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Originally Posted by MidyMat
Thanks Mr. Albini for doing this AMA thread.
What was the first piece of music(song or album) that made you want to pick up an instrument and became a musician?
Hearing the Ramones as a 15-year-old changed everything about the rest of my life, but mostly it did that.
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What was your first instrument and what brand & model was it?
I dicked around on my dad's Gibson 12-string a little, but the first thing I owned was a Peavey T40 Bass I bought with money I'd saved from odd jobs.
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What is your favorite guitar and amp?
For the last 20 years or so I pretty much only play my Travis Bean 500. My main amp is a 1965 Fender Bassman and I'm happy with it, but in the studio I get to hear a bunch of amps and other than the 90's style super-saturated hi-gain amps (Mesa, latter-day Marshall), they're all good for something. Those super-saturated amps pretty much sound awful unless they're doing that one thing. In particular, Canadian amps from the 1960s and 70s are really cool, Garnet, Traynor, Mann and VT.
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What was your happiest memory from childhood?
It's not so much a happy memory as a really vivid one, one that pops into my head at random moments. I remember going to the beach in Santa Barbara, I was maybe six years old, and learning that there were sand crabs (I think they're properly called sand fleas) as big as golf balls just under the surface of the sand. I would stand at the edge of the surf and scoop sand into my hands as a wave came in, then let the receding water wash the sand through my fingers leaving the little crabs in my hands scrabbling around tickling me. I don't know why I wasn't terrified of them like I was of spiders at the time. I think it was the surprise of finding a whole world of hidden living things right beneath the smooth surface of the sand.
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If you were not in the music business what other profession would you like to work in?
I was trained as a journalist, and I could imagine doing that as a younger man but now no way. I also worked previously as a photograph retouch artist and liked the work, but since Photoshop and other software became available that profession doesn't really exist any more either. If I went deaf suddenly and couldn't work in a studio or play music any more I think I'd probably try to make a living by a combination of odd jobs; making furniture and housewares out of wood, playing cards, writing whatever I can... I don't even know if I could break even and keep my house with all that. I have no idea really.
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If you owned a time machine where you want to go and why?
Depends if I can come back or not. If I can come back I'd go back and place a few bets in the stock market with perfect knowledge. If not I'd probably go into the future a fair ways, say 100 years. Think about how much fun a Victorian geek would have if he was here now. Mundane things like microwave ovens, jumbotrons and cell phones would be endlessly fascinating. A laser pointer would seem like magic. I'd like to be that guy in 100 years.