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Slap Basics With Doug Johns: Bass & Drums as a Duo
Meet Doug Johns –
If you’re familiar with either of my CD’s, you probably know I love that big band sound – full horn section, Hammond organ, drums (percussion, guitar, synth, two bass guitars)… The more the merrier, right?
Well, that line-up isn’t always feasible when it’s time to go on the road in support of your latest CD.
If the budget is there, there’s nothing better than touring with the same instrumentation as your recording. But, let’s face it, in these budget-conscious days, it’s a tough task to take a 10 or 12-piece band on the road. Obviously, it’s much easier to justify doing a one-nighter somewhere in a far-away town when it’s just two guys. Sometimes, compromises have to be made in the instrumentation/band members.
But this doesn’t mean you have to compromise the music.
My drummer, Chris Ceja, and I have been touring in support of our music over the past couple of years as a duo. It has taught us a lot about composition, entertaining, and technology.
It’s important to understand that a great song, played or sung with just one instrument as opposed to a full orchestra, should sound just as beautiful – because it’s compositionally a great song first. The goal here is to let the notes out of our souls, into the air, and connect with the souls of the people listening.
But no matter what, when it’s just you and one other cat on stage, you had better learn quickly how to entertain the audience. As bass players, we can easily blend in to the background with a full band. That ain’t gonna fly from an entertainment standpoint when it’s just bass and drums on stage.
On the other hand, the technology side of it is an ever-changing entity that can really enhance the solo or duo performance. But, you have to be careful not to rely on technology for “the show.” As you’ll see in the accompanying video, Chris and I touch on some of the neat tools that help us sound bigger than a bass/drum duo.
We’ve sampled some of the horn stabs from my CDs – along with keyboard and guitar lines – to bring some surprises to our set. Loopers have been around forever, and they’re a great layering tool for multiple parts – again, resulting in a bigger sound and a more entertaining show.
But, I think it’s important to stress that we have always approached our duo with the mindset that if all our toys (samplers, loopers, etc) break down right before we hit the stage, it shouldn’t affect the music itself. In other words, we always make sure the music is there first! Then, we’re able to use the technology to simply enhance the groove.
To sum it all up, there’s nothing like a big band that’s tight with the music… But it’s just as cool to hear a killer solo or duo tearin’ it up on stage. Give it a try sometime – you might be surprised at the purely musical approach of the duo setting.
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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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