Mo Foster
Encyclopedia
Mo Foster is a British session musician, playing primarily jazz
, jazz-fusion and rock
bass guitar. He is also a music producer and songwriter
/composer
. In over 40 years as a musician Foster has played on and produced countless albums, singles, and film soundtracks. He is a published author and occasionally teaches at music seminars all over the UK.
and violin
. In secondary school
he changed to a "much cooler" instrument and became the bass player (utilising a Dallas Tuxedo bass) in his school band, The Tradewinds.
Foster cites his interest in bass guitar as coming from hearing Duane Eddy's
song "Rebel Rouser" for the first time. "A school friend played the 78
on his parents' big radiogram
and it just filled the room with this powerful sound. It was one of those rare moments when your soul is touched and I realised that the deep sound behind Eddy's guitar came from something called a bass guitar, though I didn't see one until I watched Jet Harris
on TV. So I bought an acoustic guitar
for £2 and figured that I'd get that bass sound if I just tuned the strings down an octave, but of course it just made a pointless, flapping noise."
Foster studied physics
and mathematics
at the University of Sussex
in the mid-1960s. During his student days he played both drums
and bass in a wide variety of bands including the US Jazz Trio and The Baskervilles. Once he left university, a short spell as a laboratory research assistant convinced him that a career in music was preferable to a career as a scientist. During mid-1968 Foster, along with friends Lynton Naiff, Mike Jopp, Grant Serpell
and Linda Hoyle
, formed the progressive jazz/rock group Affinity
, which was managed by the late Ronnie Scott
. At the time they released one eponymously named album, though in the last few years archived tapes were discovered which enabled a further four Affinity related albums to be released.
magazine stating "Bass Guitarist: ex-name group, wishes to join established Family
/Colosseum
/Traffic
type group". He expected no response, but a music producer called Christos Demetriou
(i.e. Chris Demetriou) unexpectedly called and offered him a job with ex-Manfred Mann
singer Mike d'Abo's band. After touring with the band both in the US and in the UK, Foster's name started to get around. In 1971 he was hired to do a studio session for a Russ Ballard
song, "Can't Let You Go" at Lansdowne Studios. "I knew nothing about sessions and turned up with a flask and sandwiches because I didn't know how long I'd be there for. There was Clem Cattini
on drums, Ray Cooper
on percussion, Mike Moran on keyboards, Ray Fenwick
on guitar, all fine players and nice guys who must have thought my naiveté was amusing! That was the beginning of a word of mouth situation which gradually mushroomed." The European disco
scene was growing and session work was increasing and Mo was hired to play on a lot of the popular hits of the time including Jimmy Helms'
"Gonna Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse", Cerrone's
hit "Supernature".
In his early days as a session player Foster, having been self-taught, could not read music and freely admits that he bluffed his way through a lot of sessions. Finally at a session at Abbey Road Studios, playing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
, it got so difficult to follow the music by listening to the drummer and guitarist that he vowed to teach himself. This he then did.
In 1975 Foster pioneered the teaching of bass guitar in Britain by founding the first-ever course at Goldsmiths College, University of London
. As of mid-2007, along with guitarist Ray Russell and drummer Ralph Salmins, Foster is embarking on several music seminars at different educational establishments around the UK. The most recent (September 2007) being Leeds Metropolitan University
. The trio have also been invited to give a similar seminar at the famous Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
music school which was started by Sir Paul McCartney
. He has also contributed several articles to bass playing specialist magazines.
One of Foster's most memorable bass lines was in the theme tune to the late-70s UK TV show "Minder
" starring Dennis Waterman
. The tune, "I Can Be So Good For You" started out life as a track on Waterman's solo album, it was then re-jigged as the show's theme tune. Mo achieved the atypical bass sound by using an unusual bass slap technique on an aluminium Kramer 650B bass guitar.
Foster has cited several well known bassists as being the inspirations to both his playing and his compositions, including Carol Kaye
, Jet Harris, Jack Bruce
and Stanley Clarke
.
called RMS
with fellow session musos, Ray Russell
and Simon Phillips
. They released (originally on Peter Van Hooke
's then at the time fledgling MMC record label) an album called Centennial Park which was remastered and re-released in 2002 on the Angel Air
record label. This in turn prompted the release of a live album from 1982 that had never been heard publicly before RMS: Live at the Venue, 1982.
