March 26, 2025 • 44 mins
Martin Motnik shares his remarkable journey from practice sessions in his parents' basement to becoming the bassist for legendary metal band Accept, with over 1,000 recording credits to his name.
• Journey from bedroom practice to professional touring musician
• Auditioning for Accept and the importance of personal chemistry with bandmates
• Bass technique adaptations for playing aggressive metal music
• Creation of his solo album "Dream Chaser" featuring notable guest musicians
• The value of networking and treating every professional relationship with respect
• Balancing studio session work with live performance
• Equipment insights including his custom Sadowski bass with luminous fretboard markers
• Accept's upcoming 50th anniversary plans and tours with Judas Priest
• Pre-show rituals and maintaining performance quality across thousands of shows
• Life lessons learned from decades in the music business
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rob Franklin (00:00):
Hi, welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage and
Beyond podcast.
My name is Rob Franklin and myco-host is Dana Franklin.
He's my best friend, my brother, my bandmate, my co-host and
today's his birthday.
So happy birthday, dana.
Well, thank you.
Dana Franklin (00:15):
I appreciate that .
I appreciate that, and so withus today.
You know a little bit about ourshow.
It's you know, of course,franklin's Garage to Stage, the
whole process of our show, andthe reason we're doing it is to
hopefully inspire new musiciansand teach them the trials and
tribulations of what we've gonethrough in our bands and to try
(00:36):
and just steer them in a goodpath.
Of you know what it takes toget from their bedroom onto the
stage.
It takes to get from theirbedroom onto the stage.
And so, with that, today wehave a world-renowned musician,
an amazing bass player that hasover 1,000 recordings yes, I
said that right, over 1,000recording credits and in
(00:57):
different styles and genres, andhe's the bass player for one of
my all-time favorite bandsExcept.
So I'm happy to introduce mrmartin mottnick.
How you doing, sir?
Martin Motnik (01:08):
hello I'm very good.
Well, first of all, dana, happybirthday well, thank you, sir,
thank you how old are you?
Dana Franklin (01:15):
27 you got it 20, 28, 28, excellent the best is
yet to come.
Yes.
Martin Motnik (01:23):
To quote one of our songs.
Dana Franklin (01:31):
So my first question for you, sir, is what
was it like and how did youprepare for your audition within
a band like Accept.
Martin Motnik (01:38):
The fun thing was it was actually not big of an
audition preparation becausewhen Wolf eventually contacted
me, he had already seen a bunchof videos that I have online and
heard songs, and he read myresume, so to speak, and he knew
I'd toured with Uli John Roththree times from Formula of the
(02:01):
Scorpions, which is one ofWolf's big influences.
So for him it was not so muchabout playing.
He said it right away.
He said why don't you come overand we chat and we'll see right
away if we vibe or not?
Very cool, because it's veryimportant, especially when
you're on tour together, how youget along.
(02:22):
I mean, it's almost a giventhat somebody can play at some
point, but it's really about howdo you vibe, how do you think
you're going to get along on thebus and on stage and the time
in between, and so he's like Iwill know that in five minutes.
And so when I ended up visitinghim at his house on a Saturday
(02:43):
afternoon, we ended up hangingand chatting for over two hours.
Rob Franklin (02:47):
Oh cool.
Martin Motnik (02:47):
So apparently there was some chemistry there
and I think both being Germanbut both living in Nashville and
kind of like having made thejump across the pond and doing
that definitely helped andthere's some similarities there
Definitely helped and there aresome similarities there.
So of course I talked to him ona Friday and he invited me for
(03:10):
the following Saturday, the dayafter.
So of course that Friday nightI came home and went through a
little bit of balls and metalhard, just a refreshment,
because I played those songs inthe 90s in cover bands in
Germany.
I mean, I've grown up with them.
So sometimes it's cool,sometimes it's weird to be in
that band and you're like I'mreally standing next to this
dude we just got done watching abunch of your videos.
Rob Franklin (03:33):
It's so cool, um every night.
Martin Motnik (03:37):
It's amazing.
And so when I, when I prepared,I just I was just myself and
went in and uh, and just I meanthat's all you can be.
Because I mean, if you, if yougo in pretending to be someone
right that you're not then youhave to keep either the facade
up, which you can't do, or it'sgoing to be just just a pain,
and um.
(03:57):
So after this initial meeting,um, and he was like, oh, this
feels good, okay, we'll.
Okay, let's meet up again inlike a week, let's bring
Christopher in the drummer andI'll send you some songs.
And now you can really prepare.
And that way he was going totest me how I can learn the
songs, how I can retain thematerial, how I play, how I act,
(04:18):
how I perform.
I'm not sure he expected me tosing backup vocals, but I told
him I was going to do that, andso he sent me, I think, seven
songs which were all multi-trackrecordings of live shows, and
so that way I was able to reallygo in and solo Peter Baltus'
(04:39):
bass tracks and the vocals thathe sang.
And I was able, because Iwanted to carry that on.
I mean, everybody has their ownstyle, but except for their
style.
I wanted to be able toreplicate that as close as
possible, and so I stuck prettywell to what Peter had played
and sung.
And that's what I did basicallyfor the following week was
(05:01):
nothing but just hammering thatmaterial and just learning it as
good as possible.
And so then when we, when weall got together, um, we, I
basically played the songs likeif I were on stage, you know,
like standing and posing andperforming and putting the
energy and so and um, that wasbasically the process oh, uh, my
(05:24):
my.
Rob Franklin (05:25):
since we're, you know, garage to stage, my
question is basically yourbeginnings.
I mean, how did you go fromwherever it was you know bedroom
and maybe your parents' houseto performing To the stage
you're at now?
Martin Motnik (05:37):
Actually, my parents' house was one of our
first rehearsal rooms in thebasement, to the dismay of our
neighbors.
Luckily, it was just a littlebit, and then we found this one
city building that had like anunused basement where we were
able to play.
I started playing guitar when Iwas eight, but then I really
(05:58):
started.
I was just dabbling around andmy brother brought me the first
bass guitar when I was 13 he'solder than me, so he's a big
influence and, uh, he broughthome a bass guitar and I picked
it up and I was like this is myinstrument, and so this is when
I, whenever he, startedpracticing and wanted to do it
yeah, dana is the bass man, Iknow that's basically his story.
Dana Franklin (06:19):
I mean, he started with the exact same
thing a lot of people yeah, Istarted playing guitar and just
you know, I mean, I was gettingfamiliar with it, but it just
didn't feel right.
Then, right and my brother,here, who's, you know?
The drummer said you know, dude, pick up the bass because you?
Know, there's not too many goodbass players out there, and as
soon as I put it on it was justan automatic feeling.
It's like this and then.
Martin Motnik (06:43):
so I practiced for a couple of years because I
said I don't want to go into aband or join a band or start a
band until I don't have at leastsome proficiency on the
instruments.
So I practiced for like two,three years at home.
That's how I spent my teenageyears.
Other guys went out and partiedand got girls and stuff and I
went home was the nerd.
Dana Franklin (07:13):
It's paid off.
Look at you now.
It's paid off, right?
Martin Motnik (07:15):
I party now yeah, you're partying way harder than
they are, that's for sure.
There you go and uh, so, like Iguess how we all started, we
had some friends.
We all played.
We all play differentinstruments.
First we started as athree-piece bass, keyboards,
drums and later a classmate ofmine, he played guitar.
So we asked him to join and wegot a singer.
Then we started our firstlittle concert and then high
(07:36):
school ended and people starteddropping out, going separate
ways, Started a new band, had alittle bit more success, Played
bigger concerts, got a littlebit out of town a little bit
more success.
Played bigger concerts, got alittle bit out of town a little
bit more, did a couple of CDs.
That band broke apart and atthat part I kind of decided that
I was going to be more of awhat do you call it like a
(07:58):
freelance musician.
I'm not going to start anotherband and then play little bars
and write the songs and then tryto pull everybody with me,
Because that's kind of like howit ended up being.
All the time I was like thedriving force and I'm the only
one dragging the wagon.
Dana Franklin (08:17):
We understand.
Martin Motnik (08:19):
It gets exhausting, it's exhausting, and
so eventually I just said youknow what, I'm just going to
focus on myself and just offermyself as a basis to, yeah,
studio sessions or also whateverband is looking for someone.
And I was just always kind oflooking for like, hey, what's
the next step up?
(08:40):
And I moved to Munich, whichwas like a big city compared to
where I'm from, and then therewas this goth metal band, dark
Sea.
They already had like a recorddeal.
They had a few CDs out.
I played with them for a while,then their singer quit, then
that band fell apart and I waslooking for another band and
there was this other band calledEisbrecher, which Sprecher,
(09:01):
which was very similar toRammstein, the German hard metal
, neue Deutsche Härte, what theycall it, new German Hardness.
