From hiding behind drum kits filling in for local bands such as Razorvoice, Lukah Bouchard Band and Silver Atlas, Powell River musician Austin Parise has moved up front to play bass, most recently with Tyler Bartfai and The Stowaways and Ben Wittrock’s Razorvoice. Parise, also a former member of longtime pop-punk band Potential Union, is one of a handful of people around town who calls bass their thing. Parise is currently working on a solo album and will hook up with Wittrock on Friday, April 7, for a Razorvoice performance at McKinney’s Pub.
Where are you most comfortable, in back of the band on drums, or up front on bass and vocals?
It is easier hiding behind the kit. I’m more proficient on bass, which is weird, because it wasn’t until I started jamming with Tyler Bartfai, Rob Reed and Ben Wittrock that I kind of fell in love with the bass. When I started playing drums with Lukah Bouchard Band, I then started focusing on the bass and fell in love with it all of a sudden.
What instrument did you start with?
Drums were my very first instrument. I didn’t have a drum kit or drumsticks. I always liked hitting on the Sears catalog with chopsticks or whatever I could find. I’d have five of them and pretend they were different parts of the kit. Some were thinner, some were thick; they had different tones.
When did you first sit behind an actual kit?
One day in band class, I think it was grade four, the teacher asked, “Who here plays drums?” I just put my hand up not really knowing what the heck I was doing and they put me on a kit. I’d never been behind a kit in my life.
What do you like about the bass?
It’s just so fun to play. You just pick it up, you’re goofing along, then you lock in with the drummer and there’s just that feeling you get when you’re locked in. It helps playing with great drummers. I get to play with Rob Reed, and just playing with him is such a treat because he makes it so easy to flaunt a nice groove. He’s just a killer musician.
What is the groove of your solo record?
I’ve been working on the pop-punk stuff. I want to bring it more to an accessible kind of audience. I’ll be back as frontman and picking up my guitar again. I’d like to have a band behind it.
For more information, go to facebook.com/razorvoice.
