May 2011 \ Features \ Artist Interview \ Interview: Elliot Easton - Hello Again

Interview: Elliot Easton - Hello Again

Joe Charupakorn

The Cars' Elliot Easton talks about reuniting with his chart-topping new wave bandmates and using a bunch of guitars from his amazing collection to record their classic-sounding new album, Move Like This.
Premier Guitar May 2011
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You also worked with famed pedal guru Alfonso Hermida on the Tiki Drive. Can you tell us about that?

Alfonso sought me out a long time ago to try out the Zendrive—a great pedal—and we stayed friends. I have this pedal from Australia that I’m really crazy about called the MI Audio Crunch Box, and that pedal is the best “Marshall-in-a-box” distortion pedal that I’ve come across. I really love it—it’s got a great voice to it. So I asked Alf if he wanted to try to build something similar to the Crunch Box. The Zendrive is called a “Dumble-in-a-box” because it’s compressed and has a little different kind of tone to it. I asked him if he could do something that was more open sounding and more Marshall-y, while raving to him about this Crunch Box. He got one to check out, and Alf being Alf, did his own take on it. It’s a very different pedal than the Crunch Box. For one thing, it’s got two levels of gain—so you can dial it down to a nice overdrive, or you can dial it way up for great solo tones.

I understand that you have a collection of guitars for sale at Rudy’s Music in New York. Can you tell us about that?

I just prune the collection from time to time. I’ve got so many guitars, man. Once in a while, I just get rid of some, even though I’ve already taken most of them back.

Are there any guitars that you will never let go of?

There’s a couple there that I have to get back [laughs]. It’s not the best time to sell guitars, because of the economy anyway, so I’d rather hang on to them. I have a left-handed ’61 Barney Kessel custom with PAFs that I don’t think I would ever sell. I’m actually thinking of taking a couple more back from Rudy’s. I had a mint-condition 1965 ES-335 with a factory Bigsby and I just couldn’t stand it, man. I had him send it back. It was eating away at me.

Elliot Easton’s Gearbox

Guitars
Gibson Elliot Easton Signature SG, Gibson ’63 ES-335 Historic Reissue, Fender Custom Shop Nocaster, Fender Custom Shop ’66 Stratocaster, Phantom Guitarworks 12-string

Amps
Vox AC15, Fender 1965 Princeton Reverb reissue, Fender 1965 Deluxe Reverb reissue, Peavey Penta

Effects
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler, Line 6 Echo Park, Line 6 Verbzilla, Line 6 Roto-Machine, Line 6 Tap Tremolo, TC Electronic Stereo Chorus, Dunlop Cry Baby wah-wah, Boss harmonizer, custom Stompin' Ground pedalboard, two Voodo Lab Pedal Powers

Strings
D’Addario .010s or .0095s, depending on guitar

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Comments

 (14 comments) display by
UsernameComment
claudia
on 12/18/2012 		i love you elliot
Ron Stubbings
on 11/09/2011 		Anyone who doesn't think Easton is the melody master should listen to the spot on solo's featured in songs such as "Just What I Needed", "Touch and Go" and "Shake it Up". I think that "Good Times Roll" could be the best put together rock song I've ever heard.
SGTele
on 06/23/2011 		I think Denny D. needs to go listen to the "Bye Bye Love" solo and report back...

But I love seeing a player like Elliot just going with what works (the Blues Junior)...he's obviously using his ears and not concerned with boutique status/price.
Tom Guerra
on 05/12/2011 		Elliot has always reflected the "playing for the song" vs. "look at me" philosophy which not only made many Cars songs classics, but has put him in a league with George Harrison and Mike Campbell. His phrasing, choice of notes and tone always complemented Ric's songs.
Denny D.
on 05/11/2011 		Was there guitar in the Cars? I never noticed.
Jerry
on 05/11/2011 		Viva lefties!
Michael McF
on 05/11/2011 		Elliot took the craft to another level. His music will live forever, and beyond......Thanks Elliot, for helping me to plus up on an already sizable amp collection. Too bad that New Wave thingy never manifested.
Michael
on 05/11/2011 		The Cars...man they have put out so many good songs that are timeless. I know Ben is with them in spirit. A very talented group of musicians...thanks for sharing your music with all of us
dbigs
on 05/11/2011 		Come on... Ocasek was embarrassed into coming out of hibernation by Easton. He used Rundgren, Sultan and Prince to kick Ocasek in the butt. You're darn right he wrote a couple of songs. Still, The New Cars; "Not Tonight" release from 2006 seems more of a progression than the two new Cars releases I heard in the past week. At least it sounded like I'd expect today's Cars to sound. The new songs sound like an 80s rehash... a bit of a let down. Maybe Easton can use the new material they produced with The New Cars, otherwise this reunion won't last as long as the previous one and they'll be no collarbone to blame.
Jonny 7
on 05/11/2011 		Elliot Easton is a tone master and a super tasteful player. Right part, Right time, Right Tone. Nice to see his tones coming from small Fenders and Vox. Sold my Marshall half stack years ago. Think I'll go turn up the Blues Jr. Thanks for the inspiration Mr. Easton!



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