Nick Fyffe has left the band but he has done more than enough to become a bass legend.
young virtuoso from Synkronized and A Funk Odyssey, he played his punchy funky disco super bass lines in 2 great Jamiroquai masterpieces:
Synkronized and A Funk Odyssey.
When he was auditioned in Chillington studio, Derrick said: "well,you've got my vote", though a lot of cool players with big names (bassists from spice girls, incognito, the honeyz)
were auditioned before he came to show what he can do. Nick didnt think about following Stuart style, he decided to play bass lines his own, amazing different and very special way.
He said some of Stu fans will slate him but some may like what he does
as well.
i was one of those who became Nick's fans while i continued to be Stu fan as well.
Nick used a lot of effects even before he had to imitate those Toby's synth
bass lines from Synkronized. and he did it so cool!!!
listen how he used his Lovetone envelope filter effect on WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE!!! fantastic, isnt it???? and the whole bass line is a real masterpiece!!!
yamaha trb 5 bass Nick uses:
though he played crazy tricks not as often as Stuart did but the notes he played were so cool , so surprising and so special.. check FALLING.. he is simply genious !! there was so much soul and grooving disco melody
in his lines....
and he had his own funk bass style.. i think nobody else can play a better line for "You Give Me Something" or "Love Foolosophy" and "Little L"
i am Nick fan...he is the man!
Drawing influence from the funky bass lines and bass-heavy electro and hip-hop of the 1980s, Nick’s future was clearly one with a groove.
Biography:
That Nick wound up playing bass with massive pop-funksters Jamoriquai is no secret, but how he got there is little known and almost unbelievable.
he began to play bass when he was 18 and before that he played guitar and drums.He even did a diploma in jazz studies and popular music in Chicester.
Looking for a new project in 1998, Nick answered an advert in Melody Maker for a Jamiroquai tribute band and during the days waiting for a response, read that Stuart Zender had left the band. He made the obvious connection and knew there was a hole to be filled. After making a few enquiries, Nick soon found himself auditioning for the real deal – Jamiroquai. Nick’s 80s funk style slotted in perfectly with the band and he was offered the job. Ironically, the day the offer came, the tribute band guy called to invite him to an audition. When Nick explained that he was now unavailable because he was Jamiroquai’s bass player, the guy was speechless!
Nick’s live debut with Jamiroquai was on the band’s sell-out ‘Synkronized’ tour in 1999. The tour confirmed not only that Nick was the man to put the low-end into Jamoriquai but also that he was a serious musician in his own right.
when he passed an audition the guys didnt tell if he became part of the band or not. Nick was about to drive away in his mum's old beat up car and
he asked Jay if he got the job. Jay kicked the the tire of Nick's car and said:
"Let's put it this way : you wont be driving this car for long!"
music man stingray 5 bass Nick used during synkronized era:
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and here's a great interview where you can find a lot of interesting things about Nick :
Bassist: Summer 1999
Jamiroquai's Nick Fyffe
by Steve Lawson
Special thanks are due to Nik Hunt for typing up this article in full.
From obscurity to one of Britain's best bass gigs, Steve Lawson charts the fairytale rise of Jamiroquai new boy, Nick Fyffe
FIRST NIGHT NERVES / ''I enjoyed the photoshoot for Bassist, 'cos it took my mind off it all, prancing about on the beach''.
It's the rock n' roll dream: get plucked from obscurity, audition for one of the world's biggest bands and get the gig. Just occasionally those dreams come true, as they did for Nick Fyffe when he replaced Stuart Zender in Jamiroquai. 'I still can't believe it's all happening', he admits.
Having dabbled with guitar and drumsm Nick took up bass when he was 18 and after doing the usual covers-band stuff at school, be began the time-honoured ritual of answering 'wanted' ads in search of gigs. "I auditioned, but I never knew what I was doing." He laughs at the memory, "So I decided to get some lessons."
