The rise and fall of one of the most original guitar players to emerge from the 1960s British Invasion.
In mid-ā60s Europe, if you were hip and dug music, swinging London was the place to be. The Beatles were there, as were the Stones, the Who, the Small Faces, the Kinks, and every other great British band of the day. The British blues boom was flourishing, tooāEric Clapton and Peter Green, the Yardbirds, Alexis Korner, John Mayall. Chas Chandler brought Jimi Hendrix to London to launch his career. Youth, money, fashion, style, music, artāthe stars aligned, forces converged, and London was the epicenter of cool.
But London had its outliers, too. Timebox, a small band with a minor hit, was playing the clubs. They were known for their live shows, which were manic, unpredictable, and nothing like their radio-friendly singles. Their guitarist, Ollie Halsall, was emerging as Londonās guitaristsā guitarist. He was different. He played faster. His note choices were unusual. His phrasing was unique. He was fearless, reckless, impulsive, hysterical, and listening to him was an adventure. The people who saw those shows still recall them with awe.
Fame eluded Halsall, but his influence was enormous. XTCās Andy Partridge summed him up in an interview for PopDose in June 2009: āOnce I heard [Halsallās] guitar playing, I was, like, āOh, I need to be able to play like that.āā
Catching the Vibes
Halsall was born on March 14, 1949, in Southport, England, a small city just north of Liverpool. His given name was Peter, but everyone called him āOllie,ā a play on the pronunciation of Halsall (pronounced āAlsall).
Halsall started playing the guitar at 7, but it wasnāt long before he decided to take up the drums instead. He joined his first band, the Music Students, at 13, but that didnāt last either. Clive Griffiths, a school friend, was living in London, and he invited Halsall to join him. Griffiths wanted Halsall to join his new band, Take 5, but playing vibes, not drums.
Halsall didnāt know how to play vibes, but that didnāt stop him. āI always wanted to be a vibes player,ā he told Melody Maker in January 1972. āI used to listen to Milt Jackson all the time. Griff knew that, and he sensed I was a natural musician because I was a pretty good drummer.ā
Halsall onstage in 1975 at The Black Swan in Sheffield. Photo by Bob Beecher.
John Halsey, the drummer in Halsallās bands Timebox and Patto, remembers a different chronology, though Halsallās achievement was no less impressive. āOllie looked at a piano keyboard, cut strips of paper to match, and laid them on his bed,ā he told Terrascope in 1992. āHe bought some vibes beaters with his pocket money and learned to play like that. After a while he told his parents, āI can play them now.ā They took him to a music shop in Liverpool, and he could. He turned pro when he was 16.ā
Take 5 morphed into Timebox. Their sound was the sound of Swinging London. They wore matching outfits. Their songs were radio-friendly. They signed to Deram (a subsidiary of Decca). And their single, āBeggināāāa Four Seasons coverāpeaked at number 38 in the UK.
Kevin Fogerty, Timeboxās guitarist, quit in 1967, and Halsall took over. He wasnāt a guitarist, but that didnāt seem to matter. He practiced and got good. Fast. āOllie and I always used to share rooms,ā Halsey said in that same Terrascope interview. āHe used to sit up half the night just running [scales] up and down the neck. I'd be trying to get to sleep, and heād be doing his scales over and over.ā
Timeboxās evolution followed a similar trajectory to other British bands of this time period: They released radio-friendly singles (including the great B-side, āI Wish I Could Jerk Like My Uncle Cyrilā) but got heavier and more experimental in their live performances.
Unfortunately Timeboxās singles failed to chart, which became a problem, and they werenāt a blues band. Their music got more avant-garde, they were more open-ended and improvisational, and they played in odd time signatures. They were zany.
Keyboardist Chris Holmes quit in 1970 and the remaining members, sick of their dual identity, renamed the band āPatto,ā after lead singer Mike Patto.
This white Gibson SG Custom was made lefty for Halsall by one of his roadies. Halsall wasnāt the only guitarist to play a white lefty SG: Hendrix had one, too.
Mod Squad
As the guitarist in Patto, Halsall was a monster. He was so nimble that other musicians took notice. āIām just a simple bloke,ā he told Melody Maker in 1972. āBut I tend to freak guitarists out, put the willies up them.ā
But he wasnāt just fastāhis harmonic sense was different. He was a blues-based player, but he wasnāt limited to minor pentatonic runs. He added extra notes, goofed with the tonal center, and left tensions unresolved. And in addition to the notes he chose, he had an eccentric sense of phrasing. Halsall played repetitive figures in unexpected places, took off on tangents mid-thought, and seemed addicted to the unpredictable.
