
Lang also plays a Tele and a Strat, but here he his is on the cover of 2019's bops, etc. posing with a sparkly Jazzmaster.
Gaming inspired the young dream-pop star to pick up a real guitar. Now he puts a couple of Fenders to work on his bash 'n' roll breakout album, Chew the Scenery.
Fans of lo-fi bedroom pop have undoubtedly already heard of Oscar Lang. Since his early teens, he's been a leader in the dreamy, synth-laden genre. Guitarists who prefer their music loud and rocking may not know Lang, but with the release of Chew the Scenery, the two worlds are colliding as the young songwriter comes of age, electric guitar in hand.
Lang has built quite a name for himself over the last half-decade. Songs from his seven-plus self-produced and self-recorded EPs and singles are featured in EA Sports' video games, and he holds production credits with modern stars like songwriter-guitarist beabadoobee and Canadian rapper Powfu. Not bad for a 21-year-old.
Lang's love of all things music came very early in life. His late mother, who was also a musician, fed her child's prodigious talent with her love of great pop. Though she died when he was 7, her favorite music, combined with the piano she gave him, opened his eyes to a life of unending artistic possibilities.
Oscar Lang - Stuck (Official Music Video)
"There was this little CD that my dad made for me when she died," says Lang. "It had all of her favorite types of music, and I used to play that. That gave me a weird kind of influence when I was younger. I was listening to music that I wouldn't have listened to if I hadn't had that CD. I used to play that over and over in my room, listening to the songs that she loved.
"I've lost the CD, and we don't know what songs are on it, so it's a mystery. But sometimes I'll listen to a song that just unlocks a sound, and I'm there—I can remember the CD. Deee-Lite's 'The Groove Is in the Heart' is one that's always stuck in my brain. That bass line ingrained a little bit of funk into me.
"I get influence from everywhere in my life. I started playing music and actually writing songs when I was about 11. But I got into rock music and guitar stuff through playing Guitar Hero. I used to love that so much as a kid and got back into it when I was 14. I dug out my Wii and whipped out Guitar Hero, and then I was like, 'Why don't I actually learn how to play the guitar?' That got me inspired to start taking guitar lessons." Once Lang got a guitar in his hands, he crafted a bare-knuckled approach to the instrument—attacking it with ferocity for both emotional and physical release.
"When I was 14 I dug out my Wii and whipped out 'Guitar Hero,'' and then I was like, 'Why don't I actually learn how to play the guitar?' That got me inspired to start taking guitar lessons."
Lang is as in love with the stage as he is the studio. So much so that, he explains, it was the catalyst behind Chew the Scenery's powerful new sound. "I was more into the bedroom-type stuff and that synth-y sound. But we had these few songs like 'Flowers' and 'Drinking Wine' that were a live rock sound. I was really keen to go in that direction." He started moving that way in 2019, and the EPs bops etc. and Hand Over Your Head hinted at what was to come with Chew the Scenery.
"It was really hard for a bit, because we've played those songs for years. People would be like, 'What is that song? Where can I find it?' We'd say, 'It'll be out one day.' Then, finally, the songs came out, and it happened to be in the middle of a pandemic where we couldn't play any of them live. These songs are made to be played live, and people need to see that. It's been hard. But I've also recorded a whole bunch of music that I probably wouldn't have done if I'd been playing a whole bunch of shows."
When Lang couldn't bring his new songs to the stage, he sought to bring the excitement of the stage to his songs. As he recorded, he leaned on influences as diverse as Black Kitty and the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World soundtrack for the "whole bunch of music" that became Chew the Scenery. "The last year, I've been listening to a lot of post-punk. Me and the boys are big musos, because a lot of post-punk is weird rhythms. The tracks that Nigel Godrich and Beck did for the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack … they wrote those songs for the [movie's fictional] band Sex Bob-Omb. I was listening to their song 'Threshold' a lot. I used to listen to that while I was running, and that was the one song that could just get me absolutely blasting! It was just so intense in your headphones. That's what kind of inspired 'Stuck.'"
