BassGuitarRocks: How often do you change your stings?
Necro Hippie: I try to do em every six months – you can play for like a year with em you know. If you want a good sound and are cautious about (breaking a string). Not many bass players have a back-up bass, so I try to change my strings (regularly) and I do the intonation and action myself.
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BGR: What effects do you use?
NH: I use the bare minimum: distortion, a wah pedal and a tuner pedal. I’ve seen the multi-effect pedals out there, but they’re just not me.
BGR: Where do you prefer to stand, stage left or stage right?
NH: I think I prefer stage left, but since we became a five piece band it’s ‘stage-wherever-the-fuck-you’re-at’.
BGR: Do you still practice and if so, how often?
NH: Every night. I may not practice for a long time, but every night I try to pick it up and mess around. Sometimes I’ve gone without playing for a month too! As a player you should progress how you feel. If something is pissing you off (during practice) – ditch it. That’s what I do, it might be a half hour, five minutes or an hour – whenever I feel “I’m done”, I put (the bass) down and do whatever I want to do.
BGR: Do you do the bass solo at every show or was it spontaneous, like someone broke a string and you had to fill time?
NH: No – with our show there’s always a bass solo. What I do is always different, but I do have a couple of parts that I come back to, but I do it mostly on the wing.
BGR: What ALB song do you feel represents your best bass performance, and where can my readers listen to it?
NH: We only have a 4 song EP out right now, so you’d have to catch a live show. I’d say the song White Raven would probably be my best performance in an ALB song at the moment. But we did do a 10 song un-released album when we were called Cloven Blade and the song Demon Saviour on there was released on a BWBK comp CD and that’s a proud moment for me.
BGR: What CD(s) are you currently listening to?
NH: Just dug up some old Sabbath:Vol.4 Never Say Die, Edguy – Hellfire Club, Nightwish – Dark Passion Play
BGR: What was the last concert you attended?
NH: Haven’t seen any big shows in awhile, the last band I can think of (being at a show I didn’t play) would be Bukkake Katholic. I’m going to see Edguy on Sep. 20 and Sonata Arctica on Monday Sep 24th.
BGR: How do you feel about the metal scene today?
NH: I like some new bands, but back in the seventies and eighties it was like ‘This dude is an amazing guitar player, this guy’s an amazing bassist, this guy’s an amazing singer’, and nowadays it’s like, ‘We’re just a band’. It’s cool to a certain extent… I don’t want to sound like an old guy and say that all the new stuff coming out today sounds like shit…One band that I like is Trivium. They have some really good shit going on and they’re a North American band. European music is a whole other level, they have players in every band. (Most) North American music sucks. European music is doing awesome!
BGR: Are there any local bands that people should check out?
NH: Cauldron, Zuku, Red Light Riot and some of the bands here tonight (at Molten Metal Mayhem 3) – some of the stuff I’ve heard has been good! In any city in Canada there’s going to be some good bands.
BGR: Any advice for someone starting out?
NH: Don’t worry about having to learn your favourite band’s songs. Don’t worry about scales and modes – worry about that shit later. Just fuckin’ play!
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