Dave Marks

The Frankfurt Lineup. Groove central...

Just returned from a fun trip to Germany. I flew out at stupid O Clock in the morning and slept from take-off to touchdown.

We went straight from the airport to the show and met up wit the EBS crew. I have read online where another bassist friend of mine spoke about endorsements – he mentioned the importance of good gear and reliable service, but also the need to feel like you are ‘part of the family’. The EBS crew are awesome. Every single person that I’ve met who works for EBS is a legend. All of the guys in all of the departments are great fun to hang with and have great appreciation of music and gear.

We spent some time after the show laughing at Youtube, so I’ve decided to compile a list of links.

This could be considered the EBS crew top vides of YouTube:

01. Slipknot Shreds (my suggestion)

02. Finnish Disco (Ralf)

03. Speak The hungarian rapper (Ralf)

I’ll go hunting for more of those soon.

Alain Caron, French Canadian. Monster

I bumped into fellow London bassist Mike Flynn who was in Frankfurt for the hang, although he had to fly out the day I arrived so it was far too brief. Canadian bass legend Alain Caron was playing at the MarkBass stand, so it was a trip getting to see him bust his chops from so close up. He was playing a tune called ‘Slam the Clown’ from the Le Band CD. Wicked stuff.

I played on the stand and I have to say… I sucked. I was well tired, the sound was a bit weird, I had an unfamiliar bass and the place has so much ambient noise… it’s a very strange environment to play in. Perhaps …. I’m just rusty. I haven’t been doing any solo stuff for quite a while (and standing in the booth blasting out 8th notes ain’t gonna attract a crowd…)

On the EBS stand, we also had Etienne M’Bappe with French

Nikolas Viccaro. Young, French, monsterous.

drummer Nicolas Vaccaro. These guys were heavy duty. Nicolas is a ridiculous drummer. I had the distinct pleasure of playing with him at the Nice Jazz festival jam session last year and hope to hook up with him in London when he comes to visit at the end of the month.

As the day pressed on, things began to take a strange turn…When Jay Tee Teterissa got up for his second demo of the day, two bassists jumped up with him and I ended up playing drums…??!?

It was a fun little jam and it was great getting to lay down some beats with a player like Jay Tee giving the groove. Then, in a pleasant surprise, Lydia (of considerable YouTube fame) popped along to the booth and had a play on Jay Tee’s bass. She started grooving and I couldn’t help myself. Drums again… So the first day closed with some great fun playing – even if I was on the wrong instrument. I’ll write more about this tomorrow. It’s late and I need my bed..