Tony Levin: How he Rewrote the Rule Book | EP47 | The SBL Podcast

183 | EP47 | Tony Levin: How he Rewrote the Rule Book
Tony Levin’s intuitive bass work can be heard on Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’ or Kate Bush’s ‘Don’t Give Up’, while his talent pool as a gifted multi-instrumentalist has also been tapped by the likes of King Crimson, John Lennon, Paul Simon and David Bowie. In this special interview for Bass Space 2022, Ian Allison looks back over his remarkable career.
In this podcast you're going to learn:
- How Tony prepares for a studio session.
- Why he likes to break the rules onstage.
- All about his 3-string Music Man bass.
- The drumsticks he uses to play bass with Peter Gabriel.
- And much, much more!
[ - PODCAST - ]
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[@markusreuter]

I can assure that it's an absolute joy and honour to be playing with Tony.

[@IanMartinAllison]

One of the greatest days of my life!

[@therealmrcat]

Genuine question - how do you hold you shit together so well when talking to some one who is clearly legendary to you ? I've met a few of my heroes and I end up a gibbering mess unable to string a sentence together...

[@kevinandrews6682]

Ian, have you been practicing with your Funk Fingers?

[@nicolwilson9320]

Nice interview Ian !!! You weren’t a sycophant but you let him know that you were a big fan ! That’s a difficult thing !

[@jerdure]

You killed it Ian ! I personally would have died in your place ah ah. Such an humble and talented human being, Tony is my beacon when it comes to bass, I hope you had the time of your life during this hour. Lucky you :)

[@pCeLobster]

No one can move the earth like Tony Levin.

[@brianschoner3350]

Such an absolute gent - thoughtful, articulate, intelligent, and obviously supremely talented. Great questions from Ian too!

[@rikd5452]

What a wonderful soul, Tony Levin is!

[@Uncle_Js_House]

Mr. Levin's statement in the closing is died on. Ian, you are the Man. Excellent interview.

[@ReeseBoyd-vi5vv]

“My voice isn’t that good”. What a humble dude. Love his harmonies on the Crimson stuff.

[@tmcwilliam01]

Amazing chat! You killed it Ian! Thank you Tony for sharing an hour with us.

[@roger955]

Man, what a great talk! Finally a good conversation about his playing, with also my hero! Love it Ian!!

[@trevordyer2224]

Thank you Ian and the SBL. Tony is my all time favourite and you did an awesome job interviewing him. Thank you so so much 🙏

[@johnhepburn538]

I also play the Chapman stick. And met Tony Levin at a stick seminar. Nice guy. He likes my Discipline t shirt

[@dario.artiguenave]

Such a wonderful interview, Very good work Ian on conducting that interview pushing hard on Tony, but also let him sustain his trademark humble. We must be very gratefull of being contemporary of this grate bassist, grate music, an mostly an enormous person (a true gentleman, a fair player). This hour was a grate use for our life time. Congrats Ian! regards from Argetina

[@Bassdriver]

That was just such a treat! Tony has always been one of my greatest bass idols and a huge inspiration, and he's such a chill guy and a truly wise man! Love it, love him, just... just great. Thank you Ian!

[@nicolwilson9320]

Wow !!! Tony Levin comes across as one of the most humble and down to earth people on the planet !! What an interviewer you are while meeting one of your idols !! Hats off to Tony, Yourself and SBL !! That comes from a percussionist/drummer and multi instrumentalist that is hooked to your channel !!

[@careyvinzant]

I had that issue of Bass Player! "Tony Levin: Three Strings Are Enough!" A great interview with one of my favorite bass players. By the way, there's a great meme out there somewhere. It says, "You may think you're cool, but you'll never be Tony Levin in a tuxedo playing a Stingray with Funk Fingers cool."

[@ThomasLuongo]

No one.... no one... is that cool.

[@taynehenry6924]

You could see Ian was in his fanboy element which was so wonderful to watch the admiration. Such a joy. Tony seems so humble, grounded and funny. Very inspiring to hear that even a guy at his level is interested at improving his skills.

[@spiderbass65]

Of all the great bass players, T-Lev is my biggest inspiration. Great interview!

[@wren23_bass-synths]

It's always awesome listening to Tony talk about anything!

[@crocholiday]

One of my favorite bass players. So, so good and seems like such a cool guy.

[@ThomasLuongo]

Why a 3 string? "Because notes above the staff are someone else's job." Legend.

[@davidmachin1970]

Loved this podcast, TL comes across as such a cool guys, thank Ian for asking the questions that got those answers. Now it 2023, we are going to see him (with pg) in Birmingham,

[@La_sagne]

i can believe its not butter... but i cant believe how awesome this was

[@ezbass]

I was recently asked to name one (just one) bass player who was top of my list of players and why. To name just one required some proper thought, not just a knee jerk reaction and a list of favourites. It will come as no surprise that Tony Levin was my top pick. Great groove, great innovation, great musicality. TL features so many times in my CD collection it’s unreal. He is also, as we have seen, the nicest man, which makes me respect him even more. A great interview, even though it covered a lot of stuff I already knew (I’m a TL nerd just like Ian) but new music with Peter Gabriel in the near future, I’m stoked about that! That and some personal words of encouragement about being a musician was worth the price of admission alone. FWIW, the highlight of my bass playing career was channeling Tony for a lockdown recording and video of In Your Eyes, so happy to have been asked to play on it and (I think) do him justice. Thanks for the interview, Ian and thanks to Tony for the music and wisdom. 🙏

[@horizontalblanking]

Such a deep feel, and a wonderful person.

best description of Tony ever 🙌

[@andrewpinner3181]

Thanks guys, super interview !

[@bassapace]

Wise wife Ian!

[@GWGuitarStudio]

Excellent interview and fun.

[@juanchis.investigadorsonoro]

Great stories, thanks for this. :)

[@alainbrasseur7083]

what I understand here is the best human makes better musician (especially bass player)

[@theqrm]

Tony may be right...Ian could do with dialing back the flattery a touch during these interviews :-)