Bruce Foxton

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Bruce Foxton
Bruce Foxton playing with From The Jam at the Glasgow Carling Academy in 2007
Background information
Born	1 September 1955 (1955-09-01) (age 54)
Origin	Woking, Surrey, England
Genres	Punk rock Rock and roll
Occupations	Bass player
Instruments	Bass guitar,Guitar,Vocals.
Associated acts	The Jam Stiff Little Fingers Casbah Club From The Jam
Website	BruceFoxton.com

Bruce Foxton (born 1 September 1955, Woking, Surrey) is an English rock and roll musician who is best remembered as the bass player in punk/new wave bands The Jam and Stiff Little Fingers.

Biography

In The Jam, he and drummer Rick Buckler played a subordinate role behind singer, guitarist, and songwriter Paul Weller. However, Foxton took lead vocals on a few tracks, most notably the singles "David Watts" (a cover of a Kinks track) and "News of the World", which was his own composition. Foxton also penned other tracks, possibly the most notable being "Smithers-Jones", done as a straightforward rock take for the B-side of "When You're Young" and later reworked with strings for the Setting Sons album. Stiff Little Fingers would regularly perform the song live after Foxton joined.

Whilst in The Jam, Foxton discovered The Vapors and co-managed the group with John Weller, Paul's father. Ironically, The Vapors enjoyed greater success in the U.S. than The Jam would ever have with the Top 40 single "Turning Japanese", but broke up shortly thereafter.

After The Jam split, Foxton pursued a brief solo career, and released the album Touch Sensitive. He had a minor UK hit with the single "Freak" and played in several less well known groups, including Sharp, until he joined Stiff Little Fingers.

He stayed with Stiff Little Fingers for fifteen years, during which time they recorded five albums, namely, Flags and Emblems, Get a Life, Tinderbox, Hope Street, and Guitar and Drum. During his time with the band, he wrote and co-wrote several tracks, and along with Jake Burns, managed the group for a while, after Russel Emmanuel gave up the job.

In 1994, Foxton and Buckler collaborated on Our Story, a biography of their years in The Jam. It was around this time he became a source of fascination for comedians Stewart Lee and Richard Herring on their BBC Radio 1 music shows.

In 2006, Foxton toured with Bruce Watson, Mark Brzezicki and Simon Townshend as The Casbah Club. When this band supported The Who in Britain, Foxton encountered Paul Weller backstage for the first time in nearly 25 years. In February 2007, Foxton and Buckler announced they would be touring again as From The Jam, with members of Buckler's Jam tribute band The Gift.^[1] n March 2008, they toured Australia^[2] and New Zealand - a first for Foxton and Buckler. A complete concert (recorded in London, December 2007) was released on DVD in 2008 through the London-based indie label Invisible Hands Music.^[3]

Foxton's wife died in 2009 after a battle with cancer.^[4] On 5 May 2009, Foxton attended the funeral of Paul Weller's father John, who was instrumental in The Jam's success.^[5].It was reported in the October 2009 edition of Mojo Magazine that Foxton shall be contributing some bass to Weller's forthcoming album.

Equipment

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Rickenbacker 4001 Bass guitar, which matched Paul Weller's Rickenbacker 330 six-string and helped to define the "Jam" guitar sound. Used on and off from 1977-1982, most notable songs featuring this bass are "Town Called Malice", "News of the World", and "Eton Rifles".

Ibanez Rickenbacker 4001 Copy - Used in the early days of The Jam.

Modified Rickenbacker 4001 with Fender precision pickups, used to record "Tales from the Riverbank" and "That's Entertainment".

Fender Precision Bass, which Bruce adopted during the All Mod Cons period, an attempt to obtain a richer tone for his melodic lines. Despite not having the "mod" image of the Rickenbacker, the Fender is the bass most used by Bruce throughout The Jam’s and SLF's career.

Epiphone Rivoli Bass guitar - used for recording The Jam song "Start!"

Marshall 100 Watt Bass amplifier

Aria II - used in the late days of The Jam and during Foxton's solo career.

Waterstone Brighton 64'- currently being used to play "Start!" with From The Jam.

Waterstone Lulu - Used as a back up for From The Jam.

Waterstone RSG - Used as a back up for From The Jam.

57' Fender precision bass- used in SLF, Casbah club, and From The Jam^[6]

References

External links

• Official website