Month: March 2014

Jonathan Wilson is having a very good year.

His Gentle Spirit CD (Bella Union), a hippie-soul drenched 80 minutes of folk-psych-rock goodness, has earned international praise. He toured Europe throughout 2012 to widespread acclaim, including a stint opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, turned numerous heads with his performance at the Jerry Garcia 70th birthday celebration gig, and his supporters and collaborators include some of the most respected names in the business, including Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Jackson Browne, and Elvis Costello.

But this isn’t an overnight success story. It’s the latest stop on a 25-year musical journey that has taken the 37-year-old North Carolina native from Charlotte to New York to Los Angeles, where he’s played a leading role in the recent “Laurel Canyon Sound” revival.
Wilson, who’s also made a name for himself as a producer (Dawes, Father John Misty, Roy Harper), has a passion for vintage gear and sports an impressive collection. He recently gave VG the low-down.

What were your main guitars and amps on Gentle Spirit?
The main electrics are a ’73 Gibson ES-355, a ’76 Les Paul Deluxe goldtop, a GVCG (Greenwich Village Custom Guitars, built by Wilson) ’57 with Lollar Pickups, a GVCG ’63 S model with superb Alan Hamel pickups, a ’57 Les Paul Junior, a ’67 Höfner violin bass, a GVCG ’63 J-bass with Duncan Antiquity pickups, and a Guyatone hollowbody Gibson-EB-style bass. It has a Duncan Rickenbacker-style pickup that’s just amazing.

The main acoustics on the record are my ’46 Martin 000-18 and two Gibson J-50s – a ’47 and a ’62. I use an Orange-label Yamaha FG strung Nashville-style, and a few different Guild 12-strings. The main nylon-string acoustic is a ’57 Martin 00-18G.

There are a few other secret weapons/odds and ends – a Jerry Jones Coral Sitar replica, an Old Kraftsman Kay two-pickup hollowbody that has a screaming bridge pickup, a ’62 Gretsch Chet Atkins that was my first great vintage guitar, and a Gibson Skylark lap steel.

The main amps are a ’63 Vox AC30 – Bass model, non-top-boost, and my mainstay amp since I was 13 year old – a ’66 Blackface Princeton Reverb. Other amps used were a ’67 Marshall plexi Tremolo 50, a ’60 Champ, and a ’66 blackface Super Reverb. There is also a fair amount of direct-to-the-console recording of guitar and bass.

Almost all the bass was recorded direct through my old Telefunken V-72s. I also use a tweed Champ for bass – small speakers equal big sounds for me in the studio. The main guitar on Valley Of the Silver Moon, for instance, is the GVCG T model through the ’63 Vox AC30 with only one pedal – an old MXR script-logo Phase 45. That tune was tracked live, so the solos were kept as they were played. The electric guitar in “The Way I Feel” was the Gibson ES-355, which has an amazing microphonic bridge pickup, it was just dimed through the Princeton; no effects, just a two-microphone setup, one close, one distant. Most of the acoustics on the record were double-tracked. On some tunes, the parts were doubled an octave up on the Nashville strung acoustic, which makes for a trippy 12-string effect. “Rolling Universe” is an example.

Half the album was done with a group of musicians, and the other half was done on your own. How did that break down, and did the band bring its own gear?
Roughly half of the record I did alone, and the rest is with a core band that tracked live for a week or so. Most of the gear was at my studio, so the guys didn’t have to bring much. The Vox Continental and ’64 Hammond A-100 comprise most of the organ sounds. There’s an old Mellotron m400 that shows up a lot. Josh Grange (Dwight Yoakam, k.d. Lang) who played pedal steel on the record, brought his Sho-Bud and his own effects.

In the video for “Desert Raven” you play a unique guitar. What is it, and did you use it on the actual recording? It sounds like there’s also an acoustic 12-string on that track…
Ha! That’s a funky ’50s Kay I found at a shop, someone had played the thing to death; the hardware had turned to black rust from sweat, and it has square sound holes cut into the body, I guess to “acoustify” it. It’s amazing the electronics still work. The recording is three guitars – a Guild acoustic 12-string, a Fender electric for single-coil sound on one side, and Gibson for humbucker tone on the other side, with a bit of MXR Phase 45. It’s the blackface Princeton Reverb again, as well. I’ve used that amp on hundreds of tracks.

On “The Way I Feel,” is that a Höfner bass? It has a great McCartney-esque tone.
That’s the Guyatone hollowbody. It’s a bit more compressed-sounding than the Höfner. The Höfner has a tremendous amount of low-end, sometimes too much, really. Höfners are tricky basses to record, I find. The Guyatone does that flat-wound/picked hollowbody tone better than any other bass I’ve heard. I scored it back in the day somewhere in North Carolina. It had suffered a headstock break, and Pat Walters, the guitar guru in Charlotte, fixed it and installed a killer Rickenbacker-style pickup. I played bass on that tune, and we tracked it live with Adam MacDougall on Hammond and Otto Hauser on drums. We improvised the jam sections, then I went back later and added electric guitar using the 355. I owe my dad a thank you for that guitar, it’s his, actually, but it’s on sort of perma-loan to me. It’s a great one.

What about pedals? You’ve been collecting them for a long time.
Pedals, I do love! I built some cool Rangemaster clones under the GVCG name, using only vintage parts, transistors, caps, cases, switches – even the screws were old flathead screws! I made a few fuzzes, as well, but most of my pedals are boutique studio pieces, not as groovy for live use.

When I play live, I use a slew of Catalinbread pedals, they are my favorite company out there and they’re making the coolest, most creative and best-sounding pedals. I had one of their earliest – an amazing clean boost called the Chile Picoso. I still use it. I also have their RAH, Octave Fuzz, and a MANX, which is a killer early Big Muff-style fuzz.

