Jim James and Carl Broemel of the Grammy-nominated My Morning Jacket talk about their treasured tape echo units, the musical magic that happens when you jettison logic, and how tracking live in an old gym helped them create their own universe on "Circuital".
Carl Broemel (left) and his duesenberg Starplayer tV collaborate in the studio with vocalist Jim James and his custom Breedlove Revival 000. Photo by Roderick Norman Trestrail II
Over the last decade, My Morning Jacket has proven itself to be perhaps the contemporary band most adept at absorbing and mixing country, folk, rock ānā roll, gospel, funk, and soul. So adept, in fact, that they were invited to open for Neil Young. And their Coachella and Bonnaroo performances over the last few years have been genuinely epic (their 35-song 2008 Bonnaroo set lasted four hours and featured guest appearances by Metallicaās Kirk Hammett and The Hangoverās Zach Galifianakis). Led by singer/guitarist Jim Jamesā falsetto hollers and smooth crooning, the Louisville, Kentucky, outfit has managed to consistently capture and distil the essence of American musical origins, as evidenced by everything from the raw, lo-fi raggedness of 1999ās The Tennessee Fire to 2008ās sultry, Grammy-nominated Evil Urges. The current lineupāfounders James and bassist Tom Blankenship, along with guitarist Carl Broemel, drummer Patrick Hallahan, and keyboardist Bo Kosterāhas been together since 2005ās Z, which happened to be the album when their heavy Americana leanings really burst forth. Coinciding with that subtle shift was a greater affinity for keys, soaring guitar breaks, and eclectic surprises such as the single āHighly Suspiciousāāwhich had a wah-fueled funk riff like something youād hear from Prince.
But MMJās latest album, Circuitalāwith its gentle fingerpicked passages, spacious echoes, gorgeous vocal harmonies, and winsome pedal-steel linesāmarks something of a return to the bandās roots, And itās no doubt due at least partially to a three-year break, during which many members of the band explored other musical outlets. James formed the super group Monsters of Folk (with singer-songwriter M. Ward, and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes) and recorded an EP of George Harrison covers under the name Yim Yames. Meanwhile, Broemel played on various sessions, including rockabilly star Wanda Jacksonās latest album, and Hallahan toured with the Black Keysā Dan Auerbach in support of his 2009 solo album Keep It Hid. Whatever the reason, Jacketās latest outing is more lushly atmospheric and acoustic-driven than their last two effortsāalthough there are some notable exceptions: āHoldinā on to Black Metalā has a Thai-soul sound, with funky horn stabs and electric piano grooves, while āYou Wanna Freak Outā features a gloriously fuzzed-out, square-tooth-filtered guitar solo.
āI feel like solo acoustic material has always been a part of MMJ,ā James says when asked if his stint in Monsters of Folk contributed to the sparser sound of Circuital. āOur records usually feature one or two tunes that are pretty simple. Iāve always liked taking a minute to boil it down and space out.ā A prime example of the sort of sound James is referring to is āWonderful (The Way I Feel)āāa hymn to simple pleasures that finds James indulging in twinkling acoustic arpeggios and intermittent string-section filigrees.
Broemel tracking Circuital with his duesenberg Starplayer TV and a Carr rambler head routed
through a top hat cabinet. Photo by Roderick Norman Trestrail II
Live at the Gymnasium
One of the more interestingāand kudos-deservingāthings about Circuital is that the vast majority of tracks were recorded live in a rather sonically unfriendly environment.
