Nathan East is one of those bass players who’s worked on so many hits that even if you don’t know his name, you’ve definitely heard his work. We’re talking about a guy with over 2,000 recordings under his belt, playing for legends like Eric Clapton, Daft Punk, Chaka Khan, and Phil Collins. But every now and then, instead of laying down his usual killer bass grooves, he had to switch things up and make his bass sound like a guitar.
Take Kenny Loggins’ Love Will Follow from the 1985 album Vox Humana. Nathan shared a little trick he used on that track: “It was basically just me, Kenny, Greg Phillinganes, and a drum machine for the basic tracking section,” he told Vertex Effects.
He went on to explain how he pulled off that guitar-like sound: “I don’t usually use a pick, but I grew my nail out just enough to get a passive sound. Even on Footloose, and the intro of Love Will Follow, I do my impersonation of a guitarist.” Turns out, that double-guitar sound in the intro? Yeah, that’s all Nathan—just him working his magic on the bass.
Speaking of Footloose, Nathan had a big hand in bringing that absolute banger to life. The song, which shares its title with the 1984 movie, blew up, spending three weeks at number one and becoming one of Loggins’ most iconic tracks.
Nathan remembers the grind that went into perfecting it: “We were on tour – this was 40 years ago—but every single day we rehearsed it. No matter where we were, we’d find a room at the hotel and go in there to rehearse.”
He laughs, recalling how it got a little exhausting: “Eventually, I was like, ‘We’re gonna rehearse Footloose again? But in the end, all that practice paid off. “By the time we got to the studio, it was just one take – done.”
Of course, his influence doesn’t stop there. Nathan East also played bass on Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven, a session he still considers one of the most emotional experiences of his entire career. And honestly, with a resume like his, that says a lot.
