Players often buy a factory aged guitar and swap the plastics and hardware to more accurately represent the overall aesthetic. Bayou Guitarworks’ custom relic’d hardware fits the bill. Artist Denise Livaudais views photos of your guitar and, using factory parts from Gibson, Fender, etc., applies just the right amount of “voodoo” to match the patina.
This article originally appeared in VG’s September 2021 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
The Routes embody all the best elements of the ’60s psychedelic-rock scene. Based in Japan and fronted by British-born guitarist and songwriter Chris Jack, the band’s sixth release, Dirty Needles and Pins, has the band staying true to form by relying on period-correct gear.
“In England, you rarely see vintage guitars in good condition, not even in shops,” Jacks said. “When I started out, everyone wanted an Ibanez or Kramer; I got a Westone, which was actually a really good guitar. In the late ’80s and ’90s, buyers from Japanese shops went to England and the States and bought guitars. Now, Japan has more vintage guitars than they need and a lot of buyers from America are coming over and buying stuff back.”
Over the years, you’ve established quite a collection of vintage guitars, including some rare Guyatone and Burns models.
A lot of my stuff came from a famous collector in Japan who has a book about his collection. By chance, I stumbled on one of his guitars at auction. The first one I bought was my ’63 Burns Black Bison. I also have got a ’67 Guyatone LG-220T, which is the holy grail of Japanese guitars, a ’65 Burns Double Six, a ’65 Burns Vista Sonic and a ’64 Burns Vibra Artist. I’ve also got a ’67 Gretsch Astro Jet and a ’64 Fender Jaguar, which I love.
Do you modify your vintage guitars to make them play or sound better onstage or in the studio?
No, mine are all stock, I don’t want to change anything on them. I have a ’67 Vox Starstream that has all the built-in effects – wah, distortion, a repeater effect which is like a tremolo, a treble booster, and a bunch of stuff. I do have to clean it all the time or it gets that horrible static noise.
Do you tour with them?
For touring overseas, I usually take a Japanese Jaguar. Fender guitars are great for touring because they’re so solid. They’re really trebly, though, so I change the pots. They have 1,000k pots, and I swap them out to 500k which takes the edge off the treble. Then I throw American pickups in them. The Japanese Jaguar pickups aren’t wax potted, so they’re really microphonic. I put the neck pickup in the bridge position and the bridge pickup in the neck position and it makes it much better for what I do.
What is your go-to guitar for playing live?
I use a lot of vintage guitars, but with some of the Guyatones and Burns, the microphonic pickups just don’t cut it live. So I gave a famous luthier in Japan, A. Kuwano, my Starstream, Astro Jet, ’64 Jaguar, and Guyatone, and I said “Put these four guitars together.” And the one he built is my main live guitar. It has the scale length and neck shape like the Starstream, which I’m very comfortable with, and the inlays because I’m blind as a bat onstage. It’s got a solid mahogany body, mahogany neck, and an ebony fingerboard. It originally had Filter’Trons like the Gretsch, then I switched to humbuckers. I tried all kinds of pickups and we ended up with a set of current Guild pickups – the small D’Armond P-90-shaped ones – and they sounded the best out of everything.
Are you also a fan of vintage stompboxes?
I like vintage fuzz pedals, especially Japanese ones. One I use a lot is a ’70s Acetone Fuzzmaster II. I also use an early-’70s Univox Super Fuzz, a Vox V810 Valve Tone, a ’70s Eko Multitone, a pair of ’70s Roland Bee Baas, a 1967 Maestro Fuzz Tone and a ’70s Elk Super Fuzz Sustainar. I have clones made for travelling overseas. Mitstuteru Takaki at MT Labs is my effects man and he makes original pedals and clones using NOS parts. On the first album, I didn’t use any effects, I just plugged straight into a Roland JC-120.
Given your choices of guitars and pedals, is it safe to assume you also rely on vintage amps?
