Interview: Stu Hamm
07.06.15
Seattle Music News’ photographer Neil Lim Sang had a chance to chat with Stu Hamm, read it here:
SMN: Though I am very familiar with career, and I have seen you play several times from playing with Vai, to Satriani, to even solo gigs in clubs. I wanted you to give an overview to our readers who might not be familiar with who you are, and obviously what you do?
SH: Right? I have been playing bass for surprisingly 43 years now. I come from a whole family of musicians, and was exposed to just many kinds of music growing up. My Mom was opera singer and my father was a composer and a friend of John Cages growing up. So I was exposed to Avant guard, experimental, classical music. I had an older brother that was 6 years older than me, he was always listening to weird things like Pink Floyd, Myles Davis and Sun Ra, and so certainly grew up with really varied musical career and played a bunch of musical instruments. I got my first bass when I was 13 years old, and as soon as I started playing bass I realized I had an affinity for it, and got some really positive encouragement as a young musician from different sources. I kept at it, when I was 18 years old I went to the Berklee College Of Music, and second week I was there I met Steve Vai and ended up playing on those audition tapes for Frank Zappa.
Eventually moving to California to record with Steve, and through my relationship with him got a record deal with Relativity Records, and looking for a soloist on that particular record I ended up meeting Joe Satriani, who I played with for years. So in my career I have fortunate to play with may of our generation’s best rock guitar players; Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, as well as Eric Johnson, Frank Gambale, Dean Brown. I have had a successful solo career, and was certainly I think one of the bass players at the forefront of a movement in the late 80’s early 90’s of expanding, at the time innovative techniques on the bass of tapping, slapping and harmonics.
SMN: Wow. I have been fortunate enough to see you with all of those guys. I know how good you are. I really to get our readers to really understanding what your musical prowess that you have is.
SH: Sure
SMN: You have been on tour now for what, about 2 weeks?
SH: For this particular tour and band yeah about 2 weeks, for the 3 weeks prior to that I did a 3 week solo tour where I launched 3700 miles just driving around doing songs and stories. Which is solo bass and me playing and telling stories about my career, which is really fun and rewarding, but I certainly missed playing with a band. So this is, the name of this tour is the Stu Hamm Rock Experience Greatest Hits Tour. And I deliberately put together a band of really rock musicians. A great drummer by the name of Jeff Bowders, who I met playing with Paul Gilbert, and a Korean guitar player we do some movie work for; Kim SeHwang, and a great young guitar player named Randy McStine who I worked with Jane Jenner and Alan Holdslan.
Every time I go out I try to keep myself interested musically, and offer different variations of my musical catalogue to the audience. And this particular thing is that I am really trying to rock out for the summer. And bring in some of the fans that are familiar with my work with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. So In addition to playing the most well known of my hits from songs like Black Ice, and Radio Free Albemuth, and playing the Peanuts theme and country music. We are doing some of the better-known songs I pled with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. And it is really fun man, a lot of time the last band I’ve been out with was more of a fusiony group and this is just balls to the wall rock. Powerful musicians, and you know the fans that have shown up I have had so many people come up “Ah man that is great, I saw you with Satriani back in 1993 in Queensland” and when they here us doing sort of deep tracks from some of the live stuff I have done, we have really been able to reach that section of the musical crowd. For me it is just fun to play with these musicians. Man, we are just kicking ass every night and rocking. Kicking ass, and taking names.
SMN: I am so looking forward to seeing you live again. It has been so long. Pretty much thanks, you pretty much summed up my next couple of questions; like how you found the musicians you are working with; and what kind of things we are going to be experiencing during the show. That’s really, really cool.
SH: Yeah there are some good surprises, but again, if anyone has seen my solo shows, or any of my shows I try to make it entertaining as well. Maybe it is sort of a Zappa influence where I try to keep continuous grooves and music going along. I tell a little short story how I met Steve and we go into the “Attitude Song”, and talk about how I met Joe and we play a song. I have this little special surprise I worked up at the end. Where I think bass players and musicians will enjoy. I am sure if you go deep enough down the rabbit hole in YouTube it previews what we are going to do.