Halsall started playing guitar as a mature and working musician. He already had the skills for making music: a solid sense of time, a trained and developed ear, and an understanding of harmony, chords, melody, and phrasing. He didnāt think like a guitarist, and that made him different.
He also didnāt listen to guitarists. āThe only player I find myself listening to is Django,ā he told Melody Maker in November 1971. āI tend to listen to horn players and pianists, especially Cecil Taylor. Iād like to play guitar like Cecil plays piano.ā He admired Taylorās power, clarity, and precision, and he purposely wanted to incorporate that into his own playing. āI want to get the infinite power from guitar with his solid hand action,ā he said. āThat is what Iām working on.ā
Pattoās small but fanatical cult following was limited to London and a few towns in Northern England. They made a few radio appearances, too, until the BBC banned them. āThey didnāt show up for a radio session,ā archivist Barry Monks told Premier Guitar. āThe BBC ban was for radio and televisionāand that had serious repercussions.ā
Specifically, it meant that Patto never appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test (the premier English program for āseriousā rock), which hampered their ability to reach a wider audience. āAn appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test would have been a big deal for them,ā says Monks, who moderates a website devoted to the Halsall. āBut it never happened.ā
At the time, it seemed the ban was just a minor setback. From 1971 to 1973, Patto were the next big thing. The New Musical Express said in January, 1972, āIf the lip service paid to them from within the confines of the music business were sufficient, then Patto would be giving the proverbial elbow to more established purveyors of electric rock.ā
Patto signed to Vertigo (the progressive subsidiary of Phillips), released two albums, toured as the opening act for the Faces and Ten Years After, and gigged locally. Their madcap live shows were legendary, and their musicianship turned heads as well. āGuitar player Ollie Halsall is most definitely the most underrated guitar player in the country at present,ā Ray Telford wrote in Sounds in August 1972. āHe is also no slouch on any kind of keyboard.ā
Pattoās second album, Hold Your Fire, is a guitar tour de force. āThe second you hear Ollieās flash lead guitar you are made aware of the fact that this is no neo-Cream imitation or anything of that kind, but an English rock band with distinctions far beyond those of mortal Americans,ā Jon Tiven wrote in his review in Fusion in July, 1972.
Hold Your Fire oozes great guitar playing, but the solo on āGive It All Awayā is exceptional. Halsall let loose, and his solo encompasses the traits that defined his style: lightning speed, outlandish yet accessible.
It seemed success was just around the corner. Since Pattoās strength was their live shows, their third album, Roll āEm Smoke āEm Put Another Line Out, recorded for Island Records, attempted to capture the magical spontaneity and lunacy of Patto in concert. Halsall plays pianoāsans guitarāfor about half the album, but his guitar playing on āLoud Green Songā more than makes up for it. To quote a reviewer for the website Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage, āWhen the Blues had a baby and they named it Rock ānā Roll, even they, down-with-the-kids parents they were, could not have foreseen the teenage delinquency of Pattoās āLoud Green Song.ā If you havenāt heard Pattoās āLoud Green Song,ā YOU HAVE TO HEAR PATTOāS āLOUD GREEN SONG.āā
The song in question wails in sonic weirdness. From its opening riff to the lengthy breaks between verses, the twisted tonality, and the abrupt ending, āLoud Green Songā stamped Halsall as a guitarist like no other. The playing is downright nasty. It was raw, naked, unvarnished, andāfor 1972āyears ahead of its time. It took heavy metal another 10 years to catch up.
Patto toured the U.S. and Australia opening for Joe Cocker. They played the largest venues of their career and were an audience favorite. But in a case of bad timing, Island released Roll āEm Smoke āEm Put Another Line Out after the tour ended, and sales were weak. āYou know, we absolutely went down a storm on that Joe Cocker tourāplayed almost every night, some of the biggest venues in the States,ā drummer Halsey told Ralph Heibutzki in an article for Ugly Things. ā[The album] was released the week after we leftāby that time, everybodyās seen another two bands.ā
Patto returned to the same small English venues theyād played before they went on tour. The band went into the studio to record their fourth album, Monkeyās Bum, but Halsallās heart wasnāt in it. He walked out mid-session. The party was over.
Patto never found their audience. Starting as Timebox, they came from the same scene as the bands they toured with, but Patto evolved into something very different. They didnāt write hits. They werenāt a Top 40 band. They werenāt a beefed-up blues band. Patto had more in common with the Mothers of Invention and Captain Beefheart. But L.A. is far from London, and no one made that connection.
Fans familiar with Ollie Halsallās guitar work might be surprised to learn he played the āPaul McCartneyā guitar parts for the Rutles, a Beatles spoof band. Halsall is shown here jamming with Kevin Ayres at Hurrahs in New York during a 1980 tour.
