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GEORGE BENSON: THE BLUESFEST 2020 AUSTRALIAN TOUR INTERVIEW 0

Inspired by the sounds of his stepfather’s Epiphone Emperor guitar and the guitar licks of jazz greats Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, George Benson became enamoured with music and the guitar as a child in the early fifties. Between then and now, in a career spanning more than six decades Benson went on to become one of the greatest guitarists in jazz history and in my opinion, one of the most fluid players of all time in any genre. Not only has George been a superstar in jazz terms, in 1976 his career skyrocketed to yet another level when the breakout album Breezin’ was released. It was the first album in music history to hold the number one spots on the jazz, pop and R n B charts simultaneously. The album won 4 Grammys, including Record of the Year for its single, and sold in excess of six million copies. More success followed with hit singles such as On Broadway, This Masquerade, Give Me The Night, Turn Your Love Around, Love Ballad and numerous others, making George Benson one of the most successful recording artists ever in contemporary music. Far from winding things down at age 76, George has just released a new album Walking to New Orleans, a tribute to Fats Domino and Chuck Berry and is returning to Australia in 2020 to play Bluesfest and sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney.

AM editor Greg Phillips was thrilled to catch up with George Benson to discuss his career, the new album, his Ibanez GB10 signature guitar, and the upcoming Australian tour.

Whereabouts in the world are you at the moment Mr Benson?
I am in Paradise Valley, Arizona, where I have lived for some time now. I like the weather here, there’s sunshine all the time.

You have just released a fabulous new album titled Walking to New Orleans, a tribute to Fats Domino and Chuck Berry. Was the album an idea that you had for a while or an idea someone else had put to you?
It was the idea of the record company themselves. I don’t know why they formed that idea but they thought it would be interesting to do it. So I said OK, I will give it a try and see what happens cos I love those artists too. I’ve been associating myself with their music at this time in my career but at one time in my life, I used to listen to them all the time because they were everywhere. They dominated the radio and the jukeboxes of my era.

Did you ever get to meet Fats or Chuck?
I met Chuck Berry in Los Angeles at a music store very briefly where he was buying strings and picks and things like that. He didn’t know who I was and I didn’t want to bother him but I had to meet him, that was very important.

When you are working on new arrangements of somebody else’s material for a record like this, do you know fairly quickly how you are going to approach each tune or do you experiment with different styles and tempos?
No I very seldom know and that’s good because we don’t want to make the same record over again. What we want to do is something fresh, something that comes from my mind at the moment. That fresh approach to things has worked very well for me. My biggest records have been mostly one takes, sometimes the first take … This Masquerade and Breezin’, On Broadway, they were early takes, we didn’t do them over and over again like how a lot of new records are made. That kept the records sounding fresh and like how we meant to play them as opposed to something we put together over a long period of time.

The producer you worked with on the new album was Kevin Shirley, who is known for producing a lot of rock music records. What was it like working with Kevin on this record?
I had never met Kevin and because of the style of music, I understand why we had never met before but I am glad I met him this time as I respect him as a wonderful producer and I enjoyed working with him.

This was only your second time recording in Nashville I believe?
Yes, the first time was with Chet Atkins at his house and that was a wonderful day too but it was just an off the cuff thing. We were friends and he used to invite me down to restaurants and eat catfish, country food. We had a good time and I respected him and he was one of the greatest guitar players of our time, so it was a privilege for me to go down and hang out with him. We got one or two songs together in his house, he had a great studio but this time with Kevin Shirley, it was a commercial venture with a record company and that was quite a different thing.

Speaking of producers, how important was Tommy Lipuma to your career and how would you describe his production style?
Well I don’t judge them like that. All I know is that he was a very congenial fellow and he brought me great songs, songs I did not think I could perform but what he did was open my mind up to the record industry mentality. While I was trying to think like an African American, he was turning me onto people I had never heard of before … the song This Masquerade and the song Breezin’, I didn’t particularly like that song. I heard it years ago and I didn’t particularly like it at all until I remembered that people loved it. Everywhere that I went he would ask me to play that song and I would always say, nah I don’t want to play that. He said George, I think that people would love to hear you play that! So I reviewed it again in my mind and thought, yeah he’s right people like that song and that’s what we are in this business for, to play for the public. And that’s what a great A&R man does, he connects the audience and the artist through the music. He selects music that he thinks will work in that direction. I owe a lot to Tommy Lipuma.

