My name is E. Emmanuel del Casal and I was born and raised in Seattle. However, I did grow up outside Seattle briefly. A place of notable mention is New Orleans where I lived for two years. This was the place that probably had the most significant impact in my playing and music. It was also the place where I fell in love with the bass and purchased my first bass guitar, a Rickenbacker 3000 short scale bass. Spurned by the bass idols of the time were Jaco Pastorious and Stanley Clarke. I remember making a pact with myself that I would never place stressful expectations of becoming another Jaco or Stanley. But what made me want to play was funk bass. In New Orleans especially during Mardi Gras, all the high schools participated in the parades for this extremely festive holiday. It was a big deal. I remember the bigger schools especially from the city that would march down the street with rows of tuba players swaying and dancing and pumping out the low end. The flutes, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and the rest of the band marching in high step dance to the funky cadence of the drum section. And it was FUNKY no doubt about it. The drum sections in some of those bands were so scary. It was marvelous. I know those beats impacted the way I play bass today.