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Stu Massey
An interview:
JCS: Good Morning Stu, you are the bassist for Jam
Central Station, where were you born and how did you
get started in music?
SM: Good morning to you too. I was born at St
Joseph's Hospital in Kirkwood, Mo.. I was fortunate to
be raised into a very musical environment in which
everyone was a musician of some sort or another. My
father was a violinist and still sings in barbershop
choruses. As long as I can remember, he was involved
in barbershop or local theater musicals. My Mother
was a pianist and accordionist but sadly passed when I
was 9 so memories are not so clear of her influence. I
remember she liked to have records playing in the
house and recall hearing "The Sound of Music", "Mary
Poppins" and she loved classical music as well. I was
number 5 of 6 siblings and all are musicians. My sister
used to play Carole Kings "Tapestry" on our Piano, and
there were clarinets, trombones, and all sorts of
instruments playing constantly. Music seemed to me to
be an easy escape from the drudgery of school work
and I looked forward to the musical programs that
started in elementary school. In 1st grade or so, our
teacher would play piano and we should sing for a part
of an hour or so and most kids hated it but I was the
loudest and proudest of all. Fourth grade brought the
trumpet for me and I took to it well.
JCS: When did you start playing bass guitar?
SM: At about the age of 13. My older brother Brian
had been having jam sessions at the house for a
couple of years with his bands and I was hooked. I
would come home from school and play my brothers
bass for hours just trying to catch bits and pieces of
songs on KSHE. When my brother came home, I would
pick his brain to work out something that was eluding
me.
JCS: How has your playing developed over the years?
SM: As a bassist, I have always considered myself to
be a very "meat and potatoes" type of player. I was
humbled by many of my piers very early on including,
my brother, and guys I knew like Ben Wood (a slappin
funk machine before it was really in vogue), and Hunt
Springer (who was younger than me, the bastard).
Feeling that I would never outplay many bassists, I
focused on accurately playing the bass lines of cover
songs or reinforcing the rhythm section over soloing or
embellishing. I think this is the rep that I now have, a
good solid bass player, but not a shredding machine
like Ted May or George Potsos, to whom I cannot hold
a candle to. My ear has improved a lot over the years
and many riffs and licks that seemed impossible have
become rather easy. I guess that just comes with 30+
years of listening and playing music.
JCS: Tell us about your first bands.
SM: Of course, I had many garage bands, starting in
8th grade and ending in my senior year of High School,
when I got into my first gigging bands. These were not
very good groups but you have to start somewhere.
We butchered songs like "Cant Get Enough" and "Ridin'
The Storm Out" and it amuses me to this day when I
play one of those "garage band" days songs. It takes
me back. During this period, I jammed with current JCS
guitarist, Vince Rossi. We played together in 1980-81,
torturing dozens of people with renditions of UFO's
"Rock Bottom". Vince was definitely the best guitarist I
played with during this period.
JCS: What were your early influences?
SM: I found early on in my playing that I favored
southern rock bands like Marshall Tucker and the
Outlaws, especially the walking bass lines. I also
developed a love for most hard rock styles and picked
up on stuff like, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Bad Co, Rush,
Uriah Heep, etc.. In 1980, the new wave of Heavy
Metal hit the scene and I was swept up in it. I must
have worn the grooves off of Sabbath's "Heaven and
Hell" album. This led me to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden,
and scores of other metal bands.
JCS: What were the 80's like for you, musically?
SM: In retrospect, rather lack luster. I played Originals
with a band called Iron Suite for 3 years and had a
couple of short stints with Axminister playing Metal
Covers (Sabbath, Priest, Maiden) but never fell in with
any regularly gigging bands. By 1985, I hung it up and
started a career and family.
JCS: And the 90's?
SM: The beast could not be tamed, so I started looking
once again in 1991 for people to jam with. It was not
easy as I had no rep and limited experience. It is
difficult to get into a quality working band if nobody
knows who you are and I paid my dues playing with a
lot of "Wannabe" bands of all types (Blues, Rock,
Country) but got nowhere. Through this period,
though, I gained stage experience and, more
importantly, worked on my vocals. This has made me a
much more valuable asset to any band I play in.
JCS: And this decade?
SM: Much improved in quality of players for the most
part. A steadily gigging band has still eluded me, but
JCS hopes to resolve that in 2010.
