What do you like to do in your free time?
When did you start playing bass?
You play bass, trombone, rhythm guitar... anything else?
If you were stranded on a desert island and you had to pick just one, which member
of the Partridge Family or Land of the Lost cast member would you choose to
accompany you.
From the list: Do you consider any band "your" band? Choir or DA, Swirling Eddies, side
project?
What's in your CD player now?
What are you reading now?
What game is in PlayStation/N64?
Boxers or briefs?
Have you ever been a member of a cult?
Do you have any Nicknames that can be repeated in mixed company?
Exactly how tall are you?
What is the meaning behind "The Mighty Hand of The Yo" ?
Hometown:
Your b-day so TC fans the world over can rejoice!
Have you ever salted a snail?
Are you now or have you ever been in love with Presty Gomez?
Do you have any siblings? Are they musically inclined?
Compare & contrast studio time/song writing with The Choir & Da gang.
Did you play on the SkullMonkeys soundtrack? On the new BoomBotsfighting game as well?
Touring stories: (worst accommodations, favorite show/venue, anything)
We couldn't believe this place. We considered moving the band there (just
for the puppet show alone.) Anyway, we raced back to the hotel to get
Steve and Derri and on the way back to the restaurant in the dark, we saw
an angry midget in the road which startled Derri. (He's terrified of
midgets.) This is all true.
There are a lot of Tim Chandler fans out there that have been beaten down into
submission by a cruel and uncaring CCM culture into believing that bass players don't
matter: what would you like to say to them?
Not that any band I've ever played in made me feel like I didn't matter;
quite to the contrary. But, a great guitar player or a great drummer will
have more impact on a song than a bass player will.
BASS IS USUALLY THE LEAST IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN A SONG. That's just
the way it is.
Did you ever write a song or part that Terry thought was too weird to record?
What's next on your musical horizon?
What role do you play in the musical development of any given song?
If it's a bit that I came up with, I'll have chord progressions
worked out on a guitar, and some guitar parts. I really don't know
how to play guitar. If you put a gun to my head and told me to play the
chords to "Happy Birthday" I'd be dead. I only know how to play stuff that
I make up on the guitar.
Also: there's more input from band members, in how a DA song or record
comes out, than most people think. But Terry is, obviously, the one who contributes
the most and absolutely the one who shapes it and puts it together and makes
the whole thing work. Steve and Derri play the same kind of role in the Choir.
(I'd also like to say: Greg Flesch is the most underated and criminally ignored
musician I can think of. Not only that, but, he also flies around
in spy planes trying to save the world's ozone layer. I'm not joking.)
Both DA and the Choir have danced around the fringes of CCM, developing
music that has garnered a loyal but small audience. How has that affected
you, professionally and personally?
Any career regrets?
Terry Taylor has mentioned your distinctive style of playing in different
interviews. What is the "Tim Chandler" style of playing?
How do you describe your playing technique and/or writing process?
And they tend to play scale-like licks and riffs that they've practiced
over and over instead of playing a true bass part. Of course, THEY actually
get hired to do recording so maybe they're on to something.
But I find that when I don't practice or even play for a period of
time, the NEXT time I play, stuff just kinda comes out of nowhere
and surprises me. Sort of like having the flu and suddenly throwing up.
As far as the writing process, I don't know. I usually sit down with
a guitar and start fiddling around until I hear something in my head or
until my hands start to find something.
The same with playing, actually. The less you think, the more you feel
and listen, the better. After you've been playing for a few years,
your hands sort of have their own process, their own way of listening.
If you can get out of the way and not THINK about it, your hands will
play something that's true to what you're feeling, hopefully something
that's emotionally true to the music. I know that sounds strange but
that's what happens.
Pick or pluck?
Does a Christian musician have any musical or spiritual responsibilities
to their audience?
I know there is a new Choir album slowly building steam. Is there anything new on
the horizon for DA or the Eddies?
I must know... on the Sacred Cows CD, "God Made Convertibles", did more than five
minutes of practice take place before the tape rolled?
Since you sang a lot of the Farm Beetles album, can you elaborate a bit on the
experience of recording the tracks over the years?
Do you have any plans for a solo CD?
Yes. I thought about it while I was in Europe. If I DID do one, then the Swirling
Eddies could make fun of it.