As a result of the success of these two CD releases, a DVD (which featured guests appearances by Gil Evans
and Mark Isham
) was released a year later. RMS: Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1983. Both the CDs and DVD were produced by Mo and Ray Russell
.
to form the core of the imaginary, but tragic RJ Wagsmith Band. Together they wrote a chart topping song for Roger Kitter (aka "The Brat"
. They also penned what became one of the few one-hit wonders that never actually made it into the charts. "The Papadum Song" was about two losers who go into an Indian restaurant for a meal after a football match. The song got quite considerable airplay and Mike and Mo appeared together on the BBC
children's programmes "Blue Peter
" and Granada TV's "Get It Together". Unfortunately there was an industrial dispute at Phonogram Records
and no records actually got to the shops.
At the latter end of the 1980s Foster decided that he would like the freedom to perform, produce and record his own music rather than that of someone else. He was able to call on some of his many friends who happened to be some of the UK's foremost session musicians to help him. Since 1987 he has released five solo albums.
(The Old Hyde), Dr John (Such A Night), Maggie Bell
(Live At The Rainbow), Affinity
(Live Instrumentals 1969, 1971-72, Origins 1965-67, and Origins Baskervilles 1965), Survivors (Survivors), Maria Muldaur
(Live In London), Adrian Legg
(Fretmelt), RMS
(Centennial Park, Live At The Venue 1982), RMS with Gil Evans (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival 1983 DVD), The RJ Wagsmith Band (Make Tea Not War).
In addition Foster has composed and produced hundreds of titles for the major Production Music Libraries
, co-wrote with Ray Russell the instrumental "So Far Away" for Gary Moore
, co-wrote with Mike Walling
the comedy hit single "Chalk Dust" for The Brat
, co-wrote with Kim Goody
the song "Sentimental Again" which reached the final in the Song for Europe Contest in 1990, and co-wrote with Ringo Starr
, Joe Walsh
, and Kim Goody the main song "In My Car" from Ringo’s album Old Wave
.
The book's title is Seventeen Watts?, the title having come from the school band member's quandary of "do we really need that much power?" when a 17W
Watkins Dominator
Amplifier
was acquired as a replacement for the 'aging' 5W
amp they had previously been using.
In the US, for some reason known only to the publishers, the title of the book was renamed to Play Like Elvis and had a different foreword, this time written by Duane Eddy
.
The first half of the book covers the emergence of a new breed of musician, the "Rock Guitarist" and features many anecdotes of the efforts of now legendary guitarists to not only learn the latest chord but to have to figure out how to build their own guitar because they could not afford the shiny one in the music shop window. There are stories and quotes from such six-string luminaries as Jeff Beck
, Ritchie Blackmore
, Joe Brown
, Clem Cattini
, Eric Clapton
, Lonnie Donegan
, Vic Flick
, Herbie Flowers
, Roger Glover
, George Harrison
, Mark Knopfler
, Hank Marvin
, Brian May
, Gary Moore
, Joe Moretti
, Pino Palladino
, Rick Parfitt
, John Paul Jones
, Francis Rossi
, Gerry Rafferty
, Mike Rutherford
, Big Jim Sullivan
, Andy Summers
, Richard Thompson, Bert Weedon
, Bruce Welch
, and Muff Winwood
.
The second half of Seventeen Watts? is devoted to the rise and eventual demise of the London studio session scene. Mo tried to present an insider's view of this creative world, and the wonderful absurdity of musicians' humour in general.
series Live From Abbey Road
, which involved interviewing musicians and bands who were performing live sets at EMI
's world-famous Abbey Road Studios
.
Foster now concentrates on producing albums for others, composing music, session work (he recently played with Brian May
and Brian Bennett on a 12 hour session at Abbey Road Studios
for a re-make of Cliff Richard
's 1958 hit "Move It
"), writing, researching and remastering his back catalogue (not only for his solo projects but also for other artists).
Foster has also resumed playing concerts with his band RMS, featuring Ray Russell, and Gary Husband
- notably with Gary Moore
at a recent charity concert Vibes From The Vines.
he used, his reply of "errr black ones?" brought the subject to a close quite quickly.
Over the years Foster has collected several different types of bass guitar including a custom-built Moon MBC fretless 5-string, an Overwater Progress 5-string and an Alembic Omega (since stolen). Invariably though, he uses his two main basses, his Fender Precision and particularly his Fender Jazz which he considers to be his "voice".
The Fender Jazz bass guitar started out life as a standard 4-string bass, but in 1976, after being inspired by Jaco Pastorius
' fretless playing, he commissioned a symphony bass repairman by the name of Neville Whitehead to replace the standard neck with a fretless version. It was replaced by a planed-down real ebony neck removed from a 100 year old upright bass. For six months Foster struggled with the pure black neck as there were no indicators for finger positioning. Eventually giving up the fight, he employed luthier
Dick Knight to mark fretlines on the neck. After going to this trouble he was somewhat amazed to hear later that Pastorius achieved the same thing by merely pulling off the frets and filling the resulting holes with epoxy resin. Since the early 80s the bass guitar has undergone several component replacements including the bridge and the pickups.
