Wedding Rites
Bass Player|June 2020
My Dying Bride play heavy—but ‘romantic’—metal. Lena Abé is tasked with delivering the lowest of the low end, she tells us...
Lena Abe
Wedding Rites

I started playing bass when I was 10 years old. My dad’s a musician, he plays bass and keyboards professionally, so there was always music around when I was a kid. He had a proper 80s-looking Washburn, a white one, and I would watch him play it and think ‘How do you do that?’ because I would pluck it and it sounded nothing like it did when he played it. So I asked him to teach me to play, and that was my start.

It’s a huge advantage for any musician if they have parents who encourage them to play. I didn’t have lessons, it was just me and my dad. He set me up with the basics and then I learned myself. He’s still gigging at 70 years old, which I think is fantastic.

When I was starting out I admired Cliff Burton, who was a major influence. He played incredible melodies, and the distortion he used just blew me away. Justin Chancellor of Tool, too; I heard their first EP when I was just starting out in the 90s, and I thought ‘What on earth is this?’ I loved Les Claypool’s playing for the same reasons—when I heard Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, I had no idea that basses could make that noise. It was weird—sort of playground-like and playful, but also spooky. And then it was Bill Gould as well, I’d never seen playing like that.

This story is from the June 2020 edition of Bass Player.

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This story is from the June 2020 edition of Bass Player.

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