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NAMM 2013, It’s a Wrap
At this moment, the ache of my feet from walking the entire Anaheim Convention Center at Winter NAMM 2013 is wearing off and we are hunkering down to process the huge amount of images and video from the Show.
The whole NAMM experience is very exciting and rewarding as we explored new bass gear and accessories, chatted with great musicians, ran into our good friends and supporters and enjoyed some amazing, spontaneous music. Since the Show is not open to the general public, we are happy to bring what we capture to our readers worldwide, I appreciate the interest and comments we have been getting so far on our social media posts; please feel free to continue to add your two cents.
And did we ever capture some great stuff at the NAMM show! We have an exclusive interview with the very talented Gerald Veasley and much, much more. (And yes, we had to include the Zombie Apocalypse video from Mackie. It is just too cool, and was a great way to begin an early press conference!)
One of the strengths of being a totally virtual magazine is the ability to add content throughout the month. This way you don’t have to wait until March to see what happened in January. So make sure you keep checking back with us as we continue to post. Or better yet, make sure to subscribe for free and have new content delivered directly to your email.
We have a solid cover interview with Jennifer Young, the recording and touring bassist for rock fusion trio, the Travis Larson Band! Congrats to Eric Parsons on a great job with his first cover interview!
I am sure you have already noticed that we recently launched our signature Bass-T shop and many of you saw us at NAMM sporting the new bass T-shirts in the pictures and video we shot at Anaheim. Join us and others who have ordered their very own BMM shirts and get one (or more) of your own… Show the world your commitment to bass and to YOUR magazine! Better yet, take a photo of yourself in your shirt and share it on Instagram @bassmusicianmag.
And looking ahead to March… are you going to the London Bass Show? If you are, look for our very own Biscuit on March 3rd who will be doing demos on Hartke amps! Take a picture of the two of you and post it on our social media areas (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)! It is kind of like playing where’s Waldo… just Where’s Biscuit!
Lastly, I want to remind you that Bass Musician Magazine is (and has been for quite some time) mobile responsive so you can enjoy your bass updates wherever you are on your smart phones and devices.
Well that is all for now… time to get to work on all that NAMM material so you all can enjoy it!
Keep it Low!
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
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Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
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Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @murraykuun_guitars @ja.guitars @combe_luthier @overloadguitars @kevinhidebass @franz.bassguitars @indra_guitars @petercrowdesign @baboomin_bass @jcrluthier
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @sandbergguitars @benevolent_basses @rayriendeau @olintobass @wonkorbasses @bite.guitars @adamovicbasses @maruszczyk_instruments @skervesenguitars @ramabass.ok
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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