Rob Franklin (09:15):
We're both German, but don't speak it,
unfortunately.
Martin Motnik (09:17):
Okay, and so that was that.
And then I just always tried tomore and more make a name for
myself and the big thing is justnetworking.
You know, it's like the musicbusiness is like not so much
what you know but also who youknow and how you get along with
(09:40):
them, and so that's what Ialways try to be like on good
terms with almost everybody.
I mean there's always gonna befun in the house and stuff, but
I try to stay away fromgossiping and like spreading
negative energy, and I thinkthat's that's one of the key
features if you want to progressfrom from the garage into like
(10:02):
getting into that situationwhere you actually get paid to
play and get asked back to playwith bands or progress Even if
you are in the band.
I mean always treat people nice, whether it's the sound guy or
it's the bar staff where youplay, or definitely the manager
(10:29):
um, definitely the manager um,and let's just say it's.
I'm usually like I treat themthe, the janitor, the janitor
the same way as I treat themanager or whoever's in charge,
because we're all human beings,we're all just doing our job and
we all deserve respect wellsaid, and uh, and so that's,
that's well said and so that's.
That's that's advice in thispart and that's what I try to
(10:49):
follow as a philosophy while Iprogress throughout my career
and always take every gig asseriously as you can and be
grateful for them.
And it's very easy when youplay like I mean this time I
think I've played over 5,000shows now in my life because
I've done a lot of Vegas showswhere you play like five nights
(11:10):
a week.
Or then I did cruise ships forlike four years.
So you're on a ship for sixmonths and you play like six
nights a week for half a year.
So you let those gigs just addup and and it's really easy to
fall into this uh sort of of uhroutine.
You know, like this again, butfor everybody who's in front of
(11:31):
you, it's a special moment,right, and and that's what you
need to remember is like putyourself into their shoes, like
this is they're making memories,right now, yeah, we've said
that on our show.
Dana Franklin (11:42):
It's like you know, whether you've got five
people out in the audience orfive thousand, you know you've
got to put on a show and play asif every one of those people
are your biggest fan, because,right, because for them, it's
it's.
Martin Motnik (11:54):
It doesn't matter who else is there.
They, they are there exactly.
And and also, another thingthat you, that you shouldn't do,
is blame the people who arethere for the ones who are not.
You know, if the bar is likealmost empty, but at least you
guys came, okay, I can leave too.
Dana Franklin (12:10):
That's what you want so, with all the studio
work you've done and the livestuff, which I guess it's a hard
question, which would youprefer to do if you only had one
choice studio work or live bandwork?
Martin Motnik (12:25):
yeah, it's really hard to decide because it bends
, it's, it's.
It's really I have like twohearts beating in my chest,
because I love the studio workand it's I love the, the
precision that you can put in um, also, it's kind of nice to
sleep in your own bed at night,and so that's definitely
(12:49):
something that I love.
And then it's the challenge.
There's always something new,and sometimes it's a situation
where you are in the studio andyou can have a bunch of songs
you've never heard before andthen you sit there with a chart
and you talk over it, especiallyhere in Nashville.
It's such a common thing.
You talk over it with your.
Especially here in nashville issuch a common thing.
Uh like, last week we had a bitof session and with this one
(13:09):
artist, um, female artist, uhand her songs and uh.
So nicky v is a good friend ofmine.
He's a guitar player, producerin nashville, west little.
He played with robin ford okay,cool he was a drummer and also a
studio, and Tim McDonald is avery gifted pianist.
(13:32):
He played with OliviaNewton-John and then he played
with all the country guys herein Nashville, and so it's
literally one of these oldschool studio situations where
all four musicians play at thesame time.
Nice, that's the album take.
And so you have that pressureof like, okay, you cannot waste
(13:54):
a lot of time because, yeah,let's say, you have six hours
for six songs.
An hour for one song goes bylike that Because you do the
overdubs and additional tracksand solo guitars and percussion,
and then after the piano comesthe Hammond and so we have to
switch around.
So you have to be very focusedand play solid and good and
(14:17):
tasteful on a song you've neverheard before.
So that's a challenge that Iactually personally love.
On the other side, you can'tbeat standing in front of 20,000
people who are cheering andyelling and singing along with
songs, some of them that I havenow actually been writing as
(14:38):
well.
So I've been on two Acceptalbums so far.
Rob Franklin (14:45):
Okay, that was one of my questions.
Martin Motnik (14:46):
To my surprise, wolf actually invited me to
submit songs In all the previousbands that I was part of.
Usually it was an establishedsituation where there's a band
leader and maybe another bandmember and they say, yeah, we're
just going to write the songsand you just play what we write
(15:10):
and you do what the job requires.
But it's those kind ofsituations, and so when I joined
Accept and I was in for a fewmonths, wolf was like, hey, if
you have any ideas for songs forthe new album, give them to me.
Rob Franklin (15:27):
And I was like okay.
Martin Motnik (15:28):
Which is very smart, because a good song is a
good song, and if he doesn'tlike it then he can always
reject it.
But if it's good, we can onlywin, we can only gain from that.
He doesn't have an ego.
He writes enough songs already.
He wrote Balls to the Wall.
Rob Franklin (15:46):
Oh, did he.
Okay, the original hits.
Martin Motnik (15:49):
Right, but yes, now that the last year that we
were playing the very first song, the Reckoning, was actually my
original idea and I wrote thelyrics.
Rob Franklin (16:00):
Oh, very cool.
Martin Motnik (16:01):
Nice, and so that's just a fantastic feeling
to be there, and then you havesee the response of the audience
.
You're rocking out to song.
You wrote this is awesome well,I was gonna.
Rob Franklin (16:11):
I was gonna ask you about your, your solo album,
dream chaser.
What was the process puttingthat together and how did you
network all those fabulousmusicians together?
Martin Motnik (16:21):
right to.
How did that happen, I have noidea.
So I call it my COVID projectand so that's when I did it and
I just literally took advantageof the situation that we were
all stuck at home.
Okay, and I knew a few peoplealready, so I've done with
(16:42):
several.
With Greg Pissonnette, and hewas I don't know your viewers
how much so he's one of the mostprolific studio drummers.
He was the guy who played withDave Lee Roth and his band after
he used to look just like himback in the day.
Back when I was playing, and soGreg played on my first solo
(17:05):
album already, and then inbetween us all his sessions we
were playing together.
And then while he was recording, I was like I would love to
have Andy Timmons I just said itOn this song, I would love to
have Andy Timmons on it inDanger Danger.
And he was like, oh, andy and Ihave a band together.
And I'm like are you kidding?
(17:26):
And so I go no, absolutely.
So I was like I'll text himright now.
So he pulled out his phone andtexted him, and then I get a
message like one phone numberfrom Dallas, and Greg was like
hey, andy, meet Martin, I'mplaying on his album.
He wants you for a solo.
And then I got the responseback hey, martin, great, I'd
love to send me a song.
(17:46):
Very nice.
And so that's how it all worked.
Wolf was a little bitapprehensive at first, but then
after I had Joe Satriani on it,then he said well, I can do that
too.
And I met Jennifer Batten atthe NAMM show at some point.
So michael jackson's guitarplayer, um, at that, at that
(18:09):
music convention in los angelesor anaheim, I should say, um,
thinking well, some people arereally just literally just cold
called, uh via email.
Uh, derek shirinian was one ofthe guys that I just contacted.
I loved his stuff in DreamTheater and so he was very open
(18:32):
right away.
Who else?
I wanted?
Steve Lukather from Toto.
But he replied and he said,well, he's busy.
And then I was like, how aboutyour son?
Because I had met him years agoin LA.
And Steve gets back to me andgoes, oh, that'd be great.
He gives me his contact, and sothat's how it works, and that's
why I said before, it's thewhole networking thing, and
(18:56):
sometimes you have to thinkstrategically.
Wolf thought in the verybeginning I'm just going to use
him as a special guest and thenpromote my whole album based on
him.
And I would be a little bitcareful about that too, because
you don't want to pull the wholething when you play just a solo
and you have no other creativecontrol.
(19:16):
And so I was like, okay, let meget some other people first so
I can dismantle that concern.
And then we got that done.
But yeah, so that's how thatall came about, and so that's
(19:37):
what kept me busy during thepandemic, and now I haven't
really played it out.
I wouldn't know how to do it,because I would need like three
more bass players to play thatstuff live and a drummer.
But it's just something you doto express yourself and that's
how that all came about.
Dana Franklin (19:55):
There's some amazing stuff on there for sure,
thank you.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour sound.
I saw on one of the clips I'veseen on your shows that your
Sadowski bass you've got likered dots on the fretboard that
light up or something on theside.