Post-Patto
Halsallās next band was Tempest, where he replaced outgoing guitarist Allan Holdsworth. The split was amicable, and for a few weeks Tempest featured both Halsall and Holdsworth. The BBC promoted and recorded a concert of that lineup in London in June 1973 (you can hear it on Under the Blossom: The Anthology, a Tempest compilation).
Halsall and Holdsworth were very different musicians. As Jon Hiseman, Tempestās drummer and leader, told Dmitry Epstein in a 2004 interview, āAllan was very meticulous, very clear. He had a vision about what he was trying to do. Ollie was a lunatic.ā He meant that as a compliment. āIn any circumstance heād find a way to make it work.ā
Tempest post-Holdsworth toured as a trioālead singer Paul Williams left along with Holdsworthāwith Halsall on guitar and vocals. They toured Europe and recorded the album Living in Fear, but it didnāt last. Tempest broke up, and Halsall started doing session work. He also began working with Soft Machineās Kevin Ayers. āI was in AIR London studios, working on the Tempest album, and Kevin was there also,ā Halsall told Trouser Press in 1976. āI was just sitting around, and [producer] Gerry Bron had his pocket calculator out, fooling around. Kevin came down the corridor and asked if there was a guitarist in the house. He needed a solo put on a song (āDidnāt Feel Lonely Till I Thought of Youā) on the Dr. Dream album.ā That was his first session with Ayers. It was an association that lasted until the end of Halsallās life.
Patto reunited for three sold-out shows in 1975. The concerts were benefits to raise money for the family of a former roadie murdered in Pakistan. After that, Pattoāthe bandānever worked together again, but Halsall and Mike Patto did. Their new band, Boxer, with drummer Tony Newman (Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, David Bowie) and bassist Keith Ellis (Van Der Graaf Generator, Juicy Lucy) signed a five-record deal with Virgin.
Boxer was a heavier band that had potential to be huge. Its members were seasoned pros with a serious work ethic and financial backing. Their songs were straight-up, in-your-face mid-ā70s rockers. The cover for their first album, Below the Belt, was designed to generate controversy and press (a naked woman, spread eagle, with a raised fist covering, well, almost nothing).
But despite the press, money, and support, Boxer didnāt last. After recording their second album, Bloodletting, Halsall was either fired or quitādifferent people tell different versions. Regardless, with Halsallās departure, Nigel Thomas, Boxerās manager, confiscated Halsallās guitars and ampsāincluding his iconic white Gibson SG Customāto cover his losses. Halsall was left with nothing. And as a tragic footnote, Mike Patto died of lymphatic leukemia in 1979.
Halsall hit hard times. He still did sessions, but he was broke. He relied on borrowed guitars. He toured the U.S. with John Otway, whoād had a huge U.K. hit, the half-spoken comedy love song, āReally Free.ā In an ironic twist, Halsallās biggest session was as the āPaul McCartneyā character for the Beatles-spoof band, the Rutles. However, Halsallās contribution was anonymous. In the film, All You Need Is Cash, Eric Idle played āMcCartney,ā lip-synching Halsallās vocals and miming his guitar parts.
Success in Spain
Despite professional setbacks, Halsall kept at it, spending the ā80s as a musical journeyman. Peers respected him as a seasoned veteran and reliable sideman. He adapted to new styles and trends. And he finally bought a guitar: a cherry red SG that he modified similarly to the white SG Custom from his Patto days.
Halsall worked a lot in the ā80s, and his biggest gigs were with Kevin Ayers and the Velvet Undergroundās John Cale. But he didnāt play with reckless abandon like he did with Pattoāhe stuck to the song. āMy style has changed,ā he told Guitar Player in April of 1989. āThere are less notes than before and the sound is clear.ā
In 1980 he toured with Bill Lovelady, an old friend from Southport with a chart hit (āOne More Reggae for the Roadā). Also in that band was vocalist/keyboardist Zanna Gregmar. When the tour ended, Halsall and Gregmar moved to Spain to be close to Ayers. Halsall was based in Spain until he died.
Halsall and Gregmar also formed a band, Cinemaspop, playing synth-heavy European techno. They were big in Spain. Their recordings didnāt feature guitar, although Halsall played guitar live. And yet, according to Monks, Halsall loved Cinemaspop. āThey were successful and made a lot of money,ā Monks says.
Ayers recorded Still Life with Guitar with Halsall in early 1992, and they performed in England that April. A month later, Halsall was found dead in his apartment in Madrid, reportedly after suffering a drug-related heart attack. His death was a shock. According to Monks, Halsall was anti-hard drugs, and substance abuse wasnāt something associated with Halsall. Even back with Pattoādespite a third album called Roll āEm Smoke āEm Put Another Line OutāOllie wasnāt a big drug user. That album title was just a joke.
