Bass | Azimus

Simon Deeth Bass Page

I started playing guitar and bass guitar as a teenager in the 70’s, in Launceston, Tasmania. Early pub rock bands in Launceston included The Family Dog and Blackwood Creek. These bands had regular pub gigs and also performed at some early Basin Concerts. (These were the days when organising a Basin concert required little more than ensuring you had a long enough extension lead to run power from the kiosk to the roof of the picnic pavilion that doubled as the stage, and inviting some friends along.) I moved to Hobart the day after the Tasman Bridge was knocked down in 1975 and formed Couta with Paul Warren. A highlight with this band was playing support to AC/DC at Launceston’s Albert Hall. A year in Adelaide saw me performing with MacArthur and The Steven Foster Band. During the late 70’s I also worked regularly with the Laurie Kirkham Showband

I started playing guitar and bass guitar as a teenager in the 70’s, in Launceston, Tasmania. Early pub rock bands in Launceston included The Family Dog and Blackwood Creek. These bands had regular pub gigs and also performed at some early Basin Concerts. (These were the days when organising a Basin concert required little more than ensuring you had a long enough extension lead to run power from the kiosk to the roof of the picnic pavilion that doubled as the stage, and inviting some friends along.) I moved to Hobart the day after the Tasman Bridge was knocked down in 1975 and formed Couta with Paul Warren. A highlight with this band was playing support to AC/DC at Launceston’s Albert Hall. A year in Adelaide saw me performing with MacArthur and The Steven Foster Band. During the late 70’s I also worked regularly with the Laurie Kirkham Showband

In 2007 I left my corporate world day job and “tree-changed” from London back to Tasmania with my family. We helped C3 Church in Devonport develop its contemporary worship, and also put together a family band playing eclectic covers. I also appeared at the 2010 Jackeys Marsh Forest Festival with Miraj and later that year was musical director for the Deloraine Dramatic Society musical, The Future, You’re in It.

I like the blues and music with “feel” and unexpected space. I also find interesting some of the cross cultural explorations of, for instance, Ry Cooder and Paul Simon. I have not tried to analyse other bass players too closely but must admit to preferring “in the pocket” bassists like James Jameson and Larry Klein to some of the more “in your face” players. However, after many years of fairly restrained playing necessitated by the particular priorities of gospel music I am looking forward to pushing at a few boundaries in this new venture with Azimus

My main instrument is a fretless 1969 Fender Precision fitted with a hipshot D-tuner and flat-wound Rotosound strings. Other instruments include Takamine and Eston acoustics that are very similar except that one is fretted and the other fretless; and a ridiculously short scaled Ashbory.

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