Billy Gould - The Driving Force Behind Faith No More!

This week Ellen is sitting down to talk bass with funk rock bass legend Billy Gould.
Billy is best known as the bass player for the great Faith No More and any of you fans out there will be more than aware of his signature grinding bass tone and funky melodic lines.
In this interview Billy gets to talk about his musical background, his approach to bass and bass tone and much much more.
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[@jonnydavies6968]

Bill Gould is a f**king bass MONSTER! I get so pissed off when they never include him in top 10 bassist polls etc. He is the man (along with drum monster Mike Bordin) who put the importance of the rhythm section into rock band in the 90's. Up until then drums and bass parts were pretty standard. He's just amazing to watch when he's playing bass. Utterly in the groove. And to think he is, in fact, a left handed player who was forced to play right handed.

[@paulnattress9584]

Billy is one of the bass players who inspired me to pick up the bass and learn to play.

[@f_USAF-Lt.G]

Much influence for bassists from his unique styling... 🤔

[@zeppelinfan82]

His baseline on Stripsearch is the shit,imo. Great bass player

[@markflower8885]

Not only is Billy a very very accomplished bass player he is also one of the nicest people in the music industry. He knows how to compose a tune too.

[@f_USAF-Lt.G]

K ... 7th 4th 5th ... 9th ... 3rds

[@lucascantino393]

And he knows everything about politics...

[@secularspectator]

Absolute legend...his bass has been in my ears for many many years! :) Thanks for the interview.

[@jacobfralin5482]

Billy's peanut butter all up in yo ear holes

[@RHINOSAUR]

I saw Faith No More live on the bill with Soundgarden as the opener, and Voivod headlining back in 1990. Although I was there especially for Soundgarden, FNM had the best stage sound of the 3 bands that night.

[@K33f11]

Sol Invictus is an amazing album. Billy you are an absolute legend.

[@Malum09]

Billy is a very underrated bassist and he has his long hair back!

[@dentoncrimescene]

He seems nice. Down to earth.

[@itsellenoreilly]

He's so lovely

[@stewartwilliams144]

Bill..is across the board the ultimate bass player songwriter right. He can play pick, fingers, slap.. and its utilised in each context perfectly. He is iconic as a bass player to me. He really showed me a true path to being not only a bass player but rhythmically competent. AND.. can add melody at will. Im forever stoked with Bills contribution to the the art of bass. AND.. when you talk to him, he is extremely humble, just a cool dude playing WAY cool shit.

[@andreasdeutinger7319]

i like his style. he is not a superflashy dude, but he plays just the right things at the right moment. he really understands what a bass in a rockband should and could play.

[@Churro_Flaminguez]

true. i think that goes for all the guys in FNM - like the best & most legendary studio musicians, they aren't into shredding and showing off so much as serving the song and the musical moment.

[@rdp2445]

One of my favorite bassist of all time. 🤘

[@vpsoundlabs1956]

As a composer/producer/musician myself, Billy is the one musician/producer I have always wished I could work with. Mad respect and sincere professional admiration for this man.

[@adamwiseman5831]

Absolutely legendary bass player. Pure power and everything else all in one guy. The baseline for King for a day fool for lifetime is f****** god level!!!

[@MrDziuka]

I have seen FNM in Poland when I was 18 years old and it was over 30 years ago. It was so cool!

[@DeirdreSM]

I was occasionally gigging as a bassist when We Care A Lot came out, and I was so so so inspired by his work on that that I became an instant fan. (Also, We Care A Lot is the most 2020 song recorded in a previous decade ever.)

[@cd0u50c9]

One of my favourite bassists, he's an inspiration in just about every aspect - composing, tone, playing style, presence, and so on... Legend!

[@WalterGalimberti]

His lines are and will be in my ears forever, so compressing notes in the essencial of style and ',,,,,,,,,,,,less is more!

[@vinceventura2393]

Billy Gould in combination with Mike Bordin is a mighty rhythm section!

[@16ozClawHammer]

I love it when my heroes from when I was a kid turn out to be the nicest people you could ever possibly comprehend.

[@jasonschmidt1460]

Billy you are awesome as a human being and musician. Been a fan since the late 80's. Great interview filled with tons of music information. 💯🔥🎸😺‼

[@jamesbekurs4683]

Love this dude! Phenomenal musician, down to earth, accomplishes so much with so little because he made the best of what he had on hand, versatile in his style, etc.

[@Likeaforest]

Thank you dear Billy, I'm 52 so I remember you and your great bass playing , kind of a great idea to go back to it and play with.... I'm so happy to see you .

[@bob6230]

This guy puts into words,what you can only learn from experience.awsome!

