Click here to watch the Knitters on the David Letterman Show on YouTube.
Jonny Ray Bartel Jonny Ray Bartel is a bassist's bassist. In fact, one of the best our genre of music has seen over the years. He's currently on the road with the Knitters (joining them at age 17, back in 1983).
Staying away from the normal 'slap out the whole song' school... he prefers to hold down the bottom, driving the drums and guitar, keeping everything together, only adding the slap when he feels it can push the song even more. High-energy live performances, great tone, and tasteful playing has kept him a big influence for many a Blues/Rockabilly/Roots bass player. Not only that, but his off-stage, down to earth, jokester personality is refreshing in today's (and yesterday's) world of egos and prima donna-ism.
At the young age of nine, Jonny's older brother Dave Lee gave him a Fender Mustang short-scaled electric bass. Cutting his teeth on Cheap Trick and ZZ Top songs, it was a visit to a Blasters rehearsal in 1980 that exposed him to a more pure approach to early Blues and Rock n Roll. He immediately sheared his long, Z-boyish, skate-rat hair, and slicked it back when few (if any) greasers existed in Orange County, CA. Then, at Dave Alvin's suggestion, he joined the line-up of Huntington Beach's first rockabilly band, "Jimmy and the Mustangs."
In order to get access to an upright bass he joined his High School's orchestra. During the 9th grade he'd bow-out Mozart and Beethoven riffs by day, and slap to Bill Black's bass lines at home after school. For 2 years Jimmy and the Mustangs played locally throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties, even flying to New York for a two-week tour of Manhattan. Still just kids, the Mustangs warmed crowds for the Blasters, X, Cramps and even the Stray Cats first visit to the West Coast in September of 1981.
JR's next band was the Red Devils (also with his big bro Dave on guitar). An influential roots band throughout Southern California, they played with all the big acts at the time, as well as being courted by several major labels during the early eighties.
When Jonny was only 15 and still in high school, it was difficult to tell his age by watching and hearing him live... he just had the sound and stage presence of someone twice his age! Unfortunately, none of the major labels had the guts to sign the original Red Devils, so they didn't survive as long as they should have. The only studio recording of the band being a now rare compilation LP released by Rhino Records entitled, "LA Rockabilly." Soon after leaving the Devils, he was asked to join what would become a milestone band to the roots-rock world, "the Knitters."
Comprised of John, Exene, and DJ (all from X) as well as Dave Alvin on guitar, the Knitters are on tour as this is being written. Go check them out! One of the best live shows you will see! For more info visit:
December 2007
by Kevin Stewart
Kevin: Hey Jonny, could you tell us about your gear?
JR: 1953 Blonde 5-string Kay (high C). My brother found it in the Recycler for $550 back in 1981. It was very clean when I got it. The thing with that bass is that it has always had good tone. Once in my possession, I had John Peterson from World of Strings in Long Beach set it up with guts. His original set-up lasted what seemed like forever. I never had to touch it again until 1995 when the bridge finally snapped from old age and the added tension of supporting five well-battered strings. Around that time I switched to nylon strings due to their superior sustain over guts. I've always liked the tone of gut and nylon strings over steel though. It's a funny thing, I'm as much a gear head as most other players, but I've pretty much left my equipment alone over the years. In fact, I still have the same Underwood pickup on it; installed in '81(laughs)! It still sounds fine though... punchy when I pizz and stays punchy when I slap. Additionally, I've used the same amp head for years. Johnny Bazz from the Blasters gave me one of his spare Randall RBA500's back in 1980. However, I did re-cover it in tweed, because they were really ugly things. You know, black & silver with LED's on the front. That head worked really well with my Kay though, giving me lots of thrust with complete feedback control. Not long after that, Bill Bateman (the Blaster's drummer) & I made a pair of 1-15 cabs, each with a 400 watt EV driver inside, tweeked to match. Over the years, that rig has probably propelled various bands through 1,000+ shows, including the Red Devils blues band's "King King" recording and subsequent tours. It still sounds great and I'd probably be using it today, except that Mesa Boogie just gave me a sweet little cocoa brown "Walkabout" 1x15 combo amp that just thunders. It's got a really warm tube pre-amp section that I find brings out the wood in the Kay very nicely. In addition to the excellent circuitry, someone at Mesa thought it would be cool
to put a passive 10" driver inside that little cabinet, pointing straight down at the stage! You'd think it would cause unbelievable feedback through the peg for upright players, but it hasn't for me.
Kevin: Who taught you the 'slap' technique?
Jonny: Pat Woodward (Billy Zoom and Ricky Nelson's bassist) gave me one lesson... in like.... 20 minutes (laughs)! He said, "Pull the peg out, don't play it on the floor. Your intonation will suck if you play it on the floor... unless, you know, you're a short guy". He showed me how to place my hands... how to come down on it and pull back, how to use the tip of your finger to grab the string, what certain rules you can break and stuff like that. That was it. After that, I had to teach myself, learning mainly from studying Bill Black and other Sun bassist's recordings. I definitely wore out a few needles and records figuring out what they were up to back then.