A small memorial was set up in Mallorca, the Spanish island where Halsall hung out with Ayers. Except for a small group of loyal fans, most people have never heard of him. But Halsallās legacy lives onāand grows over time. Halsall rumors abound: A shred label was trying to find him to record a solo album. The Stones considered him as a replacement for Mick Taylor. Eddie Van Halen was a fan. Whatās true? Who knows?
But one certainty remains: Halsall was a great guitaristāa true original and a pleasure to listen to. As Andy Partridge told PopDose, ā[Halsallās playing was] like a beautiful gift, where youāre opening a box, and you think you know what might be in it, but then youāre, like, āOh, that is phenomenal! What a lovely little surprise!āā
Ollie Halsall Essential Listening
This clip features Halsall on vibes with Timebox. āBeggināā was their biggest hit and peaked at No. 38 in the U.K. Halsallās vibe playing is stellar. Dig the bandās matching outfits.
Ā
āGive It All Awayā is from Pattoās second album, Hold Your Fire. The guitar breaks are inventive and unusual, but the solo starting at 2:24 is exceptional (and really fast). Keep in mind, Halsall didnāt use effects during this period. His sound is just a guitar and overdriven amps (two Fender combos, usually a Princeton and a Super Reverb, one plugged into the other).
Ā
The guitar weirdness starts at 0:50 and just keeps getting better on āLoud Green Songā from Pattoās third album, Roll āEm Smoke āEm Put Another Line Out.
Ā
A mature and older Halsall plays an unconventional solo starting at 0:55. The sound quality is poor, but this video offers a taste for what Halsall was up to late in his career.
Photo by Lloyd Goodman.
Ollie Halsallās Ad Hoc Lefty SG
The guitar usually associated with Ollie Halsall was a white 1967 Gibson SG Custom. The guitar came with three humbuckers and a Vibrola tremolo unit.
Since Halsall was left-handed, Barnabus (Barney) Swain, a roadie for Patto, converted Halsallās SG from righty to lefty. Swain carved a new chamber for the electronics and moved them to the guitarās new lower bout. Halsall didnāt want the knobs to mirror a right-handed model. Rather, the knobs for the bridge positionāon the bottom on a right-handed guitarāwere on top next to the bridge. The knobs for the neck position were nearer the floor. The 3-way toggle was kept āupside-downā as well (neck down/bridge up). The original cavity was filled with wood. The new lower hornāpart of the double-cutawayāwas cut deeper for easier access to the upper frets.
Halsall let the Vibrola arm hang loose, dangling over the bridge pickup, and he dealt with tuning issues on the fly. (In the ā80s, he replaced the Vibrola on a different SG with a Kahler locking system to keep it in tune.)
The words āBlue Traffā were carved into the upper bout. The phrase reportedly paid homage to a never-released album Halsall recorded with Robert Fripp in 1972. Why blue traff? Spell Traff backwards and remove an āF.ā Got it? It makes a blue flame when you light it on fire. Boys will be boys, as they say.
Halsallās SG was found in a repair shop in 2006 and restored to its Halsall-era condition. The complete story of the guitarās restoration, as well many details provided for this edition of Forgotten Heroes, can be found at Barry Monksā website/archive for all things Halsall: www.olliehalsall.co.uk/While Annie Clark was named the 26th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023, she couldnāt care less about impressing an athletic stamp on either her sound or her image.
On her eighth studio release, the electroacoustic art-rock guitarist and producer animates an extension of the strange and singular voice sheās been honing since her debut in 2007.
āDid you grow up Unitarian?ā Annie Clark asks me. Weāre sitting in a control room at Electric Lady Studios in New Yorkās West Village, and Iāve just explained my personal belief system to her, to see if Clark, aka St. Vincent, might relate and return the favor. After all, does she not possess a kind of sainthood worth inquiring about?
St. Vincent - Flea (Official Audio)
But the sincere curiosity I sense in her question is charming. It hasnāt been mentioned in our conversation yet that she was partly raised Unitarian Universalist (the other part, Catholic), and itās as if sheās innocently excited that there might exist a friendly connection between her and I, the sunny, ānonchalantā journalist whoās doing my best to hide a fair level of enthusiastic fandom and admiration for her.
āI was raised Catholic, actually,ā I reply.
āI love the saints,ā says Clark. āGimme a Caravaggio any day. And Mary as a figure; Iāve alwaysā¦.ā she trails off, wistfully. āIāll always love Mary.ā (This adds up, as under her long black coat, sheās wearing an oversized t-shirt with an icon of the Virgin Mary on it, where the religious figure also happens to be depicted as a Black woman.)