Do you hit the shops when you’re on the road?
I do, on occasion find great stuff out here on the road.

Any particularly cool scores lately?
I just picked up a one-of-a-kind ’60s Höfner Colorama that has been outfitted with so much aluminum and etched silver it looks like a Zemaitis. It’s very cool. I like to scour Germany and Switzerland for microphones; I just found a mint-condition matched set of Beyer M260 Ribbon mics for $100! That was a rare score. Italy is great for finding bizarre guitars and organs. Europe, in general, is a lot of fun to scour for odd pieces we don’t have back home. I google music stores in most towns we show up in.

You’ve had to move your Five Star Studios, correct?
It was in my house in Laurel Canyon, but I’ve since moved to Echo Park. It was a unique arrangement – a crazy little wooden bungalow on a huge piece of land where an estate had once stood. The property was amazing and the house was meager. Every inch of the place was filled with gear. It was a two-room affair that I turned into an improvised live room/control room setup, with isolation booths being the bathroom, kitchen, anywhere we could get separation. We actually put the guitar amps and Leslie cabinet outside and covered with blankets to record. There was also a plate reverb outside in a chain-link dog pen. We covered that in tarps and named it the Dog Pen Reverb. The studio was built around a 1972 MCI JH-416 console that has been heavily modified, and an Otari MX-80 2″ 24-track. Mixes were done to an Ampex ATR-102 1/4″ two-track.

The good ol’ “dog pen reverb” That’s Carolina style right there man! You might want to talk to Mike Matthews about putting that into production! So, does your Echo Park spot have a dog pen for reverb, as well?
Ha! There is actually a perfect concrete basement room in the new spot. It’s happier now than in Laurel Canyon. Upstairs in the control room, I have a collection of spring reverbs, plus an AKG, an old Pioneer unit, and a classic Fender Reverb tank. Every reverb is physical. I have not used digital reverb in years, though I do like it sometimes in conjunction with real units.

What about outboard gear?
I have a decent amount of vintage outboard, Urei 1178, DBX 160VUs, RCA BA6A, Blackface 1176s, Telefunken V-72s, a bunch of API 512s, a pair of Neve 1073s, a Quad Eight sidecar, various other goodies, but a very typical simple ’70s and ’80s 24-track analog setup. I also have a digital rig – Pro Tools, Logic, etc. that gets used for certain tunes. The new space is much bigger and more elaborate, and the gear has doubled, if not tripled! I now have Jackson Browne’s Studer A-80 24-track, several more pianos and Mellotrons, organs, and a slew of microphones I’ve collected since the record was released – a ’50s Neumann U-47, U-67, U-87, etc.

So how did you score Jackson Browne’s tape machine?
Jackson was kind enough to drop Elsie, his gorgeous Studer A-80 2- track 2″ machine, on me. He used it to record many of his hits in the later ’70s all the way through the ’90s. It was also used to record many artists in his studio, Warren Zevon among them. This is the machine they used to take on tour to record remotely. It has been modified by the great Ed Wong to be portable enough to fit in a road case and loaded into a truck. Ed is Jackson’s studio tech guru, and the fact Ed and his team have maintained this machine since it was new is invaluable. It functions beautifully and sounds amazing. I have a picture Jackson gave me of him hugging the machine in the early ’80s, and he’s in a stylish bomber jacket to boot!

Will you be recording him on it in the future?
I’ve worked on several things with Jackson recently, one was a Dylan tune with myself, Benmont Tench, and Jim Keltner. I hope we do more. He’s one of my best buddies and has done so much for me, I can’t thank him enough.

When you work with other artists – and you’ve racked up an impressive list of collaborations – do you use your gear?
My guitars and amps are almost exclusively used on records I produce. Not just because it’s convenient and accessible, but because I’m so familiar with the tonal behavior of every piece – guitars, amps, drums, cymbals, keyboards, etc. I’m not a tyrant, so if a musician has gear he or she is comfortable playing and needs to have it, by all means, we use it. For example, recently when recording Glen Campbell, his tech brought in some sort of reissue/blackface-inspired amp I didn’t like at all, I think they’re overly bright and sound nothing like the amps they look like. I pushed for Glen to use my ’66 Princeton Reverb with the Sandhill Ribbon, and I’m glad we did – the solo we captured on “Witchita Lineman” is stunning. Glen’s playing is amazing. He did use his own guitar, a funky little Frankenstein Duo-Sonic or Musicmaster.

With in-house gear, though, nine out of 10 times I find musicians are really excited to use the pieces I’ve collected, It’s good stuff, and well-maintained. Between myself and my head engineer, Bryce Gonzales, there isn’t much we can’t fix in a studio. Bryce makes killer tube amps and compressors, and we’ve built a fair amount of the outboard gear at Five Star Studios.

That segues into the microphones, preamps and compressors as well, each one of course has a character and identity. Part of the reason an artist/musician/producer with a studio has all of this kit is to complete a palette of sounds or at least attempt to. There will always be something you need or want that some other wizard or rich gear geek has. I spent far too long in that rabbit hole in years past. Now I know that a solid signal chain that will work well is the most important thing. Actually recording music needs to be the priority, not the gear quest. There are certain standards that I adhere to, and that’s a discreet or tube preamp, a great microphone, and a good recording medium with bandwidth in the sonics department. I’ve spent several decades with most of this gear and I know the color of each piece by now and how it will sit in a track.

You opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in Europe this summer. What was your live rig for that tour?
The tour with Tom and company was an absolute pleasure. It’s been a true high point to hang with and listen to the Heartbreakers every night. They are responsible for some of the best guitar tones you will ever hear on a stage. Mike Campbell is one of my heroes and one of the sweetest, most soulful guys on the planet.

