Wendy Phua – Session and Solo Bassist
By Brent-Anthony Johnson

“Masterful Diminutive Powerhouse” is the easiest way to describe my friend Wendy “Wen” Phua! A “player’s player” beyond all doubt, Wendy approaches the instrument with tough-guy technique and a huge sound while blissfully wringing the instrument, producing a continuous cascade of notes. As I listened to the cool demo and read the press kit “Wen” sent to me last week, I was reminded of how much better is my bass world as a result of chatting with her (she is one of my favorite people on earth) and how much the readers of Bass Frontiers Magazine could benefit from reading her story.

Wendy Phua studied classical piano during her early childhood, but was swept away by the bass mastery of Michael Manring, Stuart Zender, and Victor Wooten – which led her to join her first bands. After knocking around with various rock-oriented bands in the early 2K’s, Wendy formed and managed Zhen, which went on to perform for the ESPN Star Sports Asian X-Games, and as part of Baybeats – Singapore’s Indie music festival. Also, Zhen performed very high-profile gigs at Barone’s Monday Sessions, and Mosaic Fringe Festival, and garnered a feature in IS Magazine which moved them into very popular territory. In 2005 Wendy decided to disband Zhen and join cinematic psychedelic guitarist Randolf Arriola and his original music project, The Embryo, which led to the release “Fragments” in 2007. It was also in 2007 that Wendy began focusing on her career as a solo bassist.

Wendy Phua

Wendy’s demo features her exquisite tapping and looping with cozy keyboard beds, broad tunings and deep samples. Each motif and melody engages and develops the whole of her compositions – all the while displaying a cool 3-dimensional groove and steadfast focus to each note. You need to check her out, folks! You can see more at: www.wendyphua.com/ and at www.myspace.com/wendyphua

BAJ: Hi Wendy! Its great to finally have an opportunity to feature you on our pages! If I haven’t said so in the past couple days, your demo ROCKS! Did you play the keyboard parts for “Sojourn”? Also, let’s talk about your composition process. How do songs form and what happens after the idea forms?

Wen: Hey BAJ, thank you for inviting me to do this interview! It was really a very pleasant surprise to hear from you all the way from the US.

I’m really glad you like the songs! Yes, I played the keyboard parts for “Sojourn” and basically all the parts on the EP except for the drums. I started out on the piano, for 7years, before going to the bass. So, that gives me the flexibility to compose on an instrument other than the bass. I get my musical ideas from everywhere… From a passing emotion after an event occurred, or the spirit of a classical piece, or percussion. I get a lot of inspiration from percussion for my tapping rhythms. Saxophone solos are also important to my inspiration and listening to some of my favorite bass players. Of course, it always helps to have a melody “hook” in my head that just won’t go away! This was the case for the song “Between Here And Then”. The song started out as a trial on my new Boss RC50 looper when I was figuring out how to navigate it. After the first loop, the subsequent loops just came out so naturally like the song was just waiting for me to compose.

Mostly, I try to capture a certain emotion in my music… like a freeze-frame on a point in time. I am usually quite visual toward music. It is probably a residue from my earlier days dabbling in video art and painting: I used to weave together video shots that eventually “describe” a mood rather than relate a linear tale. This approach definitely lingered on in my song writing. Learning the piano also opened up my musical horizons. So when I think about a song… I’m hearing everything in my head from the chord progressions to the melody and rhythms.

BAJ: Congratulations on signing with Yamaha-Singapore! Please tell our readers about our current gear and about your relationship with Yamaha.

Wen: Thanks! It is the first time in the history of Yamaha-Singapore to sign an endorsement deal with artists and I am very fortunate that I have been chosen to endorse the Yamaha BBNE-II Nathan East bass guitar! The 5-string bass comes with an excellent 3-band EQ and switchable mid-cut, making it incredibly flexible for playing on the very diverse range of gigs I session in from jazz/R&B to Chinese folk and heavy rock. I also really appreciate the maple and alder body as that helps give me a crisp, bright sound which is still full – great for my solo tapping or slapping! I have done a few workshops for Yamaha since I got the BBNE and you can view a video of one of the workshops at http://www.wendyphua.com/2008/10/20/168

At the workshops I also perform my bass solo songs using “live” looping. This never fails to interest audiences tremendously as they get to see the bass move away from its supportive role and into the limelight – where it gets to play the primary components of a song like chordal changes, to solo lines.

BAJ: Since we’re on the subject of gear… when did you begin playing with the violin bow, and what are some of the other ‘toys” in your musical tool kit?

