Urban’s main stage instrument was
also waterlogged but successfully revived.
Nicknamed “Clarence,” it’s a Fender 40th
Anniversary Telecaster obtained at Manny’s
Music during the musician’s first visit to
the United States. According to Urban’s
guitar tech, Chris Miller, over the years
the guitar has had “every pickup combination
under the sun put in it at one time or
another.” During the restoration process,
Miller set about returning the instrument
to its original state before subsequently
launching new pickup experiments. Of
course, no guitar could go through so
much physical devastation and remain tonally
unchanged. However, Urban says the
tone has changed for the better as a result
of the flood and restoration.
“I think it sounds a little more unique
now than it did prior to going into the
river,” Urban says.
Asked about his ultimate tone, Urban
says he loves amps that have lots of headroom
without sounding sterile. To that end,
he owns many revered amplifiers—including
a Dumble Overdrive Special and an
EL34-driven, 45-watt Trainwreck Express,
both of which feature prominently on
Get
Closer. However, he’s sticking to old Fenders
and Marshalls—a purple 100-watt 1969
Marshall Super Bass head and a mid-’60s
blackface Fender Showman—on the road.
Miller says the amps are routed through
two vintage Marshall 4x12 speaker cabinets
loaded with Electro-Voice speakers and two
Alessandro open-backed 2x12s, so that each
head goes through six speakers, “as loud as I
can get them without them breaking up.”
No Vintage Snob
Despite his drool-inducing collection of
old 6-strings and amps, Urban’s arsenal also
includes some offbeat acquisitions.
“He has a thing for cheap guitars with a
funky, lo-fi vibe,” guitar tech Miller laughs.
“He owns several old Airlines and Teiscos
that were damaged in the flood and have yet
to be put back in working order. He recently
got another Teisco that [Nashville tech]
Joe Glaser is improving so it can be used
during a gig—the bridge is a little dodgy.”
Urban himself ascribes the habit of
buying these overlooked instruments to a
Charlie Brown-like desire to take care of an
item everyone else ignores.
“I often buy or go to the store and look
for the ugliest runt guitar and bring it home
because I feel sorry for it,” he says. “I often
think about the 10-year-old kid at our concert
who is checking out all the brands of
the guitars. I always loved Tom Petty and
those guys with the quirkiest, weirdest guitars.
I like to remind kids that if you’ve got a
hundred bucks, you can go and buy a great
guitar that is going to get you where you
want to go. You don’t have to have thousands
of dollars to get a solo happening!”
The Aussie star strums an Em chord on an Eric Clapton Signature Strat with Lace Sensor pickups.
Taking It on the Road
Typically, studio versions of tunes
are rearranged and adjusted for live
performances—for instance, maybe a long
intro is shortened or adjusted to make up
for lack of an orchestra—and to a limited
degree, Urban has done so for his current
tour. For example, he kicks things off with
“Put You in a Song,” the first single from
Get Closer. Urban says the song has been
stretched and elongated to the point of
functioning almost like a remix. He also
explains that other tunes have to be tweaked
because delicate lines and musical textures
aren’t necessarily going to translate well to
large arenas.
“Like in ‘Long Hot Summer,’” which
begins with a warm, Andy Summers-like
arpeggio, “the important piece is the
electric riffs,” Urban says. “The banjo has
a nice sound to it on the record, but it’s
not something you would miss live. So I
would probably put my guy onto some
other instrument that sounds more needed
in a live situation.” As for the song’s
Police-esque vibe, Urban says, “It definitely
comes from that ‘Message in a Bottle’-
kind of place, but the actual lyrics were
inspired by a song called ‘Short Memory’
by Midnight Oil. ‘Short Memory’ is completely
different, but the arpeggiated intro
always stayed with me, and this is sort of
a sped-up version of that with a couple of
chord changes.”
Other than the live adjustments made
to “Long Hot Summer,” Urban says his
set doesn’t require as much alteration as
you might think. “I’ve gotten to the point
where I record songs like I would probably
play them live anyway, y’know?” he says.
“Like long solos on the outros, if the songs
require them. That’s definitely an ode to the
Dire Straits records I grew up with, which
had three-minute outros—almost like a part
two of the song.”