What is your view of the CCM industry and the music industry in general?
Greg is a "rocket scientist", Ed does art, etc. What do you do in between DA? That is,
are you actually one of the blessed few who can make a living at music through
session work?
Favorite DA album, Choir album & why
Favorite album(s) of all time
The Replacements: "Let it Be" "Pleased to Meet Me"
Favorite CCM group
Favorite other group
Favorite bass players
Paul McCartney ("Dear Prudence" and "Come Together" amognst many others, are PERFECT bass parts.)
Current rig
The bass of your life - Favorite bass you've owned
For the site, do you personally have a list of every band and every project you've
played in?
One more question. Why free-form jazz fusion?
SUDDENLY, TERRY TAYLOR APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE AND HITS TIM IN THE BACK OF THE NECK
WITH A GOLF CLUB, SNAPPING HIM OUT OF IT.
TIM: Thanks, Terry.
TERRY: Sure, but....wait a second. Wasn't this interview done through e-mail?
TIM: (looking worried) ...Yeah.
TERRY: You sat at a computer and typed out your answers to the questions, right?
TIM: Yeah, why?
TERRY: Then I'm not really here, am I.
TIM: ...Well, no.
TERRY: Then how did I get here. What am I doing here.
TIM STANDS FROZEN, WIDE-EYED. SUDDENLY HE GRINS AND POINTS OVER TERRY'S SHOULDER, TRYING TO DISTRACT HIM.
TIM: Hey look over there, I think I see a--
TERRY: Tim!
TIM: (flinching) What--sorry! What's wrong.
TERRY: What am I doing here.
TIM: (uncomfortable)Alright... actually I just used you as a cheap device to
end the interview.
TERRY HITS TIM AGAIN WITH THE GOLF CLUB. IT MAKES A THREE STOOGES-LIKE COCOANUT SOUND
ON TIM'S FOREHEAD.
TIM GETS OFF THE GROUND, STANDS, THEN LAYS BACK DOWN FOR A FEW MINUTES.
TIM FINALLY STANDS AND RUBS THE SWOLLEN KNOB ON HIS HEAD.
TIM: Sorry, man.
TERRY:(softening)...Aw, that's okay.
TIM: ...Wanna make a gallon of Tang and listen to Dan Michaels' solo cassette?
TERRY: Okay.
THEY LEAVE.
I don't have any free time. My wife and I have two little kids, ages 5 and 3,
who take up my time in the most perfect way. I love being with them. And then sometimes,
because they're little kids and I'm like everyone else who's honest about it,
they drive me screaming from the room, ripping out the hair from my own head.
I was 10 years old. So that would be fifty years ago. My older brother had
a band but no bass player. He showed me the bass fingerings to some Beatles songs.
I learned them by rote, I had no idea what I was doing. After that, I didn't play
again until junior high stage band. I think I learned "Raindrops
Keep Falling On My Head" by B.J. Thomas.
Yes. I now consider myself to be one of the finest free-form jazz
fusion LEAD GUITARists the world has ever known.
Well, now that's obvious isn't it? I mean, who's the prettiest one? Duh!
David Cassidy.
(Tim, impersonating nearly any CCM fan): Who?
Foo Fighter's latest. It's called "There is Nothing Left
to Lose." Foo Fighters make me wanna stand up on my hind legs
and howl at the moon.
This last question, of course. (What a silly thing to ask!)
I don't own one. If I did, I'd probably sit in front of it for
a few years. I'm thinking of getting one, I know my kids would
love it and sit in front of it for a few years.
None of your beeswax. Okay, briefs. Okay, boxers AND briefs, but only
if worn simultaneously.
I grew up in a penticostal church so yes, I was a member of a cult.
None that I know of but I imagine there are some that I DON'T know
of that can't be repeated in mixed company.
Actually I'm shorter than my 5 year old but I wear fake platform-legs which, combined with expensive machinery that creates an optical illusion, brings me up to about 6'2"
One night I was watching Johnny Carson and Mel Torme was on.
When he was introduced, he came out and made this very sincere,
but very show-bizzy double-hand gesture. (I'd have to demonstrate it,
it's hard to describe exactly.) The whole ATTITUDE of it was
strikingly funny to me. I couldn't keep from doing it every time I saw
Terry. It eventually evolved into something Terry called "The Mighty Hand of
The Yo." That's as close as I can get.
