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His guitars are his hot rods,
and yes, he is a total gearhead.
It's safe to say if you’re into guitars and
rock ‘n’ roll, you are definitely familiar
with Steve Stevens. The man’s a
genuine original, with plenty of style
and visual impact to match.
Of course, we’re all aware with his
work with Billy Idol, solo projects
and soundtracks. But that isn’t
all. Steve has recently
teamed up with Bare
Knuckle Pickups to develop
and release the Steve
Stevens signature "Rebel
Yell" humbucker set, a true
tone-chasing masterpiece.
Please join us for part one of a two-part artist interview with the Ray Gun Master himself…
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Musicians Hotline®:
You’ve always been a player who
stood out as having a unique
innovative style. It’s hard to put
you in a box, genre-wise. But I’m
curious to know about your earlier
influences and who you’re listening
to now.
Steve Stevens:
All the guys my age came up with
all the great late ‘60s early ‘70s
English guitar players, like Jimmy
Page. Jeff Beck, for me, continues
to be the guy. Also, to a large
extent a lot of the progressive rock
guitar players back when “progressive”
wasn’t necessarily a bad
word. A lot of younger kids are
rediscovering that kind of stuff. I
think what was refreshing about it
is that you weren’t confined to pop
songs. Those bands really had
labels that stuck by them and
helped them develop an audience
rather than just seeing if a song
would stick, and if it didn’t, you
know, “See ya.” So, for me those
guitar players were Robert Fripp,
Steve Hackett from Genesis, and
Steve Hillage [of Gong]. All those
guys who were looking for inspiration
outside of blues guitar, like
Eric Clapton. That’s kind of the
dichotomy of what I do with Billy
Idol. It’s certainly progressivethinking
guitar, but it has a punk
rock sensibility and energy.
Although on the surface those
two things might seem to be in
opposition, it works.
MH:
It works, and it creates something
really original. There’s purity and a
simplicity in the punk sensibility
that you bring to it that helps it fit
into the context of a song.We all
know you’ve been touring with
Billy Idol, and I’m curious to know
how the shows have been
received. Are there new audiences
coming in?
Steve:
It’s been pretty wild.We
have the fans who’ve been with
us for 20 years, but as an example
we did the “Warped” tour last
summer and there was certainly a
lot of young whippersnappers out
there. It was great. What I’ve
noticed is that throughout the ‘90s
there was this whole anti-guitar
theme, or anti-solo, you know, or
anti-virtuosity. That seems to be a
thing of the past. It’s okay to have
guitar solos again. It’s great. To
me, a guitar solo is just an extension
of the song. I don’t shred,
I’ve always done it in the context
of song arrangements. Yeah, so
we’ve toured all through Europe,
and we’ve done all kinds of festivals
and shows. In July we go to
Eastern Europe, playing Russia
and Bulgaria, and all these places
I’ve never been to. That’s pretty
darn cool.
MH:
Is touring different now, like, your
approach to it?
Steve:
Yeah, it’s tough because you live
for the two-and-a-half hours you’re
onstage, and everything else for
that period of time is really centered
on it. So, you have to find
ways to keep yourself occupied
that aren’t destructive.
MH:
In addition to touring with Billy
Idol, are there projects that you’re
doing on your own?
Steve:
I work with a guy named Ben
Watkins, who has about five
albums under the name “Juno
Reactor.” They’re sort of… I’d hate
to say techno, because he’s so
much more than that. He contributed
music to the last two
Matrix films, and I’ve worked with
him in the context of Juno. I’m
going back to England at the end
of August to work with him again.
I love that. I love working with
musicians who have an approach that’s entirely different than what I
do. You can imagine after making
records for 25 years, walking into
the studio and miking up the
drum kit. It’s like second nature at
this point, and it’s great for me to
work with somebody like Ben,
who works with a lot of world
musicians. His approach to electronic
music is really very cool. I’m
a huge fan of electronic music.
Once again, it’s that early prog
thing where I remember going to
see Keith Emerson with a big old
Moog. I just love all that stuff, I listen
to a lot of early electronic
music, like Terry Riley. I guess now
some of it has turned to ambient
music, but I really love that stuff.
MH:
It’s a really cool thing. You’re the
guy who has the guitar sensibility
that stands above …well, I don’t
want to say you “stand above” all
that, but you don’t often associate
the guitar with the electronic
genre we’re talking about right
now. I think you’ve found a really
unique way to do it.
Steve:
Yeah, I think it’s what has propelled
me to try different sounds, and to
try and emulate some of those
things.Whereas if all I did was
emulate Hendrix or something –
you’re not going to play Hendrix
better than Hendrix ever did.
