Death From Above 1979
Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:29 am
Never has a band blown me away as much as the duo from Death From Above 1979 and changed the way I play bass. My friend sent me a link to a video with DFA1979 playing, and I had never seen nor heard them before, instantly I fell in love when I saw DFA1979 bassist Jesse F Keeler with a Rickenbacker 4003, and when he started playing.. well, I will never be the same! 
This guy is one of the greatest players I have seen in modern times. He played through 3 x 4x8 stacks, two of them guitar stacks, and one bass stack, while playing with his Rick 4003, which is slightly modified. The sound he gets blows me away every time.
I absolutely adore any bassist that doesn't sit back and let the guitarists have all the fun, and DFA1979 takes that one step further by refusing to employ a guitarist. As I said, DFA1979 is a duo, drums and bass, but the bass sounds better to me then any guitar ever could, and the sound he gets fills the entire song from start to finish.
I guess thats why I love this band so much, as I can't stand playing passive boring bass lines, and have the heart of a lead guitarist, but i'm a bassist. I just can't sit at home alone and play, I'm sorry to say, but Beatles songs and get enthused (don't worry, I love the beatles!), so instead I pretty much try to cover enough of the bass to fill out a whole solo song. And so now I always chuck my 4003 onto the bridge pickup, select vintage tone, hook up to my Fender Rumble 100... AND.. loop to a Laney 75w Tube guitar amp, with distortion, and let rip. I pretty much play as a guitarist would, and the sound I get is amazing, I can solo up high, or crunch out bottom end riffs with a crazy top end treble coming through the guitar amp or even playing chords, sounds amazing 
Now I have rambled on long enough! If you can get your hands on the song 'Little Girl' By Death From Above 1979 you will see what I'm all about.
This guy is one of the greatest players I have seen in modern times. He played through 3 x 4x8 stacks, two of them guitar stacks, and one bass stack, while playing with his Rick 4003, which is slightly modified. The sound he gets blows me away every time. I absolutely adore any bassist that doesn't sit back and let the guitarists have all the fun, and DFA1979 takes that one step further by refusing to employ a guitarist. As I said, DFA1979 is a duo, drums and bass, but the bass sounds better to me then any guitar ever could, and the sound he gets fills the entire song from start to finish.
I guess thats why I love this band so much, as I can't stand playing passive boring bass lines, and have the heart of a lead guitarist, but i'm a bassist. I just can't sit at home alone and play, I'm sorry to say, but Beatles songs and get enthused (don't worry, I love the beatles!), so instead I pretty much try to cover enough of the bass to fill out a whole solo song. And so now I always chuck my 4003 onto the bridge pickup, select vintage tone, hook up to my Fender Rumble 100... AND.. loop to a Laney 75w Tube guitar amp, with distortion, and let rip.
I pretty much play as a guitarist would, and the sound I get is amazing, I can solo up high, or crunch out bottom end riffs with a crazy top end treble coming through the guitar amp or even playing chords, sounds amazing Now I have rambled on long enough! If you can get your hands on the song 'Little Girl' By Death From Above 1979 you will see what I'm all about.
