Mountain, Michael Schenker Group, Steelheart
REV JONES
Practice Makes Better … Playing Makes Perfect By Freddy Villano |
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Photo by Brian K. Denton
ev Jones’ riff-blasting, face-melting virtuosity is on full display on Bakwash, his long-awaited debut solo album. Songs like “New Drug,” “Bakwash,” “Long Legged Lady,” and “Candy” feature ample amounts of the pyrotechnic tapping skills and over-the-fretboard-fingering he’s famous for. But the 49-year-old Oklahoma native does not deploy these “tricks” for spectacle alone. Actually, it’s all in service of his seemingly effortless musicality, which is quite possibly his most astounding trait. Live, Jones is a dynamic performer, both visually and sonically. Whether with ’70s guitar hero Michael Schenker in the Michael Schenker Group (MSG), or classic rock icon Leslie West and recent iterations of Mountain, or ’80s hair-metal stalwarts Steelheart, his seemingly endless array of licks, fills, and musical motifs — while certainly attention-grabbing — never seem out of context with the songs. There’s an old adage that says less is more, but Jones seems to throw such conventional wisdom out the window by successfully employing a “more is more” approach. On Bakwash his playing is tasty, melodic, and deep, even if it is flashy and a bit over the top. What’s perhaps most compelling about Bakwash, however, is that Jones’ seemingly off-the-cuff improvisational skills translate really well to the recorded format. We talked to Jones in his hometown of Oklahoma City to talk about what went into
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the making of his debut and how he developed his unique approach to playing bass. Did you record Bakwash with a band in the studio, or did you file-share via the internet? Bakwash was recorded in three different studios, two rehearsal rooms, two bedrooms, and a garage [laughs]. All of the parts were recorded at different times in different states, and there remain a few bass and vocal tracks that were recorded on the early demos, which were basically meant to be scratch tracks, but I found no reason to replace them. I applaud [guitarist and mixing engineer] Jim Dofka for managing all these tracks and somehow making it all sound uniform. How did you go about creating the framework of the tunes for others to cut their tracks? I recorded all the bass, vocals, keys, and some guitars first; then I sent it to Dofka to record the guitars and solos; then we sent it to Jeff [Martin] to record the drums. I know it seems weird to do the drums last, but it gave Jeff an advantage: He knew exactly what was going on with each instrument and the vocals, at all times. It created the ability to throw in odd-ball drum fills without affecting anyone else’s part. At what point did you write your bass parts? What’s weird is I usually write my bass parts last, even though I hear them the whole time in my head. I just don’t commit to anything right away, because it often happens
BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 3 ; bassmagazine.com