Wen: The violin bow was actually first inspired by Jimmy Page on “Dazed & Confused”. I figured, “hey, it worked on the guitar… why not bass?” So I posted an ad online for anyone who wanted to throw away a used violin bow and, amazingly enough, this lady contacted me and gave me her old violin and the bow that came with it! From there (and after a lot of squawking) I eventually wrangled a fairly decent sound out of the instrument with the bow. I then slapped on some massive delay and managed to get an ethereal symphonic sound. Among the list of instruments I have performed with onstage, includes my grandmother’s wind-up alarm clock and my Nokia cell phone! Okay… It was an experimental gig where my band and I was looping whatever we can get our hands on and tweaking sounds, and then re-looping those jumbled sounds and reverses the tweak. You can imagine the howls and horrid bunch of white noise we were making! But considering my classical piano background… it was liberation to a certain extent. (Laughter)

Wendy Phua

My other main toy is my Boss RC60 looper. I got the idea to do live looping when I began recording sessions for Randolf Arriola a few years back. He is an amazing guitarist, in Singapore, who is always at the vanguard of new music technology. His extensive usage of live looping really inspired me to loop the other musical parts in my head and play my solos on top.

My looping adventures first began with the Line6 DL4 but I quite dissatisfied about being limited to just one looping channel. I went on to use Mobius as a plug-in within Ableton Live, and triggered the loops via a Behringer FCB1010. While this opened up 8 more channels for me, the new setup was a real headache to configure at first as no one in Singapore was able to help me with this. With much patient help from the excellent live looping community at www.loopers-delight.com, to some very useful information and encouragement from Steve Lawson himself, I finally managed to get my setup working after about a month. It was like seeing light for the first time. (Laughter) However though, I have not performed with the Mobius in public, I read a lot of incidents where live loopers were always at risk of their laptops crashing during a performance. This was when I decided to get the RC50 and though it only provides 3 channels of looping, this is enough for me with some planning. Needless to say I had no problems with it, except with myself when I might accidentally step on a wrong loop to playback/stop or even reverse on the wrong loop!

BAJ: What important lessons did you learn through managing ZHEN, and what advice could you give our readers about entering into the “business aspect” of the music business?

Wen: In Singapore, the “business aspect” of the music business has always been somewhat haphazard. We do not have music attorneys or music unions or even a decent music school. The culture here is that music should stay as a hobby and earning a real living means working in finance or legal.

When I started ZHEN, it was an answer to the disappointment I felt after being in a few bands with musicians that treated music as second priority whilst I felt so strongly about it. I wanted to apply my vision in a band that took music seriously and was self –driven. I learned a lot about setting up a band – from songwriting to arranging and creating a public image for the band. Most importantly I learned how to strike a balance between the diverse personalities in a band, and building personal endurance to multi-task like I did in ZHEN. So it was really fulfilling for me when ZHEN eventually got to play at the ESPN Star Sports Asian X-Games and the Mosaic Fringe Festival amongst some other memorable shows. We were also voted “Best Rocking Band” at a show by one of Singapore Mediacorp’s biggest radio stations Power 98 and “Best Breakthrough Performance” for our show at the huge music festival Baybeats in Singapore Esplanade.

Playing the ESPN Star Sports Asian X-Games in Kuala Lumpur for two years in a row was really interesting as that saw the band working as a team. Of course this was not without hiccups like band members oversleeping and missing the coach, the onslaught of a thunderstorm before the show etc. But it all turned out great in the end.

BAJ: What techniques are you currently working on, and how do you practice your art? Also, what is most likely to happen if you’re alone in a room with a bass and an amplifier – with no effects?

Wen: There are so many things I am trying to improve on but at the moment I am reviving a song I wrote years back that involves extensive use of harmonics. So you can say I am a little more focused in that area at the moment. I try to practice my scales using pinch harmonics and experiments with alternate tunings where I play the root note on an open string while playing the voicing with harmonics. I do not have a fixe alternate tuning system and the “errors” I make sometimes can lead to very interesting harmonies. About my use of effects, I am actually most comfortable with using just a chorus and compressor as they help to thicken my sound with some punch to it. For these I am using a Digitech Multi-chorus pedal and a modified Boss compressor CS-3 in simple gigs.

BAJ: What are the essential elements a “Wendy Phua Groove” must possess? Also, can you give our readers your thoughts on breathing and note placement? Thanks!

Wen: I have always felt that Jan Garbark and Pat Metheny’s compositions are almost architectural with their counterpointing planes of elegant lyricism. I try to apply that in my own compositions, to create musical space that complement the notes. I really agree with Victor Wooten when he mentions in his book The Music Lesson on how a solo is like holding a conversation with someone – you begin with an opener like “How are you today?” then ease into the main idea of what you are trying to say.

