Skery

Influence: Simon Gallup

I wasn't sure what attracted me to The Cure, maybe a lot of the same reasons many kids my age were, but I wasn't attracted to the same songs. I gravitated to the deeper, darker songs off of Pornography, Faith, and Seventeen Seconds. Gallup's bass lines haunted me, and I really didn't even know it. I know it now.

My Perspective on Breakfast

When we first started, it was fun. We'd cram into Hix's bedroom, drink cold beer and play songs that Core had been working on. At some point or another we had played Bloodshed a dozen times, but I didn't know the words. So I read them. I was blown away. I thought, "This is a good song." And it is. It's arranged well with carefully thought out lyrics. I took notice of all of our songs and realized they were all very good in some way or another. That was the moment I looked at EB differently. I looked at my involvement differently.

Influence: Justin Chancellor

I don't think anyone in this genre of music in this day and time can deny Justin Chancellor's influence. Sober was probably the first Tool song I ever heard- at least it's the first Tool song I remember hearing. The bass was, I thought, just an extension of the percussion, but the more I listened the more I realized how the song was built around it. I listened more. Chancellor's signature sound and effects captivated me just as it did so many Tool fans and even non-fans. I think he shaped the sound of so much music that followed, be it metal or not.

Influence: Bootsy Collins

What can I say? I love the funk and the JB's, Funkadelic, Parliament, and George Clinton are the roots and Bootsy was right there. And at the heart of all that funk is that funky ass bass line. Nobody did it with as much flair as Bootsy. Long before I had ever touched a bass guitar I said I wanted to be a bass player in a funk band a la Bootsy & George Porter. EB's not a funk band, but somewhere underneath it all, if you listen hard enough, you might just find a little Bootsy.

Influence: Dave Schools

Way back when I was still tangled in those two extra strings, I would pretty often find myself at a Widespread Panic show. Those shows would almost always find me making my way to the right side of the stage, in front of Dave. A band awash in E's and A's, Schools not only held it all together, but made it something that it never had a chance of being on its own. Watching that big man dance around the fretboard was stirring.