DAN MASH

(Bass)

“It has been an absolute pleasure to be a part of such a diverse project that bridges and enables the collaboration of so many talented musicians. I particularly enjoyed working on ‘Seeds’ as it enabled me to express a different side on my playing, allowing me to use a plectrum and experiment with various overdrives. The song is incredibly well written and a journey that takes you through a myriad of genres and emotions. I very much look forward to hearing the completed album and maybe even playing some of the tracks live…”

Dan has managed to achieve a lot in a very short period of time. His musical palette is made of his love of diverse styles, from the obvious influences of great bass play-ers like Wooten, King, Pastorius and Jamerson. With his considerable technical prowess he fuses tremendous pop sensibility into his playing, has a keen ear for melody and can spend hours enthusing about artists normally considered poles apart from Prog Rock, like Earth Wind & Fire or early Michael Jackson.

The funky edge he brought to The Tangent is his hallmark, and the older guys around The Tangent were quick to realise that this style is actually a very suitable way in which to approach Progressive Rock, in that Chris Squire’s legendary work for Yes is, intentionally or not, “well funky” as Dan puts it.

Dan met Luke Machin (The Tangent, Maschine) at BIMM in Brighton where Dan was studying under Franc O’Shea and the two worked together on many projects. By the time the bass position became available in The Tangent, there was no-one else under consideration. Dan was The Man!

“I try to capture the melodic quality of players like Jaco and McCartney and combine it with the groove of bassists like Wooten and Jamerson” he says, “If you find the balance between groove and melody your bass lines will not only sit well, but complement and add to the harmony of any given composition”.

Dan was featured on the album and toured Europe with UPF for their debut album ‘Fall In Love With The World’ in 2014.

More recently, Dan is the ‘DA’ in Damanek along with Guy Manning, and Marek Arnold. The group, along with Sean Timms (Southern Empire), and Luke Machin performed at Summer’s End 2016 and the album ‘On Track’ was released on Giant Electric Pea (GEP) in May 2017.