Bassic Talents
Student masters strings by day, electric by night
By Bethany McCormack
Copy Desk Chief

During the day, Jeremy Hull can be found in a music education class or playing the double bass in the TCU Symphony Orchestra. At night he can often be found head-banging on the stage of a dark club, playing electric bass in the band Circle Theory.

It may seem he lives a dual life.

Daniela Munguia/SKIFF STAFF Jeremy Hull, a senior music education major, practices double bass for the TCU Symphony Orchestra. Hull also plays electric bass in the band Circle Theory.

As Hull reclines on a couch in the Student Center Lounge, his feet nestled in worn black Dr. Martens propped on the table in front of him, Hull is being his daytime self — a casual, relaxed student.

The only visible hint of something slightly unusual about Hull is provided by his hair, which has faded to a shade of green but was once vibrant blue.

“It’ll be blue again tonight,” he says with a laugh.

Perfect hair for a rock performer. Based on the modern association of a rock bands with sex and drugs, Hull hardly seems to fit the stereotype. He calls himself a geek and says he likes to think of himself as “the nice guy.”

For Hull, a senior music education major, it is all about music.

“I love listening to music, and I love being inspired by musicians. Music is fun, and if it’s not fun then you’re doing something wrong,” he says.

Circle Theory is a pop-rock band made up of Hull and three recent TCU graduates. In the three years since the band formed, they have progressed from playing primarily at Fat Harry’s Daiquiri Bar and Tavern to playing regularly at The Aardvark and Club DaDa in Dallas’ Deep Ellum.

The band will be breaking up at the end of April with a final concert April 20 at the Aardvark. Hull says the decision to end Circle Theory is for the best.

“Basically, a couple of us are feeling a pull in different ways,” he says. “We’re kind of down that it didn’t work out, but we had the big heart felt discussions … We’d rather go out now while we’re still friends.”

Hull describes the experience with the band as incredible and says he has grown in many ways, especially in his performing, which he calls a “rush.”

Hull says that when he first started performing, he would concentrate on playing the music and not missing any notes.

“Somewhere along the line I realized—I’m in a rock band. I should start having more fun,” he says. “I just like goofing around on the stage. I think it should be something entertaining to watch as well as to listen to.

You’re playing the music, and you get to act the part of the rock guy. It’s a fun role to play.”

Playing in the band, Hull says, has also allowed him to learn the inside of the music business and make friends and connections with many local bands.

Hull says one friend he met in the music industry gave him some advice he has since applied to his life.

His friend told him, “If you want to be a rock star so you can party, then you’re going to have a little time of great partying and then just hit the bottom. If you want to be a rock star because you love the music and you love performing, then you’re going to be able to make it.”

The band tries to convey a positive message to the audience through their music, Hull says.

“We’re not just screaming words and making noise. We’re trying to say something with the music and the words,” Hull says. “We’re not out there to say how pissed off we are with the world and how everything sucks. I think the underlying theme to most of our songs is just live your life to the fullest.”

Hull’s mom, Sylvia, says Jeremy showed interest in music from an early age.

“When he was about 4 or 5 years old, he would march around the dining room table to music on a record beating a Fisher Price drum to the beat of the music — for an hour at a time,” she says.

Hull was born and raised in Mineral Wells, a small Texas town known primarily for rock climbing. Hull’s mom describes her first child, the oldest of three boys, as “the kind of kid everybody wished they had.”

Sylvia Hull says Jeremy was intelligent and thoughtful growing up. In high school he was known as a smart kid and didn’t seem to fit in with other kids in the small town, she says.

“He kind of existed outside of the normal plane. He was out in space a lot of the time,” she says. “He was always thinking about things and reading.”

Jeremy Hull says he has always loved music, but he didn’t really begin to explore that interest until he was in sixth grade when he began playing trumpet for the band. He then began playing French horn in high school.

He also began to learn the electric bass in high school when the jazz band needed a bass player. Hull says he liked it so much that he decided to study music when he came to college.

He became interested in TCU after hearing the jazz band perform.

Having no classical experience, Hull says, he picked up the double bass only about a year before starting at TCU as a freshman.

James Mick, a senior music education major, has known Hull since both were freshmen.

Mick says that Hull’s talent is obvious.

“He didn’t pick up the string bass until he got to college, and he has really excelled in classical music,” Mick says.

Mick says Hull’s talents are versatile, and Hull has talent for playing both jazz and rock music. Mick says he thinks Hull has what it takes to succeed as a musician.

“I think he has a lot of potential. He studies other musicians aurally through music and books. To excel in something, you really have to want it. It’s not an 8-to-5 thing,” Mick says.

School came easy for Hull, but music provided more of a challenge, Hull says.

“I’ve gotten good grades, but I honestly haven’t had to work that hard to get them. But music is something I’ve had to work at. It’s not as natural to me as other things, but it’s more rewarding to me because of that,” he says. “Because I couldn’t just pick up this piece (of music) and play it, I had to work at it, I feel a lot prouder of that than I feel of my SAT scores or getting all A’s.”

Although Circle Theory will no longer be performing after April, Hull is already forming a new band with some members of Circle Theory.

The band is currently called Camino, although the name may change, Hull says.

Hull says Camino plays a different type of music than Circle Theory, more reminiscent of Counting Crows or Tom Petty.

“The music is a lot mellower, more groove oriented and laid back (than Circle Theory),” he says. “It’s a little funkier.”

Camino’s first concert is May 2 at the Aardvark.

Hull can also be found performing in a jazz trio 10 p.m. every other Wednesday at The Moon, next door to The Aardvark.

With graduation approaching in December, Hull is considering several possibilities for the future.

“Right now I’m at a crossroads deciding what I want to do when I graduate,” he says. “Through the band, I’ve got a couple decent contacts in Nashville, so that’s opened up as an option.”

Hull says he is also considering teaching band or orchestra in junior high or high school, or possibly attending graduate school at the University of North Texas.

No matter what career he chooses, one thing is certain—music will be a part of it. Hull says he plans to play music all his life.

“I see myself as an old man sitting in the back of a bar playing bass,” he says.

Bethany McCormack
b.s.mccormack@student.tcu.edu

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002