32 BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 4 ; bassmagazine.com
Juan Alderete
lime fretless technique and nuanced art-rock
songwriting chops. The more recent Halo Or-
bit is a similar original collaboration, featur-
ing guitarist suGar Yoshinaga and drummer
Mark Guiliana, which explores a 21st-century
combo of electronic, hip-hop, funk, and soul.
Meanwhile, Vato Negro continues to be his
outlet for effects-oriented bass playing. And,
he continues to review products at his wildly
popular website pedalsandeffects.com, which
is dedicated to his passion about otherworld-
ly soundscapes.
Juan has been off the road since the Man-
son tour ended in November 2018, rehabbing
some long-overdue wrist surgery. Ten years
ago, he took a spill while biking home from
the gym, but he’s toured so much in the past
decade, he hadn’t had time to properly ad-
dress the injury. “I got lit up on a pothole in
South Pasadena and flew in the air. I put my
hand out and broke my wrist. I toured with a
cast on, with the Mars Volta, and never really
stopped touring, so it didn’t heal right.”
We spoke to Alderete at home in Los
Angeles, gearing up for rehearsals with new
Marilyn Manson drummer Brandon Pertz-
born. They are heading out on the road this
summer on the co-headlining “Twins of Evil”
tour with Rob Zombie (as they did last year).
He’s also been contributing to the new Man-
son record. “So far, I’ve played on four or five
cuts, which I hope will make the record. Of
course, I hope I’m on every song.” As usual,
Alderete was candid about his approach to
rehab, landing the Manson gig, and his tran-
sition from “band guy” to hired gun.What’s the rehabbing process been like?
I had the surgery right after touring
ended in November. I couldn’t play for two
months. In the third month, I started to play.
Four months, I was frustrated. Six months
into it, I started to have a breakthrough. Jon
Button from the Who told me it took him a
solid year to feel good about his wrist.
What’s been the most challenging aspect?
After touring with Manson, I realized my
finger playing was really suffering. So, I had
to get the wrist cleaned out. Pick playing wasLISTEN
93punx, “Modern Day
Slavery” (Vic Mensa,
Travis Barker & H.R.)
GEAR
Basses Warwick
Streamer Stage I,
Warwick Idolmaker,
Fender ’70s Precision,
Fender Custom Shop
“OG Raider” Precision
Pickups Nordstrand
NP4
Amps Ampeg SVT
4-PRO
Cabs Ampeg SVT-810E
Strings Ernie Ball
Slinky round-wounds
and flatwounds, and
La Bella tapewounds
(all .045–.105)
Accessories Hipshot
Xtenders
Picks Dunlop Tortex
2.0mm & .73mm
Effects Boss NS-2
Noise Suppressor,
EarthQuaker Bit Com-
mander Analog Synth,
EarthQuaker Devic-
es Grand Orbiter V3
Phaser, EarthQuaker
Devices Humming-
bird Tremolo, Meris
Enzo Multi-Voice
Synthesizer, Mesa
Boogie Throttle Box,
MXR Bass Chorus De-
luxe M83, Red Panda
Tensor Time Warp,
Source Audio Neme-
sis delay, Voodoo Lab
Pedal Power 2 Plus
never an issue. Now, after six months, I can
do shit again. In November [2019, a year after
the surgery] we’ll see where it’s at. I practice
two to three hours every day, with my fingers.
It’s not that I don’t have speed or endurance
or strength — it’s just coordination. It’s like I
have to retrain my brain. It’s clumsy.
You’ve been utilizing active electronics and
thumb picks as part of your rehab.
Active because you don’t have to dig in;
the electronics hype the bass, so you don’t
have to play as hard. I’m using thumb picks
because the thinner the pick, the more hand
strength it takes to grip. The thicker the
picks, the easier to grip, and the thumb picks
are easiest because the thumb mostly holds
the pick [because of the wraparound].
I understand you got the Manson gig through
a referral from your ex-bandmate Tyler Bates.
At the time, my dad was really sick, and it
was pretty heavy on the family and me. A lot
of decisions needed to be made. I was helping
my family deal with my dad, trying to extend
his life. So, I was at home a lot. Deltron and
Octagon were gigging here and there, but not
a ton of work. And then, my pop dies and at
that same time, Tim Lefebvre recommended
me for this gig with Emily Saliers. The next
month I was on tour with Emily dealing with
that. Then Tyler called and said, “Hey, would
you be interested in playing with Manson?”
What was touring with Manson like for
that first year, after going through such a life-
changing event?
We headlined some big festivals in Eu-
rope. He’s really big over there. It was a lot
about trying to get a feel for it, but for anyone
who’s lost a parent, the grieving is crazy, so it
was just hard to take it all in. I’d go do these
festivals, playing in front of 200,000 people,
and there’s like this heaviness to everything.
Everything was really emotional. Between the
Emily Saliers and Manson tours, I never had
any time to deal with it. My family was griev-
ing, and I wasn’t there for them, but that’s the
story of my life. As a touring musician, you
miss everything: weddings, funerals, birth-
days. It’s crazy what you sacrifice. People don’t
really realize it. But I know my dad would’ve