Two years after leaving school, Nick decided to study music: "I got my head together and did a diploma in jazz studies and popular music in Chicester. I had a great time but it put me right off Jazz!" While there, he joined an 11-piece band called Funk Assembly, playing the London University and Club circuit. This became a full time commitment after leaving college. "I ended up booking and promoting gigs. Half the band had day jobs - the horn section were all in the army! Logistically it was a nightmare, but every gig was a big event." But the pay wasn't great. "I was skint," he admits, "Then, just as Funk Assembly started to get some interest, and someone put forward some money for us to do an album, the whole thing fell apart.
"I moved to London and started answering ads in Melody Maker," he says. "I did some work with one of the guys from Freakpower, and got to know the band."
This meeting proved to be a pivotal link in Nick's rise to stardom. "I was flicking throught a copy of The Sun one day, and saw the article about Stuart leaving Jamiroquai. I rang Jim Carmichael from Freakpower, who'd supported Jamiroquai on tour, and asked him to put me in touch with them. I rang the management company and said, 'My name's Nick, I'd like to fill a vacancy'. I had to send off a biog, but no tape. I sat chewing my nails, wondering what to write. But I just made it simple - my name, the gigs I'd done and my gear. I think Jay was impressed with the names of my Lovetone effects pedals," he laughs.
"A week later I got a call. Jay wasn't at the first audition, but I got on well with the rest of the band. I was nervous beforehand, but once there, I felt at ease. I played the tunes, and then asked if we could play some more 'cos I was enjoying myself! So we had a little jam.
"I was called back for the second audition. That's when I got seriously nervous! At first I thought nothing would come of it, but now it was down to the last five players. It was all a bit daunting - Steve Lewinson (Spice Girls), Nick Cohen (Incognito) and Paul Lancaster (The Honeyz) who's a great player were all up for it. I thought, "I'm never gonna get this.'
"I didn't know what I'd have to do at the second audition, " he continues, "so I couldn't prepare. I turned up and met Jay. I started jamming with the band and it just seemed to click. After that they showed me a new tune, the band disappeared and left me alone with Al Stone, their producer. I had to put down a bass track - there wasn't a guide bass part - and Al said that, vibe wise, it was the best of the tracks they'd done. He didn't say that I'd got the gig, but he hinted I was close. The band came back to hear it, and liked what I'd done. Derek said, 'Well, you've got my vote', and I began to think that the gig may be mine. Jay asked me to come back the next day. When I arrived, he came over, gave me a hug and said 'You're the new bassist for Jamiroquai!" and that was that!"
After Zender had left, much had been put on hold in the Jamiroquai camp. Now with Nick on board, they refocussed on the album. "But for the first three weeks I didn't do anything. There was some re-working needed to get the songs to a point where I could come in. When I eventually started recording, it was all done really quick. The pre-production had been done and I was going straight in on the album, not demos. I stayed at Jay's for the recording, and didn't have time to think about it. It's all a bit of a blur."
Many people assume that the hardest thing about landing a high profile gig is filling shoes of a better-known player, but Nick, now 26, has avioded the pitfall of comparing himself to Mr Zender. "I didn't hear anything that Stuart had done on the new album." he says of the recording process. "I don't think about 'following Stuart'. If I did, I'd stress myself out."
It's obvious that Nick has his head screwed on, and is looking to establish himself in his own right. "Obviously comparisions will be made, especially by other bass players. But at the end of the day, your average punter isn't that bothered. Jay's the frontman, and a lot of people might not even notice the change. Stuart was a high-profile bassist, so I'll probably get slated by people who wish he was still there. But some might prefer what I do. Ultimately I don't really care."
Of the new album, Synkronized, Nick says, "I recorded about seven tracks, four of which are on the album. There were a couple of tracks that we recorded live, and I was pretty much left to do what I wanted. Jay would sometimes have an idea that he'd hum and then I'd play. There was a lot of freedom, except when Jay had a specific idea - sometimes he'd come up with a bass line and write the track around that.