Of course, St. Vincentāwho took her stage moniker from a Nick Cave lyricāisnāt meeting me at Electric Lady to muse on spirituality. Weāre there to talk about her latest release, All Born Screamingāher eighth studio full-length. It also happens to be her first entirely self-produced record, and with this new 10-track collection, Clark feels a sense of celebration about her growth as an artist over the course of her career.
All Born Screaming, which grew out of multiple hours-long solo jam sessions full of ābleeps and bloops,ā is St. Vincentās first entirely self-produced record.
āIām very lucky to be in a position where more people care about what I do now than what I did on my first record,ā she shares. āLike, thank god that I didnāt just have one that people liked, and then fell off the map. I got to grow as an artist and carve out whatever little lane I have in the world by getting to follow the muse and make music that lights me up, that I believe in.ā
I would agree that All Born Screaming is a rather shiny jewel to be added to St. Vincentās experimental, electroacoustic, art-rock crown. Itās ethereal and supernatural, which is to be expected from Clark, but this time, thereās something a little different in the air. The opening, āHell Is Near,ā conjures an illusion of billowing and enveloping fog, swallowing up the audience Ć la Stephen King. Her floating, sneakily adept vocal at times echoes that of her good friend Carrie Brownstein on Sleater-Kinneyās release from earlier this year, Little Rope, creaking and reaching with pangs of metaphysical desperation.
āThank god that I didnāt just have one [album] that people liked, and then fell off the map. I got to grow as an artist and carve out whatever little lane I have in the world.ā
The albumās first two singles, āBroken Manā and āFlea,ā are framed by methodically chugging bass lines that nudge ominously at the edges of your shadowy mental recesses. (On āFlea,ā Dave Grohl guested on drums.) āIt was pouring, like a movie / Every stranger looked like they knew me,ā she sings on āThe Powerās Out,ā calling David Bowieās āFive Years,ā the 6/8 opening track on Ziggy Stardust, to mind. Towards the close of the record, āSweetest Fruitā and āSo Many Planetsā proudly, shamelessly, groove.
And guitar? It enters with an eerie George Harrison-esque jangle on the second verse of āHell Is Near,ā and, throughout the rest of the record, guides with punchy, distorted leads, accents, and welcome interjections. Clark, who was named the 26th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023, has rarely imprinted much of an athletic stamp on her music, in terms of shreddingāwhich sheās shown she can do, but, almost as an aside to her more popular artistic definition. Instead, she moves the instrument in and out of her compositions in streaks of indigo, threading it like dendritic capillaries through a Junoesque, avant-psychedelic, gas-giant planet of sound.
āClark was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and moved to Dallas, Texas, with her family when she was 7. There, she developed a tight-knit group of friends with whom sheās still close with today.
Photo by Alex Da Corte
St. Vincent has an unshakeable confidence about her, in both her physical presence and creative exploits. She explains how, in her solo production pioneering for the making of All Born Screaming, she built out her home studio, got a Neve console, set up her modular synths and analog drum machines, and āfinally figured out how to MIDI clock everything in time, which was its own hellscape.
āBut then, [it was] playing with electricity,ā Clark continues, ābecause electricity through analog circuitry.... I think it has a soul. Ultimately, youāre harnessing chaos. Youāre like a god of lightning or something, you know?ā she laughs.
