Re: Famous Westone Players - Name and (no) shame them!

[bobroberts]

Might be worth a few quid, as long as he didn't use it to start the fire...!

[colt933]

Here's an interview with Trevor Rabin from 1987 where he specifically states that he uses his Westone guitars for recording.

He is referring to 1987's Big Generator album. He also states that he will begin working on his 4th solo album after the Big Generator tour is over. That album is 1989's Something To Hold On To and features Westone guitars on the recording.

[sticky]

Hello everyone,

I don't know if anyone has spotted this one yet but i will add it anyway...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOLXDTmVe4w

it is 'the blues band' playing green stuff and the bassist is using a left handed thunder 1A.

enjoy!

Mark.

[sdOK]

Sorry about the cliquey in jokes there

- uh...

I believe Mr Hanley (as he is now called) is quite popular at the school..

I would imagine many of the parents know his heritage, Hacienda DJ and author Dave Haslam is one of them.. It's the original School of Rock.

Steve played a free gig there the other week with his current band, featuring himself and Tom Hingley out of the Inspiral Carpets. Unfortunately I only heard about it afterwards, since our kids have all left.

A couple of them are at the nearby High School though , the headmaster of which is Gene Simmons out of Kiss. Paul Stanley is the chief dinner lady. Oops 'Lunchtime Supervisor'. And Jack Black is head of sports.



(Some of those comments are cliquey in jokes - others just plain made up.)

Mind you having said all that, I drove past Mr Hanley on the way to work this very morning and he is starting to resemble a Scooby Doo caretaker. Mark E Smith (the singer and driving force of The Fall) has turned into something like a hobbit permanently chewing a wasp , this happened some years back though...

Wierd. I played bass and guitar in the fall for a few years. 2001-2006 ish. Just a pity I never used my Westone prestige on any Fall stuff. I only got into it towards the end of my tenure really. Now I am obsessed with it and it is pretty much the only guitar I play. I played a friends USA Tele at a few recent rehearsals and while it was nice I just never got that WOO! feeling I do on my westone.

But I am looking at ebay almost daily right now as I want some more Westone's. If I ever get another push at success I will most probably be playing all Westones. Not for any great reason beyond the fact they look and feel great. Oh and they go for cheap. Trying to get my brother to buy a thunder bass too

Here is a vid of me playing my prestige live with my band. -

Vid

[Administrator]

Cool tune!

Where can I buy some stuff?

[corsair]

Yep- good tune!!

[sdOK]

Cool tune!

Where can I buy some stuff?

Am working on that

Thanks tho.

[diddydave]

Could this be a Thunder played by the Cardiacs front man?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PecNqHNd-WU&feature=related

[DuoFuzz]

Yep, I think your right. The video quality quality is poor but it looks like a Thunder I or I-A to me, with the body painted black and green?

Looks like the singer is a bit of a Westone nut, check out this other vid of them HERE. Is he playing a Spectrum?!?

By the way, the other guitarist seems to be rocking out on a modded Shergold Masquerader.

DAN.

[Warrn]

If I could actually see anything in that mess of a light show I'd give my thoughts on the instruments. They look vaguely like Westones, but the terrible lighting makes it hard to say.

[silence86]

link:i just read in this thread in another forum that flea played a pantera in new orleans in 86/87...does anybody know anything about that?

[Old Gregg]

Hey Old Gregg,
I have held and played a few notes on Stuart Morrow's Thunder Jet!!!!!
Met the whole band in the summer of 85 when NMA played in Inverness on their No Rest for the Wicked tour.
Spoke to Stuart for about an hour about the Bass and how he plays. He showed me how to play Notice Me and a bit of Vengence. Myself and some friends went along to the venue in the afternoon to see if we could see then and ended up being welcomed with open arms. Oh happy days.
I had a Thunder 1 before I was a NMA fan and still have the beast.
It brings back a few memories and at the time brought my Bass playing to a new level.
Went to Glasgow a couple of years ago to see them again and they are still a great band.

As it's almost the anniversary of this post , I thought that it would be rather jolly to show up here (like a drunken uncle at kids birthday party ) and respond with a, "I hate you, I hate you" rant! Really, how could you have been lucky enough to fondle the bass of Mr. Morrow!? I'm sooooo jealous !

