The vacant spot left in Twelve Foot Ninja following the 2019 departure of bassist Damon McKinnon won’t be filled any time soon. The band have announced they will continue on as a quartet, utilizing pre-recorded bass tracks during future live performances. The band originally hinted at the matter with this April Fool’s Day post.
As it turns out, they weren’t entirely joking, as they’ve since followed it up a day later in their native Australia with the below post on their now vacant spot:
“BASS PLAYER NEWS: Oi…about that bass player announcement yesterday…April 1st stitch up! *snort* (roflfarkincopter right!?)
We’ve actually reached the decision to move forward as a 4 piece. After playing together for over a decade, there’s a bloody lot to consider when bringing on a new band member (logistically, financially, interpersonally, etc) and the only recurrent justification for staying a 5-piece centered around “convention”; something we actively disregard in almost all other aspects of this project.
Playing Download UK as a 4 piece to an amazing crowd, the additional European shows, and writing and recording what we think is our best album to date demonstrated to us that we’re sorted…And more importantly, we credit our fans to support our judgment on what is best for the band. We might change our mind down the track, but in the immortal words of Celine Dion…”That’s the way it is”.
We’ve noticed 3 recurrent questions about all this over the past few months, so we thought we’d address these in one hit. Thank you and go wash your hands! – TFN
1.) Won’t it sound shit with no bass?
No bass player does not mean there will be no bass. Animals As Leaders and Periphery are good examples of this (they also do not have bassists playing live). Technology is part of our DNA whether it’s switching tunings/guitars mid-song with Shuriken Variax, running our lighting rig from midi cues or bringing our DIY production into the live forum…Adding bass into this is quite a logical step considering the majority of parts are either unison with guitars or tonally nuanced in accordance with the various genre exploration (currently impossible to replicate accurately with a single bass guitar).
2.) I’m an awesome bass player, can I play with you for free?
There’s no shortage of amazing musicians out there and although one of the factors for us to consider is structural (contractual/financial)…It’s not sustainable or right for us to leverage musicians’ love for the band to get what would essentially be “free work”. I think there might also be some misdiagnosis of what is actually involved in playing these parts (have you seen Whiplash? Hahaha)
3.) I loved the bass parts in your music! Won’t it be a different band without them?
Stevic and Ro write the majority of bass parts; so nothing is going to change in this department.
4.) But..but…Fuck you guys!
As Fermit the Krog says: “You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time” and everybody knows Krog wisdom is infallible.”
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