The bassist, unless he is Flea, is usually the quiet one holding up the corner, plucking away, head down. Tim Brennan is not Flea, and he could very well be quiet, but he’s also a bit of comedian. He says he plays bass like cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and that “Johnny Cash’s guitar player” got him interested in the bass. “The reason I play bass is because everybody else is too chicken to play it,” he says, perhaps jokingly. A photography teacher at NSCAD in the real world, Brennan’s spent a lot of time on stages with the likes of Registered Vote, The Lonestars, Candyass, The Brown Belts and Black Pool. And, of course, the Joel Plaskett Emergency, which you love for each individual part as well as the band as a whole, including Brennan, who’s been pluckin’ and pickin’ with the JPE for the past three years.
Runner-up: Jay Meadus (Signal Hill)
