Chuck Cote has worked in many facets of the music industry, but at heart, he is a bass player. Chuck started out playing bass for Multi Color House, a Tampa based alternative rock band from ’89 to ’91. The band performed at the New Music Seminar in New York, and did multiple dates up and down the east coast, and performed live on 95YNF radio. During that time, Chuck also worked at Nova Guitar Company, owned by renowned luthier John Buscarino. “I learned many valuable guitar building skills while working for John at Nova. He is a brilliant craftsman. It was very rewarding to build instruments, as well as play them.”

Chuck left the Tampa area in ’92, and formed a new band called “The Miracle Field” with his wife Igna and brother Bill. The band received positive reviews, and airplay on college radio. Chuck also had the opportunity to work as a production assistant for REM, during the recording of the “Monster” album. “Seeing REM record in the studio was really thrilling, and it left an impression on me. They were a hard working band, and their music was heartfelt, and genuine. They were a friendly bunch. I mostly worked as a gopher, you know, getting meals for them, making sure they had the gear they needed; drum heads etc. It was a great learning experience.” REM’s bassist Mike Mills came out to see The Miracle Field live at the Cotton Club in downtown Atlanta.

After a few years in Atlanta, Chuck returned to the Tampa area to launch Charles Cote Basses. Chuck built basses for many pro musicians, including Bonnie Rait’s bassist Hutch Hutchinson and bassist Ronnie Garrett. Chuck actively produced basses from ’94 to ’98. During this time, Chuck was also playing bass in the band Emmett Brown with his brothers Bill and Dan. They moved their band and bass workshop to Chicago from ’97-’98 to try their fortunes there, and played many clubs including the Double Door. They released a self-titled EP in ’97, which received radio airplay on various college radio stations. Emmett Brown later returned to Tampa, and changed their name to The Reverse Engineers. They released their CD “Max Q” in 2004. Max Q received college and Internet radio airplay, and the band twice were guests on the nationally broadcast David Lawrence radio show. “Hearing our music on a nationally syndicated radio show was a big thrill. Radio has a certain sound, and hearing your music over radio is always memorable.” The Reverse Engineers went on to release several singles during the years following Max Q.

Chuck began studying audio engineering in recent years, and mixed several singles for the Reverse Engineers, as well as brother Bill’s solo project “Letters from Jeremiah”.

Simple Forces is the name for Chuck’s solo music project. His first album, “Earthbound” was released on September 5, 2015. “The project started as just me doing music for my own self amusement. After a few songs, I got really caught up in it, and before I knew it, I had 12 tunes recorded and mixed”. The album features alternative rock tunes with memorable melodies, and features tasteful but sometimes adventurous bass playing. On “Earthbound”, Chuck played a Fender ’63 American Vintage reissue Precision bass with flat wound strings. “I love the sound and feel of flat wounds on a P bass. The combo sits very well in the mix. I split the P bass signal, running one channel into a Rupert Neve Designs 511 preamp, and the other into an SWR Interstellar Overdrive tube preamp for some pleasing distortion. I also used a variety of outboard analog hardware by SSL, Elysia, Shadow Hills industries and Warm Audio. Mixing music on a computer using Pro Tools is powerful and fast, but it can sound a bit sterile. Analog compressors and equalizers add pleasing harmonics to the music, similar to the sounds you used to get from big mixing consoles in large studios.” Chuck also did vocals, guitar, synths, drum programming and lyrics for Earthbound.

As for the future of The Reverse Engineers, Chuck thinks there is another TRE record on the horizon. “We hope to write another Reverse Engineers record soon, and I look forward to playing on it, as well as mixing it.” Chuck also plans to release more Simple Forces music, and will work as a session bassist and audio engineer for other musician’s projects.

“I love making music, whether it’s writing, recording, mixing, or building instruments. But in the end, I am a bass player, so I want to play bass on as many projects as I can.”