You are known for your Ibanez GB10 signature guitar. Was that the guitar that you played mainly on this new album?
Yes, I played that guitar and one other guitar, a D’Angelico, one of the originals. I used that on a couple of cuts. It’s not the kind of guitar I play on the stand every day because it lends itself to a much different kind of music but it has a beautiful sound, a beautiful tone to that particular instrument but mostly I used my GB10.

When did your love of hollow-body guitars begin?
From the very beginning. My stepfather, when he met my mother I was seven years old and he brought his Epiphone Emperor, which was one of the top of the line acoustic-electric guitars at that time. I got into that bag way back then because he turned me onto Charlie Christian records and you couldn’t get that sound with a solid body guitar. You had to have a hollow body guitar if you wanted to sound like Charlie Christian, who was playing with the Benny Goodman band at that time. I fell in love with that mentality, that tone, that approach to guitar.

I saw you in a Youtube clip recently playing Charlie’s 1940 Gibson ES250, which was featured in a museum exhibit at the time. I believe you also had a guitar like that earlier on as well?
Yeah, I don’t even know how I got it! At that time I was going through a lot of guitars. Guitars were relatively cheap then. To get one of those guitars now would cost you a fortune. I would go in and I would buy one and then sell it or give it to one of my friends, I didn’t know what I was doing, should have kept it. My children could buy a car with those. That was the mentality at that time. I changed my opinion on guitars. I needed something that had a cutaway in it and the early Charlie Christian guitars did not have a cutaway, so that became important to me. Although I cut a few records with non-cutaway guitars, some of my best records like White Rabbit was recorded with a non-cutaway Charlie Christian style guitar.

You have released 45 studio albums. What do you know now about getting a good guitar sound on record that you didn’t know the first time you recorded?
That the sound could be altered by the engineer. At first, I did not like my recording sounds. After the original ones I did with CBS, I liked those recordings.  After that, I’d go into the studio and begin to hear a guy I did not recognise. It didn’t sound like me anymore, so I had to adjust my thinking in order to make records because engineers didn’t want to hear anything I had to say. Nothing I would say to them would make them change their mentality, they didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, I got the sound I wanted again when I recorded the album Breezin’ with Warner Brothers under Tommy Lipuma and the great engineer Al Schmitt. He listened to what I was saying and he altered my sound to make it sound natural. I also had new equipment. I went in with a Johnny Smith guitar and a Polytone amplifier and man, that put me right on the street where I should be living. It was wonderful.

The folks at Ibanez keep honouring you, more recently with a 30th and then 40th anniversary model of the GB10. What are the key elements that they had to get right for you to put your name on that guitar?
Well, I designed the original. I have designed maybe about eight guitars for Ibanez over the years. The main thing with those, in the beginning, was the size, which was highly unusual at that time, a mid-sized guitar. It was not popular when it first came out, although I did design a standard, regular guitar for the rest of the world,  a standard jazz guitar. The little one was unique, the GB10 was a very unique guitar. Although jazz players liked my GB20 which was a standard size, it was the GB10 which took off.  They’d begin to examine it, pick it up and say OK, this is a good road guitar. For me, that’s what it became, it became the perfect guitar to take on the road. When I sang it did not cover my whole body like the country players’ guitar, you know nothin’ but a piece of wood in front of me, a big piece of wood with a hole in it! It was small and I could swing it around very easily, it was not cumbersome and it never broke down on me and even if it hit the floor, I could pick it right up off the floor and play it and often it wouldn’t even go out of tune. So that was very important to me.

Although jazz players liked my GB20 which was a standard size, it was the GB10 which took off. They’d begin to examine it, pick it up and say ok, this is a good road guitar. For me, that’s what it became, it became the perfect guitar to take on the road.