For the whole European tour, my electric rig was two early-’60s Bassman heads with 2×12 cabs. One is a ’63, the other a ’62. Both are 6AB6 circuits, which is my absolute favorite Fender sound. It’s a bit of a marriage between tweed and the hi-fi blackface tone. I split the signal with a Fulltone TTE, and we mic both cabs, one with a Sandhill active ribbon mic, which is this unreal new microphone from Finland. The other cab gets a Sennheiser 409.

My acoustic rig was something I really loved plugging in every night, which is a very rare happening, as usually acoustic-guitar pickups make one cringe. The guitars I’m using are the new Gibson Jackson Browne models, which are based on ’30s 12-fret models like the Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe. Jackson has been working on and tweaking the perfect amplified acoustic guitar tone for many years and this is the culmination of all of his efforts, and in conjunction with Gibson’s Custom Shop, they have created truly the ultimate live acoustic guitar sound. The pickup system that’s the key to the whole thing is the Trance Audio Acoustic Lens/Amulet system, and Gibson has worked closely with Jackson and master luthier Bill Asher to perfect the installation of the Trance system. The result is a two-channel natural and beautiful image of the guitar, which is actually inspiring for the player, even in the monitors! I never thought that was possible. In large rooms, it really shines. A few weeks ago, we played Royal Albert Hall, and the acoustic filled the room. I was grinning ear to ear, it’s really that good.

Which electric guitars do you use live?
Both are guitars I made six or seven years ago. I made them out of necessity, really; I needed guitars that felt and sounded a certain way, and outside of playing a real ’62 Strat and a ’57 Telecaster, this was the only way to do it. I made quite a few for friends and fellow players through the years. I went through a period where working with my hands held my interest and was much more fulfilling than the music business. I had a knack for making instruments sound and feel authentic, and that resonated with the players who got their hands on one.

Live, you do some great pedal sounds reminiscent of Garcia in the late ’70s. What was that?
That is very Garcia-esque because it’s the same brand he used! It’s a Mutron Micro 5, a simple pedalboard version of the Mutron 2, which is what Jerry used, I believe.

Will your early CD, Frankie Ray, be re-released anytime?
Frankie Ray will be released when the time is right, which is to say when it will not interfere with my current releases, etc. There has been a lot of interest in it, partly because it’s been this mysterious, difficult-to-find record. CDs have fetched over $200 online. Come to think of it, maybe we should put it out next week!

Seriously though, Frankie Ray has a lot of good tunes. We play several of them live, and I always enjoy playing material from that record. It’s unique among my stuff, as it was written and recorded in New York City, so it’s got a different energy than my California-centric or early North Carolinian stuff.

How about other earlier recordings?
There are others, earlier stuff, but I’ll save that for down the line, when I’m archiving in the cabin in the Alps.

What are plans for new recordings? You’ve been extremely busy lately, but have you been able to start on a follow-up to Gentle Spirit?
Yes, I’ve recorded several tunes for it during touring breaks. Also, the band has been playing four or five tunes that will appear on the new record. So we’ll go in and track a good bit of it live. The rest, I will do alone, like I always have. I like to organize a record by myself, sit and marinate on the scope of the thing for a while. I like to work in solitude, I’ve always done it that way, so this won’t be any different. Things have picked up such an incredible momentum with Gentle Spirit, it far surpassed anyone’s expectations, really. We circled the world several times on this record and played so many amazing shows and countries, and I’m excited to get the next one out and do it all over again.

This article originally appeared in VG January 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

(RIGHT) Rhoads’ polka-dot guitar was built in 1979 by Karl Sandoval, with a mahogany body, modified ’60s Danelectro non-adjustable maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard and bow-tie inlays, two DiMarzio humbuckers (PAF in the neck position, Super Distortion in the bridge), separate Tone and Volume controls, a standard vibrato, and a selector switch on the upper bass bout. Rhoads photos: Neil Zlozower.

Randy Rhoads was only in the rock and roll spotlight briefly before dying in a freak airplane stunt. Yet here we are, 30 years later, still talking about Ozzy Osbourne’s sideman and the impact he had on several generations of rock guitarists. In tribute, Sony Legacy has issued a spate of 30th anniversary releases featuring the two Osbourne studio albums with the diminutive guitar hero, as well as a freshly unearthed live recording from 1981, and a DVD documentary titled Ozzy Osbourne: Thirty Years After The Blizzard. A fresh book on the guitarist’s life is also imminent. No matter how you slice it, Randy Rhoads still matters.

Part of the Rhoads legend has to do with Ozzy himself, a frontman who has led an uncanny 40-year career, first fronting Black Sabbath, then as a top solo artist and then as a reality-show star on television. But the meat of the matter are the two initial Ozzy solo albums, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, both packed with top-notch metal anthems and stellar musicianship from the guitarist and a fiery rhythm section.

In retrospect, Randy Rhoads’ performance on these LPs was one of those “a star is born” moments, a combination of natural ability, timing, and sheer kick-ass attitude. Over the course of about 18 months, this band set towering standards for ’80s metal, studio production, and lead-guitar pyrotechnics. Yet Rhoads virtually appeared out of nowhere and was gone before many people appreciated or acknowledged his gift. With these ideas and conundrums as a base, we’ll explore his influences and recordings to get perspective on this brief, glittering guitar god.

Roots of Randy
Born at the end of 1956, Rhoads was part of a generation poised to witness the explosion of the Beatles and the Stones; the huge guitar evolution that began with the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream; and finally the harder rock of the Jeff Beck Group, Led Zeppelin, Mountain, and then all of the great bands of the early ’70s. It was a blissful time to be a young electric guitarist with a good set of ears and the desire to become proficient on the instrument. Add to that the fact his mother, Delores, owned a music store in North Hollywood and Randy had a strong foundation to nurture his love of the guitar.