With regard to amplifiers, Foster eschews techno-laden amps with equalisers and all manner of knobs and buttons, preferring instead ones that simply "have an on-off switch and a little light". Though on one occasion whilst touring with Jeff Beck, with Simon Phillips on drums. Phillips drums were amplified to such an extent that Foster could no longer hear his bass, so just to keep up he was forced into having a system made up from two BGW
power amps and a speaker rig consisting of Altec, Gauss and JBL drivers. It was so powerful it was christened the "trouser lifter" as a person's trousers flapped when passing it, but at least now Foster could hear his bass.
Foster has stated that his interests in the physical sciences have remained with him throughout his non-scientific career and he stays informed on scientific innovation by reading New Scientist
magazine. He enjoys wordplay-based humour, particularly non-PC
and scatological humour. To that end, he has professed himself to be a fan of radio shows such as "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
" and "The Goon Show
" on BBC Radio 4
, as well as the comic Viz
, particularly the "Roger's Profanisaurus" section.
He currently lives with his film producer wife, Kay, in North London. He is vegetarian and loves Indian cuisine
.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, jazz-fusion and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
bass guitar. He is also a music producer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
/composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. In over 40 years as a musician Foster has played on and produced countless albums, singles, and film soundtracks. He is a published author and occasionally teaches at music seminars all over the UK.
Early years
Foster's first dalliance as a musician in public was in primary school playing the recorderRecorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
. In secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
he changed to a "much cooler" instrument and became the bass player (utilising a Dallas Tuxedo bass) in his school band, The Tradewinds.
Foster cites his interest in bass guitar as coming from hearing Duane Eddy's
Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young"...
song "Rebel Rouser" for the first time. "A school friend played the 78
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
on his parents' big radiogram
Receiver (radio)
A radio receiver converts signals from a radio antenna to a usable form. It uses electronic filters to separate a wanted radio frequency signal from all other signals, the electronic amplifier increases the level suitable for further processing, and finally recovers the desired information through...
and it just filled the room with this powerful sound. It was one of those rare moments when your soul is touched and I realised that the deep sound behind Eddy's guitar came from something called a bass guitar, though I didn't see one until I watched Jet Harris
Jet Harris
Jet Harris, MBE was an English musician. He was the bass guitarist of The Shadows until April 1962, and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with the drummer Tony Meehan....
on TV. So I bought an acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
for £2 and figured that I'd get that bass sound if I just tuned the strings down an octave, but of course it just made a pointless, flapping noise."
University years
MoFoster studied physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
in the mid-1960s. During his student days he played both drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and bass in a wide variety of bands including the US Jazz Trio and The Baskervilles. Once he left university, a short spell as a laboratory research assistant convinced him that a career in music was preferable to a career as a scientist. During mid-1968 Foster, along with friends Lynton Naiff, Mike Jopp, Grant Serpell
Grant Serpell
Grant Serpell was a member of several bands during the 1960s and 1970s, including Affinity and Sailor, and was an encouraging influence over two of the members of The Hoosiers while being their chemistry teacher at Waingels College.Serpell enjoyed a revival of Sailor's success, which started in...
and Linda Hoyle
Linda Hoyle
Linda Hoyle was the vocalist of English jazz-rock band Affinity. Her singing style combines rock, blues, soul and jazz. Her brief musical career, and the fact of non-commercial play, caused her music to be obscure....
, formed the progressive jazz/rock group Affinity
Affinity (band)
Affinity were an English jazz-rock fusion band, active from mid 1968 to January 1971.-Origins:The origin of Affinity was, circa 1965 in the science department of the University of Sussex in Brighton, England...
, which was managed by the late Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner.-Life and career:Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate, east London, into a family of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Portuguese antecedents on his mother's. Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of...
. At the time they released one eponymously named album, though in the last few years archived tapes were discovered which enabled a further four Affinity related albums to be released.
Session years
After Affinity played their last gig in 1970 Foster decided that rather than being an over-educated but unemployed musician he needed to join another band. He placed a classified ad in Melody MakerMelody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
magazine stating "Bass Guitarist: ex-name group, wishes to join established Family
Family (band)
Family were an English rock band that formed in late 1966 and disbanded in October 1973. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, although their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles like as folk, psychedelia, acid, jazz fusion and rock and roll...
/Colosseum
Colosseum (band)
Colosseum is a pioneering British progressive jazz-rock band, mixing progressive rock and jazz-based improvisation.-History 1968 - 1971:The band was formed in September 1968 by drummer Jon Hiseman, tenor sax player Dick Heckstall-Smith and bass player Tony Reeves, who had previously worked together...
/Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
type group". He expected no response, but a music producer called Christos Demetriou
Christos Demetriou
Chris Demetriou born in Paphos, Cyprus, is a musician, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur. He spent his informative years in South Africa, moving in 1969 to the United Kingdom, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.- Music career :...
(i.e. Chris Demetriou) unexpectedly called and offered him a job with ex-Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
singer Mike d'Abo's band. After touring with the band both in the US and in the UK, Foster's name started to get around. In 1971 he was hired to do a studio session for a Russ Ballard
Russ Ballard
Russell Glyn Ballard is an English singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Ballard was initially a guitarist with Buster Meikle & The Day Breakers in 1961, together with Roy Ballard, Russ's older brother on piano and Bob Henrit on drums...
song, "Can't Let You Go" at Lansdowne Studios. "I knew nothing about sessions and turned up with a flask and sandwiches because I didn't know how long I'd be there for. There was Clem Cattini
Clem Cattini
Clem Cattini , is an English rock and roll drummer who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician...
on drums, Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper is an English musician. He is a session and road-tour percussionist, and occasional actor, who has worked with several musically diverse bands and artists including George Harrison, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, and Elton John. Cooper is commonly regarded by music fans, critics and fellow...
on percussion, Mike Moran on keyboards, Ray Fenwick
Ray Fenwick
Ray Fenwick is an English guitarist and session musician, best known for replacing Steve Howe in The Syndicats, and as the lead guitarist of Ian Gillan's post Deep Purple solo project, the Ian Gillan Band.-Biography:...
on guitar, all fine players and nice guys who must have thought my naiveté was amusing! That was the beginning of a word of mouth situation which gradually mushroomed." The European disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
scene was growing and session work was increasing and Mo was hired to play on a lot of the popular hits of the time including Jimmy Helms'
Jimmy Helms
James H. Helms is an American soul singer.-Early days:Helms' first release "Ragtime Girl" was put out on Pye Records in 1963...
"Gonna Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse", Cerrone's
Cerrone
Marc Cerrone is a French disco drummer, singer-songwriter and record producer.Marc Cerrone has sold over thirty million albums and has often performed in front of hundreds of thousands of people at huge concerts and events such as The 2005 Dance Party Live in Versailles and The 2000 Los Angeles...
hit "Supernature".
In his early days as a session player Foster, having been self-taught, could not read music and freely admits that he bluffed his way through a lot of sessions. Finally at a session at Abbey Road Studios, playing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
, it got so difficult to follow the music by listening to the drummer and guitarist that he vowed to teach himself. This he then did.
| As a session musician Foster has played on over 350 recordings including artists as varied as: | As a sideman Mo Foster has toured the world or played concerts with: |
plus numerous others... |
|
| During his time as a session player Mo was asked to work on many film soundtrack sessions including: | |
| Film | TV |
|
For Your Eyes Only (film) For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum... Octopussy Octopussy is the thirteenth entry in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights... Revenge of the Pink Panther Revenge of the Pink Panther is the sixth film in the Pink Panther film series. Released in 1978, Revenge of was the last entry featuring series star Peter Sellers, who died in 1980... Clockwise (film) Clockwise is a 1986 British comedy film starring John Cleese. It was directed by Christopher Morahan, written by Michael Frayn and produced by Michael Codron. The film was co-produced by Moment Films and Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment... Heaven's Prisoners Heaven's Prisoners is a 1996 feature film drama starring Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Mary Stuart Masterson, Teri Hatcher and Eric Roberts. It is based on a Dave Robicheaux novel of the same name by James Lee Burke. The film was directed by Phil Joanou... Lost and Found (1979 film) Lost and Found is a 1979 film starring George Segal and Glenda Jackson, featuring John Candy. The film is about a couple and their constant meeting and clashing with each other. In some respects, the film is almost a 'companion' film to A Touch Of Class, a 1972 movie which featured much of the... Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire is a 1985 British musical film starring Phil Daniels and Alun Armstrong. The film was directed by Alan Clarke and written by Trevor Preston.-Plot:... Silver Dream Racer Silver Dream Racer is a film starring David Essex and Beau Bridges. Essex stars as Nick Freeman, a motorcycle racer who, following the death of his brother, inherits a revolutionary prototype motorcycle, and is determined to race it at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.The opening title scenes... |
Minder (TV series) Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV... " Bergerac (TV series) Bergerac was a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and screened on BBC1, it starred John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in "Le Bureau des Étrangers" Bergerac was a British television show... " Grafters Grafters was a British drama–comedy programme originally broadcast in the UK on ITV from 27 October 1998 to 20 December 1999 for 16 episodes over two series.... " Stay Lucky Stay Lucky is a 1989–1993 British television comedy-drama series. Made by Yorkshire Television and screened on the ITV network, it starred Dennis Waterman and Jan Francis.-Plot:... " Dangerfield Dangerfield may mean*Dangerfield , a British television series*Rover Dangerfield, an animated feature film*Dangerfield Newby, an American former slave who followed John BrownDangerfield is a surname and may refer to:... " Peak Practice Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time... " |
In 1975 Foster pioneered the teaching of bass guitar in Britain by founding the first-ever course at Goldsmiths College, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. As of mid-2007, along with guitarist Ray Russell and drummer Ralph Salmins, Foster is embarking on several music seminars at different educational establishments around the UK. The most recent (September 2007) being Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University is a British University with three campuses. Two are situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England while the third is situated in Bhopal, India...
