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 Smokin' Joe Creighton
Australian Musician Issue 22 Winter 2000
By Rob Walker
Many
great Australian artists who need some serious bass or vocals captured
on their live or recording project, seem to turn to Joe Creighton.
Certainly this has been the case with the legendary "Voice" John
Farnham, "The Impossible Princess" Kylie Minogue , and recently Olivia
Newton-John for her USA tour. Rob Walker recently caught up with Joe
for a chat.
Irish born Joe immigrated to Australia in the late
sixties and after a stint in Japan & The US proceeded to make a
name for himself on the Australian music scene as a vocalist and bass
player in bands such as Billy T, The Black Sorrows and The Revelators,
Joe
recalls,"Growing up in Belfast gave me a great grounding in R&B and
Blues music. As a teenager I use to go to clubs and watch bands such as
Van Morrison's Them. One of my friends had a brother whom, as a
confirmed Beatnik had a superb collection of jazz & blues records.
We would sneak into his room and listen to all of his records e.g. Big
Bill Broonzy, Lightnin-Hopkins, Sonny Terry & Brownie Magee, Sleepy
John Estes, Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus to mention a few. We were
just trying to be really cool, but the music took a hold and we all
became addicts. This great legacy of music has stood me in great stead
and to this day I approach all music with that Blues attitude. "
"I
decided to take the bass seriously when I was living in Japan in 1971.
Before that I was a vocalist and accompanied myself on guitar and
played a little bass. At that time I basically did an intensive study
of David Hood's playing on the Staple Singers Respect Yourself album. I
observed where he placed the notes with respect to the drums {drummer
Roger Hawkins} and the length of the notes. In other words where he
left the holes for rhythmic effect. The depth of his groove inspired me
so much that I would try for hours to match his feel, to try to get
inside of what he was doing. On the surface it is very simple but at
its depth it is the essence of true groove that touches your soul. I
have always believed we are the sum of our influences. When an artist
approaches me with a song, I just go through my files and say "yeah
this is a such & such feel with a dash of what's his name, and off
I go", but actually it's me. I still give full credit to those great
players that have taught me to be what I am."
Joe has had some
great opportunities when visiting artists have come to Australia. For
the opening of the Hard Rock Cafe in Melbourne he played with Boz
Scaggs, and at the opening of The Crown Casino he performed with Ray
Charles, but his favourite memory is jamming all night with Tony Joe
White, " I thought I had died and gone to heaven." Another great memory
was when he supported the Neville Brothers and got to jam with Willie
Green and Tony Hall at some local clubs.
Joe has just completed
an album with his old friend Joe Camileri with a band they have called
the Revelators and is also working on the new Farnham album, both to be
released soon. Playing with so many top artists, Joe needs to tackle
many styles.
"I tend to work as a minimalist as a bassist. How
to anchor it, how to make it feel rhythmical, how to make it feel
danceable or if it's a more moody song how to anchor the chords and how
to make it groove are the things that are important to me. " This is
ably demonstrated on Joe's solo album projects. When you see a Joe
Creighton album, you'd be forgiven for expecting heaps of flashy bass
playing - not so. You do get beautiful groove playing tailor made for
the songs though. "I'm a songwriter first" says Joe when referring to
his own albums - I started as a singer. Everything comes from that
really; the bass has got to fit the song. If you notice it too much
you've blown it in my view."
When describing what he looks for
in a bass player Joe likes a player who lays the foundation of the song
down and makes it very easy for a singer to sing to. The bass player
adds melody and rhythm and it is important that these be subtle. The
music is built upon this foundation. Unless it's really required like
in jazz or soloing, the listener should not notice it too much. The
bass can be very colourful within this parameter when you're using
higher register notes and it is this texture that the listener should
notice. Also I think when a drummer fills, the bass should be the
anchor, rather than filling together and taking the song further than
it needs to go. But again it depends on the situation."
Many
bass players are opting for five and six string basses to perhaps take
the instrument to other dimensions. "The five is not my favourite" says
Joe. "I tend to play in the next octave up. For example on my Hofner
Beatle bass I find the D on the A string of the Hofner sounds lower
than the low D on a five string , it seems to be a fundamental of an
acoustic bass which gives the extra harmonic making it sound lower. If
a five string is over used in the lower register I find they can muddy
up the mix a bit , but sometimes the songs are written so that I need
to use it. I think Leo Fender made the perfect bass . Leo got it right
as far as I'm concerned . I love those basses."
Joe is using
Warwick gear for his amplification, a CL Combo for general use
and a Quad 6 head with 2x411 Pro Cabs for the bigger venues and
concerts. For guitars he uses his favourite, a 1961 Fender Jazz Bass
which he enthuses has a beautiful growly sound and feels so great. It
would certainly have a lot of stories to tel. He uses a Hofner '64
re-issue Beatle Bass for recording. On stage he uses a Fender American
Deluxe Jazz.
"You can just dial your sound. It's got a great EQ
tone circuit and you can dial any sound you want in, from a pokey
back pick up Jazz bass sound or a warmer fatter Precision sound .
Sometimes live, a passive bass can let you down a little where
particular styles are needed like slap. I prefer the sound of
passive basses for recording, but live sometimes you need a bit extra
via an active bass. And through a big PA, active circuits are good, but
it depends on the song. A lot of the new guitars are beautifully made,
great woods, and the pick up systems are a lot less noisy, but then
there are a lot of basses coming out with a bit of a generic sound. I
like a bit of quirkiness like you get in individual, old
instruments, so I guess a bass player needs a little arsenal of
basses to cope with different situations."
For the young player
Joe recommends that you learn all you can early on. "One thing I regret
is perhaps not learning enough about music theory as a young player. I
would have liked to have had more knowledge of harmony. So get a good
grounding in music to help you understand how the notes work within the
chords."
For bass strings he uses Thomastic Jazz Flat Wounds & Fodera Round Wounds. His gauges usually are 45, 65, 85, 105.
In
1994 Joe released his first solo album Holywell to great critical
acclaim. He has just released Stranmillis Road, a four track CD of
original songs . |
