My Bass and Other Animals

Guy Pratt

Guy Pratt came of age just as playing bass became sexy. In spurning the guitar solo punk put the low-end on more of an equal footing; or maybe it was just that Paul Simonon and Bruce Foxton were pretty cool. Either way you'd hear people trying out the basslines of 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais' or 'Peaches' in shops on Denmark Street, in front of their girlfriends.
Having dallied with Funkapolitan, Pratt suddenly found himself on Top of the Pops and supporting David Bowie with smooth Australian outfit Icehouse. At a ludicrously young age he became a sought after bass player to the stars, finding himself crawling from studio to bar, from hotel to stadium portacabin with the likes of Robert Palmer, Womack & Womack, Bernard Edwards, Bryan Ferry and David Crosby. The eighties were in their prime, and with a number of Crolla-suited appearances in windswept videos behind him, he was invited to join Pink Floyd for a series of stadium of extravaganzas to make Bono & co look fairly modest.
Pratt has recorded with Madonna, and spent time in the studio with Michael Jackson. He was in The Smiths for a week, has travelled through customs in a wheelchair after a flight with Jimmy Page, and has lived to tell all. My Bass and Other Animals emerges from the successful stand-up tour of the same name. It charts his journey from a Mod band in Southend to playing with Roxy Music at Live 8; it is a witty and revealing but heartfelt memoir of life at the sharp end of the music business.