. The trio have also been invited to give a similar seminar at the famous Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts is, despite its young age, one of the United Kingdom's leading institutions for the performing arts. The university is situated in the English city of Liverpool...
music school which was started by Sir Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. He has also contributed several articles to bass playing specialist magazines.
One of Foster's most memorable bass lines was in the theme tune to the late-70s UK TV show "Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
" starring Dennis Waterman
Dennis Waterman
Dennis Waterman is a British actor and singer, best known for his tough-guy roles in television series including The Sweeney, Minder and New Tricks.-Early life:...
. The tune, "I Can Be So Good For You" started out life as a track on Waterman's solo album, it was then re-jigged as the show's theme tune. Mo achieved the atypical bass sound by using an unusual bass slap technique on an aluminium Kramer 650B bass guitar.
Foster has cited several well known bassists as being the inspirations to both his playing and his compositions, including Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....
, Jet Harris, Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
and Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
.
Jazz years
In the mid to late 80s Foster was the ‘M‘ in the jazz/rock trioTrio (music)
Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...
called RMS
RMS (band)
RMS is a jazz fusion band formed in 1982. It consists of three well known and acclaimed British session musicians. Guitarist, Ray Russell, bass player, Mo Foster and drummer Simon Phillips....
with fellow session musos, Ray Russell
Ray Russell (musician)
Raymond 'Ray' Russell is an English session musician who is primarily a guitarist. He is also renowned as a record producer, composer and session musician....
and Simon Phillips
Simon Phillips
Simon Phillips is an English jazz, pop and rock drummer.-Career:Phillips began to play professionally at the age of twelve in his father's Dixieland band for four years. He was then offered the chance to play in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar...
. They released (originally on Peter Van Hooke
Peter Van Hooke
Peter Van Hooke was drummer in the English band Mike + The Mechanics as well as having drummed for Cliff Richard, Van Morrison's band, Headstone, and Ezio. During the 1980s he successfully co-produced many of Tanita Tikaram's hits.Van Hooke grew up in Stanmore, Middlesex and attended Mill Hill...
's then at the time fledgling MMC record label) an album called Centennial Park which was remastered and re-released in 2002 on the Angel Air
Angel Air
Angel Airlines, trading as Angel Air, was an airline based in Bangkok, Thailand, which was operational between 1997 and 2006.-Fleet:Over the years, Angel Airlines operated the following aircraft types:...
record label. This in turn prompted the release of a live album from 1982 that had never been heard publicly before RMS: Live at the Venue, 1982.
As a result of the success of these two CD releases, a DVD (which featured guests appearances by Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
and Mark Isham
Mark Isham
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
) was released a year later. RMS: Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1983. Both the CDs and DVD were produced by Mo and Ray Russell
Ray Russell (musician)
Raymond 'Ray' Russell is an English session musician who is primarily a guitarist. He is also renowned as a record producer, composer and session musician....
.
Solo years
In the mid-80s Foster joined up with comedy writer/actor Mike WallingMike Walling
Mike Walling is an English comic actor and screenwriter.He began his career as an English teacher at Holland Park School in London. In the mid-1970s, while still a teacher, he won a British TV talent contest, New Faces, with a comedy double act called "Mr Carline & Mr Walling." He immediately...
to form the core of the imaginary, but tragic RJ Wagsmith Band. Together they wrote a chart topping song for Roger Kitter (aka "The Brat"
Roger Kitter
Roger Kitter is a British actor best known for playing Captain Alberto Bertorelli in season seven of the British sitcom TV series Allo 'Allo!. He also recorded a song "Chalk Dust - the Umpire Strikes Back" using the moniker 'The Brat'...
