Franklin's Garage to Stage
All things starting a musical band. From garage to stage getting your band going and beyond.
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Franklin's Garage to Stage
Martin Motnik's Journey: Accept, Studio Work, and 1,000+ Recording Credits
Martin Motnik shares his remarkable journey from practice sessions in his parents' basement to becoming the bassist for legendary metal band Accept, with over 1,000 recording credits to his name.
• Journey from bedroom practice to professional touring musician
• Auditioning for Accept and the importance of personal chemistry with bandmates
• Bass technique adaptations for playing aggressive metal music
• Creation of his solo album "Dream Chaser" featuring notable guest musicians
• The value of networking and treating every professional relationship with respect
• Balancing studio session work with live performance
• Equipment insights including his custom Sadowski bass with luminous fretboard markers
• Accept's upcoming 50th anniversary plans and tours with Judas Priest
• Pre-show rituals and maintaining performance quality across thousands of shows
• Life lessons learned from decades in the music business
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Hi, welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage and Beyond podcast. My name is Rob Franklin and my co-host is Dana Franklin. He's my best friend, my brother, my bandmate, my co-host and today's his birthday. So happy birthday, dana. Well, thank you.
Dana Franklin:I appreciate that. I appreciate that, and so with us today. You know a little bit about our show. It's you know, of course, franklin's Garage to Stage, the whole process of our show, and the reason we're doing it is to hopefully inspire new musicians and teach them the trials and tribulations of what we've gone through in our bands and to try and just steer them in a good path. Of you know what it takes to get from their bedroom onto the stage. It takes to get from their bedroom onto the stage. And so, with that, today we have a world-renowned musician, an amazing bass player that has over 1,000 recordings yes, I said that right, over 1,000 recording credits and in different styles and genres, and he's the bass player for one of my all-time favorite bands Except. So I'm happy to introduce mr martin mottnick. How you doing, sir?
Martin Motnik:hello I'm very good. Well, first of all, dana, happy birthday well, thank you, sir, thank you how old are you?
Dana Franklin:27 you got it 20, 28, 28, excellent the best is yet to come. Yes.
Martin Motnik:To quote one of our songs.
Dana Franklin:So my first question for you, sir, is what was it like and how did you prepare for your audition within a band like Accept.
Martin Motnik:The fun thing was it was actually not big of an audition preparation because when Wolf eventually contacted me, he had already seen a bunch of videos that I have online and heard songs, and he read my resume, so to speak, and he knew I'd toured with Uli John Roth three times from Formula of the Scorpions, which is one of Wolf's big influences. So for him it was not so much about playing. He said it right away. He said why don't you come over and we chat and we'll see right away if we vibe or not? Very cool, because it's very important, especially when you're on tour together, how you get along. I mean, it's almost a given that somebody can play at some point, but it's really about how do you vibe, how do you think you're going to get along on the bus and on stage and the time in between, and so he's like I will know that in five minutes. And so when I ended up visiting him at his house on a Saturday afternoon, we ended up hanging and chatting for over two hours.
Rob Franklin:Oh cool.
Martin Motnik:So apparently there was some chemistry there and I think both being German but both living in Nashville and kind of like having made the jump across the pond and doing that definitely helped and there's some similarities there Definitely helped and there are some similarities there. So of course I talked to him on a Friday and he invited me for the following Saturday, the day after. So of course that Friday night I came home and went through a little bit of balls and metal hard, just a refreshment, because I played those songs in the 90s in cover bands in Germany. I mean, I've grown up with them. So sometimes it's cool, sometimes it's weird to be in that band and you're like I'm really standing next to this dude we just got done watching a bunch of your videos.
Rob Franklin:It's so cool, um every night.
Martin Motnik:It's amazing. And so when I, when I prepared, I just I was just myself and went in and uh, and just I mean that's all you can be. Because I mean, if you, if you go in pretending to be someone right that you're not then you have to keep either the facade up, which you can't do, or it's going to be just just a pain, and um. So after this initial meeting, um, and he was like, oh, this feels good, okay, we'll. Okay, let's meet up again in like a week, let's bring Christopher in the drummer and I'll send you some songs. And now you can really prepare.
