Mick Stevens (bassist)

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Mick Stevens is a fretless bassist who currently plays with the revived form of Brand X.

[edit] Biography

In the early 1970s, Mick was a sound engineer for Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Soft Machine, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, Renaissance, Fusion Orchestra, Status Quo and Curved Air. In 1973, Mick worked on the infamous 'Star-Trucking' tour of Europe with Soft Machine, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Wishbone Ash, Climax Blues Band and Lou Reed. During his tenure with Soft Machine, his interest in music, electronics and audio enabled him to co-design one of the world's first quadraphonic P.A. systems in 1974.

Mick took up fretless bass in the mid-70's, and was mainly influenced by great players such as Alphonso Johnson (Weather Report) and Ralphe Armstrong (Mahavishnu Orchestra). However, his biggest influence was fretless bass innovator Percy Jones.

Mick's primary musical project during the 1990s was his improvisational fusion band The Avant Gardeners, with guitarist Tosh Horie and drummer Chuck Voelter. Their CD "Bob's Your Uncle" was released in 1996 by Outer Planet Records.

In 1998, Mick was offered the opportunity to step into the shoes of bassist Percy Jones as bass player for Brand X. This version of the band included founding member and guitarist John Goodsall, drummer/percussionist John Holmes, and keyboardist Kris Sjobring, from the 1997 Brand X touring ensemble (John Goodsall, Percy Jones, and Gong drummer Piere Moerlen).