 

I read that Peter Frampton was an influence on you, could you elaborate on that?
First of all, I liked the impression that he had on his audience. They didn’t forget him easily, he recorded music that was very memorable. To me, in the beginning, he was just a name. They’d tell me the top rock guitar player in the world’s name is Peter Frampton. I said I’d never heard of him. One day I saw his name in a magazine article so I picked it up and read the article and he said, oh I listen to George Benson’s music and said whaaat? You mean the top rock guitar player in the world listens to my music? I read the article and then I examined his records to see what kind of sound he had. I liked the records, he was on the right track. I liked his stuff, he was playing stuff that was different from everybody else. I said you know what, I am going to try that on my next record, so I used percussion and a wah-wah guitar and it was very successful, we went over the 100,000 album mark, which was very difficult with the record company I was with, as they had no distribution as I understood it at the time. When Warner Brothers heard that I had sold 100,000 albums or more, they said man if that record had of been with our company, it would have sold 500,000 albums, which would have made it gold. So the head of the record company put out the order that he wanted George Benson on this record company yesterday! That’s how I got on Warner Brothers records, so Peter Frampton was very important to my movement in the world of music.  I met him later and he’s a very nice person, still is today.

You are coming back to Australia in 2020 for Bluesfest and some sideshows. Will your band be the same one that you took to Europe and the UK recently?
Most definitely. I don’t go anywhere without my tools and they’re part of my tool chest brother. They know what I am going to play before I play it. Basically they don’t know what order the songs are going to be in but they know the structures and they know what I am looking for. If I pick a song, even if they have never heard it before they would know what it is I am expecting them to do.  That puts us on the same page and makes us sound good to the audience and that’s what is important for me, we connect with the audience.

Tell me about Stanley Banks, you have had him as your bass player for a long time. What is it about Stanley’s bass playing that you enjoy?
When I met him he was a kid, only 23 years old and that was 43 years ago. He knocked me out in a sense that … he studied classical bass, upright bass for a while. He had good energy and he plays bottom. You know today a lot of bass players want to play like they do on a guitar. I don’t want anyone playing my guitar for me, I want them to play the bass. Stanley Banks does that very well and he has been on a lot of my hit records. I can say it best by saying this … when my career became very popular, selling records in the millions, every now and then someone would come to me and say man, why do you have Stanley Banks in the band, I know guys who could play rings around Stanley Banks. I said to them, you know I have played with the greatest bass players of our time and I know the greatest bass players of our time. I knew James Jameson, he was my friend. I also played with the number one bass player on earth which is Ron Carter, who plays upright bass. I have played with a lot of wonderful bass players in jazz history, played with ‘em all. I always say, which one of them has sold 20 million albums and they couldn’t answer that question, there was no comeback with that. And I don’t want a bass player that if you offered them ten dollars more, they’re gone. If you get a prima donna, you know… man that bass player is wonderful, I wonder if I can steal him from George Benson’s band if I offer him ten dollars more than George. You don’t want that in your band either! So I have always had Stanley Banks and he plays well and we have sold a lot of records together and we are very good friends, which is the thing that is more important than anything.

How do you go about approaching your set list for a tour like the upcoming Australian one?
We know there are songs in the set that we have to play or the audience will be very angry at us. They are in there but they are not in an order that the band knows because the band will go to sleep if they did. If you put a set list with all the songs you want to play, they’d go to sleep and play with their eyes shut and you don’t want that. They know they are going to play On Broadway, they know they’re going to play Breezin’, and whatever else on the list that is necessary. But you know something, they’re not mad and they don’t get mad playing them and neither do I. I always told myself, If I ever got a hit record  … cos I know some of my friends wouldn’t do that, they would not play their hit record, they would get tired and they’d tell their audience, we’re not going to play that song, we’re tired of that. I thought that was terrible. You’ve got to remember even though they have been on the road ten, fifteen, twenty years or more, some people have never heard them live and you can’t disappoint them. And If a person has come to your concert many times, they are coming because of those songs. So it is better for me to form the opinion that hey, I like those songs too, after all I wouldn’t be here without them and that’s my mentality.

I’m wondering about future projects. A lot of people like your instrumental records, do you think you’ll ever record another one
We never know what is going to happen next but I would not turn it down because you know I love instrumentals and my guitar is still waiting for me to tell it what to do. I practice just about every day on my guitar, so I would not turn it down. I would love to do a great instrumental album, so don’t rule it out.

Bluesfest 2020 is being held from 9 – 13 April 2020. Tickets are on sale now via Moshtix.

