Karl Clews is an experienced session and touring bassist. In recent years he has become known for his solo bass arrangements of popular tracks on YouTube, from current chart hits to jazz and funk classics and movie themes. 'I wanted to demonstrate the potential of the bass guitar - technology and playing styles have progressed so rapidly on the bass in recent years, the bass is no longer restricted to playing just the root notes in a band. It's now capable of playing melody and chords, and can even carry a whole piece on its own' says Karl. 'However, there's still an 'old-school' mentality among certain players and listeners who see and hear what I do and have no qualms about telling me I'm playing the bass 'wrong'. Hence the title of this collection of my originals, 'Dissident' - I see myself as one of a growing number of bassists who are fighting the established preconceptions of what a bass should sound like.'
All pieces in this collection are performed using only 4-string electric basses and percussion.
Credits
All music composed, performed, engineered and produced by Karl Clews, except drums in tracks 1, 11 and 15 performed and recorded by Richie Dittrich.
Karl uses Bogart and Status electric basses, a Chowny SWB Pro piccolo bass, and a Palatino EUB.