THE PUMPKIN BASS REVOLUTION:
INTERVIEW WITH
MARKUS GROSSKOPF
(Helloween,
Bassinvaders, Shockmachine)
MARKUS GROSSKOPF
(Helloween,
Bassinvaders, Shockmachine)
Helloween are a living legend of power metal and clearly of the heavy scene as a whole. This is an indestructible, exuberant and vitalistic band. And their bassist Markus Grosskopf is a legend, too. He’s a really skilled musician with an excellent technique as a tightrope walker on his instrument but never just scenic; he always proves to masterfully support the band in addition to be able to improvise when he believes is appropriate to do so.
Markus shows to feel very comfortable with slap’n’thumb technique, with fretless and even to shape the songs thanks to his solid basslines.
We want to highlight the remarkable Shockmachine among his side projects as well as the albums recorded with Kickhunter, not to mention his solo project called Bassinvaders which debuted in 2008 with the album Hellbassbeaters, where you can find in charge a great poker of bassists (besides Markus) like Peavy Wagner from Rage, Schmier from Destruction and Tom Angelripper from Sodom, that is to say the Kings of made in Germany metal bass.
Markus shows to feel very comfortable with slap’n’thumb technique, with fretless and even to shape the songs thanks to his solid basslines.
We want to highlight the remarkable Shockmachine among his side projects as well as the albums recorded with Kickhunter, not to mention his solo project called Bassinvaders which debuted in 2008 with the album Hellbassbeaters, where you can find in charge a great poker of bassists (besides Markus) like Peavy Wagner from Rage, Schmier from Destruction and Tom Angelripper from Sodom, that is to say the Kings of made in Germany metal bass.
There are also various four strings giants who made cameo appearances on this original and highly successful project, suffice it to mention Billy Sheehan, Rudy Sarzo, Marco Mendoza, Joey Vera, Nibbs Carter and Peter Baltes from Accept.
It would certainly be welcome a second chapter or a new solo project; meanwhile we can enjoy Markus on the recent Helloween live called United Alive, waiting for the upcoming new album scheduled for this Summer 2020.
Markus gave Bass, My Fever an exciting testimony of his long career by analysing the role of bass in addition to talk as bout heavy metal and much more…
In conclusion, then, to all the possible (but unforgivable) neophytes we warmly advise some Helloween tracks with a Markus definitely on the shields: Eagle Fly Free, Goin’ Home, Heavy Metal (Is The Law), Light The Universe, Mrs. God, The Invisible Man…
It would certainly be welcome a second chapter or a new solo project; meanwhile we can enjoy Markus on the recent Helloween live called United Alive, waiting for the upcoming new album scheduled for this Summer 2020.
Markus gave Bass, My Fever an exciting testimony of his long career by analysing the role of bass in addition to talk as bout heavy metal and much more…
In conclusion, then, to all the possible (but unforgivable) neophytes we warmly advise some Helloween tracks with a Markus definitely on the shields: Eagle Fly Free, Goin’ Home, Heavy Metal (Is The Law), Light The Universe, Mrs. God, The Invisible Man…
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BMF: Can you tell us how your relationship with bass was born? And how has it grown over time? Markus Grosskopf: When I was around 13 my mother sent me to a holiday camp on a farm with lots of kids hanging out there. There I met two guys playing in a Punk band looking for a bass player. I was already listening to bands like Ramones & Sex Pistols and told them I do the job. I never touched a bass before we started rehearsing. Even myself and everyone else were wondering how fast I got a couple of notes together and we played for 1 - 1/2 year until I got more interested in Rock and Metal bands like AC/ DC, Kiss, Scorpions, Uriah Heep, UFO, Ozzy Osbourne and so on. I was playing to those records a lot. Then I eventually met Kai and the guys. Those guys were looking for a bass player for their metal band and I got the gig. Then I really started to practice all those metal stuff and I bought my very first Fender Precision Bass. That was in the late 70‘s. I always felt the bass in the music I was listening to even before I started playing bass. For me it was such a natural thing for some lucky reason. I try to fill in interesting notes whenever our very busy schedule allows me. And still trying to find my own style. I play with my fingers as well as with the pick. The song is telling me how to play it. Or I may use a pick in the studio for a more harder sound and later on stage I use my fingers or the other way around. |