JCS: So Stu, you've been involved with Jam Central
Station for over 2 years. How did this get started.
SM: I remember back in 2005, Vince Rossi and I
checked out "Green Eggs and Hamm" at That One
Place. The set list and dynamic lead vocals of Dave
Bohannan floored me, and I told Vince that if I every got
the opportunity to work with Dave, I would drop
everything and jump on it. In 2006, I did just that and
started rehearsing with Dave in a failed project called
"The Vault", which attempted to do a pure KSHE
Classics set list, but lacked a couple of quality
musicians to get it out the door. At the end of 2006,
Dave and I were looking for a new project when Al Gillis
(also of Green Eggs and Hamm) wanted to form a
group and in January of 2007, the original line up of
Jam Central Station took shape. We have parted ways
with 3 original members recently due to gig schedule
issues but now look forward to bringing even better and
more frequent shows to the St Louis music scene.
JCS: What was your first bass guitar?
SM: It was a horrid $25 semi-hollow body copy of a
Fender Coronado (think Suzy Quatro) which I bought
when I was 15. I was clueless at first and could barely
even tune it. When I turned 16, I got a job and bought a
1969 tobacco sunburst Fender Precision for $350.00.
This is what I consider to be my first bass. It was kind
of beat up and at the end of its life, but man, it was
sweet. I still love the sound and feel of a P-Bass and
always have one on hand. I would say nearly 50% of
rock bass in the 70's was recorded on a P-Bass.
JCS: What kind of equipment due you use with JCS?
SM: For basses, I like to have a Fender P-Bass and a
Jazz Bass on hand for most of the 4 string stuff and
sometimes my Epiphone T-Bird. I use a 5 string bass
(Lakland Skyline 55-01) on a handful of songs I
attribute a great deal of my tone to my Line 6 Bass
POD xt which I use as a front end preamp and effects
unit. I simply could not gig without it. My amps have
been either a GK BL350 or lately my Peavey Firebass
700 which provides plenty of clean power to amplify the
signal from the Line 6. I prefer Ampeg Speakers and
currently use an SVT 6x10. I play finger style or pick,
whichever the song calls for.
JCS: Good Morning Stu, you are the bassist for Jam
Central Station, where were you born and how did you
get started in music?
SM: Good morning to you too. I was born at St
Joseph's Hospital in Kirkwood, Mo.. I was fortunate to
be raised into a very musical environment in which
everyone was a musician of some sort or another. My
father was a violinist and still sings in barbershop
choruses. As long as I can remember, he was involved
in barbershop or local theater musicals. My Mother
was a pianist and accordionist but sadly passed when I
was 9 so memories are not so clear of her influence. I
remember she liked to have records playing in the
house and recall hearing "The Sound of Music", "Mary
Poppins" and she loved classical music as well. I was
number 5 of 6 siblings and all are musicians. My sister
used to play Carole Kings "Tapestry" on our Piano, and
there were clarinets, trombones, and all sorts of
instruments playing constantly. Music seemed to me to
be an easy escape from the drudgery of school work
and I looked forward to the musical programs that
started in elementary school. In 1st grade or so, our
teacher would play piano and we should sing for a part
of an hour or so and most kids hated it but I was the
loudest and proudest of all. Fourth grade brought the
trumpet for me and I took to it well.
JCS: When did you start playing bass guitar?
SM: At about the age of 13. My older brother Brian
had been having jam sessions at the house for a
couple of years with his bands and I was hooked. I
would come home from school and play my brothers
bass for hours just trying to catch bits and pieces of
songs on KSHE. When my brother came home, I would
pick his brain to work out something that was eluding
me.
JCS: How has your playing developed over the years?
SM: As a bassist, I have always considered myself to
be a very "meat and potatoes" type of player. I was
humbled by many of my piers very early on including,
my brother, and guys I knew like Ben Wood (a slappin
funk machine before it was really in vogue), and Hunt
Springer (who was younger than me, the bastard).
Feeling that I would never outplay many bassists, I
focused on accurately playing the bass lines of cover
songs or reinforcing the rhythm section over soloing or
embellishing. I think this is the rep that I now have, a
good solid bass player, but not a shredding machine
like Ted May or George Potsos, to whom I cannot hold
a candle to. My ear has improved a lot over the years
and many riffs and licks that seemed impossible have
become rather easy. I guess that just comes with 30+
years of listening and playing music.
