BASS GUITAR

ISAAC HEALY ON HIS 3 YEARS WITH KAINE AND THE FUTURE OF THE BAND: “It would be great to get to play some larger venues, even as a support act for some more well-known bands. Of course, a tour or two wouldn’t hurt either.

5 May 2021 — 1 Comment
Colchester Arts Centre, 2019

What have been your favourite moments from your three years in Kaine so far?

For me, the highlights of my time in the band have probably got to be the 10-year anniversary show at Colchester Arts Centre and Burr Fest at The Dome in London with my favourite of the two being the 10-year show, which has been the gig with the best crowd so far.

I also got a dent in my new car trying to find somewhere to park at night in the rain for a crappy hotel that was possibly also a drug den so there’s that too.

How have you changed since joining Kaine?

I own more shirts without sleeves and more music equipment.

But seriously, I feel that I’ve become more confident and comfortable when performing on stage. Before joining Kaine, I pretty much stood still, not doing much. Obviously, I’ve still got room for improvement but I’m getting there. For the next album, I’ve adopted the use of a pick for most of the new songs as I feel the sound of it suits some of the material much better. It’s also given me the chance to get more familiar with a pick as I never really used one in the past, with the only song prior having me sometimes use a pick was “Loudwire” on Reforge. Also apparently a lot of venues have crap monitors for bass players, If I even get one that is. I recall one venue claiming that they can’t put the bass through the monitors, so that was fun.

What were your experiences recording Reforge The Steel?

Most of the main writing for Reforge had already been done prior to me joining the band. I mainly just worked on my own basslines. But I feel that a lot of the time everybody is subtly changing what they play over the course of weeks or months of playing the same songs. Even some of the songs that we have recorded already are played differently than what’s on the album versions.

Recording Reforge was fun as we hadn’t really been working together as a band for very long, although Rage and Liam had been working together for a little while before Toby and I joined. And Toby and I were previously in another band together for a couple of years.

All the rehearsals and gigs leading up to the recording of the album did not prepare me for the seemingly endless guitar harmonies that were added to the songs on Reforge, however.

How about The Waystone Anniversary EP? How did you find working on that?

The Waystone was pretty fun to record, as a lot of the album had subtle changes with everyone throwing their own takes and different influences on the original versions of the songs.

The title track was probably the most difficult to learn and remember each part, what with how many different sections the song has and the different time signatures for certain sections. We also came to a decision of changing the original bass focus intro and making the song more concise. I think it’s the only time in any of the songs we’ve recorded that feature bass tapping except for my version of the bass fill in “Fall of Jericho” when we play that live. Even so, the final recorded version was different from the original version I initially wrote. As I initially wrote it on the six-string bass, utilising the high C string but In the end, I recorded it on the five-string and decided to not go as high.

What have you contributed to the new Kaine album?

On the new album, I’ve got a song that I wrote most of but had some input from the rest of the guys, I also have another couple of ideas that I just haven’t put into music yet.

And obviously, I’ve been mainly writing and playing my own basslines for each song but have been simplifying them somewhat to suit the different nature of the new material. The new album has been a different experience to write, as most of it wasn’t written beforehand with us learning how to play it.

Are you looking forward to hitting the studio in the coming months to record it?

Well, I can’t really say I’m not at this point, can I? Anyone want to take bets as to how many extra harmonies Rage and Toby add to the songs?

In all seriousness, being in the studio can be frustrating when you keep messing up the same take, over and over but at the end of the day, it’s great fun.

Are you excited to play live again, now the band is clear to play again?

Since March 2020, we’ve had a total of 1 gig, which was a Livestream only gig a couple of months ago. I can’t wait to be back out playing especially with the 13 or so gigs we have booked for the next few months this year. It’ll also give me a chance to use my new Spector that has been in the past few rehearsal videos in a live setting for the first time.

What are your ambitions with Kaine moving forward?

Well hopefully, as well as all the gigs we currently have booked, it would be great to get to play some larger venues, even as a support act for some more well-known bands. Of course, a tour or two wouldn’t hurt either.

I’d also like to try and get an endorsement of some kind from one of the brands I use, even if it’s just cables.

What would be your dream gig?

For a dream gig or scenario, think it’d have to be headlining a sold-out tour, not even necessarily in massive stadiums or venues. Just decent-sized venues with great crowds, doesn’t even matter where in the world they are.

Feature on Isaac Healy – [KAINE – BASS]

9 Apr 2020 — 1 Comment

Today’s feature is Kaine bassist Isaac Healy, the last person to join the new line-up as the four members finally came together in May 2018. Isaac jumped in right away with the band gigging the A Crisis of Faith material while writing and rehearsing for the new album, Reforge The Steel.  

How long have you been playing bass? 

I’ve been playing for around 7 or 8 years 

You are a multi-instrumentalist, you play drums, what made you switch to bass as your main instrument and what other instruments can you play? 

I switched to bass as my main instrument mainly out of convenience of being able to practice easier and at any time. 

I actually started out learning classical guitar at primary school and started learning the drums shortly after. Over the years, I never really practiced the guitar as much as I should have but have recently been re-teaching myself.

