MATT GOLDPAUGH
Matt Goldpaugh of Lara Hope & The Ark‑Tones reports from the psychobilly trail
The Ark-Tones bassist reports from the frontline of psychobilly low notes.
Iwas always drawn to bass-forward music, like Primus, Rancid, and a local Hudson Valley act called Pitchfork Militia, whom I now fill in on bass for, 25 years later. I loved the music world, and the punk, hardcore, and metal scenes in particular. I taught myself how to play bass guitar a little, just enough to play in punk bands. I started upright bass after getting into roots music a little more, which is when I got my own upright bass. I was fascinated by the upright bass slap technique. I found psychobilly music, and I didn’t pick up a bass guitar again very much for 15 years.
My first bass guitar was a an old Schecter P-bass clone with no name on the headstock, painted flat black with a mirror pickguard. My first upright bass was a borrowed 1952 Kay, which an old friend and I passed back and forth for years – and I even refinished and repaired a neck break on once. I prefer fretless instruments – I hate frets. They’re like prison bars to my ears sometimes. I find that subtle intonation issues can be adjusted better on a fretless, so I have a 1984 or ’85 Ibanez Roadstar with the frets ripped off and filled in, Jaco-style.
My pal Corey McGrath from Sean K. Preston’s band gave me a really cool vintage Japanese Hofner-style violin bass guitar, with the brand name Coronet, and I dig Rickenbackers for fast rock’n’roll stuff, because the frets are so low. I sold mine 10 years ago to buy a computer and a banjo.
I just started playing a Copley five-string fretless when I play in Pitchfork Militia, and I love it. I had a Strunal student model upright bass that I loved for many years. Bobcat, from my psychobilly band the Arkhams, is now in possession of that.
Most of the time, I’m playing my custombuilt bass, ‘Jerrene’, built by my good friend, luthier Tom Zurawel, over at D’tavo Stringed Instruments in Vermont. I designed it and helped a bit, but Tom made the magic happen. It was a three-year experiment, resulting in a half-size fully acoustic body with a normal three-quarter upright bass scale, set up to play like my old Kay, somewhat resembling an inverted coffin. If anyone out there has ever seen an old Knilling Portabass, you will recognise the shape. I also play a blonde Upton Bass Superswing, built in 2007 in mystic CT. Her name is Christine and she has retired from the road, but makes frequent local, studio, and livestream appearances.
The pickups I use are piezo units built by hand in Detroit by Vic Victor of the Koffin Kats, but I’ve tried just about every pickup and string combo in the upright bass world. I’ve used a Gallien-Krueger 1001RB2 amp for 11 years now, and I got a Quilter Bass Block 800 back in 2018, which I run through Avatar cabs and a Fishman Pro Platinum preamp/DI. On my uprights, I usually use mediumtension hybrid strings – ‘hybrid’ meaning a combo of nylon/perlon and metal – such as Presto/Eurosonics, Pirastro Evah Pirazzi solos, or low-tension steel strings like Thomastik Spirocore or Superflexibles.
My advice is to play in the pocket, yet behind the beat. Don’t always just play the guitar riff. Willie Dixon was a big influence on me. He wrote so many iconic blues songs and influenced the way so many people play pizzicato or slap double bass today, whether they know it or not. My favourite quote from him is “The blues is the roots, the other music’s the fruits.”
Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones has a new album out, and the first single, ‘Let’s Go’, can be found now anywhere music is streamed. Tune into our YouTube or Facebook page every Monday at 7pm US Eastern Time for our weekly free livestream show!