If you love daredevil musicians, you’ll dig The Aristocrats. A contemporary-fusion trio, the band includes guitar monster Guthrie Govan (VG, September ’21), drummer Marco Minnemann, and Bryan Beller, a wizard on four- and five-string basses. We talked with Beller about the group’s latest effort, Duck, which finds them tackling ever more-challenging instrumentals, yet never losing sight of the song or the music.
What was the original plan for The Aristocrats?
There actually wasn’t any plan; we formed as a result of an unexpectedly successful one-off gig at NAMM. We’re just three Gen X dudes who happen to like odd instrumentally-minded stuff and wanted to have fun with it. A Frank Zappa reference is very useful because it’s shorthand for “Yeah, we’re doing complicated stuff, but trying not to take it too seriously.” Which is really what we’re after.
Who are some of your key bass heroes?
John Paul Jones, first and foremost. He defined what a rock bassist should and could do – heavy Motown! Chris Squire was big for me in terms of melodic runs and reharmonization, plus that edgy tone! Tim Commerford of Rage Against the Machine was huge in terms of getting an aggressive overdrive tone, but played fingerstyle. Flea is how I learned to employ slapping and popping, more for rock aggression than the smoother Marcus Miller way. I did go through a Jaco and John Patitucci period, while Scott Thunes, the longtime bassist for Zappa, impacted me in how he approached songs mentally and harmonically. Active, aggressive, and smart, but also raw.
You and Marco are not a traditional rhythm section. Are there great bassist/drummer teams that inspire you both?
Again, Led Zeppelin is a touchstone. We both know the catalog inside and out, and love what Jones and John Bonham created. We both listened to Rush when we were younger, and a lot of fusion stuff. I think we’re both still aware that the key function is to provide groove and structure to the rhythmic element of the song. In the Aristocrats, we both know that we not just have room to explore, but actually a responsibility to explore. We need to keep things interesting and musical since we’re just a three-piece.
What gear did you use on the album?
Setting up for the sessions at Carbonite Sound, I wanted it to feel a bit like we were playing live, like I was in front of my live rig. Live, I use a Gallien-Krueger (GK) MB Fusion as a preamp going into a GK 2001RB amp and four GK CX410 cabinets, all with a big pedalboard in front. The feeling of air moving quickly on the fingerstrike response – which GK does better than anything else out there – creates a headroom perception that allows for very light playing and total dynamic control with my right hand.
Aside from four- and five-string versions, what are the sonic flavors you’re looking for in a bass?
I look for three kinds. The first is a bright, edgy tone for both chimey clean and sizzling drive, which is something my Mike Lull Modern five-string with swamp ash body and maple neck does exceedingly well.
The second flavor is what I call a “modern” tone – a bit smoother on the upper mids, but still with glassy super-highs, a very focused midrange body, and warm low-end. That’s a fancy way of saying “a Spector with EMG electronics” – I love Spectors, the Alex Webster signature, in particular. My hands don’t always love the Spector formula, physically, especially live, so the Spectors I own have become primarily studio instruments.
The third flavor would be a dark, warm, and smooth vintage tone. I achieve that with a Lull P/J passive five-string. It’s also a great foundation for certain fuzzy and synthy effects, which is how it ended up on the bass-synth for “Dance Of The Aristocrats” and the vintage fuzz of “Smuggler’s Corridor.”
For a bassist, you have a mondo pedalboard.
The key effects are the Boss OC-2 “brown box” octave, Xotic Bass BB Preamp for my main drive, the Digitech Bass Driver, and a Darkglass Vintage Microtubes for secondary drives. There’s also an MXR six-band EQ, Electro-Harmonix MicroPog, Dunlop Bass Wah, a very old Boss CE-2B Bass Chorus, a TC Electronic Hall Of Fame reverb, Digitech DD-3 Digital Delay, a Demeter Opto Compulator for light compression, and an Xotic Effects EP Booster for instrument leveling.
That’s a whole lotta pedals.
I remember 20 years ago, when it was cutting-edge for a bassist to have a big pedalboard. Now I’m between “old-school” and “dinosaur” for not running some Fractal or Quad Cortex all-in-one whizbanger. I am super-persnickety about how effects move air and affect the fundamental note, and I still think old analog effects are the way to go.
This article originally appeared in VG’s April 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