Oscar Lang’s Gear
"Me and the boys in my band like music that's interesting and weird, with polyrhythms and countermelody," says Oscar Lang. "We sneak them in here and there."
Photo by Korrie Powell
Guitars
- Fender Telecaster
- Fender Player Jazzmaster
- Fender Stratocaster (studio only)
- 6-string and 12-string acoustics (studio only)
Strings and Picks
- .014 sets
- Cuts his own from discarded plastic cards
Amps
- Logic guitar amp sims
Effects
- Fuzz pedal
- Strymon BigSky
- Waves auto-wah plug-in
That song—the album's first single—is a perfect microcosm of Chew the Scenery's no-rules vibe. It roars with gritty guitars, fuzzed-out bass, and harmonized 6-string lines that are equally exciting and jarring from beginning to end. Hot on the heels of "Stuck," "Yeah!" introduces a very '90s electronic element. Then the piano ballad "Final Call" arrives at the end of the album to remind you of the wild, diverse ride you've been on.
The explosive energy and the stylistic shifts are no accident, obviously. From the start, Lang knew what he wanted, who it was for, and that this would be a different sort of album. "We wanted to encapsulate all the sounds that I had done. You look at my Spotify profile, and my music's changed so much over the years. I wanted to bring everything in and tie it up in the new, crispy sound we had with me and Rich. [Rich Turvy co-produced the album and has worked with Blossom, the Coral, and other pop-rock breakthrough artists.] I also wanted it to work for the two different types of listeners. There are the musos that like to listen to the album as a whole. It's not that it has to have a huge storyline or anything, but I wanted it to flow nicely. But, also, the songs are different enough that the average listener is only going to listen to one or two songs. So you can come in wherever, and it'll still make sense."
"I'm well known for breaking strings in my band, so nobody gives me their guitars. That's why I use .014s. Those are the ones that snap the least when I'm playing."
For Chew the Scenery, Lang—who was joined by his bandmates and co-producer—recorded in a professional studio for the first time. "We wrote a lot of songs up in Parr Street in Liverpool, which is a famous studio that Coldplay recorded a lot of their earlier albums in. And we finished off writing some of it in Coastal Sound. It was the first time that I'd spent a long time in a studio with windows [laughs]. It felt pretty good, to be honest, because of the amount of time I've spent in basically a dark box. The album is mostly me and Rich Turvy. We just sit in a room and figure things out. As I'm starting a song, I can really hear where it's going, and he hears the same thing, which is really helpful. He really understands me. And a lot of the bass is Rich. He has a touch that I can't quite replicate.
"I also had two members of my band. Mac [Luis] does all of the drums. Then Daniel Bath comes in and does guitar. He'll shred a solo that I can't rip because I'm not that technically proficient."
Technically proficient or not, Lang understands what's exactly right for his songs, so his raging bass and guitar parts are all over the album. "There'll be times where we listen to the demo, and it's just so extreme that Rich can't do that. I go in and just smack a bass or guitar. I can just hit it with fucking attitude. Nobody else does that for some reason. I have to fill in when it needs to be messed up in a good way. I'm well known for breaking strings in my band [laughs], so nobody gives me their guitars. That's why I use .014s. Those are the ones that snap the least when I'm playing."
TIDBIT: Although Lang's earlier singles and EPs may have made him a star, his new full-length is the first album he's recorded in a formal studio and his first guitar-focused recording.
Despite Lang's ham-fisted approach, Chew the Scenery features some surprisingly advanced musical concepts, from polyrhythms and countermelodies to strange intervals and chromatic flourishes. "Me and the boys in my band like music that's interesting and weird, with polyrhythms and countermelody," he relates. "We sneak them in here and there. But the music-theory side of music, I've never been into. And with all the instruments that I've learned, I've never really been good at practicing. I always used to hate it. I'd go in and do the first few lessons. From then on, I was just teaching myself through doing covers and looking at different chords."
