I visited this year’s Bass Guitar Show at Olympia, in the company of photographer Jonathan Stewart, to catch the second day’s activities and to ensure an MU presence at the event. We immediately ran into Pistol bassist Glen Matlock and had a chat and a brief catch-up. Glen had been on the Main Stage on the Saturday and given a Masterclass that morning.
We then caught a performance by rising star Cody Wright who impressed with his outstanding four-string and six-string skills. It was also a pleasure to Shez Raja prior to his Masterclass with his respected Collective.
After a brief drop into the backstage area, we were hugely entertained by David Ellefson of Megadeath outlining his work with the LA thrash metal band on the Main Stage. We then visited the commercial exhibition area and spoke to numerous stallholders, including David Hunt of Music for All, German guitarmaker Nik Huber, and the charming Wayne Lee (son of country guitar wizard Albert) on the Ernie Ball stand. It was great to see the energetic trio of bassist Ellen O’Reilly, drummer Sian Monaghan and guitarist Eilidh Mckellar performing on the latter stand too.
Finally, we were to be found back at the Masterclass suite, where Andy Rourke of The Smiths was being interviewed by the editor of Bass Guitar magazine, Joel McIver. A pleasure to meet Andy briefly afterwards in the company of bassist Alice Offley.