By the time he joined Ozzy Osbourne’s group, Rhoads’ style began to morph into a singular voice. Like his Southern California peer, Eddie Van Halen, Rhoads used two-handed tapping and a trebly, edgy guitar tone that bordered on harshness (his was even more razor-sharp than Van Halen’s). Yet in contrast to Eddie’s more-abstract lead style, Rhoads’ style was grounded in the European classical-metal styles of Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Roth, and Michael Schenker. Fold in generous dollops of Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Leslie West, and you begin to piece together his guitar style and why it was so popular. It was “contemporary daredevil guitar” like Van Halen, but firmly rooted in ’70s blues-rock and Euro-metal styles.

“A big influence on Randy at the time – one that isn’t spoken about very much – was Alice Cooper’s guitarist, Glenn Buxton,” said Kelly Garni, original bassist in Rhoads’ early band, Quiet Riot, speaking to VG. “Randy liked all the weird noises and feedback Buxton came up with and would always point them out. Then Mick Ronson came along with Bowie, and he, too, was a noisy guitarist. Randy liked that, so he started coming up with his own strange sounds and noises, and that proved to be the basis of his own style. In fact, he started getting a style very young and, when later, I heard Randy’s big guitar solo on the live Ozzy Tribute record, I just kind of shook my head because there were all these licks that he used to play when we were kids.

“We first heard about Van Halen when they were still known as Mammoth,” Garni adds, elaborating on the Rhoads/Van Halen connection. “They were playing parties in Pasadena, which is a world away from Burbank. We’d hear rumors of how there was this great, loud band down there, and Randy got his girlfriend to drive him down to one of the parties. When he came back, I asked how they were, and all he would say was they were ‘pretty good.’ Later, after they had become Van Halen, we played a gig with them at the Glendale College Auditorium.

“Despite the rumors, Randy didn’t mind when his students would ask to learn Van Halen licks. In fact, he always thought that he learned more from giving lessons than the students did.”

Caught in the Blizzard
Through the late ’70s, Rhoads played heavy glam-rock with Quiet Riot, earning enough following to record two albums for Sony Music in Japan. The story of his famous audition with Ozzy has been told many times, but suffice to say, in the fall of ’79, Rhoads found himself in England with Ozzy, producer Max Norman, bassist Bob Daisley (Rainbow, Gary Moore) and drummer Lee Kerslake (Uriah Heep), writing songs and prepping for Osbourne’s debut solo effort for Jet Records, a Columbia/Epic imprint. A lot was on the line – Ozzy had been unceremoniously dumped after nearly a decade fronting Black Sabbath, and both his new guitarist and producer were untested.

Eventually, the lineup migrated to Ridge Farm, near Dorking, in the south of England. The band started working with producer Chris Tsangarides, who had worked with Judas Priest and was making a name for himself helming Thin Lizzy’s records. But after a week, Ozzy was reputedly dissatisfied with the early mixes and switched production duties to Ridge Farm’s in-house engineer – Max Norman. As Norman later told KNAC.com radio about the guitarist and his tone, “Randy spent a lot of time playing – that’s all he ever did, really. He didn’t drink or do drugs; just a clean-living guy and very quiet. Randy was also a big fan of Eddie Van Halen, but when it came to his guitar sound, he wanted it a lot brighter than Eddie’s. As a result, we did some pretty interesting things at that time, like triple tracking solos, which have never been done before.”

As these things sometimes go, the combination of players and producer was harmonious, and the resulting Blizzard of Ozz album was a surprise hit and today stands as a masterpiece of ’80s metal. In fact, paired with AC/DC’s Back in Black, Blizzard helped ignite what would become heavy metal’s most successful decade, and remains Ozzy’s best-selling record with over six million copies sold worldwide. The album kicks off with “I Don’t Know,” a full-bore stomper that, in retrospect, sounds like Black Sabbath on steroids. Certainly, you can hear the Van-Halen-esque approach, with Rhoads providing all the harmonic content behind Ozzy’s vocals, including salvos of chords, lead licks, riffs and squeal galore. Suffice to say, there’s a lot of guitar playing going on – but it’s what the music calls for. Its solo is classic Rhoads, a frantic mass of bends, jittery wrist vibrato, two-handed tapping, and muted arpeggios that became the bedrock of his style.

Next up is another definitive Ozzy/Randy track, “Crazy Train,” a perfect blend of Rainbow’s euro-metal riffery with Van Halen’s sunny SoCal metal. A major-key power riff fuels the verse, laced with fast, open-string pull-offs that had been previously used by Les Paul and Jeff Beck. The solo, however, is a multi-tracked Rhoads attack, launching with classically infused two-handed tapping – a straight evolution from Van Halen’s “Eruption” – as well as Michael Schenker modal-styled runs before going back into the dark, dramatic chorus riff.

“I remember when I first heard ‘Crazy Train’ and then its freight-train of a guitar came screaming in,” Steve Vai of the lead in an interview on the box set’s documentary. “I think it’s the first rock track I heard where the solo came in and got scared.”

(LEFT) Rhoads’ 1970 Gibson Les Paul Custom had stock pickups, his name engraved on the pickguard, a brass toggle-switch tip, and (after this photo was taken) his initials on the truss rod cover. This and the polka-dot V made by Karl Sandoval were the principal guitars heard on Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. They are easily identified on the tracks by the vibrato (Sandoval) or non-vibrato (Les Paul Custom) style of playing on each song.