āI would just jam for hours, making kind of post-industrial music, and then I would go back through and listen and go, āOoh, well, this is a three-hour jam of bleeps and bloops. But, these four seconds are something so cool that I want to build a whole song around them,ā she shares, then vocalizes some of the melodies in āBig Time Nothing,ā āBroken Man,ā and āSweetest Fruit.ā
Elaborating on her production approaches, she says, āPsychically, Iām obsessed with people like Lee āScratchā Perry or J Dilla, where all of the effects are tactile. What I find exciting is making big decisions and then printing things, or the sound of something. āCause then itās like youāre building a house on rock rather than sand,ā she shares, referring to recording effects with the raw audio signal, as opposed to applying them after the signal is tracked, or in post-production. After further reflection, she concludes, āI think producing the album myself was like managing various egos, but all of the egos were in my own brain.ā
Weāve been chatting for about half an hour, and St. Vincent mentions that she brought some snacks, if I want any. (I politely decline, as Iād rather not hear chewing on the recording of the interview when I listen back.) When I presume that she must have a strong sense of self-actualization at this point in her career, she gently counters, āBut, I think, you donāt get the confidence without walking through some fire of self-doubt. As I grow more proficient, have more expertise, or get better at my instrument in various ways, music as a whole is more mysterious, mystical, and otherworldly than ever,ā she adds. āSo, understanding that feels more like itās receding in a beautiful way, or opening in a beautiful way, while ā¦ āOkay, great, I know how to compress this better.āā
āWhat album of yours, excluding All Born Screaming, do you feel the most proud of?ā
āBecause Iām putting a set list together [for the All Born Screaming tour], I went back and listened to Strange Mercy. There are moments on that, tracks like āSurgeon,ā that Iām like, āFuck yeah! That rips! I had no idea!āā she exclaims. āAnd thatās not always the case. You go back to certain songs, and youāre like, āUh, Iām not sure I executed the vision here, or if this was ā¦ a good vision to have.ā But yeah, because I was so broken and bereft at that particular period of life.... I think you can hear it.ā
St. Vincent's Gear
This shot was taken a year before the release of St. Vincentās 2015 self-titled album, where she wore a hairstyle similar to this one on the cover. It was also four years before her signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitar debuted.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
Guitars
- Ernie Ball St. Vincent signature models
Amps
- Marshall 1974X
- Roland JC-40
Strings & Picks
- Ernie Ball Regular Slinky (.010ā.046)
- Ernie Ball Nylon Light
Effects
- Rig controlled by RJM Mastermind and Gizmo loop switchers
- Hologram Chroma Console
- Empress Echosystem
- Universal Audio Golden Reverberator
- Electro-Harmonix Small Clone
- Malekko Diabilik
- EarthQuaker Rainbow Machine
- Boss VB-2 Vibrato
- JHS Colour Box
- Fulltone Distortion Pro
- Ibanez Modulation Delay II
- Boss SY-200
- ZVEX Fat Fuzz Factory
- Chase Bliss Mood
- Chase Bliss Habit
āYou told The Guardian recently, āArtists and songwriters are in some way writing about the same thing over and over again: sex, death, love.ā Do you have any other thoughts on that?ā I ask.
āOh, did I say that? Sure!ā she chimes, laughing. āMaybe I did!ā
āMy favorite art has always been stuff that channels the stream-of-consciousness mode of thinking. Do you know Mirror by Andrei Tarkovsky?ā
āNo, I havenāt ā¦ read it?ā
āOh, itās a film.ā
āSeen it!ā she amends, smiling. āBut, understanding that sort of time-scape dreamscape multiverseā¦. I feel you.ā
āI think Yesās Close to the Edge is something like that; itās one of my top 10 favorite albums.ā
āI love Yes. Close to the Edge is one of my favorite records as well,ā she says, and sings the melody to āII. Total Mass Retainā from the 18-minute-long title track. āAnd Chris Squireās bass tone is perfect. Itās perfection on that record.ā
āAbsolutely! But I admit, Iām really just into early-ā70s Yes.ā
āOh, 100 percent. āOwner of a Lonely Heartā just reminds me of ā¦ being at the Texas state fair and my friend giving a hand job on a Ferris wheel to a carnie.ā
āOn tour for 2018ās MASSEDUCTION, Clark plays a model of her EBMM signature with a leopard-print pickguard.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
While Clark shares that at certain points in her life, she has delved into practices like transcendental meditation, she says that today, the non-musical habits that best cultivate her creativity come down to activities as simple as working out, āso I donāt feel crazy,ā and doing chores. āOh, thatās so depressing,ā she laughs.
And, while she doesnāt subscribe to any kind of organized religion, St. Vincent is entranced with a kind of spirituality behind making music. āI find music to be incredibly mystical, and that songs become prophecies,ā she reflects. āArtists have, in the best-case scenario, an antenna up that makes them a kind of psychic mirror to the society that they live in, right? Almost like a weathervane.
āThere have been times that I have written something that in a way prepared me for, or, predicted something that I was about to go through, in very specific, very witchy ways,ā she continues. āIām not a person of like, faith faith, but I have known certain things in ways that are not rationally explicable.ā
āI think producing the album myself was like managing various egos, but all of the egos were in my own brain.ā
Musicians have a common language of creativity, in that for most, inspiration tends to emerge unpredictably, out of the ether, or perhaps as the result of neurons firing haphazardly. But they do seem to each have an individual way of keeping track of their ideas, whether that involves writing them down or committing them to memory; usually, itās a balance between the two. āIāve had the title āAll Born Screamingā since I was 22,ā says Clark. āI knew that I was going to use it at some point, but I donāt think I was worthy of explaining the complexity or talking about it until this record.