Martin Motnik (20:14):
They don't light up by themselves, they're called
lumen lays and basically whenyou order it, it's basically a
stick that's like a littlelonger than a little longer and
a little thicker than atoothpick, but it's just uh
plastic that that glows in thedark.
Basically you need to charge it, uh, with either a flashlight a
(20:35):
cell phone flashlight worksgreat or honestly, and that's
what it's made for the stagelights charge them basically.
And so what you do is you canbring it to a looser.
I just do stuff myself.
The base is a tool, so I justgo in there with the drill, I
(20:56):
drill out the side dots with thedrill and then I put these
lumen lathes in.
So you put that, stick it in.
And then I put these lumen lacein.
So you put that.
You have that stick and youstick it in, and then you cut it
off with pliers.
Then you go to the next one,put it in, cut it off.
Put it in, cut it off.
Then you sand it so it's flush,and then you're done.
And the point of it is it's not, it doesn't glow when the stage
(21:19):
is lit.
But then you don't need it thenbecause you look down and you
see where it is, but it's forthose moments when, all of a
sudden, the stage is completelydark and that happens a lot
between songs, except shows,live shows in general and that's
when they start to glow, that'swhen you see them, because
sometimes you get a pre-countand the song starts and the
(21:44):
stage is dark until the firstnote of the song and then the
lights come on.
But at that time if you startlooking where you notice, then
it's too late, and that's whatthose side dots are for.
You know, okay, put your handthere and you know you're in the
right spot and then you startplaying.
I have one other bass where Ihave LEDs and you actually see
them.
It's like nice and fancy andthat kind of stuff, but for that
(22:07):
this is all you need andthey're like $25 for a stick
like that and a drill and solveso many problems.
Rob Franklin (22:15):
Okay, okay, so going back to Accept.
If you don't mind, why is thereonly one US date on the tour?
If you don't mind, why is thereonly one US date on the?
Martin Motnik (22:23):
tour.
We did a lot of the tour lastyear.
And we were going to not play somuch this year because next
year is the 50th anniversary ofthe band, basically, and so
we're working on an anniversaryalbum and that's also when the
(22:46):
new tour is going to beanniversary tour.
But we are.
We have still.
Apparently, opportunities camein and so they decided to add
some dates.
So we have.
We actually have two dates inthis year so far.
In the States One's coming upin the beginning of May, may 3rd
(23:07):
it's M3 Festival in Maryland,then we go to Japan, then we
have some festivals in June andJuly in Europe.
And then what also came up wasto open up the Judas Priest oh
cool, so in.
And then what also came up wasto open up the Judas Priest oh
cool, so unfortunately inGermany war dates, which is
(23:29):
amazing.
When I grew up, we had a posterin our bedroom, so my brother
and I shared a bedroom and itwas 1981, judas Priest with Def
Leppard, special Guest except.
And that was in our bedroom,that poster, very cool, wow,
full circle.
Dana Franklin (23:47):
And here you are sharing the stage with these
guys now Amazing.
Martin Motnik (23:50):
So cool, it's fantastic.
And so then in September Ithink, there is a festival in
Kentucky, louder Than Live, sowe're going to play there.
Rob Franklin (24:00):
So far we have two .
Martin Motnik (24:04):
But I do know that they're working on
something.
I just I'm just not sure yethow, uh, if it's confirmed, how
confirmed it is what the chancesare.
Dana Franklin (24:15):
But stay tuned, there might be something we sure
will um, do you have any crazypre-show rituals that you engage
in?
Martin Motnik (24:26):
Not crazy, but we usually have a word of the day
that we come up with on the spotusually, and so right before we
go on stage, all six of usstand in a circle and then we
put our hands and fists on topof each other, and then one, two
, three, and then we yell the um, the word of the day, so like
whatever it is in munich.
(24:46):
We were all backstage and then,um, somebody came up with the
word worst, which is german forsausage.
Okay, yeah and so, uh and so,and then I don't know where the
other half came from, butsomebody said monster, worst,
(25:07):
like a monster song okay andthen we just said one, two,
three, monster, worst, and thenwe're gone.
Oh, that's great, stupid stufflike that.
Alright, it's, it's just justto have the camaraderie and just
be together and just huddle upbefore we go on stage together,
just to have the camaraderie andjust be together and just
huddle up before we go on stage.
Otherwise it's very, I don'twant to say boring, but
(25:29):
uneventful backstage.
So when you hear all these roadstories from what I heard,
accept has always been a verytame band professional party
wise, yeah, very professional,very business oriented, and I
feel like that's probably alsowhy they lasted so long, because
(25:49):
it's very focused on theproduct and delivering a good
show, and that's also somethingthat I'm proud of.
I have been on stages withbands where I was embarrassed to
be on stage just becausesomebody wasn't pulling their
weight or the whole band justsounded awful.
(26:11):
An Accept show is always topquality, just objectively, from
the musical and the performancestandard.
It's just such a machine.
Rob Franklin (26:25):
Along those lines.
We have a special segment wecall oh shit, Could you explain
a time on stage or maybe afterstage or whatever, where you've
had a moment that was eitherembarrassing or just something
went terribly wrong?
Martin Motnik (26:41):
Yeah, it was not an accept show but it was still
quite prestigious.
It was a jam.
Last year actually, at the NAMMshow, I was invited to partake
at the Ronnie Montrose jam.
Oh cool, and it was all heavyhitters.
Actually, people had playedwith Montrose or lots of
(27:06):
different players.
Joel Hoekstra from Whitesnakewas playing oh God, what's his
name?
The guitar player for the Doors, I forgot the name.
His pianist was there.
It was like this wholestar-studded oh, david Elston,
of course Megadeth he was there.
It was like this whole starstudded um, oh, david elson, of
course megadeth he was thereokay cool and uh.
(27:30):
So what happened was I wasplaying, I think, three songs.
I was scheduled like allthrough the night.
So it was one of these jamswith like different bands that
just being put together of these, these musicians, and then you
know the song you're going toplay.
So you rehearse and then youplay there.
And it was a celebration ofRonnie Montrose.
So we had just the show wasgoing.
(27:55):
I had just finished playing myfirst song it was like 30
minutes into the show orwhatever and the pianist who
played with Ronnie Montrose Iwas giving a little speech and I
was standing behind him and Ihad my accept base with me, but
I had.
In the morning I was runningaround the booth and I talked to
different companies and, uh,one company gave me just this
(28:19):
guitar strap that felt likereally comfortable and I want to
be like appreciative and I waslike you know what, I'm gonna
play that strap tonight, I'mgonna put that on.
Oh no, put it on my face.
You know where this is goingyeah, so I put it on, of course,
no strap locks, but I'm likeI'm not gonna do anything stupid
anyway, I'm just gonna put iton, just stand there.
So I'm standing there, ofcourse, like a big auditorium
(28:43):
full of people, pianists justtelling a somber story, ronnie
Montrose and I'm standing behindhim just having my hands
hanging down by my side, and allof a sudden I just hear this
loud bang and the strap had comeoff my of the strap pin and the
bass just landed on his back.
Slam on the floor and the bassjust landed on his back, slam on
(29:03):
the floor and the wholeaudience went and I just stood
there and all I could do waslike oops what can you do here?
Rob Franklin (29:14):
and I'm like okay.
Martin Motnik (29:17):
So I picked it up and plugged my cables and tried
to play and then one of thestrings was buzzing.
Like okay, that sucks.
So I was like, okay, what brokeand what happened was from the
impact one of the pickups.
The screws had come loose, sothe pickup had come up and then
was pressing against the strings.
(29:38):
I'm like, okay, no big deal,all I have to do is just go
backstage, find some technicianwithin the next 60 seconds.
Uh with a screwdriver and andscrew that back in and we should
be off good to go.
So I kind of like do the walkof shame.
I'm actually looking at thatstrap right now that was my next
(29:58):
.
Dana Franklin (29:58):
That was my.
I was surprised you haven'tthrown that away.
That was my next question.
Are you endorsing those guys atall?
Martin Motnik (30:04):
And so he just kept talking and I walked back
and I plugged in that bass.
So I found somebody with ascrewdriver screwed it back in
and he was still talking.
And I didn't mean to play thebass loud, I just wanted to plug
it in.
But as the volume knob was up,I was just frazzled a little bit
and I go, boom, super wanted toplug it in.
(30:24):
But I said volume knob was up,I was just frazzled a little bit
and I go and the whole audiencewent like it was awesome.
So they were totally rootingfor me, which is awesome.
But yeah, that was, that wasdefinitely a oh shit, yeah
understandable I think.
I think there's a videosomewhere of that what's your
(30:50):
most prized instrument that youown and how did you receive it?
I don't have it here right now,but I don't know if you know
Jens Ritter Ritter bassist.
He's a custom luthier fromGermany.
He's from the same area whereI'm from and he's building
really expensive custominstruments.
