Member Since: 1/9/2008
Band Members: In the last year, Jason has been playing indie-rock with Sean Ashby (www.myspace.com/seanashbymusic) ,
pop with The Highrollers (www.thehighrollers.com)
and The Greg Wyard Band (www.gregwyard.com) ,
jazzy-blues with Blues Element (www.myspace.com/blueselement) ,
influential classic rock with Classic Albums Live (http://classicalbumslive.com/media/musicians/jasonfarrar.ht
ml) ,
country with Megan Morrison (www.indie911.com/megan-morrison) ,
the quirky Chapman Stick cover duo, String Theory, and the Leftover Daylight series of company improvised music events (http://www.ovalwindowmusic.org/leftoverdaylight/archive.php
).
____________________________________________________________
____Jason proudly uses Bag End loudspeakers (www.bagend.com) , Hafler power amplifiers (www.hafler.com), and Demeter preamplifiers (www.demeteramps.com).
Influences: Let's start from when I discovered them...The Beatles, The Muppets (great music, and who could forget Dr. Teeth?), Bach (beauty in mathematics), Beethoven (he still just kills me), Bartok (I "got it" more after I heard Fripp), Kiss (my earliest bass influence), ABBA (fantastic arranging and singing...very slick), The Star Wars O.S.T. (WOW! did that ever get me going! I've been a film score buff ever since), Dr. Music (taught me that I love gospel vocals, barrelhouse piano, and wailin' B3, and Doug Riley never knew it , but he became a mentor of sorts to my keyboard playing), The whole Motown/Stax/Volt ouevre ( I still want to be an R&B bassist, or in a gospel choir...it's my cross to bear),a good dollop of 70's glam: David Bowie (one of my faves, to this day), Slade, The Sweet, Roxy Music, Brian Eno, E.L.O., Queen. Jazz (Ok, that's like saying "music", but I do have preferences), Chet Baker, as well as Oscar Peterson, Charlie Parker, Scott Lafaro, plus The King's Singers, The Swingle Singers and Le Double Six De Paris, The Manhattan Transfer, and my very favourite: The Singers Unlimited (are you detecting a vocal group period here?), Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Johnny Cash, Tommy Hunter, Ronnie Prophet, George Jones, Chet Atkins, Ricky Skaggs (my parents were both doing Country gigs around this time). Opera was big in my house, especially courtesy of Dad, and no one caught my ear and eye more than Maria Callas. Uh, oh. The 80's: The Vapours (name that tune), Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, Ultravox (what a voice on Midge Ure!), The Go-Gos, The English Beat, therefore The Specials, The Bodysnatchers, and some new band called U2. Joe Jackson (what a writer!), Elvis Costello, The Tubes, Bowie again (he keeps doing that, darn him!), then came Japan (my next big bass influence, Mick Karn. If I've taken one thing from him, it's to not be afraid to try to be unique), Riuichi Sakamoto and the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Bauhaus, David Sylvian's solo work (which is where I first heard Robert Fripp play...or so I thought), Peter Gabriel (holy smokes! that's a big one: it opened my ears to sampling and world music and Tony Levin and fabulous drummers, all in one artist's career), Yes (that was one that went hand in hand with Rush, Max Webster, and all the somewhat "proggy" bands out there). They were a big favourite, 'til I heard King Crimson. I couldn't really tell you what track I heard first, or exactly when, but I haven't been wired up the same ever since. It was as involved and layered as Yes, but with sharp, gnashy teeth. As I grew older, my listening tastes haven't narrowed, they've expanded. Getting more familiar with styles of roots rock and folk. Realizing I have a reggae gene. Finding electronic dance music a great place to do some sick things to a bass. I should also mention that I'm inspired, influenced and educated in some way by everyone I've worked with. The breadth of experiences of my peers have been a wonderful and measurable influence on my development as a musician. The study, I'm happy to say, never stops.
Sounds Like: Sutton Commercial
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: Unsigned