hey everyone!
i was just wondering what was AlonZa's bass?anyone has an idea?
and, other thing, what's his "style"? is it a blues or something? i just can't define it!

well we can say this: ALONZA WA LOVE YOUR GOD'S HANDS!

Look at some of the gig photos on this site. It's a light brown Fender Precision Bass I think

Oooh, my favourite subject, Mr Bevan! Well, I know he has a Fender Jazz bass that he's been using since the days of them being signed to Gut Reaction, which was, I think about 1994. He's not too into the techie side of things, in fact he's practically Victorian! I came across this article a while back, which is, as far as I can tell, ALonza's only interview after KS broke up, it from 2003:


Alonza Bevan
April 2003
A Healer &A Shaker

"My style developed simply because I was in a crappy rehearsal studio,” laughs Alonza Bevan of Johnny Marr & the Healers. With Kula Shaker, and now with the Healers, Bevan always dwells in some interesting corner of the song. While never flashy, he manages to bring the sonic party to him. But the modest Londoner explains his sound as a result of circumstance as much as choice. “Up the neck, the strings get closer to the pickup and you’re cutting through. As long as you hold down the low end, you can play some lovely, melodic stuff. Paul McCartney does that brilliantly. I observed a lot of that early and grew up on it.” After the 1999 breakup of the British band Kula Shaker, Alonza had few chances to feature his groove-oriented, upper-register fingerstyle playing. But on the Healers’ iMusic debut Boomslang, Bevan has another chance to revisit his rock &roll roots and explore new bass territory with Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and Who drummer Zak Starkey. “It’s a cool instrument,” says Bevan regarding his early switch to bass guitar from traditional piano.
“My ‘Gran’ taught me piano, but for me it was bass—improvising and just holding down the low end. I love playing that part in the band, gluing it all together.” Bevan usually plays and records with his early-’70s Fender Jazz, usually with heavy-gauge Ernie Ball strings. “I always love the Jazz—it weighs a ton! I use just the neck pickup and roll the tone half off. Brutal!” A fan of classic tube sound, Bevan has two Matchless Thunderchief bass heads and two 8x10 Matchless cabinets. On tour he often rents an Ampeg SVT head and combines a 4x10 cabinet with a 1x15 to move a lot of air. For a touch of compression, Bevan uses an MXR M-102 Dyna Comp pedal. For a vintage bass synth sound on the Healers track “You Are the Magic,” Bevan used a Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler. “You see, my style is woolly swing,” explains Bevan about his deep tone. “That’s something I have been getting into with the Healers: developing sounds and kicking in a bit of fuzz with a Big Muff pedal. Johnny has been encouraging me to use pedals, which has been a lot of fun.” Considering where he’s been and where he’s going, Alonza Bevan’s advice for upcoming bassists comes easily. “Always swing it. Regardless of the type of modern pop music you play, it is beat music. That’s where it comes from.”

I hope this is of some interest to you. Alonza seems very, very musical which I know is a silly thing to say about a musician, but he just really seemed to know what he was doing at the soundcheck. In fact it was the only time I saw him look happy, and he was actually kinda in charge a bit.

So if anyone ever wants to wax lyrical about our lonza, you know who to talk too!

whoa Lexie, that was interesting, I play the bass, admire Alonza, and always wondered what kind of equipment he used, anyway, nice story, please feel free to tell us another story about alonza, I'll read it!!!
are you in the music biz?

quote:

Originally posted by kool:

are you in the music biz?

Lexie is the official Alonza Bevan/Mediaeval Baebes correspondent!

It's true, I am the official link between Alonza, the Baebes and the fans. And I take my job damn seriously!

I have a couple of Alonza interviews but I got them ages ago when I was in school and printed them off so I'm not sure if they're still on the internet. I found one of them yesterday though, enjoy! http://www.koolmag.com/music/interviews/kulashaker.htm

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sarah,

And I just remembered another little bit of information. Alonza is related, by marriage, to Roger Glover of Deep Purple. His mum's cousin is married to Roger! I bet that's why he appealed to Crispian.

he plays with three fingers on his right hand, it´s not that unusuall, but normally you play with two fingers, he also seems to like playing above the twelfte fret...

quote:

Originally posted by Lexie:
And I just remembered another little bit of information. Alonza is related, by marriage, to Roger Glover of Deep Purple. His mum's cousin is married to Roger! I bet that's why he appealed to Crispian.

Wow!!! I didn't know that!!! Scoop!

I was right up front and watched Alonzas playing closely. Its quite mesmerising. Hes a fuckin top bass player. Him and Paul make a top rhythm section. I should know, I play bass and drums. Though I play the bass with a plectrum.

Does anyone know if he's used any different gear on Strangefolk? I know he still used the Jazz live, but on the album he sounds very McCartney-esque. Doesn't sound quite like a Ricky though, maybe it's a pedal bigging up the top end?

His bass playing seems a lot more prominant on 'Strangefolk'- somehow more complex and intricate if anyone knows what I mean? It could just be cause this album's better mixed with the core instruments more upfront, and less stuff hiding behind effects etc.

quote:

Originally posted by hoffmann:
hey everyone!
i was just wondering what was AlonZa's bass?anyone has an idea?
and, other thing, what's his "style"? is it a blues or something? i just can't define it!

well we can say this: ALONZA WA LOVE YOUR GOD'S HANDS!

This isn't as much info as sarah gave you but I know he uses a vox 'tear-drop' bass too. I think he must only use it in the studio though because i've never seen him play it live. It's only small, about 3ft i think. There's a photo of him in a Kula Shaker book i've got.

Thanks Sarah for uploading that interview on Alonsa.
And the gossy bit after it. I'm about to email my ardent Deep Purple fan friend and tell him about Glover.
It's nice to read things about the others for a change. I would welcome anything on Paul, Harry and even Jay to add to my ever-growing file!

quote:

Originally posted by mrbaggins:
His bass playing seems a lot more prominant on 'Strangefolk'- somehow more complex and intricate if anyone knows what I mean? It could just be cause this album's better mixed with the core instruments more upfront, and less stuff hiding behind effects etc.

No, I think that the principle difference is that he's using a plectrum on several of the tracks, which gives his sound a more aggressive attack. I can't think which tracks it is off of the top of my head, but the difference is obvious: Just listen to the songs and the ones that sound typically Alonza are fingered, whereas the ones that sound different are picked.