Bryan Beller: the Innerviews interview

Innerviews has an in-depth interview with Bryan Beller, The Aristocrats' bass player. He discusses his thoughts on being an independent artist and band manager of sorts, life on the road as a Joe Satriani sidemen, his friendship with Mike Keneally, and how to make ends meet as a working musician.

He plays down his capabilities as a bass player:

The big joke of my career is that I’ve been thrust into this world in which everyone is a hot-shot player. I’m not. There are so many bass players that can play complete circles around me, technically. I’m really a meat-and-potatoes bass player. I never worked on technique when I was a kid. I only worked on learning songs. If I couldn’t learn the song because there was a technique I couldn’t play, then I would figure out a way to do it. But I never sat and practiced scales with a metronome. I never practiced right-hand technique. I only practice for gigs, recordings and making sounds. I’ll sit in rehearsal rooms with my pedal board and tweak forever until I get something I know will work live.

On becoming successful with The Aristocrats:

If you’ve decided to get involved in the world of music, you’re already somewhere in which the odds are very low that you can have any success at all. I’m so grateful The Aristocrats somehow came into existence. I still can’t believe what happened. And if I tried to do it on purpose, it probably wouldn’t have happened. If I sat back in 2010 and said “I know what we’re going to do. We’ll form a power trio. We’ll find the world’s greatest guitarist that no-one has ever heard of and all the magazines are going to write about us. We’ll have dirty song titles and that way people will like us because they think we’re counter-cultural. There are only three people in the band, so we’ll make more money than if there were four or five. We’re also going to make it in Japan. After that, we’ll play in India.” That wouldn’t have worked. But here we are, and it’s all happened.

Live dates with The Aristocrats:

• 09/05 Fukuoka, Japan @ Gate’s 7
• 09/06 Osaka, Japan @ Big Cat
• 09/07 Nagoya, Japan @ The Bottom Line
• 09/08 Kawasaki, Japan @ Club Citta
• 09/10 Bangkok, Thailand @ M-Theatre
• 09/12 Kolkota, India @ Rang Durbar, Swabhumi
• 09/14 Bangalore, India @ The Humming Tree
• 09/16 Mumbai, India @ Sitara Studio
• 09/18 New Dehli, India @ Hard Rock Cafe
• 09/21 Kathmandu, Nepal @ Tangalwood
• 09/25 Taipei, Taiwan @ Riverside Live House
• 09/27 Shenzhen, China @ A8 Live
• 09/29 Hong Kong, Hong Kong @ The Hangout
• 10/02 Perth, Australia @ John Inverarity Theatre
• 10/04 Adelaide, Australia @ The Gov
• 10/06 Melbourne, Australia @ The Bendigo Hotel
• 10/08 Sydney, Australia @ Manning Bar
• 10/10 Brisbane, Australia @ The Crow Bar
• 11/11 Guadalajara, Mexico @ C3
• 11/13 Mexico City, Mexico @ TBA
• 11/15 Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Carioca Club
• 11/17 Belo Horizonte, Brazil @ Circus Rock Bar
• 11/20 Florianopolis, Brazil @ Centro Integrado de Cultura
• 11/23 Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Nice To Club
• 11/25 Santiago, Chile @ Teatro La Cupula
• 11/27 Bogota, Colombia @ Auditorium Fernando Sor

» bryanbeller.com
» the-aristocrats-band.com

HCTF review of Tres Caballeros.