Funny that you should mention that he showed you how to play "Notice Me", because that bassline was a total and utter enigma to all of the bassists that I knew in 1984 - nobody had a clue how he could play all those notes so quickly and so cleanly. The reason for that is that all of the bass players that I knew in 1984 where all beginners (I hadn't even tried to play bass myself then) and were mostly trying to bang out this riff by sliding up and down the same string !!! When I finally saw the band live for the first time (with Moose Harris on bass), I discovered that the bass line bounced between the D and the A string, using the open D string as the pivot point!!! As soon as I got home and tried it for myself (on my Thunder 1A ), I discovered that I too could be a bass God!

Happy memories indeed!

[Old Gregg]

Wierd. I played bass and guitar in the fall for a few years. 2001-2006 ish. Just a pity I never used my Westone prestige on any Fall stuff. I only got into it towards the end of my tenure really. Now I am obsessed with it and it is pretty much the only guitar I play. I played a friends USA Tele at a few recent rehearsals and while it was nice I just never got that WOO! feeling I do on my westone.

But I am looking at ebay almost daily right now as I want some more Westone's. If I ever get another push at success I will most probably be playing all Westones. Not for any great reason beyond the fact they look and feel great. Oh and they go for cheap. Trying to get my brother to buy a thunder bass too

Here is a vid of me playing my prestige live with my band. -

Vid

OK, I'm confused (not exactly a big rift in the status quo, there )!

When you say that you, "played guitar in the fall", are you saying that you actually played guitar in the UK band, "The Fall", or are you merely an American who wishes to communicate to us that he strummed his axe between the seasons of Summer and Winter ?

Either way, I watched your You Tube clip and (assuming that you're the guy playing the Westone Prestige guitar) I really think that you're the best thing about your band and that you (all) have a very gritty and refreshingly 'honest' sound to your music. All power to your collective elbows - I hope that you do great things !

[Administrator]

Here Here! I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some of their tunes soon!

oh - and he was in "The Fall" Which also makes him coooooooool

[Old Gregg]

Here Here! I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some of their tunes soon!

oh - and he was in "The Fall" Which also makes him coooooooool

Well, that's how it read to me too, but he just looks too damn young ( ) in his video for that to be true (the rest of The Fall must be in their late '40s by now ). Not masking my jealousy very well, am I ?

Anyway Admin, is that PJ Harvey in your 'ave-a-tart, or have you recently had "The Op" ?

[Administrator]

Yes, that is PJ Harvey - photo taken by me in Brighton earlier this year - bit of a second career for me (photography - not stalking PJ Harvey...)

[nasticanasta]

I owned a Pantera..I had a black Pantera x-275 that i gutted instantly in favour of full EMG's : 85/SA/SA, then I took out the worst gawd awful tremolo in the world.. that Bendmaster Deluxe... I had a local Luther put in a Floyd Rose, which meant he had to route out the neck pocket to get the neck a little closer to the bridge and everything was great!! But I was lucky enough to stumble across a Trevor Rabin Signature Series III.....which wasn't the neck thru but has a very nice Floyd type tremolo called a TRS-1 ( I saw this very same tremolo on another non- pantera or TRS Westone model in a Music-go-round the other day), of which I again gutted in favor for EMG's : 85/SA/SA.. super fast neck... tremolo kicks ass great guitar... from what I've read Westone only made so many of these.. I heard 300-350... I search everywhere for another every week..that's no lie!! This red TRS is a real find.. its such a fast neck.. it really kicks ass! Both are set up with the EMG's 85/SA/SA 's.

[bowenjaybee]

3 of my favourite bands from the late 80's early 90's UK Indie scene used Thunder basses

The Pale Saints Singer/Bass player Ian Masters used a Thunder 1 Bass covered in stickers on this 1991 video. a great band!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLy2q3vfPwg

and...

Senseless Things Bassist Morgan Nicholls Used what looks Like a Thunder 2 bass in this video from 1990, This guy was a real influence on my Bass playing, he went on to become a session player for Muse, Gorillaz, The Streets and recently Lily Allen


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-jHi-ABpXE




And finally...

The bass player from The Wedding Present played a Light Oak Thunder 1 A bass on the bands early work.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWPk7OOcHLQ

[bobroberts]

Reading this weeks Radio Times, spotted an article of former Home Secretary, Alan Johnson. Not only was he in a band back in the day, but there's an up to date pic of him sat on his stairs playing a rather nice black Westone Prestige (150?).
Hell yeah!

[colt933]

Here's a good one:

Union tour - X390CB

[Barry]

Here's a good one:
Union tour - X390CB

That Trevor feller just might end up having career as a guitar player.