r/MitchHedberg

My name is Chuck Savage. I've been playing bass since 1976 — upright and electric. Played in bands across Texas for forty years. The Missiles, Jesse Dayton, the Supersuckers, Walking Time Bombs. But the gig people know me for is Mitch Hedberg.

I was his bass player from 1999 to 2005. If you've ever listened to Strategic Grill Locations, I'm the upright bass you hear behind the jokes.

Here's the thing nobody knows about that recording. I showed up to the Laff Stop in Houston for sound check that night. Unzipped my case. The neck was completely broken off.

I panicked. Ran to a pawn shop next to Rockefellers, rented a bass from the owner for fifty bucks. No case. I laid it on a piece of cardboard in the back of a pickup truck and hauled it across town.

That bass was a gut string — nylon. I had only ever played metal string upright. So not only was I playing someone else's instrument on the recording, I was playing nylon strings for the first time in my life.

That's the bass you hear on the album.

I figured out early on to play quiet under the setup and hit hard on the punchline. Give the audience something to ride. Mitch never told me to do that. It just became what we did.

I just published a book about the whole story — the parking lot where we met, the six years on the road, and the night we made that record. It's called Just Bring the Bass Up There — It'll Be Cool.

https://a.co/d/0ia7ULol

Happy to answer any questions about the gig, the bass, the recording, or the road