That Girl Next Door? She ROCKS.

A few years ago I was in a band that was auditioning bass players in Los Angeles. We were working out a developmental deal arrangement with Tony Ferguson (No Doubt, Bush, Interscope records co-founder), needed a bass player and got the b-list from Barry Squire –who is the go-to guy in L.A. for musician hook ups.  We were going through bass player after bass player (it’s amazing how hard it is to find a good bass player –even in L.A.) and having little luck. After a full day of auditions-which is terribly exhausting- in walks this young girl -a kid- maybe 17ish.

Of course I thought, “Oh man, this will be rough…” We already had a couple female players and well, it was rough.

This girl looked like a normal kid – no tattoos, no piercings, no attitude, no L.A. vibe AT ALL. She proceeded to quitely introduce herself, plug in and LAY IT DOWN. I mean solid. The songs were simple riff rock tunes but she played them with authority and great tone (something most bass players don’t understand). We were all like, “Whooaaa!!! Whaaat??!!”

So we told her the situation –no money now but things were moving forward with real major label potential and blah, blah, blah. I can’t remember if we officially offered her the gig but we definitely expressed interest and couldn’t conceal our amazement at how good she was. She didn’t take the gig because it was a non-paying ‘join the band’ gig and she needed something that paid as she was trying to finish music school. We were all stoked on her playing and didn’t care, we just told her to keep on playing because she had it going on. We kind of had a bit of the big brother vibe going saying, “Well, you keep working at it because whatever you do you are going to be fine…”

Her name?

Tal Wilkenfeld.

Who is she playing with now?

I was recently reading an article about an insider show at the El Rey with Jeff Beck and surprise guest Rod Stewart. The article also mentioned this wunderkind bass player girl. I sat there and thought. And thought some more. And then thought, “No freaking way, it’s THAT girl and she’s playing with JEFF BECK.”

If you don’t know who Jeff Beck is, first, I forgive you. Second, the history of rock forgives you. Third, here is his legendary status in a nut shell-

In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth, and along the way- The Beatles. Then, shortly after, there was this other local British band called The Yardbirds who at first had Eric Clapton on guitar, then Jeff Beck and then Jimmy Page. Well, working backwards (and then sideways), Page turned the Yardbirds into Led Zeppelin, Clapton went on to legendary status as founder of Cream and then solo artist who everybody on the planet now knows, but Jeff Beck took the sideways route. He went the progressive jazz/rock guitar hero route, never quite achieving the outrageous fame of Page and Clapton, but still going down in history as a one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time.

And that shy little  girl named Tal Wilkenfeld who auditioned for my band is now playing with him. Wow. With Vinnie Colauita (Frank Zappa, Sting) on drums.

Here she is ripping it up on one of Beck’s most well know tunes ‘Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers’. Go to 1:20 to see her show off some chops-

Here she is sharing the stage with Jimmy Page as Jeff Beck gets inducted into the hall of fame this year-

And here she is on what appears to be Australia’s version of The Today Show where she has Vinnie on drums. She corrects the host goon by saying she first went to LA before New York. Then she talks about this awesome audition she went to when she was there with a killin’ drummer… No? Didn’t she say that?

I new she was a kicking bass player that was going places but honestly, I didn’t think she’d be going to these places. Crazy. But she was as sweet as anybody could be and it appears she still is so I’m happy for her. It just goes to show you, you never know…