“When Steven first mixed the record, I thought the bass was too quiet,” said Nick Beggs in the August 2016 issue of Bass Player, recalling the final stages of his work on Steven Wilson’s 2013 prog rock opus, The Raven That Refused to Sing.
“I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't want to be that guy – y’know, the bass player who says the bass guitar isn’t loud enough.”
Almost a month later, Wilson shot Beggs an email explaining that, after repeated listening, he had come to the conclusion that the bass was, well, too quiet, and he asked Beggs for his opinion on the matter.
“You’re probably asking the wrong person,” said Beggs, “but, in my opinion, every record ever made has mixed the bass too quiet!”
The upshot? On the final mixes, “Steven bumped up the bass 2dB.”
Whether by direct or indirect means, Nick Beggs has made a career of bumping up the bass, from the Larry Graham-approved slap bass fixtures on his band Kajagoogoo’s classic ‘80s single Too Shy to the pummeling Chris Squire like 16th-note power riff that fires up intro to The Raven’s leadoff track, Luminol.
In between, Beggs has plucked, slapped, and picked bass with an impressive array of artists, including Alphaville, John Paul Jones, Kim Wilde, and ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, as well as charting hits with his own projects Ellis, Beggs & Howard and Industrial Salt, and quietly releasing noteworthy solo albums featuring his other favorite instrument, the Chapman Stick.
Do you enjoy being referred to as ‘an 80s guy?’
I can go and do all this other stuff, but for some people, that’s all I’ll ever be.
Is that the downside of achieving success at the start of your career?
That was the plan, though. We did think in Kajagoogoo about how to be instantly successful, from the songwriting upwards. Everything we did was based around what was happening on the radio and what people were listening to, and how we could achieve that. And it worked!
But it’s taken me years in the industry as a professional bass player for the heavy metal magazines to want to talk to me.
You’re sounding rather like a closet metalhead.
I love that music. People might find that hard to believe, but I know my stuff. All those seminal bass players from the ’60s and ’70s were what I was listening to.
That music has come around again: heavy metal is cool again, and bands like Meshuggah are making music in subdivisions of the genre. They take what Frank Zappa did and reinvent it, because they love that stuff and they’re fans of it.
Essentially what you try to do as a musician is find a new take on what's been said already, while earning a living from it, in an industry that you love, in a genre that you’re interested in.
Well, Robert Trujillo of Metallica always references you as one of his inspirations.
He’s a very sweet guy. I did a couple of interviews for his Jaco movie. I’m really glad he made that film. I met John Pastorius, who was also a lovely fellow. He said to me, ‘Man, you ’80s guys, you all really understood my dad.’ And of course we did: he was a huge influence.
You’re known for technical playing. Are there any songs that you find difficult to play?
There are pieces which are challenging, definitely. I would find it tricky to play a gig that was too far into the jazz idiom, but I would take it as a challenge and take the time to master it. I’d say to myself, ‘You have a fixed time to get this music under your fingers. Get some tuition, and get it done.’
Talking of jazz, do you play double bass?
I’ve always wanted one, but never got around to it. But to have the jazz chops, and the ability to improvise, is more important than the execution. Steven Wilson told me that you get the most interesting improvisation when you get jazz players to play rock.