Martin Motnik:And that way he was going to test me how I can learn the songs, how I can retain the material, how I play, how I act, how I perform. I'm not sure he expected me to sing backup vocals, but I told him I was going to do that, and so he sent me, I think, seven songs which were all multi-track recordings of live shows, and so that way I was able to really go in and solo Peter Baltus' bass tracks and the vocals that he sang. And I was able, because I wanted to carry that on. I mean, everybody has their own style, but except for their style. I wanted to be able to replicate that as close as possible, and so I stuck pretty well to what Peter had played and sung.
Martin Motnik:And that's what I did basically for the following week was nothing but just hammering that material and just learning it as good as possible. And so then when we, when we all got together, um, we, I basically played the songs like if I were on stage, you know, like standing and posing and performing and putting the energy and so and um, that was basically the process oh, uh, my my.
Rob Franklin:since we're, you know, garage to stage, my question is basically your beginnings. I mean, how did you go from wherever it was you know bedroom and maybe your parents' house to performing To the stage you're at now?
Martin Motnik:Actually, my parents' house was one of our first rehearsal rooms in the basement, to the dismay of our neighbors.
Martin Motnik:Luckily, it was just a little bit, and then we found this one city building that had like an unused basement where we were able to play. I started playing guitar when I was eight, but then I really started. I was just dabbling around and my brother brought me the first bass guitar when I was 13 he's older than me, so he's a big influence and, uh, he brought home a bass guitar and I picked it up and I was like this is my instrument, and so this is when I, whenever he, started practicing and wanted to do it yeah, dana is the bass man, I know that's basically his story.
Dana Franklin:I mean, he started with the exact same thing a lot of people yeah, I started playing guitar and just you know, I mean, I was getting familiar with it, but it just didn't feel right. Then, right and my brother, here, who's, you know? The drummer said you know, dude, pick up the bass because you? Know, there's not too many good bass players out there, and as soon as I put it on it was just an automatic feeling. It's like this and then.
Martin Motnik:so I practiced for a couple of years because I said I don't want to go into a band or join a band or start a band until I don't have at least some proficiency on the instruments. So I practiced for like two, three years at home. That's how I spent my teenage years. Other guys went out and partied and got girls and stuff and I went home was the nerd.
Dana Franklin:It's paid off. Look at you now. It's paid off, right?
Martin Motnik:I party now yeah, you're partying way harder than they are, that's for sure. There you go and uh, so, like I guess how we all started, we had some friends. We all played. We all play different instruments. First we started as a three-piece bass, keyboards, drums and later a classmate of mine, he played guitar. So we asked him to join and we got a singer. Then we started our first little concert and then high school ended and people started dropping out, going separate ways, Started a new band, had a little bit more success, Played bigger concerts, got a little bit out of town a little bit more success.
Martin Motnik:Played bigger concerts, got a little bit out of town a little bit more, did a couple of CDs. That band broke apart and at that part I kind of decided that I was going to be more of a what do you call it like a freelance musician. I'm not going to start another band and then play little bars and write the songs and then try to pull everybody with me, Because that's kind of like how it ended up being. All the time I was like the driving force and I'm the only one dragging the wagon.
Dana Franklin:We understand.
Martin Motnik:It gets exhausting, it's exhausting, and so eventually I just said you know what, I'm just going to focus on myself and just offer myself as a basis to, yeah, studio sessions or also whatever band is looking for someone. And I was just always kind of looking for like, hey, what's the next step up? And I moved to Munich, which was like a big city compared to where I'm from, and then there was this goth metal band, dark Sea. They already had like a record deal. They had a few CDs out. I played with them for a while, then their singer quit, then that band fell apart and I was looking for another band and there was this other band called Eisbrecher, which Sprecher, which was very similar to Rammstein, the German hard metal, neue Deutsche Härte, what they call it, new German Hardness.