Kevin: Who are your influences playing wise?
JR: Early on I got a hold of some Sleepy LaBeef stuff and that's when I discovered Wendell Clayton. I learned how to really drive a song from his playing on "Baby Let's Play House" (a great Sleepy LaBeef version by the way). I thought, if that kid could do that for Sleepy, then I was going to do the same whenever I got the chance (as long as it wouldn't compromise what the other musicians were doing). So I learned a lot from Wendell Clayton, a relatively unknown ripper who was just 13 years old on Sleepy's earliest (and best sounding) recordings.
I also remember reading Pops Foster's autobiography at a young age. Although I didn't study Dixieland jazz music much, his story still influenced me quite a bit. He's regarded by many as the first person to slap the string bass during the departure from using the tuba in the hot-jazz era. I really dug what he had to say about approaching the instrument altogether differently from how it was previously done. He said things like, when he first started to play bass 'they' gave him all of these rules on how to hold it, you know, put your thumb behind your middle finger... all of these 'classical' techniques. As a youngster, while playing with Johnny & Baby Dodds on the Mississippi river boats, Pops realized very quickly that he had to squeeze the neck harder than the classical technique would allow. In his book he recommended grabbing the neck with your whole hand, squeezing the strings with all your might, attacking it like it's your mortal enemie's throat. Now remember, t
his was WAY before any form of bass amplification, so to be heard you had to have a killer setup & squeeze your strings with everything you had. So, in those jazz bands with several loud horns and no bass amps in sight, those cats played with higher action (more tension=more volume) it just wasn't practical to play with the 'classical format' (elbow up and all that)... he said, "Man, I would just hunker down and play how I wanted."
Just play the bass how it's comfortable for you. It was real liberating for me, being in High School orchestra, where they were teaching me all these classical techniques, at the same time as I'm reading Pop's book and he's telling me, "If you want to sound good, you've got to choke the crap out of it and don't worry about the rules.... just listen and make sure you aren't pitching out."
Kevin: How did you join The Knitters? And how old were you?
Jonny: I was 17 and had just left the Red Devils. Going into my Junior year of High School with NO band, which was hard for me because I'd always gotten my 'identity' through being in a group. As a youngster I had been opening pretty big shows for my heroes like X & the Blasters at reputable venues like the Hollywood Palace, etc... Now, out of the Red Devils, I missed playing and was really bummed. Just two weeks later though, John Doe called and said, "Hey, we're doing this 'Knitters' thing now and we've done 2 or 3 shows with just Exene, Dave and I on stools and acoustic guitars... We want to try it with drums and bass.... Wanna come up and try out for the band? We're going to have DJ (Bonebrake) come in too." So, I remember going up to Hollywood Blvd. in my '55 Nomad with my bass & rig to where X rehearsed. We played only a few songs and they just loved having the rhythm section. Right away it got frantic and crazy and just took off. All of a sudden I was in the Knitter's band and stoked. So happy. Imagine, you're in High School, being the huge 'popularity contest' that it is, and now not just in some 'little' band... you're in a band with X! Now imagine cruising around school and hearing kids say, "Whoah! You're in a band with Exene?" (laughs)
Needless to say it was quite a boost for my fragile teenage self-image, as well as my "career."
Kevin: How did you record with The Knitters?
JR: In 2005 we recorded the 2nd album. It was really shocking to me because we did it on a Macintosh computer in the engineer's studio that he built out of an apartment in LA. We were all in one room with baffles to keep the 'bleed through' down, and I was really worried it wasn't going to come out sounding like the first album. I was nervous it would sound too clean and not as cool. But it came out sounding very similar to the first one and another record to be proud of.
Kevin: I love it! "Poor Little Critter On The Road" is still my favorite though... and for the time you guys recorded it... it had a very unique sound compared to what else was out back then....
JR: Both those recordings had engineers who were real good. On "Critter" the guy put a big Neumann mic on the F-Hole and he had this weird plate mic, like a big square with a mic in it, that he gaff taped to the wooden wall of the triangular room I was in. I had my own little room. There was no amp involved.... just two mics and the bass in that wooden enclosure. That particular Kay has just always produced a good tone for me.
Kevin: Lastly Jonny, what does bass playing mean to you?
JR: The way I look at it, my tone is just as important as my chops. There are guys with awesome chops that blow doors on me technically, but they often times have very weak tone due to easy-to-play setups. Personally, I'd rather have a 'Thunder God' tone and be a really good team player than be able to solo all over the place but sound lightweight. Ultimately, the ability to do both is best. I just prefer to lay down a stone-groove pocket that lets the guitarist or harmonica player wail.
GO SEE THE KNITTERS!!!
A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO KEVIN STEWART & JONNY RAY BARTEL
FOR THIS INTERVIEW!!!
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