Geoff Firebaugh of BR549 Shawn: Hi Geoff, I haven't talked to you in a while. How's everything going with BR549? Geoff: Things are going great. We've been off the road for a couple of months and so everyone has had time to work on other projects, and spend time with our wives and girlfriends. The new album is all done, and we are gearing up for our upcoming record release and tour. Shawn: I know BR549 is considered primarily a country band. Do think that there is very much of a rockabilly influence on the new album, Tangled In The Pines?

January 2004 by Shawn Burrell

Geoff: That all depends on how broad (or narrow) your definition of rockabilly is. We have a song on the new record called 'Way too late'that is pretty well defined as being a rockabilly song, but we also have tunes like 'Tangled in the Pines' that may not be straight up rockabilly, but it does draw heavily on the two beat Johnny Cash feel from the early Sun stuff. There are so many influences that come into play in this band. The obvious ones would be Hank Sr. Ray Price, Faron Young, or Bob Wills. We all love the old rockabilly stuff, but we also listen to the Beatles, the Ramones, and Tom Waits. I think that as you listen to each song on 'Tangled', you are going to hear different influences, and I think that's what makes it such a strong record. And if you come to a show, you never know what you'll hear. Shawn: Who does most of the songwriting now that Chris Scruggs is in the band? Geoff: Every song on Tangled in the pines is written or co-written by members of the band, though Chris and Chuck are definitely the most prolific writers of all of us. Its very exciting for us to have an album of all original material, because it really shows what the band is capable of creating. Both Chris and Chuck are great writers, and they do a great job of collaborating as well. Shawn: Are you happy with the new CD? Geoff: I personally really love this cd. The songs are great, and It sounds great too. Some of my playing sounds a little outdated to me, but thats just because I finished the bass parts over a year ago, and I am a better player now. Are you planning a big tour in support of the new album? That's the general Idea, We are going out for a few days at the end of January, But we won't really start touring heavily until the end of February, when we start a tour with the Mavericks. I expect we will probably do around 200 shows this year. And at least one trip over to europe. Mike Watt said something great about the Minutemen and Firehose that I think applies to us. He said that "there are alot of bands that tour to support their records. We are a band that makes records to support our tours". To me, that about sums it up. Shawn: What studio did you record at? And what bass did you use to record with? Geoff: We actually did all the songs for this record along with the songs for our last EP 'temporarily disconnected' at this little place called Big Ears studio, owned by our friend Paul Gannon. Its where Chuck and Dave Roe did most of the sessions for the 'Dressed in Black' Johnny Cash tribute, and 'Lonesome Ornry and Mean'. the Waylon tribute. We had our front of house soundman, Cowboy Keith Thompson and Paul engineer the record, and it was entirely self produced by all of us and Cowboy Keith. For most of the record, I used my 1951 Kay C-1 with Gotz strings (plain D and G wound E and A) and on the green bass I used gotz d and g, and Sensonic E and A which are steel wound on a synthetic core. I found that for certain songs, that the Sensonics had more sustain for pizzicato stuff, and on the green bass their volume didn't overpower the gut D and G . I don't know what kinda strings were on the P bass, I just know they've been on it since the mid 80s or so. . We recorded using an AKG solidtube, Large Diaphragm condenser mic, and we took a line signal from the underwood I have on that bass. For a couple tracks I used my green bass which is a Holbien (strunal) 50/2 student model. It had a little different tone that we wanted on certain songs. Then on "That's What I Get" the first song on the album, I used a (I know I'll catch some crap for this) 70s P-bass through an Avalon Tube compressor.

Shawn: How many basses do you have, and what are they?

Geoff: As of right now, I have two. I have a blonde 1951 Kay C-1 that was custom ordered from Kay (I don't know by whom). I found this out because Kay didn't offer the C-1 in blonde after the mid 40s. That poor Kay is beat to death. About 4 years ago, It completely came apart in
	the middle of a show. I mean every glue joint came undone, I was left holding the neck, with the top and one shoulder still attached to it. But after a few months and a few hundred dollars, it was back together and sounds better than ever. That bass has a mahogany fingerboard that is really loud and thick sounding so I have it set up to use primarily as an acoustic bass, for studio work or low volume gigs. That's the bass I usually take out to use on the Grand Ole Opry. I have one Underwood element on the G-side for amplifying when I need it. I also have the green bass which as I said is a Holbein 50/2. As I understand it, Holbein is the name that Strunal uses on the basses they make for Sam Ash. I sanded it down, Painted it and had my friend Jeff Morrison up in Vancouver pinstripe it for me. Its a really good sounding bass, and is pretty solid. I cut a really nice adjustable bridge for it, and I've been running a modified K&K Rab special on it. I've probably played 350 or 400 shows on it, and it has held up remarkably well.

