Chad Fell, also known as "the bass player" and "the guy playing bass," has been mastering his instrument since the early 90's and, armed with only his fretless Peavy and his innate ability to cause people to get down, has single-handedly pioneered the style of bass playing known as "slippery." Despite his mild-mannered persona, Fell is no stranger to the stage and has been in several bands throughout his life.

He first started playing in a small town in southern Minnesota with a band called N.A.S. (Naked Among Strangers). This band played all covers, from Hendrix to Led Zeppelin. He then moved on to play with a highly experimental trio called The Two Ton Static Bomb. The Bomb played all original compositions, based on simple structures in which the musicians were able to improvise and experiment.

In 1998 he moved to Corvallis. To battle the gloomy weather that accompanied his first winter in Oregon, he began constructing "sound compositions" using anything from squeaking cupboards to radio weather broadcasts. This was an attempt to build on the ideas of experimentation that had started in The Static Bomb, and to create surrealism in music, and materialized in the creation of an ongoing project called "The Mights."

In 2003, Chad played a short stint with The Deep Woods Band. After leaving the band, which left a taste for rock and roll in his mouth, he started the search for other local bands that needed bass players. Soon he was founding the Groundhogs with singer-songwriter-guitarist Josh Gates and playing with other bands and musicians around town, including Civil Union, a local rock and roll cover band. Chad contiues to lay down his slippery basslines in as many bands as he can keep up with in a never-ending quest to satisfy his insatiable need to rock out.

Likes: Bananas, being in multiple bands, sexy female jazz singers
Dislikes: The spotlight

Top ten favorite albums (in no particular order):
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
The Residents - Not Available
Herbie Hancock - Thrust
Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese
Parliament Funkadelic - Greatest Hits
Nirvana - Bleach
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Jaco Pastorius - Self-titled
Me'shell Ndegeocello - Peace Beyond Passion
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief

Secret Weakness: Colorblindness


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