“Get Me Nathan East!” | Interview and Jam

Nathan East is one of the most recorded musicians of all time, with over 2,000 recordings over his four decades in the bizz. Well, now we can officially say he has 2,001 recordings, because he stopped by the AMS Tone Labs to lay down a tasty version of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” — which you definitely need to check out!  

Between jams and eating “some of the greatest pizza,” we got to sit down with Nathan East and talk all about his career, his musical process, and the brand-new Nathan East signature Laney Amp. Watch the interview now.

You’d think a bassist as prominent as Nathan East would have his own signature amp by now. But it took almost 40 years of playing with all sorts of legendary artists before Nathan got to sit down with a brand and say, “It’d be nice if…”

Well, that brand was Laney. And when Nathan said, “What if…?” They said, “Why not!?” Thus, the Laney Digbeth Nathan East Signature bass head was born!

If you’re running directly into a DI or DAW (which you can totally do), Nathan East’s Signature bass amp also features IRs built in with his favorite settings. You can also add your own through the app and get tons more tone-shaping with the 8-band EQ with multiple inputs and all sorts of crazy nonsense.

Diving into more tone-shaping abilities, the Laney Nathan East Signature amp has the usual three-band EQ, master volume, and all that good stuff, but it’s also rocking a push/pull pot that swaps between FET and tube tones. But wait, there’s more! You can also blend the FET and tube sounds to really dial in your ideal tone.

Too much bass or treble? No sweat! Use the Tilt knob to shift your entire frequency range higher or lower, making it easy to fit into any mix — live or in the studio.

Nathan designed this amp to be perfect for literally any application. Whether he’s playing funk, rock, jazz, R&B, or anything else; in the studio or live on stage; playing multiple instruments; or trying to blend with any band; this amp is the ultimate all-around piece of gear for bass players who need to be as versatile as Nathan East.

You don’t just wake up and get to play with legends like Barry White, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, and Eric Clapton — just to name a very select few. It takes time. And according to Nathan East, it also takes a little “go with the flow.”

The only way you’ll ever get opportunities like that is to say yes to whatever comes your way. You never know when one of those little things will lead to the next big thing, and that’s exactly how Nathan East’s career has gone.

Nathan started playing out when he was very young. When he was 16, he was playing with his band when Barry White (yes, that Barry White) happened to overhear them. He liked the band so much that he hired them right away. Of course, Nathan said YES! A few months later, Nathan East was playing Madison Square Garden at only 16 years old!

From there, Barry White used East and his band as his studio musicians. This is where Nathan attended, what he calls, BWU — or Barry White University. He learned a ton about the music industry, the ins and outs of being a session and live musician, and developing his bass sound and style.

Nathan worked with Barry White live and in the studio for years. He even cowrote a song that was featured on “Message Is Love.” He didn’t get his name on the album jacket, but it’s still super cool!

Around that time, a producer named Gene Page was all the rage. It was said, “If Gene calls you, it’s worth a quarter million a year.” After years and years of saying yes, Nathan East finally got that call — to do a commercial jingle for Hertz.

Now, that might not seem like the big break you’d expect, but Nathan said yes anyway. And from that little rent-a-car ad, he earned his place as Gene’s go-to studio bassist.

Through Gene, Nathan worked on a Kenny Rogers album (which turned out to be one of the first #1 hits Nathan East worked on), Diana Ross called him for some work, and the phone just kept ringing! Before he knew it, Nathan was working with the biggest names in the industry.

As Nathan continued to say yes to new opportunities, he was able to make close connections with other musicians like Eric Clapton, which led to a 40-year friendship and countless shows, a few of his own projects like Foreplay, and even a few surprising collaborations with artists like Daft Punk and Judas Priest (and the AMS Jam Band) that might not seem like obvious choices for a rock and funk bassist to play with — and yes, Nathan East IS on a Judas Priest album.

He admits it’s a little unnerving to play on a track you know a billion people will hear, but as he learned from working with Qunicy Jones on a Michael Jackson track, it’s just best to ask yourself, “What is the absolute best thing to play right now in this bar for this song.” Keep that thought, and you’ll quickly become the best player you can be.

According to East, “It’s all a journey. Things are taking place in real time, but it’s because people are acting in the moment.” You don’t know when the next monumental thing will take place, so you just have to live in the “real-time” life and say yes to opportunities as they appear.

It can be quite unnerving playing on a track you know literally a BILLION people are going to hear. How do you get through the nerves? According to Nathan East, you just have to ask yourself, “What is the absolute best thing to play right now in this bar for this song?”

If you think about the entire song, album, production, legacy at once, you’re going to get overwhelmed and possibly play something that doesn’t suit the song. Rather, think small. Think about the individual notes and make them fit the section you’re playing right now. Put all the perfect little sections together, and you just might have something that will go down in history. You HAVE to serve the song!

Another part of serving the song is checking your ego at the door. Nathan is a bass player, and while the bassist might not always be “front and center,” they’re an integral part of the band.

More specifically, Nathan likes to be “as invisible as possible.” While that might sound weird for a legendary bass player to say, Nathan’s viewpoint is that the bassist and drummer are just the foundation. They’re the cement and concrete lifting everyone else up. Their job is to make everyone else sound better.

Of course, there are moments when it’s appropriate for the bass player to “step out” a little — specifically during live shows.

Nathan loves the energy of live shows, but the sound isn’t always the greatest because you have to fill such a huge space. He also likes the studio because you can hear every nuance of the instrument in a controlled environment. That’s why Nathan’s approach is to blend the two.

When he’s playing live, he likes to pretend he’s in the studio to stay tight and keep his playing in check. When he’s in the studio, he likes to pretend he’s playing live to keep up the energy — despite your only “audience” being a sound engineer who may or may not be asleep…

To finish out an amazing afternoon, Nathan East agreed to get down with the AMS Jam Band for a funktastic version of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” And if you didn’t know, Nathan was the original bassist on the track — one of his 2,000+ credits! You definitely don’t want to miss it. And if you're curious about the gear we used to record the track, check out our Nathan East Gear Rundown blog with an exclusive Behind-the-Scenes video! 

But before Nathan and the AMS Jam Band play us out, we just want to give a huge thanks to Nathan East for spending a day with us in the studio. We had a blast! And another huge thanks to Laney for setting it all up and creating such a masterpiece of a bass amp. We can’t wait to see what’s next!

And don’t forget to subscribe to the AMS YouTube channel for more artist interviews just like this!

Now, are you ready to “Get Lucky”!?