Tag: features

The highly publicized firing of singer Geoff Tate from the band Queensrÿche has divided fans and spawned two touring bands using the name; Tate assembled a group of well-known sidemen, while the remaining members recruited frontman Todd La Torre.

Guitarist Michael Wilton’s version of Queensrÿche recently released a self-titled album that marks a return to it classic sound. VG spoke with him to discuss his mission to rebuild the brand.

Are you happy with the way Queensrÿche turned out?
Yes of course (laughs)! We got to use producer James Barton again. I did most of the solos, but [second guitarist Parker Lundgren’s] input was great. He supplemented a lot of the parts, wrote “Where Dreams Go To Die,” did a few solos, and of course doubled solo parts.

Was it a democratic decision to return to your classic sound?
Three of the founding members are proven assets, and what you hear is ingrained in our past. We tried to use a modern approach because we’ve evolved, but naturally, it’s going to have elements of the first five records.

You’ve done so much since those records. Was it difficult to write and return to that style?
Not really. You want to keep a thread to the past, but five musicians putting their creative elements into a package gave it a special sound.

The record sounds like the band Queensrÿche always wanted to be without Geoff Tate.
You don’t want to make the same record every time. You want to stretch the boundaries within reason, but you have to keep a thread to what your roots are. Otherwise you start losing fans. We listen to our fans and the people who have supported the band for years. You gotta keep in touch with them to a certain aspect, and also you gotta have the integrity of an artist to be able to work with other people in your group. You have to stay current as much as you can, but you also have to stick to what works.

How was working with vocalist Todd La Torre?
Todd is a great asset. He seamlessly came into this situation and really won fans over. He’s growing, learning the ways of the ’rÿche and the demands of touring. He’s easygoing and there’s no ego. Everything is about consideration. It’s a real band effort, and it’s just a joy again, like in the ’80s. He’s an amazing singer, and he’s so glad to be there. He’s a drummer first, so he loves Scott Rockenfield’s drumming. He also plays guitar; Parker sent him a version of “Where Dreams Go To Die” without drums, and Todd put the drums to it. Scott put his touch to it using his drums as a blueprint. On “The Open Road” he added a melodic line which was great for guitar. I built something off of it.

The band sounds really energized.
The fans have been wanting this for so long and it’s great to see the appreciation. It’s proof the songs on the first five albums work for a reason. A lot of it was great chemistry at the time and the creative elements firing on all cylinders. Now, it’s like a second chapter and a rebirth for Queensrÿche, and we’re really excited. Everybody’s collaborating, writing, and creating. That’s the art and that’s what’s fun about it. Everybody’s in tune with each other and we’re excited to write the next record.

Was Geoff taking the band in the wrong direction?
Yeah. As bands grow, everybody changes and goes in different ways. The last few Queensrÿche records weren’t the direction we wanted to go. That naturally happens – things get stale and new blood is needed.

In November, a judge will decide who gets the rights to the band name.
It’s a scary prospect to have 30 years of your career being judged by a person in a black robe who doesn’t know who you are.

Talk about your ESP signature guitar.
It’s really just a simple alder body with a figured maple neck. I’ve always been a fan of the Floyd Rose, and it has upgrades now. The guitar that came out this year has a Duncan Distortion and a Duncan ’59. It gives the alder a little honk with the upper midrange. It’s a guitar you want to cut through the mix. It’s got a five-way switch – just a workhorse. ESP is renowned for their necks. They’re just solid. I’ve never had an ESP neck warp.

What’s next for the band?
We’re touring the U.S. and Europe. We’ll leave November open, but in December we write the next record and tour again. After all these years, our fans still have such passion. It’s such a joy to play.

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

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The son of bluesman Johnny Otis, Shuggie Otis was born into a world of blues, R&B, nightclubs, and stages. As a guitar prodigy, he played in his father’s band, and as a teen was signed to Epic Records. The albums Here Comes Shuggie Otis, Freedom Flight, and Inspiration Information made him the most talked about artist of the early ’70s. With B.B. King singing his praises and the hit single “Strawberry Letter 23” flooding the airwaves, it seemed Otis was on a rocket to stardom. But, after being branded “difficult” by record labels, he kept a low profile for nearly 40 years.