Rob Franklin:We're both German, but don't speak it, unfortunately.
Martin Motnik:Okay, and so that was that.
Martin Motnik:And then I just always tried to more and more make a name for myself and the big thing is just networking.
Martin Motnik:You know, it's like the music business is like not so much what you know but also who you know and how you get along with them, and so that's what I always try to be like on good terms with almost everybody.
Martin Motnik:I mean there's always gonna be fun in the house and stuff, but I try to stay away from gossiping and like spreading negative energy, and I think that's that's one of the key features if you want to progress from from the garage into like getting into that situation where you actually get paid to play and get asked back to play with bands or progress Even if you are in the band. I mean always treat people nice, whether it's the sound guy or it's the bar staff where you play, or definitely the manager um, definitely the manager um, and let's just say it's. I'm usually like I treat them the, the janitor, the janitor the same way as I treat the manager or whoever's in charge, because we're all human beings, we're all just doing our job and we all deserve respect well said, and uh, and so that's, that's well said and so that's.
Martin Motnik:That's that's advice in this part and that's what I try to follow as a philosophy while I progress throughout my career and always take every gig as seriously as you can and be grateful for them. And it's very easy when you play like I mean this time I think I've played over 5,000 shows now in my life because I've done a lot of Vegas shows where you play like five nights a week. Or then I did cruise ships for like four years. So you're on a ship for six months and you play like six nights a week for half a year. So you let those gigs just add up and and it's really easy to fall into this uh sort of of uh routine. You know, like this again, but for everybody who's in front of you, it's a special moment, right, and and that's what you need to remember is like put yourself into their shoes, like this is they're making memories, right now, yeah, we've said that on our show.
Dana Franklin:It's like you know, whether you've got five people out in the audience or five thousand, you know you've got to put on a show and play as if every one of those people are your biggest fan, because, right, because for them, it's it's.
Martin Motnik:It doesn't matter who else is there. They, they are there exactly. And and also, another thing that you, that you shouldn't do, is blame the people who are there for the ones who are not. You know, if the bar is like almost empty, but at least you guys came, okay, I can leave too.
Dana Franklin:That's what you want so, with all the studio work you've done and the live stuff, which I guess it's a hard question, which would you prefer to do if you only had one choice studio work or live band work?
Martin Motnik:yeah, it's really hard to decide because it bends, it's, it's. It's really I have like two hearts beating in my chest, because I love the studio work and it's I love the, the precision that you can put in um, also, it's kind of nice to sleep in your own bed at night, and so that's definitely something that I love. And then it's the challenge. There's always something new, and sometimes it's a situation where you are in the studio and you can have a bunch of songs you've never heard before and then you sit there with a chart and you talk over it, especially here in Nashville. It's such a common thing. You talk over it with your. Especially here in nashville is such a common thing. Uh like, last week we had a bit of session and with this one artist, um, female artist, uh and her songs and uh. So nicky v is a good friend of mine. He's a guitar player, producer in nashville, west little.
Martin Motnik:He played with robin ford okay, cool he was a drummer and also a studio, and Tim McDonald is a very gifted pianist. He played with Olivia Newton-John and then he played with all the country guys here in Nashville, and so it's literally one of these old school studio situations where all four musicians play at the same time. Nice, that's the album take. And so you have that pressure of like, okay, you cannot waste a lot of time because, yeah, let's say, you have six hours for six songs. An hour for one song goes by like that Because you do the overdubs and additional tracks and solo guitars and percussion, and then after the piano comes the Hammond and so we have to switch around.
Martin Motnik:So you have to be very focused and play solid and good and tasteful on a song you've never heard before. So that's a challenge that I actually personally love. On the other side, you can't beat standing in front of 20,000 people who are cheering and yelling and singing along with songs, some of them that I have now actually been writing as well. So I've been on two Accept albums so far.