Yeah, I used my ’60s Selmer Treble ’N Bass Mk II on most of the new record. That’s the same model Syd Barrett used. You crank it all the way up and get that “Interstellar Overdrive” sound. I use a Roland JC-40, as well, and occasionally gig with my ’60s Vox Super Beatle, which I really like. It’s a workhorse and has such a huge sound. When you put the fuzz through it, you get every bit of fuzz; nothing’s affected. So I’ve got all the vintage gear for performing live, but for the convenience of recording, I sometimes use modern gear. – Johnny Zapp
This article originally appeared in VG‘s June 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Before there was an Alice Cooper, man and solo artist, there was the band called Alice Cooper. From 1969 to ’74, it cranked out seven influential albums with the dual-guitar attack of Michael Bruce and the late Glen Buxton. Bruce contributed many of the band’s anthemic smashes, such as “I’m Eighteen,” “Be My Lover,” and “Muscle of Love.” The group reunited last year for a U.K. tour, and we sat with Bruce to discuss how it all happened, and how it went.
How did the Alice Cooper reunion happen?
Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway, and I played at Summer NAMM, in Nashville, and I don’t know if it was coincidence or conspiracy, but Alice was there, too, and we ended up playing together. The crowd loved it, so Shep (Gordon, the band’s longtime manager) said, “Let’s do some U.K. gigs and see how it goes.”
We started in Leeds, then did Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, and Wembley. After Wembley, Alice said the reviews were better than if we had written them ourselves, so he started thinking about U.S. dates.
For the U.K. shows, you relied on current Cooper guitarist Ryan Roxie for amplification.
Ryan has become the Glen Buxton figure, and he’s doing a great job. I use his spare Marshall on the other side of the stage. It’s great because it’s two Marshalls and everything is behind the set.
Talk about how the classic lineup contributed on Cooper’s last two studio albums.
It started with Alice’s Welcome to My Nightmare sequel in 2011. [Producer] Bob Ezrin called me and said,“We want to do one of your songs.” Neal and Dennis were there and we did one of Dennis’ songs, one of Neal’s, and one of mine. That got the ball rolling. Then just before Alice’s Paranormal album, Neal came out and the three of us started jamming – and visiting Alice. We went over and did three or four songs in the studio.
You’re working on a signature-model guitar, right?
Yeah, Terry Dennis, who works with Bigsby and Vibramate, is shopping the idea for an Alice Cooper “guitars of the stars” thing. I had an SG with 24 frets, a Bigsby, P-90s, and a master Volume. I covered the whole thing with mylar, which was kind of interesting. We’re going to work toward that. Glen’s was the three-pickup SG Custom.
Which guitars are you currently using?
I met this guy in Toronto, and he asked if I’d be interested in being endorsed with his company, Hunter Guitars. He had one model, and it was like an SG but fatter, like a middle-aged SG (laughs) with 24 frets and a whammy bar, which I replaced with a real Bigsby. It looks a lot like the one we’re working on with Terry Dennis. I’ve also got a Yamaha SBG-500 on which I added a roller bridge and a locking nut. There are two things I need from a guitar – for it not to feedback, and not to break strings a lot.
When not working with the Alice Cooper Group, you do a side project with your wife, Lynn, on bass.
Yeah, we call it Michael Bruce and the Texas Chainsaw Ballet. We’re digging out some gems from my catalog and trying to do some of the Cooper songs that Alice doesn’t do so much.
Which amps are you using for that band?
I have a Fender Deluxe reissue with a tube preamp and 12″ Eminence speaker. I also have a Fender Ultimate Chorus, which is solidstate, but I love the stereo sound, so I split my line out with one on each side of the stage and get a really nice sort of tube vibe, and a wash when I want it. I’ve been able to blend the two and it really has a lot of body and overtones. I replaced the stock speakers in the Ultimate Chorus with Celestions, and it made the world of difference. It still has that solidstate sound, but with the real stereo effect blended with the Deluxe, it’s a real nice thing.
You and the Alice Cooper group had a huge impact on rock music and guitar in the ’70s. What goes through your mind when you think about that?
I told Alice how I just wanted to thank him for what we did. I’m 70, and to be able to play this late… my mind is still wrapping itself around the fact that I just played with the Alice Cooper group. When you’re 20 and you’re out there as a rock band, your mind doesn’t go there, because of course you’re forever young.
This article originally appeared in VG July 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Tommy Skeoch is revered for delivering guitar tone with equal parts attitude and guttural conviction. Since his departure from Tesla in 2006, he has kept busy teaching and recorded two metal solo albums, 2007’s Freak Bucket, and Brand of Metal, from ’12. He has recently experienced a revitalized energy thanks to the self-titled debut by his new project, Skinsuit.
