Bass Player: Nick Beggs

Form the 2013 Steven WIlson album, The Raven That Refused To Sing (and Other Stories), this is the Nik Beggs bass part for the tune ‘Luminol’. “Luminol” was first performed by Wilson and his band on the last show of the first half of his Grace for Drowning tour. The song takes its inspiration from a busker, who, according to Wilson, is “there every single day. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like; he’s always there, playing his acoustic guitar and singing these songs. Snow, rain, gale force wind – nothing will stop him from being in his spot. … He’s the kind of guy who is so set in his routine that even death wouldn’t stop him.” Wilson considers the notion “that somebody could be a ghost in life, as well as a ghost in death, somebody who’s completely ignored even in their lifetime – it hardly makes a difference; and death doesn’t make a difference, either; it doesn’t break the routine.”

On that cheery note, we turn to bass player Nick Beggs. Beggs first came to the attention of the public as the man responsible for the opening bass riff for the UK Pop artists ‘KAjagoogoo’. That particular riff remains one of those ‘ehat the hell is he doing’? moments in bass history and, had he never done anything else, would have assured Begg’s place in bass history. Since his days with Kajagoogoo, however, Beggs has become something of a first call bass player for the UK Prog scene and, as well as being Steven Wilson’s go to bass player, he has performed with Genesis’s Steve Hackett and was a founder member of John Young’s ‘Lifesigns’. He also co-led the band Ellis, Beggs and Howard with two blokes called Ellis and Howard.