Rob Franklin:Okay, that was one of my questions.
Martin Motnik:To my surprise, wolf actually invited me to submit songs In all the previous bands that I was part of. Usually it was an established situation where there's a band leader and maybe another band member and they say, yeah, we're just going to write the songs and you just play what we write and you do what the job requires. But it's those kind of situations, and so when I joined Accept and I was in for a few months, wolf was like, hey, if you have any ideas for songs for the new album, give them to me.
Rob Franklin:And I was like okay.
Martin Motnik:Which is very smart, because a good song is a good song, and if he doesn't like it then he can always reject it. But if it's good, we can only win, we can only gain from that. He doesn't have an ego. He writes enough songs already. He wrote Balls to the Wall.
Rob Franklin:Oh, did he. Okay, the original hits.
Martin Motnik:Right, but yes, now that the last year that we were playing the very first song, the Reckoning, was actually my original idea and I wrote the lyrics.
Rob Franklin:Oh, very cool.
Martin Motnik:Nice, and so that's just a fantastic feeling to be there, and then you have see the response of the audience. You're rocking out to song. You wrote this is awesome well, I was gonna.
Rob Franklin:I was gonna ask you about your, your solo album, dream chaser. What was the process putting that together and how did you network all those fabulous musicians together?
Martin Motnik:right to. How did that happen, I have no idea. So I call it my COVID project and so that's when I did it and I just literally took advantage of the situation that we were all stuck at home. Okay, and I knew a few people already, so I've done with several. With Greg Pissonnette, and he was I don't know your viewers how much so he's one of the most prolific studio drummers. He was the guy who played with Dave Lee Roth and his band after he used to look just like him back in the day.
Martin Motnik:Back when I was playing, and so Greg played on my first solo album already, and then in between us all his sessions we were playing together. And then while he was recording, I was like I would love to have Andy Timmons I just said it On this song, I would love to have Andy Timmons on it in Danger Danger. And he was like, oh, andy and I have a band together. And I'm like are you kidding? And so I go no, absolutely. So I was like I'll text him right now. So he pulled out his phone and texted him, and then I get a message like one phone number from Dallas, and Greg was like hey, andy, meet Martin, I'm playing on his album. He wants you for a solo. And then I got the response back hey, martin, great, I'd love to send me a song. Very nice. And so that's how it all worked.
Martin Motnik:Wolf was a little bit apprehensive at first, but then after I had Joe Satriani on it, then he said well, I can do that too. And I met Jennifer Batten at the NAMM show at some point. So michael jackson's guitar player, um, at that, at that music convention in los angeles or anaheim, I should say, um, thinking well, some people are really just literally just cold called, uh via email. Uh, derek shirinian was one of the guys that I just contacted. I loved his stuff in Dream Theater and so he was very open right away. Who else? I wanted? Steve Lukather from Toto. But he replied and he said, well, he's busy. And then I was like, how about your son? Because I had met him years ago in LA. And Steve gets back to me and goes, oh, that'd be great. He gives me his contact, and so that's how it works, and that's why I said before, it's the whole networking thing, and sometimes you have to think strategically.
Martin Motnik:Wolf thought in the very beginning I'm just going to use him as a special guest and then promote my whole album based on him. And I would be a little bit careful about that too, because you don't want to pull the whole thing when you play just a solo and you have no other creative control. And so I was like, okay, let me get some other people first so I can dismantle that concern. And then we got that done. But yeah, so that's how that all came about, and so that's what kept me busy during the pandemic, and now I haven't really played it out. I wouldn't know how to do it, because I would need like three more bass players to play that stuff live and a drummer. But it's just something you do to express yourself and that's how that all came about.
Dana Franklin:There's some amazing stuff on there for sure, thank you. So tell us a little bit about your sound. I saw on one of the clips I've seen on your shows that your Sadowski bass you've got like red dots on the fretboard that light up or something on the side.