George Benson Side Shows

Sat 4 April, State Theatre Sydney
Tickets via Ticketmaster

Wed 8 April, Palais Theatre Melbourne
Tickets via Ticketmaster

REVIEW: JOE BONAMASSA – PALAIS THEATRE, MELBOURNE 0

Review: Joe Bonamassa – Palais Theatre
Monday 23 September, 2019
Review: Joshua Batten
Photos: Mark Moray, Wicked Rock Photography

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. Such is the case for antipodean fans of Joe Bonamassa, the 21st-century blues-rock titan with more #1 albums on the US blues chart than many of his contemporaries on the mainstream charts. It’s been three years since Joe’s last Australian tour (his longest gap to date between visits), and in that time he’s released his 13^th studio album Redemption, and his 15^th live album British Blues Explosion, recorded in London and featuring tributes to his original heroes Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. At the time of writing, a 16^th live album is on its way, recorded on his last Australian tour at the Sydney Opera House.

All this means Joe has over 100 original songs and 200 covers from his catalogue at his disposal. Still, a vast majority of patrons tonight probably won’t be crying out for a deep cut from 2011’s Dust Bowl and they probably couldn’t tell you which Gary Moore song Joe covered on his Greek Theatre live album – they just want to hear some good old-fashioned blues-rock guitar playing.

People are still finding their seats when Joe walks on with a Gibson ES-355 in hand and bursts into Muddy Waters’ “Tiger In Your Tank”. Despite sounding slightly sharp in the vocal department, there’s no stress or hesitation when he steps away from the mic for the first of many guitar solos.

For Joe, an artist simultaneously considered the saviour and sacrilege of blues music, the first twenty minutes of the show do nothing to quell either argument, and instead provide the best of both worlds. After “Tiger”, Joe runs through a selection of tunes from Redemption, including classic rocker “Evil Mama”, the Albert King inspired “Just ‘Cos You Can, Don’t Mean You Should”, and “King Bee Shakedown”, a good ol’ boogie-woogie shuffle.

Joe is infamous in the guitar world for his vast collection, and indeed several of his prized axes were on display tonight. Aside from his usual Les Paul’s, a Fender Stratocaster was used to give “This Train” a bright, dirty tone, a Firebird gave the title track from “Blues of Desperation” a majestic, soaring quality, and a Telecaster with a humbucker was used on “Tea for One/I Can’t Quit You Baby”, taking tunes from both the early and later careers of Jimmy Page and giving them the Bonamassa treatment.

Throughout the night, Joe mixed his trademark techniques with a few lesser-known ones. Of course, there were enough volume swells, high screams, tremolo strums and shred-a-thons to fill up the quota, but my favourite moments were the ‘less is more’ bits, like in “Sloe Gin”, played with a steady, slow arrangement and giving Joe a chance to focus on long, sustained notes, emphasising emotion over virtuosity. Another technique worth mentioning was one where Joe performed pull-offs with his left hand, while using his right palm to slide down the neck, creating a Steve Stevens-esque pinch harmonic run. It’s a testament to Joe’s talent that even after over sixty years of the electric guitar’s existence, it still continues to surprise.

Following “Sloe Gin”, Joe took the opportunity to introduce his band, arguing that the marquee out the front of the venue shouldn’t just say his name, but rather “Joe Bonamassa and the Cavalcade of Stars”. Indeed, this is an all-star group of industry professionals onstage, and almost everyone gets a chance to shine throughout the night – veteran bassist Michael Rhodes favors chords in his solos while still holding down rhythm, legendary Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble keyboardist Reese Wynans wails on his Hammond organ with his right hand while throwing in electric piano stabs with his left, and fill-in drummer Lemar Carter lives up to his reputation as one of LA’s most in-demand session musicians – even though Joe’s right-hand man Anton Fig is sorely missed, Carter brings a youthful energy to the stage with steady, powerful backbeats. On the far left, trumpeter Lee Thornburg and saxophonist Paulie Serra are powerful enough to make it sound like there’s a full brass section coming from the stage, and on the far right, a trio of great Australian lead vocalists provide backing vocals with guts and gusto. Mahalia Barnes takes a solo on “If Heartaches Were Nickels”, giving new life to a song which first appeared on Joe’s debut album back in 2000, and Juanita Tippins is a more than adequate fill-in for Beth Hart, trading lines with Joe on Bonnie & Delaney’s “Well, Well”. Jade McRae is unusually quiet tonight after a headlining single launch from the night before, but she still provides enthusiastic tambourine and syncs in with the other BVs.

