What equipment did you use?
I used the Ibanez AS100 that I’ve had
forever. I’m so comfortable on it. I put
Lollartron pickups in it and they just
scream. I used my new Ibanez signature
models toward the end of this record,
but the AS100, which was the basis for
my models, is what I used on pretty
much everything—maybe with a Strat
here and there. Right now, my main
amp is a Supro Jupiter. I really dig it.
It has that naturally overdriven sound.
I have a ’65 Super Reverb that I’ll use
with the Supro at times. I’ve been trying
out a bunch of different pedals. I just
refit my whole pedalboard.
How did being the frontman influence
your guitar playing on the record?
When I’m playing on other people’s
records, I’m like: “Okay, this is the vibe.”
I have some parameters to work with.
With this record, it was completely “blow
the door open,” which gave me too many
options at times [laughs], but most of the
time was really fun. That was my favorite
part, just trying weird crap. When we
were in Maine, we borrowed a few amps
and we had a Vibrolux in the corner of a
garage cranked, and we had another amp
with a bunch of pedals we were swapping
in an out. That was really fun. The
palette was massive. But the cool thing
is, we made all the decisions on the spot.
We didn’t say, “Let’s see how this sounds
in the mix.” It was more like, “Plug me
into three fuzz pedals and a Space Echo
and let’s just record it!” The guitar was
mostly recorded live with the band. I’m
stomping on pedals in the middle of a
song and you can hear clicks and weird
shit going on—in certain cases buzzing
from things. It was messy but fun.
Because you were also singing, did you
find playing the guitar—your familiar
territory—more liberating?
For sure, especially playing solos and
lead stuff. Now that I’m putting a band
together, getting ready to tour, I actually
have a rhythm guitarist [Danny Mayer],
which is one of the first times I’ve ever had
that. I’m used to doing it all, but I didn’t
want to put that pressure on myself while
104 PREMIER GUITAR SEPTEMBER 2016
delivering vocal s. It’s an interesting thing,
actually—figuring out what to play when
I’m singing lead. But when I get to just
rip, play guitar—yeah, that’s a big relief.
Singing changes how I play, too. I
feel like I’m giving it more space, which
is a good thing. That’s always my big
critique when I hear myself back on a
live recording: I play too much. So I feel
like having to sing makes me make better
choices as a guitar player, give it more
space, and be a little more melodic.
Let’s dig into a few songs. What’s the
story behind “Waiting on Your Love”?
That’s one of the songs I did here in New
York. I had a lot of loops of Adam Deitch
playing drums, because he’s my favorite
drummer. I took a loop of the drums
and added Wurlitzer, bass line, synth,
and added guitar last. I originally had
that [sings] “waiting on your love” hook
over a shuffle, but when I started playing
that riff over this groove I thought it fit
so much better. And the next time Dave
came down here, he wrote the verses.
Originally, we were going to take that to
Aaron, and then I was like, “Man, no.
I’ve got to do this.” I put on the guitar
and made it grittier.
You’ve mentioned that you wanted a
hip-hop feel to “Waiting,” but then
“Torture” seems an homage to classic
blues-rock.
That has a Hendrix vibe. We did that one
up in Maine. It goes back to psychedelic
blues, too. I’ve always dug when people
sing and play the melody together. That
was a first-take situation. Dave had
written some lyrics, but we hadn’t worked
out the phrasing or melody yet. I was
in a room with a guitar, and he heard
me working it out. He said, “Record
that! Record you singing with the guitar
playing.” To me, that was the best first
take because I was just following the
guitar, which is very natural for me. So
that’s one of my favorite vocal things.
And I realized that was a thing I could
do—like cheating a little bit—just
following the guitar line with my voice.
We wanted that gutbucket four-on-the
floor kick drum, Muddy Waters style.
I remember listening to [Waters’ 1968
album] Electric Mud when we were
thinking about sonic references. It was
one of the go-to things, and it’s definitely
apparent on this song.
“Jezebel” has a live, almost lounge, feel.
This was also a first take with the band.
I’m sure I did the vocals later. The band
just started playing and the melody set it
off. Dave put the lyrics over that. He’d just
broken up with his girl from a long time
and he had a lot of lyrical content raring
to go. I think two hours later we had
pretty much what you hear on the record.
Nigel Hall played organ on it. We
used this organ that was broken. There
was one sound you could get on it, and
this was it: this awesome reverby tone.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t use that organ
on anything else [laughs].
How about “Please Ya”?
That was also done in Maine, the same
or next day as “Jezebel”—another one
where Dave had the lyrics. I definitely
did not think I was going to sing that
one. I remember doing the demo and
thinking I was going to get Gary Clark
or someone to sing it. I was thinking
about an Otis Redding style. Then, as it
progressed, I thought it needed someone
with a softer voice. So I did the demo.
I ended up redoing the vocals. The solo
was live with the band. The original
version was, like, 12 minutes and we just
went on at the end forever. I had to cut
it down. That whole end part was totally
spontaneous, actually. I was in the control
room playing and they were in the live
room, and I just yelled to them, “Do the
one to the four!” And that really worked.
I added the backgrounds, strings, organ,
and stuff later. In the second verse of that
song, I basically play a vocal melody on
the guitar—kind of a solo, but kind of
a guitar verse. In the end, for the solo,
just taking my time was important. Even
though I kind of freak out in the end, I
was trying to leave room for the “breath.”
Did the lyrics influence what you played?
I won’t say I literally sat down and
thought about the lyrics, but they were
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