Martin Motnik:They don't light up by themselves, they're called lumen lays and basically when you order it, it's basically a stick that's like a little longer than a little longer and a little thicker than a toothpick, but it's just uh plastic that that glows in the dark. Basically you need to charge it, uh, with either a flashlight a cell phone flashlight works great or honestly, and that's what it's made for the stage lights charge them basically. And so what you do is you can bring it to a looser. I just do stuff myself. The base is a tool, so I just go in there with the drill, I drill out the side dots with the drill and then I put these lumen lathes in. So you put that, stick it in. And then I put these lumen lace in. So you put that.
Martin Motnik:You have that stick and you stick it in, and then you cut it off with pliers. Then you go to the next one, put it in, cut it off. Put it in, cut it off. Then you sand it so it's flush, and then you're done. And the point of it is it's not, it doesn't glow when the stage is lit. But then you don't need it then because you look down and you see where it is, but it's for those moments when, all of a sudden, the stage is completely dark and that happens a lot between songs, except shows, live shows in general and that's when they start to glow, that's when you see them, because sometimes you get a pre-count and the song starts and the stage is dark until the first note of the song and then the lights come on. But at that time if you start looking where you notice, then it's too late, and that's what those side dots are for. You know, okay, put your hand there and you know you're in the right spot and then you start playing.
Martin Motnik:I have one other bass where I have LEDs and you actually see them. It's like nice and fancy and that kind of stuff, but for that this is all you need and they're like $25 for a stick like that and a drill and solve so many problems.
Rob Franklin:Okay, okay, so going back to Accept. If you don't mind, why is there only one US date on the tour? If you don't mind, why is there only one US date on the?
Martin Motnik:tour. We did a lot of the tour last year.
Martin Motnik:And we were going to not play so much this year because next year is the 50th anniversary of the band, basically, and so we're working on an anniversary album and that's also when the new tour is going to be anniversary tour. But we are. We have still. Apparently, opportunities came in and so they decided to add some dates. So we have. We actually have two dates in this year so far. In the States One's coming up in the beginning of May, may 3rd it's M3 Festival in Maryland, then we go to Japan, then we have some festivals in June and July in Europe. And then what also came up was to open up the Judas Priest oh cool, so in. And then what also came up was to open up the Judas Priest oh cool, so unfortunately in Germany war dates, which is amazing. When I grew up, we had a poster in our bedroom, so my brother and I shared a bedroom and it was 1981, judas Priest with Def Leppard, special Guest except. And that was in our bedroom, that poster, very cool, wow, full circle.
Dana Franklin:And here you are sharing the stage with these guys now Amazing.
Martin Motnik:So cool, it's fantastic. And so then in September I think, there is a festival in Kentucky, louder Than Live, so we're going to play there.
Rob Franklin:So far we have two.
Martin Motnik:But I do know that they're working on something. I just I'm just not sure yet how, uh, if it's confirmed, how confirmed it is what the chances are.
Dana Franklin:But stay tuned, there might be something we sure will um, do you have any crazy pre-show rituals that you engage in?
Martin Motnik:Not crazy, but we usually have a word of the day that we come up with on the spot usually, and so right before we go on stage, all six of us stand in a circle and then we put our hands and fists on top of each other, and then one, two, three, and then we yell the um, the word of the day, so like whatever it is in munich.
Martin Motnik:We were all backstage and then, um, somebody came up with the word worst, which is german for sausage. Okay, yeah and so, uh and so, and then I don't know where the other half came from, but somebody said monster, worst, like a monster song okay and then we just said one, two, three, monster, worst, and then we're gone.
Martin Motnik:Oh, that's great, stupid stuff like that. Alright, it's, it's just just to have the camaraderie and just be together and just huddle up before we go on stage together, just to have the camaraderie and just be together and just huddle up before we go on stage. Otherwise it's very, I don't want to say boring, but uneventful backstage.