. They also penned what became one of the few one-hit wonders that never actually made it into the charts. "The Papadum Song" was about two losers who go into an Indian restaurant for a meal after a football match. The song got quite considerable airplay and Mike and Mo appeared together on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
children's programmes "Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
" and Granada TV's "Get It Together". Unfortunately there was an industrial dispute at Phonogram Records
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Records was started in 1962 as a joint venture between Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In 1972, Phonogram was merged with Polydor Records into PolyGram....
and no records actually got to the shops.
At the latter end of the 1980s Foster decided that he would like the freedom to perform, produce and record his own music rather than that of someone else. He was able to call on some of his many friends who happened to be some of the UK's foremost session musicians to help him. Since 1987 he has released five solo albums.
Discography
- Bel AssisBel AssisBel Assis is Mo Foster's first album.All tracks were produced by Mo, engineered and mixed by Simon Smart.Bel Assis was originally released on Pete Van Hooke's fledgling MMC label in 1988 and was subsequently remastered and re-released in 2003 on the Angel Air record label.-Track listing:# "The...
(1988) (featuring Gary MooreGary MooreRobert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
and drummer Simon PhillipsSimon PhillipsSimon Phillips is an English jazz, pop and rock drummer.-Career:Phillips began to play professionally at the age of twelve in his father's Dixieland band for four years. He was then offered the chance to play in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar...
) - Southern ReunionSouthern ReunionSouthern Reunion is Mo Foster's second solo album.All tracks were produced by Mo, engineered and mixed by Simon Smart, with the exception of "The Man From The Everglades" which was engineered and mixed by Mo....
(1991) (featuring Gary MooreGary MooreRobert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
, Gary HusbandGary HusbandGary Husband is a British jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer.- Short biography:Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer...
and Snail's Pace Slim) - Time To ThinkTime to ThinkTime to Think is Mo Foster's third solo album.Most of the tracks were written whilst Mo was on a trip to New Zealand. The album was conceptualised as a soundscape of acoustic instruments and to that end was recorded in a small Oxfordshire church, picked because of its beautiful acoustics...
(2002) - Live At Blues West 14Live at Blues West 14Live At Blues West 14 is Mo Foster's fourth solo album.All tracks were produced and arranged by Mo and mixed by Simon Smart.Live At Blues West 14 was released on the Angel Air label in 2006.- Track listing :# "Hot Buttered Cats" – 7:40...
(2006) - Belsize Lane: A Collection of Sketches (2007) (Limited Issue)
Producer years
Apart from his five solo albums Foster has produced – or co-produced - albums for Deborah BonhamDeborah Bonham
Deborah Bonham is an English rock and blues vocalist and the sister of John Bonham, the late drummer for the band Led Zeppelin...
(The Old Hyde), Dr John (Such A Night), Maggie Bell
Maggie Bell
Maggie Bell is a Scottish rock and blues-rock singer, regarded by some as Britain's answer to Janis Joplin.-Career:...
(Live At The Rainbow), Affinity
Affinity (band)
Affinity were an English jazz-rock fusion band, active from mid 1968 to January 1971.-Origins:The origin of Affinity was, circa 1965 in the science department of the University of Sussex in Brighton, England...
(Live Instrumentals 1969, 1971-72, Origins 1965-67, and Origins Baskervilles 1965), Survivors (Survivors), Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s...
(Live In London), Adrian Legg
Adrian Legg
Adrian Legg is an English guitar player who has been called "impossible to categorize". He plays custom guitars that are a hybrid of electric and acoustic, and his fingerstyle picking technique has been acknowledged by the readers of Guitar Player who voted Legg the "best acoustic fingerstyle"...
(Fretmelt), RMS
RMS (band)
RMS is a jazz fusion band formed in 1982. It consists of three well known and acclaimed British session musicians. Guitarist, Ray Russell, bass player, Mo Foster and drummer Simon Phillips....
(Centennial Park, Live At The Venue 1982), RMS with Gil Evans (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival 1983 DVD), The RJ Wagsmith Band (Make Tea Not War).
In addition Foster has composed and produced hundreds of titles for the major Production Music Libraries
Music library
A music library contains music-related materials for patron use. Collections may also include non-print materials, such as digitized music scores or audio recordings. Use of such materials may be limited to specific patron groups, especially in private academic institutions...
, co-wrote with Ray Russell the instrumental "So Far Away" for Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
, co-wrote with Mike Walling
Mike Walling
Mike Walling is an English comic actor and screenwriter.He began his career as an English teacher at Holland Park School in London. In the mid-1970s, while still a teacher, he won a British TV talent contest, New Faces, with a comedy double act called "Mr Carline & Mr Walling." He immediately...
the comedy hit single "Chalk Dust" for The Brat
Roger Kitter
Roger Kitter is a British actor best known for playing Captain Alberto Bertorelli in season seven of the British sitcom TV series Allo 'Allo!. He also recorded a song "Chalk Dust - the Umpire Strikes Back" using the moniker 'The Brat'...