Wendy Phua

Soloing is an art of persuasion. In his book Rhetoric, Aristotle outlined 3 types of persuasion for a speaker to win over an audience. Apart from establishing the logic of an “argument”, the speaker also needs to makes an emotional appeal to secure the goodwill (Pathos) of the hearer and also prove one’s own moral character (Ethos) to the audience. This is not so different from a bass solo, as apart from outlining the logic of a melody line, some of the most heartfelt solos out there can convey humility and also musical prowess simultaneously. I have always felt that Michael Manring’s “When We Last Spoke” and Jaco’s “A Remark You Made” with Weather Report really nailed the 3 types of persuasions mentioned above.

To practice restraint in my playing, I sometimes loop a chord progression and challenge myself to play only with a limited number of notes and try to focus on the melody and ways of expressing a note. Like sliding into it, playing its harmonic, popping it, vibrato on it, tapping out an arpeggio and so many other ways.

BAJ: What are 3 things you want to accomplish in the next year? Also, what are some of the tunes that constitute your life’s “soundtrack”?

Wen: Firstly, to complete my full length solo bass album and to promote it outside Singapore with performances at least within the Asian region for a start. Secondly, I hope to be involved in more recording projects. In the past, I have been asked to collaborate / session for other artists but only in performances, like with Rosli Mansor (acclaimed local instrumental rock guitarist) and Walking On Water (Singapore’s top all-female jazz/R&B band). But I am currently in the midst of recording for a young instrumental rock guitarist Shern in Singapore who has a lot of great potential and it is certainly always inspiring to work with enthusiastic talented musicians. Lastly, I hope to get onto either the Chapman stick or an upright bass by next year! Both are something I have wanted to get down to but haven’t had the time. Hopefully I will be able to find some time next year to explore especially the Chapman stick since I am so comfortable with tapping.

As for songs I keep coming back to, Pat Metheny’s “The Awakening” is a great song to start the day with – contemplative, strong and full of positive spirit. Songs from Jan Garbarek’s album “I Took Up The Runes”, Manring’s “When We Last Spoke” and Jeff Beck’s “Nadia” are some songs I like to listen to in a rainy weather. When I feel the need to be inspired or get an adrenaline rush, I listen to recordings by Shawn Lane, Jonas Hellborg and Jeff Sipe, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, The Dave Weckl Band, Rush etc. As for albums I cannot get enough of, Wooten’s latest “Palmystery” has been playing constantly on my Creative Zen player. Lastly in terms of concept albums on bass, Marcus Miller’s “Tales” tops it all for me. What blows my mind was how he managed to play with such deep groove that the drum samples were almost wrapped round his playing.

BAJ: What are the benefits of growing-up in such a vast cultural wonderland as Singapore?

Wen: You get to encounter a crazy hodge podge of cultures that can be both confusing and inspiring. Our main local demographics here are Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Eurasians who originate from Singapore’s pre-colonial days when there were marriages between locals and the British or Portuguese.

Some musicians have tried to conjoin local musical influences like Malay and Indian rhythms with Western musical harmonies, but these songs tend to sound quite consciously ethnic and it’s getting a bit trite. I find there is always that pressure for an Asian musician to cater to wider musical audience by creating Western influenced songs and yet retain the “Asian” identity. The question here is, in this age of global confluence, is there really this need to emphasize the Asian roots? I think Japan did a wonderful job creating a contemporary musical culture that is not exactly ethnic Japanese but it definitely sounds quite different from Western contemporary pop and this goes for its fashion wear too. For me, I just try to avoid the Asian VS Western identity crisis and make music I like. I think at this point, it is more about discovering that individual voice instead of finding a genre/tribe/category to latch on to.

BAJ: We were chatting recently about your involvement in Chinese Folk Music! How can we hear more of that music, and what is your approach to that music from a bassist’s perspective?

Wen: Well in the 70s, Singapore had a group of local musicians who came together to form a collective called Xin Yao meaning local musicians who write original music. As the musicians are mainly China immigrants, a lot of the songs tend to be played with Chinese instruments like Di Zi flute, Erhu (2 string fretless instrument!), Hu Lu Tse flute and many others. Interestingly, some of the songs also had very strongly Japanese Enka influences and I believe this was due to the time of the Japanese occupation when the locals were exposed to classic Enka.

When I first played a Xin Yao gig, it was vastly different from my other gigs. Firstly, most of the songs are very slow and because the chord progressions are really easy also, it took a lot of effort for me to stay alert as I tend to drift off into a lull! But apart from that “inconvenience”, I found it very refreshing to play alongside a Di Zi or Erhu. Bass lines normally stick to the roots of the chord progressions, but I am given room to be more melodious in certain songs. You’ll be surprised at how some old Xin Yao recordings had really good bass lines and with beautiful fretless work too. Being in Singapore, you will also find a Malay or Indian musician playing in a Xin Yao gig with no idea of what the singer is singing about, but still grooving along fine… I guess it’s still music at the end of the day, the language that crosses most cultural barriers!