On the ballad “Goodbye to Romance,” you can observe two things – Rhoads’ elegant rhythm work and Ozzy’s famous Beatles fetish. It’s a mild, likeable pop song, but most noteworthy for Randy’s stately, melodic solo. A better glimpse of the guitarist’s mellower side is “Dee,” a multi-tracked bit of classical-styled guitar. Certainly, Rhoads was not the first, nor best, rocker to play classical guitar (having been ably preceded by Steve Howe, Steve Hackett, Steve Morse, Rik Emmett, and Alex Lifeson), but in light of Rhoads’ brief career, the song became hugely popular among his fans. And in the new DVD documentary, later Osbourne guitarist – and über-Rhoads fan Zakk Wylde, plays a perfect, note-for-note rendition of “Dee” on nylon-string guitar.

Another bonus on the 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition is the inclusion of the B-side, “You Looking at Me, Looking at You.” It’s a catchy pop-metal anthem, one that will make you wonder why it wasn’t included on the original album – it says “hit single” all over it. Blizzard of Ozz’s pièce de résistance, however, is “Mr. Crowley,” which captures Ozzy’s “Vincent Price of rock and roll” image in one tidy package. Here, Rhoads pulls out all the stops for the famous solo, a skittering gem of speedy picking and Gothic-metal melody, with yet another lead burning up the outro. It’s easily one of the guitarist’s very best performances. Adds 
Wylde, “When you really listen to Randy’s solos, each one is like its own composition. They’re a song within a song.”

Diary of a Masterpiece
In September, 1980, Osbourne, Rhoads, Daisley, Kerslake and a tour keyboardist hit the road for the Blizzard of Ozz tour, which lasted for much of the next year. Released in the U.K. that fall, Blizzard was released in the U.S. in January, 1981, and, surprising to all (including Ozzy), it was an instant smash in the States, ratcheting up the pressure for a monster tour. Prior to the U.S. leg, however, Ozzy’s manager (and later wife), Sharon Arden, shrewdly sent the band back into the studio to cut a follow-up album. In retrospect, this was a master stroke – considering Rhoads’ brief life, had Sharon not made this pivotal call, Diary of a Madman might never had been created. Thus, when Ozzy began his American tour in April, he not only had a hit album on the charts, but another full album in the can.

Beyond the music, the tour gained notoriety for countless other reasons. Inexplicably, the powerhouse rhythm section of Daisley and Kerslake were sacked prior to the tour and their parts on the Diary LP were credited to their replacements, bassist Rudy Sarzo (later of Whitesnake) and drummer Tommy Aldridge (from the Pat Travers Band). Not surprisingly, many lawsuits later arose from this move. The U.S. tour itself was near-pandemonium, with sell-out shows, rampant drug and alcohol use, Ozzy’s high-profile arrest in San Antonio (for urinating on a wall at the Alamo) and, of course, the infamous incidents where Ozzy bit the head off a dove (intentionally) and a bat (unintentionally). Regardless of the bacchanalian atmosphere, the Blizzard of Ozz tour was one of the hottest concert tickets of ’81; in contrast, Osbourne’s old mates in Black Sabbath were still grinding it out on the mid-level metal circuit. The combination of great rock and roll and outrageous offstage behavior proved a great marketing asset for Osbourne.

As for Diary of a Madman, the album can be viewed as the perfect bookend to Blizzard of Ozz. While cut in only six weeks and sounding a bit rushed in places, it delivered a new batch of metallic anthems for FM radio, as well as ample Rhoads fretboard acrobatics. By this time, the guitar magazines were beginning to notice his playing, bringing word of a new guitar sensation to entice their readers. Interestingly, the guitarist was becoming more enamored with classical guitar and, as the initial thrill of touring with Ozzy began wearing off, expressed an interest to get off the road to practice his nylon-string skills. Randy reputedly even hired local teachers to give him classical lessons as the Ozzy machine rolled across the country.

Live Recordings
In 1987, the double-live LP Tribute was issued and credited, generously enough, to both Osbourne and Rhoads. Taped in ’81, tracks on this album capture the relentless energy of the Osbourne band, featuring Rhoads with the pummeling Sarzo/Aldridge rhythm section. The album was another hit (hitting #6 on the U.S. charts and selling more than two million copies), and captured the group in all its raw, metallic glory.

In the spate of 30th anniversary reissues, Sony has unearthed another concert recording from that year for the box set, again showing the skill and relentless energy of Rhoads in concert. One thing that becomes quickly clear, however, is that Rhoads preferred to play his guitar parts note-for-note from the studio versions and therefore, there aren’t many new solos to savor. On the other hand, you again have to appreciate how much of the show he carried on his shoulders – Rhoads had a million riffs, licks, and leads to remember and he nailed them on these concert documents. This approach further alludes to his interest in classical music and the art of playing music perfectly night after night.

Rhoads’ Rig
Rhoads’ guitar rig helped set the standard for modern metal and has been duplicated by thousands of aspiring players. Its basic ingredients were a solidbody with humbuckers and a vibrato bridge fed through a battery of effects; an MXR Distortion+, wah, MXR 10-band graphic EQ, Korg and Roland tape echoes (as well as MXR and Yamaha analog units), and MXR Stereo Flanger and Chorus pedals. His amp of preference was Marshall JMP-series Super Lead 100-watt heads with 4×12 cabs, many covered with white Tolex.

Rhoads is identified with several guitars, among them, a white Gibson Les Paul Custom, which was likely from the early ’70s. Fitted with stock Gibson humbuckers, he used this axe with Quiet Riot and with Ozzy. Photos also showed him with a black Les Paul Custom with three humbuckers.

