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After years of playing the violin
and a two-year stint with the St.
Louis Philharmonic Orchestra, why
did you decide to forego the
instrument?
I just got too many gig calls
with the bass.What
made you choose to play the
upright bass?
My dad said, Why dont
you try bass? He was a
teacher with the St. Louis School
District. I got a bass; learned
all the notes. There was a gal at
my school who played bass. She
was first chair [in the school
band]I think my dad gave
her first chair because she was
so tall. I wanted first chair!
She became bass player with the
swing band. A friend of mine
played cello, and he had a guitar
with bass strings on itit
was an old Sears & Roebuck
guitar, and he had cut new
notches in the nut. That was [with]
the Marauders, my first high
school band. Girls said we were
cool. We started making money and
playing teen dances, and I had
this little book that I wrote our
gigs in; what we made.
I kept playing the violin into
our college years and was concert
master. I had been playin
bass with The Morticians. Wed
have our schoolmates follow us,
kind of in a funeral procession,
and wed turn our [car]
lights on. We wore black suits
and black turtlenecks; thats
how we got the name Morticians.
We played these little towns in
Missouri.
How difficult was it to
switch from the violin to the
upright bass?
It was pretty easy to switch over
to the string bass. The fingering
is pretty easy. Kids see bands
today and they say, I wanna
play guitar! I wanna play drums!
Those are cool. They never say,
I wanna play bass! I
dropped out of college after five
years, just a half year from my
masters, and started playing jazz
clubs. I got called up for the
draft and failed my physical.
Otherwise
.
What type of bass do you
use? Why that particular brand?
One I use for Brian Setzer is
King Doublebass. Theyre in
Santa Ana, California. These guysor
one of em didhis name
is Jason Burns. He would take old
Kay basses and paint em
with, like, twelve coats. Plywood
basses are best for playing
rockabilly. You need a bass that
doesnt have so much tone.
Hand carved basses are best. They
found that, if they layer em
with paint, they have a better
tone. It has a really lousy tone,
but when you plug it into an amp,
it just kicks. Jason and his
friend, Brad Johnsonhe
became CEOdo a great job. I
also use different basses for my
jazz and studio gigs. I named
them. Would you like to know
their names?
Of course!
Well, theres Berta, shes
German; Consuela, my Mexican
handmade bass; my Ampeg bass,
Peg; Kay, my Kay bass. My King
bass is named Boom Boom; my flame
bassthe one with the flames
on itis Blaze, and Dale,
after Dale Evans. How many is
that? Seven?
How did you meet Three
Sounds pianist Gene Harris? What
was your experience working with
him like?
Genehe had a lot of friends
in Kansas City who would hire him
for different functions. I worked
for [pianist] Pete Eye. Gene
would come in and see Pete play.
I became good friends with Luther
Hughes, Genes bass player.
Luther left, and he said, Do
you want my gig? [My wife
and I] loaded up the motor homeit
was more of a van with a high top.
My wifes brother-in-law
sold me a motor home. It was
really nice. I remember when Gene
was off, wed park at Marina
del Rey. There was a whole line
of motor homes there. I played
with Gene for about two years and
on Yesterday, Today &
Tomorrow. I got a little
disenchanted. He was gonna do
another album, and he didnt
need me on it. I went back to
Kansas City; did some jingles.
You also had the chance
to work with movie and television
music composer, Stan Worth. How
did that collaboration come
about?
I was home about two months and
got a call from Stan Worth. His
bass player was leaving, and he
asked me if I wanted that gig. He
was the guy who wrote George
of the Jungle, Rocky
the Flying Squirrel
a
bunch of others. We sold the
house and the motor home, and
went back to California. I
started working with Stan at the
Hilton Innthat was about
74.
What television theme
songs did you record with him?
We did Fun Factorythat
was a variety TV show with Bobby
Van. We did a TV show called
High Rollers; Stan
was musical director on Name
That Tune.
While living in Kansas
City, you had the opportunity to
play bass for Elvis Presley. What
are your memories of performing
with The King?
This was around 1968-69,
and I think that this was when he
did the 68 Comeback tour. I
wasnt really an Elvis fan.
I had been playing in this big
time music scene. Musicians didnt
travel with big bands back thenthey
would hire local musicians to
play with them. I played with
Liza Minnelli, and someone called
me and asked me if I wanted to do
the Elvis show, and I said,
OK! We went down to
the rehearsal and were told to
wear black pants and a white
shirt. They gave me a vest to
wear. I bought a couple Elvis
albums to listen to what he
sounded like. The musicians were
told, You guys are gonna
just play the introduction, the
2001 theme.
Before the show, Im
backstage, and I saw Elvis and
the Colonel talkin in the
hallway. Elvis sees me waiting
there, and he says, You
want me to sign those for ya,
sonny? He signed my two
albums. I dont know what
happened to them.
Were on the stage and the
whole house goes dark. We start
playing the 2001 theme. The
flashbulbs start goin off.