"The rest of the album is keyboard bass, which is the sound they were going for. I have to replicate that live, which is fun - I get to use lots of pedals and stuff. I'm using a five string, to get those low notes.'
So the honeymoon's nearly over and it's down to the stuff of being in a band - touring. The Synkronized tour started on June 9, in Brighton. "It went very well," he told Bassist the following day over coffee in Covent Garden. "We were well rehearsed, we just had to go out and do it. I was very nervous. But I enjoyed the day. I was very nervous. But I enjoyed the day. I did the sound check, then the photoshoot for Bassist, which was great 'cos it took my mind off the whole thing, prancing about on the beach. When I got back to the venue, I managed to eat a little, but then the nerves kicked back in. It took me a few tunes to relax, but then I really got into it - it was great. When we came off the stage, everyone gave me a hug. Now I'm looking forward to the rest of the tour."
And what a tour. "After the UK," he says, referring to the eight gigs the band played here in June, to estatic audiences. "Next is the states, then South America, Europe, Japan and then back to the USA. Next year we go to Australia and we end up doing all the UK festivals next year, which will probably be the end of the tour." Probably? Sounds like a heavy schedule!
As Billy Bragg once sang, 'It's a mighty long way down rock n' roll, from Top of the Pops to drawing the dole', but Nick Fyffe has done it in reverse, and remains philosophical. "I've suddenly found myself here, playing for Jamiroquai, which I couldn't have imagined eight months ago. Everything's so new - I'm very naive and inexperienced. I've never done a tour before. At every other gig I've done, I'd come off stage and go and see my mates. At the first Jamiroquai gig I saw a few friends, went over to say hello and suddenly these people came from nowhere wanting autographs and stuff! I don't know if I'll ever get used to it - it's a bit surreal. The fame side of things just isn't reality. I'm still getting my head round the whole thing."
Nick's Funk Assembly
the tools of the trade for a Jamiroquai bassist
Nick recorded on a pre-Ernie Ball Musicman, but uses a newer 5-string on tour. Amp-wise, he is yet another Ashdown convert. "They're nice and simple. I don't like too many buttons and lights. I just want to turn on, plug in and sound good. During the rehearsals I had the EQ out and it sounded so punchy - I've got an 8x10" cab and an 800 watt head."
But it's Nick's effects set up that seems to be at the heard of the Fyffe sound. "I had all these mad ideas for pedal boards and switching systems but I decided to keep it simple. All the pedals are in line, and if I run into trouble I can just bosh the line selector and get a clean sound.
"I've got a Sans Amp before the line selector, then a Digitech Whammy Pedal, a DOD EQ and a Lovetone Meat Ball envelope filler. The meat ball has it's own loop, and I've got a Lovetone Big Cheese pedal... [laughs] and that goes into Big Mac, large fries and a milkshake! The Big Cheese goes into an EBS Octave pedal, both in the loop of the Meat Ball. That goes into a Q-Tron, which goes into an EBS chorus / Flange / Pitch thingie. It's not that cimplicated really" [Yeah, like, sure!] "I love trying out new sounds, but I'm not really into the train-spotting side of it... Honestly!"
Fitting Tribute
A while before I auditioned for Jamiroquai, I was going throught the ads looking for work, and saw one for a Jamiroquai tribute band. The guy said he's call me when they were next doing auditions. I thought no more about it until the day of my second audition for Jamiroquai when I got home to a message saying, 'It's the about the Jamiroquai tribute band - we've got some auditions', I thought this is SO freaky! I told Jay about it when I heard I'd got the job, and he thought it was hysterical. I considered doing the audition just for a laugh, but I thought if I didn't get it, it would be too much!"
this great pic is taken from http://www.jamirotalk.net
MEET THE BOSS
"Jay came over, gave me a hug and said 'You're the new bassist for Jamiroquai"
THE LIVE DEBUT
"It took me a few tunes to relax, but then I really got into it - it was great"
the interview from http://www.mtey.com