BAJ: How do you approach sessions, in general? Also, what suggestions would you make to a bassist who would like to have a career as a session bassist?

Wen: Well I maintain flexibility in my playing but also try to offer a style that is distinct. I usually take about 1 song’s jamming to “test the waters” and see if the music director or band prefers simple supportive bass lines or if they would like some flare to the bass playing. You can usually tell by their glances at each other after some riffing on the bass whether they are happy with that, which most times they are.

It also definitely helps to have experience playing in different genres as that gives you an edge to anticipate certain chord changes or styles distinct to the genre. I have played in gigs as varied as Goth rock, death metal, classic rock, top 40s, Chinese folk, funk, jazz and R&B – it definitely keeps me on my toes.

Wendy Phua

Also I think for a bassist just starting out to session, knowing your theory definitely helps to get the job done faster and smarter. This knowledge goes a long way into learning to songs pronto and improvising on the spot when the occasion calls for it, especially when the band leader suddenly throws the solo spot at you in the middle of the song! It is also very helpful to play with bands that are willing to let you cut your teeth while playing with them. I found that I learn a lot more and faster by learning on the job with good players instead of practicing at home forever.

BAJ: Are there any particular exercises, or techniques, that apply to your ability to sing and play at the same time? That is a rare gift! How do you deal with singing parts and laying down a deep foundation?

Wen: Maybe it helps that I used to play classical piano for about 7 years, so I tend to think in contrapuntal melodies and rhythm. Plus I used to be in choir at school, which helps me in my pitching.

I usually start by nailing my playing first, then the singing and memorizing the lyrics. Once the playing becomes almost second nature, I try to do both simultaneously and let the fingers literally do the walking while I concentrate on my vocals pitching.

Interestingly, during the time when I started to sing in more lead roles, my bass lines became more “organic” and I become more fluid in “singing” on the bass. I think for most bassists, we start on the bass with safe pentatonic patterns and bass riffs stolen from favorite songs. But as our musicality develops, we start to listen more to what we play instead of always falling back on familiar finger patterns.

BAJ: You have incredible tone! How close is your tone to what you hear in your mind’s ear? What are the components (tools, technique, etc) of your tone, in general?

Wen: Thank you BAJ! When I play in a band, I usually go for a slightly scooped EQ with more dip on the low-mid range. However when the band requires more prominence on the bass, like a funk or progressive rock band, I turn up my mid-highs and treble to give the growl more color. In my solo bass recordings and performances, I usually roll up the highs and mids and tie a scrungie to the bass nut area to dampen the strings when I do my usual tapping.
During performance, I am primarily using my Boss GT6B to pre-set my EQs, along with a Boss CS3 compressor that a friend modified for me to enhance my bass tone. Try as I might, I am still not comfortable with the compressors available on the GT6B.

For the recordings on my EP, I am doing direct into my DAW setup using the IK Multimedia Ampeg SVX to expand my tone. It really gives me such an incredible versatility on my tone that so far I have not had the need to mike up. But I am definitely not closing doors on always exploring my sound.

BAJ: What would you change about your world, if you were suddenly given the power to change anything?

Wen: I wish I was… taller and with longer fingers! (Laughter) Being only 1.56cm tall, good quality basses like my Status S1 classic and Zon Legacy Elite are too heavy for me, and, while I can play them… it usually takes its toll on my back after 2-3 hours. Playing my 6 string Zon also began giving me sharp pains in the base of my left thumb as I was playing a lot of chordal works on it at one point. While my left hand is quite obviously more muscular and with longer fingers than the right thanks to all the stretching over the years, it is still just not long enough to play what I hear in my head.

BAJ: How do you rest? What do you do in your “down time” – away from the bass guitar?

Wen: Well, I play the drums in a band! It has always been something I would love to master, especially after watching people like Antonio Sanchez, Steve Smith and Dave Weckl. I also play my Korg Triton or guitars to find inspiration for new songs. Other than music, reading is another great passion that has followed me since I was young. Three books at the top of my list are 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am currently reading The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards. I also love good films like Fargo by the Cohen Brothers, Dogville and Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier, Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind by Michel Gondry and so many more. My most recent favorite is Burn After Reading by the Cohen Brothers.

BAJ: Thanks so much for taking a minute to speak with us, Wendy! You’re an incredible artist, and I love your music! Is there anything you’d like to say in closing to our readers?

Wen: Thank you very much BAJ! It is truly an honor to be invited for this interview and I sincerely hope to play in America someday and around the world in fact!