By now I wouldn't be able toafford one anymore.
(31:10):
Lady Gaga has a custom guitarof his that's covered in
Swarovski crystals, and he builta bass for Sammy Hagar.
Funny enough, mary J Blige hasone Prince, I think, had an
instrument, and so now he's I'mnot saying he's making
(31:32):
instruments, he makes art, thatsounds, basically and so he
built me more as a friend.
He's built me three instrumentsand they are definitely the one
, the ones that mean the most tome.
Usually I'm not very attachedto instruments in general
because I'm like, as I said, thekind of tools, but my three
(31:55):
radar bases absolutely.
Rob Franklin (31:56):
They're like my, my babies okay, getting back to
accept, do you have any input onthe set list, or is that pretty
much determined by somebodyelse?
Martin Motnik (32:08):
um wolf does the most of it we can.
We can bring in somesuggestions.
Sometimes he asks if there'ssomething that you guys um want
to hear, or or sometimes we alsosay, can we mix it up, can we
play this?
Actually, most of it usuallycomes from Mark, because he also
gauges the response from theaudience the most.
(32:30):
Or sometimes he feels like,okay, this song didn't go over
very well last time, or can wejust mix it up, okay, or
something else.
But to be honest, there's just alot of there's a certain
strategy behind a set list thatalmost defines how you have to
(32:55):
structure it, because you wantto have some new songs that you
want to promote, because youwant to promote a new album, but
then there are just so manyclassics that you just have to
play, and so there's actuallynot much wiggle room between.
If you take those twocomponents, then you can say,
okay, we'll switch on this songfor this one, or.
(33:18):
But that's what usually what itis.
You take some new songs, butyou also don't want to.
I know most of the people comefor the old stuff and you just
have to give them that.
But usually even the new stuffgoes over well.
People are very receptive, andthat that's usually how it's
created.
Dana Franklin (33:37):
Cool Practice regiments, I mean my.
Martin Motnik (33:41):
What's that?
Dana Franklin (33:43):
Well our brother's a guitar player and he
wanted me to ask if you knewwhat Wolf Hoffman's practice is
like.
And I want to know you knowwhat kind of practice schedule
do you have?
Martin Motnik (33:55):
Well, if you ask Wolf I'm just going to say it
like that because I know he'sanswered that question in
interviews himself that way,when we're not touring or when
we're not writing or when we'renot recording, there are moments
where we don't touch ourinstruments Because it's kind of
(34:16):
, I think, especially for him,because it's his music and he
plays what comes naturally tohim.
It's kind of in him already.
I think it all ramps up when itcomes back to when we approach
a tour again, then for him it'sdefinitely the fluidity, I guess
(34:39):
, of his left hand.
For me he wants me to playreally, really hard, and when
I'm saying really hard, I breakstrings.
I break strings.
Sometimes I have really thickpicks.
That was one of the firstquestions that Wolf asked me
before my audition.
I saw your play.
I know you can play.
Just come by let's see how youvibe.
(34:59):
Two questions Can you hang yourbass lower?
I usually have it pretty highbecause it's easier to play and
virtuoso.
He doesn't want me to look likea dork.
Have the bass lower, like arock, a rock guy.
And can you play with the pick?
Um, because I'm he probablymostly saw me as a fingerstyle
(35:22):
player, but I've played themetal fans before, where you
play with the pick and it justhas this more aggressive attack
and it's just easier to playprecise, especially fast speeds,
and so that's what I what Itold him um, whatever you want,
man, no problem, uh, but he saidthat was the key to the sound
and that's how peter played.
(35:43):
He plays, uh, he just digs inlike there's no tomorrow, and
and that's how you get thataggressive sound and that's
that's also why the bass doesn'treally have a lot of effects on
it, but mostly what you hear isthe bass itself, okay, and and
just it does.
The sound comes from the bass,but then also how you play and
(36:07):
what kind of mix, but that's butjust sorry, just to finish that
.
So the exercise element isliterally more to get your
muscles back up to strength thatyou can hammer through for two
hours, two months in a row.
Because the left hand I mean,as a bass player in heavy metal,
the left hand doesn't do thatmuch.
(36:29):
I mean it just stays there, butthe right hand does all the
work.
Rob Franklin (36:35):
What kind of mix do you put in your monitors?
Martin Motnik (36:42):
Mostly kick snare hi-hat so I can really lock in
with the drums Cool.
I have a little bit of a clickthat I usually don't hear.
I only hear it if the drumsCool.
I have a little bit of a clickthat I usually don't hear.
I only hear it if the drumsdrop out.
We play to a click because thelight show, we don't use any
tracks and everything we play islive, but it's synchronized to
(37:05):
the light show.
The channel changes on theguitar amps on pre-programmed,
so the guitar players don't haveto step and change sounds.
That all happens automatically.
And so we have a click that weplay to.
And I usually don't hear itbecause I listen to Christopher
how he plays on the drums, butif he has problems and he drops
(37:29):
out, I still need to be able tokeep time Right.
Okay, because then the role asa timekeeper falls on me, and
then uh, so I hear that, then Ican hear the click.
And then of course I have wolfuh quite audibly so that I know
um where he's at and he his feelalso kind of decides.
Okay, if we're playing, becausethe click is the click, but the
(37:52):
song defines the feeling thatyou play, if you're a little bit
ahead or a little behind andthat kind of stuff, and then my
vocals, um, and then the restlittle bit in the background.
So I know they're there andjust a little bit of, but those
are the key components of thedrums myself and wolf okay, very
(38:13):
cool who are your uh, your maininfluences?
Dana Franklin (38:17):
when you first picked up the bass, who, who did
you want to emulate?
Martin Motnik (38:22):
um, the the three big names that I always mention
is billy sheehan, because thatwas right around the time when
David Ross album Even Smile cameout, and that's why I wanted
Greg DeSanet to play on my album, because I wanted to play with
the same drummer as Billy.
Rob Franklin (38:39):
Oh nice.
Martin Motnik (38:40):
That was kind of my thing.
And so him, then John Antwistlefrom the who and Gary Lee from
Rush.
Dana Franklin (38:49):
Okay, awesome.
Martin Motnik (38:50):
Those three.
I was always very much intovirtuoso musicians and, I'd say,
lead bassists.
I've been told very often in myolder bands that I play too
much.
Rob Franklin (39:03):
No such thing.
No, that's right.
Martin Motnik (39:06):
That's where it comes from, awesome.
Rob Franklin (39:10):
Okay, well, I know you have a limited time frame
here, so in closing, could youtell us basically for new
musicians listening to us, whatwould be your best advice for a
bass player just getting startedor maybe he's in a new band
going forward and things heshould look out for as far as
you know, avoiding and, and whatshould he be doing?
Martin Motnik (39:34):
Avoiding would be just don't be an asshole.
And what should you be doing?
Playing with other peoplealways helps.
Go to jam sessions or jam withyour friends.
Listen to different styles ofmusic, even if you're like rock
(39:56):
is my thing.
But listen to some jazz, listento some funk, listen to some
R&B.
The old disco has some amazingbass lines, drums too, I mean
everything that makes you dance.
Look, I would say, go to liveconcerts, but stuff has gotten
so expensive these days.
I'm not sure if I can recommend, but there's so much stuff in
(40:21):
YouTube.
Go on YouTube, educate yourself, just keep an open mind, listen
to a lot of music, play to alot of people and just have fun.
Dana Franklin (40:32):
That would be my advice, great advice well, we
want to thank you very much foryour time.
Martin, thanks for having methis is the reason we're doing
this podcast is to talk withpeople like you and inspire new
musicians, or even oldermusicians that maybe are finally
retiring, getting our age andthey're like, hey, let's get the
(40:53):
band back together.
So thank you for your time.
It's been very inspiring.
And you've made my birthdaythat much more special.
Martin Motnik (41:01):
I appreciate it.
I'm going to have a drink onyou later.
Rob Franklin (41:05):
Martin, thank you very, very much for your time.
Any words in closing?
Martin Motnik (41:13):
Turn up the bass.
Rob Franklin (41:14):
There you go, alright thank you, martin, thank
you guys happy birthday.
Thank you, bye.
Well, that was so cool havingMartin on our show.
I wanted to let everybody knowwe have a new website.
It is calledwwwfranklinsgaragetostagecom.
Franklin's to stage is all oneword.
(41:36):
You can also reach us that wayat rob at
franklinsgaragetostagecom, orDana at
franklinsgaragetostagecom.
Dana, what do you have to sayabout that episode?
Wasn't that killer?
Dana Franklin (41:50):
You know, it was absolutely amazing to not only
have such a renowned artist onour show but to be a bass player
and for it to be on my birthday.
I mean it was amazing.
