Here is another Q&A from Jambase with an icon in the jam band scene. This time it is David Murphy from STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9), a very hip band that blends typical jam band funk and rock with more eclectic electronic and world beat styles. They were even featured on Apple’s website for the band’s use of technology in live performance. Definitely a band I am dying to see live. You can hear why by checking out STS9′s recordings at archive.org.
David Murphy is a touch cooler than most of us will ever be. Defined by sharp lines and possessing one of the more intense stares in the jam scene, the Sound Tribe Sector 9 bassist seems to glide – sonically and otherwise. His role is an interesting one, because there are few precedents for the type of music he and his longtime mates explore. While jazz or rock bassists have myriad models to choose from, Murphy has sailed uncharted waters from the get-go. There’s a mercurial character to his playing that permeates through the skin and into the bloodstream. Oh, he can funk it up like a man who’s studied Prince, but there are also Middle Eastern tonalities, drum-and-bass echoes, psychedelic flairs and more to his style. Put another way, where one feels the flex and pop of muscle in most bass work, Murphy is smooth movement, a chromatic blur running cleanly and efficiently inside the STS9 machine. Over the years he’s also become proficient at laptop manipulation and the like, expanding on his innate sonic curiosity and yen for cool sounds, wherever they might be found. (Dennis Cook)
Here’s what Murph had to say to our inquiries.
1. Great music rarely happens without…
Struggle2. The first album I bought was…
Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason
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