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Stage Presence: A Much Needed Overview by Kilian Duarte
Meet Kilian Duarte –
As the lights go up on a stage, the amps warm up and the knobs get turned. You are standing in front of a crowd, big or small, who are waiting for you to impress them for the next 15- 180 minutes. As the drummer counts off, the guitarist strums his chord ala Pete Townsend, the vocalist jumps up and yells, and the bass player immediately hides behind both of them.
Sound familiar?
This issue I wanted to discuss a plague that has been afflicting the bass player community for years and years. This stage-ridden disease is one of horrible and really boring STAGE PRESENCE, even in the most lively of settings. I would like to state before the bashing, that there are many notable and even exemplary bass examples of amazing stage presence throughout the years. Many times this is a result of bass/vocals duty, and the many free spirits who understand the importance of getting the crowd moving.
This is not a rock and roll thing, and to say that this argument is about genre is not the point. In general the average bass player in a band has the worst presence out of all the members in the ensemble. We have all seen him/her, dressed in cargo shorts and wearing a baseball cap when the rest of the band is dressed like they are in Led Zeppelin. The player who has a lot of room to move and jump around, but does not dare stray from their 3×3 little comfort zone. Looking down at their neck, never staring out into the “horror” that is the gawking crowd.
Luckily, there is a cure.
The first step is one of acceptance. Many people raise their eyebrows at this point and wonder what there is to accept, but its something that is more commonly ignored than it seems.
You must accept the fact that while you are truly an artist, when you step up onto that stage, you are an entertainer. Sorry to all of you out there who feel a need to bury your head in the sand to this fact, but when you play for a crowd, simply fretting notes does not cut it.
People want to see you move, see something exciting, passionate or interesting. Being a great bass player is not a common thing, so why should your performance be so common. Stage musicians exist to give people an escape from the hardships of the human condition, take pride in your role as the master of the subterranean sounds that make people move and feel free.
The second step is to reevaluate your wardrobe. Trust me, I am not a fan of the fashion industry, and I am so not into the fake and plastic façade of many performers. But to be perfectly honest with you, getting into your role, whatever the genre really helps the vibe. If you are in a rock band, don’t show up wearing a John Deere cap and some flip-flops. Just like you wouldn’t wear leather pants and a boa to a be-bop gig. Find something that’s cool, and comfortable to wear, that fits the music and the crowd your going for.
The third step is standing up for yourself to the sound guy. Lets face it, sound guys only really care about vocal levels, drums and guitar. In their minds, you are a nuisance that needs to be dealt with as little effort as possible. Don’t make the bass too loud, but make damn sure you are heard and great in the mix. I promise you, that playing a low B with the right volume makes the crowd react as if they just heard thunder. A very powerful thing we have to our disposal to make crowds want to see you perform again and again.
You don’t even need to go nuts and do summersaults to get a great vibe across. Look at the Ox Mr. John Entwistle. John barely moved around on stage but his presence was just enormous in the Who. Every time that man played, he gave an aire of pure and raw confidence. He had a look on his face of a man who was a rock legend, and a damn good one. A lot can be accomplished by just seeming like you know exactly what you are doing. Arrogance is a bad thing, but being really sure of yourself and just adding a little cocky flair to your vibe does wonders for your general playing. If you think about messing up, you will mess up. But if you act like the Ox and give off a vibe that you are holding down the low end with an iron fist, then the low end will be. Try and sing the vocals too, the key to not making mistakes live is to just let go and feel the music and hear it as a whole.
The next gig you play, make it a point that the crowd notices you, don’t just be a face in the back, be known and be proud. We are the masters of thunder, and thus we should play accordingly.
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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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