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An Interview with Bruce Hyland |
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How long have you been playing the bass? I started playing the bass in 1989. Since 1995 I have been seriously committed to it. How did you get started? I saw Queen on Television in 1984, I think they were playing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, and I was blown away. I then got myself a Dunlop Brian May guitar, which I used for tennis on the weekend (laughs…). My first bass was an Odyssey with a broken truss rod, I bought it from the Westdene cycle shop, where my friend took his bicycle to be fixed. The neck was bent so badly I had to apply like 60000 kgs of pressure to actually get a note out. I also broke the E string in the first week, but my drummer at the time managed to ‘fix it’, and I played with it like that for another two years. As I mentioned earlier, I started to take the bass really serious around 1995. At this stage I was in a cover band called ‘Alchemy’, which were doing all kinds of corporate functions and things. They eventually went to the States last year, but as you can see I didn’t go with! It was the guitarist of Alchemy that introduced me to Jaco, and it changed my life. Around this time I quit my job and committed to music on a full-time basis. What gear are you currently using? The bass I use the most is my John Patitucci 6-string Yamaha. I also have a Fender Jazz and a Washburn semi-acoustic, as well as a Yamaha BBVIIs, which was my first bass that’s truss rod is not broken! I use a Trace Elliot amp, and D’Addario and GHS strings. What have you been doing for the past five years? As I already mentioned, I was involved with the band Alchemy for a while. I also played in a theatre show; an Elton John show; another cover band with the drummer from the Elton John show, and an Irish band, where I took over on bass from Trevor Muller. Currently my involvements include a 2-piece Jazz outfit at Monty casino and another pop-rock cover band. What is your favourite band or solo artist? My favourite bassists are John Patitucci, Jaco, Marcus Miller and Nathan East, as well as local guys like Denny Lalouette. If you won the lotto, what equipment would you buy? The signature series of all my favourite bassists, like that of Jaco and Mark King. In terms of amps, any 4x10 cab. What recordings have you played on? Well, besides a number of unreleased band recordings, I also played on Shine 4’s album, as well as on Teddy Pendergrass’ ‘With Love from TP’. What have been the high and low points in your career? Well the low point was definitely my very first gig. We played this Corporate Year End function for my sister’s employer, where I was also doing a holiday job. We showed up basically without any songs, and we were all playing through hi-fis… mine actually had a turntable attached, which I covered with a towel or something (laughs). It didn’t take much playing for the entire group of people to realise that we were not very good! The high point, on the other hand, was the day I learnt how to play Teen Town. What are your current objectives with regards to the bass? I would like to do more session work. Also, I would like to record a bass album with various styles, like swing jazz and funk, to see where I am at the moment. |
