My Bass

and other animals

 

 
Guy Pratt has played bass with the biggest names in music of the last twenty-five years. From Pink Floyd, Madonna and David Bowie to The Smiths, Jimmy Page and Michael Jackson. Guy’s wit is the stuff of leg­end and has got him as many jobs as his musi­cal abil­i­ties. His new book My Bass and Other Animals is a hilar­i­ous account of life with the gods of music. It’ll have you rollin’ in the aisles and play­ing air (bass) gui­tar in the pri­vacy of your bed­room.
 

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Timing was great when Guy Pratt picked up his first bass gui­tar. He came of age just as it moved from rock ‘n’ roll’s poor rela­tion to some­thing a hel­luva lot cooler. In the 70’s disco had great bass lines, but it was punk that put the bass player on the map. With its move away from pro­saic gui­tar solos punk made sure the lime­light was shared a lit­tle more evenly. Of course it helped that the likes of Paul Simenon, JJ Burnel and Bruce Foxton were just so bloody cool. Finally for Guy Pratt and a whole host of wannabe bass play­ers it became an activ­ity that was no longer hid­den behind closed doors but proudly demon­strated in music shops along Denmark Street and Tin Pan Alley, impress­ing friends and even get­ting the approval of girl­friends. The bass player had finally arrived!

Having dal­lied with Funkapolitan, Pratt sud­denly found him­self on Top of the Pops and sup­port­ing David Bowie with smooth Australian out­fit Icehouse. At a ludi­crously young age he became a sought after bass player to the stars, find­ing him­self crawl­ing from stu­dio to bar, from hotel to sta­dium por­ta­cabin with the likes of Robert Palmer, Womack & Womack, Bernard Edwards, Bryan Ferry and David Crosby. The eight­ies were in their prime, and with a num­ber of Crolla-suited appear­ances in windswept videos behind him, he was invited to join Pink Floyd for a series of sta­dium of extrav­a­gan­zas to make Bono & co look fairly mod­est.

Pratt has recorded with Madonna, and spent time in the stu­dio with Michael Jackson. He was in The Smiths for a week, has trav­elled through cus­toms in a wheel­chair after a flight with Jimmy Page, and has lived to tell all. My Bass and Other Animals emerges from the suc­cess­ful stand-up tour of the same name. It charts his jour­ney from a Mod band in Southend to play­ing with Roxy Music at Live 8; it is a witty and reveal­ing but heart­felt mem­oir of life at the sharp end of the music busi­ness.

 

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Guy Pratt is avail­able to write fea­tures about his life as bassist to the stars. He is also avail­able for inter­view.