After ten songs and over 90 minutes of music, Joe decides we’ve been sitting down long enough and finally brings the audience to its feet with the one-two punch of John Mayall’s “Little Girl” and his own ‘biggest hit’ “The Ballad of John Henry”, both played on a black Les Paul custom, complete with a Nigel Tufnel-esque triple humbucker setup. With horns and BVs in full flight, “John Henry” has never sounded so good, and despite being around for a decade now, remains Joe’s most recognisable song and a perfect main set closer.

Of course, it’s not really over yet, and after a brief stop, Joe comes back out on his own with just an acoustic guitar, heading straight into an eight-minute rendition of “Woke Up Dreaming”, full of fast and furious notes and varying dynamics. Although many of the familiar licks from previous renditions have made it in tonight, there’s surely some improvisation going on to keep everyone on their toes. Finally, the rest of the band comes back on, Joe brings back the Telecaster, and as the first chords of “Mountain Time” ring out across the Palais, the final climb begins. Guitar and bass trade lines halfway through, the horns and backing vocals act as the musical wind in the sonic sky, and the night ends with all nine musicians triumphantly taking a bow together in front of an astonished crowd of over two thousand.

Although it’s been three years since Joe’s last Australian tour, it’s been five years since I’ve seen him in a headline slot. At the time I was afraid that the addition of so many extra musicians would distract Joe from putting on a true rock & roll show, instead leaning too heavily on the blues. Fortunately, he owned the stage tonight, and I’m sure he’ll continue to be a blues rock hero for several years to come. If you’ve never seen Joe Bonamassa live, start saving now and fix that when he comes back for his next tour, which surely won’t be too far away.

RICKY PETERSON INTERVIEW: KEYBOARDS FOR FLEETWOOD MAC, PRINCE & MANY MORE 0

A life long Minnesotan whose sound has always focused on a characteristically “Minneapolis” sound, Ricky Peterson is best known for his now 20 year association with saxophone legend David Sanborn and for having, produced, written and played keyboards for Prince on and off since his early days on the Twin Cities scene (perhaps most notably producing and arranging the song “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”).

Playing on David Sanborn records since the mid 80’s, he ensembled with and produced Sanborn on “Songs from the Night Before” and Prince on “Gold”, “Emancipation”, “Crystal Ball”. Peterson also played a big part in writing and producing George Benson’s “That’s Right” CD.

This is just the icing on a career whose associations (either live or in the studio) read like a diverse pop and jazz trivia encyclopedia: Bonnie Raitt, , Billy Joel, Anita Baker, James Taylor, Mavis Staples, Joe Sample, Sting, Sergio Mendes, Brian Wilson, Ben Sidran, Rodger Waters, Rick Braun, Kirk Whalum, Phil Upchurch, Jimmy Buffet, Fine Young Cannibals, Steve Miller Band, GoGos, Paula Abdul, Boz Scaggs, Dave Koz, Lalah Hathaway, Sheryl Crow, Jonathon Butler, Bruce Willis, The Jets, Jermaine Jackson, Rhythm Syndicate, Chaka Khan, Robben Ford, Howard Hewett, Larry Graham, Tuck & Patti and John Mayer.

Ricky Peterson who has played keys for Stevie Nicks since 2007, was back in Australia with the new version of Fleetwood Mac, featuring Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and Neil Finn (Crowded House). Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips sat down with Ricky to discuss the Fleetwood Mac tour, his gear, his time with music greats such as Prince, David Sanborn and George Benson, as well as his current projects, WDR Big Band and The Peterson Brothers.

https://www.rickypeterson.com

THE STRUTS INTERVIEW: YOUNG, DANGEROUS AND WORKING IT ALL OUT 0

Pic by Anna Lee

AM’s Greg Phillips spoke to The Struts singer Luke Spiller and guitarist Adam Slack ahead of their current Australian tour

Just as their name implies, UK glam-rockers The Struts are brash, confident and hungry for success. However, none of the significant inroads made by the band to date in their quest for megastardom have effected the size of their heads … they’re grateful for the opportunity to travel the world playing music with their mates, know that hard work is the key to longevity and seem like genuinely nice blokes. Today charismatic frontman Luke Spiller and talented guitarist Adam Slack are slightly delirious, having flown into Australia from Japan hours earlier, yet know that media commitments are all part of the deal in pushing The Struts brand forward and are happy to chat.
“Playing shows is something we really enjoy doing and my god we play a lot, so it’s a blessing and a curse,” Adam responds when I ask what the best thing about being in The Struts is. “We love traveling the world and seeing different countries and playing shows in them. We miss home sometimes but it’s a dream for sure to be able to do it and call it a real job.” Luke chips in too. “All the best parts of being in The Struts are also the worst parts,“ he says referring to the jetlag they’re feeling.

