David Cohen – No Treble

Meet David Cohen, a bassist residing in Mission Viejo, California who has been playing bass for 46 years.

David is this week’s No Treble reader in the spotlight (you could be next). Here’s his story…

Bio:

I am 60 years old and have been playing bass since the age of 14. I actively played, performed, and recorded with different bands up until 27 when my wife and I started having kids and they became the priority. In those days I was playing the LA and Orange County clubs including the famous ones like The Troubadour, Gazzarri’s, and the Whisky. My last project of that era was “The Whodlums”. As one of the early tribute bands, The Whodlums had a cable television show called “The Long Live Rock Show”.

As the kids grew, I continued playing and growing as a musician on my own but it wasn’t until they were out of the house that I started developing projects with others. The first was “The 1974Tour”, a 70’s era progressive rock band. It took me four years to get the right group together and then the pandemic killed it off. We tried to record some Yes when the world started opening up again, but we were too stale and not in sync at all.

Recently, one of the projects I have been playing with is “The Walter Michaels Band”. We dropped their third album, “Over the Line” on June 3rd, 2024 and will have the release party at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, California on July 5th.

Location:

Mission Viejo, CA

Years experience:

56 years.

Why I play the bass:

“Back in the USSR” by The Beatles was the one that got me started on bass. Such a simple song just A, D, and G at the root, but Paul makes it so much more interesting. The bass line is driving and relentless but has so much texture and nuance that it pulls you in.

Gear:

Depending on the project my primary bass is either my Alembic Epic or 1980 Rickenbacker 4001. Whenever I get a chance I whip out my Dean electric upright. On the more exotic side, I have a Traveler Bass and a P-Bass with a Gizmotron (look it up) on it. That last one is great for playing the orchestral parts of old Queen songs!

These days I generally run direct through a Sans Amp Bass Deluxe on my pedal board, but I do keep a Gallien-Krueger 2001RB around with a pair of 4×10 Neo cabinets for when I need it.

My Influences:

John Entwistle is the penultimate bass player to me and his work on Quadraphenia is nothing short of amazing. Some of my favorites are “The Real Me” and “Drowned”, but even “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Shakin All Over” are works of art. Chris Squire and Geddy Lee write bass lines that are amazingly fun to play from “Roundabout” to “YYZ” they make me smile every time I play them. Of coarse the mighty Stanley Clarke roped me in with “School Days”. With each of them there are layers to their performances where I can explore new tones to create with my bass and different ways of thinking about the relationship between rhythm and melody.

My bass superpower/claim to fame:

I am a live performance musician. Recording is a necessary part of the business, but I like to think I bring my value to the live show. I like to drive the energy and music forward – locking in the rhythm with the drummer while adding my own layer of melody to the composition. Playing live is the collaboration between the band as a response to the audience and there is really nothing like it because it is so temporal in nature. It only exists at that moment in that location and then is relegated to memory – never to happen exactly that way ever again.

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