Jump Head
Dub Trio, Griz, Matisyahu
THE SHAPE OF BASS TO COME
Bassist, musical director, and producer extraordinaire Stu Brooks unleashes thunderous new albums with Dub Trio and Griz and discusses what it’s like playing in the Saturday Night Live Band By Jon D’Auria |
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Photographs by William Felch
egardless of what style of music we’re playing, I always try to be aggressively low in frequency. We want our sound to be an aural experience, but also a physical one. Whether it’s dub, punk, or metal, I try to swing the bass like a telephone pole.” For a man known for dropping dirty, towering frequencies in a multitude of heavy genres, you’d never know it from Stu Brooks’ mellow demeanor as he strolls the sidewalks of Los Angeles in route to a yoga class while discussing his playing. Having recently transplanted
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from his longtime New York residence to the West Coast, the Canadian-born bass player and producer is as calm as they come, which is quite contrary to the intensely heavy music of his band, Dub Trio, which just released their fifth studio album after an eight-year gap since their previous effort. But Brooks hasn’t been simply working on his asanas and meditating in the lull since then. The 40-year-old journeyman has kept busy recording, musical directing, and playing alongside electronic funk artist Griz, jazz drummer Mark Guiliana, Matisyahu, Peeping Tom, Kanye West, Dr. John, Pretty Lights, and 50 Cent; he also occupied the
BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 2 ; bassmagazine.com