“The last two records, I did my own thing, just yelling and screaming over everything; I didn’t spend a lot of time on drums, songwriting or anything, I just did it and had fun. This time, I’m taking it a bit more seriously. I’ve got a drummer and a singer, and it’s more a band effort,” he said, setting up our recent discussion.
Is Skinsuit a reminder of rock’s better days?
What I wanted to do more than anything is kind of a throwback – stuff that people aren’t doing anymore. The songs have a late-’80s/early-’90s rock feel – real dynamic, real melodic, and the singer just gets it on. I also put a lot more guitar on this, so there are solos everywhere. The playing is from the gut; that’s my whole thing and it’s all over this record. It’s hard to get away from that, it’s just who I am.
Which guitars did you use most?
I’m all about Gibson Custom Shop Historic Les Pauls and Fender Custom Shop relic Teles and Strats. That’s pretty much all I use these days. There’s a Flying V and an Explorer, and I’ve got a Charvel with a whammy bar. I hadn’t been touching that too much, but I wanted to go there on this record a little bit.
You took a unique approach to laying down the guitars.
Yeah, I did all the demos with a Line 6 Pod. I’ve been using a lot of echo and reverb with it, and it sounds really washy and crazy. So I put a little of that on the record. I’m running a Holbrook TS50 head and Holbrook cabinet with four Celestion Vintage 30s, then the Pod straight to the board. I run the amp clean with whatever amp modeler and effects I like on the Pod, then blend it in with the raw straight track from the amp.
How did your Holbrook signature amp come about?
I’ve got this ’70s Marshall 2104 I’ve used for most of my career – 2×12 combo based on a JMP 50-watt. The gain section was modified and it sounds killer. I thought, “If I can get someone to copy that, it would be diamonds.” And Holbrook did it. Out of the box, it sounded basically exactly like my Marshall. It’s got two gain stages and I like to crank them up – go for it and get nuts. It’s actually a lot more versatile than that; I can get JMP sounds, plexi sounds, and all kinds of different sounds.
I love 50-watt heads. To me, they have a lot more compression and I like the way they sound better than 100-watt heads, in general.
Which pedals do you rely on most?
I always use a Boss Super Chorus for cleaner stuff; I like turning the guitar Volume down and letting it clean up a bit. I don’t necessarily like getting a real chimey, clean sound out of the amp; that’s too clean for me. I like a little bit of sizzle.
I also use an MXR Phase 90 and a Way Huge Supa Puss. On the intro to “Other Worlds” I’m using an EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath, and it’s trippy. You can do all kinds of crazy stuff with it, so I use it with the Supa Puss and it’s just wild. Because of that pedal, I came up with the part for the intro, so I can be really inspired by pedals sometimes. They’re so expressive and it’s fun to color it up with pedals. I’m a straight-rock guy, but I like a bit of craziness every now and then.”
And this isn’t the first album on which you’ve played bass, is it?
No, I enjoy playing bass. It’s really fun to dig in with the kick drum. I’m using a Fender reissue Precision through Kustom Amps’ version of an SVT cab with eight 10s. It’s loud and sounds great; for recording, I always use an amp. You have to move some air. That’s a big part of the sound.
This article originally appeared in VG July 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
After trading football for guitar at age 13, Jimmie Vaughan forged a remarkable career as a blues-roots guitarist, first with The Fabulous Thunderbirds then with a string of solo records and the occasional collaboration. Today, his plate is full as ever – gigs, new music, and new limited-edition signature guitars from the Fender Custom Shop for both he and his late brother, Stevie Ray.
“It’s a trip, to say the least,” Vaughan said. “Fender came to Austin, and I dug up my guitar and Stevie’s guitar. They took them apart, photographed every inch, every scratch, measured everything, and duplicated them exactly. Those were the guitars we did the most road work with. They were like race cars. If it got a crack, you put a band-aid on it, because we were playing every night. We’d go away to play for two months and come back, and they’d be different; if the pickups quit, our tech, Rene Martinez would say, ‘I’ve got another one over here from so and so,’ and he’d solder it in. So they sort of evolved.”
You’ve played plenty of other guitars, but have always loved Strats.
The whole thing started when I was a kid. I wanted one of those blond ’57s that looked like a Mary Kaye. Gene Vincent played it in a black-and-white movie in the ’50s. To me, it’s the most beautiful thing; it’s a Stratocaster, it’s white, and it just looks cool. I love Gibsons and hollowbodies and all, but if you’ve got a good amp and you know how to work it, you can make that Stratocaster do almost any of that stuff.