It looked like noon during the
day. That will always stay with
me until I croak. There was one
guy [Charlie Hodge] playing an
acoustic guitar. He wasnt
plugged into anythingI
think it was just for show. Hed
follow Elvis around the stage and
hand out scarves. [Elvis] was
wearing a white jumpsuit with all
the studs and the bell bottoms,
and a red scarf. Ronnie Tutt, whos
famous for the Octopad, played
that gig.
The musicians you have
had the chance to perform with
are a virtual whos who of
the industry: Little Richard,
Hank Ballard, Al Jarreau, Brian
Setzerthe list goes on. Who
was your favorite to work with,
and why?
Well, I think Setzer, cause
hes so high energy. I had
to kick up my performance with
him. I didnt really know
how to play rockabilly. I met
Geoff Firebaugh from Nashville.
He showed me flapping, where you
use both hands. Other guys showed
me, Heres how you
stand on the bass. Plus,
the music: you have to be able to
sight read notes, flyspeck,
as we say in the business. The
second time is just changes. The
musicianship is incredible. Im
overjoyed to be associated with
that.
While were on the
subject of Brian Setzer and
musicianship, during live Brian
Setzer Orchestra shows, while the
big band takes a break, you join
Brian and drummer Tony Pia
onstage for a stripped-down,
Stray Cats-style mini set. How do
you enjoy performing as part of
the trio as opposed to the entire
big band?
Its weird. I like the big
band because I like playing with
the horns, and Ive been
playing jazz since Kansas City.
The trio is fun. Its a
workout. Youre throwing the
bass in the air, and thats
fun. The music in the big band is
readingand hard. I learned
how to climb on the bass in two
hours, but sight reading notes
took me twenty years. Thats
the enigma.
During the 1980s, you
joined Big Daddy, an eight-piece
group that turned modern songs
into 50s-style classics; a
Weird Al Yankovic
meets Sha-Na-Na type of project.
Did the groups overseas
success with its cover of Bruce
Springsteens Dancing
in the Dark surprise you?
I think a couple of guys in the
band had good business sense.
Marty [Kaniger] had a skill on
the phone and was good at sales
talk. We were in [the movie] Book
of Love. We did things with
Little Richard; we did a video
with him and Vin Di Bona, the
producer of Americas
Funniest Home Videos. We did Las
Vegas for five or six years at
the Tropicana. We played in Lake
Tahoe at Caesars. We did a couple
tours of England. We had a tour
of Australia. I remember driving
north of London to Newcastle,
listening to the radio, and
Dancing in the Dark
came on. We changed stations, and
it was playing on another station.
Simultaneous play of Dancing
in the Dark! The cool thing
about that band was we all played
a role in the arrangements. It
was a three-ring circus without a
ringmaster.
Is there any chance of a
Big Daddy reunion?
We did Bubbapalooza in the 90s.
We decided to get the band
together for a show, but we could
only remember 45 minutes of songs.
We all got drunk. I think we
should get into the studio and
see what happens.
How did the Spazz
moniker come about?
Everyone kinda had their own
persona in that band. We had a
biker guy, a Bubba
kind with greasy hair, a gold-lame-lightning-bolts
guy
.What about me? I saw
this other band called Captain
Cardiac and the Coronaries. They
had a bass player. His character
was a nerd. I got a slide rule
and a bow tie, and I got a flat
top. Nobody had a flat top. I
found some old glasses from the
70s and put some tape on
them.
Up at Tahoe, I got to sing a song.
I sang Stagger Lee. Id
rip off my coat during the song,
as if I was a sex god. I tripped
over too many mikes and knocked
em overit wasnt
deliberate, I was just clumsy.
Stagehands started calling me
Spazz, and it stuck.
Youve also
performed with rockabilly pioneer
Billy Lee Riley.
That was a great, great
experience. Ray Hermann, lead
alto [sax for the Brian Setzer
Orchestra] and Johnny Hallyday
helped. Brian Setzer had been
playing with [Hallyday] The
French Elvis. Ray got me
and [then BSO drummer] Bernie [Dresel]
on one of his recordings, Blue
Suede Shoes. The Montreux
Music Festival wanted to do a
tribute to Sun Records in
Switzerland. We backed up Sonny
Burgess, Billy Lee Riley; Brian
May. Billy Lee told me, When
I was playin, the bass was
only slapped if there wasnt
a drummer.
Who are some of your
favorite bassists, and why?
Ray Brown, for his melodic
playing, and Jacko Pastorius.
Oscar PetersonI used to
have a record Id listen to
over and over again. Dick
Youngstein of UMKC Conservatory
of Music
when I heard this
guy play, Id go, Wow,
thats how its played!
His bass boomed, growled...was
angry. Bass should pound in jazz.
[Its] the constant in jazz
and swing. Bass is what holds it
all together.
You have played nearly
every style of American music,
from jazz to swing to rockabilly.
Which is your favorite to
perform?
I gotta lean toward swing and
rockabilly/big band. I like that
power. The bass and the drums is
the power. Same with rockabillybass
and drums just drive it. Im
still lucky to be doin it.
