John Hassall (musician)
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John Hassall (born 17 February 1981, London), was the bassist for The Libertines. He now performs with his own band, Yeti.
Hassall was inspired to play music when he rummaged through his parent's record collection and found a copy of the The Beatles' Revolver[citation needed]. He went on to buy their entire discography in chronological order, roughly two a year. He claims that if it weren't for The Beatles, he wouldn't be playing music today; their records made him pick up the guitar[citation needed].
While at Highgate School, where he attended lessons with Johnny Borrell of Razorlight, John joined a band and ended up playing bass. John himself has stated that he prefers playing the bass to the guitar as he finds it to be a more "meaty" instrument[citation needed]. He played in various bands for a few years, but none of them worked out until he met Pete Doherty. One day Pete came to his mother's house after a mutual friend had told him about John's musical talent[citation needed]. It is said that Doherty was intrigued by Hassall not only for his talent but because he had 'proper' equipment (such as a Rickenbacker bass and decent amps)[citation needed]. The following day, Doherty came round to his house again, but this time, along with his friend Carl Barât, and the three had a jam session. To play the drums on their first recording session, the trio hired Paul Dufour. The complete Libertines played various London gigs over a 2-year period, but during the middle of 2001 Paul Dufour left for financial reasons[citation needed] and Hassall left the band to go to college. He was hired to rejoin them on bass when they were signed by Rough Trade just before during December 2001. He continued to play with the band until they disbanded at the end of 2004.
| Carl Barât | Peter Doherty | John Hassall | Gary Powell |
| Anthony Rossomando | Johnny Borrell | Paul Dufour | Steve Bedlow (Scarborough Steve) |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums and EPs: Up the Bracket | I Get Along EP | The Libertines |
| Singles: "What a Waster" | "Up the Bracket" | "Time for Heroes" | "Don't Look Back into the Sun" | "Can't Stand Me Now" | "What Became of the Likely Lads" |
| DVDs: Boys in the Band | Who the Hell Is Pete Doherty? |
| Books: The Libertines Bound Together |
| Related articles |
| Babyshambles | Dirty Pretty Things | Yeti | Bootlegs |
