Call it luck or serendipity, but growing up in Southwest Detroit alongside Jack White led Dominic Davis to an illustrious career playing bass on records by the crème de la crème of the pop world, including Pharrell Williams, Adele, and Beyoncé.
And, in what can only be described as a full-circle moment, over a decade ago, White invited his long-time friend to be the bassist for his solo band.
“I’d go to Jack’s house when we were 9 or 10, and we’d play in his attic with his brother Eddie,” Davis tells Bass Player.
“One day, since my guitar wouldn’t stay in tune, Jack said, ‘You know what? I bet you’re a bass player.’ He put a bass in my hands, and that was the beginning of it all. I still play guitar, but I’ve always felt like a bass player.”
Growing up with White also came with a couple of, well, quirks. “He was into some things that kids our age weren’t. He was always making things, like cutting up Dr. Pepper cans and making trains, planes, or whatever.
He continues, “One time, he was listening to one of those big Lifetime classical music box sets. No one else was really listening to that. But when I moved to college, it took me forever to find people to play with, and that’s when it dawned on me that Jack had something special; he was motivated in a way that other people weren’t.”
All these decades later, White and Davis have a mutual understanding of how the other works and fits into the puzzle.
“In high school, Jack would call and say, ‘Hey, come over – I wanna record!’ and that’s how it still goes now. He’s pretty fearless in the studio. He doesn’t necessarily need a plan; he kind of chases it a lot. You just gotta trust him and know it’s gonna work, ’cause there’s a lot of experimentation.”
Bass Player’s full interview with Dominic Davis will be published in the coming weeks.
In more recent news, White spoke about why he always shied away from your typical Les Pauls and Strats – and how he found his own voice by seeking out a different kind of guitar.