MH:
So, it’s definitely about being
yourself.
Steve:
Yeah, I think it’s what makes each
guitar unique. I think that’s what
someone like Tom Morello does
as well. Although he’s coming
from a DJ’ing aspect, obviously
he’s taking his influence from an
instrument other than the guitar.
MH:
So, when you started out in the
early days, did you have to define
yourself and come into your own
in order to find your voice and
become the player you are now?
Did you have to scratch for it, or
was it a natural thing?
Steve:
I think it’s like anything, where if
you hear it in your head eventually
it’ll translate its way to your hands.
Whenever I’d play a solo or something,
rather than go into a bluesbased
pentatonic thing, I’d go,
“Hmm . . . . How can I throw
some weird sound effects in here,
make my guitar sound like a ray
gun or something out of some
‘50s sci-fi film?”
MH:
Very cool. To me, though, your
playing has always had a big,
huge, crunchy rhythm tone.
Steve:
Yeah, surprisingly enough, my
rhythm guitar sounded pretty
organic, I don’t use a lot of processing
and all that. Over the
years I’ve found what works for
me: old Marshalls without master
volumes. I’m always just trying to
get my guitar to sound on tape
the way it sounds in the room. I
think guitar players have always
had to make concessions. It’s a
disappointing thing going into the
control room after you’ve recorded
something and then having to
hear it play back. It just doesn’t
sound the way you hear it in the
room. That takes good producers
and good engineers. To me that is
the hardest thing. Playing isn’t that
hard, but getting it to sound good
on the record is more time-consuming
than anything else.
MH:
The rhythm approach is the
purest, as you said. The solo
section is where you find a
place to really put in the color
and expression.
Steve:
Yeah, I mean, rhythm guitar is
the song. I’ve always felt some-one like Pete Townsend is probably
closer to a great guitar player
than some guy who just plays a
million notes.
MH:
Speaking of big crunchy rhythm
tones, let’s talk about Bare Knuckle
Pickups, and the release the Rebel
Yell Steve Stevens signature humbucker
set. I’d heard you were
using a Nailbomb Bomb for some
time as well.What was your take
on that?
Steve:
I’ve always been in search of way
to better my tone and make my
guitar sound bigger. Then I stumbled
upon Bare Knuckles. I’d seen
an ad in a British guitar magazine,
and something about it grabbed
me. I’d never heard of them, so I
went online and read about Tim
Mills, the president of the company.
It seemed right. He was using
materials that were the same as
what were available back then, in
what is now considered the holy
grail of humbucker pickups: the
Gibson PAF, which is the original
“Patent Applied For.” If those
materials were not available, Tim
would commission manufacturers
to make them. That is dedication,
right there. Plus, he’s a player -- a
really good player. At first I wondered,
“How I can communicate
what I’m looking for to someone
who doesn’t use this stuff?” So I e-mailed him, and
then I ordered a set. I
got the original set—
from the Mule
Series—which is basically
a Patent Applied
For with a bit more
gain to it. I loved the
pickups as soon as I
got them, and I could
tell by looking at them
that they were going
to be good. The
biggest compliment I
could pay to Bare
Knuckles is the fact
that suddenly your
guitar sounds in tune.
From a guy who plays
primarily Les Paulstyle
guitars, that has
always been an issue
because of the scale
length. These pickups
are just harmonically
correct, so the notes
ring and live in the
same world as each
other.With a lot of pickups I use
the notes kind of sound separate.
There’s always that problem with
the G-string being very difficult to
intonate correctly once you play a
bar chord. So, the role it plays in
the chord can kind of waiver. As
soon as I used Bare Knuckle pickups,
that wasn’t a problem. So, I
stayed in touch with Tim. I said,
“Look, I’m going out
on the road for eight
months. How would
you like to develop a
signature pickup?”
Each week he’d
send me a different
winding, a different
composite, a different
magnet structure
or a different
type of wire. After
about seven incarnations
we settled
on a pickup that ended up being
what the original Seymour Duncan
JB was, but without my knowing
it beforehand – I remember when
I first bought the Duncan JB. I
thought it was a fantastic pickup.
MH:
I’d heard you were using a
Nailbomb Bomb for some time as
well, what was your take on that?
Steve:
Tonally it’s a fantastic pickup. It’s
about as close to an EMG active
pickup as you can get in a passive
humbucker. That’s great for certain
things, but I really needed one
pickup that was considerably less
wound, and maybe not so much
in a metal direction. I wanted a
marriage between those great harmonics
you can pull out of a
Nailbomb Bomb, but also a little
bit smoother and closer to a PAF.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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