The new guitar isn’t your first signature Strat. Talk about how the Jimmie Vaughan Tex-Mex came about in the ’90s.
When we did the Tex-Mex, Mike Lewis at Fender said ‘What do you change on your guitars?’ And I said put the Tone control on the treble pickup because I can get either all the way treble, full bright, or I can get a Telecaster sound by backing it down a little bit. It’s what we used to do on my guitars in the T-Birds – Rene figured that out. I never turn my guitar Volume all the way up; I keep the amp up and the guitar down, and it works good with the pickup, it’s a little overdriven. So he said, “We’ll experiment with this and put a few more windings on the treble pickup so that when you do turn the tone down, it’s a little bit louder; so the treble pickup has a little more horsepower.”
Your original Strat has been semi-retired, right?
Yeah, I haven’t used it in a few years. I’m always switching necks and doing stuff. That’s half the fun. That’s the great thing about Fenders; you can bolt them up, change this and change that, and you don’t have to be a genius. You can just fool with it.
Your classic sound is pretty straightforward. Which amps are you using now?
I’m playing new Fender Bassmans and my Grammaticos with a Strymon Flint Tremolo & Reverb. It’s a fabulous pedal; better than any I’ve had before. You’ve got all the different kinds of reverb and tremolo on there and they’re quiet and everything. It’s really great.
When you’re not on the road, you keep busy with a trio.
Yeah, with B-3 player Mike Flanigin. We’ve been playing in a little club in Austin called C-Boys, and we did a live record there last year. It’s fun because we can be playing along and we’re just one signal away from taking a left or right turn, and we do anything we can get away with. When we’re playing a lot of these gigs, different singers show up, so sometimes it’s like a revue because everybody stops by when they’re in town or between gigs. We still go on the road and we still have a great time, but when we play in this joint, you play all night and then you go home.
And you also have new record contract?
Yes, Proper Records plans to reissue all my old stuff and make new records. It’s very exciting for me. For my new record, I’ve got some new originals and a lot of old tunes I dug up. With me, it’s always a combination. I don’t want to get myself in a particular category or another, I want to be able to do anything as far as the band goes. I love playing with horns, I’ve got the greatest horn players right now and better musicians than I’ve ever had. I’m excited I feel like the sky’s the limit.”
This article originally appeared in VG July 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Whitey Kirst is known for smoldering lead-guitar tone and collaborating with punk-rock pioneer Iggy Pop. After four albums and hundreds of shows, Kirst’s 13-year tenure with Iggy went on hiatus when the legendary frontman reunited The Stooges in 2003 (see the feature with Stooges guitarist James Williamson in this issue).
Since then, he’s been fronting his own hard-rocking power trio, Whitey Kirst and the Web of Spider, utilizing a revolving rhythm section that has included original Motörhead drummer Phil Taylor, Black Sabbath touring drummer Tommy Clufetos, and Kirst’s brother, Josh, on bass.
“I like to play as a three-piece,” Kirst said. “There’s a lot of space and you don’t have to worry about so many players being confined to the structure of something.”
For their latest record, The Old Road, Kirst had the band play live in the studio. We recently sat to speak with him.
Which amps did you use for the album?
For most of it, I used a Crate amp modified by my friend, Doc. I call it White Lightning; it’s white with lightning bolts, chrome ladies taken from mud flaps, and 300 watts! It’s pretty loud. There’s an old Marshall JMP on there, as well.
You often use amps atypical of expectations.
On my last tour with Iggy, I used a Carvin X100B that I got in the ’80s. I really like the way that amp sounds. I also had a Marshall and a Crate VC5212, which I think is just a great-sounding little 50-watt tube amp with two 12s. I’ve still got it, but I blew it up (laughs)! For cabinets, Musiclord made me some with 50-watt speakers.
You also built a career sans effects. Did you stick with that formula?
Yeah, it’s just my guitar straight into the amp. When I first started playing with Iggy, I used to use a Rat pedal, not for the distortion, but I found that if you turn the distortion way down and the Volume way up, it would just make the amp louder and give it more bite. I stopped using it because it was just one more thing to worry about. People want great tone and they get an amp for that tone, then they put all of these things in-between it and it really makes no difference what you’re playing through at that point.
And did you mostly play your SGs and Les Pauls?
