Costello came snarling out of the U.K. in the mid-1970s with an edgy talent and image that immediately set him apart from the punk masses -- impeccable pop songcraft, caustically literate lyrics, an angular stage presence, black horn-rimmed glasses -- and an ever-present Fender Jazzmaster. At the time, the Jazzmaster guitar had largely fallen from fashion until Costelloās phenomenal
success seemed to lift it to new and previously unknown heights of appreciation. Throughout the 1980s, 1990s and right up to today, legions of new-wave, alt-rock and indie-rock players prized the resurgent Jazzmaster for its versatile tone and subversive cool.āThis is a brutal-sounding guitar,ā Costello said of his Jazzmaster. āIt suits the way I play. But this guitar -- itās had a funny life. And Iāve just always stuck with it; I always come back to it. Iāve done all sorts of different music, but whenever itās involved electric guitar, I donāt think thereās one record Iāve made on which the Jazzmaster doesnāt feature somewhere.ā
Costelloās original instrument has undergone many changes in the past 30 years, and Fenderās new Elvis Costello Signature Jazzmaster replicates the guitar as it existed at the time he recorded his acclaimed 1977 debut album, My Aim Is True. Uniquely Costello-inspired features include a post-ā68 neck design, a walnut stain finish and a tremolo with easier and greater travel, essential for that āWatching the Detectivesā tone, or what Costello calls that āspy movieā sound.
āThe original guitar this model is based upon has been refinished, rebuilt, and has a new neck with Elvisā name inlaid into the fingerboard, so we had to reference a lot of seventies-era photography, as well as Elvisā personal anecdotes, to get it right,ā said Justin Norvell, Fender marketing manager for electric guitars. āElvis dialed in the finer details -- the points that photos canāt tell you, like the feel and setup and the exact hue and luster of the finish -- things only he would know.ā
The new Elvis Costello Signature Jazzmaster guitar will be available through authorized Fender dealers beginning this month with an MSRP of $2149.99.
Costello remains as busy as ever today, touring this summer with the Police and debuting in December 2008 as the host of Spectacle: Elvis Costello With ..., a Sundance Channel television series in which Costello plays host to artists and other personalities for an hour of discussion and performance.
For more information on Elvis Costello and his Jazzmaster guitar:
fender.com/jazzmaster50th
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.
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 Guardianrecently, 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.
Question: What picking style have you devoted yourself to the most, and why does it work for you?
Guest Picker - Mei Semones
Meiās latest album, Kabutomushi.
A: The picking style Iāve practiced the most is alternate picking, but the picking style I usually end up using is economy picking. Alternate feels like a dependable way to achieve evenness when practicing scales and arpeggios, but when really playing, it doesnāt make sense to articulate every note in that way, and obviously itās not always the fastest.
Obsession: My current music-related obsession is my guitar, my PRS McCarty 594 Hollowbody II. I think it will always be an obsession for me. Itās so comfortable and light, has a lovely, warm, dynamic tone, and helps me play faster and cleaner. This guitar feels like my best friend and soulmate.
Reader of the Month - Jin J X
Photo by Ryan Fannin
A: For decades, the Eric Johnson-style āhybrid pickingā with a Jazz III for āpianisticā voicings. Great for electric, though not so much acoustic. Iāve been recently learning to use a flatpick, Ć la Brian Sutton, by driving the pick āintoā the string at an angleāwhich makes me think of Pat Metheny and George Benson, without irony.
Obsession: Iām still focused on understanding the concepts of jazz, neo-classical, and beyond, though Iām also becoming obsessed with George Van Epsā 7-string playing, flatpicking, hip-hop beats, the Hybrid Guitars Universal 6 guitar, and the secret life of the banjo.
Editorial Director - Ted Drozdowski
A: Decades ago, under the sway of Mississippi blues artists R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and Jessie Mae Hemphill, I switched from plectrum to fingerstyle, developing my own non-traditional approach. Itās technically wrong, but watching R.L., in particular, freestyle, I learned there is no such thing as wrong if it works.
Obsession: Busting out of my songwriting patterns. With my band Coyote Motel, and earlier groups, Iāve always encouraged my talented bandmates to play what they want in context, but brought in complete, mapped-out songs. Now, Iām bringing in sketches and weāre jamming and hammering out the arrangements and melodies together. It takes more time, but feels rewarding and fun, and is opening new territory for me.
Managing Editor - Kate Koenig
A: I have always been drawn to fingerpicking on acoustic guitar, starting with classical music and prog-rock pieces (āMood for a Dayā by Steve Howe), and moving on to ā70s baroque-folk styles, basic Travis picking, and songs like āBack to the Old Houseā by the Smiths. I love the intricacy of those styles, and the challenge of learning to play different rhythms across different fingers at the same time. This is definitely influenced by my classical training on piano, which came before guitar.
Obsession: Writing and producing my fifth and sixth albums. My fifth album, Creature Comforts, was recorded over the past couple months, and features a bunch of songs I wrote in 2022 that I had previously sworn to never record or release. Turns out, upon revisiting, theyāre not half bad! While that oneās being wrapped, Iām trying to get music written for my sixth, for which I already have four songs done. And yes, this is a flex. šŖš
