You have no idea how much I want to yell STEVEROY JENKINS!!!! and run out of the room every time I see the title of this video. But rest assured, once you hit play, you’re not going anywhere. Where you goin’? FUCKIN NOWHEAH.
Slap bass in metal isn’t a totally new concept, Eric Langlois of Cryptopsy did a fair bit of slapping, and I saw Evan Brewer (now of the Faceless) slap it up with a super distorted tone onstage with Animosity. (There are other examples, I’m sure you’ll let me know). But I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it done quite this well. This dude (who is also not Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind) puts the smack on that bass like….Chris Brown….something something…..you see where I’m going with this. His tone is take-no-prisoners grind at times, with the fuzzy guitar taking a backseat (obviously) and propelled by helter-skelter off-kilter drums.
He appears to be utilizing a lot of a technique known as thumping which involves the thumb slapping the string down and then popping it on the way back up. It’s like the bass version of alternate picking. Except that you can also pop with your index finger, which, well, watch the video and you’ll see how ridiculous it can get, especially with such a kickin’ song.
If this is to your liking, buy his album on Bandcamp, like his page Steve Jenkins and the Coaxial Flutter on Facebook, and bow every morning facing in the direction of his hometown of Rockville, Maryland.
This shit is TITS.