Lang knows as much about tone chasing as he does music theory. Yet he crams the new album with captivating guitar sounds. "I think a lot of [the record] was recorded with DI. There would be times we'd run through an amp and, for some reason, it didn't have the same tonal qualities that the demo that I'd done had. We went, 'Yes, it sounds like guitar, but it doesn't sound like the guitar that we want.' And a lot of the time, the sounds are Rich trying to recreate the mad sound that I've made in Logic at 3 a.m. I've probably just worked two amp simulators and an overdrive, then whacked it through compression. It's not done the right way, but sounds weirdly good. Rich has to try and do that, but also make it sound professional and clean.
Inspired by his love for the game 'Guitar Hero,' Lang reached for the guitar at an early age.
"Other than that, I don't really know what we used on the album. There's probably a little bit of phaser and some reverb on there. I know that we doubled all the acoustics. And we might've whacked a 12-string on it. I'm not 100 percent sure. I think we tried to whip out a Les Paul one time. Then we were like, 'This is too much. We're going too far in the wrong direction.' So, most of it was recorded on a mix of Strat and Tele. I never take time to sit down and be like, 'What guitar is this?' It's more like, 'What does this song need? Acoustic guitars.' We'll go grab it, and you're instantly recording. Then you put it down, and you're moving on to the next thing. It's all a blur—go, go, go, go! So, I never have a chance to look down and see what I'm doing. I'm just cranking the gain on overdrive, and it's, 'Yes, that sounds good,' and moving on with the day."
Nonetheless, Lang does have a pair of pet guitars. "I have a Fender Telecaster, which is a matte light blue. It's just so nice. That one's called Mary. She's homey and just sweet—my little light blue guitar. Then I've got Murphy, who's the naughty boy. He's a Fender Jazzmaster, buttercream with a black fretboard. It's so nice."
"The music-theory side of music, I've never been into. And with all the instruments that I've learned, I've never really been good at practicing."
The bottom line, though, is that Lang doesn't even really consider himself a guitarist. "I'm a piano player first, really. I was the classic 7-year-old. My mom got me into it and signed me up for the lessons. So I'd say the instrument I could stick with is piano, just because it's so versatile. I'm also trying to put the guitar down as much as I can, to be as free as possible. When we get back out live, I'm going to put the guitar down and have my hands out to make as much movement as I can
"I also like to make music on my laptop. Having a piano, you can pretty much do everything. You can do drums, bass guitar, everything you need. There were times where I was trying to exclusively write on guitar. But now I'm back and writing on piano. I'm getting into synths and electronic vibes. The plan is to keep releasing music. It's something that I'm always doing—constantly making music. I'm not really ever going to stop."
Oscar Lang - Antidote to Being Bored (Live)
Oscar Lang rocks out with his crew at Liverpool's Elevator Studios, slashing on his light blue Telecaster, Mary.
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“Get It Right, Get It Fast”: Jerry Douglas on Bluegrass History and Session Secrets
The legendary Dobro player talks about how to get session work, working with Allison Kraus, and the “baton pass” involved in recording great songs.
Bluegrass music is bigger than a genre. It’s become an entire world of ideas and feelings in the popular American imagination. And musician Jerry Douglas has been a key part of its celebration and revival over the past 30 years. “It's an old form of music that came from people in the south playing on the porch and became this juggernaut of a genre,” says Douglas. “It’s a character. It's a physical music.”
Douglas has racked up an impressive cabinet of accolades, including Grammys, American Music Association Awards, and International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. He’s been dubbed the CMA Awards’ Musician of the Year three times, and played with everyone from Allison Krauss and Elvis Costello to Bela Fleck and John Fogerty. He’s an encyclopedic guide to contemporary American roots music, and on this episode of Wong Notes, he walks Cory Wong through the most important moments in his 50-year career.
