BIO

Russell Alderson is a bass player, singer and improviser from Brooklyn, New York, now living in Kingston, New York. Russ plays for a number of acts including Bubble, Rembert and the Basic Goodness, Valley Of Weights, The Year Of, Murderers’ Row and the F*Bomb monthly tribute series.

Russ arrived in New York City in 1991and has been involved in local music ever since. He started out with bandmates from Connecticut having gone to school in Hartford with a brief stint in New Haven after graduating. Russ is a founding member of Bubble, a collective of musicians fronted by Dave Foster who is a master in pop song craftsmanship, since 1993. Through the 90’s Russ was active in supporting other local songwriters such as Matt Keating, Deni Bonet and many others. Russ did a short Midwest tour with Matt in ‘97 and went to SXSW ‘98 with Deni to open for the great Robyn Hitchcock.

Russ proudly became a father in 1999 and again in 2000 and decided to focus on a single creative music project that was better suited to a new parent’s schedule. Russ took over as the bass player for The Wobblies, a post-punk trio that blended late-80s alternative song writing with all out noise jams. The Wobblies release 3 CDs and played in and around NYC with a short midwest tour thrown in. Russ enjoyed the experimentation that The Wobblies encouraged. He added more extended techniques and effects pedals to expand the role of the bass guitar in the band.

By 2010 The Wobblies had parted ways but the interest in experimentation remained and Russ found his way into the Brooklyn noise scene. He started a solo project called Xanthocephalus that combined bass guitar generated noise and pre-recorded natural sounds recorded to iPhone from frequent birding excursions. Over the next several years Russ would perform as a solo act or in collaborations with other experimental artists. More on this in the Experimental section.

Since 2017, Russ has been playing bass and singing regularly with his current slate of acts but by 2021 he had developed a solo act using a short scale bass guitar and some choice effects to create his own versions of classic songs. Russ had a recurring slot at Jahn Xavier’s salon at La Palapa while it lasted during 2024.

Russ' bass playing maintains a thoughtful, melodic quality showing a deep appreciation for harmony and composition.

Check out “Russ on bass on Spotify”

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2oiWIWnXDigb8OauQYkNlf

Theater Experience

In April of 2022 Russ was part of the debut of Rembert Block’s “Selfie! The Musical” produced by The Vortex Theater in Austin, TX. Russ was the bass player and back up vocalist for the on stage band and was the featured vocalist for the song, “Rembradt”. Other theater experience includes music director for Shelley Senter’s Fall Space Grant Showcase 2014 and as sound designer for a production of “Great Falls” by Lee Blessing in 2018.