Holding It Down: Ode to Nick Cave’s Bass Player
alterna2 / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
It’s easy to hold bassists who shred in high regard. Bass players who dance around the fretboard instead of simply walking it. Bass players who know and use all the possible combinations of thirds, fifths, inversions, octaves, and whatever the hell Michael Manring is thinking about when he plays. We all love them. The bass players who don’t get enough credit are the workmen and women who hold it down. Those without whom songs are merely guitar players showing off, singers howling and growling, and drummers counting to four under their breath. This series is for them- The bassists who hold it down so everyone else can fly.
"Murder you can dance to." -comedian and musician Rick Wood describing the Bad Seeds sound
If you are lucky enough to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds live you won’t once look at the bass player. I am a bass player and I didn’t look at him once. You won’t be able to take your eyes off the magnetic power of Nick Cave in full Musical Preacher mode. And if you are able to look away from Cave, you’ll be drawn to the bearded wildman to his side sawing or strumming a violin- Warren Ellis. Martyn P. Casey and his modest P-Bass will be back in the shadows somewhere with the other Seeds, The Bad. The light barely hits him. You won’t see him do much in the way of show the whole show.
But you won’t stop feeling him. Martyn Casey, and former Bad Seed bassists Mick Harvey and Barry Adamson, are the backbone of that forever evolving post-punk machine. Without them none of Nick’s albums would carry the weight and power they do. This is most obvious in the two most recent Bad Seeds albums- the sparse and emotionally heavy Skeleton Tree and the atmospheric and weightless Ghosteen (this is not a Ghosteen album review so I’ll leave it at this- while Nick’s lyrics are always great, the album suffers greatly from not having any instruments on it save Warren’s synth). While Skeleton Tree is good-to-great and Ghosteen is an album, neither throw around the weight most other Bad Seeds albums do.
The Bad Seeds song and bass line that everyone knows whether they know it or not, is the famous Red Right Hand. Describing the characteristics of the bass in this song covers describing the bass in nearly every other Bad Seeds song. It’s not a complicated part. You could learn it in a few minutes. It’s not in an odd time. There are not fills that come out of nowhere to never appear again. There’s the main riff and a small change during the chorus.
That’s why the part is perfect. The instrumentation around the bass part grows and throbs and near the end begins to spin out of control. Except Casey. Casey is the heartbeat of the song, punching through chimes and wailing and Nick’s exhortations. Casey’s red right hand guides the song and allows everyone else to revel in their madness without losing the lifeline.
The famous (or infamous) Stagger Lee works the same way. The bass line lets that bad motherfucker called Stagger Lee curse his way through seven-to-nine minutes of groove. (On that same album Mick Harvey lends his four string skills to the two songs with the highest body counts- The Curse of Millhaven and O'Malley's Bar to similar effect. Murder you can dance to, indeed.)
What is great about Martyn P. Casey’s playing, and the reason he’s the first player to be featured in this series, is this kind of playing is the platonic ideal of the bass as an instrument. More than anything, this is the job of the bass. It’s not the most exciting part of the band, but it’s not supposed to be. Martyn’s job is to let Nick be the most electric frontman you’ve ever seen or heard. The bass isn’t the front of the mix, but it doesn’t need to be because it’s dead in the middle of it. The drummer could miss a beat and it would be ok. Warren could screw up and we’d never know because he plays like a mad scientist. Nick could screw up except Nick Cave never makes a mistake, he simply changes the song without telling anyone first. But Martyn P. Casey has to be on the button for the entire show. Yes, shredding prog rock is hard, but what about playing this bass part for fifteen minutes? Without rushing or hitting a bad note or getting bored and lost? Because that would destroy the song. And so many Bad Seeds songs are built from the same bedrock foundation laid down by their humble, mighty bass player. If you love Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, you love a bass player who holds it down.
So grab your favorite Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album*, turn it up, and take notes to learn how Martyn P. Casey holds it down.
*For my money Let Love In is the best place to start, but I deeply love Murder Ballads and Tender Prey. All that said, Jubilee Street off Push the Sky Away might be my favorite song ever and inspired a tattoo, so start wherever you want. This guide by Zack Lipez is basically perfect for finding your way.
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Doug Robertson is the editor of The Bass Blog, the blog component of The Bass Channel, your one stop YouTube channel for all things bass. His number one is a Mexican Geddy Lee Signature Jazz. Find books by Doug here. If you’re interested in contributing to The Bass Blog please reach out to Doug at doug@thebasschannel.net. We would love to hear from you.
