Tag: features

On External Combustion, Mike Campbell pours on the boogie, pens spellbinding ditties, and leans into a live sound. With ancestral links to his former band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, his quartet, The Dirty Knobs, spike L.A. rock and roll with psychedelia and rockabilly. The groove-laden swagger of this album should come as no surprise since Campbell’s discography looms large as a hit-making guitar craftsman.

How do you do that thing you do?
When you love something, it usually turns out pretty good (laughs). External Combustion is a continuation of Wreckless Abandon with some similarities. I wanted to keep the live kinetic approach in the studio, some of the solos, and the vocals live on each take. There’s some exploratory writing with the lyrics here and there, but The Dirty Knobs is a live band, and I wanted to keep that going.

It seems to have come together because of musical chemistry rather than a master plan.
A lot of that is because of our producer, George Drakoulias. He’s done both records and has a keen ear for picking songs that fit together. I write a lot of different types of songs – always have. The Dirty Knobs is a specific type of groove, so he was very helpful going through the songs and saying, “Forget these 20, but these other songs fit the band very well – we should focus on these songs.”

Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench plays on “Lightning Boogie.”
We call Benmont “The boy with the boogie-woogie brain (laughs).” He’s really got that down. There’s something about John Lee Hooker, who invented that feel. It’s an infectious feel and permeates a lot of our music, I hope. We cut the track while Benmont was out of town. He came back in at the end of the record and was gracious enough to come over one night and play on that song. He did a great job.

Live, your guitar solos are very fat-free – no noodling.
Thank you (laughs). Sometimes I do think we noodle, but we try to keep it to a minimum. I grew up in the ’60s with all those great bands with guitar parts. They weren’t noodling – they were playing parts within the song. I was always enamored with that, so that’s where I got it from. With The Heartbreakers, that’s the kind of band that we were.

What went into recording slide for “Brigitte Bardot?”
That was a Danelectro six-string bass tuned to a wacky low C. I only played on two strings, but it had a tone that was really cool – a lot thicker than a guitar. I thought it came out really good. I have an amp that Duesenberg Berlin Amplifiers made for me that’s modeled after a Fender Princeton, but a little beefier. It’s a one of a kind, with an extra gain circuit. I have it close-miked under the speaker with a condenser mic to pick up room ambiance. I don’t need much reverb because the room is doing it all.

How about other guitars and effects?
The guitars change depending on the mood or what the song calls for. I ended up using my ’59 Les Paul most of the time. I don’t take it on the road, so I use it as much as I can in the studio. I’m not really a pedal lover, but I have a few – a Way Huge Camel Toe and a Line 6 DL4 Delay I can pre-set for long delay or a rockabilly thing. It also has a reverse delay, which is a cool effect.

Tom Petty fans will appreciate the band’s similarities to The Heartbreakers.
I was a big part of the sound of that band. I made a conscious effort with The Dirty Knobs to filter out as much of that as possible. I’ve succeeded to an extent, but it’s just in me. It’s the way I play. I think the vocals at times are trying not to sound like Tom, but we have the same cadence and the same accent in places. I’m trying to find my own voice, and I think I am. I take it as a badge of honor because The Heartbreakers were a great band. But I don’t want to do a Junior Heartbreakers. The Dirty Knobs are a little edgier and more boogie rock and roll. The Heartbreakers had their sound, and some of it is always going to slip through because that’s who am and what I am.

This article originally appeared in VG’s August 2022 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.;

Few groups radiate the sheer joy of being a famous, hard-working rock band than Def Leppard. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers recently released their 12th full-length album, Diamond Star Halos, and finally embarked on The Stadium Tour with Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts after a two-year Covid delay. The album is full of melodic hard-rock songs like those on 1983’s Pyromania and its 1987 follow-up, Hysteria, but also includes a few surprises. Bluegrass/country icon Alison Krauss – a huge fan – contributes vocals on two songs. Longtime guitarist/songwriter Phil Collen said some songs weren’t written with Def Leppard in mind at first, but it all came together.

Was work on the album affected because The Stadium Tour might have been finally starting?
Nope. Didn’t even think about it. This was pure artistic expression. All the reasons you get into becoming an artist or a musician, this was it. We didn’t have any restraints. There was no pressure by a label. There was no touring pressure. We just carried on writing songs because we love doing it.

There are Def Leppard-style songs along with unexpected things. While writing, did you ever think “This isn’t Def Leppard”?
Absolutely not. I think we used to. This album was about us, as was the last one (2015’s Def Leppard), but this one more so. This one, we were so excited about. I think as an artist you’ve got to stop worrying about what people are going to think – even fans. They liked you in the first place, so there’s no reason that shouldn’t happen again.

A true fan is willing to grow with an artist.
Absolutely. Otherwise, you’d just be stuck in this compromised hole. This album is not. This is growth. I love it.

What was it like recording separately and remotely?
You don’t have to wait for anybody. When you’re in a studio, even in the same country or the same building, you’re waiting for someone to do a vocal or a guitar part or a bass part or whatever. But doing it like this, we could each put in 100 percent. There was one part in particular – (bassist) Rick Savage on “This Guitar.” Sav is really good at playing jangles on guitar – very clear and clean and precise on acoustic or electric. I said, “Could you do an acoustic part on ‘This Guitar’?” He got his 12-string Martin. He wouldn’t have normally used that. He played that thing until his fingers were bleeding – literally – spent all day on it. I used a lot of my demo guitars that were first takes. They had a different sound, a different energy. The whole thing was really a different vibe.

Plus, when you’re recording at home, you have everything at your disposal.
More than ever. Like on the intro of “This Guitar.” I’ve got a Squier Starcaster I bought during lockdown for 300 bucks, just to goof around. But that’s what I played that song on. It actually turned up in a couple of tracks. I would have never used a semi-acoustic if we were in the studio. And it turned out great.

In the studio, it’s bang-bang, a bit more intense, and gets a bit clinical, to be honest, and some of the inspiration suffers. And this is coming from someone who has spent sometimes three years on an album (laughs). A lot of stuff on this record, like guitar parts, were one take.

Technology is such that something intended as a demo can be the master.
That’s been the case for a while, but I don’t think we’ve ever really implemented it. We’ve talked about it a lot, but haven’t done it until this album. That’s why some of these songs have a rawer edge to them, especially “Kick.”

You and Vivian Campbell play concise, punchy solos.
Someone asked me the other day about guitar solos. Basically, I’m a songwriter, producer, and a band member. The guitar has to take a second seat to the song and to the narration of the vocal. The singer is narrating the story, so you’ve got to fit with that. That’s really important.

What did you play on the album?
Mainly a Jackson (signature) PC1. On “Kick” and “Fire it Up,” I used the natural PC1 I got in 2006 – my go-to guitar. On a couple of the solos, I used a walnut-top PC1 with a DiMarzio X2N. The solo on “This Guitar” was a Squier Telecaster, and I played a Ramírez acoustic on “Goodbye for Good This Time.”

This article originally appeared in VG’s August 2022 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.