Robert Sledge
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Robert Sledge is a bassist, best known for his work with Ben Folds Five. Before playing with Ben Folds Five he was bassist for the band Toxic Popsicle. Sledge also played bass with metal band Lexx Luthor, a band which spawned another famous musician, Sully Erna of Godsmack.[citation needed]
After Ben Folds Five broke up, Robert Sledge performed for one summer with the short lived rock group Brother Seeker, a band comprised of Robert and former Squirrel Nut Zippers members Tom Maxwell and Ken Mosher. According to John D. Luerssen's Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story Sledge was heavily considered to replace Mikey Welsh as the new Weezer bassist in 2001 but instead Scott Shriner took the job. He later joined the band International Orange, as a songwriter and bassist. International Orange broke up in 2005.[citation needed] Currently he lives in Chapel Hill, NC.[citation needed] He currently gives music lessons and plays in a talented local band.[citation needed]
Sledge was the only member of Ben Folds Five that was able to stand while performing (although Ben Folds would often stand while playing the piano during intense performances). He is known for his use of a Big Muff distortion pedal and rockstar flair. Robert played a Hamer Explorer Bass throughout the early years of Ben Folds Five. It was used on their eponymous debut album. He later switched to a Fender Jazz Bass to record Whatever and Ever Amen, while playing his Gibson and Epiphone Les Paul basses in live shows from that time to the present. Between Whatever and Ever Amen, Sledge had a sponsorship from Epiphone for his use of the Les Paul Bass, which can be seen in the Ben Folds Five performance on Sessions at West 54th. He also plays an upright string bass for several songs.
Ben Folds made reference to Sledge in his song "Not the Same" on the album Rockin' the Suburbs with the lyrics: "You took a trip and climbed a tree/At Robert Sledge's party/And there you stayed till morning came/And you were not the same after that". Though Folds used Sledge's name, he claims the events in the song actually happened at drummer Darren Jessee's party.[1]
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