Chris Chaney

This article is about Chris Chaney, bass player of Jane's Addiction. For the lead singer/guitarist of The Living End, see Chris Cheney.

Chris Chaney
Birth name	Chris Chaney
Born	(1970-06-14) June 14, 1970
Genres	Alternative rock, hard rock, funk rock, pop rock, post-grunge, heavy metal, alternative metal, nu metal, rap metal
Instruments	Bass, Guitar
Associated acts	Jane's Addiction, The Panic Channel, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, Alanis Morissette, Methods of Mayhem, Slash, Burn Halo, Shinedown
Notable instruments
Fender Jazz Bass Fender Precision Bass

Christopher A. "Chris" Chaney (born June 14, 1970) is a rock bass player who has performed with artists including Jane's Addiction, Alanis Morissette, Slash, and many others. He was the bass player in the third incarnation of Jane's Addiction and a member of Morissette's touring and recording band for seven years. He was a full-time member of the band The Panic Channel and is currently a member of Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. He has also toured with Tommy Lee's Methods of Mayhem in 1999–2000, as well as contributing to the recording of their debut album.

Biography

Chaney was raised in Mill Valley, California in a neighborhood inhabited by many musicians, including members of The Grateful Dead and Santana. He attended Tamalpais High School, the same school that the late rapper Tupac Shakur attended briefly the year after Chaney graduated. Chaney later moved to Boston and studied for two years at the Berklee School of Music before moving to Los Angeles to primarily play jazz at The Baked Potato, and R&B in the house band at The Dragonfly. Chaney was first invited to tour with Alanis Morissette in 1995 and continued to work with Morissette until 2002, appearing on three studio albums and two live albums.

While working with Morissette, Chaney developed a reputation as a versatile professional bassist. He has since recorded and/or toured with a wide variety of artists. His next high-profile job was as the full-time replacement for Eric Avery in the 2003 reunion of Jane's Addiction, contributing to the album Strays. He then formed the band The Panic Channel with Jane's Addiction members Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins; the group released the album (ONe) in 2006. In 2007 he joined the band Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, formed by Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters. Chaney and Hawkins had previously worked together in Morissette's band. The group released the albums Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders in 2006 and Red Light Fever in 2010.

Chaney has also worked with the all-star cover band Camp Freddy, Celine Dion, Michelle Branch, Ben Taylor, Carly Simon, Rob Zombie, Andrew W.K., Tommy Lee's Methods of Mayhem, and Will Hoge. He joined Johnny Rzeznik of The Goo Goo Dolls for the song "I'm Still Here" from soundtrack to the animated movie Treasure Planet. He is also featured on the 2007 album Little Voice by Sara Bareilles, and the 2008 album The Sound of Madness by Shinedown (replacing departed bassist Brad Stewart). Chaney has worked with James Stephen Hart on his project Burn Halo and in 2007 played bass in the song "Together When..." by the Japanese pop star Ayumi Hamasaki.

Chaney is featured as the primary bassist on guitarist Slash's 2010 solo album, Slash. In March 2010, Slash described Chaney as a "godsend", stating: "Chris is just the best session player that I know so I called him up. I didn’t want to use Duff McKagan so I was tryin’ to think of bass players and Chris I’ve worked with so many times and he’s easy going, and he learns quickly."

Influences

Chaney's influences include Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith, Paul McCartney, James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller, and Stevie Wonder.

Gear

As of the June 2003 issue of Bass Player magazine, Chaney's gear listing for recording and touring is as follows:

Basses

• ’62 and ’66 Fender Jazz Basses
• ’58, ’59, and ’60 Fender Precision Basses
• Fender Custom Shop Jazz Bass with pearl-inlays and Basslines pickups
• Two Lakland Bob Glaub models
• Lakland hollowbody four-string
• Lakland Joe Osborn five-string
• Four Sadowsky Jazz Basses (two four-string and two five-string models)
• Guild M85
• Guild Starfire
• Höfner hollowbody (strung with flatwound strings)
• Gibson EB-2
• Gibson Ripper
• Epiphone Jack Casady model and El Capitan acoustic bass guitars
• Rob Allen fretless four-string semi-acoustic bass with Basslines pickups and La Bella tapewound strings
• Meisel plywood upright with Helicore strings.
• D'Addario strings

Amplifiers and speaker cabinets

• Aguilar DB 900 DI
• Aguilar DB 680 preamp
• Avalon U5 DI/preamp
• Ashdown ABM500 2x10" combo amplifier
• Two Aguilar DB 750 heads (large venues)
• Two Aguilar GS 412 4x12" speaker cabinets (large venues)

Rackmounted gear and effects

• Furman Power Conditioner
• Korg DTR-1 tuner
• Line 6 Echo Pro
• Line 6 Mod Pro
• Empirical Labs Distressor compressor
• Line 6 Bass Pod Pro
• Digital Music Corp. GCX switcher
• Digital Music Corp. Ground Control Pro
• Big Briar Moogerfooger
• Roland Jet Phaser
• Musictronics Mu-tron III envelope filter
• Prescription Electronic Depth Charge overdrive
• Z. Vex Wooly Mammoth overdrive
• DigiTech Synth Wah
• Budda Phatbass tube overdrive
• MXR M-80 DI Overdrive
• Big Muff
• EBS OctaBass
• Boss OC-2 Octave
• MXR M-88 octaver
• Pefftronics Rand-O-Matic
• Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron
• DigiTech Bass Whammy
• Carl Martin compressor
• Carl Martin stereo chorus

Discography

Alanis Morissette

• Jagged Little Pill, Live (1997)
• Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)
• Alanis Unplugged (1999)
• Under Rug Swept (2002)
• Feast on Scraps (2002)

Burn Halo

• Burn Halo (2009)

Jane's Addiction

• Strays (2003)
• The Great Escape Artist (2011)

The Panic Channel

• (ONe) (2006)

Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders

• Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders (2006)
• Red Light Fever (2010)

Methods of Mayhem

• Methods of Mayhem (1999)
• A Public Disservice Announcement (2010)

Shinedown

• The Sound of Madness (2008)

Slash

• Slash (2010)

Jack's Mannequin

• "People and Things" (2011)

Joe Satriani

• "Unstoppable Momentum" (2013)

External links

• Bass Player Magazine: "Not Another Dream Gig!"
• Bass Player Magazine "Chris Chaney's Pop Bass Potpourri (Electric Bass lesson)
• Foster, Aaron (2003-07-29). "Jane’s Addiction’s Chris Chaney Doesn’t Mind Being The New Guy". Chart. Retrieved 2009-09-16.