The Last Bass Outpost

Bobby Tench has passed away at age 79.
The list of artists he worked with is endless. (Jeff Beck, Humble Pie, Van Morrison, Freddie King, Streetcrawler, Hummingbird, et cetera)
Great singer (and guitarist).








In 1986 he recorded a version of Still In Love With You as a tribute to Philip Lynott who had just passed away.
Brian Robertson played guitar (and keyboard) on this single.
It 's bit of a mix between the original 1974 version (with Frankie Miller on guest vocal) and the legendary live version form Live & Dangerous.




Today I learned that he was also a member of "The New Thin Lizzy" in 1991/1992. With original TL members Brian Robertson and Brian Downey.
They toured Ireland in 1992.
I had never heard of that line-up until today. And I thought I knew everything about Thin Lizzy ;-)




RIP Bobby Tench

My old band Superfloor is going to do a one-off reunion show later this year. We haven't played with each other for at least 10 years. While digging through an old hard drive, I came across video recordings that we made in 2008 in a bar called Loonies, Nijmegen. Our plan at the time was actually to put the entire concert on DVD. But in the end that never happened. The video quality just wasn't good enough and there was a phase problem with the audio. We put a few songs on YouTube at the time. But this version of You're So Cold was forgotten.
It's actually a shame, because looking back I think it's quite nicel 😉

I used my Gibson Les Paul Bass prototype on two songs that night. One of the very few gigs that I ever brought it with me on the road.

It's an amazing story.
I'm surprised the bass actually still exists.

A new chapter will soon be added to the Brooks story.

An old college friend of my brother has a passion for woodworking. He has an impressive collection of chisels, planes and other tools. including an Austrian-made Hammer CNC mill.
He approached me for a unique collaboration. I would contribute my knowledge of (bass) guitar building and he would contribute his skills in creating the 3D files for the CNC machine.
And so it was that we started the Brooks Jufferschans Edition in mid-2023. A very accurate remake of the Fenderbird that Peter Cook built for John Entwistle.

A lot of drawing, measuring, calculations, test pieces and consultations in recent months. We selected wood together in the huge storage of the my local wood supplier.
But now the first real results of the milling work are there. And they look fantastic.






Next week I will pick up the parts and start putting together a bass guitar from these "kits".
Hopefully the starting signal for a beautiful (limited) edition of Brooks Bass Guitars!

Like this sketch that I drew a while ago.
Brooks SG (Silver & Gold)



It started with the idea to use gold coloured frets (a special sort of brass actually) for the 3rd, 5th, 7th etc positions instead of the traditional markers.
But then I figured what if I took that idea a bit further with all metal parts of the bass.

Wahhaaaa that is so hilarious.

All those Swedes in one room and they had just one hairdresser (with a bazzilion spray cans)

I don't particularly like the song.
But the documentary is great.

All those world famous artists in one room. Having to leave their ego at the door.
Bob Dylan feeling very uncomfortable and nervous. Stevie Wonder helping him out on the piano.
Waylon Jennings quitting, because "Good Old Boys don't sing no Swahili"
And Lionel Richie hosting the AMA and coordinating the entire recording all in one(!) night.

You really should check it out.

My wife Floor went to a Melanie concert a few years ago.
It was one of the worst concerts she has ever seen.
She left before the end of the show.
Melanie didn't sing much. She talked most of the time. And not in a very engaging way.
When she sang it was not very good...

Floor was sad when she came back home from the concert. A childhood memory was destroyed basically.