Articles by: Mike Brooks

“Paul was tuning his guitar at one point, and I said ‘What key is that in?’, added a bassline and that became a song”: The good luck and creative chaos behind Mr Big’s Lean In To It

By Mike Brooks published 31 July 23

The Lowlist "Like a chainsaw going through chocolate pudding”: Mr Big's Lean Into It caught an unstoppable rock band at the top of their game…

"If you swing too much, it interrupts the head-banging, and that’s the last thing I wanted to do – the head-banging reigns supreme!" In praise of Living Colour's Vivid

By Mike Brooks published 23 July 23

Jagger produced them but that sound was all theirs. Inside Living Colour's late 80s classic debut

Green Day's Mike Dirnt wrote the bassline for Longview on LSD: "Later, it took me a long time to be able to play it, but it made sense when I was on drugs"

By Mike Brooks published 16 July 23

In praise of Dookie, the 1994 album that put Green Day on the pop-punk throne

Deon Estus moved to Dublin to play with Phil Lynott. He ended up giving George Michael (and Wham!) groove

By Mike Brooks published 2 July 23

George Michael could play bass – but it was Deon Estus who gave his songs groove, especially on 1987's Faith album...

David Bowie: The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (1972) sleeve

"I never wanted to be just the bass player, plonking away. I played a lot of notes – too many sometimes!" Trevor Bolder and the low-end magic of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust

By Mike Brooks published 25 June 23

The Lowlist Ziggy Stardust was recorded in just one day. It made David Bowie a star. But bass players could only hear Trevor Bolder...

Marcus Miller's The Sun Don't Lie: the moment Miller proved he was more than just a slap monster

By Mike Brooks published 11 June 23

Glass-like fretless tone. Thumb-thumping passages. Tributes to Jaco: 1993's The Sun Don't Lie served notice that Marcus MIller was more than a sideman

Level 42's debut album: a Britfunk classic that took slap bass and bent harmonics to a new, uh, level

By Mike Brooks published 4 June 23

It's 1981 and the bass players of the UK are looking at their thumbs and wondering if they can keep up…

The legend of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On is that James Jamerson was so drunk he played the bass lying down

By Mike Brooks published 28 May 23

And yep, most of us can’t play those basslines standing up and completely sober

The Yes Album: When Chris Squire created one of the most recognizable bass tones in rock

By Mike Brooks published 21 May 23

The Lowlist The Lowlist – celebrating longplayers with low-end – doffs its cap to Chris Squire

Singer Larry Graham performs on stage during the 2016 Essence Festival Prince Tribute at the Louisiana Superdome on July 3, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Larry Graham on when you really need to use a 5-string bass

By Nick Wells published 11 May 23

The godfather of slap bass says “I actually love playing a 5-string for other artists, but not for live shows”

The Lowlist: INXS's Kick was the sound of a rock band taking on modern technology

By Mike Brooks published 30 April 23

Slick, smoldering and able to fuse rock, pop, funk and dance rhythms, Kick was peak INXS

The Lowlist: Blondie’s Parallel Lines – the album that defined New Wave

By Mike Brooks published 16 April 23

The rhythm section was "was totally out of whack". The producer was "like Adolf Hitler". But out of it all came an all-time classic.

The Lowlist: Def Leppard's Hysteria, the album that changed melodic rock

By Mike Brooks published 9 April 23

Real bass, sampled bass: how Hysteria redefined a genre's production standards.

The Lowlist: Chic's C'est Chic was pure groove genius

By Mike Brooks published 2 April 23

We doff our caps to the uplifting grooves and funkalicious basslines of Chic's second album

The Lowlist: Thin Lizzy's Live And Dangerous is one of the greatest live albums ever released

By Mike Brooks published 26 March 23

Unfairly maligned as an album "fixed in the studio", a new version of Live And Dangerous proves Lynott and co didn't need overdubs

Jamiroquai’s debut album Emergency on Planet Earth

The Lowlist: Jamiroquai’s Emergency on Planet Earth was a solid platinum gem for all bass players

By Mike Brooks published 18 March 23

An appreciation of the album that introduced the young Stuart Zender

Dragonfly CS-5/345 review

By Mike Brooks published 30 June 22

A custom five-string from Japan that places plenty of tone options at your fingertips

BITE Funky Booster review

By Mike Brooks last updated 8 June 22

There are no weedy bass tones with this customized four-string

Cort Artisan B5 Element review

By Mike Brooks last updated 24 May 22

The B5 is like a beefed-up five-string greatest hits of Cort's Artisan series, with a generous spec at a very attractive price

Aguilar DB599 Bass Compressor pedal review

By Mike Brooks last updated 11 May 22

A super-compact, transient-taming compressor from the storied bass amp brand

Spector Euro 4 RST review

By Mike Brooks published 14 April 22

Tired of back-breaking basses? Try the new lightweight Spector Euro

Boss Katana-110 Bass review

By Mike Brooks last updated 26 July 22

The bass-specific version of the hugely popular Katana guitar amp range has finally arrived – we put its flexible feature set to the test

Trace Elliot Elf C110 Combo review

By Mike Brooks last updated 4 April 22

We loved Trace’s ultra-compact Elf head: can the 1x10 combo match up?

Dingwall D-Roc Standard 5 and Hellboy review

By Mike Brooks last updated 4 April 22

Behold a pair of T-bird-style five-strings that bring the thunder and then some...

Blast Cult Hollow Vee Bass review

By Mike Brooks published 15 March 22

Like the sound of a handmade Flying V bass? Add a hollow body and a fiendish pricetag and let’s go...