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Tips for Up-and-Coming Bassists with Carl Dawkins
Meet Carl Dawkins
Hello all, and welcome to the next installment on how to further yourself as a musician in the industry. This article is currently being written from a tour bus in India, where I am touring with a metal band from the UK called ‘Cypher16’. Thankfully enough, the way I got this tour resulted from exactly what I am going to talk about today – promoting yourself in the right way to get you noticed.
The tour of India was secured through several actions that had resulted from various bits of promotion I had done. The first was one point I have talked about in other articles – letting everyone and anyone know that you’re available. The band ‘Cypher16’ had heard from someone they knew that I was available at these times. Someone else (who was also informed that I was free) had also let them know to check me out. This is the foundation that can lead to getting the gig, but most of the time it would end here, and neither party would end up working together, be it through them finding someone else, or circumstances changing, or the tour being pulled. If you do get the gig, then well done—start building up a good working relationship. If by chance it didn’t end with securing the gig, we need to look at how to increase our chances of getting the gig after this stage, and there are several ways to do this.
The main point of what I’m about to talk about follows one simple rule, “get yourself noticed”. I guarantee, whatever you’re doing, and no matter how much promo you’re doing, you can always do more. I’m sure I could mention quite a few bands that are now big that you would not have heard of, and I’m sure you could reel off a few bands I too have not heard of – but me telling you about the band is instant promotion for them, as you have now heard of them. The same applies to us as musicians. If you leave a good impression, or in fact any impression at all on someone, your name may come up in conversation, or at the very least they would of heard of you and would pass you on to someone else via word of mouth. Point being; tell everyone you’re available, and looking!
To keep yourself more visible, sign up to loads of different Internet sites. The internet is still a great way to get you out there and can hold a lot of the information on one page for someone to look at. Check out my site (which just redirects to MySpace) www.carldawkins.co.uk
I’ve had the site done professionally, until my proper .co.uk was finished – it contains videos, a CV, bio, artists I’ve worked with + pictures and contact info—everything someone needs to find out about me. Also, update your sites regularly – I am still constantly updating mine, and I still need to record and upload more video and audio examples. So keep on top of your sites, and when new gigs start to unfold, let people know! Let the local papers know as well. Any sort of exposure is important, and the more people that know about you and what you’re doing, the better!
Try to stay on top of all of the above. Its hard work, and needs to be done constantly, but its worth it! And, as busy as you’ll be taking care of all that, keep a balance, and don’t let your practice time suffer.
I have added some sites below, but there are many more to find by just looking through Google!
Good sites to sign up to
MySpace – www.myspace.com
Reverbnation – www.reverbnation.com
Forums – type ‘session bassist/musician’ in Google and sign up to the free sites you find where you can chat and network with other musos.
Sign up a .com and link to your MySpace, or other free site – example –www.carldawkins.co.uk
Type bass forums into Google and sign up to any sites that come up (only the free ones) as well as typing in key words such as ‘musicians classified’
www.craiglist.com
www.gumtree.com
Good sites where you pay to be signed up
www.Starnow.co.uk
Musicians jobs – type into Google
The above two have different types of work in all styles coming in daily
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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