[@MrMarekbH]

Big fan here...amazing player with outstanding tone...huge influence on me. Great interview!

[@ScottyAlexRamsay]

Great wee interview :). I've always liked Billy's bass style. As a wee kid in the 90s with headphones on 'The Real thing' and 'Angel Dust' blew my mind...and alot of that was Billy's bass.

[@Likeaforest]

I'm here and thank you so very much for your e.mail that offer me joining to learn from you freely . Thank God for you man

[@clausm2203]

Great bass player i always loved his live tone

[@BrendanLedwell]

Fricken awesome interview!!

[@mangstrum]

Unbelievable musician

[@chlindh1]

Love Billy

[@markporter1901]

Great bassist! Thank you.

[@mburzzzawa]

he was, and is, always "THE badass looking bass player" :) for me, way he looks with his bass, way he plays it, there's this rhythm guitar vibe

[@jackshittle]

Billy AND Joe Zon rule. I had two Zon's both brand new - 4 string & 5 string. I've talked to Joe Zon quite a few times (on the phone). He couldn't be any nicer & accommodating. Just his personality alone makes me want to buy more Zon's. Cheers!

[@VIDEOPOWER666]

The king of kings

[@reiddillashaw2383]

Woefully underrated bass player.

[@snailcollectors6575]

What a bass player! Proficient and knowing what the song requires. Epic for example, he's basically playing one note but it carries the song.

[@thegreatraymondo671]

Never gets the credit he deserves

[@booshting3520]

Awesome player

[@pavelpribylovsky4092]

fucking awesome! Love Billy's bass. It purrrrrrrs

[@theincredulousr]

I loved Billy's description of getting the right sound and some times it's like peanut butter without water. So weird that I can totally understand what he means. Pretty cool to know he was rocking an old peavey as that's exactly what I still do. I've got a newer ampeg and it just doesn't do what the peavey does.

[@booshting3520]

STATION!!!

[@oliverdavey5648]

Damn, he's a nice guy! I want to be his friend...

[@ToysintheStatic]

Awesome, he’s super relatable and seems like a cool guy. This is a great video! Around 30:20 he comes back to this recurring philosophical theme that seems to be the magic and success behind fnm, or at least a big part of it.

[@321ssteeeeeve]

Right around 8 minutes in explains where FNM managed to get that powerful sound. Would be interesting to have witnessed Billy Gould participate in Bungle, or Fantomas

[@ObeseChess]

Dude’s a champion. I bought one of those shitty old peavey amps for a hundred bucks last year and he told me roughly how to EQ it when I asked him about it on Twitter. Also my recollection is that the Zon BG bass is that it has a special onboard distortion circuit, but it’s kind of weird that he didn’t mention it at all. Maybe something changed!

[@11anonymous6]

Cuckoo for caca You just gotta love billy ❤

[@maxonout]

... In love...

[@fourorthree2]

"Rakia" comes from Turkish "Raki" which comes from Arabic "Araq". Greeks know it as Uzo. Rakia tastes different although sounds similar. Love it!

[@_Only_Zuul]

bill is a good dude.

[@markbass354]

COOL !!!

[@blklrd7932]

BRUJERIA. Güerro sin Fe

[@profk3742]

GENTLE GIANT!

[@booshting3520]

Jethro Tull

[@porkchop2471]

🤘🏻!

[@NobodyCaresALot]

Billy is always right. Just the way it is.

[@bentleighboy]

What a cool guy. Not one bit of the usual rockstar arrogance that many famous musicians unfortunately succumb to.

[@pigboypunk]

up the punx!

[@stevec6427]

Listening to Billy talk I'm just thinking he sounds like to much of a nice bloke to make those nasty bass sounds with FNM. His bass tone is possibly the best in rock.

[@johnniecameron8829]

I ate chicken wings and stay up till 2am last night. ...this morning i woke up at 10 and felt like i had a hangover ,but havent drank in years

[@NobodyCaresALot]

So you could have drank and felt better than whatever you woke up from?

[@angelboyman]

Just making a comment before Jim does....

[@RHINOSAUR]

😆😆😆😆

[@Likeaforest]

Israeli gritting of course

[@MrOctober44]

Hard to name a FNM song that Billy didn't help write.

[@jacobfralin5482]

I bet Billy was a D&D kid 😊 🎉🎉🎉🎉 FNM are releasing an RPG based on The Real Thing

[@Jorthax]

For how much of a 'fan' this bird is, did she think to address anything beyond Faith No More? 'So, Billy, how did you get the tone for Matando Gueros? You know, Grenudos Locos really makes me wet my granny panties.'

[@TronHutson]

Love Billy Gould's bass in Faith No More, totally bad ass!!! After hearing him interviewed... he sounds like a big dork. Oh well