FAIR GAME
“My style is melodic and it suits songwriters. I’ve never really been into techniques...”
There were many fretless bass players of various styles when I was young; the guys who were an influence on my journey to find my own sound were an assortment of individuals. I found something different in each of them, that shaped the way I went about my own voice. These ranged in approach, from the highly proficient playing of Gary Willis; the smooth and silky approach of Tony Franklin; abstract and innovative lines from Mick Karn; and the king tone and technique of Jaco Pastorius, to name a few.
One of my favorite bands back then, along with Rush, Yes, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Queen, and Iron Maiden, was Jethro Tull. Every musician in the band was extremely proficient and an interesting player—no matter the album or time period. However, the bass player I initially focused on the most was John Glasscock, who played on some of Tull’s best albums. During the sessions for 1979’s Stormwatch, he got real sick and died at the age of 28. His bass is on a few songs, and the singer and bandleader Ian Anderson finished the bass tracks.
Tull’s next album, , came out in 1980 and showed a new synth-based style, as the band walked into the new decade of sound. The bass now came from Dave Pegg, formerly and now of Fairport Convention, and I was
