Who are you listening to at the moment?
Recently I’ve been getting really into a local band called ‘The Big Massive Orchestra,’ they’re an ambient folky 3 piece, so something a bit unusual but I would highly recommend giving them a listen if you’re looking for something a bit different! I’ve also gone back to listening to a lot of stuff that Duck Dunn played on (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Blues Brothers mainly) as he’s one of my biggest inspirations as a bass player! Definitely worth a listen if you want to hear some cool bass lines!
What do you love about Bristol?
For me, Bristol is one of my favourite cities; great music, great food and a general great vibe! Luckily it’s also fairly compact so everything’s easy to get to, if you don’t mind a little walking. The music scene is my favourite thing about Bristol, with so many gigs happening every night it’s easy to find something to enjoy. This is great for anyone looking to play as well because venues are always looking for bands to perform – and if you don’t have anything to play, just pop down to one of the many jam nights that happen all across Bristol, they’re a great way to meet people and just have a great time! And as I grew up just a stone’s throw from Bristol, it was a city I was already familiar with, so it took no time for me to learn my way around!
Why Bass?
I chose to do the Bass course in Bristol as it seemed to be aimed at really pushing you to go further and expand technically and creatively! And I can safely say this has worked for me as I hadn’t been playing bass for long when I joined and I’m now confident enough to get up and perform at gigs and jam nights! The course really helps you to find your own unique style while also really focusing on giving you the skills to become a great bass player!
The course has given me loads of great opportunities; I’m playing on a fairly regular basis with several bands both in and out of Bristol. As well as this I was given the chance to be a Student Rep in first year and carried that on in to second and third year. This is something I’ve found to be an amazing experience as it’s let me be able to really take an active role in BIMM and see how effective the student voice is in BIMM as there have been issues that have been raised in the rep meetings that we’ve seen acted on in weeks, if not days! I’d highly recommend that anyone applies to be a student rep as it’s a great experience!
Kickstart your #lifeinmusic at BIMM in Bristol. Find out more here.