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BMF: What about your first influences and more broadly what about the bassists who mainly inspired you? MG: As I said before I started with punk music. I’m still a great Ramones and Sex Pistols Fan. But Sid was not exactly a great bass player. I found my influences more in players like Steve Harris, Roger Glover, Geezer Butler, Jimmy Bain, Chris Squire, Flea, Geddy Lee, Cliff Williams, Ian Hill, Dusty Hill, Marcus Miller, Jack Bruce, Lee Rocker, Jaco, Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones, Billy Sheehan, Lee Sklar, Lemmy, Sting, Wyzard, John Deacon, and all those amazing players. Each of them created their own unique fantastic style. They give something to their music that really touches me deep down inside, giving me such a great time listening to their great performances. And that is actually what music is all about. To me it makes the world a better place. Good old memories from good old times. You hear a track and you‘ll be remembered of a certain situation in your life. I like that. But music is also the future. When I write a track I can‘t wait to get it released waiting for the people’s reaction. Music of the future and music of the past. Right. That’s the shit. I love it. But you will realize I love different players. |
There are such great players like Cliff Williams from AC/ DC, Ian Hill from Judas Priest or Dusty Hill from ZZ Top. I call it the art of leaving something out. They’re music is based on a steady straight rhythm section. I doesn’t need a lot of notes. But what it needs is a very steady to the point played beat and a very accurate timing line. It delivers such a great energy to the music they are playing. I would advise each beginner to practice something like the 8th thing played real steady to a simple 4/4 rhythm instead of trying to get crazy with too many notes when you start. All this melodic things like Steve Harris from Iron Maiden or Geddy Lee from Rush you should try when you are able to keep the timing and the beat steady with simple things. My absolute favorite bass player of all times is John Entwistle from The Who. I love the way he plays his stuff so very aggressive with such a fabulous distorted sound sometimes. He really revolutionized the role of bass guitar in rock music. I also like the way a lot of Motown songs are arranged with James Jamerson's great old session Fender Precision sound. I love the way Lee Rocker uses his slap technique in Stray Cats with his upright bass. Just fantastic it sounds. |
BMF: Helloween are an institution not just as regards heavy metal context. How do you explain and experience this longevity as well as this desire to be always on worldwide stages? And how has the role of bass developed over the band sound, in your opinion?
MG: This band, Helloween, is not just a band for me where I do my job and then go home. It is my life. Sometimes I wake up in the night with an idea in my head and I put it to my cell phone. Helloween follows me everywhere. On some stinky airport toilet a chorus line just gets into my head. Inspiration is really everywhere. I don’t need any pretty sunny fucking island to get inspiration. I get along with snow, rain, storm and cloudy weather in Hamburg, too.
MG: This band, Helloween, is not just a band for me where I do my job and then go home. It is my life. Sometimes I wake up in the night with an idea in my head and I put it to my cell phone. Helloween follows me everywhere. On some stinky airport toilet a chorus line just gets into my head. Inspiration is really everywhere. I don’t need any pretty sunny fucking island to get inspiration. I get along with snow, rain, storm and cloudy weather in Hamburg, too.
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BMF: How did Bassinvaders and Shockmachine come to life and what are your memories about both projects? MG: Shockmachine was something I always wanted to do. It is very different from what I do with Helloween. I gave it a go and it was fun. But Bassinvaders is something very special for me. I invited a lot of my bass heroes to play solo bass on it. The idea for doing metal music without any guitars at all I found so bizarre that I really had to do it. The idea came watching Lemmy playing live on one of those festivals we did together. Seeing and hearing him playing live, I really thought what do you need guitars for when you have a bass sound like Lemmy. That kind of triggered me. I knew from the start that it never would be such a commercial success. But for the sake of it and to have it in my back catalogue I really love the idea. |
BMF: Have you ever thought about a solo project to record just in your name?
MG: Actually the Bassinvaders album is called Markus Grosskopf‘s Bassinvaders already. So there you have it in a way. But at the moment we are so very busy with Helloween that there’s absolutely no time to even think about a solo record. It eats up such an enormous amount of time this solo stuff. ‘Cause as a solo artist you do most of things and decisions on your own. It is so much more stressful than doing a record with the whole band where everyone carries each other. I like that a lot. It is team playing the way I love it. It is different when you do things on your own.
MG: Actually the Bassinvaders album is called Markus Grosskopf‘s Bassinvaders already. So there you have it in a way. But at the moment we are so very busy with Helloween that there’s absolutely no time to even think about a solo record. It eats up such an enormous amount of time this solo stuff. ‘Cause as a solo artist you do most of things and decisions on your own. It is so much more stressful than doing a record with the whole band where everyone carries each other. I like that a lot. It is team playing the way I love it. It is different when you do things on your own.