Today, he’s back touring with the re-release of Inspiration Information, along with a companion record of unreleased songs, Wings Of Love.

How did the re-release come about?
I was getting ready to do a record with an independent label called Wax Poetics [when] Sony U.K. called. They wanted the album but didn’t want to put it out by itself. Their plan was to make a companion to the re-release of Inspiration Information with four bonus cuts. Combined with Wings Of Love, the public would get 17 songs they never heard before.

There’s a lot of mythology associated with you. It’s been said that you’ve been out of the picture for 40 years, but you were actually gigging.
It’s true. I was married and raising my youngest son, who’s in my band. I was pitching albums and sending tapes on a consistent basis, but knew I’d be out for a while. Still, I had the best times of my life during those 40 years, and now I’m having the best time of my life with this tour. If I didn’t have such a great band and the support from Sony, I wouldn’t feel that way.

Did The Rolling Stones ask you to replace Mick Taylor?
That’s true and that’s all I want to say about it.

Did you say no to Blood, Sweat & Tears?
That’s true, too. I knew I wasn’t going to be in that band. I just did it because I didn’t have anything better to do.

Spirit?
I said “No”; I jammed with them in my dad’s studio.

David Bowie?
I said “No.”

Buddy Miles?
I said “No” to all these people because I was too interested in my own music.

Quincy Jones?
He wanted to produce me, but that fizzled out. We’re still friends.

Did you play bass on Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats album?
Yes. Frank Zappa called my father, needing an R&B rhythm section.

Do you have any regrets?
No. I did it my way. If I can’t do it my way, I won’t be in music.

What’s your number one guitar right now?
I don’t have one. I’m very close to the Gibson 335, and I love the Gibson SG and the Fender Stratocaster equally. As odd as that sounds, I love a lot of guitars. I just love the guitar! I really fell in love with a new one, the Godin Passion.

You’ll be hearing more guitar than ever. I’m able to play whatever I want. It’s my group and I can play the solos longer (laughs)!

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

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Progressive-rock icons Yes are still going strong after more than 40 years of recording and performing. Throughout their reign as one of the most influential rock bands of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, they’ve endured personnel changes as well as stylistic changes.

The current incarnation includes Benoit David on vocals, Steve Howe on guitar, Chris Squire on bass, Alan White on drums, and Oliver Wakeman on keyboards. Their latest studio album, Fly From Here, was released in 2011, while In The Present – Live From Lyon documents their current live set. VG caught up with Howe to talk guitars, and find out how that new singer is working out.

Are you happy with the way Live From Lyon turned out?
I’m pretty happy. We found Karl Groom to mix it for us, and he did a great job. We went through his mixes, made some comments, then I popped in and did the mastering for about four hours with the mastering people. It sounded good and we pretty much kept the set as is. It nicely sums up a whole era. That was at the end of two years with that lineup. Live From Lyon helps justify and explain where we’ve been, and it was great.

Did you do anything different with your guitar sound compared to previous tours?
Not really. In 2007 I started using Line 6 amps, and I’m playing a Gibson ES-175 and a Gibson Stereo for the Close To The Edge material. The only time I play a Line 6 guitar is when I’m playing an acoustic or sitar part within a song. When I play an acoustic solo piece, it’s always on a Martin.

Which Line 6 amp are you currently using?
I’m using the Line 6 Bogner with the Pod HD500. It’s a hell of a thing. It does everything and more that the old Vetta II amp was doing. All the programming is in the pedalboard and I’ve got two of them. I can plug it into an amp and not change anything except the volume. When I play into a Bogner I’m only using the amp section, not the preamp, because all the sounds are in the pedalboard.

There are things that are better and things that aren’t really as good. I think it takes awhile because I’m pretty fussy and have good ears, and I know what I hear is actually what I’m hearing. When I programmed it, I was really happy. I think I was in a nice environment. It was adding some of the warmth that I like.

What is your #1 guitar?
The ’64 Gibson 175D I bought in ’64 is my best guitar. There’s no doubt about that. That’s going to mainly stay in the U.K. I’ll use it onstage in the U.K., but when I leave the country, there’s so many hassles with it staying with me permanently, because it has to. Then I use a 175D Steve Howe Model. It’s customized with a third pickup in the middle to simulate the Switchmaster guitar. I really like that guitar, and I’m pretty much using it all the time when I’m abroad.