I did. I have a white 1990 triple-pickup Gibson SG with a Seymour Duncan Invader in the bridge. That’s a great guitar, but it used to waiver a bit when moved around, like a vibrato. The headstock is missing wood from getting hit with Iggy’s mic. He’d swing the mic way out and I’d straighten the guitar as a shield and the headstock got hit one night! It also suffered a crack at the body joint and neck. Then, my brother intentionally stepped on it and snapped it in half, re-glued it, and it’s been fine ever since. I’ve also got a black triple-pickup SG Deluxe with mini humbuckers. I really like Les Pauls from the ’70s with maple necks, and I have a few of those. They just feel more solid. I have a ’77 Les Paul Standard that has a three-piece maple neck and it just feels different.
A decade or so ago, you had a custom guitar made, right?
Yeah, I met a fella at NAMM who owned the guitar factory Al that made Tokai Love Rock guitars, which I liked. He made me some guitars and the SG-style was meant to be a cross between my white triple-pickup and a ’71 Pro/Deluxe. The ’71 was my favorite SG; it had a Bigsby, felt solid, looked great, sounded great, and played great. Mine are fairly standard, with roller bridges, Grovers, and a Bigsby-type vibrato. They’re pretty solid, and two of them are triple-pickup with Invaders in the bridge.
But you’re certainly not a guitar snob…
Not at all. In fact, I really like cheap guitars; they’re fun, you don’t have to worry about them too much, and if something happens to them, it’s not a huge deal. Mike Starr (the late Alice in Chains bassist) and I went to Guitar Center one day and grabbed the two cheapest guitars we could find. I grabbed a Fender Starcaster with this skinny little neck, it was like the Rock Band edition (laughs), and I loved it! Mike grabbed a Squire Mustang bass and we sat there and jammed. We bought them and ended up recording with them. They sounded great! I’ve since changed the pickups in the Starcaster, but I used the stock pickups for recording. I just plug it into a big amp and let ’er rip!
This article originally appeared in VG May 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Country music icon Dwight Yoakam employs one of the hardest-working bands on the road today. A quintet including Yoakam, they’re keeping alive the outlaw edge of the genre’s past. With a take-no-prisoners approach, axe-man Eugene Edwards delivers a barrage of tasty licks spiced by the occasional Pete Townsend windmill while wearing a smile night after night.
“There’s no trickery up there; what you see is what you get,” Edwards explains. “It’s a relatively lean machine when you count bodies, therefore, being adaptable is really important. You have to be willing to pitch in and sing harmony or grab a mandolin or a banjo and take the responsibility of helping Dwight do his catalog for his audience.”
Edwards accepted that responsibility in 2012.
“Dwight was mixing his 3 Pears record and his previous guitar player, Eddie Perez, was going back to the Mavericks. My friend, Brian Whelan, was Dwight’s utility player at the time and with live dates coming up, they were hoping to find somebody quickly and quietly; Dwight asked Brian if he knew somebody. So I went to the studio and talked to Dwight and there was a couple guitars lying around. We played some old Lefty Frizzell tunes, some Merle, some rockabilly stuff and one or two of Dwight’s songs, then he said, ‘The first gig’s in a couple weeks. We’ll get you anything you need to get ready.’”
When taking the stage, they prefer to keep it “all Tele if possible,” Edwards said. “My number one guitar is a Fender Custom Shop 1960 reissue in Tobacco Sunburst. It has a rosewood fretboard, which is a preference of mine when playing Dwight’s material, and it’s very similar to what Pete [Anderson] played with Dwight early on. Then, there’s a black ’90s American Standard that we put a Bigsby on and updated with a Mastery bridge. We needed something for songs like ‘A Thousand Miles Miles From Nowhere’ or ‘This Time’ specifically, where Pete was using a Strat with a lot of the vibrato bar. There’s also a blond Telecaster of Dwight’s from the early ’70s, strung with .13s with a wound G that I use in the portion of the show devoted to Merle Haggard. That music’s so bold; you’re playing voicings that have the major third on top, which is so much of what makes that Bakersfield thing so badass, so we take measures to make sure that we do it with the respect it deserves, and the heavy strings help with that. I also use a red Epiphone Dwight Trash Casino and a white one with .13s and a wound G. We track a lot with Casinos and we like heavy-gauge strings and the wound G for tone and stability of intonation.”
