Redefining the “One-Man Band”

The archetypal image of the One-Man Band is a dude with a guitar, several drums on his back, and a wicked series of levers and pulleys hooked up to instruments. Contemporary recording technology means musical geniuses don’t need to look like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins when cooking up sonic masterpieces. This article will take you through a list of some of the best contemporary takes on the One-Man Band.

Josh Turner Guitar

Not to be confused with the country singer, Josh Turner Guitar is a YouTuber who generally covers classic rock songs. These days, he plays with a lot of collaborators and writes his own music, but he cut his teeth playing covers with idiosyncratic arrangements. Check out his great cover of “Honky Tonk Women” on which he plays guitar, bass, drums, and kitchen utensils. Or if you like folk, dig his Mandolin-centric cover of the landmark guitar song “Little Wing” accompanying himself on cajon and acoustic bass.

 

Mary Spender

Mary Spender, similar to Josh Turner, puts up one-man-band style covers of songs in a classic rock style, whether it’s a tune by Miley Cyrus or Robert Johnson. She’s also a talented speaker and interviewer, so her videos often contain short skits at the beginning of them, like on her cover of “Crossroads.” Mary Spender often finds herself collaborating with John Turner often, so if you like them both consider this a two-for-one.

Jacob Collier

Jacob Collier is a music prodigy from England whose perfect pitch, knowledge of jazz theory, and unique application of said theory make him one of one in the music world. He blew up when a video of him playing all instruments on a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing” went viral. You can see all the elements of his style right away, including his borderline avante-garde ideas about harmony. He’s moved on to performing with prominent musicians like Joni Mitchell, SZA, and Coldplay, but a subscription to his YouTube channel will bring you regular musical wonders.

Hellripper

One of my personal favorites on the list, Hellripper is a one-man heavy metal project based in Scotland. His style fuses no-holds-barred death and thrash metal with high-flying guitar theatrics of straight out of hair metal. In addition to his guitar hero status, he also records his own vocals, plays the bass, and programs the drums. Most one-man bands focus on styles of music based in funk or folk, so it’s fun to see someone do it in one of the wilder genres of music out there. If the screamier genres of metal scare you, Hellripper is a great place to start, with the catchy song structure and fun guitars.

Elise Trouw

Elise Trouw takes the experience of the one-man band into the future by making use of a loop pedal, which allows her to record a part on one instrument, repeat it indefinitely without her having to continue playing the instrument, moving to the next instrument, playing another part, and repeating. This allows her to give you the contemporary one-man band experience live. Her song “Make Believe” is the perfect example of this, with her laying down the drums, keys, bass, and a notably funky guitar line before strumming chords and singing along in a soft soulful voice.

Marc Ribillet

Marc Ribillet is like the clown shadow to Elise Trouw, also playing several instruments and live looping, but doing so in a much more slapped-together, improv comedy style. Marc doesn’t plan his songs out in advance and has a broad, wild personality to compliment his impressive musical talent, resulting in brilliant musical comedy madness. You can watch his livestreams to see him come up with strings of songs on the spot while interacting with the chat.

Shakey Graves

Though the rest of the above fit the more contemporary version of the One Man Band, Shakey Graves is the more classic version, with an improvised suitcase drum acting as both kickdrum and tambourine and a complex finger-picking style that allows him to play baselines, chords, and counter-melodies that sounds like they’re coming from three different instruments. But though his style is old-school, his music is a fresh interpretation of alt-country. His song “Roll The Bones” is a perfect example and a great song that transcends the gimmick.

Jon Gomme

But if you thought Shakey Graves was impressive, take a look at Jon Gomme. He plays his songs live, by himself, with no looping, and only on one instrument. He does this through a one-of-a-kind technique that he’s developed over years of practice. Through complex hand positions, tapping, harmonics, using the tuning pegs as an instrument, and notably, the most impressive guitar percussion you have ever seen (and I will bet on that)  he has all of the melody, harmony, and counter-melody of several instruments. If you’ve never seen this live performance of his song “Passionflower”, do yourself a favor. It’s one of the seven wonders of the music world.

BONUS: Kenny Beats

Hip-hop producers aren’t usually talked about as One- Man Bands, but they should be. They program drums, find samples, and often several instruments to fill out a beat. Kenny Beats is one of the most prominent contemporary examples of this. Just watch him build a beat from nothing in this freestyle he did with JPEGMAFIA (or Peggy as the kids call him). He might be on his computer, but you can see his sense of rhythm as he taps in the drums.

In fact, Kenny’s sense of rhythm is so good that he played a Tiny Desk concert on live drums himself, featuring guest musicians and rapping from his friend Peggy. For anyone who still doubts, check out the freestyle he did with Teezo Touchdown where he not only programs the drums to Teezo’s exact specifications but takes out his guitar and fills in the melodies and chords Teezo hears in his head.

-Christian Flynn

Photo: Elise Trouw at the Moroccan Lounge. Justin Higuchi from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons