Who needs a bassist?
As far as band sizes go, Hideo is a tad on the large side.
I absolutely love it whenever somebody finds out I play guitar, because I know the conversation will inevitably turn into something a bit like this – “Whoa! Mike, you play guitar, huh? What type of guitar do you play?” “Several, but my axe of choice is a Gibson SG Standard.” “Sweet! So, are you in a band?” “I guess you could call it that, sure!” “Right on! So how many people in your band?” “Oh, I don’t know. Around 30?!” [Head explodes.] To a guy like me whose heart belongs to all things rock, it is very refreshing to be a part of a band that has such rich texture and variety to it. Often times rock can be a tired recipe of stone soup. Throw some guitar, bass, drums, and a wild vocalist into the pot and you get a tasty dish known as rock. But sometimes we get tired of having the same dish all the time, so we throw in some new ingredients: electric cello, a horn section, maybe some opera vocals; and before we know it we have a culinary musical explosion of awesomeness that can only be described as Hideo (believe me, it’s delicious). I love the beautiful complexity and collaborative brilliance that goes into each and every Hideo song. AND (not but), every once in a while I also like to go back and appreciate the sheer opposite: the simple, the bare bones, the basic. We’re talking the stone before it goes into the soup. I’ve long admired the black belt who is wise and humble enough to wear the white belt so as to master his technique in it’s entirety from the ground up before advancing to the next level. When I think of all these wonderful simplicities, I fondly revisit my favorite rock band of all time: Local H.
A far cry from Hideo‘s brilliant 30+ band members, Local H stands at a whopping two band members. Local H’s Chicago-based Scott Locas and Brian St. Clair create an absolute wall of sound and display tremendous energy at all their live shows. But how do they do it? The recipe for rock clearly states that it takes guitar, base, drums, and a wild vocalist to properly create the dish. Well, there’s an old saying that goes something like… “Once you truly know the rules, you get to break them;” and Local H does this with true style. There is no bassist. Scott Lucas, the front man of Local H, uses a customized guitar which features an extra instrument input jack and a bass pickup, which runs to both a guitar amp and a bass amp. With the help of some heavy guitar strings, an octave pedal, and some extremely well rehearsed combinations of pedal-gating and pickup selecting, Scott is able to simultaneously play guitar and bass at the same time (while singing). Meanwhile, Brian plays drums and the recipe for rock is recreated with full-on MacGuiver-caliber zestyness!
Guitar and Bass as one and the same
I think most people have this one band in their lives that is truly special and stands out above all others. It is the band that you see every time they are in town. You know all their songs by heart, embarrassingly own all their T-shirts, and would kill for the chance to meet them. This band for me is Local H, and part of the reasoning behind this is because they are one of the first bands I ever saw live. Of all things, I won tickets from the radio to see a lousy band called “Magnapop” circa-1994, and the opening group was none other than Local H! After the show, I picked up their new album at the time, “As Good as Dead,” and have been hooked ever since. Their music is sort of like an experimental grungy hard rock with a punk edge and this awesome energetic vibe to it. In the early days, they were constantly compared to Nirvana (who ironically I can’t stand), but have since evolved into a unique sound that is entirely their own. To this day, I find it incredible that a band with just two members can consistently deliver this absolute raw energy both in-studio and live. It is truly inspiring to see how much can be created by so little. When I perform with Hideo, I am inspired to give as much of a full band sound as I possibly can from the 1 man band that is me. Thankfully, there are 29+ other band mates with the same hard-core commitment!
Sadly, however, odds are that you have never heard of Local H. They are the Nikola Teslas of hard rock, I tell ya! OK, they may not have necessarily invented anything life-changing, nor do they sport nifty Serbian moustaches. However, Local H has consistently created incredibly innovative and truly inspiring music, only to be overshadowed by the Thomas Edisons of the world (Nirvana); making it extremely difficult for their inventions (music) to be appreciated by the masses. If however you do know who Local H is, you know them for the keep it copacetic song, “Bound for the floor.” Don’t get me wrong; it’s a pretty cool track, but I highly recommend checking out some of their truly great music such as, “All the Kids are Right,” “Baby Wants to Tame Me,” or “The One With Kid.” The bottom line is, Local H is an excellent band—one that has inspired me greatly. It’s different for all of us, but I hope that they can give you some musical inspiration as well! Simplicity can be a beautiful thing.
Bonus:
Oddly enough, Local H at one point decided to create a rock version of Britney Spears’ song “Toxic.” I never believed I could like anything from Britney Spears, but somehow the Local H cover became a guilty pleasure for me:
