Gibbs’ Mesa/Boogie Big Block 750 is his core sound source. Whether playing DI on sessions or running a 2x15, his rig delivers a heavy tone but can still fit in a yellow cab.
To the names Shackleton, Hensen, Hillary, Coleman, Norgay, and Cousteau, let me add that of another great explorer: Gibbs.
Through four decades, Melvin Gibbs has devoutly taken the bass into uncharted territory, both as a leader of his own bands and in a series of projects so poised on the cutting edge that they’ve drawn blood. He broke out in late-’70s New York City as a member of punk-funk outfit Defunkt, and then, along with that band’s guitarist, Vernon Reid, became a staple of drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society. He played with Sonny Sharrock for a decade, formed Power Tools with Bill Frisell and Jackson, and created alongside John Zorn, Arto Linsday, and many other notable downtowners. In the Rollins Band, Gibbs and guitarist Chris Haskett built raging bonfires of improvisation. Today, he has his own sound-design and bass project, which released the 4+1 equals 5 for May 25EP via Bandcamp earlier this year. He also co-leads the anything-goes trio Harriet Tubman, God Particle (a duo with cosmologist and saxist Stephon Alexander), and the Zig Zag Power Trio with Reid and drummer Will Calhoun. That sounds like a lot, but it’s just the surface of Gibbs’ resume—which runs as deep as his tone.
Brooklyn native Melvin Gibbs has been an important figure in New York City’s innovative music scene since the ’80s. He was also bassist in the classic Weight-era lineup of the Rollins Band.
Photo by Kirk Edwards
The radical bassist began a highly exploratory period while playing with the free-jazz-and-melody-driven guitarist Sharrock. He searched for a thumbprint tone and stretched as a soloist, trying to—as Sharrock put it—“find a way for the terror and the beauty to live together in one song.” That’s not an easy task while playing through club and festival backlines, where an Ampeg SVT head is manna, and one in good repair even better. But after joining Henry Rollins, Gibbs found his sound in Mesa/Boogie—initially a Basis M-2000, and then the Big Block 750 that’s been his stage compadre for many years now.
The Big Block 750 is a Gamera of bass amps—a high-flying hybrid. It pairs solid-state and tube tech, with four12AX7s in its preamp stage and a dozen power MOSFETs. It has a 4-dial EQ that includes both passive and active mid controls, plus a frequency knob that helps zero in on precise attack. There’s also a footswitchable all-tube overdrive circuit, with its own drive and master controls. Around the back, there’s an effects loop and a slave output, with its own level control. These 30-pound amps have a reputation for deep resonance and snappy response. And proponents like Gibbs favorably compare their voice to old-school, all-tube heads that need a crane to place atop a cabinet.
“I want to have that thick Brooklyn tone and something that sounds angry at the same time,” Gibbs explains. “The ’80s were a real sonic struggle for me, because the standard Fender bass sound and the Jaco sound were the bookends, and that’s not what I was hearing.” His hunt led him to Michael Tobias Design basses, and his main instrument remains an active 5-string MTD. But the right mix of amp and speakers was elusive until he tried a house Basis M-2000 at New York City’s SIR during a rehearsal.
“It’s better to have something like the Big Block 750 or an SVT at medium volume than a smaller amp at loud volume, because that will eat up your headroom and tone.”
“I liked the sound,” he recalls. “Living Colour was using them as well. I used a dark tone and the brightness bump of the speakers in Mesa’s bass cabs, which is exactly the thing a lot of people don’t like about them, but works well for me live.” So Gibbs decided to Boogie down himself, using the Mesa to simultaneously run a 2x18, a 2x15, and a 4x10 on the Rollins Band’s Weight tour. The 18s were especially helpful to nail the bottom, since Gibbs often used a wah that would cause low-end signal loss. He eventually gravitated toward a Yamaha wah, which sidestepped that issue, and, ultimately, a Moogerfooger filter stompbox. “I like to use the Moogerfooger’s resonance control for 808-type stuff,” he notes.
After his last tour with the Rollins Band, he switched to the more streamlined Big Block 750. “To get a good bass sound, you have to have the power. You can’t really cheat,” Gibbs says. “It’s better to have something like the Big Block 750 or an SVT”—despite that classic tube bass head’s 85-pound heft—“at medium volume than a smaller amp at loud volume, because that will eat up your headroom and tone.”
Gibbs’ doesn’t use the Big Block 750’s built-in overdrive, preferring a Big Muff, a Bogner Burnley, or a Protone that’s so scuffed it’s impossible to read its model name. “I don’t really like any of the bass overdrives I’ve tried, because they don’t have the definition I want,” he notes. An Eventide TimeFactor is also in his chain. For sessions, Gibbs often runs the Big Block direct, and since leaving the Rollins Band, he’s pared down his cabinets, gravitating to a single 2x15 for its more practical dimensions and more effective balance of sound.
Prototaxite
Hear Melvin Gibbs get filthy weird with his Mesa/Boogie Big Block, distortion pedals, and Moogerfooger on “Prototaxite” from the latest Harriet Tubman album, which has the Sonny Sharrock-inspired title The Terror End of Beauty.
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For the first time in the band’s history, the Dawes lineup for Oh Brother consisted of just Griffin and Taylor Goldsmith (left and right).
Goldsmith’s lyrics spoke to me the loudest, with lines like “Well, you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks / Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it’s starin’ right back” (a casual Nietzsche paraphrase); and “Oh, the snowfall this time of year / It’s not what Birmingham is used to / I get the feeling that I brought it here / And now I’m taking it away.” The way his words painted a portrait of the sincere, sentimental man behind them, along with his cozy, unassuming guitar work and the band’s four-part harmonies, had me hooked.
Nothing Is Wrong and Stories Don’t End came next, and I happily gobbled up more folksy fodder in tracks like “If I Wanted,” “Most People,” and “From a Window Seat.” But 2015’s All Your Favorite Bands, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Folk Albumschart, didn’t land with me, and by the time 2016’s We’re All Gonna Die was released, it was clear that Goldsmith had shifted thematically in his writing. A friend drew a thoughtful Warren Zevon comparison to the single, “When the Tequila Runs Out”—a commentary on vapid, conceited, American-socialite party culture—but it still didn’t really do it for me. I fell off the Dawes train a bit, and became somewhat oblivious to their three full-lengths that followed.
Oh Brotheris Goldsmith’s latest addition to the Dawes songbook, and I’m grateful to say that it’s brought me back. After having done some catching up, I’d posit that it’s the second work in the third act, or fall season, of his songwriting—where 2022’s Misadventures of Doomscrollercracked open the door, Oh Brother swings it wide. And it doesn’t have much more than Dawes’ meat and potatoes, per se, in common with acts one or two. Some moodiness has stayed—as well as societal disgruntlement and the arrangement elements that first had me intoxicated. But then there’s the 7/4 section in the middle of “Front Row Seat”; the gently unwinding, quiet, intimate jazz-club feel of “Surprise!”; the experimentally percussive, soft-spoken “Enough Already”; and the unexpected, dare I say, Danny Elfman-esque harmonic twists and turns in the closing track, “Hilarity Ensues.”
The main engine behind Dawes, the Goldsmith brothers are both native “Angelinos,” having been born and raised in the L.A. area. Taylor is still proud to call the city his home.
Photo by Jon Chu
“I have this working hypothesis that who you are as a songwriter through the years is pretty close to who you are in a dinner conversation,” Goldsmith tells me in an interview, as I ask him about that thematic shift. “When I was 23, if I was invited to dinner with grownups [laughs], or just friends or whatever, and they say, ‘How you doin’, Taylor?’ I probably wouldn’t think twice to be like, ‘I’m not that good. There’s this girl, and … I don’t know where things are at—can I share this with you? Is that okay?’ I would just go in in a way that’s fairly indiscreet! And I’m grateful to that version of me, especially as a writer, because that’s what I wanted to hear, so that’s what I was making at the time.
“But then as I got older, it became, ‘Oh, maybe that’s not an appropriate way to answer the question of how I’m doing.’ Or, ‘Maybe I’ve spent enough years thinking about me! What does it feel like to turn the lens around?’” he continues, naming Elvis Costello and Paul Simon as inspirations along the way through that self-evolution. “Also, trying to be mindful of—I had strengths then that I don’t have now, but I have strengths now that I didn’t have then. And now it’s time to celebrate those. Even in just a physical way, like hearing Frank Zappa talking about how his agility as a guitar player was waning as he got older. It’s like, that just means that you showcase different aspects of your skills.
“I am a changing person. It would be weird if I was still writing the same way I was when I was 23. There would probably be some weird implications there as to who I’d be becoming as a human [laughs].”
Taylor Goldsmith considers Oh Brother, the ninth full-length in Dawes’ catalog, to be the beginning of a new phase of Dawes, containing some of his most unfiltered, unedited songwriting.
Since its inception, the engine behind Dawes has been the brothers Goldsmith, with Taylor on guitar and vocals and Griffin on drums and sometimes vocal harmonies. But they’ve always had consistent backup. For the first several years, that was Wylie Gelber on bass and Tay Strathairn on keyboards. On We’re All Gonna Die, Lee Pardini replaced Strathairn and has been with the band since. Oh Brother, however, marks the departure of Gelber and Pardini.
“We were like, ‘Wow, this is an intense time; this is a vulnerable time,’” remarks Goldsmith, who says that their parting was supportive and loving, but still rocked him and Griffin. “You get a glimpse of your vulnerability in a way that you haven’t felt in a long time when things are just up and running. For a second there, we’re like, ‘We’re getting a little rattled—how do we survive this?’”
They decided to pair up with producer Mike Viola, a close family friend, who has also worked with Mandy Moore—Taylor’s spouse—along with Panic! At the Disco, Andrew Bird, and Jenny Lewis. “[We knew that] he understands all of the parameters of that raw state. And, you know, I always show Mike my songs, so he was aware of what we had cookin’,” says Goldsmith.
Griffin stayed behind the kit, but Taylor took over on bass and keys, the latter of which he has more experience with than he’s displayed on past releases. “We’ve made records where it’s very tempting to appeal to your strengths, where it’s like, ‘Oh, I know how to do this, I’m just gonna nail it,’” he says. “Then there’s records that we make where we really push ourselves into territories where we aren’t comfortable. That contributed to [Misadventures of Doomscroller] feeling like a living, breathing thing—very reactive, very urgent, very aware. We were paying very close attention. And I would say the same goes for this.”
That new terrain, says Goldsmith, “forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do. I’m really excited in that sense, because it’s like this is the first album of a new phase.”
“That forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do.”
In proper folk (or even folk-rock) tradition, the music of Dawes isn’t exactly riddled with guitar solos, but that’s not to say that Goldsmith doesn’t show off his chops when the timing is right. Just listen to the languid, fluent lick on “Surprise!”, the shamelessly prog-inspired riff in the bridge of “Front Row Seat,” and the tactful, articulate line that threads through “Enough Already.” Goldsmith has a strong, individual sense of phrasing, where his improvised melodies can be just as biting as his catalog’s occasional lyrical jabs at presumably toxic ex-girlfriends, and just as melancholy as his self-reflective metaphors, all the while without drawing too much attention to himself over the song.
Of course, most of our conversation revolves around songwriting, as that’s the craft that’s the truest and closest to his identity. “There’s an openness, a goofiness—I even struggle to say it now, but—an earnestness that goes along with who I am, not only as a writer but as a person,” Goldsmith elaborates. “And I think it’s important that those two things reflect one another. ’Cause when you meet someone and they don’t, I get a little bit weirded out, like, ‘What have I been listening to? Are you lying to me?’” he says with a smile.
