How long have you been playing Abel?
I started playing bass in 1969. Thirty four years ago.

How did you get started?
In the late 60’s and early 70’s, Pretoria had many live bands. My cousin and I use to go to sessions (nowadays called discos). At each session there were at least 3 live bands playing and we had a choice of at least 10 venues per night. It was there where my interest in music started. My cousin already played drums and he started to play drums for a band called ‘The Attraction”. Their bass guitarist, Greg Brown, started to teach me (I was using all my pocket money for the lessons). After I had learned a few things on the bass, we formed a band called “Sounds of Freedom”. Later on, the band was renamed “Wheels”. I played with them for nearly 16 years and had great fun. Most of the members in that band, later on, played with big names in our industry. After that, I joined Clive Bruce and played with him for 16 years, travelling all over South Africa and the band was also used as a backing band for all the recording artists at that stage. After leaving Clive I played around with a few bands before I joined Mackenzie Blue, Up to today I am still playing for Mackenzie Blue.

You mentioned your cousin plays drums – are there other members of your family that play musical instruments?
Another cousin of mine (in actual fact the brother of the drummer cousin of mine) is a well known artist in Europe, more in Italy and Holland. The other family members were my grandfather and father.

What’s your favourite band / solo artist?
My favourite solo artist is Sting and my favourite band – mostly old bands that don’t exist any more, but if I have to choose, I would say a band like U2 would be more or less my style. Although, if I listen to music I prefer to listen to light jazz and fusion.

What are the amps and instruments you currently use?
Guitar – Fender Precision (1968 model). Amp – Marshall 100 watt Tube amp (1972 model).

What instruments would you like to have if money were no object?
I would keep my bass guitar but would like to buy a new amp with lots of power (like the Marshall). Maybe a new Marshall. If I had to buy a new bass guitar I would buy a Fender Jazz bass.

Have you ever tried five string basses?
I have never tried a five string bass. It looks nice to play. Maybe it gives you more strings and notes to play, but if you can handle your 4 string bass well, then I suppose a 5 string would not make that big difference for me. However, I would still like to play it. I also play a bit of lead guitar, presuming therefore that a five string bass would not be that difficult to learn.

What about a fretless bass?
I have played on a fretless bass before and I love it.

You’ve visited the South African Bass Players site www.bassplayers.co,za – what do you think of it?
I think the site is amazing and it’s wonderful to see that someone is caring about our bass guitarists. I am very pleased to be a newcomer to your site.

What have you been doing for the last five years or so?
I have a recording studio, which I enjoy very much. I am recording up and coming artists and also do session work when required. I also use it for production of videos. One of my main activities is professional videos. This includes music videos.

What recordings that you’ve played on would you recommend for listening?
I have made many recording, but all of them (apart from a specific band which was used for the “Stoutgat treffers”) was session work. Most of the session work was for TV productions with Clive Bruce.

Do you know the other Pretoria based bassists, like Marc Duby, Ernest Mothle. Lowell Jeffrey, Jesse Mogale, Jasper van Rensburg and Rixi Roman?
I am ashamed to say that I don't know anyone of the guys that you have mentioned. However, I would like to meet some of the guys. Maybe a get together of bass players in Pretoria in the near future would be nice.

What’s been the low point in your career so far?
The low point in my career was when “karaoke” music became popular and bands were starting to get less work because of that. It resulted in the break up of the “Clive Bruce Band” and me leaving the music scene for a while.

And what has been the high point of your career?
The high point in my career was the first 16 years with my first band. Music was exiting. A lot of bands to watch. Many gigs available and just being friends together playing for the love of music and not for fame and fortune.

What do you do when you’re taking a break from music?
Like I have mentioned before, I am in the video production business. Therefore in my music breaks we make videos.