching that resonate with me as an adult. I have not had a chance to go to his camp but the clinics have been mind blowing. Les Claypool specifically with the Duo De Twang is what got the Shotgunloops idea started. It is my duo band with guitar player Nick Modrich. I built a stomp box with tambourine and I have a green bullet microphone like Les did in the Duo De Twang. Other bass players like Cody Wright have caught my attention but more so are guitar players. I tend to get alot of inspiration from Blues guitarists like Jack White, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, to Tommy Emmanual and Jerry Reed. The blues guys just have a great way of writing songs. But for the strange factor it will always be Tom waits. I like to throw in some dirt on vocals or harmonica and rip some strange style vocals for our recordings. For writing songs I get most of my inspiration from my 2 dogs, American History, relationships, aliens, and my secret muse.
Toughest gig you ever played?
Shotgunloops had a gig we were offered one time. It was a place we never played on a holiday weekend in the summer. The original guy couldn’t make it so he gave it to me and another band. We show up and get everything setup but there is not a single customer in this bar. It has a decent stage and bar, but not a single customer? Our girlfriends and friends trickle in from the parking lot. We have one table of about 6 people to play for. What was going on surely somebody came to this bar on this night. We started seeing people come inside from the patio, where there was a hired DJ just playing music from a laptop. Oh no, the venue hired a DJ AND a band (two bands!) for a holiday weekend night? So we played our set for my table of 6 and went back to the house.
Who’s your biggest fan(s)?
Rebecca Cheshire and Joe Proulx hands down. They have come to about every Shotgunloops show and also any time I play in like a top 40’s cover band with other musicians they will come out. They have been very supportive and have been a big part of our inspiration to write more original music. We are grateful to have such good friends and fans of our music. I wish we could find more people like them in other cities.
Here’s a few videos of Alex playing “Superfreak”:
Way to go Alex !!!! Shotgunloops rocks
Very nicely done
Great job Alex!