Brent Rusinow (Allen Stone) - Soul to Solo

Listening to the elastic, soulful grooves of the Allen Stone band, it’s hard to believe that bassist Brent Rusinow began his musical journey in the somewhat more rigid world of classical music. But growing up with a guitar-collecting father in the house, the lure of the Rock n’ Roll world became too great and eventually young Brent was strumming along to Beatles records. “That led me down the path of playing guitar,” Rusinow says, “until I was caught up in the ‘two guitar and a drummer’ conundrum when I was about 13 years old. Luckily, my dad also had a bass laying around!”

Fast forward to today and Rusinow is now a seasoned member of Stone’s band; his bass solo spotlight being one of the many high points of the live show. Celebrating the release of the new album Radius, we recently caught up with Brent to discuss his formative years, his Aguilar rig and the value of learning songs, “from the bottom up”.

To read the Q&A portion of the interview, click here.

Nate Query - Beautiful World

Can you recall the last time, during a conversation about music, where you exclaimed “I love that video”? They still make music videos?

Well, here we are in 2015 and The Decemberists – the cerebral pop outfit from Portland, OR - have made one of the funniest, most clever music videos in years. Riffing upon late-70’s music programs from Europe and featuring Nick Offerman of the hit show Parks & Rec, the irony of this clip is the fact that Make You Better is one of the most poignant, touching songs on the band’s superb new album, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World.

Shaping up to be one of the top albums of the year,What a Terrible World… features bassist Nate Query covering a wide variety of stylistic ground; from the fuzz-drenched chaos of A Beginner Song, to the propulsive pop stylings of Calvary Captain to the country-style groove of Anti-Summersong. And that does not include his melodic upright work!

We recently spoke to Query between legs of their current tour about the creative process behind the new album and his work with his prolific side project, Black Prairie, which features many of his fellow bandmates from The Decemberists.

To read the rest of my interview with Nate, click here.

Popjunkie’s Smokey and the Bandit Collection: Part 5

Popjunkie’s Smokey and the Bandit Collection: Part 5

Here is an odd piece from my collection – a T-shirt given to the crew of Bandit 2.

Is it an official item? I wondered the same thing but I got it cheap enough, so I bought it. It certainly is an old shirt, so maybe it is ‘official’. The shirt is actually really small – although it does not look like it in the pics.

To see more photos of this item as well as others of my Bandit collection, check out my public Google drive folder by clicking here.

‪#‎burtreynolds ‪#‎smokeyandthebandit #brift 

Wojtek Pilichowski - My Aguilar Artist Interview

Wojtek Pilichowski - My Aguilar Artist Interview

In today's age-obsessed musical climate, it is surprising for a new artist to emerge over the age of 22. And by 25, those artists are looked at as industry veterans! But occasionally, we are lucky enough to have a musician hit the circuit whose sound and style are already "fully-formed" through years of honing their craft. In the case of Polish bassist Wojtek Pilichowski, his rise to prominence in the bass-playing community comes after more than two decades of performing, recording, teaching and good, old-fashioned, "roll-up your sleeves and get dirty" practice.

Over the past two years, Wojtek's reputation has grown thanks to the multitude of viral video clips showcasing his formidable slap-style skills. Yet, despite his impressive instrumental chops, it is Pilichowski's musicality that began to win over an audience all over the world, culminating with him appearing at the Bass Player Live 2014 show in Los Angeles.

To date, Pilichowski has released eight solo albums, four live albums and three live DVD's! His most recent album is the stylistically diverse INTRO, which melds his astounding slap technique with both electronic and full-band arrangements. While there are plenty of moments chock full of Pilichowski's hyperkinetic playing, these are balanced out by songs where his bass takes a supporting seat to the song itself as on Take Control, Mniej Niz Zero and his down-tempo cover of the Depeche Mode classic,Enjoy the Silence.

Let's sit down with Wojtek to get the scoop on the INTRO album and how he developed that stunning slap technique! To read the rest of the article, click here.

#wojtekpilichowski #bass #amazingbassplayers #aguilar #aguilaramplification

My Depeche Mode Spotify playlist!

Check out Ephemera, my Depeche Mode Spotify playlist featuring non-album singles & B-sides!

Depeche Mode has a gaggle of tunes like this - many of which are fantastic - so I thought it would be handy to compile them into one, convenient playlist.

The link to the playlist can be found by clicking here 

#depechemode #newwave #spotify 

Popjunkie’s Smokey and the Bandit Collection: Part 4

Popjunkie’s Smokey and the Bandit Collection: Part 4

Here is a recent item from the great Greenlight Collectibles! This set includes the Trans Am from each of the first two films as well as a police car and for some bizarre reason, a green Jeep! I have no idea why the Jeep is in here but the set is very cool with unique packaging.

To see more photos of this item as well as others of my Bandit collection, check out my public Google drive folder by clicking here.

‪#‎burtreynolds ‪#‎smokeyandthebandit #brift #transam   

Popjunkie’s Smokey and the Bandit Collection: Part 3

Popjunkie’s Smokey and the Bandit Collection: Part 3

Here is an item that took some serious EBay watching to procure – the 1/87 scale Snowman truck from ERTL.

I know these can fetch over $100 now so glad I got mine when I did.

To see more photos of my Bandit collection check out my Google drive folder - here. I will be adding to this frequently, so check back often!

#smokeyandthebandit #burtreynolds #brift #vintagetoys