Martin Motnik:So when you hear all these road stories from what I heard, accept has always been a very tame band professional party wise, yeah, very professional, very business oriented, and I feel like that's probably also why they lasted so long, because it's very focused on the product and delivering a good show, and that's also something that I'm proud of. I have been on stages with bands where I was embarrassed to be on stage just because somebody wasn't pulling their weight or the whole band just sounded awful. An Accept show is always top quality, just objectively, from the musical and the performance standard. It's just such a machine.
Rob Franklin:Along those lines. We have a special segment we call oh shit, Could you explain a time on stage or maybe after stage or whatever, where you've had a moment that was either embarrassing or just something went terribly wrong?
Martin Motnik:Yeah, it was not an accept show but it was still quite prestigious. It was a jam. Last year actually, at the NAMM show, I was invited to partake at the Ronnie Montrose jam. Oh cool, and it was all heavy hitters. Actually, people had played with Montrose or lots of different players. Joel Hoekstra from Whitesnake was playing oh God, what's his name? The guitar player for the Doors, I forgot the name. His pianist was there. It was like this whole star-studded oh, david Elston, of course Megadeth he was there. It was like this whole star studded um, oh, david elson, of course megadeth he was there okay cool and uh.
Martin Motnik:So what happened was I was playing, I think, three songs. I was scheduled like all through the night. So it was one of these jams with like different bands that just being put together of these, these musicians, and then you know the song you're going to play. So you rehearse and then you play there. And it was a celebration of Ronnie Montrose. So we had just the show was going. I had just finished playing my first song it was like 30 minutes into the show or whatever and the pianist who played with Ronnie Montrose I was giving a little speech and I was standing behind him and I had my accept base with me, but I had. In the morning I was running around the booth and I talked to different companies and, uh, one company gave me just this guitar strap that felt like really comfortable and I want to be like appreciative and I was like you know what, I'm gonna play that strap tonight, I'm gonna put that on. Oh no, put it on my face.
Martin Motnik:You know where this is going yeah, so I put it on, of course, no strap locks, but I'm like I'm not gonna do anything stupid anyway, I'm just gonna put it on, just stand there. So I'm standing there, of course, like a big auditorium full of people, pianists just telling a somber story, ronnie Montrose and I'm standing behind him just having my hands hanging down by my side, and all of a sudden I just hear this loud bang and the strap had come off my of the strap pin and the bass just landed on his back. Slam on the floor and the bass just landed on his back, slam on the floor and the whole audience went and I just stood there and all I could do was like oops what can you do here?
Rob Franklin:and I'm like okay.
Martin Motnik:So I picked it up and plugged my cables and tried to play and then one of the strings was buzzing. Like okay, that sucks. So I was like, okay, what broke and what happened was from the impact one of the pickups. The screws had come loose, so the pickup had come up and then was pressing against the strings. I'm like, okay, no big deal, all I have to do is just go backstage, find some technician within the next 60 seconds.
Martin Motnik:Uh with a screwdriver and and screw that back in and we should be off good to go. So I kind of like do the walk of shame. I'm actually looking at that strap right now that was my next.
Dana Franklin:That was my. I was surprised you haven't thrown that away. That was my next question. Are you endorsing those guys at all?
Martin Motnik:And so he just kept talking and I walked back and I plugged in that bass. So I found somebody with a screwdriver screwed it back in and he was still talking. And I didn't mean to play the bass loud, I just wanted to plug it in. But as the volume knob was up, I was just frazzled a little bit and I go, boom, super wanted to plug it in. But I said volume knob was up, I was just frazzled a little bit and I go and the whole audience went like it was awesome. So they were totally rooting for me, which is awesome. But yeah, that was, that was definitely a oh shit, yeah understandable I think.