True to the music and his predecessors, Edwards also incorporates a B-bender.
“The main riff in ‘Blame the Vain’ had a B-bender lick played by Keith Gattis. Dwight asked me, ‘You ever use a B-bender?’ I said ‘No,’ and he said, ‘I’ve got one. Take it home and get used to it.’
“The story is that Gene Parsons himself made this one for Dwight and it’s the original Clarence White version, so it’s a double-wide Tele with that huge rod going through. If Dwight has an idea for a song or we’re thinking about what the lead guitar should be doing, the bender ends up being a real go-to.”
To deliver his tone, Edwards primarily runs a pair of Fender Deluxe reissues and minimal effects.
“Our amp guru, Bob Dixon, hot-rods them, taking the power tube out of stage one, sending all the juice to stage two and making them really aggressive. Then there’s a blackface Super Reverb reissue and a late-’90s, British-made Vox AC30 and the Voodoo Lab Amp Selector to switch in by foot.
“My pedalboard sits back by the amps – that’s how little I’m operating it. On constantly is a Wampler Talent Booster for a bit of boost so the Deluxes will cut through. I never pop down on a guitar; it’s on 10 the whole time. So, being able to rely on touch for dynamics is huge, and that pedal is really helpful with that. I also use a Wampler Faux Analog Echo Delay and that’s on all the time except for ‘A Thousand Miles,’ where I switch to an MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay. For tremolo, I use the Danelectro Tuna Melt, and then there’s an EP Booster I use when playing the Casino through the Super.
“In the studio I don’t use pedals; it’s guitars straight into amps. If we want slap-back, we’ll use an actual tape machine or an echo chamber. Everything is the real deal. It’s tremendous.”
This article originally appeared in VG February 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Producer and owner of the enigmatic Rancho de la Luna studio in the California desert, guitarist David Catching has been touring with Eagles of Death Metal since 2004. In November of 2015, the band was performing at the Bataclan Theater, in Paris, when three gunmen burst in, killing 90 concert goers and injuring more than 200.
In February ’16, the Eagles of Death Metal returned to Paris to reboot their performance. The event was recorded and filmed for the double album and DVD, I Love You All the Time: Live at the Olympia Paris, released earlier this year.
“I don’t think I’ll ever play a show quite as heavy as that,” David Catching said. “That was definitely the hardest live show I’ve ever played. A lot of folks that were at the Bataclan gig were hanging out with us that night, so it was fun, but there were a lot of people that were still scared, including ourselves. It was a lot to deal with and it took us a minute to get into it because it was just so strange and surreal, but it turned out really good and it was good for us to do it.”
With Eagles of Death Metal, Catching uses just a few guitars.
“My main one is an Echopark Albert Flying V. My friend Gabriel Currie made it for me and I think he makes the best guitars out there today. The neck was broken during the attack in Paris, so Gabriel put a new one on it and that’s my main guitar. My other main guitar is a mid-’80s Les Paul Black Beauty. I love that guitar, but it’s so heavy I can’t use it on every song. I also still take my late-’70s Flying V; I was looking for a pedal in different closets at my studio one day and there was this V in there that was missing a pickup, tuning gears, and a bridge. I found out a couple years later that someone had left it here, and that was my main guitar for the first nine or 10 years with Eagles prior to the Echopark.”
The band tours with Orange amps.
“I use an OR50s. The amps sound so great and they’re workhorses. I have a really cool Zinky Mofo and a Supro head I use as backups, and sometimes we switch up the sound with one or two amps, or use two or three.”
He prefers a 2×12 cab.
“I like smaller amps behind me because I don’t want stacks blowing my head off. Though I’ve been thinking maybe it’s time for us to use giant stacks; that would look pretty cool.”
Catching uses a handful of pedals.
“I keep one pedalboard for all the bands, but with Eagles, I don’t use a ton of stuff. I’ve got the Dunlop Wah and Rotovibe, a TC Electronic tuner, and the Spark, which is probably my favorite overdrive. It’s a great pedal for leads because it doesn’t really color, it just boosts signal. I also have a Creepy Fingers Buzzaround, which is a model of a Burns Buzzaround that’s like an octave-y kind of thing that sounds amazing. I also use an Earthquaker Dispatch Master reverb and delay, and it’s another favorite. I started using a Dunlop Echoplex for slap-back stuff, and on a couple songs we have long delays, so I ramp it up for that. Jesse (Hughes, EODM frontman) goes straight into his amp, and I use the coloring tools.”
