Carcass Bassist: ‘Every Bass Player Is Just a Failed Guitar Player’

In an interview with Backbeat, Carcass bassist Jeff Walker has revealed that he got into bass because he was a failed guitar player:

“I was just a vocalist. I tried to learn guitar as a kid. As you know, every bass player is just a failed guitar player. Just as every music journalist is a failed musician, you know? When I got kicked out of that band I was asked by another band that hard heard I’d played the bass and they asked me to join. Playing the bass was easier than trying to play the guitar.”

When asked which bassists he looked up to, Walker responded:

“Probably Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols. He played bass on the album, “Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.” That’s a fantastic sounding record. Now I’m old, of course, and now I respect the usual people like Entwistle or whatever. But I’m not really musicians’ musician. I don’t really classify myself as a musician. I really don’t take myself that seriously. For me it’s a trade-off because I’ve got to do the vocals as well and something’s got to give and something’s got to suffer and unfortunately it’s both things in my case.”