Which one sounds better?
When you play a guitar for 45 years, it’s going to sound better (laughs)!

Over the last few years, Benoit David has made a seemingly seamless transition as your vocalist.
That’s right. The recordings are a very good example of really how far we’ve gotten going with this. He’s been absolutely amazing. He does some rhythm guitar and some percussion, and he’s a good all-arounder.

Originally, he was brought in because Jon Anderson had respiratory problems and couldn’t tour. Since then, he’s recovered. Do you see a time when Jon Anderson will return to the band?
Jon and Rick (Wakeman) don’t want to tour in the way that we do. It’s too strenuous, too intense, and a lot to do. Also, Jon wanted to change the keys in most of the songs and we don’t want to do that. There are quite a few other issues, as well. So when he got ill, we got Benoit in to start a new era of Yes. We were going to be assertive and move forward, and as it happened, the band and Jon accepted that there was a split. This was a change in direction. We were going off here, and he was going to go off there, and we would get on with our lives.

That does happen sometimes, and it has. Each of us wishes we can all do well in this world. I wouldn’t like to be quoted as saying that we won’t get together again, but we all have to move on. That doesn’t mean to say that I’m going to be playing in Yes when I’m 70 (laughs)! There are other musical ventures I know I’m destined for, but Yes is still very important.

Are there any new projects in the future with Asia?
Yes. We’re starting a third reunion. We may return to the stage and do some work on an album, and we’ll be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fourth album.

On January 21, I’m releasing my solo album, Time, on Warner Classic. It’s pretty exciting because it’s been a team project with writers and orchestrators and getting different ideas. It has taken four years and it’s a bit of a milestone because there are no drums. I play a mixture of traditional classical pieces with some interesting interpretations. It’s got a nice continuity and I’m really excited about it.

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This article originally appeared in VG July 2012 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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In his decades of playing, Walter Trout has served as lead guitarist for John Mayall and Canned Heat, and forged a respectable solo career. But to say he’s been “living the blues” in recent times is putting it mildly.

VG recently interviewed Trout, who just three months prior had undergone a liver transplant. He was straightforward about his travails, just as he was honest in the documentary DVD that accompanies his recent album, The Blues Came Callin’, released in June.

“I had known for years that I had Hepatitis C,” he recounted. “But, the disease was dormant. In May or June of 2013, I started swelling up with fluid, and the doctors told me it was the liver becoming seriously ill.”

Treatment with newer drug protocols enabled Trout to become free of the disease, “…but it was too late to save my liver,” he said. “By March of 2014, I was told I had a maximum of 90 days to live if I did not get a liver transplant.”

His declining health isn’t evident in the music on The Blues Came Callin’, though his appearance on the DVD, filmed in early ’14, will startle those who recall Trout as a beefy, granite-faced growler with a shrieking hardtail 1970 Fender Stratocaster.

“Eric Corne, my producer, worked tirelessly with me on getting the right circumstances for us to optimize my ability to play,’ Trout said. “I often only had two good hours of playing in me; it took me a lot longer to record that way. My stamina was way down, but I gave 100 percent to playing and singing. I do not half-ass it! I can’t.”

For most of the electric parts, Trout had to set aside his famed Strat in favor of a custom-made guitar.

“The Strat is so heavy – heavier than a Les Paul,” he said. “The new guitar was made by a local builder who calls his instruments Mark V guitars. Mark, who runs the company, got hold of a 150-year-old ceiling beam and fashioned a Strat-shaped body out of it. Then he took measurements of my old Strat and carved a neck that is very close. Seymour Duncan custom-made pickups for me. So, I ended up with a guitar that is very light, and plays like a dream.”

Trout also employed acoustic guitars on The Blues Came Callin’; on “The Bottom of the River,” one will hear a Collings in the left channel, and a metal-bodied Dobro in the right. Another resonator appears on the album cover, and while it wasn’t used on the recordings, it’s a personal icon to Trout, as it is owned by a former girlfriend, Delphene Langren.

