Читать книгу The Jesus Lizard Book - The Jesus Lizard - Страница 11

Besides filling out the low end of the frequency range, the bass guitar is what glues things together in most rock bands. It fills space when needed, other times creates space. Ideally, a good bass line should reinforce the rhythmic feel of a song while providing a harmonic groundwork for everything else—guitars, keyboards, vocals, etc. If it does more than that, like stepping out on occasion and bringing peaks of activity or dynamic thrusts where there previously weren’t any, that’s added value. Subtract points for slapping and popping, excessive noodling, too many strings, too many effects, wearing the instrument too high, and other uncool transgressions. This applies to guitar players as well, actually.

David Sims is really good at coming up with bass lines that mesh well with the guitars and drums and yet still sound almost independent of those parts. I noticed this while watching and listening to Scratch Acid, well before we ever jammed or worked together. He also had a massive, grinding tone that was fairly unmatched by anyone else at the time, at least in our little corner of the world. Oh, and he wrote a lot of material too, not unlike other bassist/composer types like Willie Dixon, Barry Adamson, and Nikki Sixx.

Head has some prime examples. The opener, “One Evening,” is a good sample of what early Lizard was all about: right from the start, the bass line plays a malevolent-sounding minor/diminished pattern while circling the drums, then a distorted voice announces itself, and finally it all gets crowned by a jarring guitar chord which rings in the upper register. Songs like “My One Urine” and “If You Had Lips” have bass lines that creep and swing, and the underappreciated “Waxeater” is a tour de force of low-note legerdemain. “Killer McHann” has my favorite bass sequence from the Jesus Lizard—shortly before the final verse, as the drums cut back momentarily and the guitar slices and chops a simple Motown pattern, there’s a slashing series of descending bass runs that really kick everything into high gear.

Tunes like “Then Comes Dudley” and “Monkey Trick” (from the album Goat) were a blast to play over, guitarwise. I mean, how could I go wrong? I could surf over the undertow created by these bass lines, which were more strongly thematic than anything up to that point in our collection. “Fly on the Wall” (from Down) was another one—widely spaced bass intervals create holes for the guitar and vocals to glide and chatter through. Later material on the albums Shot and Blue show a willingness to try new things: the fluid ripples of “Thumper,” the brief solo on “Blue Shot,” and the finger-style dub-isms of “Eucalyptus” all point toward new directions.

In short, David Sims has had a remarkable career playing bass guitar. Others may have sold more albums, made more money, and become more famous, but I can’t think of too many other guys who have been as influential on their contemporaries. He has a sound and feel that is unmistakable and immediately recognizable. Some of the bands he’s been involved with (not just the Jesus Lizard, but Scratch Acid and Rapeman as well) are among the most respected in underground or independent music and have helped the genre of rock evolve . . . and he’s still doing it! Everyone, on your feet!

DUANE DENISON