Members Hard Truth Posted December 18, 2006 Members Share Posted December 18, 2006 Bassist Bruce Fraser died on December 16th. Bruce was well known for his books and articles on Photoshop and digital color management but his first love was music, especially playing improvised music on the electric bass. He played with a late incarnation of the Scottish pop-metal group Iron Virgin, worked at the London Guitar Center, played some blues in Chicago and eventually came to San Francisco, California. Shortly after coming to SF he joined my band the Artichokes. The Artichokes resembled a rock band and played several San Francisco Bay Area clubs including the Mabuhay, On Broadway and Keystone Berkeley beginning in 1980. The Artichokes' sound was described by Calendar magazine's Mimi Chen; "Propelled by squalling babies, chicken noises,and balloon rubbing, the Artichokes take the mundane and twist it into something bizarre." Dissatisfied with the club scene, the Artichokes began producing their own multi-media shows and gradually mutated into a free form electronic music collective. We stopped playing live after a fire during one our perfromances but kept playing in the studio weekly (except for vacations and illnesses) until Bruce became ill this Fall-a total of twenty six years of jamming! Bruce also played with Ibilly Bibilly and another one of my bands, Process, which played a blend of post-industrial funk and electronica rhythms, psychedelic improvisation and poetic lyrics. Bruce was a great bass player who was usually the glue (or in many cases the luke warm water) who held the music together. He was also a very generous (especially with the herbals) and funny guy who inspired us with his deep love of music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted December 19, 2006 Members Share Posted December 19, 2006 Sounds like a great guy. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blackpig Posted December 19, 2006 Members Share Posted December 19, 2006 It's always sad to hear of a muso's passing, especially this close to Christmas. He sounds like the kind of guy who doesn't need prayers. Instead get him to pray for us... The usual candle will be lit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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