Chris Chaney
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Chris Chaney is the bass player in the last incarnation of Jane's Addiction, after Flea and Eric Avery, as well as a member of Alanis Morissette's touring and recording band from 1995 to 2002. He is currently playing bass in both The Panic Channel, formed with Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins, also formerly of Jane's Addiction and Steve Isaacs on vocals; and Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, formed by Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters, who he played with while touring with Alanis Morissette, both of their first major "pop" gigs.
Chris was raised in a self-proclaimed "musically rich neighbourhood" where members of The Grateful Dead and Carlos Santana lived in close proximity. The Smith Valley native (or "stoner-ville" as Chaney calls it) also lived just blocks away from pop-culture mecca, where some of the "Ewok Village" scenes were filmed for various Star Wars production such as Return of the Jedi and several made-for-TV movies. He attended Tamalpais High School, in Mill Valley, California, the same high school that the late rapper Tupac Shakur attended briefly the year after Chaney graduated.
"I grew up in a dream place compared to L.A. where I live now," says Chaney. "It doesn’t have the natural beauty you know it’s got the smog and the big dry desert valley. I mean I still love it but sometimes you grow up and you don’t realize how lucky you are. I was spoiled rotten in a natural kind of way."
Upon graduation of High School Chris moved to Boston and spent 2 and 1/2 years studying at the famed Berklee School Of Music before moving to Los Angeles to primarily play jazz, where he first made a name for himself playing at the famed Baked Potato and R&B in the house band at Dragonfly, in which he comments "That was an amazing, educational gig. We played everything from Aretha to Soundgarden, and we backed 20 singers a night," It was with some trepidation that Chris took his first tour with Alanis Morissette in 1996: "“Taking the Alanis job was a hard decision. The ball was really starting to roll for me in L.A.; I had a variety of gigs, and I was playing almost every night. Lots of guys were saying, ‘You’re finally playing jazz at the Baked Potato, and you’re going to leave that behind to play pop music?’ But I’ve always loved playing any music that I think is good. I liked Alanis, I liked her songs, and I liked the band—so I took the gig.”
Contents |
[edit] Session and Touring Work
[edit] Artists and Bands
In the past 13 years Chris has built up a reputation as a top-level professional bassist, having recorded and/or toured with a wide variety of artists such as the previously mentioned Jane's Addiction, all-star cover band Camp Freddy, Alanis Morissette from 1995 to 2002, Celine Dion, Michelle Branch, Ben Taylor, Carly Simon, Rob Zombie, Andrew W.K., Tommy Lee's Methods Of Mayhem, Will Hoge, and the song "I'm Still Here" from soundtrack to the animated movie Treasure Planet with The Goo Goo Dolls' Johnny Rzeznik. He is currently in the band, The Panic Channel, with the famous guitarist, Dave Navaro. They are currently on tour with Rock Star Supernova.
[edit] Influences
Chris's influences include Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith, Paul McCartney, James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller, and Stevie Wonder's keyboard bass playing.
[edit] Gear
As of the June 2003 issue of Bass Player magazine, Chris' gear listing for recording and touring is as follows:
[edit] Basses
- ’62 and ’66 Fender Jazz Basses
- ’58, ’59, and ’60 Fender Precision Basses
- Fender Custom Shop Jazz Bass with pearl-inlays and Basslines pickups
- Two Lakland Bob Glaub models
- Lakland hollowbody four-string
- Four Sadowsky Jazz Basses (two four-string and two five-string models)
- Guild Guitar Company M85
- Guild Starfire
- Höfner hollowbody (strung with flatwound strings)
- Gibson EB-2
- Gibson Ripper
- Epiphone Jack Casady model and El Capitan acoustic bass guitars
- Rob Allen fretless four-string semi-acoustic bass with Basslines pickups and La Bella tapewound strings
- Meisel plywood upright with Helicore strings.
The vast majority of Chaney’s electric basses are all strung with D’Addarios—“just about every kind they make.” As to what particular basses Chris will bring to a recording session, "If I’m going to do a whole record and I’ll be somewhere for a while, I’ll bring all of ’em. But if I’m called to play on just a song or two, I usually show up with a P-Bass, a Jazz Bass, a fretless, an acoustic bass guitar, and maybe something else. I have just three double gig bags, so everything has to fit in those—and it all has to fit in my trunk!"
[edit] Amplifiers and Speaker Cabinets
- Aguilar DB 900 DI
- Aguilar DB 680 preamp
- Avalon U5 DI/preamp
- Ashdown ABM500 2x10" combo amplifier
When player larger venues, Chris plays through:
- Two Aguilar DB 750 heads
- Two Aguilar GS 412 4x12" speaker cabinets
[edit] Rackmounted Gear and Effects
- Furman Power Conditioner
- Korg DTR-1 tuner
- Line 6 Echo Pro
- Line 6 Mod Pro
- Empirical Labs Distressor compressor
- Line 6 Bass Pod Pro
- Digital Music Corp. GCX switcher
- Digital Music Corp. Ground Control Pro
- Big Briar Moogerfooge
- Roland Jet Phaser
- Musictronics Mu-Tron III envelope filter
- Prescription Electronic Depth Charge overdrive
- Z. Vex Wooly Mammoth overdrive
- DigiTech Synth Wah
- Budda Phatbass tube overdrive
- MXR M-80 DI Overdrive
- Big Muff
- EBS OctaBass
- Boss OC-2 Octave
- MXR M-88 octaver
- Pefftronics Rand-O-Matic
- Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron
- DigiTech Bass Whammy
- Carl Martin compressor
- Carl Martin stereo chorus
“It’s all about options,” Chaney explains of his massive custom rack. “No studio bassist wants to hear, ‘Do you have one of those?’ and you do, but it’s at home. This rack is a pain to move, but everything I’ll ever need is in there, and it makes me feel comfortable in the studio and on the road.
[edit] External links
- Bass Player Magazine: "Not Another Dream Gig!"
- Bass Player Magazine "Chris Chaney's Pop Bass Potpourri (Electric Bass lesson)
- Chart Attack.com: "Jane’s Addiction’s Chris Chaney Doesn’t Mind Being The New Guy"
| Jane's Addiction |
| Perry Farrell | Dave Navarro | Chris Chaney | Stephen Perkins |
| Eric Avery | Martyn LeNoble | Flea | Chris Brinkman | Matt Chaikin |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Nothing's Shocking | Ritual de lo Habitual | Strays |
| Live albums: Jame's Addiction |
| Compilations: Live and Rare | Kettle Whistle | Up From the Catacombs - The Best of Jane's Addiction |
| Related content |
| Articles: Lollapalooza | Psi-com | Porno for Pyros | Deconstruction | Banyan | Polar Bear | Camp Freddy | The Panic Channel | Satellite Party |