The Struts is such a classic rock ’n’ roll band name that you’d think that someone would have already claimed it but the British quartet lucked out in that regard. The Devon Bridge Society and Baby Strange were also named under consideration before their manager at the time suggested The Struts as a name because Luke was always ‘struttin’ around’.

Such is the work ethic of The Struts that they’re back in Australia merely six months after their last trip. On that occasion, they were supporting another global ‘buzz band’ Greta Van Fleet, who had to cancel gigs after their singer had come down with laryngitis. Rather than sit around in their hotel suites waiting for their departure date, The Struts decided to play a couple of now-famous free gigs in Melbourne, one at the legendary Cherry Bar and the other at sister club Yah Yahs. It was a week that fans and the band remember fondly. “The memories are great ones,” says Luke without hesitation. “We took a bad situation and we flipped it on its head and in doing so had a couple of really special shows. I remember the walls literally sweating, that’s how hot it was.”

While The Struts come across as a band very much on a mission, you get the feeling that in their relatively short two-album career, they’re still very much trying to work this whole international touring and recording thing out. When they talk together as a band and discuss the future and goals, I wondered what the key elements were that kept coming up?
“Money!” states Luke quick as a flash as the band, listening in the background break into laughter. “In all honesty, the music side of it … that’s not really the challenge. There’s always songs floating around, there’s always ideas. It is not like we are at a point where we are not driven musically. Most of the meetings are usually about things like … if something has happened or something in the show was not working, it’s normally all quite constructive really. It usually all four of us at a pub or bar and we end up talking about something.”

One of the other current topics of conversation is the next album, the follow up to their acclaimed second disc Young & Dangerous. Where are they at with that project? “Nowhere really,” jokes Luke. “We are kinda accumulating ideas but it is really difficult to say. We are kind of in a slightly limbo kind of situation. When I say that, we are basically trying to figure out … do we consolidate these four weeks on this side of the year into trying to make an album or do we spend four weeks with no additional pressure but maybe try and come up with two or three really great songs instead of 10 and see where that goes? It is kind of starting but officially it hasn’t, if that make sense?

We were there mental notes made or lessons learned from Young & Dangerous that they would take into the next recording?
“I think the second album was pretty horrible to make at times but no mental notes really,” says Luke on reflection. “I think there were a few things in there that we could have done better. On the whole we are really proud of it but because of the constant touring and the fatigue and sheer amount of songs that were written in a short space of time, it kinda clouded judgement at times, which is something that I don’t think we want to repeat. So maybe relying on our gut instincts a little more is something that we could take awy from that.”

“Another thing we take away … is carving some time out to actually write and record instead of just getting off a 15 hour flight from Quebec and then trying to start writing a song for two days, record it and leave again … which is what we were doing,” Adam adds. “We are going to LA in November for a month and we’re just going to sit down and write some stuff, ”

It seems I’d hit a nerve and Luke gets quite animated as he recalls just how hectic their lifestyle has been. “Yeah, we’d come back to the UK after being on the west coast of the US and then we’d be in the studio the day after we landed. I remember we were recording a song … Adam was playing this riff and I fell asleep at 1pm in the afternoon, I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I woke up and he was still playing it. So fuckin hell mate, we don’t want to do that again. Although we probably will. We always say the same shit, we won’t do this many shows again or don’t worry mum and dad and family, I am not going to let people walk over me and then bang, before you know it, we are touring 395 days of a 365 day year.”