The guy was absolutely amazingto talk to and just such a
down-to-earth guy and I'm justso happy we were able to get in
(42:10):
touch with him and for him to dothis show.
It made my whole day.
He's a very cool dude.
Rob Franklin (42:17):
Yeah, that was a lot of fun and, once again, new
website and new way to contactus.
So please do visit and, ifyou're in the mood, please help
support us by clicking on thelink to support us.
And thank you all so much forlistening Later Bye.
Hi, welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage and
Beyond podcast.
My name is Rob Franklin and myco-host is Dana Franklin.
He's my best friend, my brother, my bandmate, my co-host and
today's his birthday.
So happy birthday, dana.
Well, thank you.
Dana Franklin (00:15):
I appreciate that .
I appreciate that, and so withus today.
You know a little bit about ourshow.
It's you know, of course,franklin's Garage to Stage, the
whole process of our show, andthe reason we're doing it is to
hopefully inspire new musiciansand teach them the trials and
tribulations of what we've gonethrough in our bands and to try
(00:36):
and just steer them in a goodpath.
Of you know what it takes toget from their bedroom onto the
stage.
It takes to get from theirbedroom onto the stage.
And so, with that, today wehave a world-renowned musician,
an amazing bass player that hasover 1,000 recordings yes, I
said that right, over 1,000recording credits and in
(00:57):
different styles and genres, andhe's the bass player for one of
my all-time favorite bandsExcept.
So I'm happy to introduce mrmartin mottnick.
How you doing, sir?
Martin Motnik (01:08):
hello I'm very good.
Well, first of all, dana, happybirthday well, thank you, sir,
thank you how old are you?
Dana Franklin (01:15):
27 you got it 20, 28, 28, excellent the best is
yet to come.
Yes.
Martin Motnik (01:23):
To quote one of our songs.
Dana Franklin (01:31):
So my first question for you, sir, is what
was it like and how did youprepare for your audition within
a band like Accept.
Martin Motnik (01:38):
The fun thing was it was actually not big of an
audition preparation becausewhen Wolf eventually contacted
me, he had already seen a bunchof videos that I have online and
heard songs, and he read myresume, so to speak, and he knew
I'd toured with Uli John Roththree times from Formula of the
(02:01):
Scorpions, which is one ofWolf's big influences.
So for him it was not so muchabout playing.
He said it right away.
He said why don't you come overand we chat and we'll see right
away if we vibe or not?
Very cool, because it's veryimportant, especially when
you're on tour together, how youget along.
(02:22):
I mean, it's almost a giventhat somebody can play at some
point, but it's really about howdo you vibe, how do you think
you're going to get along on thebus and on stage and the time
in between, and so he's like Iwill know that in five minutes.
And so when I ended up visitinghim at his house on a Saturday
(02:43):
afternoon, we ended up hangingand chatting for over two hours.
Rob Franklin (02:47):
Oh cool.
Martin Motnik (02:47):
So apparently there was some chemistry there
and I think both being Germanbut both living in Nashville and
kind of like having made thejump across the pond and doing
that definitely helped andthere's some similarities there
Definitely helped and there aresome similarities there.
So of course I talked to him ona Friday and he invited me for
(03:10):
the following Saturday, the dayafter.
So of course that Friday nightI came home and went through a
little bit of balls and metalhard, just a refreshment,
because I played those songs inthe 90s in cover bands in
Germany.
I mean, I've grown up with them.
So sometimes it's cool,sometimes it's weird to be in
that band and you're like I'mreally standing next to this
dude we just got done watching abunch of your videos.
Rob Franklin (03:33):
It's so cool, um every night.
Martin Motnik (03:37):
It's amazing.
And so when I, when I prepared,I just I was just myself and
went in and uh, and just I meanthat's all you can be.
Because I mean, if you, if yougo in pretending to be someone
right that you're not then youhave to keep either the facade
up, which you can't do, or it'sgoing to be just just a pain,
and um.
(03:57):
So after this initial meeting,um, and he was like, oh, this
feels good, okay, we'll.
Okay, let's meet up again inlike a week, let's bring
Christopher in the drummer andI'll send you some songs.
And now you can really prepare.
And that way he was going totest me how I can learn the
songs, how I can retain thematerial, how I play, how I act,
(04:18):
how I perform.
I'm not sure he expected me tosing backup vocals, but I told
him I was going to do that, andso he sent me, I think, seven
songs which were all multi-trackrecordings of live shows, and
so that way I was able to reallygo in and solo Peter Baltus'
(04:39):
bass tracks and the vocals thathe sang.
And I was able, because Iwanted to carry that on.
I mean, everybody has their ownstyle, but except for their
style.
I wanted to be able toreplicate that as close as
possible, and so I stuck prettywell to what Peter had played
and sung.
And that's what I did basicallyfor the following week was
(05:01):
nothing but just hammering thatmaterial and just learning it as
good as possible.
And so then when we, when weall got together, um, we, I
basically played the songs likeif I were on stage, you know,
like standing and posing andperforming and putting the
energy and so and um, that wasbasically the process oh, uh, my
(05:24):
my.
Rob Franklin (05:25):
since we're, you know, garage to stage, my
question is basically yourbeginnings.
I mean, how did you go fromwherever it was you know bedroom
and maybe your parents' houseto performing To the stage
you're at now?
Martin Motnik (05:37):
Actually, my parents' house was one of our
first rehearsal rooms in thebasement, to the dismay of our
neighbors.
Luckily, it was just a littlebit, and then we found this one
city building that had like anunused basement where we were
able to play.
I started playing guitar when Iwas eight, but then I really
(05:58):
started.
I was just dabbling around andmy brother brought me the first
bass guitar when I was 13 he'solder than me, so he's a big
influence and, uh, he broughthome a bass guitar and I picked
it up and I was like this is myinstrument, and so this is when
I, whenever he, startedpracticing and wanted to do it
yeah, dana is the bass man, Iknow that's basically his story.
Dana Franklin (06:19):
I mean, he started with the exact same
thing a lot of people yeah, Istarted playing guitar and just
you know, I mean, I was gettingfamiliar with it, but it just
didn't feel right.
Then, right and my brother,here, who's, you know?
The drummer said you know, dude, pick up the bass because you?
Know, there's not too many goodbass players out there, and as
soon as I put it on it was justan automatic feeling.
It's like this and then.
Martin Motnik (06:43):
so I practiced for a couple of years because I
said I don't want to go into aband or join a band or start a
band until I don't have at leastsome proficiency on the
instruments.
So I practiced for like two,three years at home.
That's how I spent my teenageyears.
Other guys went out and partiedand got girls and stuff and I
went home was the nerd.
Dana Franklin (07:13):
It's paid off.
Look at you now.
It's paid off, right?
Martin Motnik (07:15):
I party now yeah, you're partying way harder than
they are, that's for sure.
There you go and uh, so, like Iguess how we all started, we
had some friends.
We all played.
We all play differentinstruments.
First we started as athree-piece bass, keyboards,
drums and later a classmate ofmine, he played guitar.
So we asked him to join and wegot a singer.
Then we started our firstlittle concert and then high
(07:36):
school ended and people starteddropping out, going separate
ways, Started a new band, had alittle bit more success, Played
bigger concerts, got a littlebit out of town a little bit
more success.
Played bigger concerts, got alittle bit out of town a little
bit more, did a couple of CDs.
That band broke apart and atthat part I kind of decided that
I was going to be more of awhat do you call it like a
(07:58):
freelance musician.
I'm not going to start anotherband and then play little bars
and write the songs and then tryto pull everybody with me,
Because that's kind of like howit ended up being.
All the time I was like thedriving force and I'm the only
one dragging the wagon.
Dana Franklin (08:17):
We understand.
Martin Motnik (08:19):
It gets exhausting, it's exhausting, and
so eventually I just said youknow what, I'm just going to
focus on myself and just offermyself as a basis to, yeah,
studio sessions or also whateverband is looking for someone.
And I was just always kind oflooking for like, hey, what's
the next step up?
(08:40):
And I moved to Munich, whichwas like a big city compared to
where I'm from, and then therewas this goth metal band, dark
Sea.
They already had like a recorddeal.
They had a few CDs out.
I played with them for a while,then their singer quit, then
that band fell apart and I waslooking for another band and
there was this other band calledEisbrecher, which Sprecher,
(09:01):
which was very similar toRammstein, the German hard metal
, neue Deutsche Härte, what theycall it, new German Hardness.
Rob Franklin (09:15):
We're both German, but don't speak it,
unfortunately.
Martin Motnik (09:17):
Okay, and so that was that.
And then I just always tried tomore and more make a name for
myself and the big thing is justnetworking.
You know, it's like the musicbusiness is like not so much
what you know but also who youknow and how you get along with
(09:40):
them, and so that's what Ialways try to be like on good
terms with almost everybody.