Tune in to hear Douglas’ assessment of bluegrass’ demanding nature (“Honestly, there's not so many genres nowadays that require as much technical facility as something like bluegrass”), what’s required of roots players (“Get it right, get it fast, make it hook”), and why the O Brother, Where Are Thou? soundtrack connected with so many listeners. Wondering how to get involved with session work? Douglas says there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, and what worked for him might not work today. The key is to be dynamic—and know when to keep your mouth shut.
There are plenty of gems in this interview, like Douglas’ thoughts on what makes a good solo, but the most significant might be Douglas’ big takeaway from decades of sitting in on communal roots-music sessions. “We can play in all genres,” says Douglas. “We just have to listen.”
Restoring a Romantic-Era Acoustic with Ties to the U.S. Presidency
These before (left) and after (right) shots demonstrate only a fraction of the restoration process our columnist carried out.
This centuries-old instrument, which belonged to the daughter-in-law of President Andrew Jackson, has witnessed almost 200 years of American history.
We tend to think of “history” as something we read about or learn from our elders, rather than something we live and contribute to. I’ve often wondered if my great-uncle knew he was making history when, as a Mexican immigrant, he built the original Mickey Mouse guitar for Walt Disney in the early 1950s.
Last year, I was contacted by Jennifer Schmidt, the collections manager at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. They were seeking a grant with the hopes of restoring an acoustic guitar on the property. It was the guitar that was owned by Sarah Yorke Jackson, White House hostess and acting first lady of the United States from November 1834 to March 1837, and daughter-in-law to America’s seventh president, Andrew Jackson. The Hermitage is the historic home of President Andrew Jackson located in a neighborhood just east of metropolitan Nashville.
When I arrived at the home to inspect the guitar, it was leaning against a chair in the living room, in desperate need of repair. It had been “restored” previously by a violin luthier in 1983, and while their work helped sustain the shape of the instrument, there were many repairs that had been done incorrectly.
I quickly saw that this was going to be a combination of a restoration and preservation project. There was a history written up on the guitar, but I believe it to be incorrectly documented that the luthier was Cabasse-Visnaire l'Aîné, who worked in the Mirecourt region of France during the early 1800s. Despite bearing some similarities, later guitars that are credited to Cabasse-Visnaire have a different style in building.
Based on the design, I believe the instrument was crafted by Petitjean l'Aîné in 1817. Another luthier from the region, Didier Nicolas l'Aîné, was also active in that period, but there are differences in his building decisions that have led me to this belief. Didier was known for his one-piece maple backs on his guitars, while Petitjean l'Aîné was known for laminating the backs of his guitars, and this guitar has a spruce back with a laminate. He also built in a style that was complementary to Didier—a nice way of saying he appears to copy his style in headstock and design.
“I couldn’t stop thinking of the story this instrument could tell—all it had endured and been privy to, the suffering it witnessed and the joy it gave.”
This guitar is considered a “Romantic” guitar, made during the era of 1790 to 1830. It features a Norway spruce top, most likely harvested in the French alps. The fretboard is African ebony, with a 646 mm scale. The back is laminated spruce and the sides are rosewood, with the outer laminate appearing to be pearwood.
The guitar needed a great amount of work. The issues and repairs included top cracks, loose perfling and braces, bridge lifting, binding and inlay missing, separated back, missing and incorrect frets, neck reset, missing top-hat pegs, and, to top it off, a fretboard held on by Scotch tape. When the instrument was finally delivered to us, it took several months before I could clear my schedule to dedicate time to the repair. The repair itself took several weeks to complete, but I couldn’t stop thinking of the story this instrument could tell—all it had endured and been privy to, the suffering it witnessed and the joy it gave to either Sarah while she played it or the audience she may have played it for. As musicians, we all tend to think beyond just the physical attributes of a musical instrument. We use words like feel, touch, voice, warmth. We use these terms because the instrument is expressing something that we lack the words or ability to express without it.
This guitar lived through the formation of the Democratic Party, the origins of the Spoils System, and the Indian Removal Act, which created the Trail of Tears. All of the pain and suffering, as well as the victories and joys, that were absorbed into this instrument have shaped its sound and presence, and to think that it crossed my path, a first-generation Mexican-American born in the United States. I am honored at the opportunity to help preserve a small piece of our American history.