Martin Motnik:I think there's a video somewhere of that what's your most prized instrument that you own and how did you receive it? I don't have it here right now, but I don't know if you know Jens Ritter Ritter bassist. He's a custom luthier from Germany. He's from the same area where I'm from and he's building really expensive custom instruments. By now I wouldn't be able to afford one anymore. Lady Gaga has a custom guitar of his that's covered in Swarovski crystals, and he built a bass for Sammy Hagar. Funny enough, mary J Blige has one Prince, I think, had an instrument, and so now he's I'm not saying he's making instruments, he makes art, that sounds, basically and so he built me more as a friend. He's built me three instruments and they are definitely the one, the ones that mean the most to me. Usually I'm not very attached to instruments in general because I'm like, as I said, the kind of tools, but my three radar bases absolutely.
Rob Franklin:They're like my, my babies okay, getting back to accept, do you have any input on the set list, or is that pretty much determined by somebody else?
Martin Motnik:um wolf does the most of it we can. We can bring in some suggestions. Sometimes he asks if there's something that you guys um want to hear, or or sometimes we also say, can we mix it up, can we play this? Actually, most of it usually comes from Mark, because he also gauges the response from the audience the most. Or sometimes he feels like, okay, this song didn't go over very well last time, or can we just mix it up, okay, or something else.
Martin Motnik:But to be honest, there's just a lot of there's a certain strategy behind a set list that almost defines how you have to structure it, because you want to have some new songs that you want to promote, because you want to promote a new album, but then there are just so many classics that you just have to play, and so there's actually not much wiggle room between. If you take those two components, then you can say, okay, we'll switch on this song for this one, or. But that's what usually what it is. You take some new songs, but you also don't want to. I know most of the people come for the old stuff and you just have to give them that. But usually even the new stuff goes over well. People are very receptive, and that that's usually how it's created.
Dana Franklin:Cool Practice regiments, I mean my.
Martin Motnik:What's that?
Dana Franklin:Well our brother's a guitar player and he wanted me to ask if you knew what Wolf Hoffman's practice is like. And I want to know you know what kind of practice schedule do you have?
Martin Motnik:Well, if you ask Wolf I'm just going to say it like that because I know he's answered that question in interviews himself that way, when we're not touring or when we're not writing or when we're not recording, there are moments where we don't touch our instruments Because it's kind of, I think, especially for him, because it's his music and he plays what comes naturally to him. It's kind of in him already. I think it all ramps up when it comes back to when we approach a tour again, then for him it's definitely the fluidity, I guess, of his left hand. For me he wants me to play really, really hard, and when I'm saying really hard, I break strings. I break strings. Sometimes I have really thick picks. That was one of the first questions that Wolf asked me before my audition. I saw your play. I know you can play. Just come by let's see how you vibe.
Martin Motnik:Two questions Can you hang your bass lower? I usually have it pretty high because it's easier to play and virtuoso. He doesn't want me to look like a dork. Have the bass lower, like a rock, a rock guy. And can you play with the pick? Um, because I'm he probably mostly saw me as a fingerstyle player, but I've played the metal fans before, where you play with the pick and it just has this more aggressive attack and it's just easier to play precise, especially fast speeds, and so that's what I what I told him um, whatever you want, man, no problem, uh, but he said that was the key to the sound and that's how peter played. He plays, uh, he just digs in like there's no tomorrow, and and that's how you get that aggressive sound and that's that's also why the bass doesn't really have a lot of effects on it, but mostly what you hear is the bass itself, okay, and and just it does. The sound comes from the bass, but then also how you play and what kind of mix, but that's but just sorry, just to finish that.
Martin Motnik:So the exercise element is literally more to get your muscles back up to strength that you can hammer through for two hours, two months in a row. Because the left hand I mean, as a bass player in heavy metal, the left hand doesn't do that much. I mean it just stays there, but the right hand does all the work.
Rob Franklin:What kind of mix do you put in your monitors?
Martin Motnik:Mostly kick snare hi-hat so I can really lock in with the drums Cool. I have a little bit of a click that I usually don't hear. I only hear it if the drums Cool. I have a little bit of a click that I usually don't hear. I only hear it if the drums drop out. We play to a click because the light show, we don't use any tracks and everything we play is live, but it's synchronized to the light show. The channel changes on the guitar amps on pre-programmed, so the guitar players don't have to step and change sounds. That all happens automatically. And so we have a click that we play to.
