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Bringing More to Your Music – The Live Show by Carl Dawkins
Being aware that your movements on stage can add an extra area to consider (especially if it is a particularly demanding gig), as this is essential to come across in the best light. Anyone can listen to your music and enjoy it at home, but you need to give them something to get out of the house for.
The main thing to remember is to not jeopardize your playing because you’re thinking about moving while on stage, but at the same time you don’t want to be one of these players that are glued to their instrument and never look up. I’ve met players that focus purely on the image (and they have the mirrors in their respective studios to watch themselves) but forget about practicing the songs/specific fills/licks – which means yes they look good, but the playing could be a lot tighter. We have already talked about the other end of the spectrum where people spend so much time on their playing and nothing on the live show – which sounds great, and looks boring, and with the music scene in London just picking up, you want to give the people something to look at and something to remember you by. This gives you another connection besides your music that people can latch onto. It’s all about finding the balance between the two.
For example, this might not be to everyone’s musical taste, but whenever this band is in the UK, I HAVE to see them just for the live show. It adds a whole new meaning to the songs when you see them played live… Anyone into Metal/hardcore/alternative –take notes.
Granted, it is on the extreme side of the scale. Here is another example… I am biased however; everyone should love something about this next band, Pink Floyd. This is a band who have become so renowned for their live shows, that if you ever want to think about doing a Pink Floyd cover band, you best make sure you can back it up with an impressive live show; anything from images on a projector screen, to an incredible light show. To make a point, I have taken this video from The Australian Pink Floyd, an amazing tribute to Pink Floyd:
Focus on the sax player, he absolutely owns the stage, a great performance while executing the parts he needs to play too. His charisma comes across and his presence glows without upstaging anyone else– it all fits together… he found the balance. Observe how the choreography allows for him to have his solo slot, having this in place gives him less to worry about while performing, allowing him to just enjoy what he is doing.
Now, what the two bands above have in common, is they both create an atmosphere from the word go. They both use their music to inspire their live show (or sometimes even the live show to inspire the music). It’s important to think of these things when putting your live show together, you just need to make sure you’re not doing anything live that is out of your comfort zone or that you have not practiced. Don’t get me wrong, we all take risks, and if they come off then fair play, but also, we all have interesting stories about when things go the other way!
If in doubt, just always remember the 5 P’s … Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. In the next article we will be looking at how artists draw inspiration and use skills from other areas and incorporate them into their live show.
Carl Dawkins
Follow me on twitter @carldawkinsbass
www.carldawkins.co.uk
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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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