Jon Sykes of progressive art-rockers The Pineapple Thief told us about his love for the bass lick in Living Colour’s “Open Letter To A Landlord”.
Jon Sykes: 1989 was the year I started playing bass and it was the year that Living Colour released Vivid. There was a rock and metal music TV show called The Power Hour that aired overnight in the UK. Me and my school friends used to tape it on our VHS recorders as it was of the only places you could see music videos and live performances from these genres at the time.
I clearly remember seeing the video for 'Open Letter To A Landlord' on one of these episodes and the effect it had on me. I had never seen or heard a band like this. The movement in the bass riff that carries the verses is what really grabbed me. I loved the prominence of the bass and the fact that the arrangement was completely built on it. I also loved the sound of the band – the way that Vernon Reid’s guitar lines were woven over that line and the punctuation given to it by accents and fills in Will Calhoun’s drumming - all whilst that bassline just keeps driving on. The riff brings so much forward momentum, like it’s always searching for the next downbeat.
Muzz Skillings’ bass playing on those first two Living Colour albums was brilliant. I listened to those records constantly thorough my early years of playing bass – I’d love to think that a tiny bit might have been absorbed!
The Pineapple Thief's Far and Wide album is out October 9.
Photo credit: Martin Bostock
