That 1 Guy

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That 1 Guy
Buckethead and That 1 Guy at the Belly Up, 2006-04-23.jpg
That 1 Guy playing the Magic Pipe
Background information
Birth nameMike Silverman
GenresRhythm & Sound, Experimental music, funk, jazz, Romany Hip Hop
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)The Magic Pipe, the Magic boot, the saw, bass, percussion, vocals
Years active1990s–present
Labels Righteous Babe
Website that1guy.com

Mike Silverman, better known as That 1 Guy, is an American musician based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He frequently performs and records as a one-man band, singing and using a variety of homemade musical instruments.

Contents

Career

Early career

Silverman is a classically trained double bass player who attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and developed a career in the progressive jazz scene in the 1990s, performing live and as a studio musician. He started out in a funk, rockabilly, jazz band called "The Fabulous Hedgehogs" before he developed his own style of solo playing and gained a reputation as a one-man rhythm section, incorporating traditional and slap-bass playing with percussive elements using the body of the instrument. When he began to feel limited by his instrument and a heavy schedule of playing and recording for other people, he started to devise a new instrument that would allow him the range to create his own music. At first he sought out professional help in building his instrument, but decided to make it himself because of the projected cost. The end result was the Magic Pipe, a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) collection of steel plumbing pipes and joints, orchestral bass strings, and electronics. [1] [2]

As That 1 Guy

Silverman performing with Buckethead Bckethead & That 1 Guy.jpg
Silverman performing with Buckethead

Since then, Silverman has developed a career as a one-man band under the stage name That 1 Guy, first playing his upright bass, and later singing and beatboxing while playing his Magic Pipe, musical saw, various percussive elements, and using digital looping and sampling to perform his songs. [3] His musical influences include Drums and Tuba, Rush, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Dr. Seuss, both in terms of his lyrics and his quirky homemade instruments. He has also been influenced by Tom Waits, and was invited to play saw (and subsequently bass) on tracks for Waits’ Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards album. [4] He has a cult following in the United States of America, as well as in Australia, which he has toured several times, including performances at major festivals such as Big Day Out, Pyramid Rock Festival, and Woodford Folk Festival. He has also played many shows alongside avant-garde guitarist Buckethead, with whom he released a collaborative album under the name Frankenstein Brothers in 2008. He has received little mainstream recognition, but did garner attention after the use of his song "Buttmachine" (from his second album, The Moon is Disgusting ) on Showtime's original comedy series Weeds , season 3, episode 9. [5] He started a tour throughout the United States of America in early 2009, [6] and performed at festivals in Canada and France.

Instruments

The Magic Pipe

The Magic Pipe, also known by his close friends as 'The Broken Bowflex', is a homemade, electronically rigged pair of machined aluminum pipes (previously steel in its first incarnation), connected by adjustable phosphorus bronze joints, with each pipe hosting an orchestral bass string. The harp-shaped instrument is roughly seven feet tall and features 13 trigger points, which can be mapped to various musical sound effects or samples. The front pipe uses a low C string, while the rear pipe's string is used to achieve more tenor ranged notes. The pipes themselves are employed to produce various percussive sounds while That 1 Guy slaps, plucks, or bows the strings, as well as occasionally using a drum stick to sound the strings and the pipes at the same time. The creation of the Magic Pipe was based on Silverman's double bass experience, as well as borrowing from the concepts of the gutbucket and the diddley bow. [1] [2] [7] [8]

The Magic Boot

The Magic Boot is a scorpion-emblazoned cowboy boot, which is wired and fed through the Magic Pipe's audio lines. It is then played as a percussive instrument by tapping on the sole while pinching the boot's opening to achieve different sounds, similar to an African talking drum.

The Magic Saw

The Magic Saw is a musical saw, which is wired into the main effects box. It uses a small adhesive speaker and is played percussively as well as with a violin bow. It sounds similar to a theremin when played and renditions of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" have been performed on numerous occasions.

Discography

Studio albums

Frankenstein Brothers (with Buckethead)

DVD

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musical saw</span> Hand saw used as a musical instrument

A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque friction idiophone with direct friction (132.22) under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification, and as a metal sheet played by friction (151) under the revision of the Hornbostel-Sachs classification by the MIMO Consortium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washtub bass</span> Stringed musical instrument

The washtub bass, or gutbucket, is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by pushing or pulling on a staff or stick to change the tension.

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Hornbostel–Sachs or Sachs–Hornbostel is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961. It is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments by ethnomusicologists and organologists. The system was updated in 2011 as part of the work of the Musical Instrument Museums Online (MIMO) Project.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese orchestra</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musical instrument</span> Device for making musical sounds

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References

  1. 1 2 "That 1 Guy: Bassist Mike Silverman". Nhpr.org. February 2, 2007. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Bio". That1guy.com. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
  3. "That 1 Guy is more than happy to lay some Magic Pipe". Straight.com. April 3, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
  4. Discogs entry for Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
  5. "Watch Showtime Shows & Movies - Try for Free". Paramountplus.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2008.
  6. "Playing with plumbing, Marcus Kellis – Argonaut, February 2009". Uiargonaut.com.
  7. "That 1 Guy is more than happy to lay some Magic Pipe". Straight.com. April 3, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
  8. "30 Minute Music Hour—That One Guy". March 3, 2009. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021.