SLASH Bassist TODD KERNSl

SLASH Bassist TODD KERNS - "Down I Went Like A Mighty Canadian Oak"





SIN CITY SINNERS frontman TODD KERNS is currently on tour in Europe
playing bass for SLASH. Dammit, as Todd is affectionately referred to,
has written a new blog titled, After The Fall; an excerpt follows:


"There is nothing like a good, dirt eating wipeout. The only thing
better than taking a spill is taking it in front of 6000 people. When
you have played on as may stages as I have you are bound to crash and
burn every now and again...


On the OZZY tour with Slash I spilled backing up into a monitor and
down I went like a mighty Canadian Oak. I was back up in no time-beat
unmissed! That’s the trick - keep playing. Always keep playing. Amateurs
stop. Pros keep rocking!






So in Budapest the other night I pulled almost the same move as the
Ozzy show. I backed up and got tripped up and down I went. It all
happens so fast that you have no idea how you’re gonna come out of it.
All you know is that gravity has failed you and you aren’t gonna win
this round. So you go down CRASH and get up as quickly as possible.
Somehow I went into some kind of handicapped half roll and was back on
my feet before I knew it with the nerve to stand triumphant like I’d won
gold in men’s synchronized swimming. More like unsynchronized falling.



Somehow it was convincing enough that later Slash would ask me if
that was on purpose. Oh, no. Not at all. I fell, plain and simple. Of
course Slash didn’t witness it’s full majesty. Just his bass player
rolling from the floor to ridiculous triumphant stance. Behind
sunglasses and glaring lights that may have given the appearance of a
long planned and tirelessly rehearsed routine but no - trip, fall (yes,
fall), roll, triumph. Plain and not so simple. Not so simple with a
Music Man Stingray bass guitar in your hands. Which remained unharmed
I’ll have you know.



It won’t be the last time. It may not be the last time this tour!


I spent January rocking Vegas with the Sin City Sinners. We had some fun times. Jammed with friends new and old.


I also spent the brunt of my time on my new solo album, Hello Cruel
World. I’ve done some pretty good damage so far. I took on quite a lot,
to be honest. A full album plus an EP while touring with Slash AND
playing with the Sinners? Yes. My wheels always gotta be spinning. I
can’t stand it any other way.


It was a lot of fun revisiting some of my old songs for the Near
Life Experience EP. Some of them are pretty radically different from
their original recordings. I hope you get a kick out of hearing them
turned upside down a little.



It’s always exciting to breathe life into new ideas and watch them
come into fruition. That’s a flowery way of saying it’s cool to put new
songs on tape. Some of the newer material was intended to be recorded
with full band arrangements with drums and electric guitars but I think
it’s cool to present them as such then readdress them later with the
full arrangement. It’s always exciting to peel a song down to just a
guitar and a vocal. That’s essentially all a song is. A simple piece of
music and a voice. Almost any song can be played as such."


Todd's blog can be read in its entirety at this location.