Los Angeles
For both of them: 2-3-60. Yes I'm old and decrepit.
No, but I have a compulsion to submerse my entire head in mayonnaise
whenever and wherever that situation becomes possible. Is that what
you meant?
Yes.
Yes, one older brother (the one who taught me the Beatles songs) who
now, oddly enough, is younger than I am. He's a choir director at a
Baptist church, plays about a dozen different instruments and also
runs his own business.
With DA we usually end up screwing around and laughing like a bunch
of idiots during the whole thing, but somehow manage to get stuff done.
Terry always comes with a bunch of songs and the rest of us come with ideas
and bits and peices of music and chord progressions. Sometimes we'll just
start playing and make something up together. --- With the Choir, Derri and
I bring our bits and peices and Steve will be scribbling lyrics and sometimes
we'll also play and make something up from scratch together. Most of the time
Steve comes up with the vocal melodies for Choir songs.
I'm not sure. I never heard the final mix, so I don't know what made the
soundtrack.
Here's one: (and I'm not making this up!) We were somewhere in Kentucky.
Steve and Derri were back at the hotel, and I was with Chris Colbert and,
I think Dan Michaels. We found this 24-hour mom and pop restaurant that had
these things in the table that, if you put a quarter in, a disco ball would
start spinning in the middle of the ceiling, the lights would change and a
mechanical puppet show would start up on a small stage in the corner of the room.
I ordered a meal that was something like: a barbequed roast beef sandwich, fries,
a salad, another side dish, a drink, dessert and it came out to $1.25.
There was a pool hall next door where you could get a beer for a
quarter or something. There was an apartment for rent over the restaurant
and I never found out the price but I'm sure it would've been an eight room
suite for $40 a month.
Sorry folks, but it's true. Bass players do not matter. Don't believe I'm
sincere? Didn't hear me? Here, let me cup my hands around my mouth:
BASS PLAYERS DO NOT REALLY MATTER. Here's the thing: being a bass player
is like being a gas station attendant. Anyone can learn the basic job
in about five minutes. Still don't believe me? Let's take a look at....
for instance, the first Traveling Wilbury's record. Bob Dylan, George Harrison,
Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. Pretty good company, deserving of some
kind of hall-of-fame bass guru. Who played bass on it? Hmmmm, that's
funny, there's no bass player listed. There's a DRUMMER listed.
("...Bob, why don't you just play bass on this one.")
No, Terry's always been fearless at letting me try anything. Once in awhile
I've come up with parts that I myself thought were too wierd.
Forced semi-retirement. Other than that I'll be doing a tour of
Tupper-Ware parties with my new free-form jazz fusion ensemble.
It really varies. Sometimes it's just coming up with a bass part,
sometimes I'll have some ideas or suggestions. If we're making
stuff up on the fly, a bass player can steer the song in a particular
direction, obviously, just by changing the root of the chord.
It's ruined my career and my life. Just kidding. No, wait, I'm not kidding.
(Truth is: it's all ruined my life in some POSITIVE way. I won't bore you
here with the details, as long-winded as this all is.)
Other than complete failure you mean?
Screwing up an otherwise perfecly good song by playing an odd bass
part that, to me is not odd but musical and the best that I can do,
but which is in actuality garaunteed to single-handedly ensure
lower record sales.
In terms of technical ability, I'm not a very good player.
I purposely don't practice. I hear bass players who practice all the time
and have flawless technique. They play every note perfectly and sound like
a machine (which is wrong, which has the effect of sounding and feeling
passionless) and they wear their basses up real high, right next to their
Adam's Apple (which is REALLY wrong....Look: if you're gonna wear your bass
up that high, don't even consider playing rock or especially, as the kids
call it, punk rock. Neither one of them has anything to do with your Adam's Apple.)
When I play live, I use a pick 99% of the time. In the studio:both but mostly a pick to get as much crunch out of the bass as possible
Spiritual matters are extremely private and personal to the point that they're between
you and God. As far as musical responsibility, I guess that would be to try
as hard as possible not to suck.