āI donāt know how records get finished,ā she elaborates. āBut I trust the process enough to know that, if you just put in the hours and stick with it, eventually the big picture will reveal itself to you. I describe the process as making perfect little puzzle piecesāmaking sure every edge is perfect and ornately drawn, and I donāt know what the big picture is until Iāve finished every single puzzle piece. And thatās when I go, āOh, this is what this is [laughs]. Nobody told me!āā
While Clarkās guitar playing got off to a typical startāthe first couple parts she learned were the opening chords to Nirvanaās āSmells Like Teen Spiritā and the iconic riff from Jethro Tullās āAqualungāāher evolution as a player has made her increasingly savvy at envelope-pushing. Even on her 2007 debut album Marry Me, a singer-songwriter project at its core, the songs āNow, Nowā and āYour Lips Are Redā lean toward the progressive territory sheās mined deeper and deeper since. It would be fair to call her soloing and style of arranging daring and subversive; she bends sound and songform as she sees fit.
āArtists have, in the best-case scenario, an antenna up that makes them a kind of psychic mirror to the society that they live in.ā
By 2011ās Strange Mercy, whose collection includes the distinctively electroacoustic-yet-guitar-enforced tunes āCruelā and āSurgeonāāwhich, as previously asserted, ārips!āāClarkās guitar is cloaked in fuzz and couched in ambience and synthesizers. And, in the 13 years since, itās pretty much stayed loyal to that description. The oddest thing, however, is this duality: That shrouding somewhat precipitates her guitarās erasure from the foreground of the listenerās earscape, while yet maintaining its stitching throughout the songs themselves. Iāve listened to plenty of her discography, all the while forgetting it right as itās there. Perhaps, the synths are the furniture, and the guitar is but a centered lamp, unifying the roomās elements within the same bath of light? But, personally, I have not been able to answer the question āHow?ā
Regardless, St. Vincent couldnāt care less about her image or sound as a āguitarist.ā If she has ever made any kind of effort to āproveā herself on the instrument, I havenāt come across a record of it. An educated ear will recognize her august aptitude in her avant-garde playing style, and she has left it at that. In my eyes, this makes her an actual hero in an industry saturated with overcompetition and machismo.
āSound has incredible meaning,ā she summarizes, and the end of our conversation. āIt led me to songs, and when you trust that you just will follow the things that will light you up inside, then youāll be okay.ā
YouTube It
On Laterā¦ with Jools Holland, St. Vincent rocks her Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar in āglam tuning,ā where all strings are tuned to the same pitch, enabling her to create a synthesizer-like effect with the help of a slide.
Available in 4-string and 5-string versions with unique finish options. Each purchase includes a certificate of authenticity signed by Wimbish.
Wimbish collaborated with Spector's USA Custom Shop to create the DW-4 and DW-5 models, echoing the iconic instruments that have been favored heavily throughout his recording and performing career.
These signature basses faithfully replicate Wimbish's originals, down to the smallest details like neck contours and nut widths. Customized EMG pickups, developed in collaboration with Wimbish, capture the distinctive sound that has shaped his monumental musical impact. These models invite players to explore the feel and response that have defined Wimbishās signature style over the years.
Available in 4-string and 5-string versions, each model boasts unique features & finish options. The DW-4 comes in Amber Stain Gloss and Black Stain Gloss options, while the DW-5 offers Dark Blue Stain Gloss and Faded Natural Gloss. Every purchase includes a certificate of authenticity signed by Doug Wimbish.
Wimbish comments, āSpector took the time to get every little nuance right, and that to me is dedication and being thoughtful enough to know āI want to nail it,ā and they did. Iām able to pick these instruments up for the first time and play them like Iāve already had them for years.ā
For more information, please visit spectorbass.com.
Spector: The Doug Wimbish USA Signature Series
Spector Euro 4 LX Doug Wimbish Signature Bass Guitar - Amber Stain Gloss
Euro 4 LX Doug Wimbish, Amber Stn GlsPG contributor Tom Butwin highlights 7 preamp options for your acoustic guitar. Wherever youāre looking to plug in your acoustic, these stomps have you covered with a wide range of functionality, sounds, and applications.
LR Baggs Venue DI Acoustic Guitar Preamp / DI / EQ / Tuner Pedal
Venue DI Acous Preamp/DI Pedal w/TunerRadial PZ-Pro 2-channel Acoustic Preamp Pedal
PZ-Pro 2-ch Acous Preamp Pedal/SwitcherGrace Design ALiX Acoustic Instrument Preamp / EQ / DI / Boost Pedal
ALiX Acous Inst Preamp - SilverA stripped-down small-bodied acoustic that punches well above its price class.
Midrange-focused voice. Smaller body and scale delivers easy playability. Excellent craftsmanship.
If you love big, boomy jumbos and dreads, you might want to look at a different body style.