BMF: What about your current gear?
MG: I still play a lot of Fender Precision and Jazz Basses. I love the old Vintage stuff a lot. I call a 65 Jazz Bass Classic Sunburst built in September my own. It sounds incredible. Plus it is my birth year and month. So it is something very special for me. Another one from 64 pre cbs and a vintage faded white from '72. Furthermore there is a fantastic sounding Sunburst 68 Jazz Bass. One '72 Precision Bass Sunburst. I got some P and J Basses from Fenders Custom Shop as well. Very good stuff for my taste. I also play the new stuff from Fender like the Deluxe series. I like a lot. I also have a Rickenbacker and a Gibson SG Bass. And of course a Beatles violin Bass from Höfner. So I have quite a collection of my favorite basses. Very classical stuff.
MG: I still play a lot of Fender Precision and Jazz Basses. I love the old Vintage stuff a lot. I call a 65 Jazz Bass Classic Sunburst built in September my own. It sounds incredible. Plus it is my birth year and month. So it is something very special for me. Another one from 64 pre cbs and a vintage faded white from '72. Furthermore there is a fantastic sounding Sunburst 68 Jazz Bass. One '72 Precision Bass Sunburst. I got some P and J Basses from Fenders Custom Shop as well. Very good stuff for my taste. I also play the new stuff from Fender like the Deluxe series. I like a lot. I also have a Rickenbacker and a Gibson SG Bass. And of course a Beatles violin Bass from Höfner. So I have quite a collection of my favorite basses. Very classical stuff.
For the live shows I very much love to play a lot of Sandberg Basses. They built a nice Pumpkin Bass for me. We call it the Kürbass. The name is close to Kürbis which is the German word for Pumpkin. It has been built in cooperation with a very talented guitar builder called Igor Vidojkovic. He also does the finishing on the two rotten Sandberg Basses. We even gave them names. The slightly blue one is called Blueberry Bill and the more White one we call Dirty White Boy. We put the names on the headstock. Funny shit. I love those basses. They do a brilliant job in the studio as well as on stage. Very good working horses. Holger, the owner of the company is such a passionate bass player himself. There is something about the tone of Sandberg Basses I really like. From the low to the high notes everything sounds very even. On other basses sometimes the high notes are not as loud or “bassy” than the low notes or the other way around. I could not figure out what it is but somehow they arranged to solve this problem.
And as an amplifier I play a Kemper digital amp at the moment. It reproduces all those great old Ampeg sounds from the 70s and 80s that I love so much. I still have some of those originals. But on tour the valves broke all the time and this is always very cost intense as those machines carry a lot of valves. And also those valves are kind of hard to get nowadays. I play 2 Ampeg half steck 4:10 cabinets left and right stage. I used to play the full stacks 8:10 cabs. But nowadays with in- ear monitoring they are actually a bit to oversized now.
And as an amplifier I play a Kemper digital amp at the moment. It reproduces all those great old Ampeg sounds from the 70s and 80s that I love so much. I still have some of those originals. But on tour the valves broke all the time and this is always very cost intense as those machines carry a lot of valves. And also those valves are kind of hard to get nowadays. I play 2 Ampeg half steck 4:10 cabinets left and right stage. I used to play the full stacks 8:10 cabs. But nowadays with in- ear monitoring they are actually a bit to oversized now.