I mean there's always gonna befun in the house and stuff, but
I try to stay away fromgossiping and like spreading
negative energy, and I thinkthat's that's one of the key
features if you want to progressfrom from the garage into like
(10:02):
getting into that situationwhere you actually get paid to
play and get asked back to playwith bands or progress Even if
you are in the band.
I mean always treat people nice, whether it's the sound guy or
it's the bar staff where youplay, or definitely the manager
(10:29):
um, definitely the manager um,and let's just say it's.
I'm usually like I treat themthe, the janitor, the janitor
the same way as I treat themanager or whoever's in charge,
because we're all human beings,we're all just doing our job and
we all deserve respect wellsaid, and uh, and so that's,
that's well said and so that's.
That's that's advice in thispart and that's what I try to
(10:49):
follow as a philosophy while Iprogress throughout my career
and always take every gig asseriously as you can and be
grateful for them.
And it's very easy when youplay like I mean this time I
think I've played over 5,000shows now in my life because
I've done a lot of Vegas showswhere you play like five nights
(11:10):
a week.
Or then I did cruise ships forlike four years.
So you're on a ship for sixmonths and you play like six
nights a week for half a year.
So you let those gigs just addup and and it's really easy to
fall into this uh sort of of uhroutine.
You know, like this again, butfor everybody who's in front of
(11:31):
you, it's a special moment,right, and and that's what you
need to remember is like putyourself into their shoes, like
this is they're making memories,right now, yeah, we've said
that on our show.
Dana Franklin (11:42):
It's like you know, whether you've got five
people out in the audience orfive thousand, you know you've
got to put on a show and play asif every one of those people
are your biggest fan, because,right, because for them, it's
it's.
Martin Motnik (11:54):
It doesn't matter who else is there.
They, they are there exactly.
And and also, another thingthat you, that you shouldn't do,
is blame the people who arethere for the ones who are not.
You know, if the bar is likealmost empty, but at least you
guys came, okay, I can leave too.
Dana Franklin (12:10):
That's what you want so, with all the studio
work you've done and the livestuff, which I guess it's a hard
question, which would youprefer to do if you only had one
choice studio work or live bandwork?
Martin Motnik (12:25):
yeah, it's really hard to decide because it bends
, it's, it's.
It's really I have like twohearts beating in my chest,
because I love the studio workand it's I love the, the
precision that you can put in um, also, it's kind of nice to
sleep in your own bed at night,and so that's definitely
(12:49):
something that I love.
And then it's the challenge.
There's always something new,and sometimes it's a situation
where you are in the studio andyou can have a bunch of songs
you've never heard before andthen you sit there with a chart
and you talk over it, especiallyhere in Nashville.
It's such a common thing.
You talk over it with your.
Especially here in nashville issuch a common thing.
Uh like, last week we had a bitof session and with this one
(13:09):
artist, um, female artist, uhand her songs and uh.
So nicky v is a good friend ofmine.
He's a guitar player, producerin nashville, west little.
He played with robin ford okay,cool he was a drummer and also a
studio, and Tim McDonald is avery gifted pianist.
(13:32):
He played with OliviaNewton-John and then he played
with all the country guys herein Nashville, and so it's
literally one of these oldschool studio situations where
all four musicians play at thesame time.
Nice, that's the album take.
And so you have that pressureof like, okay, you cannot waste
(13:54):
a lot of time because, yeah,let's say, you have six hours
for six songs.
An hour for one song goes bylike that Because you do the
overdubs and additional tracksand solo guitars and percussion,
and then after the piano comesthe Hammond and so we have to
switch around.
So you have to be very focusedand play solid and good and
(14:17):
tasteful on a song you've neverheard before.
So that's a challenge that Iactually personally love.
On the other side, you can'tbeat standing in front of 20,000
people who are cheering andyelling and singing along with
songs, some of them that I havenow actually been writing as
(14:38):
well.
So I've been on two Acceptalbums so far.
Rob Franklin (14:45):
Okay, that was one of my questions.
Martin Motnik (14:46):
To my surprise, wolf actually invited me to
submit songs In all the previousbands that I was part of.
Usually it was an establishedsituation where there's a band
leader and maybe another bandmember and they say, yeah, we're
just going to write the songsand you just play what we write
(15:10):
and you do what the job requires.
But it's those kind ofsituations, and so when I joined
Accept and I was in for a fewmonths, wolf was like, hey, if
you have any ideas for songs forthe new album, give them to me.
Rob Franklin (15:27):
And I was like okay.
Martin Motnik (15:28):
Which is very smart, because a good song is a
good song, and if he doesn'tlike it then he can always
reject it.
But if it's good, we can onlywin, we can only gain from that.
He doesn't have an ego.
He writes enough songs already.
He wrote Balls to the Wall.
Rob Franklin (15:46):
Oh, did he.
Okay, the original hits.
Martin Motnik (15:49):
Right, but yes, now that the last year that we
were playing the very first song, the Reckoning, was actually my
original idea and I wrote thelyrics.
Rob Franklin (16:00):
Oh, very cool.
Martin Motnik (16:01):
Nice, and so that's just a fantastic feeling
to be there, and then you havesee the response of the audience
.
You're rocking out to song.
You wrote this is awesome well,I was gonna.
Rob Franklin (16:11):
I was gonna ask you about your, your solo album,
dream chaser.
What was the process puttingthat together and how did you
network all those fabulousmusicians together?
Martin Motnik (16:21):
right to.
How did that happen, I have noidea.
So I call it my COVID projectand so that's when I did it and
I just literally took advantageof the situation that we were
all stuck at home.
Okay, and I knew a few peoplealready, so I've done with
(16:42):
several.
With Greg Pissonnette, and hewas I don't know your viewers
how much so he's one of the mostprolific studio drummers.
He was the guy who played withDave Lee Roth and his band after
he used to look just like himback in the day.
Back when I was playing, and soGreg played on my first solo
(17:05):
album already, and then inbetween us all his sessions we
were playing together.
And then while he was recording, I was like I would love to
have Andy Timmons I just said itOn this song, I would love to
have Andy Timmons on it inDanger Danger.
And he was like, oh, andy and Ihave a band together.
And I'm like are you kidding?
(17:26):
And so I go no, absolutely.
So I was like I'll text himright now.
So he pulled out his phone andtexted him, and then I get a
message like one phone numberfrom Dallas, and Greg was like
hey, andy, meet Martin, I'mplaying on his album.
He wants you for a solo.
And then I got the responseback hey, martin, great, I'd
love to send me a song.
(17:46):
Very nice.
And so that's how it all worked.
Wolf was a little bitapprehensive at first, but then
after I had Joe Satriani on it,then he said well, I can do that
too.
And I met Jennifer Batten atthe NAMM show at some point.
So michael jackson's guitarplayer, um, at that, at that
(18:09):
music convention in los angelesor anaheim, I should say, um,
thinking well, some people arereally just literally just cold
called, uh via email.
Uh, derek shirinian was one ofthe guys that I just contacted.
I loved his stuff in DreamTheater and so he was very open
(18:32):
right away.
Who else?
I wanted?
Steve Lukather from Toto.
But he replied and he said,well, he's busy.
And then I was like, how aboutyour son?
Because I had met him years agoin LA.
And Steve gets back to me andgoes, oh, that'd be great.
He gives me his contact, and sothat's how it works, and that's
why I said before, it's thewhole networking thing, and
(18:56):
sometimes you have to thinkstrategically.
Wolf thought in the verybeginning I'm just going to use
him as a special guest and thenpromote my whole album based on
him.
And I would be a little bitcareful about that too, because
you don't want to pull the wholething when you play just a solo
and you have no other creativecontrol.
(19:16):
And so I was like, okay, let meget some other people first so
I can dismantle that concern.
And then we got that done.
But yeah, so that's how thatall came about, and so that's
(19:37):
what kept me busy during thepandemic, and now I haven't
really played it out.
I wouldn't know how to do it,because I would need like three
more bass players to play thatstuff live and a drummer.
But it's just something you doto express yourself and that's
how that all came about.
Dana Franklin (19:55):
There's some amazing stuff on there for sure,
thank you.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour sound.
I saw on one of the clips I'veseen on your shows that your
Sadowski bass you've got likered dots on the fretboard that
light up or something on theside.
Martin Motnik (20:14):
They don't light up by themselves, they're called
lumen lays and basically whenyou order it, it's basically a
stick that's like a littlelonger than a little longer and
a little thicker than atoothpick, but it's just uh
plastic that that glows in thedark.
Basically you need to charge it, uh, with either a flashlight a
(20:35):
cell phone flashlight worksgreat or honestly, and that's
what it's made for the stagelights charge them basically.
And so what you do is you canbring it to a looser.
I just do stuff myself.
