When Bassline was in Melville it was the place for musicians to meet nightly. They did not have to play on the night, it was just cool to enjoy live music and hang out with colleagues.
Owner, Brad Holmes, is hoping to ignite that in the larger Bassline in Newtown.
Every Wednesday the Johnnie Walker Lab of Learning will take place and will run until the end of the year. Bass maestro Carlo Mombeli ( pictured), guitarist extraordi- naire Johnathan Crossley and hot drummer Justin Badenhorst kick off the evening with an hour of high end jazz from 8pm.
Musicians across all genres are encouraged to write their name and instrument in a book and they are then invited to perform on stage. This could take the form of a complete rock group or an a capella group or even lone instrumentalists like a drummer or saxophonist.
“The whole process is about finding new talent and encouraging young musicians to express themselves in quite an easy environment,” explained Holmes. “Carlo and them set the bar for the night so it is quite high end music. We’ve even had a group that looked like hardcore rappers and then this dreadlocked lead singer sang ballads like an angel. It is totally the unexpected.”
R10 is the entrance fee and fans of music are also invited. The equipment and full backline set-up is supplied by Bassline. “We want Bassline to give musicians a home and a place to socialise. Musicians find they also get other work when they perform there. It’s a networking session. That’s what we are trying to do, get that whole thing going again,” says Brad. On some evenings artists can play a few songs but because it is all left to chance, there are other nights when 20 drummers turn up but no bass player. So the evenings do vary. In keeping with its 20-year tradition, Bassline is not restricted to one genre of music.
It’s all about the music and the musicians, so everything from jazz to kwaito is welcomed.