BMF: You have used slap technique on some Helloween songs and you have often played on fretless. Do you like slap technique? Are you interested in playing fretless also on songs which are not ballads? What’s your relationship with double bass? MG: On two or three tracks I used some slapping techniques. But it is not very often our music is really calling for it. So I’m not really practicing stuff like this and my skills on it are very limited. The thing with me and my practice method is kind of weird. I get a little board of practicing stuff at home which I can’t use later on with the band. The same goes for the upright bass and the fretless bass. I never got in to the fretless stuff or the upright bass although I like to listen to it and I very much enjoy listening to it. I love the stuff from Lee Rocker cause I’m a Stray Cats fan. And of course Jaco. |
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BMF: I’d like to ask you, without meaning to offend anyone, who are the bassists whom you hold in higher esteem in metal scene and who are the young bassists who mostly have impressed you recently… MG: As I said earlier Steve Harris, Geezer Butler, Lemmy are real cool fantastic innovative players. John Entwistle is my absolute favorite. And all those I mentioned earlier I like so much. I don‘t really know about new young bass players as I really have been a little ignorant concerning new stuff. |
BMF: What’s your opinion about the development of the role of bass in hard rock and heavy metal? Nowadays a kind of techincal metal gains more and more attention and ever more frequently bassists play on six and seven strings basses. Do you like virtuoso players in metal context? MG: John Myung from Dream Theatre is such a great player. Les Claypool, this guy from Primus is such a fantastic innovative player. This guy is from another planet. The way he plays and performs on stage is so entertaining and funny. Somewhere down the line metal bands started mixing up with different genres like rap, jazz or funk elements sometimes. And even with a lot of more styles. And why the hell not? Music is free. So, free your mind and stay open for new ideas. It can only get more interesting. I am not really into jazz and stuff like this. But why not mixing up genres. Helloween is more an old school classic metal band which I love most. For me it is the best way to express myself. To me it feels right and natural. This is a hundred percent me. But I still think mixing genres is a great way to keep rocking in a free world. |
BMF: What about upcoming and long-term projects? MG: Right now we are working in the studio recording for the next Helloween studio album. This is a lot of work. A great creative process where we are all involved. I like that a lot as we are 5 songwriters and this is great fun sharing ideas to create something out of nothing or create something new from what was done on the demo tape. The CD will be released in Summer 2020 and we go out around the world again in Autumn. We also just released the new live CD from the last tour. United Alive. It hit number 1 in many countrys so far. Not bad for a live release. I love it. |
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BMF: What do you think about current record market as well as digital music? It seems that in hard&heavy physical medium stands better and it even promises to recover if we consider coloured vinyl market and the incredible revival of audio tapes!
MG: Is there a revival of audio tapes ? I did not realize it now. The market for internet music is such a huge thing, of course. It’s the modern way. Why not? But I also see it a little critical. Some young kids are growing up with the idea that everything that’s on the net is for free and they don’t see that it is such a big expensive process to do music on a professional basis. Some don’t have this awareness because they’re born into this kind of digital world and so they deal with it. I’m not judging. I just got my critical thoughts on this. But I think it is a bit different in the rock and metal scene. There are a lot of collectors still buying CDs and vinyl. They know who is playing they even know who is producing and who is a guest player on the album. They wanna buy it, unpack it and then read all the liner notes while listening to the record for the first time. And that is kind of old school. It is a romantic process in a way. I think it is very cool. What the future will bring I don’t really know. Maybe we don’t need to do full CDs anymore and we are just releasing 2,3 or 4 tracks a year for downloading or so? And maybe don’t you even need record companies for this anymore? Some bands are already working in this direction. Crowdfunding and all this will maybe more present. Who knows? Me, I don’t know nothing. Ha ha.
MG: Is there a revival of audio tapes ? I did not realize it now. The market for internet music is such a huge thing, of course. It’s the modern way. Why not? But I also see it a little critical. Some young kids are growing up with the idea that everything that’s on the net is for free and they don’t see that it is such a big expensive process to do music on a professional basis. Some don’t have this awareness because they’re born into this kind of digital world and so they deal with it. I’m not judging. I just got my critical thoughts on this. But I think it is a bit different in the rock and metal scene. There are a lot of collectors still buying CDs and vinyl. They know who is playing they even know who is producing and who is a guest player on the album. They wanna buy it, unpack it and then read all the liner notes while listening to the record for the first time. And that is kind of old school. It is a romantic process in a way. I think it is very cool. What the future will bring I don’t really know. Maybe we don’t need to do full CDs anymore and we are just releasing 2,3 or 4 tracks a year for downloading or so? And maybe don’t you even need record companies for this anymore? Some bands are already working in this direction. Crowdfunding and all this will maybe more present. Who knows? Me, I don’t know nothing. Ha ha.
BMF: We’d like to ask you to mention us ten records which have mainly influenced you and that you would never part with…
MG:
1. Iron Maiden: first Album Iron Maiden
2. Deep Purple: Live At California Jam
3. Thin Lizzy: Live And Dangerous
4. Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime
5. The Who: Quadrophenia
6. Ramones: It‘s Alive
7. Judas Priest: Screaming For Vengeance
8. Nektar: Recycled
9. Rainbow: On Stage
10. AC/DC: If You Want Blood You‘ve Got It
MG:
1. Iron Maiden: first Album Iron Maiden
2. Deep Purple: Live At California Jam
3. Thin Lizzy: Live And Dangerous
4. Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime
5. The Who: Quadrophenia
6. Ramones: It‘s Alive
7. Judas Priest: Screaming For Vengeance
8. Nektar: Recycled
9. Rainbow: On Stage
10. AC/DC: If You Want Blood You‘ve Got It