Friday 27 September 2013

Guest Top 5 Favourite Things by Brandon Gilliard

OK, this is slightly out of the blue. I enjoyed this week's Live Later ... with Jools Holland which featured Pixies, Chvrches, Barrence Whitfield & The Savages and Janelle Monae. I made a passing comment about that on Twitter (where I misspelled Barrence's name) and my tweet was noticed by Brandon Gilliard who is currently playing Bass in Janelle Monae's band.



I was a little surprised as I'd not copied in any of the band's Twitter accounts but Brandon must have been searching for #laterjools or Janelle Monae and favourited my tweet. I thought I test this out and see if he was interested in writing a guest top five.



Which was pretty bloody cool I thought. Here's a bit of background about him.

Brandon is a world touring bass player who has recorded or shared the stage with artists as diverse as KIMBRA, Erykah Badu, Avery*Sunshine, Big Boi of OutKast, P. Diddy, Bob Carlisle, Jennifer Holliday, Angie Stone, Chinua Hawk and a plethora of others. He has also performed with world class ensembles such as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. His bass lines have been recorded for major movie soundtracks including work for Henson Studios, Fox, Blue Sky Studios and world renown composer, John Powell. Brandon credits musicians such as James Jamerson (Motown), Rocco Prestia (Tower of Power), Pino Pallidino (John Mayer, D’Angelo) and Verdine White (Earth, Wind & Fire) as his biggest influences.


Brandon is currently the bass player for Atlantic Records/ Bad Boy Records recording artist and his bass work is featured on Janelle Monae’s new album "The Electric Lady". Here are Brandon Gilliard's Top 5 favourite things.

1. Performing live



2. Country Music


3. Boots


4. Basses


5. Ireland


Thanks for this Brandon, you're a dude!




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