I deduct the cost of strings and
music expenses from my taxes, and
cause Ive taken
losses the past few years, now,
they [the IRS] call it a hobby.
I dont know how to do
anything else.
Do you currently perform
with any other acts when youre
not on tour with the Brian Setzer
Orchestra?
Ill be playing with this
group called Richard Cheese &
Lounge Against the Machine. He
opened for Brians band. Hell
take the filthiest songthe
filthiest rap songand turn
it into a lounge song. Its
hilarious.
Lets return to the
subject of the Brian Setzer
Orchestra. How did you become a
member of the group?
It was because of friends I knew
in the band. Bob Sandman was the
sax player in Big Daddy, and he
could sight read. Bob and I had
played in other situations; he
knew I was a good reader. Bob got
the gig as a tenor sax. Mike
Acosta resigned, and Bob Sandman
got the musical director chair.
This was before they had The
Dirty Boogie album. We never
listened to Brian Setzer or the
Stray Cats, but we heard what
Brian was doing and said, This
is jazz! We knew all the
guys in the band. I was workin
in a band here in L.A. called the
Hodads. If the Brian Setzer
Orchestra made $1,000 a week, we
were makin three times that
much a week. I had a financial
hardship, so I turned him down.
He was using Mark Winchester from
Tennessee, but flying him in and
hotels were costing too much.
On my first gig, at the Hollywood
Hard Rock, they said, Heres
the book; heres the tunes.
We go on in 40 minutes. It
was excruciatingly loud. Everyone
else used earplugs; I hadnt
used earplugs before. Brian was
playing through two amplifiers,
Bernie was bangin away on
the drums, and I couldnt
get my earplugs in. In my book,
there was a chart with brown
splatter on it. I asked what it
was, and someone told me, Oh,
thats blood. The bass
players fingers exploded.
The guys were wearing white
shirts, and blood sprayed all
over the back of em.
That was a one nighter. Brian
started calling me to help him
and Bernie demo the songs. I also
did the master recording for what
became Vavoom!, although they
replaced my parts, I think with
Mark Winchester. I knew they were
going to do it, and I said,
OK. Mark Winchester
left, and [Setzers solo
album] Nitro Burnin Funny
Daddy was the first album with me
on bass.
Which BSO album that you
have contributed to is your
favorite?
Thats hard to say. Thats
gotta be the most recent one [Wolfgangs
Big Night Out]. They got Frank
Comstock to do the chartshe
wrote the music for Dragnet and
Adam-12. He hadnt written
anything in years. He said he
didnt know if he could do
this anymore. They started
crankin out two charts a
week. This, you had to read the
note in the arrangement. [Comstock]
called me up, cause I wrote
an article in a local musicians
paper, and wanted to thank me.
The Nutcracker chartFrank
said he wrote that chart for Les
Brown.
The Brian Setzer
Orchestra has been nominated for
Grammy awards on numerous
occasions, most recently for
Wolfgangs Big Night Out.
How did it feel to receive the
nomination?
Hey, I wish we couldve got
it. Turtle Island String Quartet
got it. Weve gotten
nominated for every CD since Ive
been on: Nitro Burnin Funny
Daddy; the Christmas albums. I
think last time, George Harrison
was nominated, and he was dead.
That doesnt seem
fair to the other musicians.
They shouldnt allow dead
people to get nominated. Turtle
Island String Quartetat
least they have talent. Music isnt
real anymoreits all
canned. Theres no talent in
that.
Arguably, youve
achieved your biggest success
with the Brian Setzer Orchestra--and
at a latter stage in your music
career, too. What are your
thoughts on this success?
Its about time! It is
totally weird you think Im
too old to make the big time. Its
a dream come true. I subbed for
the bass player in Europe for
Royal Crown Reviewhe doesnt
like to traveland
everywhere we played, people
recognized me from the Brian
Setzer Orchestra. I still think
of myself as a jazz player
playing $100 gigs. Whats
cool is I dont have to buy
equipment anymoreI get free
amplifiers or whatever. I want to
play it and see where it goes.
John, thanks so much for
taking the time to speak with me.
Do you have any final comments
that you would like to share with
the readers of Jumpin From
6 to 6?
If any kids are reading this, or
aspiring musicians, they should
all learn to sight read. It opens
doors. Learn to play everything.
I play Dixieland. I played a
symphony gig a few weeks ago.
Learn to play jazz; learn to play
disco. I do the disco stuff. I
brought the bass to a gig and
they told me we were playing
disco; I said that Ive got
the electric bass in the car, but
it worked out really well. Its
a love affair Ive had with
the string bass. Learn to play
with feeling. Tony Pia told me,
Show up on time, play your
ass off and keep your mouth shut.
For more information on John
Spazz Hatton, be sure
to log onto the following
websites:
www.myspace.com/johnhatton
www.briansetzer.com
www.groups.msn.com/MorticiansPhotoGallery
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