Another key axe was the V built by luthier Karl Sandoval in the summer of ’79, just prior to landing the Ozzy gig. A polka-dot solidbody with “bowtie” inlays (one of Rhoads’ trademarks during the Quiet Riot years), the guitar also had a vibrato bridge and DiMarzio humbuckers, each with its own Volume and Tone controls. The set neck was taken from an old Danelectro guitar. Rhoads paid $738 for the guitar and today the model is known as the Sandoval Dot V.

The last piece in Randy’s guitar arsenal was a pair of custom-offset V-style guitars designed by Grover Jackson, Tim Wilson, and Mike Shannon. One black, one white, both Jacksons had Seymour Duncan humbuckers, vibrato bridges, and set-neck designs. These now-iconic guitars became quintessential metal axes after Rhoads’ death for their killer looks and fierce tone, and the list of players who’ve used them is impressive, including Dave Mustaine, Kirk Hammett, and Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho. And in the accessory department, Rhoads used Fender medium picks and GHS strings in both .010 and .011 sets.

Legacy
For a player who accomplished so much in such a short time, Rhoads remains a beloved icon of rock guitar, and duly so. With his death, of course, a certain cult of personality has grown around the man, some of it true, some of it fan-based hyperbole. But thanks to the internet, there’s a lot of Rhoads material to decipher, from print interviews to live videos and fan recordings. For the truly obsessed, there are audio recordings where you can hear Rhoads’ guitar lessons at his mother’s music store in his pre-Ozzy days.

Perhaps it’s from his peers we hear the greatest praise for Rhoads. “When you listen to his solos, there are moments of uniqueness,” Vai says on the new DVD. “And when I say uniqueness, I mean things that have never been done before by a guitar player.” Adds Ozzy nostalgically, “He was a phenomenal player, a genius. And he also loved playing guitar. You can tell.” And that’s probably Rhoads’ greatest legacy – an unbridled passion for the guitar that has inspired generations of players.

You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date on VG’s exclusive product giveaways! CLICK HERE to receive the FREE Vintage Guitar Overdrive.

This article originally appeared in VG August 2011 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

“Unofficial” Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, who replaced Bill Wyman in 1994, readily admits that playing with the carousing rockers has been a revelation compared to working with stern jazz masters like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Wynton Marsalis.

“What I’ve learned from Mick and Keith is that rock and roll is fun. It’s not supposed to be didactic or that you can’t make a mistake onstage. It should be loose and irreverent.”

Jones took that attitude to full use when performing on fellow Stone Ron Wood’s new album.

You play guitar on several tracks on Ron’s new album. How did the process differ from the Rolling Stones sessions you’ve done with him over the years?
The process was kind of the same, actually. We’d play through a tune, try it a few times, and if we came up with good ideas, he was willing to listen. You hope to get a good vibe on a song and build on it.

How would you describe the onstage communication that goes on between Ron and the rest of the band?
Well, that communication was really apparent between him and Keith from the moment I joined, even to the extent that sometimes it almost seems like there’s one guy with four hands playing the guitar. They definitely have something special together.

What was the first thing that impressed you about Ron’s guitar style?
One of the first things I noticed about Ron’s playing – and I would say this is also true about Keith Richards, as well, but more so with Ronnie – is that I immediately recognized how some of the musical choices he makes remind me of a bass player. He’s not playing bass lines, but there is something reminiscent of it in his and Keith’s playing.

Do they sometimes veer from the original recordings, or the way they usually perform them, that it throws you off?
I’ve been standing next to Keith onstage for so long, that I’ve learned that he never plays the same thing twice. Keith is one of the most improvisatory rock rhythm guitar players I’ve ever played with, and Ronnie’s pretty much the same. They’re always playing off each other.

What was your first personal impression of Ron?
He really loves people. That was one of the first things I learned about him the day I auditioned for the band. Ronnie came right up, shook my hand, smiled at me, and said, “Darryl, do you want a Guiness?” That was kind of his way of welcoming me to the band. He also definitely has some very childlike qualities that are really beautiful. He’s just a really sweet man.

What do you consider Ron’s most vital asset to The Rolling Stones?
He is just a very uniquely gifted musician. I don’t know anyone else who plays quite the way he does, and can also do all those different things, like play a lap-steel as easily as a B-bender guitar. He incorporates all of his instruments and everything he does into his own voice and musical style.

This article originally appeared in VG January 2011 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Veteran guitarist/songwriter/vocalist/keyboard player/producer Jim Peterik’s career has taken yet another intriguing turn in its long and ever-active history. The Chicago-area musician first sprang to prominence over three decades ago as the vocalist/guitarist for one-hit-wonder combo the Ides of March (“Vehicle”), and went on to further success in the ’80s with the original lineup of Survivor.

Peterik’s also a prolific songwriter; his solo tunes, as well as ones he co-wrote, have been hits for numerous other artists. He also has a commendable vintage guitar collection. The ever-enthusiastic Peterik was interviewed in VG‘s August and September ’92 issues, and since has added more instruments to his collection, wrote and recorded with many noted artists, and departed Survivor.

Peterik is now oriented toward a unique semi-solo effort called World Stage, and was eager to bring us up to date on his labors.

Vintage Guitar: When we first talked with you in the early ’90s, you were still active with Survivor, and you were busy getting the Ides cranked up again. Turns out you’ve left Survivor, so we need to ask for an update.
Jim Peterik: I left Survivor in July ’96 and The Ides have been active since we re-formed with the original members in 1990. I didn’t do many Ides dates from about ’93 to ’96 because I was busy with Survivor, but when I left Survivor I notched up the Ides of March activity, and that’s when I also started putting the World Stage project together.

I really wanted to get back into lead singing and guitar-playing. In Survivor, I had a different role as the keyboard guy and background singer, which contributed to our sound. And it’s a very valid sound, but I missed being the frontman and the lead singer. I also missed the guitar; I lean a little more toward R&B-type chord changes. With Survivor, we definitely pitched the sound toward the mainstream melodic side of rock.