SMN: Pretty amazing. You have been playing for so long and have influenced a slew of bass players, where do you draw most of your influence from the past, and what are you listening to in the present that you found innovative and new?
SH: Well its funny, I’ll let the cat out of the bag at the end.. what I tried to do was think about all the bass lines I have heard growing up that sort of made me go wow that was a cool bass line. Then I do a medley from obviously all the influences of Paul McCartney that has a lot of bass lines. Then certainly the advent of John Entwistle and Chris Squire who were dudes that played bass, but had a more trebly and melodic approach to it. And then hearing Herbie Hancock: Watermelon man with Gary Quartz on the bass, and here comes Stanley Clark. Then on November 8th, 1978 at the Orpheum Theater in Boston Massachusetts at 8:30pm I saw Weather Report with Jaco Pastorious for the first time, and it certain changed my, changed everyone’s lives and changed my life irrevocably.
What I listen to now, man you know there is a guy name Bubby Lewis who lives in LA who plays with Snoop Dogg and Lupe Fiasco, and he is a great young bass player. And we get together and play. And I still listen to and put on Chris Squire, and John Entwistle and still a lot of Jaco gets played and all sort of stuff.
SMN: Ah fantastic. Those are some obviously well known and well renowned bass players. So that is really cool. So what kind of things are you doing next? Are we expecting a new solo album after?
SH: I am just a little busy, when I get done with this tour I go and I am a counselor at a Rock ‘n Roll fantasy camp where I get to spend 4 days teaching weekend warriors Judas Priest songs. To get up and play with them, and then I go to China to play with play with Taiwan Jazz Festival to play with the fusion band I put together with Chris Coleman and Dean Brown. Then I go to South Africa to play Bill Chaplin, and Brenda Russel, and Denise Williams. RnB, Peace Love & Soul Festival. In the fall I am going to Europe with my band with Greg Howe on guitar, so that is going to be really rocking.
Yes I am working on the new record. I have a book that is coming along with it and it’s called “The Diary Patrick Xavier” that is probably going to come out right about at the end of the year. If I find some time to change the last three songs hahaha! Some time in my schedule.
SMN: That is amazing. Sounds really cool. So one of our questions we always ask all of our interviewees is a Seattle Music News question is: If you were stuck on a desert island, what album, one movie and one book what would you take with you?
SH: Hmmmnn…. well the album would probably be between Yes songs, if I wanted to rock! Or Manfred Eicher you know from ECM who just released this beautiful re-mastered 2 CD set of Arvo Part music so that would be it. The book would be Gene Wolfe’s: The Book of the New Sun Series. It is 3 series of books, with about 12 books in it and I keep re-reading those books forever and not figuring out what is going on. The movie would be… Bladerunner: The Directors cut.
SMN: Yeah there have been so many cuts. That is such a classic movie. One of my favorites of all time! Really, really cool. Well Stu thank you so much for your time, I don’t want to take up too much more, but you have answered quite a few things for us. Really looking forward to seeing you play here in Seattle. We are trying to get the word out to get people out to see the show!
SH: Great, I’ll just add up that I love Seattle. I’ve got family my brother and my mother live up in Seattle. I’ve got a bunch of great musician friends up there. I’ve actually played the Tractor Tavern before, I think the last time was 2007, I played with my band with Beat x3 with Billy Sheehan and Jeff Berlin and we packed the placed. We packed the place, and if I recall correctly they have like a brick wall behind the stage. It was a wonderful time, and I have always had great memories of Seattle, so we are looking forward to rocking.
SMN: Ah it is going to be great. Well thank you once again for your time and looking forward seeing you very soon on the 19th. Thank you Stu, we will see you soon.
SH: Ok man. Talk to you later
Catch Stu Hamm Rock Experience at the Tractor Tavern on July 19 with the Janitors of Chaos. Get tickets here.
Tuesday, Jul 19, 2016
9:00 PM Show | 8:00 PM Doors
Seattle, WA
21 years and over
Interview by Neil Lim Sang