JCS: Tell us about your first bands.
SM: Of course, I had many garage bands, starting in
8th grade and ending in my senior year of High School,
when I got into my first gigging bands. These were not
very good groups but you have to start somewhere.
We butchered songs like "Cant Get Enough" and "Ridin'
The Storm Out" and it amuses me to this day when I
play one of those "garage band" days songs. It takes
me back. During this period, I jammed with current JCS
guitarist, Vince Rossi. We played together in 1980-81,
torturing dozens of people with renditions of UFO's
"Rock Bottom". Vince was definitely the best guitarist I
played with during this period.
JCS: What were your early influences?
SM: I found early on in my playing that I favored
southern rock bands like Marshall Tucker and the
Outlaws, especially the walking bass lines. I also
developed a love for most hard rock styles and picked
up on stuff like, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Bad Co, Rush,
Uriah Heep, etc.. In 1980, the new wave of Heavy
Metal hit the scene and I was swept up in it. I must
have worn the grooves off of Sabbath's "Heaven and
Hell" album. This led me to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden,
and scores of other metal bands.
JCS: What were the 80's like for you, musically?
SM: In retrospect, rather lack luster. I played Originals
with a band called Iron Suite for 3 years and had a
couple of short stints with Axminister playing Metal
Covers (Sabbath, Priest, Maiden) but never fell in with
any regularly gigging bands. By 1985, I hung it up and
started a career and family.
JCS: And the 90's?
SM: The beast could not be tamed, so I started looking
once again in 1991 for people to jam with. It was not
easy as I had no rep and limited experience. It is
difficult to get into a quality working band if nobody
knows who you are and I paid my dues playing with a
lot of "Wannabe" bands of all types (Blues, Rock,
Country) but got nowhere. Through this period,
though, I gained stage experience and, more
importantly, worked on my vocals. This has made me a
much more valuable asset to any band I play in.
JCS: And this decade?
SM: Much improved in quality of players for the most
part. A steadily gigging band has still eluded me, but
JCS hopes to resolve that in 2010.
JCS: So Stu, you've been involved with Jam Central
Station for over 2 years. How did this get started.
SM: I remember back in 2005, Vince Rossi and I
checked out "Green Eggs and Hamm" at That One
Place. The set list and dynamic lead vocals of Dave
Bohannan floored me, and I told Vince that if I every got
the opportunity to work with Dave, I would drop
everything and jump on it. In 2006, I did just that and
started rehearsing with Dave in a failed project called
"The Vault", which attempted to do a pure KSHE
Classics set list, but lacked a couple of quality
musicians to get it out the door. At the end of 2006,
Dave and I were looking for a new project when Al Gillis
(also of Green Eggs and Hamm) wanted to form a
group and in January of 2007, the original line up of
Jam Central Station took shape. We have parted ways
with 3 original members recently due to gig schedule
issues but now look forward to bringing even better and
more frequent shows to the St Louis music scene.
JCS: What was your first bass guitar?
SM: It was a horrid $25 semi-hollow body copy of a
Fender Coronado (think Suzy Quatro) which I bought
when I was 15. I was clueless at first and could barely
even tune it. When I turned 16, I got a job and bought a
1969 tobacco sunburst Fender Precision for $350.00.
This is what I consider to be my first bass. It was kind
of beat up and at the end of its life, but man, it was
sweet. I still love the sound and feel of a P-Bass and
always have one on hand. I would say nearly 50% of
rock bass in the 70's was recorded on a P-Bass.
JCS: What kind of equipment due you use with JCS?
SM: For basses, I like to have a Fender P-Bass and a
Jazz Bass on hand for most of the 4 string stuff and
sometimes my Epiphone T-Bird. I use a 5 string bass
(Lakland Skyline 55-01) on a handful of songs I
attribute a great deal of my tone to my Line 6 Bass
POD xt which I use as a front end preamp and effects
unit. I simply could not gig without it. My amps have
been either a GK BL350 or lately my Peavey Firebass
700 which provides plenty of clean power to amplify the
signal from the Line 6. I prefer Ampeg Speakers and
currently use an SVT 6x10. I play finger style or pick,
whichever the song calls for.