$2,450
Iris MS-00
irisguitarcompany.com
As much as I love fawning over expensive vintage and boutique gearāwhich is a lotāwhen it comes to spending my money, I look for the highest-end tone at the kind of prices my modest gigs can pay for. With vintage gear, I want to find āplayer-gradeā stuff: the amp that has some long-broken-up bandās logo spray-painted on it, totally devaluing it to collectors, or the guitar with a refin that was done by the last ownerās buddy who paints motorcycles. Sometimes, though, new gear is the only path to what you need. And once you enter the world of boutique, handmade instruments player-grade prices arenāt usually an option.
Since introducing their debut model, the OG, in 2018, Burlington, Vermontās Iris Guitar Companyās mission has been to carve out a space in a Venn diagram where craftsmanship, tone, and value come together. The team consists of builders who create top-notch, bespoke instruments and started Iris to make instruments at the same level of quality, stripped of most aesthetic accoutrements and customization, at prices working musicians can afford.
One of the newest models in Irisā expanding line is the MS-00. Inspired by the Gibson L-00, it was created in conjunction with vintage Gibson acoustic expert Mark Stutman of Folkway Music. The MS-00 captures the straightforward, unpretentious Great Depression-era aesthetic and sound of the L-00. And while not cheap, it offers the playing experience of a more expensive instrument.
Think: Sepia
In terms of looks, the simple, down-to-earth MS-00 doesnāt announce itself loudly, but rather invites you in and waits to be noticed. Diminutive fret markers along the MS-00ās Indian rosewood fretboardāwhich are sized to serve their function to the player but which might escape notice from across the roomācomplement the simple waterslide-decal Iris logo that adorns the headstock, along with vintage-style open-gear tuners. If thereās one bit of pizzazz, itās the beveled tortoise pickguard, which is hardly an indulgence. Together, these humble details deliver a warm, sepia-toned aesthetic harmony.
Measuring 19 1/2" long, 14 7/8" at its lower bout and 3 5/8" to 4 3/8" deep, the MS-00 is compact. The handsome, tobacco burst Sitka spruce is supported with Adirondack spruce X-bracing. Finished with a thin, satin nitrocellulose, the MS-00 is comfortable to cradle, too. The back and sides, along with the Honduran mahogany neck, are not treated with pore filler prior to finishing, exposing the grain and giving the guitar a refined but rugged feel. (Spruce doesnāt have deep pores, so the top is smooth.) I canāt help myself from getting poetic and thinking about how this also challenges us to find the beauty within. In a market where deeply figured woods are glamorized, the Iris finish helps us appreciate the beauty in the grain itself. And though the subject is a source of argument, I canāt help but think that the lack of pore filler has a sonic effect as well; the MS-00 practically rings like a bell with every strum.
Warm and Punchy
Like the small-bodied vintage Gibson acoustics that inspired it, the MS-00 sings with a plainspoken midrange-focused voice. Itās warm and inviting, and it feels instantly familiar if youāve spent time in vintage shops playing those Gibson models.
Gliding along the soft-C neck, which is attached via a more economical bolt-on, mortise and tenon joint, is a breeze. Its 24 3/4" scale length puts everything just a little more within reach than most acoustics, and that kept me busy across all 14 frets. (A 12-fret version can also be ordered as an upcharge.) The mid-focused sound of small-bodied acoustics always feels more natural to me than their bass-heavy counterparts, and this guitar is no exception. The easy-to-fret, midrange-focused formula had my initial playing gravitating toward early jazz chords and lines, both of which the MS-00 feels ideally voiced to handle. Thatās not to pigeonhole this guitar at all. I could, and did, have a great time simply strumming away in first position and running through all the Travis-picking tunes I could muster.
The MS-00 feels particularly touch-sensitive, so I took delight in exploring its dynamic range. If you lean toward a softer playing style, itāll reward you with rich warmth and definition. But if youāre a strummer or just dig in hard, youāll find plenty of volume without compromising tone or over-compressing. When playing lines with a heavy pick, I was treated to plenty of attack and punch, which I found easy to dial up or back to taste. By applying a heavier hand, especially on the wound strings, I found the growly bite that I find an essential part of a vintage Gibsonās sonic fingerprint.
The Verdict
The MS-00, like every Iris model Iāve played, is a well-executed, simple formula. On a coffee scale, itās the equivalent of a pour-over made with single-origin beans and taken black. At $2,450, itās no impulse purchase, but for a U.S.-built, luthier-crafted instrument itās a serious deal. The MS-00 can go strum for strum with guitars that command much higher prices because itās designed with only the absolute essentials in mind: sound and playability. If youāre a fan of small-bodied vintage Gibsons, or if youāre simply looking for a dynamic, midrange-focused acoustic thatās fun to play for a little less, the MS-00 is worth your time. Itās going to compete with the best of them.