Gov't Mules' Andy Hess

Part1: Introduction | Part2: Gov't Mule | Part3: Bass guitars

Andy Hess is usually seen exclusively playing Fender basses but on the new Gov't Mule record High & Mighty Andy in his own words, "mixed it up". You can hear a Gibson EB-O on tracks such as Like Flies and Unring The Bell, a Hofner Beatle Bass on Endless Parade as well as using his Fender basses on tracks such as Three String George (a 52 reissue Precision). Andy spoke to Graham Fieldhouse about his work before Gov't Mule, his wide range of influences, joining and recording with the Mule, his playing style and his basses.

GibsonBass I think I came across you as a bass player when you were with the Black Crowes, you appeared on the live album (The Black Crowes Live) that came out in 2002, how was that?

Andy Hess It was a good experience but I really didn't play with them for very long. It was for one solid year in 2001. I'm still glad I did it, there are still a lot of things about it I enjoyed and I met some nice people. Audley (Freed, guitarist) and I are still very good friends.

GibsonBass So up and till you joined the Black Crowes were you doing session work?

Andy Hess Actually before the Black Crowes I was playing with Joan Osborne who's a really amazing singer. She had a big hit with the song "One Of Us". I played in her band for a while before the Black Crowes and that was really great then I also played with a singer/songwriter by the name of Freedy Johnston that was quite good. Those were the two main gigs I was doing before then. Then I had done a bunch of work with Leo Nocentilli, the guitarist for the Meters and some session work too. I get called for stuff and I've done a session for David Byrne and Tina Turner too.

GibsonBass Quite a varied mix?

Andy Hess Yeah a varied mix of stuff and Independent records too with songwriters, sometimes very Indie things. I'll go play gigs at a little club down in the Village in New York still to this day to get out and play with people.

GibsonBass It's also a plus of being in Gov't Mule that you get the opportunity to play with a lot of people within the band.

Andy Hess That's true yeah but I get to do a lot of other stuff too when I'm home and off the road with various other people. Fortunately I get to play a lot of music with a lot of good people. I'm kinda blessed I get to do that.

GibsonBass So how did you get in to playing the bass and which bands do you listen to for inspiration?

Andy Hess I got in to the bass almost accidently in a way. The way I remember it I had one friend who played guitar, one friend played the drums and we were hanging out listening to music a lot and it just seemed natural "well you gotta play the bass, we need a bass player" so it was somewhat by accident and somewhat by choice. It was also that we wanted to continue hanging out, we were 14 or 15. I went out and got a bass and started learning stuff and we were really in to Hendrix and Cream and AC/DC and stuff like that. I remember those were the things we listened to. I was lucky, I was living in Germany at the time and my stepfather had a really incredible collection of jazz, r&b, blues and soul music that I grew up with prior to even playing the bass. I remember growing up listening to Johnny Guitar Watson, Rufus from Chaka Khan, Miles Davis and Coltrane. He would blast that stuff on the weekends when he was home from work much to the chagrin of my mother.

GibsonBass So you had a good diverse intake of music?

Andy Hess I think living in Europe at the time had an influence too because I was also really in to The Clash and The Police and that kinda stuff. That hit me full on cause I was living so close to England and that stuff was popular in Germany too. I think I was in to a lot of music that was different early on as a kid just because I was exposed to it. Like I could listen to a Police song and then I I'd listen to a Rufus and Chaka Khan song or a Stevie Wonder song and I'd go wow this great too.

GibsonBass Do you think as a bass player you tend to listen to whole songs rather than pick out individual musicians?

Andy Hess Not necessarily no, I still pick out individual things. I think as I've grown older and I'm a more intense listener maybe I listen to the overall picture a little bit more in the song and what the songs about. I don't know necessarily if that is true cause I'm a bass player. It all depends on what hits you when you hear something for the first time, you might hone in on the bass or maybe the drum beats really funky or cool or different or the guitar.

GibsonBass If you had to name a handful of bass players that have particularly influenced your playing who would they be?

Andy Hess I would say Willie Weeks, John Paul Jones and a lot of the early Bootsy Collins stuff when he was really young and just starting to play with James Brown. Those three I would mention. There's so many I could go on and on, Jack Bruce was definitely someone who caught my ear.

GibsonBass It is difficult to pin it down to a few.

Andy Hess Yeah It's really hard, I listen to a lot of people and go wow hats off, that's good stuff. I thought the early Police stuff had some great bass. I think Cliff Williams the bass player for AC/DC is amazing, I don't know anyone who can play straight eighth notes quite like that. You know that's an art and he's great at it. I love Ray Brown an upright bass player who played a lot of Jazz. So those are definitely some people I listened to and that were definitely influential. I love Andy Fraser, I remember listening to that Free record Fire and Water. I was a kid and it just totally blew my mind when I heard the bass.

GibsonBass It's a great record

Andy Hess I remember the bass so pronounced, you could hear every note cause he had that staccato dry tone.

part 2 - Gov't Mule

Other cool links:
Warren Haynes on Allen Woody | Other GibsonBass interviews
Andy Hess website | Gov't Mule website