Mark Ibold with Sonic Youth
 

Can someone please explain to me the point of this? Just saw Sonic Youth for my first time last night at Coachella and to be honest felt a little disappointed with his presence there. It didn't really add anything to the music and he was playing the bass along with Kim and I'm just fucking confused. Is he going to be there for the Daydream Nation shows? His presence for some reason feels a little odd -- I'd much rather have just the 4 person band playing, just feels a little weird to take one's favorite band and add another player into it just because, knamsayin'?

Many songs on Rather Ripped need a 2nd bassist(were written that way). as simple as that.

I think he's just helping them out so that Kim won't have to play bass on the songs she sings in so her wrists won't get as tired. And I don't think songs on RR were written to be played with two basses since only the four of them recorded. Besides, I like Mark in Sonic Youth.

Eh... I am indifferent.

Yeah, I saw R.E.M. play in '95, purely because Sonic Youth were opening, and I was disgusted to see them being carried through their set by sidemen. They were just in their '30s though, and it wasn't helping them particularly. If I can be half as energetic on stage when I'm Kim's age, I'll be incredibly happy.

I definitely liked it better when the extra person was Jim 'O Rourke as a full 5th member, but Jim wanted to leave. The band is making do with the deck they've been handed, and they're still putting on awesome shows.

Mark rocks end of story

Does Mark play on RR?

as far as i know Mar(k) hasn't been in a studio since Terror Twilight

no he hasnt recorded since pavements last will and testament. as for whats the point of mark playing... heis helping out a good mates band. kim cant play bass all the time now as her wrists are in arthritic agony, this is totally visible in any recent photos an so why the fuck not bring in a talented and like minded individual in to aid with the playing. this also allows kim a bit more freedom. if mark wasnt in the band then no way could sy carry on playing, they are no spring chickens yknow, and i mean tha in the highest respectful way.........whats the point????????? thats the point!!!!!!!!!

rm, how is that possible considering only the 4 core sy members were in that recording writing proces. jim had long gone by then!

Mark's seemingly unfussy attitude is in perfect keeping with SY's vibe.

And on stage in Burlington, Vermont the sound wasn't just chunky, it was morbidly obese. GORNK!

But yeah, the "finesse" that Jim brought might maybe could be of use live in the byzantine DDN songs.

Somebody on this board wrote it best: "I sure miss that little guy."

I think it's fine for him to be playing with them for the regular tour stuff, but it should just be the four of them for the daydream shows. I don't think a second bassist would be a good thing for that.

Honestly, it really should just be whatever is easiest for them, makes things less difficult, and makes them happy/more confident performing. There is no reason for Kim to be pushing the limit when they can get a backup to help her; additionally, Mark was a great choice.

The other reason is Kim's arthritis, but there are very many parts where they are both playing the bass feverishly. It makes absolutely 0 difference if Ibold was involved in the recording/writing process. Multitrack recording allows for 2 people to play 100 instruments if they'd like or 1 person to be an entire band. They could easily write and record multiple bass parts with only 1 bassist(although Thurston OR Lee could be playing bass on any of those tracks). There's no way to tell.

WTF? Kim has arthritis????

my thoughts exactly.

Can you explain this a little more? I've never heard of or seen them using musicians off stage. (I'm assuming that you're talking about Sonic Youth, not REM)

naw, i think the reference was to R.E.M. (who had 2 additional instrumentalists at the time, including scott mccaughey who's now been in the band for 10+ years and of course fronts the ineffable minus 5, w/ peter buck). i don't think a quartet enlisting 2 sidemen for their first major rock tour in 5 years is a huge deal (and they already had one on their previous tour).

of course, after bill left they had to get a replacement drummer, making it 3 'original' R.E.M. + 3 'sidemen' on subsequent tours.

and renderful, i'd stop contributing to this thread. the songs on rather ripped weren't written for 2 basses, and while i understand the point you were trying to make regarding multi-tracking, it's well-known that kim plays all the bass parts except on 'rats', which is thurston.

and yeh, kim's wrist problems are the primary reason for bringing her former free kitten bandmate along for the ride. i think he was a great choice, even if i do find the double-bass attack puzzling (though not 'bad' in any way). will be curious to see how they handle daydream.

Chris, you think that Mark will be "needed" ( as in : necessary to overcome possible kim's problems) on the DDN dates? I don't mind his presence (he's so humble and low-profiled and he looks like he's really enjoying playing on tour with SY), but a 4 piece thing would be definitely "more atmospheric", if you get what I mean. Anyways, they probably already decided to have him on stage on those dates, I suppose. And he agreed, I suppose :) :) .

he was at the milwaukee show last summer. still would have been a great show without him but he definitely didn't worsen the experience.

Mark Ibold isn't some session player for hire, he's a friend of the band who likes to rock out.

yr damn right man and it's surely a bonus if Mark does play with Sonic Youth at the DDN shows!

Mark is the man.

Yes... now that I re-read the post it is clear he was referring to REM. I'd imagine that Mark has been working with them on the Daydream songs if Kim's wrists are a problem.

I think it would be awesome if Mark joined as a full member. Kim could play third guitar again and Mark could play bass. As an extra benefit, playing guitar would also be easier on her wrists than playing bass.


Thurston and Lee don't play bass on the RR; Kim plays bass. One exception is Rats, in which Thurston plays bass. And I don't think SY do multi-track recording too much.

i would imagine, just cuz he already knows 4 or 5 of the tunes on the album, and that they're doing daydream shows amidst the 'regular' shows, that mark will be present for the daydream gigs. i can certainly understand the appeal of having 'the original four' do the daydream gigs, but given kim plays (pretty heavy) bass parts on all the songs, i would imagine mark will be involved. which is fine by me!

i'll be very curious to see if kim abandons the bass for all of the songs she sings. can you see her dancing around to the outro of 'the sprawl'? we already know she doesn't play on kissability...

kim IS the tramadol spammer!

SY is moving towards an all-bass line-up, and steve is getting double bass drums, with a double kick pedal set for each, and the next record will be written specifically for low-rider cars w/ super sub-woofers, and thurston will fire cannons on loan from the smithsonian durring the climax...

One of those extra R.E.M. players (guy with the dreads) was Asi Nisi Masa's Brian Harris...good guy.

so does mark assume his customary centre stage position like he did with the 'ment? or does he and kim battle for that place with bass necks duelling?

They alternate between Mark sitting on Kim's shoulders and Kim sitting on Mark's.

Mark Ibold is awesome. I'm certain the bands not just okay with him in there, they want him in the band. I do miss Jim though.

I'm certain he'll be there for the DDN shows, Candle was great at Coachella.

what if.... JIM + mark + SY for the ddn dates :) ? tripleguitardoublebasswithadrummerthat'smorethanen oughbyhimself galore. HA!.

Mark always looks so happy when he's playing his bass, when he does that little skip/jump thing and looks up after he hits each note to see who's looking. Always with a smile on his face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOwrbdKQ08o See here.

Mark is there cause they're slowly setting the stage for kicking Kim out the band. She's history, let her go.



Psst... Lee's next. Steve's getting ready to take this whole fucking thing over.

About fucking time..

Pave the way for Mayor Sheriff Steve Shelley, Texas Ranger.

I'm kinda puzzled too. I mean, whatever SY brings in is cool with me, the one point I don't get is - if it's that much of a problem to her to actually play bass, why then is she kicking the hell outta it at ALL SHOWS, for almost 85% of the show? That, I just don't get.

she is doing as much as she possibly can do.