Bass Player UK Magazine 116 April 2015 Back Issue

We pride ourselves, here at the secret BGM command bunker situated deep in the frozen tundra, that we’ll take on any challenge. Difficult interviewee? Not a problem. Impossible bit of gear? No sweat. Doing justice to a bass that costs as much as a second-hand Mercedes? Ah... now that’s when things get a little tricky. This month we sent our reviewer Duff Battye off to Bass Gear in Twyford to get his paws on an £11,000 Fodera Monarch Elite. Unsurprisingly, it’s a breathtaking instrument: not so much a tool as a work of art that the lucky buyer will be able to bequeath to several generations of descendants.

In fact, art is what we’re all about, in the sense that what brings you and us together is our love of music. We happen to specialise in the lower frequencies, sure, but it’s music nonetheless, and that’s a good thing to have as a friend for life. The interviews in this month’s issue have one thing in common, as they do in every issue – and that is that every bassist who appears in this magazine is in it for the noble goal of creating sounds to stir the soul. In essence, our reviews and tuition sections also serve the same purpose: enabling you to acquire the gear and skills you’ll need to refine your musical art. That’s what makes working on Bass Guitar Magazine so much more rewarding than, say, Lawnmowing Weekly, if there is such a publication.

We said goodbye in March to two great bass players, both of whom would have understood what we mean about music being the mission. Mike Porcaro of Toto and Andy Fraser of Free both knew that the bass represented a higher calling. Let’s hope that wherever they are now, the music is plentiful.