Favourite character stars in a duo of catchy cheesy pop song???

Welcome to my latest addiction.

              After quite a hiatus, we're finally back with a new interview. This newest interview is with a player that keeps busy performing on double and electric bass. Bryan Percivall is a professional bassist, musical director and teacher. His 10 year professional career has seen tours from Athens, Greece to Los Angeles and studios from Avatar and Legacy in NYC to Ocean Way of Nashville and Q Division of Boston. In addition to session work in New York he is currently touring with his own rock band, Romans, with singer Jeremy Lublin (We Are the Fury) and guitarist Craig Bonich (Head Automatica). Bryin is also directing the band of country singer Emily Earle. Bryan will be performing with Emily Earle at 11st Bar on March 21st at 10 P.M. and will also be performing with his band Romans as a headliner at Bowery Electric on April 28th. You can access their music and other projects Bryan has been involved with via this link. Brian can also be contact directly at his email address

1. What were some of the first gigs when you first started here? What do you recommend to new players on the scene in regards to getting work in the city?

Just some of the worst things you would never want to hear, haha. I took anything and everything from everyone. Lots of craigslist gigs and random people from open jams, even a few gigs from a guy I met in a Sam Ash. I've come to realize that its not about what you're necessarily qualified for, but telling someone you can do it and figuring it out. I talked myself into a musical theater recording session with an orchestra on bowed upright. Not something for which I was particularly qualified, but I practiced the hell out of if for a month, made it happen, and they loved me. I've made several thousand off of craigslist gigs in the couple years I've been here. While many of these were not the greatest gigs themselves, the connections I made led me to some of the best musicians I now know in some of the most bewildering and unexpected ways.

Networking is huge obviously. It's surprising how many gigs you get from talking to someone at a bar without them ever having heard you, you might just be in the right place at the right time. That being said, remember theres a fine line between being an awesome networker and being obnoxious. Make connections and be friendly but don't be a creepy stalker.

In general: be on time, look awesome, be professional, rock out, be easy to work with, be fun to hang out with, and be a killer player. It's all of these things equally that make someone remember your name when they're looking for a bassist for their next awesome $1000 gig. 2. What are some of the aspects of your playing that have made you successful? Pocket, versatility and enthusiasm. Give me anything from a country gig to a musical theater gig and I'll be doing everything I can to make some butts wiggle, haha. I've figured out that what's served me best is doing as many different things as possible but still sounding like me when I do them. I'm doing a jazz fusion gig later and I know I'm not going to be a Patitucci and I'll probably sound more like a Paul Jackson but they hired me because they know that that's what they're going to get. 3. On a typical day what is your practice routine like? Recently, I've been learning guitar and key bass to try some different things and that's taken up a lot of the practice time that is not spent specifically learning songs for artists. I feel that learning something like guitar is important for us lowend-ers because it shifts your ear to hearing some of the upper structure of chords. Its amazing how hard it is to pick those things out if you're used to playing root-5 in the lower octaves all day long. I got a Roland Gaia recently to learn some key bass parts for a singer songwriter I play for and have been really running with it. I'm going to do some insane, brutal, saw-tooth synth, Presets/Rapture type group by the end of the summer and we'll wear insane costumes and every gig will be a huge mess of a party. Just wait and see, haha. 4. Who have been some of your major influences throughout your musical career? As far as bass: Meshelle Ndegeocello, Raphael Saadiq, 'Family Man' Barret, James Jamerson, Pino Palladino and Justin Meldal-Johnsen, amongst all the others. Pino and Justin's careers really inspire me to be constantly evolving, searching for something new, even if that isn't just playing bass. Justin was Beck's bassist and MD for 11 years, then did Nine Inch Nails last tour, played with everyone from Black Eyed Peas to Bird and the Bee and has a ridiculous film session discography as well. As if that wasn't enough, he also produces; he did M83's last album and is finishing the Neon Trees. If I can have 1% that hip of a career, I'll die happy. Still, he finds time to have a great forum on TalkBass.com and answer on a daily basis. 5. What kind of gear are you using? What gear do you recommend for a player who is playing a lot around the city? Mainly I use a Jazz bass that I got on eBay for 80% of everything I do. Its a '69 body with original pick ups and a replacement ESP neck from the 80s. It was all painted this horrid black and I sanded and refinished the body in my bath tub. I was going to put a '74 neck on it but ended up just going with the one that was on it. In addition to the Jazz I also have a Ken Smith 5 string MW, a hollow body '69 Vox Sidewinder that I got from my uncle, and a '50s reissue P that has 7 year old flats on it. I'm looking for a good 70's P with a J bass pick up in the bridge spot now.

We're blessed to live in a city where a backline is pretty regular, so take advantage of that. The only down side of that is you never know what you're going to get. Some rooms have great amps, like Rockwood and Living Room with their Aguilar rigs, and other times you'll have trash, (we wont name names...). I always bring a preamp/DI pedal to plug through so I can send something I know I like to the front of house and also try to mold the amp a little bit. I use the SansAmp bass driver for the DI or the VT Bass pedal to start with something I know I like. A bunch of companies like Mark Bass, Eden, Aguilar and others make some great options for relatively low cost, so try a few out.

As far as amps go, it's nice to have something on a little cart that you can carry around on the subway and not have to spend $50 of the $75 you're making on a gig on the cab. I have a Aguilar ToneHammer 500 powering a DNS-112N cab that Jaxon over at Rudy's Music helped me pick out. It sounds great, loud enough to play weddings or even venues like Glasslands, and it weighs nothing. The head is 4 lbs and the cab is 30lb, not my definition of fun to carry but sure beats spending the cash. Gallien-Krueger and Genz Benz make some great light amps as well. For larger gigs, I have a SVT-3 driving an Ampeg 4x10 hlf or I have access to a Ampeg VR-4 with an 80's 8x10 if I really need it. Pedals I'm using include: VT Bass Driver, Sans Amp Bass Driver, Rat Fuzz, T-Rex Bass Juice, EHX Bass Synth and Frequency Analyzer, Boss CEB-3 and OC-2, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal and the EBS Multi Comp. 6. When recording bass, what are some essential tools you like to use? (Plugins, DI boxes, etc.) What do you feel is key to laying down the right take? When I record from home I just go from direct out from my SVT-3 into an M Box and into Logic. Recording from home is something that is a definite possibility for just about anyone and can be a quick and easy way to make some cash. It saves the artist money and enables you to advertise to people that are anywhere in the world. Anyone with a computer can get a DI, go through an audio interface and into whatever program you choose. In the end, you're just sending them the .wav files. It's not hard and you have all the time in the world to fiddle with your gear and get a good sound.

If I record at a studio, I take a listen to what their style is and try to have some options when I walk in. Maybe a couple basses that fit the artists sound? Do they want some effects? How bout a couple fuzz pedals? Usually I cruise in with my Jazz bass and one other, a SansAmp, and a couple pedals I think might be fun. I haven't recorded at a legitimate studio that didn't have an amp and DI that I didn't enjoy, if I'm lucky I get a Avalon U5 and a crusty old SVT. Most of the fun of recording is being able to go through the studios toy chest and tinker about.