A song written by you and (Survivor guitarist) Frankie Sullivan, “Across the Miles,” was recorded by Uriah Heep. When did you find out about that effort?
After they’d recorded it. That song has always been one of my favorites, and I’ve always thought it got overlooked. It got a second chance, and it was a heartfelt performance by the singer.

As for this fairly new World Stage project, were you thinking about such a concept before you left Survivor?
No. I really didn’t know what I was going to do and it kind of hatched after I left the band. The Ides are basically like a great hobby; it’s better than a bowling team (laughs)! Not that we don’t take it seriously – we do – we put on a great show, but it’s “recreation” that’s very Midwest-oriented and very Chicago-oriented, and that’s just fine with us.

World Stage may or may not do well, but its concept is very strong. It was almost a type of synchronicity – I was writing with Don Barnes for the new .38 Special record; we did a demo for a song called “Change My Love,” and it had a great vibe. They put it on their Resolution album in a different form. I got that crummy ADAT demo of the song from the studio to see what I could do with it. Around that time Don came back to Chicago to write with me, and I thought it would be cool to do a duet with him.

I’ve written with a lot of great bands with great lead singers, so the next guy I called was Johnny Van Zandt from Lynyrd Skynyrd; I’d been writing with him for the current Lynyrd Skynyrd album, Edge of Forever – I co-wrote the title cut and another song called “Through It All.” Johnny, Robert White Johnson, and I wrote a song called “Can’t Say It Loud Enough,” a very anthemic thing they did for their Van Zandt record, and I asked if I could put it on the World Stage record. So that became the second piece of the puzzle, and it went on from there.

[Styx keyboard player/vocalist] Dennis DeYoung and I go way back, and he did a song with me called “To Miss Somebody;” he was also the executive producer.

Is World Stage a band, or more of a project?
World Stage is kind of a loose aggregation, but I do have a “core” band with a pretty solid lineup – Clef Hayes on bass, Ed Breckensele on drums – he was in a band called the Insiders Christian Cullen on keys, Mike Aquino on one guitar and Joel Hoekestra on another, and me on lead vocals and guitar. We usually add the Ides of March brass to a show. And I need to give credit where due – Mike and Joel are tremendous. You hear a lot of good lead work on the album; I do some of it, but most of it fell to Mike and Joel, not only because they’re great players, but it’s also hard to produce yourself. I would translate a lot of the lines I’d hear in my head, and they executed them flawlessly. They brought a lot of their own ideas to the table, too.

We’ve done some shows, like at the Norris Center in St. Charles, Illinois, and the Holiday Star Plaza in Merrillville, Indiana – Chicago-area venues. Participants have included Kevin Cronin from REO, Don Barnes, Henry Paul from the Outlaws and Blackhawk, and Cathy Richardson, a local singer/songwriter who’s just about to break out. Of course, they’re all on the record, too.

Of all the songs you recorded, which was the most tedious, and why?
(pauses) I guess “To Miss Somebody” was the hardest. The basic track went down really good, and we had so many options with the overdubs. We added more guitars, but it’s still not “heavy” by any means; it’s a fun, melodic tune. It’s way different from the way it started, though.

I bet you won’t tell me which song was the most fun.
(chuckles) Yeah, I will! It had to be “Vehicle” with Buddy Guy. That was a dream come true. I wondering how to reinvent the song for 2000, and I still wanted to use the Ides of March brass. The first version I cut…forgive me…was a salsa version! I had just heard “La Vida Loca.” The salsa version worked, but when I put my vocal on it at the end, it sounded like a bad lounge version of the original. Go into a Holiday Inn, and the band would be playing it like that (laughs).

Then I said to myself, “Y’know, what this really wants to be is an R&B/blues tune.” So I started thinking about a real bump-n-grind groove, and asked my co-producer, Larry Millas, who we could get to sing this with me if we did the blues version. Larry said, “You’ll never get him, but how about Buddy Guy?”

I called his manager, who I’ve known for years but hadn’t talked to in a long time. He told me to send the track over, and Buddy loved it. I was invited to a gig at the Ravinia that Buddy was doing with Susan Tedeschi, and met him for the first time. Two days later, he was at my house to do the recording.

And Buddy came to play! We sat on two Fender tweed amps, warming up for about a half hour, trading licks, and I’m saying to myself, “I don’t believe this – here I am, a kid from Berwyn, trading riffs with Buddy Guy!” It was almost surreal!

The track was already laid down, so we started doing takes. He did three takes, and after the third I told him I thought he’d gotten it. But he said, “No, man, I can do it better!” The fourth take is the one you hear on the record – he nailed it. Then we did the vocals. I like it when you can go back and forth in the same room; the chemistry’s going to be a lot better.

Cathy Richardson was in a play called Love, Janis, about Janis Joplin.
I’ve been working with her since ’91; I discovered her and co-produced her first album. Her father owned a gas station and I used to fill up my car there. One day he said those legendary words, “Y’know, my daughter sings” (chuckles), and I thought “Oh, ****, here we go again…” He handed me a tape, and when I heard it, I flipped! She and I have written songs throughout the ’90s, and in my opinion, she’s on the verge of a big breakthrough. She got some amazing reviews for Love, Janis.

I had a tune ready for the World Stage album called “Diamonds for Stones,” and originally, I had Richard Marx singing the duet with me. He did a great job, but one day he called me and asked “Why am I singing a love duet with you? You need a female.” So I called up Cathy, and she did a great job, too, and everybody agreed that the duet with her was the way to go. She also appears with me on the last song, “From Here to Hereafter.” It’s about the concept of a love that doesn’t die, even if the person dies; it keeps going, into hereafter.
Other people I’ve produced, like Anthony Gomes, are also on the album. Anthony’s album, Blues in Technicolor, is one of the most recent things I’ve done.