“It’s a National Duolian,” he said. “It had been in Delphene’s family for years. I used to go to her house in my youth, and sit in her living room and play that thing. One day she said, ‘You’re getting pretty good. Why don’t you take it home and practice?’ So, she loaned me that guitar. It’s the same one I learned to play on so many years ago. The neck is very warped now, and believe it or not, it still has the same set of strings that I put on it in 1965! It needs some work, but it seemed very fitting to put it on the cover.”

Trout recalls the palpable uncertainty that surrounded the filming of the documentary.

“I was aware that I could be dead by the time it was released,” he said, unabashedly. “It was a difficult time in my life – my family’s, too. When that footage was shot, there were a lot of ‘What if?’”

Ultimately, Trout enrolled in a donor list in Nebraska, and a liver was transplanted on, ironically, for Trout, Memorial Day.

“Talk about a Memorial Day hero; the donor whose organs saved many peoples’ lives, including mine,” he said.

Trout remains in rehabilitative recuperation in Nebraska, and is optimistic about the future. He realizes there is a long, hard road ahead of him.

“I lost the calluses on my fingers, and I lost 100 pounds in six months, mostly muscle,” he said. “But I fully intend to be back next year. I see the beauty of the world and of life in a whole new way. God willing, you’ll see me back out there in 2015.”

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This article originally appeared in VG‘s November 2014 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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When it comes to blues, Robben Ford has always been inspired by the most profound practitioners of the form and gone his own way with the understanding that true blues is about honesty and individuality. His latest, Bringing It Back Home, joins his indelible style and touch with the compositional talents of Allen Toussaint, Earl King, and Big Joe Williams.

What was running through your mind as you recorded Bringing It Back Home?
Essentially, I wanted to do something that felt very organic, natural, and uncontrived. In particular, I wanted to make a record where I played in the particular style. A friend said, “T-Bone Walker.” I thought, “Yeah. That’s kind of the school.” I never really listened to T-Bone Walker, but the people I listened to who have influenced me in this way are B.B. King, certainly, and Lonnie Johnson, whose style is simple and straightforward. B.B. King was much more magnanimous and elegant in the way he played, but it’s still basically out of a very similar style – like a sophisticated form of Lightnin’ Hopkins.

On the record, you channel his sense of economy.
Deliberately so. That may be obvious, but just to be clear, it was a real artistic choice and took some nerve. I can’t believe how well it turned out. I really do feel this record was sort of blessed. Bassist David Piltch and I had never met or played together before – I went with him completely on the recommendation of Larry Goldings (who plays organ). There just aren’t a lot of upright players in Southern California who really understand blues and R&B; upright is pretty much relegated to the jazz world. That was in itself a bit of a risk.

I’ve known drummer Harvey Mason for many years. We’ve toured together and recorded together a few times, but always within a fusion situation. He was recommended by my tour manager, who is also my sound man and has toured, managed, and done sound for the band Fourplay, so he’s very well acquainted with Harvey. He said, “Man, you should hire Harvey,” and as soon as he said it, I knew intuitively, “That’s the guy.” Larry Goldings is just a genius and I knew he would be beautiful.

You have a knack for finding great material to cover. Have you done “Trick Bag” by Earl King before?
I did not know “Trick Bag,” and I didn’t know “Fair Child.” I did know “Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky.” Years ago, The Blue Line, with Roscoe Beck and Tom Brechtlein, talked about recording that song, but it never happened. The thought of doing that song has been in the background for me for quite a while. It was perfect for this record. It’s the first thing we cut in the studio and it wound up being the lead track.

How about “Bird’s Nest Bound” by Big Joe Williams?
I went looking for things that I had not heard before, and found it on a blues compilation that I’d never even listened to. The record was not fully conceived; it’s still relatively eclectic, but there’s a thread that runs through it that was the one element that I did have in mind. I wanted one band, one sound, each guy playing one instrument, and as little over dubbing of any kind to fill it out – I didn’t want to fill it out! I wanted all that space! Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue was kind of in my mind (laughs)! That and the Lonnie Johnson style of playing – simply, funky, and that hollow, woody sound.

