To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, 2020 was a very good year – good for Bassist of the Year winner Danny Sapko anyway. Sapko has since enjoyed an ascent to YouTube superstardom thanks to the wit and skill he displays in his videos, over 900 of them so far.
“I spent eight years getting nowhere with my YouTube channel,” says Sapko. “It wasn’t until I got that award, and I also became more talkative on camera, that people started to notice me.”
Sapko’s range of bass techniques is unquestionably impressive, including a powerful picking speed, and intuitive funk playing, but those alone wouldn’t be enough to attract the large fanbase that has gathered to watch him play.
What makes Sapko stand out on the crowded playing-field of YouTube is that his videos are funny, whether he’s engaging in a fake lawsuit with Davie504, or igniting the Giacomo Turra plagiarism scandal, and for that, we salute him.
“A lot of people were afraid to get involved in the Giacomo reveal, but I’ve no regrets. He was being a dipstick.”
“At one point the whole Internet had turned on him, but he’s never really apologised. It’s looking like he might be getting ready to make a comeback online, but we’ll be ready if he does! I have nothing good to say about the guy.”
If there’s any truth to the phrase “everyone follows the bass player,” then following the future of Danny Sapko should prove a fascinating journey.
What’s it like being a YouTuber these days?
“A lot of things are changing with YouTube. A lot of the guitar YouTubers are having a bit of a crisis. I know people like Bradley Hall and Jared Dines are worrying about losing views, but I just try to embrace it as best I can.”
Has the nature of the platform changed the way you think about bass?
“Definitely. I’ve had a full realisation that I'm a bass player in a world of smartphones. I’m not trying to make my bass sound good in a club anymore. I just need it to sound good through someones phone while they’re sat at home watching a YouTube video. It’s a very weird thing, but I’m making it work.”
What is the dipstick lick?
“It’s a lick that bassists always play whenever there’s a break in the song. It’s not an easy thing to play, so it's become a badge of honor if you can play it.
“Vincen Garcia and Charles Berthoud play it, and there was a concert where Charles and Victor Wooten both played it, so it's broken America!”
How would you describe your YouTube persona?
“At first I was just a bass player, but then I became more of a comedian. Then I became an investigative reporter in taking down guys like Giacomo Turra.
“Justin Hawkins has described me as a reactor, but now it's a case of mixing everything up, and just trying to keep the content fresh.”
How would you summarise the situation with Giacomo?
“It all started with a comment from guitarist Levi Clay that caught my eye. He was talking about this guy who had been stealing other people’s music and passing it off as his own. It was immediately something I wanted to look into.
“I contacted some of the people Levi had mentioned in his video, and I found that it had been happening over and over again. There was no way I could let Giacomo get away with it!”
“I gathered a lot of evidence, but people just didn’t want to come forward. It wasn’t until Anthony Fantano made a video that I started to get some traffic.”
“People were afraid to get involved, but Fantano’s video was really insightful. Everyone started to feel more empowered. In fact, some people felt like they were missing out if they didn’t comment! It’s funny how these things go.
“The fact that Giacomo was miming in his videos is something that I never really touched on. For me, it was that he was stealing content from other creators, and taking liberties with guitar companies who were sending him free instruments that he would immediately try and sell. He was just being a dipstick in general!
“Some of the juiciest and most horrible stories won’t ever see the light of day, because the victims just don’t want to go public.”
What would you play if you wanted to impress someone?
“BassBuzz did a video on this recently, and they said that any of Flea’s slap basslines would be enough to impress someone. That’s probably true, but I’m on a mission to try and avoid anything like that.
“I would probably just plug in with my Rickenbacker, turn everything up and hammer out some glorious eighth-notes.”
What are your feelings towards Rickenbacker basses?
“I love them, but I understand why some people don’t. It can be a bit tricky to get around, but I’m not really a virtuosic player. You’re never going to see me playing a dipstick lick on it.”
Whatever happened to the Vonderplanetz?
“That was a band I was in when I used to live above a pub. We've spoken about going in to record something again, and I’m sure we’ll make a comeback!”
What's the best gig you've ever been to?
“I saw AC/DC at Wembley when I was 16. I got right to the front, and had Angus Young playing guitar right to the side of me. That was an experience like no other. I even came back with an AC/DC tattoo.”
Do you have a favorite AC/DC bassline?
“AC/DC basslines are usually pretty simple, but there’s one album called Power Rage where all the basslines are absolutely fantastic. There’s actually a wild Internet rumor that it was Angus Young's older brother who played bass on it. I think there might be a YouTube video to be made out of that!”
Who are the Velvet Sunrise?
“The Velvet Sunrise are an AI generated band that I created by entering ‘eighties power ballad’ into an AI generator. I’ve uploaded the band to streaming platforms, and it’s now been verified, which means I can use it as my own. The whole thing was an exercise to prove how easy it is to manipulate the system.”
Who do you consider to be the greatest bass player of all time?
“I've been asked this so many times, and I always change my answer! But it’s James Jamerson. His bassline to Bernadette is the one I wish I’d written.”
What song do you know the words to?
“I once did a demo for Chowny Bass, where I had to play a full song for a PS2 game called PaRappa the Rapper. I did it in a kind of Beastie Boys-style, which is not my thing at all! But I still know all the words.”
What are your plans for the immediate future?
“To keep working on my YouTube channel, and keep being a total dipstick! I’ll keep playing the bass guitar, writing new songs, and keep annoying fellow creators! I just want to be myself as much as humanly possible.”
- For more, check out Danny Sapko on YouTube
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