Let’s talk about some of your more recent guitar acquisitions, both utility and for your collection.
I got a great new Gibson ES-135; it looks like an ES-125, but it has a center block, like a 335. Mine is in a sort of Gretsch orange finish, which I think they only made for one year. And I use a great light green Mexican Strat, of all things. They’re making some great guitars down there – I’d put this guitar up with any of the vintage reissues, and I paid next to nothing for it; it’s the best value on the market. I thought I might have to replace the pickups, but the stock ones sound real good.

I picked up a white ’78 Gibson SG doubleneck about a year ago and played it on some dates I did with Brian Wilson. I would switch from the 12-string on songs like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” to the six-string for songs like “Surfin’ U.S.A.” I did the Letterman show and Farm Aid with him, and some other performances, and we co-wrote two songs, which was a real thrill.

I’ve gotten into Epiphone Rivieras; I bought a ’66 in sunburst and a Cherry Red ’67. I like that cool Frequensator tailpiece on those. To me, it’s a better value than a 335, and it’s rarer. I also bought a ’67 Rickenbacker six-string I used on “Til It Shines,” a song on the new record. You can tell the guitar figure is being played on a Rick – the way the strings fail to resonate (laughs)! It’s almost Jazzmaster-like! I also picked up a [Gibson] Lonnie Mack Flying V awhile back, and a very clean ’56 Les Paul Jr. that had been under somebody’s bed for decades.

I used to change amps often, but now I’ve settled into using a Matchless Brave. It’s 1×12″. No frills, but it sounds great.

And I need to mention the Hamer Korina Explorer I have; it’s serial number 40 out of 100, but I used to own number 32, and traded it away. Unfortunately, we have this disease about owning guitars, and one of the symptoms is that as soon as you trade away or sell a great guitar, you immediately go on a search to find it. I’m sorry that I traded that Hamer away, but the good news is that number 40 is a cooler guitar, so I came out alright.

One unusual public service project for you was the “designated driver” version of, “Vehicle” that was heard on radio stations.
A guy called me from an ad agency representing Budweiser and wanted to know if I’d be willing to sing a new version that went “I’m your vehicle, baby, I’m your designated driver.” There was almost no money in it, but I went to Nashville to do it, because there have been too many people who’ve been victims. I really pitched for the Ides of March to do the track, but because it was a “jingle thing,” they had their own guys lined up, and those musicians did a pretty good job on it.

Was there any thought of using the original song with different vocals? The ad almost sounds like it was done that way.
Yeah, but it didn’t fit the format of one minute or whatever. Jingle guys are a totally different breed.

As I recall, I heard it on a modern rock station, probably sandwiched between Creed and Kid Rock. How does that make you feel?
(chuckles) Hey, whatever helps the cause! That song does not die; you’ll see it and hear it any given year on TV shows. I’ve even seen it performed karaoke-style! There’s something about that song that’s timeless.

I was recently looking at a photo you sent of a very early band of yours called the Shon-Dels; presumably, that’s you on the left with what you termed in your first interview to be a Davoli/Wandre “nightmare” guitar.
It is, and I still have that guitar. That was the first picture ever taken of one of my bands, which actually morphed into the Ides of March, except the drummer, who left because he felt there was too much bass in our sound.

But those are all guitars being held by you and two other guys in the photo…
There’s actually a Danelectro six-string bass in the middle.

Do you agree the Silvertone Twin-Twelve amps in the photo had what might have endearingly been called “the world’s worst reverb?”
The world’s worst everything (laughs)! I had no love for that particular variant of the Silvertone amp. They sounded dull, they had no sparkle to their sound, and the reverb was heinous. We got rid of those soon after that picture was taken.

Do you still think Gibson RDs are butt ugly?
I stand by that. And by the way, Rick Nielsen will never forgive me for predicting the resurgence of the Gibson V2 as a collectible guitar (laughs)!

Looking back at your experiences, including what you’ve done with the all-star effort with World Stage, you continue to have a very nice career, and presumably a nice income, as well as just a songwriter. Why do you feel the need to continue to play, even if it’s in a unique format like World Stage and the regional efforts of the Ides of March?
Because I love the stage. When I went onstage at a talent search in Berwyn, Illinois, at age 11, and sang “Kansas City,” and heard my voice coming through that PA, and heard the applause, I was hooked for good. I’m most comfortable when I’m onstage, and it helps my songwriting tremendously – I don’t know how people manage to write songs in a “laboratory.” I put my songs on the street, to see what the people are digging, and if they’re not digging it, I’ll write a better song. So to me, performing and songwriting go hand in hand.

Well-stated, as are the bulk of Jim Peterik’s songs. He’s a consummate musician, who is continuously attempting to hone his craft after over three decades in the public eye, and he’s still got an appreciation for classic instruments (and his collection confirms such). By the way, among the artists we didn’t discuss appearing on the World Stage album are Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick), Tom Keifer (Cinderella), and Kelly Keaggy (Night Ranger). The notable participants in Peterik’s project avers the respect the Chicago musician has among his peers. Peterik also wanted to be sure the Ides of March horns received their due; the members of that aggregation include Chuck Souman (trumpet), Bob Bergland (sax), John Larsen (trumpet), and Dave Stahlberg (trombone).

Peterik’s onstage arsenal with the Ides of March includes a vintage Telecaster and a vintage Gibson Les Paul.

For up-to-date info on Jim Peterik, go to www.jimpeterik.com

You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date on VG’s exclusive product giveaways! CLICK HERE to receive the FREE Vintage Guitar Overdrive.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s March ’01 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.