Back in 2004 I was in a band as the lead singer-songwriter called ‘Brave Not Noble’. ‘New Song’, ‘Everything Automatic’ and ‘These Are The Sounds Of Days That Are Passed’ off of our first album are all songs written during the Brave Not Noble era.
Josh Bubniack was the first bassist for Brave Not Noble and is a dear dear friend of mine – check him out at www.joshbubniak.com. In the past, whenever my amp has broken or a pedal has busted I have called up Josh and he has always gone out of his way to help me out. Honestly we don’t get enough chances to connect these days – he’s got an amazing beaming family and I’m super swamped here in San Francisco so it was awesome to read his responses to these questions. Enjoy, and remember if you’d like to be featured too you just have to shoot us an e-mail at info@pleasedonotfight.com
—
Name –
Josh Bubniak, but a lot of people just call me Boobie. It’s easier than trying to pronounce Bubniak!
Hometown –
Urbana, Illinois / Redwood City, CA
I know you’re a killer bassist – How did you get into it and why do you love it?
I actually started out playing a classical instrument – Viola, which I did for about 7 years before starting to play bass. I just happened to be at a friends house who happened to have a Fender Jazz Bass sitting in a corner not being used so I started noodling around on it, and ended up taking it home. It was around Christmas time, so I ended up picking out a bunch of Christmas songs on it. About a month later, my friend needed the bass back, so I had to wait till my birthday in July to get a bass, but I then went on to play throughout the rest of high school and do so on a semi-professional level now. I’ve had the pleasure of learning from some incredible bassists like Jean Baudin, Blyss and a few others throughout my career. I love playing bass because I’m fundamentally a supportive personality, which translates well as a bass player, since we end up transferring the rhythm to the melody, as well as laying down some tasty treats for your aural pleasure in the process. 
I also know you make some elaborate pedal boards and even make some your own effect pedals. How’d you get into that?
Well, I really got into it like tons of other builders before me, I was broke and couldn’t afford to get my stuff fixed, so I asked some friends to teach me basic skills like how to solder, and moved on from just fixing things to learning about electrical engineering and eventually developing my own circuits and building things I wanted rather than spending a ton of money on pedals that, to my ears, didn’t cut it tonally. I totally admit to being a tone snob, but hopefully I’m not too much of a jerk about it to others! Pedalboard layout design is an artform, just like anything else, but I honestly got into it because I have slight OCD and seeing a bunch of cables on a board just sticking everywhere and not all neat and tidy actually makes me upset! Weird, I know, but it has led to another fun hobby of doing pedalboard layouts for several friends, bandmates (both current and former!) and being hired by a few big names to wire their boards for them. I love it!
What else are you excited about aside from bass-playin and building pedals?
Well, I write gear reviews for Bass Gear Magazine as well as Pedalmajigger.com and am in the process of developing a curriculum for guitarists to talk about tone, and some easy shortcuts to good tone without spending a ton of cash, which most musicians have a limited amount of anyway! Other than that, I’m a pretty avid video game player and love to play guitar, record and write music. To be honest though, I’m most excited about being a Papa to my beautiful 16 month old daughter Kaiyah! Being a papa is the best thing I have EVER done with my life!
Where can people connect with you on-line?
Well, I am on facebook, but the easiest places to get a hold of me are on joshbubniak.com or pedalmajigger.com or my twitter @joshbubniak or @pedalmajigger.
What’s your favorite Please Do Not Fight song and why?
Actually, Dorian Waltz. Not that I don’t love Zen’s voice when he’s pushing it, but that song is so intimate, and Erin’s vocals make me happy inside. The other one is the good ol’ Ghostbusters Theme cover! Who doesn’t love some Ghostbusters? Lame-o’s! That’s who!
What other bands would you recommend to fellow PDNF fans?
The Dear Hunter, especially their latest, The Color Spectrum. Incredibly talented dudes! Another great local Illinois band is Consider The Birds. They’re doing some awesome things and are also good friends of mine. Last but not least, even though they’re no longer together, As Tall As Lions is an awesome band and they made some amazing music while they were together.