The base is a tool, so I justgo in there with the drill, I
(20:56):
drill out the side dots with thedrill and then I put these
lumen lathes in.
So you put that, stick it in.
And then I put these lumen lacein.
So you put that.
You have that stick and youstick it in, and then you cut it
off with pliers.
Then you go to the next one,put it in, cut it off.
Put it in, cut it off.
Then you sand it so it's flush,and then you're done.
And the point of it is it's not, it doesn't glow when the stage
(21:19):
is lit.
But then you don't need it thenbecause you look down and you
see where it is, but it's forthose moments when, all of a
sudden, the stage is completelydark and that happens a lot
between songs, except shows,live shows in general and that's
when they start to glow, that'swhen you see them, because
sometimes you get a pre-countand the song starts and the
(21:44):
stage is dark until the firstnote of the song and then the
lights come on.
But at that time if you startlooking where you notice, then
it's too late, and that's whatthose side dots are for.
You know, okay, put your handthere and you know you're in the
right spot and then you startplaying.
I have one other bass where Ihave LEDs and you actually see
them.
It's like nice and fancy andthat kind of stuff, but for that
(22:07):
this is all you need andthey're like $25 for a stick
like that and a drill and solveso many problems.
Rob Franklin (22:15):
Okay, okay, so going back to Accept.
If you don't mind, why is thereonly one US date on the tour?
If you don't mind, why is thereonly one US date on the?
Martin Motnik (22:23):
tour.
We did a lot of the tour lastyear.
And we were going to not play somuch this year because next
year is the 50th anniversary ofthe band, basically, and so
we're working on an anniversaryalbum and that's also when the
(22:46):
new tour is going to beanniversary tour.
But we are.
We have still.
Apparently, opportunities camein and so they decided to add
some dates.
So we have.
We actually have two dates inthis year so far.
In the States One's coming upin the beginning of May, may 3rd
(23:07):
it's M3 Festival in Maryland,then we go to Japan, then we
have some festivals in June andJuly in Europe.
And then what also came up wasto open up the Judas Priest oh
cool, so in.
And then what also came up wasto open up the Judas Priest oh
cool, so unfortunately inGermany war dates, which is
(23:29):
amazing.
When I grew up, we had a posterin our bedroom, so my brother
and I shared a bedroom and itwas 1981, judas Priest with Def
Leppard, special Guest except.
And that was in our bedroom,that poster, very cool, wow,
full circle.
Dana Franklin (23:47):
And here you are sharing the stage with these
guys now Amazing.
Martin Motnik (23:50):
So cool, it's fantastic.
And so then in September Ithink, there is a festival in
Kentucky, louder Than Live, sowe're going to play there.
Rob Franklin (24:00):
So far we have two .
Martin Motnik (24:04):
But I do know that they're working on
something.
I just I'm just not sure yethow, uh, if it's confirmed, how
confirmed it is what the chancesare.
Dana Franklin (24:15):
But stay tuned, there might be something we sure
will um, do you have any crazypre-show rituals that you engage
in?
Martin Motnik (24:26):
Not crazy, but we usually have a word of the day
that we come up with on the spotusually, and so right before we
go on stage, all six of usstand in a circle and then we
put our hands and fists on topof each other, and then one, two
, three, and then we yell the um, the word of the day, so like
whatever it is in munich.
(24:46):
We were all backstage and then,um, somebody came up with the
word worst, which is german forsausage.
Okay, yeah and so, uh and so,and then I don't know where the
other half came from, butsomebody said monster, worst,
(25:07):
like a monster song okay andthen we just said one, two,
three, monster, worst, and thenwe're gone.
Oh, that's great, stupid stufflike that.
Alright, it's, it's just justto have the camaraderie and just
be together and just huddle upbefore we go on stage together,
just to have the camaraderie andjust be together and just
huddle up before we go on stage.
Otherwise it's very, I don'twant to say boring, but
(25:29):
uneventful backstage.
So when you hear all these roadstories from what I heard,
accept has always been a verytame band professional party
wise, yeah, very professional,very business oriented, and I
feel like that's probably alsowhy they lasted so long, because
(25:49):
it's very focused on theproduct and delivering a good
show, and that's also somethingthat I'm proud of.
I have been on stages withbands where I was embarrassed to
be on stage just becausesomebody wasn't pulling their
weight or the whole band justsounded awful.
(26:11):
An Accept show is always topquality, just objectively, from
the musical and the performancestandard.
It's just such a machine.
Rob Franklin (26:25):
Along those lines.
We have a special segment wecall oh shit, Could you explain
a time on stage or maybe afterstage or whatever, where you've
had a moment that was eitherembarrassing or just something
went terribly wrong?
Martin Motnik (26:41):
Yeah, it was not an accept show but it was still
quite prestigious.
It was a jam.
Last year actually, at the NAMMshow, I was invited to partake
at the Ronnie Montrose jam.
Oh cool, and it was all heavyhitters.
Actually, people had playedwith Montrose or lots of
(27:06):
different players.
Joel Hoekstra from Whitesnakewas playing oh God, what's his
name?
The guitar player for the Doors, I forgot the name.
His pianist was there.
It was like this wholestar-studded oh, david Elston,
of course Megadeth he was there.
It was like this whole starstudded um, oh, david elson, of
course megadeth he was thereokay cool and uh.
(27:30):
So what happened was I wasplaying, I think, three songs.
I was scheduled like allthrough the night.
So it was one of these jamswith like different bands that
just being put together of these, these musicians, and then you
know the song you're going toplay.
So you rehearse and then youplay there.
And it was a celebration ofRonnie Montrose.
So we had just the show wasgoing.
(27:55):
I had just finished playing myfirst song it was like 30
minutes into the show orwhatever and the pianist who
played with Ronnie Montrose Iwas giving a little speech and I
was standing behind him and Ihad my accept base with me, but
I had.
In the morning I was runningaround the booth and I talked to
different companies and, uh,one company gave me just this
(28:19):
guitar strap that felt likereally comfortable and I want to
be like appreciative and I waslike you know what, I'm gonna
play that strap tonight, I'mgonna put that on.
Oh no, put it on my face.
You know where this is goingyeah, so I put it on, of course,
no strap locks, but I'm likeI'm not gonna do anything stupid
anyway, I'm just gonna put iton, just stand there.
So I'm standing there, ofcourse, like a big auditorium
(28:43):
full of people, pianists justtelling a somber story, ronnie
Montrose and I'm standing behindhim just having my hands
hanging down by my side, and allof a sudden I just hear this
loud bang and the strap had comeoff my of the strap pin and the
bass just landed on his back.
Slam on the floor and the bassjust landed on his back, slam on
(29:03):
the floor and the wholeaudience went and I just stood
there and all I could do waslike oops what can you do here?
Rob Franklin (29:14):
and I'm like okay.
Martin Motnik (29:17):
So I picked it up and plugged my cables and tried
to play and then one of thestrings was buzzing.
Like okay, that sucks.
So I was like, okay, what brokeand what happened was from the
impact one of the pickups.
The screws had come loose, sothe pickup had come up and then
was pressing against the strings.
(29:38):
I'm like, okay, no big deal,all I have to do is just go
backstage, find some technicianwithin the next 60 seconds.
Uh with a screwdriver and andscrew that back in and we should
be off good to go.
So I kind of like do the walkof shame.
I'm actually looking at thatstrap right now that was my next
(29:58):
.
Dana Franklin (29:58):
That was my.
I was surprised you haven'tthrown that away.
That was my next question.
Are you endorsing those guys atall?
Martin Motnik (30:04):
And so he just kept talking and I walked back
and I plugged in that bass.
So I found somebody with ascrewdriver screwed it back in
and he was still talking.
And I didn't mean to play thebass loud, I just wanted to plug
it in.
But as the volume knob was up,I was just frazzled a little bit
and I go, boom, super wanted toplug it in.
(30:24):
But I said volume knob was up,I was just frazzled a little bit
and I go and the whole audiencewent like it was awesome.
So they were totally rootingfor me, which is awesome.
But yeah, that was, that wasdefinitely a oh shit, yeah
understandable I think.
I think there's a videosomewhere of that what's your
(30:50):
most prized instrument that youown and how did you receive it?
I don't have it here right now,but I don't know if you know
Jens Ritter Ritter bassist.
He's a custom luthier fromGermany.
He's from the same area whereI'm from and he's building
really expensive custominstruments.
By now I wouldn't be able toafford one anymore.
(31:10):
Lady Gaga has a custom guitarof his that's covered in
Swarovski crystals, and he builta bass for Sammy Hagar.
Funny enough, mary J Blige hasone Prince, I think, had an
instrument, and so now he's I'mnot saying he's making
(31:32):
instruments, he makes art, thatsounds, basically and so he
built me more as a friend.