For other projects, Catching draws upon his hearty guitar collection. “When I play with Mojave Lords, Earthlings?, and Masters of Reality, I get to play my number one of five Les Paul that was customized into a double-cut in the early ’70s, my ’72 Tele, a ’61 Melody Maker, a black ’84 Flying V, a ’57 Supro three-pickup, my ’57 Strat, and an early-’60s Teisco Spectrum 5.”
When not touring with EODM, Catching keeps busy with Rancho de la Luna.
“I don’t ever have a break. I just produced the new Earthless record; they’re amazing and it’s a serious guitar record. I’m working on some new Earthlings? recordings, I’m recording and producing Jakob Nowell’s band, LAW, producing a band called Battery Electric, and Chris Goss and I are doing an album with Gene Trautmann of Queens of the Stone Age on drums.”
This article originally appeared in VG January 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
As Billy Idol’s longtime guitarist and songwriting partner, Steve Stevens’ unique approach – flamenco stylings and the occasional ray gun – have rocked stages worldwide for four decades. Throughout his career, he has also recorded and performed with Michael Jackson, Vince Neil, Robert Palmer, and as a solo artist, having just wrapped a successful European tour.
“Flamenco guitarist Ben Woods and I decided to go through my catalog and do the stuff people don’t get to hear,” he said. “Songs like ‘Top Gun,’ Michael Jackson’s ‘Dirty Diana,’ and tracks from my Flamenco A Go-Go record. About halfway through the show, we break it down and do a bunch of flamenco. It’s great for me because it’s a whole other side of what I do.”
Stevens developed a passion for flamenco at a young age.
“I started playing guitar when I was seven, and one of the first teachers that really made an impression on me was a flamenco guitarist. It’s another way for me to express myself and it’s something I do that’s different from other guitarists.”
In Europe, Stevens simplified his approach.
“It’s entirely different than the Billy Idol shows. I have a signature amp with Friedman; that was the only piece of gear I brought, apart from some pedals. So it was really stripped down and kind of liberating. With Idol, I have to re-create tones from a 30-year career, and songs like ‘Flesh for Fantasy’ requires a lot of processing and totally different guitar sound than ‘Rebel Yell.’
“I have a signature version of the Rockaway Archer overdrive pedal made by J. Rockett. Before, I’d find a boost that I liked, but I’d have to put a six-band EQ after it to carve out a curve that worked for me. So I asked J. Rockett if they could combine the two pedals, and that’s my overdrive. I also had a Digitech Whammy and a TC Electronic Alter Ego Vintage, one amp head and one cabinet.”
For his solo shows and the Idol gigs, the guitars remain the same.
“I use a Knaggs Severn, which has their proprietary vibrato system, and we’re on the third generation of my signature Knaggs, the Steve Stevens Classic. I’ve got a signature pickup with Bare Knuckle called the Rebel Yell, so my guitars are loaded with that. I also use my Les Paul Silverburst, which has late-’70s Gibson humbuckers.”
In 2010, the Idol band added second guitarist Billy Morrison.
“Bringing him in allowed me to play songs or parts that I hadn’t played for the last 35 years,” said Stevens. “Now, I can replicate some of the overdubs and things live, which helps us sound much closer to the original recordings. I love having him in the band; it really frees me up.”
Idol is currently holding court with a residency at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. “It’s great because we play three shows a week and we’ve dug into the catalog to play some more obscure tunes and things we haven’t played in a long time. We’re doing ‘Daytime Drama’ from Rebel Yell, for example, which we were never able to replicate live. When we originally toured on that album, that song fell by the wayside because of all the guitar overdubs; once again, having Billy meant we can play some of these other tunes. We also do ‘Don’t Need A Gun’ from Whiplash Smile, but we’re doing kind of a flamenco version of it with nylon-string guitar.”
The set also includes a flamenco solo.
“When I was in the Vince Neil Band, we did six weeks with Van Halen, and Vince said ‘You have to do a guitar solo.’ I’m thinking, ‘In an hour, Eddie Van Halen’s going to get up there and do “Eruption.” I can’t compete with that.’ So I figured I’d do a nylon-string solo, and I’ve been doing it ever since. To Idol’s credit, he’s willing to let the band shine; he’s proud of all of us.”