At The Firehouse, Southampton

You have several basses in your collection, what do you own and what are your current set ups? 

Listing all 17 would take a while so my top 5 in no particular order are: 

  • Atelier Z M265+ custom (the white 5 string jazz bass that I play at most gigs) 
  • Atelier Z Beta 6/32 (Red 6 string jazz bass that I played at my first Kaine gig and sporadically since) 
  • ESP PPJ (’84 signature bass of Masayoshi Yamashita from Loudness) 
  • 1970s Ovation Magnum 1 
  • 2010 Fender Mexican Jazz (my first “real” bass. It was originally black but I had it re-finished in yellow. I promise it isn’t as nasty as it sounds) 
Live in Bury St Edmund’s

What amps and pedals are you currently using? 

I use 3 main amps depending on situation but will mostly have 2 with me. The first is the Trace Elliot ELF which lives in my gig bag as a backup amp or as the main amp if a normal amp is impractical logistics wise. Second is an Ashdown CTM 100 tube amp. My third and most recent amp is an ENGL Ironbass amp which is the most powerful amp I own by far at 800w. 

My pedal board is too large, and I plan on downsizing by getting rid of the multi effect that takes up 1/2 of my board. 

My pedals are actually mostly really boring. Line 6 G30 wireless, Boss TU-3 tuner, AMT bass wah, Electro Harmonix Bass Preacher compressor, Ashdown Nate Mendel NM2 dual overdrive. 

Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, the man who helped invent music… everything before Sabbath was merely tuning up…

Who are your biggest influences as a bass player?  

Probably Billy Sheehan (Mr Big, etc.), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Rocco Prestia (Tower of Power) and Bohte Daisuke (Kari Band). 

At the Bassment, Chelmsford

What were your musical endeavours before Kaine? 

I had only really been in one gigging band before Kaine which was called Cannon. I was in another band in secondary school, but we never did any real gigs. 

The now closed Asylum venue in Chelmsford

You played with Toby in a band called Cannon, how long have you known and played with Toby, what did you release and what venues did you play with that band? 

I’ve known Toby for about 5 years as we were on the same music course and we actually met in Cannon which somebody else on our course put together. In Cannon we played a few venues that you would maybe heard of if you’re from Essex such as Chinnery’s in Southend, the Asylum and Three Wise Monkeys.

Earlier this year at Colchester Arts Centre

Toby recommended you to Kaine to join the band, how was it to be in a new band and gigging so quickly? 

I hadn’t actually heard of Kaine until Toby asked if I wanted to join. At the time Cannon was winding down due to constant lineup changes so it was good to be in a band that already had gigs on the books. 

Rocking out at The Dome, London

How did you find adapting the A Crisis of Faith songs to your style?  

As I had learnt most of the songs by ear, something that I am definitely not the best at, and the fact that I didn’t already know the songs meant that I was sort of just winging it for most of the parts that were very Stevo. Most of which I just omitted or changed. (nothing against Stevo, I think he’s a much more melodic player than I and we have pretty different styles). 

From the Reforge The Steel photoshoot

You put together the Reforge The Steel album very quickly, how was the process of rehearsing and recording that album for you?  

The recording of that album was pretty easy for me, I managed to do all of my tracking in about half a day. 

Tracking the EP earlier this year

You also recently tracked your parts for The Waystone EP, how did you find that? 

I found that The Waystone songs were quite a bit different to the Reforge tracks, especially the title track The Waystone. That track was much unlike the other tracks we had done, mainly due to how it was almost prog like in structure when compared to the rest of the material.

At Burr Fest 2020

You played both the 10-year show with Kaine at Colchester Arts Centre, and Burr Fest at The Dome recently, what was it like doing those big gigs with the band? 

Doing these two gigs was a great experience and not just because they were in the minority of gigs where I could hear what I was playing. These two gigs were two of the biggest crowds I have played for and two of the most engaged crowds to boot. That just made it even more fun to play in front of them. 

Isaac at Kaine X

Your currently writing material for a new Kaine album, how would you describe the new material so far and the process? 

So far, this album seems to be shaping up to be quite a bit different to the previous albums sound wise. The process so far has mainly been just jamming a riff or two and seeing how it evolves. 

From Kaine X Live

How are you managing your time during the lock down?  

Either practicing bass or just playing video games. 

Isaac ranks the A27M “Cromwell” as the best tank fielded in the Second World War

Favourite World War 2 Tank? 

Fielded: A27M “Cromwell” Prototype: A39 “Tortoise” 

You are also releasing a new live album coming up, which was recorded at the B2 Norwich, are you looking forward to putting out a live version of the Reforge The Steel album?  

Yes.  

Reforge The Steel!

Finally, what is your thought of the day? 

Can animals have the equivalent of an accent? 

You can hear Isaac’s contributions to Kaine on Reforge The Steel by clicking here – there are still a number of CD’s available to order through Bandcamp. Isaac also performed at Kaine X which can be ordered both on CD and DVD by clicking here as well as the forthcoming Waystone EP which can be preordered here.