+1 Agreed. Some of the the best basslines of the 1980's were synth-lines from Europe.

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2012 Lefty American Standard Jazz
2017 Lefty American Professional Precision
2018 Rumble Studio 40 Combo
2016 Rumble 200 Combo
One day they shall name a GREAT city after me, and they shall call it LINNINGRAD

I know. I like the sounds they get. They make synth effect pedals for bass, but I never really tried them out. I know there have been past issues with tracking and whatnot.

Yep, I'm 38 and grew up in a similar area. I was lucky enough to have older cousins who turned me onto bands like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and The Misfits at a very early age. We had just moved into town from the country after my father passed in 81, and my mom found a way to swing cable since I had to do the latchkey thing. So I was primed for the whole MTV thing. I remember being in 3rd grade and riding my bike home furiously every day to try and catch Martha Quinn and all those great bands. It was tough in high school playing in bands. Like you said, everyone wanted to do Warrant, and Motley Crue and I was always trying to get a Cure cover in.

Now days it doesn't seem much easier. The band I'm in now is finally getting to a point where we've found a nice niche and balance between what we all dig. We just added a second guitar so we're really starting to border on that type of well crafted layered sound. Unfortunately, our drummer bailed because all he wanted to do was punk, and finding a drummer around here that doesn't play HARD is next to impossible. It's one thing or the other, I suppose...

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http://www.reverbnation.com/casanovafrankensteinandthevoodoomachine
https://www.facebook.com/CFandtheVM

2012 Fender Custom Shop 55 Precision Bass
2012 Fender American Vintage 57 Precision Bass RI
2014 Fender Super Bassman and Bassman 100T/410 Neo

I know what you mean. Before I met my girlfriend (who is a solo artist that I play for) and moved to her state, I used to play with a guitar player friend of mine for years and we always had trouble finding drummers.

Since that now we are electronic, (the reason for that is because she always had problems with other people flaking out, too) we use backing tracks which includes drum programming. She records and plays all of this by hand, so it's not like it's just push button stuff and I play bass over everything. We would like to get a guitar player to fill things out live, since we do have guitars in our music.

The last time we gigged, the first half of the set I played guitar on it. I don't like to do that, but I did it out of necessity. It's an instrument I feel alien playing. I like that low end behind me. I feel naked without it. Heh. The great thing about this set up, though is it completely liberates me as a bassist. I can play high end riffs (and try to avoid ripping off Peter Hook too much ) to fill that space vacated by a guitar and since there is keyboard bass, I don't have to worry about the low end too much. I don't always do this, it depends on the song.

The problem with using backing music is good monitors is essential. We've ran into problems because of that. You don't have the volume coming from other people on stage and you need to hear what's coming from the machine. Plus, you have to program everything, so that can be a pain in the arse sometimes and hope it doesn't crap out on you.

I do miss playing with a live drummer sometimes, since you can just jam and go off. My girlfriend is also an excellent drummer, but she won't do it live. She doesn't want to play and sing. I suppose I couldn't blame her. Singing drummers are kind of odd looking. Heh.

You could use a drum machine to practice, or even play out. Hell, that was part of Big Black's sound. In fact, I thought they sounded strange with a live drummer in a video I saw on You Tube one time. But then, there is the factor of programming it and amplifying it to be heard. Can you tell that I hate doing that a little?

I suppose that is probably the reason a lot of these electronic groups (getting back to the original post, in a way) started the way they did. They probably had trouble finding like minded people to play with and decided to do it themselves with machines. That and wanting to create a different sound, I suppose.

Yep, I bet that had a lot to do with it. Good luck to you and your girl. It's great that you're out there doing it your own way. We've been seriously thinking about trying to find someone to work a keyboard or drum machine for us. It's still not the same, but it's really tough finding decent paying gigs without a drummer. We've been stuffed back into coffee houses and the like. Still fun stuff, but the cash and the crowds were nice, too.

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http://www.reverbnation.com/casanovafrankensteinandthevoodoomachine
https://www.facebook.com/CFandtheVM

2012 Fender Custom Shop 55 Precision Bass
2012 Fender American Vintage 57 Precision Bass RI
2014 Fender Super Bassman and Bassman 100T/410 Neo

Yeah, good luck to you, too. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do. At least you're out there trying to get your name across. We've only done a small amount of gigs over the year, unfortunately. But all of that is about to change. Let's just say she as done a lot of networking and knows some important people. So a lot of big things are coming our way. She already has a strong following, especially in the UK, and done some serious collaborations. She does not want me to talk about it, but one of them is a well know guitarist. I guess if we go on Letterman, you would probably find out. We would definately have this person on there for that. I suppose things are about to get quite busy around here. I'm glad, I can't wait to fire up my new Fender amp and see how it does live. Hopefully, it won't crap out on me. I guess you'll hear about that in the bass amp forum, if it does. With the usual derogetory headline, I'm sure.