More pictures of me and my old Tokai Jazz

One of my dear friends Francois Torregrossa passed away from cancer back in 2002, and so a bunch of us that knew him got together to form an all-day multi-band event in his honor called Friends Of Francois that we held it in the summer of 2002 in Mt. View, CA. Francois was an incredible drummer, and one helluva nice guy, and the show was our way of grieving and healing together after he had passed away. Francois had been the original drummer for the Van Halen tribute I formed in 1991 called The Atomic Punks, so it only felt right that we reunite to do the show. Our friend Brian Shekell (who was our second drummer after Francois left to form another project) did the show with us.

The bass is my old Tokai Jazz with yet another early pickup experiment going on. I re-routed the neck pickup area and dropped in a Seymour Duncan Precision I had. It actually worked quite well!

Man you totally rock the stage!!!!

Thanks!

I think there was a lot of JD involved, actually.

Huh...interesting--you look almost exactly like a dude I work with (named Erik, in fact) who used to play bass and guitar until he got parts of his fingers cut off in a carpentry accident. He says he used to own a Rickenbacker and we listen to a lot of the same stuff. I find it kinda funny.

Awesome photos! Van Halen band--gotta have JD! hahaha

Cancer sucks. Both of my grandmothers died from cancer in 2003. But what can you do?

It was cancer of the brain that got him, and the tumor was in a spot that the doctors couldn't get at. They tried radiation and chemo, but the tumor kept growing. We went to dinner once about two or three months before he died, and he was so weak and frail.

I got to see him literally the day before he died. I got the call from another friend that the time was near, so I went to his house to see him. He was so ready to be done with all of it, but he remained brave throughout the whole ordeal.

The next day, my friend called me to tell me Francois had passed away.

Now, I try to hold onto the memories of hanging out with him before gigs, and what an incredible drummer he was.

Yeah I know. One of my grandmothers died of lung cancer, the other from liver cancer.

Chowderboots wrote:

Awesome photos! Van Halen band--gotta have JD! hahaha

Espcially the bassist!

Hahaha word!

I guess that is something that I share with Michael Anthony!

That and Yamaha?

*Eric runs off to get a custom Jack Daniels bass, with trem*

Nah....the last thing I need is more comparisons!

Although I do like the signature Michael Anthony Yamaha, since it is based on the BB300 shape, and it is a neck-through design. My only complaint is that the horns are a little smaller than the BB300. But it does have chili peppers for inlays!

Nice!

Ok, dream bass time.

A Yamaha BB300 (black, of course), with the neck reinforced onto the body with steel bars (or something like that), outfitted with two DiMarzio X2N-7's, wired in stereo, a Sustaniac sustaining unit, a Steinberger TransTrem (for the locking and fine tuning features), and some sort of home-spun toplock. Add a wicked Celtic wolf paint job and voila'!

That would be my dream bass.

Or perhaps a little pink Sears special, with day-glo Hello Kitty stickers.

Dude--it's all about the chili pepper inlays!

That's one hell of a dream bass, man! Hope you some day get to see that vision through. I remember some kind of discussion about the Sustaniac unit...but I can't remember the details. Are they easily available or something more difficult to find like the Steinberger trems?

I'll have to check again, but I think the company is still around. I called them a couple of years ago to discuss how best to install one on a bass of my configuration, and I got a lot of good advice as to how exactly to do so.

And oh yes, mark my words. I will have that dream bass one day, Or, something close to it.

EricHaven wrote:

Ok, dream bass time.

A Yamaha BB300 (black, of course), with the neck reinforced onto the body with steel bars (or something like that), outfitted with two DiMarzio X2N-7's, wired in stereo, a Sustaniac sustaining unit, a Steinberger TransTrem (for the locking and fine tuning features), and some sort of home-spun toplock. Add a wicked Celtic wolf paint job and voila'!

That would be my dream bass.

I thought that sounded awesome.......

EricHaven wrote:

Or perhaps a little pink Sears special, with day-glo Hello Kitty stickers.

Until you said this!

My Jazz, w-trem, actually has a Hello Kitty sticker on the headstock.....



And Martin, yup, Sustaniac still make a bass model, you just tell 'em its for a bass when ordering.

Darkstrike wrote:

Until you said this!

Just checking to see if you were awake.

Heh...can't wait to give an X2Ned bass a try!

Or the Hello Kitty bass!

JUST KIDDING!

Why not, man? Sometimes the cheapies turn out to be the not-so-badies.

I'm only kidding about the Hello Kitty bass, Martin. You couldn't pay me to play one! I think Hello Kitty is evil.

Je sais. I am also bored hahaha

EricHaven wrote:

I'm only kidding about the Hello Kitty bass, Martin. You couldn't pay me to play one! I think Hello Kitty is evil.

But the bass model isn't Hello Kitty, its Batz-Maru!



I would rock that with a trem, shortscale!

Wow, great pics Eric, you really make the kahler bass look so natural, like they should all have one.

I'm only teasing you, Martin.

(pats Martin on the head)

That's right! It is Batz-Maru! Thanks for reminding me, Bill! That bass is an almost exact copy of a Musicmaster, just like my very first bass. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Fender based it on the Musicmaster template.

Thank you for the compliment, BD!

I believe they call it a bronco, but it is pretty much a cheapie Musicmaster.

Hi guys, I'm back!

Anyway, doesn't Eric kinda look like Cliff Burton in the 2nd and 3rd pics (especially the 3rd)?

Kugelspot wrote:

Hi guys, I'm back!

Anyway, doesn't Eric kinda look like Cliff Burton in the 2nd and 3rd pics (especially the 3rd)?

Welcome back dude, and awesome spot, he really does!

*wishes he had photoshop to add some Ric's to theose pics*

There you are, KS! Welcome back, Brother!

EricHaven wrote:

There you are, KS! Welcome back, Brother!

Ya, sorry 'bout that. I've known about the new site for a week or so, but i've been lazy/busy for the past week

No worries! We're just glad to have you back again!

Indeed welcome back, Kugel! Horns!!!

Great pics eric.

...and gigs where friends get together just for eachother are the best. Last time we all did it was a fundraiser to help pay for my good friend and old drummer frank' s dads chemo. Sadly, frank lost his dad last year. Cancer sux.

His band now, vonkull, does many cancer fundraisers.

angel.of.death wrote:

awesome pictures bro, it's a heavy metal band right?

Thanks Irving! You mean the band I'm in now? Or of when those pictures were taken?

EricHaven wrote:

angel.of.death wrote:

awesome pictures bro, it's a heavy metal band right?

Thanks Irving! You mean the band I'm in now? Or of when those pictures were taken?

mmm well both

Those pictures are when I re-united with my old Van Halen tribute the Atomic Punks (not to be confused with the Atomic Punks from Los Angeles, since we started about six years before they did, but they took it a LOT further than we ever could).

My current band Alien Probe is also a metal band, and we've spent the past year writing and recording originals. We just got ourselves an awesome new lead singer, and we have embarked on learning covers so we can start gigging in the local clubs. We will probably take a different name for the cover thing, but we aren't quite sure what that will be just yet. Our set list now includes bands like Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC, WASP, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Ozzy Osbourne, Skid Row, and other bands along those lines.