Hello Rock Stars! Today’s Artist of the Week is Bassist and Solo Artist Bubba Bass!
Here’s his story in his own words, enjoy!
All photo’s courtesy of the wonderful Tiffany Salerno!
He just released a brand new amazing album that is sick and you should definitely check it out on Spotify:
He also has a show tomorrow night on Wednesday at Evel Pie that has a sick lineup that you truly don’t wanna miss:
VMS:
When did you start writing and performing your music.
What’s your backstory and current lineup.
Bubba Bass:
I started writing music when I first began college in fall 2020, from there I began composing Shredding Symphonies Vol. 1.
Unfortunately at the moment I have no band. I need 2 guitarists that are shred masters and a drummer that is just a machine on the kit. Music in general has been going on since I was 8 years old and I picked the guitar up for the first time and eventually moved to bass at 13 and it became part of me, at 23 years old now, I’d say I’m doing amazing.
VMS:
What artist or bands inspire you and your sound.
Bubba Bass:
All these bands have been part of my love for music and being a bassist. Metallica, Megadeth, Slipknot, System of a down, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Flotsam and Jetsam, Pantera, AFI, MCRX, The Warning, Motionless in white, Ice Nine Kills, Slaughter to prevail, Falling In Reverse, Evanescence, Mudvayne, Knocked Loose, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Cannibal Corpse, Korn, there’s plenty more I could name that i just appreciate as well other than who have inspired me.
VMS:
What’s your writing process and inspiration for your lyrics.
Bubba Bass:
My music is instrumental so I have no use for lyrics/vocals. My vision with my music was to be as original as possible with a familiar genre. The best way I can describe it is if Beethoven wandered into a time machine and transported to the 21st century and starting composing music for a metal band.
My writing process usually starts out with the rhythm section, drums and obviously bass, because I noticed some bands that don’t see it right away, without a good rhythm section, your flashy solos ain’t gonna stand out well and the focus is gonna turn to how shitty the rest of the band sounds. I always get the backbone taken care of so then I can plug in the guitar and handle the flashy parts after so it can be more solid.
VMS:
I love your songs “Maestro of Destruction”, “The Oath For Iron” and “The Secret Chord (hallelujah)”. What is the inspiration or story behind these songs.
Bubba Bass:
“The secret chord” for one, is my version of the infamous song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, I was re-watching Shrek one day while recording SS1, at the scene of Shrek and Donkey splitting up the song plays and I don’t know why but I had a funny thought of doing my own version of it. I got the kick again one night I’m hanging out at my girlfriends house watching the movie sing and at the scene I believe it was the character meena, played by Tori Kelly singing the same song and oh my god, I had to do it. I fired up my bass and recorded a decent set of tracks layered to create what is now, “The Secret Chord”. The name of it was taken from the original songs lyric, “Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord”.
“Maestro of destruction” was the song that set the bar for SS2, it was the song that helped me expand my music jnto a full band context and the first song to help me improve my production game since I produced the tracks myself, I never went to anyone to help me with it. That song is currently on top with the streams in my social media and I’d love for ALL my tracks to get that same love everywhere including within the scene.
“The Oath For Iron” was simply a tip of the hat to one of my favorite bass players and his band, Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead.
Listen to Bubba Bass on Spotify:
VMS:
Tell me about your EP’s: “Shredding Symphonies” (1 and 2) What was the inspiration and process of writing them.
Bubba Bass:
The main inspiration for putting these albums together was to bring back an old style that I know will do so good today, and that was to make the songs about “the riff”, and I mean that in the way where the guitar riff is what drives the song, because that’s what a lot of rock/metal music was like back then. Including having more solos too.
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of modern metal style bands nowadays have more breakdowns and no solos, it’s cool but after a while, it gets really boring, and the only kind of rock or metal bands that have that riff driven style are a bunch of cover/tribute bands which is fucking lame, and it got to the point where it has shifted my taste in certain bands over time.
I’m sorry but I’m getting tired of seeing the millionth metallica cover band pop out of nowhere and instantly get popular for covering another popular band’s music. It doesn’t help that there are some bands that claim to have an original style, but will still sound like another band that they take inspiration from. They could be an original thrash metal band but have very obvious hints of sounding like a band like megadeth or something.
“Shredding Symphonies” Vol 1:
“Shredding Symphonies” Vol 2:
VMS:
Which local artist would you like to work with and why.
Bubba Bass:
A few bands that I liked that would be really cool to work with are We Might Die, The Dollheads, Hollow Mute and Deathtape. These guys are all probably the best bands I’ve seen in the scene.
VMS:
What’s your overall theme or message of your music.
Bubba Bass:
The overall theme of my music is to basically say, fuck the rules of what rock and metal should sound like. My music does not have a singer, and it’s gonna stay that way, and when I play this shit live there better be some moshing.
VMS:
Do you have a favorite song that you like to perform.
Bubba Bass:
Honestly, I love all of my songs to death, I would just love to have a band to be able to play them with live.
VMS:
Do you have any crazy or interesting stories from working in the music scene.
Bubba Bass:
One of my favorite shows that I’ve done with a local scene, back when I was with my old group Terror Attack… We were shooting the music video for the song “fuck you mean”, the rowdiness of that crowd, that was insane, especially when I was so hyped up i jumped in the middle of the pit while playing, its in the video all over Youtube.
Another one being on our first tour, the “freedom of liberty” tour, I ended up signing an autograph on a girls boobs who came to the show… that was fucking insane.
VMS:
What does the future hold for Bubba Bass.
Bubba Bass:
My future definitely definitely has hitting the big stages in sight, and my music, growing popular and hopefully being able to branch out from within the scene.
VMS:
What have been your personal pros and cons of being a band here in Las Vegas. What do you think the scene could improve on and what are your hopes for the future of the Vegas Music Scene.
Bubba Bass:
The only pro I could say about the vegas scene is that it’s one of the best scenes music wise, the only con that I have is that it’s really hard to find other musicians to form a band with.
VMS:
What do you want your audience to feel and experience at one of your live shows.
Bubba Bass:
I want my audience to feel like they’re coming to the best show they’ve ever seen. If they wanna smoke and drink and get high at my shows have at it. I don’t care what my audience does I just want them to have fun if they come see me live.
For more information about Bubba Bass, please visit his website!
VMS. 🙂