I have worked on countless instruments that have historic musical relevance, but this guitar was different. We have a tagline for Delgado Guitars: “Does your guitar have a story?” I created this tagline because I believe every person has a valuable and important story to tell. Now, I’m grateful to have helped preserve this amazing guitar for future generations to see as they visit the Hermitage. I even built a custom stand from wood that came from the property. You can see more of the steps in the restoration on our social media pages if interested, but if you find yourself in Nashville, please stop by the Hermitage and pay it a visit. It might inspire you to share your story.
PG contributor Zach Wish demos Orangewood's Juniper Live, an all-new parlor model developed with a rubber-lined saddle. The Juniper Live is built for a clean muted tone, modern functionality, and stage-ready performance.
Orangewood Juniper Live Acoustic Guitar
- Equipped with a high-output rail pickup (Alnico 5)
- Vintage-inspired design: trapeze tailpiece, double-bound body, 3-ply pickguard, and a cupcake knob
- Grover open-gear tuners for reliable performanceReinforced non-scalloped X bracing
- Headstock truss rod access, allowing for neck relief and adjustment
- Light gauge flatwound strings for added tonal textures
After decades of 250 road dates a year, Tab Benoit has earned a reputation for high-energy performances at clubs and festivals around the world.
After a 14-year break in making solo recordings, the Louisiana guitar hero returns to the bayou and re-emerges with a new album, the rock, soul, and Cajun-flavoredI Hear Thunder.
The words “honesty” and “authenticity” recur often during conversation with Tab Benoit, the Houma, Louisiana-born blues vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. They are the driving factors in the projects he chooses, and in his playing, singing, and compositions. Despite being acclaimed as a blues-guitar hero since his ’80s days as a teen prodigy playing at Tabby Thomas’ legendary, downhome Blues Box club in Baton Rouge, Benoit shuns the notion of stardom. Indeed, one might also add simplicity and consistency as other qualities he values, reflected in the roughly 250 shows a year he’s performed with his hard-driving trio for over two decades, except for the Covid shutdown.
On his new I Hear Thunder, Benoit still proudly plays the Fender Thinline Telecaster he purchased for $400 when he was making his debut album in Texas, 1992’s Nice & Warm. After that heralded release, his eclectic guitar work—which often echoes between classic blues-rock rumble-and-howl, the street-sweetened funk of New Orleans, and Memphis-fueled soul—helped Benoit win a long-term deal with Justice Records. But when the company folded in the late ’90s, his contract and catalog bounced from label to label.
Tab Benoit - "I Hear Thunder"
This bucked against Benoit’s strong desire to fully control his music—one reason he settled on the trio format early in his career. And although his 2011 album, Medicine, won three Blues Music Awards—the genre’s equivalent of Grammys—he stopped recording as a leader because he was bound by the stipulations of a record deal, now over, that he deemed untenable.
“I wanted to make records that reflected exactly how I sounded live and that were done as though we were playing a live concert,” Benoit says. “So, I formed my own label [Whiskey Bayou Records, with partner Reuben Williams] and signed artists whose music was, to me, the real deal, honest and straightforward. I couldn’t do anything on my own, but I could still continue putting out music that had a positive impact on the audience.”
Benoit’s new album, which includes Anders Osborne and George Porter Jr., was recorded in the studio at the guitarist’s home near the bayou in Houma, Louisiana.
Those artists include fellow rootsers Eric McFadden, Damon Fowler, Eric Johanson, Jeff McCarty, and Dash Rip Rock. Benoit also spent plenty of time pursuing his other passion: advocating for issues affecting Louisiana’s wetlands, including those around his native Houma. His 2004 album was titled Wetlands, and shortly after it was issued he founded the Voice of the Wetlands non-profit organization, and later assembled an all-star band that featured New Orleans-music MVPs Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, George Porter Jr., Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Vidacovich, Johnny Sansone, and Waylon Thibodeaux. This ensemble, the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars, has released multiple CDs and toured.