, co-wrote with Kim Goody
Kim Goody
Kim Goody , is an English actress, composer, singer and song writer.She has starred in television shows such as Play Away and No. 73. She wrote the music for The Magic House and the 1994 revival of Rainbow with her husband Alan Coates...
the song "Sentimental Again" which reached the final in the Song for Europe Contest in 1990, and co-wrote with Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
, and Kim Goody the main song "In My Car" from Ringo’s album Old Wave
Old Wave
Old Wave is the ninth studio album by Ringo Starr, released in 1983 as the follow-up to 1981's Stop and Smell the Roses.In early 1982, Starr was eager to move on to his next project. Deciding that he needed more consistency this time around, he would work with only one producer, Joe Walsh, a former...
.
Author years
In 1997 Foster authored a semi-autobiographical and anecdotal book about the birth and rise of Rock guitar in the UK during the period 1955 - 1975.The book's title is Seventeen Watts?, the title having come from the school band member's quandary of "do we really need that much power?" when a 17W
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
Watkins Dominator
Watkins Electric Music
Watkins Electric Music is a British company known for manufacturing musical instruments, guitar, bass and PA amplification and the CopiCat tape echo machine. The company was founded in 1949, initially as a record shop in Tooting Market, London, by Charlie Watkins and his brother Reg Watkins...
Amplifier
Instrument amplifier
An instrument amplifier is an electronic amplifier that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal from musical instruments such as an electric guitar, an electric bass, or an electric keyboard into an electronic signal capable of driving a loudspeaker that can be heard by the...
was acquired as a replacement for the 'aging' 5W
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
amp they had previously been using.
In the US, for some reason known only to the publishers, the title of the book was renamed to Play Like Elvis and had a different foreword, this time written by Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young"...
.
The first half of the book covers the emergence of a new breed of musician, the "Rock Guitarist" and features many anecdotes of the efforts of now legendary guitarists to not only learn the latest chord but to have to figure out how to build their own guitar because they could not afford the shiny one in the music shop window. There are stories and quotes from such six-string luminaries as Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
, Ritchie Blackmore
Ritchie Blackmore
Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was known as one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. He fronted his own band Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple where he was unhappy because his favourite musical style wasn't adequately...
, Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
, Clem Cattini
Clem Cattini
Clem Cattini , is an English rock and roll drummer who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
, Vic Flick
Vic Flick
Victor Harold Flick is an English guitarist, most famous for playing the guitar riff in the "James Bond Theme".-Biography:...
, Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers is an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double-bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T...
, Roger Glover
Roger Glover
Roger David Glover is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. Glover is best known as the bassist and lyricist for the hard rock band, Deep Purple.-Early career:...
, George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
, Hank Marvin
Hank Marvin
Hank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
, Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
, Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
, Joe Moretti
Joe Moretti
Joe Moretti is a British guitarist renowned for his work on seminal UK rock n' roll records such as Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates' "Shakin' All Over"...
, Pino Palladino
Pino Palladino
Pino Palladino is a Welsh bass guitarist who gained fame playing primarily rock and roll, blues rock, and rhythm and blues music, although he has been lauded for his ability to play most genres of popular music, including jazz, neo soul, and funk...
, Rick Parfitt
Rick Parfitt
Richard John Parfitt, OBE is best known for being a singer and the rhythm guitarist in the English rock band Status Quo.-Career:...
, John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
, Francis Rossi
Francis Rossi
Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, OBE is a British musician best known for being a co-founder of the English rock band Status Quo, in which he sings lead vocals and plays lead guitar.- Career :...
, Gerry Rafferty
Gerry Rafferty
Gerald "Gerry" Rafferty was a Scottish singer songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working-class family in...
, Mike Rutherford
Mike Rutherford
Michael John Cleote Crawford Rutherford is an English musician. He is a founding member of Genesis, initially as a bassist and backup vocalist. In later incarnations of Genesis, he assumed the role of lead guitarist. He is one of only two constant members in Genesis . He also fronts Mike + The...
, Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan is an English musician, whose career started in 1959. He is best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan was one of the most "in-demand" studio musicians in the UK, and performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career...
, Andy Summers
Andy Summers
Andy Summers is an English guitarist born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. Best known as the guitarist for rock band The Police, he has also recorded twelve solo albums, collaborated with many other artists, toured extensively under his own name, published several books, and composed...
