Adam Schuman
The Interview:
Adam: You're journey in music education was pretty interesting. Your father played bass, you played in jazz band, and you got a degree in Ethnomusicology, and I heard that your first bass lesson was with Andy Johns .
Eva: Yeah. Andy Johns gave me my first bass lesson because my bass player father wouldn't for some reason. Andy came over and had heard me over the years begging for my dad to teach me or let me borrow one of his basses. One day Andy came over with a bass and a Pignose amp. When he showed up at the front door, Dad thought Andy was bringing him stuff to check out. Andy was like, "No, this is actually for Eva." He sat me down and having just finished producing Van Halen's Live: Right Here, Right Now record, showed me a live version of "You Really Got Me." So, the first song I ever officially learned on bass was Van Halen's version of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me."
Adam: So initially it was a more organic education where you're learning some of the songs that you like and things that you'd want to learn, and then you go from that to jazz band, which is typically going to be more regimented, and then you get a degree in Ethnomusicology. What did you gain from these different sources of knowledge?
Eva: When I first started playing, I was just learning by ear and I thought that was going to be enough. And I was like, "Well, Dad never learned how to read music, and I hear Jimi Hendrix never learned how to read music." Paul McCartney, another one, self admittedly says he doesn't know how to read music. So, I was like, "I don't need to go to school or learn how to do any of that stuff." But when I was going to an all-girl Catholic school and playing in a band there, I wanted to take things further.
I auditioned for an arts high school in LA and my mind at the time still was, "Oh, I don't need to learn, I'll get into the school, whatever. I'll audition and play something. It'll be fine." And then lo and behold, I failed the audition. That was a light bulb moment for me. I was like, "Oh, I see. So, to break the rules, you have to learn them first, especially if I want to go to school and play the game!"
So it was at that point that I asked my parents to get me a teacher. I started taking lessons and I auditioned again. My teacher helped me prepare and I learned things they wanted to hear. I played a "Bach meets Boogie Woogie" kind of a thing, showing my diverse skills on the bass. The school had music staff up on the board and when they pointed at a note and asked if I knew what it was and if I was learning to read, this time I said yes. And sure enough, I got in. That's when my formal training started.
I will say I'm so grateful that I had formal training. At one point, I thought that I could just drop out of school and start touring like Dad did at age 15. But once I turned 15, I was like, "Oh, wait. It's not 1963 anymore. I don't think I should drop out of school. Things are different now." Okay. I don't have to follow that path. It was at that point that I started to follow my own path and do things in a different way than the rock and roll generation before had done, I guess.
Adam: I encouraged all of my former guitar and bass students to join Jazz Band.
Eva: There's so much value in it. When I got into the jazz band, all of a sudden, I was in a room full of players that were way better than I was. That made me practice my butt off and really strive to step it up and be better. I learned so much being in a room with people that knew so much more than I did and were light years ahead of me. It was a priceless experience.
Adam: You've played with some bands that you grew up listening to when you were younger. What are some of your most memorable moments playing with the bands that you grew up with? Did you have a "Holy shit, I'm playing with that band" moment?
Eva: I first had that moment with Veruca Salt. I was in the front row watching them at the Hollywood Palladium when I was a teenager - then fast forward, I'm on tour playing bass and singing in the band and it just completely blew my mind. I just felt like that little kid again. I thought, "Oh my god, I'm not just playing these songs in my bedroom. I'm playing them on stage with them!" It was so exciting.
Cher was another one. My mom came to see me play with her, and I just remember she had tears in her eyes because her and her best friend used to sing Cher songs to each other when they were teenagers. I've been really lucky to play with some pretty legendary people.
Adam: Not only have you played with legendary people, you've stylistically covered a lot of territory. You range from The Mars Volta to Pink. I would assume there would be a lot more open jam sessions and room to improvise in a band like the Mars Volta, and then it would be a lot more solid arrangement with an artist like Pink.
Eva: That's very true. With a tour like Pink that has a high production value, it's not just the band on stage. There are also dancers, aerialists and acrobats with choreography. There's lighting. There's video. There's automation. Everything's done to timecode. It's all very precise and there are a lot of moving parts that need to lock in together.
Adam: And do you like doing both? Do you have a preference? Is it nice to be able to spend part of your time doing the improvisation and kind of stretch out a little bit versus doing something so finely tuned?
Eva: I love and find value in all of it. They are different sides to the same coin for me because it's all playing music and being part of a collective. Whether there's 15 or 200 of us on tour I'm just grateful to be involved. Whatever is happening at the time is what's happening. If I'm on a tour where there aren't all those moving parts and there's more room to improvise, then I'm loving that at the time. Then I go on to a different kind of tour where we've got like 50 trucks and 15 buses. It's exciting to be part of such a big thing like that as well. At the end of the day, I love being part of a great team and am grateful to have experienced them in all shapes and sizes.
Adam: Let's talk about your instruments of choice. Do you use a live bass amp or are you going direct?
Eva: I've got an actual amp on stage. Right now I'm using the 50th anniversary edition of the Ampeg SVT. Old school. Front of house does a mix of a mic on the cabinet and a direct line.
Adam: Do you do exclusively P-basses, or is there anything else that you play?
Eva: Right now, I use four different basses for the Pink show - 3 P-Basses and a Guild Starfire II. I think only one of the P Basses is stock, a 1962 reissue. The other ones have custom elements and they're in different tunings. One of them has a hip shot because I need a lightning quick Drop D situation. Another one is Eb tuning, and then I have one in standard tuning. On this run, I'm using the Guild Starfire II for the acoustic section of the set, which is a lot of fun. On different gigs the number of basses and their tunings vary. It just depends.
Adam: If you could have a beer with any musician, living or dead, who would you want to have a beer with?
Eva: Jimmy Hendrix.
Adam: The very last question I want to ask you is, name a band that you'd be stoked to be part of the lineup that you haven't done yet.
Eva: Led Zeppelin. You didn't say still active!
Adam: I didn't. How about still active?
Eva: Robert Plant. I'd love to be in that world.
Adam: Would you say that JPJ might be one of your favorite bass players?
Eva: Yes. Definitely one of my favorites. I would want to play with Led Zeppelin or Robert Plant playing Led Zeppelin songs to be able to play those bass lines. Some of my favorites.
Adam: Thanks so much for taking time for this interview.