This summer marks the re-release of the early Billy Idol records.
“We’ve remastered the first three albums with (original producer) Keith Forsey for vinyl, and I have to say, when I A/B’d the test pressings, it wasn’t even close. They sound the way these records were meant to sound.”
Stevens also frequently plays with Kings of Chaos, an all-star band built around drummer Matt Sorum, guitarist Gilby Clarke and bassist Duff McKagan, with rotating frontmen and additional players.
“I love doing those gigs. Sometimes we wind up with Billy Gibbons and Robin Zander in the band. It’s a guitar-player’s dream, playing with Billy Gibbons, I’ll tell you that.”
This article originally appeared in VG September 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Nashville’s Them Vibes hearken to the two-guitar teams of yesterday. Established by the songwriting duo of front man Brother Love and guitarist Alex Haddad, the band added second guitarist Kyle Lewis after the release of its debut album, Shine On. With the new Electric Fever, Haddad and Lewis display classic twin-guitar sensibilities.
“We have always loved two-guitar bands,” Haddad says. “When you have two guitar players that weave together, it becomes something bigger. Each of our parts is lending to the whole.
“I may come up with a verse, chorus, and main riff, and at that point it’s an open canvas for Kyle. On ‘Who Do You Love,’ Kyle and I finished the harmony riff together, and it becomes the hook. It’s the undisputable thing about having two guitar players.”
“All the harmonies you can do together; you hear that lick and it’s great, and then with the harmonies, all of a sudden it’s a whole new thing,” Lewis added.
“There’s something so glorious about that. You can get very orchestral and musical with it. We push each other and test each other in every scenario,” says Haddad.
Electric Fever was recorded close to home.
“We did a lot of the recording at Dave Kalmusky and Jonathan Cain’s Addiction Studios here in Nashville,” Haddad said. “They have an amazing place, with treasures everywhere. We had things like Sommatone amps and a reissue Tele with that classic chime you only get from that guitar.”
“I was all over the Tele,” says Lewis. “That through an Analog Outfitters Sarge with EL84 tubes. There was also a Gretsch Duo-Jet with a Bigsby I was using quite a bit and that was really hot and fat-sounding.”
“For the longest time, I had a stock Tele,” said Haddad. “Then I found a ’71 ES-335 that is just the sound of rock and roll. It ended up on a multitude of tracks. I also got my hands on a ’59 Les Paul they had at the studio.
“For amps, we used their old Silvertone, Fender Champ, and a ’56 Bassman 2×12 that was amazing. Dave Kalmusky’s dad got it new and there were only 100 made. You turn it up to get the tubes to break-up, then turn up the Bass, and it’s this bellowing noise that’s so warm and powerful. We also had a ’56 Gibson GA-40 brought down by the father of our drummer, Sarah Tomek. You turn that thing up and it’s the growl of the devil.”
Electric Fever also has some great acoustic moments.
“They had a beautiful old Gibson Hummingbird hanging in the studio,” said Lewis. “Alex and I both played it and though Hummingbirds always sound great, they can be hit or miss under a microphone. With this one, though, they struck gold.”
“It was very reminiscent of Beggars Banquet,” added Haddad. “It’s funny with a Gibson; sometimes you put it on your lap and it feels great while you play it, it sounds really good… then you put it on a microphone and you hear its dynamics and all the subtleties from the classic records.
“We also used an old Kay 12-string a friend got at a yard sale. It’s just magic when you mic it up.”
Lewis’ stage workhorse is a ’70s reissue Strat.
“It’s got a humbucker in the bridge, so it gets a really fat tone when needed, and I have an old Epiphone Les Paul set up for slide,” he said. “My rig is a Fender Deluxe on the dry channel, a Rat Overdrive, Boss delay, and a wah.”
Haddad’s live rig is built on a Fender Prosonic from the early ’90s. “I just love the thing. I bring that, my 335, and my Tele,” he said. “As for pedals, both of us keep it minimal because it’s about letting your hands, your amp, and guitar do the talking.
“Rock and roll is guttural music; it’s hand-to-instrument,” he added. “From Exile to Physical Graffiti and all of Angus Young’s tone, it’s just turned up, not overdriven or pushed by pedals – it’s actually kind of crisp and clean. The Beatles’ white album is one of the greatest guitar records ever made, and it’s just gnarly guitars and gnarly amps.”
This article originally appeared in VG June 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