Essentially, Benoit comes from the bayous, and when it’s time to record, he goes back to them, and to the studio he has in Houma, which he refers to as “the camp.” That’s where I Hear Thunder came to life. “George and Anders came to me and said, ‘Let’s go make some music,” Benoit offers. “So, we went out to the camp. They had some songs—and George and Anders and I go back so many years it was really a treat to put everything together. It only took us a couple of days to do everything we needed to do.”
“George Porter and Anders Osborne and I saw this alligator sitting around the boat where we were writing the entire time. I guess he really liked the song.”
I Hear Thunder has become his first number one on Billboard’s blues chart. Besides the fiery-yet-tight and disciplined guitar work of Benoit and Osborne, the latter also an esteemed songwriter, the album features his longtime rhythm section of bassist Corey Duplechin and drummer Terence Higgins. Bass legend Porter appears on two tracks, “Little Queenie” and “I’m a Write That Down.” Throughout the album, Benoit sings and plays with soul and tremendous energy, plus he handled engineering, mixing, and production.
Once again, that ascribed to his aesthetic. “My main reason for taking on those extra duties was I wanted to make sure that this recording gives the audience kind of a preview of how we’re going to sound live,” he declares. “That’s one of the things that I truly don’t like about a lot of current recordings. I listen to them and then see those guys live and it’s like, ‘Hey, that doesn't sound like what was on the album.’ Play it once or twice and let’s run with it. Don’t overdo it to the point you kill the honesty. All the guys that I love—Lightnin’ Hopkins, Albert King—they played it once, and you better have the tape machine running because they’re only going to give it to you that one time. That’s the spontaneity that you want and need.
“One of the reasons I don’t use a lot of pedals and effects is because I hate gimmicks,” he continues. “ I’m playing for the audience the way that I feel, and my attitude is ‘Let’s plug into the guitar and let it rip. If I make a mistake, so be it. I’m not using Auto-Tune to try and get somebody’s vocal to seem perfect. You think John Lee Hooker cared about Auto-Tune? You’re cheating the audience when you do that stuff.”
Tab Benoit’s Gear
Benoit in 2024 with his trusty 1972 Fender Thinline Telecaster, purchased in 1992 for $400. Note that Benoit is a fingerstyle player.
Photo by Doug Hardesty
Guitar
- 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline
Amp
- Category 5 Tab Benoit 50-watt combo
Strings
- GHS Boomers (.011–.050)
The I Hear Thunder songs that particularly resonate include the explosive title track, the soulful “Why, Why” and the rollicking “Watching the Gators Roll In,” a song that directly reflected the album’s writing experience and environment. “George and Anders and I saw this alligator sitting around the boat where we were writing the entire time. I guess he really liked the song. He’d be swimming along and responding. That gave it some added punch.” As does Benoit and Osborne’s consistently dynamic guitar work. “I’m not one of these people who want to just run off a string of notes or do a lot of fast playing,” Benoit says. “It has to fit the song, the pace, and most of all, really express what I’m feeling at that particular moment. I think when the audience comes to a show and you play the songs off that album, you’ve got to make it real and make it honest.”
When asked whether he ever tires of touring, Benoit laughs and says, “Absolutely not. At every stop now I see a great mix of people who’ve been with us since the beginning, and then their children or sometimes even their grandchildren. When people come up to you and say how much they enjoy your music, it really does make you feel great. I’ve always seen the live concerts as a way of bringing some joy and happiness to people over a period of time, of helping them forget about whatever problems or issues they might have had coming in, and just to enjoy themselves. At the same time, I get a real thrill and joy from playing for them, and it’s something that I always want the band’s music to do—help bring some happiness and joy to everyone who hears our music.”
YouTube It
Hear Tab Benoit practice the art of slow, soulful, simmering blues on his new I Hear Thunder song “Overdue,” also featuring his well-worn 1972 Telecaster Thinline.