He's built me three instrumentsand they are definitely the one
, the ones that mean the most tome.
Usually I'm not very attachedto instruments in general
because I'm like, as I said, thekind of tools, but my three
(31:55):
radar bases absolutely.
Rob Franklin (31:56):
They're like my, my babies okay, getting back to
accept, do you have any input onthe set list, or is that pretty
much determined by somebodyelse?
Martin Motnik (32:08):
um wolf does the most of it we can.
We can bring in somesuggestions.
Sometimes he asks if there'ssomething that you guys um want
to hear, or or sometimes we alsosay, can we mix it up, can we
play this?
Actually, most of it usuallycomes from Mark, because he also
gauges the response from theaudience the most.
(32:30):
Or sometimes he feels like,okay, this song didn't go over
very well last time, or can wejust mix it up, okay, or
something else.
But to be honest, there's just alot of there's a certain
strategy behind a set list thatalmost defines how you have to
(32:55):
structure it, because you wantto have some new songs that you
want to promote, because youwant to promote a new album, but
then there are just so manyclassics that you just have to
play, and so there's actuallynot much wiggle room between.
If you take those twocomponents, then you can say,
okay, we'll switch on this songfor this one, or.
(33:18):
But that's what usually what itis.
You take some new songs, butyou also don't want to.
I know most of the people comefor the old stuff and you just
have to give them that.
But usually even the new stuffgoes over well.
People are very receptive, andthat that's usually how it's
created.
Dana Franklin (33:37):
Cool Practice regiments, I mean my.
Martin Motnik (33:41):
What's that?
Dana Franklin (33:43):
Well our brother's a guitar player and he
wanted me to ask if you knewwhat Wolf Hoffman's practice is
like.
And I want to know you knowwhat kind of practice schedule
do you have?
Martin Motnik (33:55):
Well, if you ask Wolf I'm just going to say it
like that because I know he'sanswered that question in
interviews himself that way,when we're not touring or when
we're not writing or when we'renot recording, there are moments
where we don't touch ourinstruments Because it's kind of
(34:16):
, I think, especially for him,because it's his music and he
plays what comes naturally tohim.
It's kind of in him already.
I think it all ramps up when itcomes back to when we approach
a tour again, then for him it'sdefinitely the fluidity, I guess
(34:39):
, of his left hand.
For me he wants me to playreally, really hard, and when
I'm saying really hard, I breakstrings.
I break strings.
Sometimes I have really thickpicks.
That was one of the firstquestions that Wolf asked me
before my audition.
I saw your play.
I know you can play.
Just come by let's see how youvibe.
(34:59):
Two questions Can you hang yourbass lower?
I usually have it pretty highbecause it's easier to play and
virtuoso.
He doesn't want me to look likea dork.
Have the bass lower, like arock, a rock guy.
And can you play with the pick?
Um, because I'm he probablymostly saw me as a fingerstyle
(35:22):
player, but I've played themetal fans before, where you
play with the pick and it justhas this more aggressive attack
and it's just easier to playprecise, especially fast speeds,
and so that's what I what Itold him um, whatever you want,
man, no problem, uh, but he saidthat was the key to the sound
and that's how peter played.
(35:43):
He plays, uh, he just digs inlike there's no tomorrow, and
and that's how you get thataggressive sound and that's
that's also why the bass doesn'treally have a lot of effects on
it, but mostly what you hear isthe bass itself, okay, and and
just it does.
The sound comes from the bass,but then also how you play and
(36:07):
what kind of mix, but that's butjust sorry, just to finish that
.
So the exercise element isliterally more to get your
muscles back up to strength thatyou can hammer through for two
hours, two months in a row.
Because the left hand I mean,as a bass player in heavy metal,
the left hand doesn't do thatmuch.
(36:29):
I mean it just stays there, butthe right hand does all the
work.
Rob Franklin (36:35):
What kind of mix do you put in your monitors?
Martin Motnik (36:42):
Mostly kick snare hi-hat so I can really lock in
with the drums Cool.
I have a little bit of a clickthat I usually don't hear.
I only hear it if the drumsCool.
I have a little bit of a clickthat I usually don't hear.
I only hear it if the drumsdrop out.
We play to a click because thelight show, we don't use any
tracks and everything we play islive, but it's synchronized to
(37:05):
the light show.
The channel changes on theguitar amps on pre-programmed,
so the guitar players don't haveto step and change sounds.
That all happens automatically.
And so we have a click that weplay to.
And I usually don't hear itbecause I listen to Christopher
how he plays on the drums, butif he has problems and he drops
(37:29):
out, I still need to be able tokeep time Right.
Okay, because then the role asa timekeeper falls on me, and
then uh, so I hear that, then Ican hear the click.
And then of course I have wolfuh quite audibly so that I know
um where he's at and he his feelalso kind of decides.
Okay, if we're playing, becausethe click is the click, but the
(37:52):
song defines the feeling thatyou play, if you're a little bit
ahead or a little behind andthat kind of stuff, and then my
vocals, um, and then the restlittle bit in the background.
So I know they're there andjust a little bit of, but those
are the key components of thedrums myself and wolf okay, very
(38:13):
cool who are your uh, your maininfluences?
Dana Franklin (38:17):
when you first picked up the bass, who, who did
you want to emulate?
Martin Motnik (38:22):
um, the the three big names that I always mention
is billy sheehan, because thatwas right around the time when
David Ross album Even Smile cameout, and that's why I wanted
Greg DeSanet to play on my album, because I wanted to play with
the same drummer as Billy.
Rob Franklin (38:39):
Oh nice.
Martin Motnik (38:40):
That was kind of my thing.
And so him, then John Antwistlefrom the who and Gary Lee from
Rush.
Dana Franklin (38:49):
Okay, awesome.
Martin Motnik (38:50):
Those three.
I was always very much intovirtuoso musicians and, I'd say,
lead bassists.
I've been told very often in myolder bands that I play too
much.
Rob Franklin (39:03):
No such thing.
No, that's right.
Martin Motnik (39:06):
That's where it comes from, awesome.
Rob Franklin (39:10):
Okay, well, I know you have a limited time frame
here, so in closing, could youtell us basically for new
musicians listening to us, whatwould be your best advice for a
bass player just getting startedor maybe he's in a new band
going forward and things heshould look out for as far as
you know, avoiding and, and whatshould he be doing?
Martin Motnik (39:34):
Avoiding would be just don't be an asshole.
And what should you be doing?
Playing with other peoplealways helps.
Go to jam sessions or jam withyour friends.
Listen to different styles ofmusic, even if you're like rock
(39:56):
is my thing.
But listen to some jazz, listento some funk, listen to some
R&B.
The old disco has some amazingbass lines, drums too, I mean
everything that makes you dance.
Look, I would say, go to liveconcerts, but stuff has gotten
so expensive these days.
I'm not sure if I can recommend, but there's so much stuff in
(40:21):
YouTube.
Go on YouTube, educate yourself, just keep an open mind, listen
to a lot of music, play to alot of people and just have fun.
Dana Franklin (40:32):
That would be my advice, great advice well, we
want to thank you very much foryour time.
Martin, thanks for having methis is the reason we're doing
this podcast is to talk withpeople like you and inspire new
musicians, or even oldermusicians that maybe are finally
retiring, getting our age andthey're like, hey, let's get the
(40:53):
band back together.
So thank you for your time.
It's been very inspiring.
And you've made my birthdaythat much more special.
Martin Motnik (41:01):
I appreciate it.
I'm going to have a drink onyou later.
Rob Franklin (41:05):
Martin, thank you very, very much for your time.
Any words in closing?
Martin Motnik (41:13):
Turn up the bass.
Rob Franklin (41:14):
There you go, alright thank you, martin, thank
you guys happy birthday.
Thank you, bye.
Well, that was so cool havingMartin on our show.
I wanted to let everybody knowwe have a new website.
It is calledwwwfranklinsgaragetostagecom.
Franklin's to stage is all oneword.
(41:36):
You can also reach us that wayat rob at
franklinsgaragetostagecom, orDana at
franklinsgaragetostagecom.
Dana, what do you have to sayabout that episode?
Wasn't that killer?
Dana Franklin (41:50):
You know, it was absolutely amazing to not only
have such a renowned artist onour show but to be a bass player
and for it to be on my birthday.
I mean it was amazing.
The guy was absolutely amazingto talk to and just such a
down-to-earth guy and I'm justso happy we were able to get in
(42:10):
touch with him and for him to dothis show.
It made my whole day.
He's a very cool dude.
Rob Franklin (42:17):
Yeah, that was a lot of fun and, once again, new
website and new way to contactus.
So please do visit and, ifyou're in the mood, please help
support us by clicking on thelink to support us.
And thank you all so much forlistening Later Bye.
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