INTRODUCTION
I'm Eugene and I play bass and guitars for Lilac Saints. I started playing guitar when I was about 14 after being conned by the music school I joined to learn music. I wanted to learn bass but they told me I had to learn guitar first before I learnt bass. So while my main instrument is the bass, I never had a bass lesson before, only guitar lessons.
Lilac Saints started in the early 1990s with a bunch of friends from my school. We put out three albums over the years and apart from bass, I also contribute lead guitar parts for songs that need them. We'll be playing our first gig in almost 7 years on Jan 6 at the Esplanade recital studios.
PLAYING STYLE
I'm a big fan of bass players that can both hold down the rhythm while being melodic to the point that the basslines become the song's signature. John Paul Jones from Led Zep is a big influence, along with Mark King (Level 42), and Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai).
With the Lilac Saints, I try to infuse as much melodic elements into the basslines without making it too busy. Because we've been playing together so long, we know each other's styles of playing, which makes it easier to find my lane in the song.
Soundwise, I tend to favour the growl of a Jazz bass, so most of my pickups are versions of the j-pickup.
MAIN INSTRUMENTS
One of my hobbies is building guitars, so for the past decade or so, I have been playing instruments that I have built.
I started experimenting with guitar building when I was living in the US in the mid 2000s, where it was easy to buy tools and tonewoods for guitars. This was before youtube got really big, so I learnt mainly from visiting blogs and forums dedicated to amateur guitar builders. I started out mainly building only the bodies because I loved the look of figured wood like quilted maple, but if you were to buy them off the shelf, it was very costly because they were considered premium woods and were included as a custom option only. I would then buy ready-built necks from Warmoth. This was because if I screwed up the body, I could still play the guitar, but it won't look as nice. If I screw up the neck, the whole thing would be unplayable.
It was only this year that I got the confidence to build necks from scratch after getting a bit more experience.
For the gig on Jan 6, I decided to build a new bass guitar to perform with. This one is a 5 string with Zebrano neck, quilted maple top, black limba body, Aguilar Super Singles and a Nordstrand preamp. It was my first time building a bass neck from scratch, and I went the whole hog adding features like carbon rod reinforcements, 24 frets, magnetic truss rod cover, and a decorative element at the end of the fretboard at the 24th fret.
Previously, my main bass was 6-string I built with a black limba body and quilted maple top, outfitted with an EMG Jazz soapbars and preamp. The neck was transplanted from a Washburn 6 string I was playing before that.
For my guitars, I have built 2 Strat-style ones, a tele-style one, and an SG style one (the first neck I built from scratch) over the years. Almost all the guitars I built will be used by the rest of the band when we perform on Jan 6.
For guitars I used before I built them, they include:
- Ibanez Jem FP77
- Ibanez Roadstar II
- Gibson Les Paul Studio
- Warwick Corvette fretless
- Palatino VE-500 electric upright bass
- Yamaha RBX800A
OTHER EQUIPMENT
Apart from building guitars, I also build my own pedals and amps.
For amps, I've built clones of a tube amps like Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Marshall JCM800.
For pedals, I've made close to 20 over the last few years. Everything from overdrives to distortions to compressors to tremolos to delays. They are usually clones of famous pedals but I try to put my own spin on it by designing the enclosure and adding mods for more versatility,
My son, who will be playing with the band, will be using some of these pedals at the gig on Jan 6.
OTHER LOCAL GUITARISTS/BASSISTS YOU FIND INTERESTING
I really dig the new breed of singer/songwriters who can really shred on their instruments as well, like Dru Chen. Just a massive amount of talent right there. Am really grateful that he'll be joining us for a few songs at the gig.
PHOTO ABOVE
The new 5 string bass I just built.