Meet Martin Simpson
I met Barry for the first time, around 2002 and invited him down to
a South African Bass Players Collective meet to give us a workshop.
Barry's complete mastery and total command of the instrument had us all
enthralled and most of us will probably remember the evening for the
rest of our lives. Like Pino Palladino and Lee Sklar he oozes
musicality and like my friend Concord Nkabinde, Barry sees himself as a
musician who happens to use a bass to serve the music – which
essentially, is a place where we, as bassists, should all be living!
Barry talks the way he plays – no nonsense – take it or leave it –
that's the way it is. I approached Barry in September and asked him if
he'd like to do an Interview for this magazine and his response was
"hmmm, let's see how it goes". Lucky for us, he sat down with the
questions I posed and because of his vast experience and knowledge; he
was able to give us this incredibly insightful and very enjoyable
interview.
[Martin] How long have you been playing Barry?
[Barry Irwin] I picked up the bass in 66, and have been a "low life" ever since.
[Martin] How did you get started?
[Barry Irwin] One thing usually leads to another. I studied piano as a
kid with Muriel Inch who taught at CBC in Kimberley. My lessons were at
6.40am. I used to freeze my ass off on those cold winter mornings. I
did Trinity College of London exams for a few years. Then the Beatles
came out and we all wanted to play guitar. My cousin, who was a very
talented guy, taught me chords on the guitar and we would all play
Beatles tunes and all the music of that era. I was also the lead
drummer in a boy's brigade, which actually led me to be a drummer in a
band called the "Sapphires", before I played bass. Everything felt very
natural as a young boy playing music, unfortunately, my family
discovered that I was slipping out the house on weekend nights to play
in hotels and put and end to my drumming 'career' I guess someone
ratted on me because I was 11 sitting at a kit of drums with a beer at
my side. For a few years I didn't play anything but piano, which we had
at home.
At about 16, I got this call from my mate to play bass in his band. I
knew nothing about playing bass but having studied music and having
played guitar, I figured "why not?" That band didn't go anywhere as we
never gigged, but it gave me a taste for the axe. A few months later I
was playing with a guy called Al Bentley who had done some recordings
and was trying to make a comeback. We would play the odd gig here and
there and "pleasure resorts" on the weekends (to this generation it
probably sounds like a porn factory but it was just a place outdoors
where people would go on weekends and lots of bands would play. That
didn't last very long either, but led to a band called "Birds Of A
Feather" We won a national band competition sponsored by Lucky Strike
Cigarettes. The prize was $100 and a tour of concerts on some military
bases around SA. That was pretty freaky at the time as we all had long
hair, and back in 66/67 it wasn't sociably accepted.
I remember walking out of a café in some little Afrikaans town and some
kids with their mother started to scream when they saw us. The mother
assured the children that we would not eat them. It was a real
transition time in SA. We still had students jumping over the fence at
RAU to cut peoples hair at peaceful rock festivals because they didn't
approve. Birds Of A Feather ended up playing at a club in Rosetenville
called the 19th Level, which was very successful back then. I joined
"Freedoms Children" a few years later, and was privileged to replace
Ramsay McKay the bassist/songwriter and contribute to the 3rd album. As
much as I enjoyed playing with that band, and the recognition it
received, I always wanted to play more kinds of tunes.
We would visit a place on tour and if there was a band playing in the
hotel I would be jealous of the bass player because he was playing more
tunes than I was. It didn't matter that our band was more famous. When
I joined Omega Ltd. In Salisbury Rhodesia I pretty much got that chance
to play a lot of different pop tunes. I also spent a few years doing
the Swaziland/Botswana cabaret circuit where I worked with a lot of
different international acts. On returning to Joburg n '74 I got a
chance to be the bassplayer in "Godspell" where I replaced Arthur Stead
as MD when he went to the US. A few years later Arthur came back to SA
and Cedric Samson and I managed to persuade him to hook up with us and
we started a band called "Scandal". When Arthur went back to Boston we
got Lionel Pillay and Josh Sclair into the band. I stayed 6 months or
so then left for the US at the end of '76. (Nippy Cripwell took over on
bass) So that's pretty much how I got started.
[Martin] What are the instruments you currently use?
[Barry Irwin] These are the basses that I still own but have been
replaced on the gig by just one, my MTD 535. I would still take the P
bass to a Motown or blues gig as that's tradition and the sound, but
the MTD is always a safe bet if I'm not sure what kind of gig it will
be. The MTD can really manage them all. All my basses are US made.
MTD 535.
76/77 Musicman
62 Fender Precision (original)
77 Fender Jazz
50-year anniversary 5 string Fender jazz.
NYC Empire bass. (Fodera)
Lackland 5 string.
Lackland hollow body- designed by Michael Tobias.
