R
eeves Gabrels is the kind of
guitarist who’s had a career
that most can only dream
of. He studied with John
Scofield, co-founded Tin Machine, and
is currently touring with the Cure. Oh
yeah, he also played and recorded
with David Bowie for over 13 years.
I caught up with Reeves via phone,
in late-Winter, when the Cure was
just starting preparations for their
summer tour and talked about his time
with Bowie, his solo work, and his
current gig with the Cure. The
following is a lightly edited transcript
of our discussion.
PHILLIP: When did you start playing
and how did you get started?
REEVES: I started playing around the
age of 13. My father talked me into
taking guitar lessons from a friend of
his, because I was too serious about
my school work. It’s usually the
opposite for most people. In truth, I
wasn’t really that serious about school.
I’d just finish my school work quickly
and then stay at my desk drawing my
own comic books (I wanted to be a
comic book artist).
PHILLIP: So when did you decide you
wanted to make a career of music?
REEVES: During my early senior year
of high school, my father had passed
away and I had gotten a New York
State Regents scholarship. I was
accepted into Parson’s School of
Design. I decided to go to art school
because I didn’t think music would be
practical and I thought that art would
be. That’s the wisdom of a 17 year-old
(laughter).
Two things happened around that
time. First, I took an English elective in
songwriting (with a professor who was
a Brill Building songwriter) and I
started taking lessons from John
S