Shawn: What bass do you use on tour?

Geoff: Well I have been using the green bass for the last two years, but that is about to change. I've recently been endorsed by King Doublebass and Jason is just putting the finishing touches on my new Tiger King this week, so I should be playing that very soon. I am really excited about it. Jason and Brad have been great about making sure we get all the mods done that I want. Its going to be a fairly typical Tiger King, with a killer sunburst finish, and I opted for a graphite fingerboard. I figure I've had to have the board on the green bass done twice this year, and Jason says the Graphite is guaranteed not to groove for something like 10 years. I am a little concerned about the sound but I am convinced that I can make it work. I'm also planning on ordering a Slap King to use as a backup as soon as i can.

Shawn: Do you still use a modified K&K pickup?

Geoff: Yes, I use a rockabilly slap special. I just got an endorsement from them, and they are great people to work with. On my bass, I use the Bass Max pickup in the bridge. And I have a custom fingerboard pickup. Initially I used an underwood element up there, but I have since made my own transducer that, like the bassmax has two piezo elements in it. I have it mounted in a pine clothes pin that I glued to the back of my fingerboard. I know it sounds hokey, but the pine is such a soft wood that it really mellows the tone from the fingerboard, and gives it a nice meaty slap that fits nicely with my style of playing. I've also modified my preamp, I put a master power switch on it so I dont have to unplug the out put jack all the time and I have mounted the battery on the outside of the preamp box to make battery swaps easier. This has really made my life easier. Since I use a wireless, I just leave everything plugged together, and turn off the master power switch. it cuts down on wear and tear, and makes it really convenient.

click images for close up pictures

Shawn: You're endorsed by Ampeg, aren't you? What Ampeg gear do you use or recommend to doghouse players?

Geoff: Actually, Ampeg and St. Louis Music have been great and they help out the whole band. Chris and Chuck both use Ampeg Superjets, and Donnie has a full endorsement from Crate. My rig right now is an SVT4-PRO through a 6X10 HLF cabinet with an Audio Technica R10 true diversity wireless system. I am really happy with it. The SVT4 has more than enough power for anything I'm going to do, and the 6X10 cabinet, is fantastic it has plenty of punch and a really nice low end response. I think for doghouse the biggest thing is to get clean power, and lots of it. I've used GK, Carvin, Trace Elliot, SWR, Hartke, Fender, Ashdown and Ampeg. and they all have different things I liked about them, but not all of them are suitable for Upright bass. The best thing to do in my opinion is to go out and listen to bass players and see what they are playing.

Shawn: When not on tour, how often do you practice on the URB?

Geoff: Well, I try and practice a minimum of 2 hours a day. But that doesn't always work out. Living in Nashville is great though, because I can usually pick up gigs in the bars downtown. All through November and December I was playing with a couple of different bands 4 nights a week. Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I was doing four hours a night, and on Fridays, I would do four hours with one band, then four hours with the next band. Lemme tell you, 8 hours of slappin' will really tell you where your weaknesses are.

Shawn: What do you work on when you practice?

Geoff: I try and keep it varied, I use the Simandl book a lot to warm up (scales and intervals), and lately I've really been into Ray Brown's stuff with the Oscar Peterson Trio, so I try and learn some of his stuff (not very successfully sometimes). And I try and work on new rhythms for my slap stuff. I listen to a lot of Milt Hinton. He was such a master of Slap Bass, he could do all of these different polyrhythms, I swear on some stuff he slaps in a different time signature than the song, and it creates these crazy syncopated passages. Basically what I try to do, is to learn things from these Jazz bass giants, and I try to apply it to what I am doing with BR549, and make it my own.

Shawn: Thanks for your time Geoff. If you come to California, let me know.

Geoff: My pleasure Shawn. Keep up the good work.

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