Taylor Goldsmith's Gear
Pictured here performing live in 2014, Taylor Goldsmith has been the primary songwriter for all of Dawes' records, beginning with 2009’s North Hills.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
Guitars
- Fender Telecaster
- Gibson ES-345
- Radocaster (made by Wylie Gelber)
Amps
- ’64 Fender Deluxe
- Matchless Laurel Canyon
Effects
- 29 Pedals EUNA
- Jackson Audio Bloom
- Ibanez Tube Screamer with Keeley mod
- Vintage Boss Chorus
- Vintage Boss VB-2 Vibrato
- Strymon Flint
- Strymon El Capistan
Strings
- Ernie Ball .010s
In Goldsmith’s songwriting process, he explains that he’s learned to lean away from the inclination towards perfectionism. Paraphrasing something he heard Father John Misty share about Leonard Cohen, he says, “People think you’re cultivating these songs, or, ‘I wouldn’t deign to write something that’s beneath me,’ but the reality is, ‘I’m a rat, and I’ll take whatever I can possibly get, and then I’ll just try to get the best of it.’
“Ever since Misadventures of Doomscroller,” he adds, “I’ve enjoyed this quality of, rather than try to be a minimalist, I want to be a maximalist. I want to see how much a song can handle.” For the songs on Oh Brother, that meant that he decided to continue adding “more observations within the universe” of “Surprise!”, ultimately writing six verses. A similar approach to “King of the Never-Wills,” a ballad about a character suffering from alcoholism, resulted in four verses.
“The economy of songwriting that we’re all taught would buck that,” says Goldsmith. “It would insist that I only keep the very best and shed something that isn’t as good. But I’m not going to think economically. I’m not going to think, ‘Is this self-indulgent?’
Goldsmith’s songwriting has shifted thematically over the years, from more personal, introspective expression to more social commentary and, at times, even satire, in songs like We’re All Gonna Die’s “When the Tequila Runs Out.”
Photo by Mike White
“I don’t abide that term being applied to music. Because if there’s a concern about self-indulgence, then you’d have to dismiss all of jazz. All of it. You’d have to dismiss so many of my most favorite songs. Because in a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.” (He elaborates that, if Bob Dylan had trimmed back any of the verses on “Desolation Row,” it would have deprived him of the unique experience it creates for him when he listens to it.)
One of the joys of speaking with Goldsmith is just listening to his thought processes. When I ask him a question, he seems compelled to share every backstory to every detail that’s going through his head, in an effort to both do his insights justice and to generously provide me with the most complete answer. That makes him a bit verbose, but not in a bad way, because he never rambles. There is an endpoint to his thoughts. When he’s done, however, it takes me a second to realize that it’s then my turn to speak.
To his point on artistic self-indulgence, I offer that there’s no need for artists to feel “icky” about self-promotion—that to promote your art is to celebrate it, and to create a shared experience with your audience.
“I hear what you’re saying loud and clear; I couldn’t agree more,” Goldsmith replies. “But I also try to be mindful of this when I’m writing, like if I’m going to drag you through the mud of, ‘She left today, she’s not coming back, I’m a piece of shit, what’s wrong with me, the end’.... That might be relatable, that might evoke a response, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily helpful … other than dragging someone else through the shit with me.
“In a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.”
“So, if I’m going to share, I want there to be something to offer, something that feels like: ‘Here’s a path that’s helped me through this, or here’s an observation that has changed how I see this particular experience.’ It’s so hard to delineate between the two, but I feel like there is a difference.”
Naming the opening track “Mister Los Angeles,” “King of the Never-Wills,” and even the title track to his 2015 chart-topper, “All Your Favorite Bands,” he remarks, “I wouldn’t call these songs ‘cool.’ Like, when I hear what cool music is, I wouldn’t put those songs next to them [laughs]. But maybe this record was my strongest dose of just letting me be me, and recognizing what that essence is rather than trying to force out certain aspects of who I am, and force in certain aspects of what I’m not. I think a big part of writing these songs was just self-acceptance,” he concludes, laughing, “and just a whole lot of fishing.”
YouTube It
Led by Goldsmith, Dawes infuses more rock power into their folk sound live at the Los Angeles Ace Hotel in 2023.
