In the summer of 1990 Joy Basu moved to Hollywood, CA. Since then he has recorded and performed with various Rock, Funk, Blues, Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, Electronica, Metal, and Industrial bands. Some of Joy's performance credits include Jessica Simpson (Sony), Jennifer Lopez (Sony), Nick Lachey (Universal), Joi (Universal), Angie Stone (Arista), and CoCo Lee (Sony). Joy has performed on award shows and several TV shows including Soul Train, Tonight Show, CBS Early show, Rosie O Donnell, Good Morning America, Craig Killborn, & Disney Concert. Joy's funky rhythm chops and shredding guitar tricks have now made it on to ten CDs. As solo artist Joy Basu has performed at several NAMM shows as well as other trade shows around the world. Joy's music has been used by MTV for the show Undressed, by CBS for promoting 15 TV shows, NBC for the series Passions and The Best Damn Sports Show Period on FOX Sports. Joy holds endorsements with ESP guitars, Morley pedals, Godin acoustic-synth guitars,
Seymour Duncan pickups, and Dean Markley strings. Being featured in over 15 international magazines including Guitar One, Guitar Player and Guitar for the Practicing Musician helped Joy get airplay in the U.S. and Europe. Joy Basu is currently working around LA as a hired gun, collaborating with various artists, recording his 3rd solo CD, and teaching at GIT.
Joy has been frequenting this site for quite a while now, I had the opportunity to meet him at NAMM 2004 (pictured below) and found him to be a very genuine, down to earth person. His comments are constructive as well as educational and we are glad to have him around. His site has plenty of information as well as photos, sound clips and much more
http://www.joybasu.com
Eric, Joy and Evan Skopp from Seymour Duncan.
Eric: We appreciate you taking the time to answer a few questions for us, how
are things going for you?
Joy: Its my pleasure. Things are good, thanx..
Eric: You have a unique style, who are some of your influences?
Joy: Thanx for noticing. My influences really vary. I started of listening
mostly to disco and then got into Metal when I was about 12 or 13. In the
beginning guitar players like Neal Schon, Eddie VH, Randy Rhoads, Jason
Becker, Jake E Lee, Lynch,
Paul Gilbert etc. made a huge impact on my
playing. I also really enjoy guys like Jeff Beck, SRV, Vishwa Mahan Bhatt,
Ry Cooder, Wah Wah Watson and Joe Walsh. But most of my influences now come
from songs, melodies, production and grooves more than singled out players.
Eric: It sounds like you get the opportunity to play with a lot of different
artists, who stands out as the most fun to play with? Feel free to mention
as many as you like.
Joy: They have all been fun in their own ways. Doing bar gigs when I was 16 was
as much fun as playing some recent stadium and arena shows.
Eric: On your latest album, SinErgy I noticed that you do quite a bit of
electronica work, what sort of software and hardware do you use to record
and mix?
Joy: I really went for combining some shred with lot of wacky guitar effects
over electronica grooves on that CD. I used Mac G4 with MOTU hardware. For
software I use Digital Performer, Reason, ReCylce, ReBirth and Peak. Most of
my effects are pluggins. For guitar I use a lot of pedals too. I love my
Novation Supernova synth and have a MoPhatt sound modules. For a controller
I use an M-Audio Radium and sometimes my GR-33. Mackie HR-824, and Event
PS-5 Monitors.
Eric: What other bands do you like to listen to?
Joy: I listen to just about everything. Within the same day I will listen to
Britney, Rob Zombie, Ravi Shankar and Jason Becker. Love it all for
different feels/emotions. When I get in the mood to listen to bands I’ll go
back a decade or two and pull out some old VH, Kiss, AC DC, Journey, Racer
X, Eagles, etc. As far as modern music goes I mostly listen to Electronic
and Pop stuff.
Eric: What's your take on the ever decreasing amount of guitar solo's in today's
music?
Joy: I think rock bands now have more solos than they did about 8 yrs ago.
Evanescence, Kid Rock, Audislave, Sum 41, etc. It is different than before
and sure there are way less solos than 15 or 20 yrs ago. But anyone
specifically looking for solos can either dig up the old CDs or get
specialized music such as Vai or Satch. I personally would like to hear some
more innovative solos in a NuMetal context. Tom Morello brings some new
stuff to the table. I would like to see more guitar players get creative and
do something new that will appeal to a lot of people. Its not that difficult
to just copy and do rehashed versions of what’s already been done. Too me
creativity is much more impressive.
From a selfish stand point I really get my fill of guitar solos since
live pop shows probably have the most guitar solos in modern music. I got to
do way more extended solos during some of the Jessica shows than I would
have for most modern rock gigs. I see teenagers loving guitar solos during
these shows as long as its not overkill and there is something to grab on
to. Also teaching at MI is one massive shred day.
Eric: As an instructor, besides practice, what would you say is the most
important thing to work on to help improve one's playing?
Joy: Play in real situations. Only soloing in the bedroom will most likely just
keep you there. Get out and play with bands. Do shows, learn to deal with
having to put on the best show possible with a bad monitor mix. That’s the
stuff that happens in reality.
Eric: Who are your top five favorite guitarists?
Joy: This answer would keep changing depending on my mood. Pretty much the
guys listed above.
Eric: What's the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you at a gig?
Joy: Haha, so many to grab from I don’t know where to begin. I would say
recently playing in KY and not having any monitor mix whatsoever. All I
heard was 5,000 teenage girls screaming as loud as possible. I was thinking
there was couple of producers and session guys in the crowd that I wanted to
hear may play. Luckily they were not there. Needless to say we sounded like
shit.
Eric: Who are you working with now?
Joy: Mostly concentrating on my originals and getting them placed into
soundtrax. I have about a whole CDs worth of trance stuff with Indian
influences recorded that I am shopping. I also have a lot of electronica
stuff with heavy guitars that I started recording when I did the soundtrack
for a documentary on Russell Crowe’s last film. There are also a few of
artists whose solo CDs I am producing out of my house. One of them is a 15
yr shredder, you will be hearing about him soon for sure. Always on the look
out for fun new gigs too.
Eric: Anything you would like to add for the aspiring guitarists on this site?
Joy: As far as playing goes timing, intonation and tone are by far the most
important. It’s a fun career, get ready to PARTEEEY!!!
By Eric Thurber
04/18/04
My amp goes to 11!Nigel Tufnel
Linear Mode