For me, the best things about watching The Struts perform on stage are both the level of energy that the guys create and the simplicity and flexibility of their shows, the old three chords and the truth approach as opposed to being prisoners to pyrotechnics or lighting cues as many of today’s bigger bands are. However Luke is quick to shoot that philosophy down in flames.
“Well it has only been simplistic just because of money really,“ he says bluntly. “We did a show in New York at Pier 17, which is where I think the band should be heading, we had pyrotechnics, flame throwers, sparks. I rode a Harley Davidson out on stage. If your impression of us is that we keep the production minimal for artistic reasons, then I’m afraid you’re gravely mistaken. It’s simply because we can’t afford it.”

What is an indisputable fact however, is that The Struts possess an enticingly loud, chunky and rich rock ’n’ roll sound. A large part of that is due to lead guitarist Adam Slack’s tone. Growing up, Slack was a major fan of Brian May’s Red Special sound and also Keith Richards’ Telecaster tones. While Adam does own a couple of Red Special replicas, it’s been the Les Paul sound that he has gravitated to.
“Being the only guitar player in the band .. I have a Tele and I do play it sometimes but it doesn’t fill the space I need to fill being the only guitar player,” he explains. “A lot of the songs on the record have multiple guitar parts. I have gone to other guitars because I love the tone of the Teles. In the studio I use them a lot. When I play live I always gravitate to this one Les Paul, which is 59 replica of Mike McCready’s (Pearl Jam guitarist) Les Paul. I played about ten of them in the Chicago Music Exchange and I didn’t know the price of any of them and that one was amazing and sounded incredible. Of course, it was the most expensive but I got it and have used that in the studio since I’ve had it and taken it around the world with me and I love it. You can do everything on it and especially live … our sound guy absolutely loves it. Whenever I play anything else, he’s like yeah it good but the Les Paul is awesome… I have just got a new set of amps too. I’ve still got the AC30 but now I have a Marshall replica of Angus Young’s 67 Blackface from this company called SoloDallas. It’s a guy who lives in the Newport Beach area of California who is obsessed with AC/DC. He’s been nerding out over Angus Young’s wireless kit that he used in the studio for Back in Black, it compressed the tone. Anyway he has made that into a pedal and I have got the pedal and I saw that he made the amp and I got one too and it’s the best amp purchase I have ever made. So I have an AC30 blended with that Marshall and then I also have a little 12 inch Supro amp mixed in. Mainly it’s the Les Paul and then I have a couple of juniors that I really love, which is Keith Richards to me as well … the TV yellow double cut, which he called Tumbling Dice.”

If you’re looking for the ultimate example of The Struts great rock ’n’ roll tone, look no further than their cover of The Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz, which they recorded for the 2016 movie Edge of Seventeen. It has all the excitement of the original glam rock classic yet invigorated with modern day production, offering much fatter riffs and bigger bottom end. I suggested that 70s glam rock is a largely untapped treasure trove of potential hit cover versions.
“Absolutely,”says Luke. “That’s kinda where we are coming from to an extent. We’ve covered Get It On by T Rex live numerous times and Rebel Rebel. Maybe we could do Tiger Feet (Mud) or Mickey (Toni Basil),” he throws up as recording possibilities but in the same breath suggests, “Sorry man I am delirious, I am knackered and have no idea what I am saying.” On that note I left the band to grab whatever rest they could before hitting the stage later that night at The Corner Hotel to further enhance the band’s fine reputation.

The Struts website

BLUESFEST 2020 FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT: DAVE MATTHEWS, PATTI SMITH, CROWDED HOUSE & GEORGE BENSON 0

A few surprises and a host of returnees will make Bluesfest 2020 one to look forward to. Held at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm – just 10 minutes north of Byron Bay, Bluesfest 2020 runs from April 9-13. Among the headliners for next year, Dave Matthews band is back for their 3rd Byron Bay stint. “Dave Matthews Band is one of the top-grossing, most in-demand bands in the world – and finally they are coming back to Bluesfest. This is going to be magical and unmissable,” says Bluesfest Festival Director, Peter Noble.

In a major surprise, Patti Smith and band are back too after the Godmother of punk suggested her 2017 tour would be her last. Anyone who witnessed Patti’s 2017 performance will be thrilled to relive that energy.

Taking time off from his Fleetwood Mac duties, Neil Finn will be at Bluesfest next year fronting Crowded House in an exclusive Australian performance. Their anthems such as “Don’t Dream It’s Over’, ‘Weather With You’ and ‘Better Be Home Soon’ still resonate with a global audience of all ages.