Which explains your choice of a ’63 Epiphone Riviera using only the neck pickup for the entire record…
It has that sound. One thing I did was call Alexander Dumble and talk to him about it, because I use the Dumble Overdrive Special with a 2×12 cabinet, but it doesn’t give me that sound – it’s very close. Because of the 2×12 instead of the single 12″ speaker, the sound is a little more spread out. I wanted that real focused sound. I said to him, “What do you think I should use to get that?” He said, “Try the Overdrive Special with a single 12″ cabinet.” I thought, “That makes sense.”

I rented a Matchless open-back cabinet with a Celestion Vintage 30. That changed things. The whole notion was to bring my sound and just condense it, or distill it as much as possible. I never hit the overdrive – I never turned up. I kept the same volume all the time, and so everything that happens in a dynamic way is completely in the playing.

Your approach to the overall sound really distinguishes itself from your back-catalog.
In some ways it matches the Talk To Your Daughter record. That was pretty much one sound, one band, and everybody on one instrument. People are really getting the new record. It’s beautiful, and I’m just loving it.

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

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In case you were wondering, shred is not dead, and Ethan Brosh is determined to keep it that way. The Israeli-born Berklee grad is a young man with an old soul whose style harkens to the early musical fury of Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore. His second album is called Live The Dream, and Brosh is living his with passion and fire.

Live The Dream is very different from your first record.
People ask me about the differences between the two, and I have to come up with an answer. I can see the differences, but someone else can probably hear the differences a lot better than I can. It was a conscious decision to keep the hard-rock instrumental format. It wasn’t like, “Oh, I’m going to go in a different direction.”

I have a bunch of acoustic tunes and I could have made a record like that, but I felt this is what I needed to put out right now. Iron Maiden is my favorite band, and I like the fact that they stayed true to who they were. Every album had its own feel and different sound to it. They were produced differently, but the core idea was the same. It was hard rock music done in the best way possible.

So, that was my idea. The people who know me know me for a certain thing. I wanted them to get more of that, and possibly in a better way. That was my thought behind Live The Dream, but I wanted to produce it in a much better way, which I did. I learned a lot from the mistakes I made with Out Of Oblivion.

Did you approach the songwriting differently?
A lot of the tunes on my first record were some of the very first I ever wrote. I was really young at the time, so you can hear that young passion, but they lack a certain maturity and songwriting knowledge. I’m not saying one is better than the other, it’s just from different periods of my life.

My challenge is to keep instrumental music as interesting as possible; my personal take on instrumental music is that it’s the easiest style to make the listener bored out of their minds. One way of keeping it interesting is using different songwriting techniques, different sounds, and different moods.

One can hear some hybrid picking on the record…
I do that a lot. Sometimes I play fingerstyle with distortion. Sometimes I’m not holding the pick at all and I’m still doing all these crazy techniques. It has a different sound and enables you to do a lot of cool things you would never be able to do with a pick. The acoustic songs on the albums were done flamenco-style; I started on classical guitar, and because I have that technique in background, I try to incorporate it with distorted guitar. It sounds good, but you have to have many different techniques that are your own ideas, which give you your own voice.

Do your songs change when you perform live?
I played a lot of material from Live The Dream on the last Yngwie Malmsteen tour; I kept the compositions pretty much the same because I put so much thought into the tunes. “Clean Slate” is a tune I’ve actually had for a few years that did evolve onstage. I used to play that by myself, but now it starts with guitar, then the band kicks in. The audience really didn’t expect it, and I could tell that people really dug it.

Are you still playing a Fender HM Strat?
I love that guitar. I want a white one with a maple neck. I’ve been drooling over that guitar for a long time. I’m also using amps by ISP Technologies. The guy who started ISP was the owner of Rocktron. He’s a genius engineer who makes the best guitar stuff out there.

The Decimator pedal is also by ISP. It’s in everyone’s rig all over the world – very popular. He also makes an amplifier called the Theta, in a few different versions – head, rackmount, combo, and now they’ve made a pedal out of it. It’s the greatest distortion pedal ever made.

You’re going to be playing with Carmine and Vinnie Appice…
We’re doing this thing called Drum Wars. It’s a cool concept where they have two drum sets, and they go at each other playing all the cool songs from their careers. We’re playing Black Sabbath, Dio, Ozzy, and I’m working on that material right now. It’s right up my alley.

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This article originally appeared in VG‘s November 2014 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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