Martin Motnik:And I usually don't hear it because I listen to Christopher how he plays on the drums, but if he has problems and he drops out, I still need to be able to keep time Right. Okay, because then the role as a timekeeper falls on me, and then uh, so I hear that, then I can hear the click. And then of course I have wolf uh quite audibly so that I know um where he's at and he his feel also kind of decides. Okay, if we're playing, because the click is the click, but the song defines the feeling that you play, if you're a little bit ahead or a little behind and that kind of stuff, and then my vocals, um, and then the rest little bit in the background. So I know they're there and just a little bit of, but those are the key components of the drums myself and wolf okay, very cool who are your uh, your main influences?
Dana Franklin:when you first picked up the bass, who, who did you want to emulate?
Martin Motnik:um, the the three big names that I always mention is billy sheehan, because that was right around the time when David Ross album Even Smile came out, and that's why I wanted Greg DeSanet to play on my album, because I wanted to play with the same drummer as Billy.
Rob Franklin:Oh nice.
Martin Motnik:That was kind of my thing. And so him, then John Antwistle from the who and Gary Lee from Rush.
Dana Franklin:Okay, awesome.
Martin Motnik:Those three. I was always very much into virtuoso musicians and, I'd say, lead bassists. I've been told very often in my older bands that I play too much.
Rob Franklin:No such thing. No, that's right.
Martin Motnik:That's where it comes from, awesome.
Rob Franklin:Okay, well, I know you have a limited time frame here, so in closing, could you tell us basically for new musicians listening to us, what would be your best advice for a bass player just getting started or maybe he's in a new band going forward and things he should look out for as far as you know, avoiding and, and what should he be doing?
Martin Motnik:Avoiding would be just don't be an asshole. And what should you be doing? Playing with other people always helps. Go to jam sessions or jam with your friends. Listen to different styles of music, even if you're like rock is my thing. But listen to some jazz, listen to some funk, listen to some R&B. The old disco has some amazing bass lines, drums too, I mean everything that makes you dance. Look, I would say, go to live concerts, but stuff has gotten so expensive these days. I'm not sure if I can recommend, but there's so much stuff in YouTube. Go on YouTube, educate yourself, just keep an open mind, listen to a lot of music, play to a lot of people and just have fun.
Dana Franklin:That would be my advice, great advice well, we want to thank you very much for your time. Martin, thanks for having me this is the reason we're doing this podcast is to talk with people like you and inspire new musicians, or even older musicians that maybe are finally retiring, getting our age and they're like, hey, let's get the band back together. So thank you for your time. It's been very inspiring. And you've made my birthday that much more special.
Martin Motnik:I appreciate it. I'm going to have a drink on you later.
Rob Franklin:Martin, thank you very, very much for your time. Any words in closing?
Martin Motnik:Turn up the bass.
Rob Franklin:There you go, alright thank you, martin, thank you guys happy birthday. Thank you, bye. Well, that was so cool having Martin on our show. I wanted to let everybody know we have a new website. It is called wwwfranklinsgaragetostagecom. Franklin's to stage is all one word. You can also reach us that way at rob at franklinsgaragetostagecom, or Dana at franklinsgaragetostagecom. Dana, what do you have to say about that episode? Wasn't that killer?
Dana Franklin:You know, it was absolutely amazing to not only have such a renowned artist on our show but to be a bass player and for it to be on my birthday. I mean it was amazing. The guy was absolutely amazing to talk to and just such a down-to-earth guy and I'm just so happy we were able to get in touch with him and for him to do this show. It made my whole day. He's a very cool dude.
Rob Franklin:Yeah, that was a lot of fun and, once again, new website and new way to contact us. So please do visit and, if you're in the mood, please help support us by clicking on the link to support us. And thank you all so much for listening Later Bye.
