Former VAN HALEN Bassist Michael Anthony Talks About Top 3 Influences
March 4, 2009, 15 years ago
Former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony spoke to Musicradar.com about his three biggest bass influences. They are as follows:
1. Harvey Brooks - THE ELECTRIC FLAG
"He's the first reason why I got into playing bass. My sister brought home the first Electric Flag record and on it was this blues song called Texas that just stopped my world cold (sings) 'Just got in from Tedas, baby/ you didn't even know I was gone.' Even as a kid I knew that was deep."2. John Paul Jones - LED ZEPPELIN
Probably my second biggest influence. To me, if anybody wants to pick up a bass and learn how to play with taste and musicality, he's definitely a guy to listen to. So much of the time people focus on the awesome power of Led Zeppelin, the whole Hammer Of The Gods thing, but John Paul Jones, probably because he was a session player, he put a lot of thought into his playing. He didn't just lumber through."
3. Jack Bruce - CREAM
"This is hard. As much as I love John Entwhistle, Jack Bruce and his work with Cream really got me into the three-man concept where you didn't need a rhythm guitar player; you didn't need a keyboard player; all you needed were three guys and a singer - and maybe one of them could be the singer!"Read more of Anthony's influences here.
