Bill Stockton

Birthdate: August 8, 1958 , in Columbus , Ohio

Current Bands: The Dave Chisolm Band

Gear: An Acoustic 270 with a Sunn 215 cabinet, a Fender Precision Lite, a homemade bass, and a newly added Fender fretless P-bass. No stomp boxes, as I prefer my tone natural.

Recordings you are on: Two LP's in the late 70's with Mantis, the QFM96 "Hometown Album” in 1981 with the Terry Kief Band. Lots of jingle work.

Favorite bassist (living): Stanley Clarke

Favorite bassist (deceased): Willie Dixon

Favorite singer (living): Etta James

Favorite singer (deceased): Freddie King and Ella Fitzgerald

First record you bought: It was a 45 of "Get Off of My Cloud" by the Rolling Stones, and my first album was The Doors "Waiting for the Sun"

First Blues record you bought: A Muddy Waters compilation album, but I can't remember the name of it.

Music career focus: To hold the bottom of the song. I think bass solos are an oxymoron. You really have to love the groove to play bass properly. If a guitar player makes a mistake people will say the guitar player is bad. If a singer sings off key then the singer sucks. If the bass player doesn't do his job then people say the band is bad. You have to submerge your ego to better the song.

Bill Stockton: "I started my music career as a drummer, but in moving to a smaller house as a teenager I didn't have room for a drum kit so I picked up the guitar. In a few years I started playing in rock bands and gigging as a guitar player. At 19 I was in a band in which the bass player quit, and we had several months of gigs booked, so I bought a bass and immediately found the mixture of musical instruments that felt at home. I love playing at the bottom of the song. Its like playing drums with harmony. I went back to the old stand up players and re-learned the instrument the way it should be played.

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