One of the biggest surprises is the inclusion of guitar and vocal legend George Benson. Since 1977, George Benson, who is recognised as one of the world’s greatest guitarists, has won 10 Grammy Awards – and has been nominated for an additional 15. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had the opportunity to see George play in Australia.

Here’s the full list of artists in the Bluesfest 2020 1st announcement.

DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
CROWDED HOUSE 
PATTI SMITH AND HER BAND
GEORGE BENSON
BRANDI CARLILE
JOHN BUTLER
XAVIER RUDD
THE CAT EMPIRE
MORCHEEBA
JOHN PRINE
JENNY LEWIS
FRANK TURNER
JOHN MAYALL
BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE
THE MARCUS KING BAND
WALTER TROUT
CHRISTONE “KINGFISH” INGRAM
GREENSKY BLUEGRASS
LARKIN POE
THE WAR & TREATY

Bluesfest 2020 is being held from 9 – 13 April 2020. Tickets are on sale now via Moshtix.

WWW.BLUESFEST.COM.AU

ALICE COOPER TO TOUR IN FEB WITH AIRBOURNE AND MC50 0

The original shock rocker Alice Cooper is returning to Australia in February 2020 with his all-new “Ol’ Black Eyes Is Back” show.  On his last tour of Australia in 2017, Cooper showed that he still has what it takes to present a rockin’ fun night of hits. This tour will be additionally appealing as special guests on the Australian leg of this international tour will be Aussie rock stalwarts Airbourne along with MC50, featuring Wayne Kramer of the legendary MC5 with an all-star band performing MC5 classics. 

Having shocked and delighted fans in equal measure for five decades, Alice Cooper’s new outlandish stage show incorporates a setting inside his Nightmare Castle and features not only the return of FrankenAlice but also the new Billion Dollar Baby. With a revamped setlist which includes not only the classic hits but some select deep album tracks and new music, Australian fans are in for a real treat when Alice Cooper takes to the stage in early 2020.

Pre-sale tickets for “Ol’ Black Eyes Is Black” Australian tour will be available via Telstra Plus from 11 am (local) Thursday 15 August, before the general public on-sale at 2.00pm (local) Wednesday 21 August 2019 from Ticketek.

Known as one of the hardest working people in music, Alice Cooper also records and tours with The Hollywood Vampires with pals Joe Perry and Johnny Depp, while continuing his long-running nightly syndicated radio show “Nights With Alice Cooper,” heard worldwide on over 100 radio stations, including Australia.

New music from Alice Cooper is also imminent, with the announcement of the September 13 release of mini-album “The Breadcrumbs” from (earMUSIC), a tribute to his Detroit rock origins, recorded in Detroit with Detroit musicians, featuring covers of classic Detroit-originated songs.

Special guests to Alice Cooper are Australian Rock ‘n’ Rollers, Airbourne. The loud and proud musicians have played around the globe and performed on the main stage at Download UK and co-headlined the Wacken Festival.

Joining them is Detroit’s proto-punk/hard rock band MC50, who will bring their ‘Kick Out The Jams: The 50th Anniversary Tour” to Australia.  Known as MC50 for the forthcoming “Ol’ Black Eyes Is Back” tour, the supergroup features MC5’s Wayne Kramer joined by guitarist Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), drummer Brendan Canty (Fugazi), bassist Doug Pinnick(King’s X), and frontman Marcus Durant (Zen Guerrilla).

Pic by Jason Rosewarne’s from Cooper’s 2017 Australian tour

ALICE COOPER
“OL’ BLACK EYES IS BACK“
AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES 2020

Saturday 8 February             Perth, RAC Arena
Tuesday 11 February            Adelaide, Entertainment Centre
Friday 14 February                Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
Saturday 15 February           Sydney, Qudos Bank Arena
Tuesday 18 February            Brisbane, Entertainment Centre

ALICE COOPER FAN CLUB PRE-SALE
9.00am Wednesday 14 August – 9.00am Thursday 15 August (local)

TELSTRA PLUS PRE-SALE
11.00am Thursday 15 August – 11.00am Monday 19 August (local)

VISA PRE-SALE
1.00pm Monday 19 August – 1.00pm Wednesday 21 August (local)

GENERAL PUBLIC ON SALE
2.00PM WEDNESDAY 21 AUGUST 2019 (local)
www.ticketek.com.au