Yes, they'll all (including the Choir, and especially Dan Michaels) be joining my new
free-form jazz fusion ensemble.
No! As a matter of fact, NO practice took place before any of the songs. We played the
CD of each song over the headphones and studio speakers and just played along with it,
not knowing the next chord change. Which, given the quality of the songs......never mind.
Sure. We did about two days of recording somewhere in the mid-eighties, then nothing
at all for at least a decade, then a day or two somewhere in the late nineties.
Also: I thought I really sucked at singing the stuff we did a couple of years ago.
I never entirely got back into character; full-throttle hillbilly mode. I didn't realize
it until I heard the final product.
TIM FALLS OFF HIS CHAIR LAUGHING, ROLLS AROUND ON THE GROUND, POUNDING THE FLOOR UNABLE TO STOP
LAUGHING. HE GOES OUT TO HIS CAR--CAN'T STOP LAUGHING. HE GOES BOWLING, GOES TO A MOVIE, DOES SOME
YARD WORK, STILL LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY. HE GETS ON A PLANE, FLIES TO EUROPE FOR A MONTH, COMES BACK,
HE'S STILL LAUGHING. HE SITS BACK DOWN IN HIS CHAIR, STOPS LAUGHING.
I can't answer that without using language that, to some, would be highly offensive,
and to others, not anywhere near harsh enough.
I did make a "living" at music for quite a few years, but when my kids were born I realized
I needed to do something that was less hand-to-mouth. And I didn't want to be on the road and
away from my family. I teach a computer operating system at a technical school.
I honestly can't answer that. I apologize if this sounds stupid, but it's true:
Whenever I have the chance to play on a new DA or Choir song, or contribute to one,
or present one,--I'm like a dog in a bone-yard. I'm salivating at the chance.
In the first few seconds/minutes/hours, I'm still a fan--I lose all objectivity...
That would take me about a year to get right. Instead: I'll tell you the records that
come to mind/that I often play/that I still hear in my head. In no order:
The Beatles: (pretty much anything--start with "Revolver")
The Rolling Stones: "Some Girls" "Tattoo You" "STICKY FINGERS"
"Exile on Main Street"...(almost anything)
Tom Waits: "Raindogs" (!)
Foo Fighters: "The Colour and the Shape" "There is Nothing Left to Lose"
Frank Sinatra: "The Capitol Years"
Sex Pistols: "Nevermind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols"
Thin White Rope: "In the Spanish Cave" (!)
Al Green: "Greatest Hits, Vol. 1"
Cheap Trick: "Live at Budokan"
Mark Heard: "Second Hand"
Steely Dan: "A Decade of Steely Dan"
Nirvana: "Nevermind"
Sugar: "Copper Blue"
My Bloody Valentine: "Loveless" (!!!)
AC/DC: "Back in Black"
Queen: "A Night at the Opera"
Leonard Cohen: "... ... ..."
I honestly don't listen to CCM. ...I'd end up picking my friends--Mark Heard, Mike Roe, Gene
Andrusco.... ed: that's Gene Eugene
???...impossible...(Replacements, Beatles, Rolling Stones, currently Foo Fighters... ...??)
That's easy. (and they're all English)---In no order:
John Entwistle (of THE WHO)
Colin Moulding (of XTC)
Bruce Thomas (he played on Elvis Costello's best.)
An increasingly temperamental 1981 Gallien-Krueger 400B bass head (that recently took six months to
get fixed after the last time it fried) and an Ampeg SVT "half-stack" (four ten-inch speakers.)
My old refrigerator sized SVT cabinet (eight ten-inch speakers) was blown up sometime around
1990-91 due to a mysterious series of odd circumstances, which I believe started at the
Cornerstone fesival.
When it comes to equipment I'm a grandad--I still play the same 1981 Aria Pro II bass. It's a giant
peice of wood (all one peice, no bolt-on neck) with a really loud Humbucker-like pickup.
I also have a Hamer 12-string bass that I will eventually restore.
No, I don't. I don't even have copies of everything I've played on because I usually have to
go buy them.
Are you kidding? People LOVE to hear an endless series of meaningless
notes played as fast as possible. They LOOOOOOVE to hear two hour solos.
And I LOOOOOOOOVE to see the glassy look in their eyes when...