bassmagazine.com ; ISSUE 4 ; BASS MAGAZINE 45
Eva Gardner
What was it like having a bass-playing father
growing up?
He was such a good storyteller, so I grew
up hearing all of these amazing stories about
what his life was like on the road through-
out the ’60s. He played in a lot of different
bands and had so many adventures, so at a
young age I knew what I wanted to do with
my life, even before I ever played bass. I was
in second grade and I had a slumber party at
my house, and I took the girls into my dad’s
studio and told them I was a bass player. I
grabbed one of my dad’s basses, but it was so
heavy that I just kind of dragged it across the
floor. My dad just came to life when he talk-
ed about music, so I always knew I wanted to
follow in his footsteps.
He was friends with famous bass players of
that era. Which ones were around you when you
were growing up?
John Entwistle was one of my father’s
best friends, so I spent a lot of time with
him as a kid. I remember when my family
was staying in his house in England — it was
right when I first started learning bass, and
he took me aside and said he was happy to
hear I was playing, and he told me to follow
him. He took me to a door that opened up
into this huge hallway-closet just lined with
basses. He told me to pick a bass and it would
be mine for the time I was staying there. I
chose and old Fender Precision because that
was my dream bass of course. I just sat and
played and played that thing. At one point he
invited me to his home studio and he hand-
ed me his famous Buzzard bass and put it on
my shoulders. It was huge and hung super
low on me and had eyes that illuminated on
the headstock. Looking back now, those mo-
ments were so special to me because he made
me feel included. He didn't have to do that –
I was just one of his buddies' kids! But that
encouragement and inclusion really was im-
portant. I wasn't even at a place where I could
appreciate who he was at the time. He was
just John, one of my dad's eccentric friends.
Later in life I realized his impact on the bass
world and the music world in general.
Roger Waters was also around. He was
even at my first birthday party. Andy Johns
[producer for Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones,
Van Halen, Jack Bruce] was another person
in my life who was very supportive of me
when I was younger. Andy started out as a
bass player and actually gave me my first bass
lesson. We would always sit and talk about
the Led Zeppelin sessions and how he miked
the drums for Led Zeppelin IV and about fad-
ing in the mandolin intro that Jimmy Page
played on "The Battle of Evermore." Having
these wildly successful people pay attention
to me at a young age was so good for me. It
was crazy growing up in my household. Ron
Wood was over, Dad sponsored Rod Stew-
art's soccer team, Julian Lennon would hang,
Mick Taylor would come over and play guitar
in my living room. That was just normal life
for us kids. I realize now that it's not so nor-
mal. Laughs.
So, bass has always been deeply embedded
in your DNA.
From an early age that’s just what I
heard. Those low frequencies always stuck
out to me. It was something that I gravitated
towards and I took to it like a fish out of wa-
ter. I didn’t choose the bass; the bass chose
me. lLINDA BUCHANNAN