, Richard Thompson, Bert Weedon
Bert Weedon
Herbert Maurice William 'Bert' Weedon OBE is an English guitarist and composer whose style of guitar playing was popular and influential during the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in Burges Road, East Ham, Essex, now Greater London....
, Bruce Welch
Bruce Welch
Bruce Welch OBE, is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer and singer, best known as a member of The Shadows.-Biography:...
, and Muff Winwood
Muff Winwood
Mervyn "Muff" Winwood is an English songwriter and record producer, and the older brother of Steve Winwood. Both were formerly members of the Spencer Davis Group in the 1960s, in which Muff Winwood played bass guitar...
.
The second half of Seventeen Watts? is devoted to the rise and eventual demise of the London studio session scene. Mo tried to present an insider's view of this creative world, and the wonderful absurdity of musicians' humour in general.
Non-muso years
Most recently Foster has worked as an archivist/interviewer on the recent UK Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
series Live From Abbey Road
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
, which involved interviewing musicians and bands who were performing live sets at EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
's world-famous Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
.
Foster now concentrates on producing albums for others, composing music, session work (he recently played with Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
and Brian Bennett on a 12 hour session at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
for a re-make of Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
's 1958 hit "Move It
Move It
"Move It" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters . Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut single on 29 August 1958 and became his first hit record. It is credited with being one of the first authentic rock and roll songs produced...
"), writing, researching and remastering his back catalogue (not only for his solo projects but also for other artists).
Foster has also resumed playing concerts with his band RMS, featuring Ray Russell, and Gary Husband
Gary Husband
Gary Husband is a British jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer.- Short biography:Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer...
- notably with Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
at a recent charity concert Vibes From The Vines.
His tools
Although Foster has an interest in science it does not extend to the technology used in his instrumentation. He was once asked by a magazine journalist what type of pickupsPickup (music technology)
A pickup device is a transducer that captures mechanical vibrations, usually from suitably equipped stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, electric bass guitar, Chapman Stick, or electric violin, and converts them to an electrical signal that is amplified, recorded, or broadcast.-...
he used, his reply of "errr black ones?" brought the subject to a close quite quickly.
Over the years Foster has collected several different types of bass guitar including a custom-built Moon MBC fretless 5-string, an Overwater Progress 5-string and an Alembic Omega (since stolen). Invariably though, he uses his two main basses, his Fender Precision and particularly his Fender Jazz which he considers to be his "voice".
The Fender Jazz bass guitar started out life as a standard 4-string bass, but in 1976, after being inspired by Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
' fretless playing, he commissioned a symphony bass repairman by the name of Neville Whitehead to replace the standard neck with a fretless version. It was replaced by a planed-down real ebony neck removed from a 100 year old upright bass. For six months Foster struggled with the pure black neck as there were no indicators for finger positioning. Eventually giving up the fight, he employed luthier
Luthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
Dick Knight to mark fretlines on the neck. After going to this trouble he was somewhat amazed to hear later that Pastorius achieved the same thing by merely pulling off the frets and filling the resulting holes with epoxy resin. Since the early 80s the bass guitar has undergone several component replacements including the bridge and the pickups.
With regard to amplifiers, Foster eschews techno-laden amps with equalisers and all manner of knobs and buttons, preferring instead ones that simply "have an on-off switch and a little light". Though on one occasion whilst touring with Jeff Beck, with Simon Phillips on drums. Phillips drums were amplified to such an extent that Foster could no longer hear his bass, so just to keep up he was forced into having a system made up from two BGW
BGW Systems
BGW Systems is a designer and manufacturer of audio power amplifiers based in Southern California in the United States. The company also manufactures other audio electronics designs as well as computer systems and sheet metal products.-History:...
power amps and a speaker rig consisting of Altec, Gauss and JBL drivers. It was so powerful it was christened the "trouser lifter" as a person's trousers flapped when passing it, but at least now Foster could hear his bass.
Personal life
Foster has stated that his interests in the physical sciences have remained with him throughout his non-scientific career and he stays informed on scientific innovation by reading New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
magazine. He enjoys wordplay-based humour, particularly non-PC
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
and scatological humour. To that end, he has professed himself to be a fan of radio shows such as "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
" and "The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
" on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, as well as the comic Viz
Viz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
, particularly the "Roger's Profanisaurus" section.
He currently lives with his film producer wife, Kay, in North London. He is vegetarian and loves Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine consists of thousands of regional cuisines which date back thousands of years. The dishes of India are characterised by the extensive use of various Indian spices, herbs, vegetables and fruit. Indian cuisine is also known for the widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society...
.
External links
- Mo Foster's website
- University of SussexUniversity of SussexThe University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
- Abbey Road StudiosAbbey Road StudiosAbbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
- AIR Studios