āThis was such a fun record to make,ā says James. āWe just set up in a beautiful old gym from the early 1900s and kept the gear real simpleājust our tape machine and some nice mics.ā
āWe discovered weāre innately happier there than in a proper recording studio,ā agrees Broemel. āItās fun to have no reason to look at a ticking clock or have to say āOh, the drums always sound great over hereāāto be in a space that doesnāt feel as if itās been used for what youāre using it for. We got some overdubs done in Brick and Stone Studios in Nashville, and I love it. Itās an amazing studioāso much equipmentā but they have pictures of the Beatles everywhere. When youāre trying to record your songs, you donāt want to look at pictures of the Beatles. Cāmon, itās a little intimidating! [Laughs.] In the gym, we were in our own universe, which is the best place for us.ā
Pedal-Steel Preparations
Another reason Circuital feels like a return to form for MMJ is because the albums prior to Broemelās arrival had a lot of pedal- steel playing. But apparently Broemel has spent the last four years training himself on the instrument, because it adds a familiarly soaring, classic-country vibe to āOutta My System,ā āHoldinā on to Black Metal,ā āYou Wanna Freak Outā and āMovinā Away.ā
James with his Gretsch Super Axe and a 3 Monkeys Orangutan half-stack at the Charter One
Pavillion in Chicago on August 17, 2010. Photo by Andy Keil
āI had always been curious about it,ā he admits. āI love country music and I love the sound of pedal steel, but I didnāt know how to play it, how it was set up, or even how many strings it had. I found a really great teacher and he gave me a couple of lessons and showed me how it relates to the guitar,ā explains Broemel. āThereās been so much amazing stuff done with it in country and swing and jazz, and I try to be conscious of thatābut Iām not trying to master it. I treat it more as an ambient thing. Iām just applying it to what we do and trying to make sounds that I feel like I havenāt heard yet. Now, sitting down and playing it is one of my favorite things about being in the band. Iām kind of a beginner, so I just use it for what I know I can pull off without falling on my face.ā
In addition to constituting a return to classic MMJ form, pedal steel also boosts Broemelās creativity on his main instrument. āI love the guitar, but sometimes you get burned out and go āI donāt even know what to do!ā When that happens, Iāll play pedal-steel guitar for a while, and having to think about the theory and how the instrument works and then going back to guitar helps me picture the fretboard differently. You get a different perspective.ā
A Lot of Gear for a āMinimalā Rig
Whether crafting eerie shimmers or slashing at minor chords with a reverb-drenched overdrive, Broemel has a surprising amount of gear for a man who says he likes to keep his setup minimal. One of his favorite new pieces is a German-made Duesenberg. āUntil this record, I used all Les Pauls, all the time. I bought a couple of Duesenberg guitars after the last recordāmy friend runs a studio in Indiana and he had a couple, including a 12-string that I used on a session there. So I bought the Double Cat 12-string, and then a guy from Duesenberg brought me a Starplayer TV, which is kind of their version of a Gibson ES-335 and has the Bigsby on itāand I love Bigsbys. Iāve always had Bigsbys on my favorite black Les Paul Standard, my main guitar. I used the Starplayer for the whole record, basically. The neckās a little bit longer scale than a Les Paul, and itās the only hollowbody I have. The older songs donāt feel right on the Duesenberg, but the newer songs do, so itās cool that an instrument is dictating how I play and making me play a little bit differently. Itās like a hi-fi, fancy guitarālike a BMW guitar. Itās too nice for me!ā he laughs.
Broemel and his Bigsby-outfitted 1988 Gibson Les Paul Standard at the Charter
One Pavillion in Chicago on August 17, 2010. Photo by Andy Keil
As for amps, Broemel says, āIāve always been partial to combos. Iāve always used pedals for overdrive, so I just look at whatās going to work live and be really flexible and play all the songs on it. But itās such a slippery slopeāyou can go chasing those zenith guitar sounds, but whatās the point? Do you want to sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan or just like Jimmy Page? Or Jimi Hendrix? I donāt really care about that. If it sounds like meāif thatās possibleāthen great. Iāve been using a Carr Rambler live, and I love that. I also have a couple of old Fenders. I have a Vibrasonic, as well, which I use for the pedal steelāitās a silverface with a 15" speaker.ā
James stuck to his tried-and-true guitars, including a 1999 Gibson Flying V and a Breedlove Revival Custom acoustic. Amps-wise, he waxes lyrical about a new discovery: āI have finally found an amp I love both on the road and in the studioā the 3 Monkeys Orangutan. It is unreal how versatile this amp sounds. It can truly do everything. I feel like Iām doing a product endorsement right now,ā he admits. āBut Iām really being serious. The amp sounds amazing and it looks beautiful, tooālike the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey or something. God bless that amp.ā
Given MMJās Americana emphasis, one would correctly surmise that James and Broemel donāt use a lot of strange effectsā though both have a wide selection of echo, reverb, and overdrive pedals. Indeed, Jacket seems to exist in a cloud of reverb, so the two guitaristsā attention in this area is no real surprise. But what might be surprising is the lack of full-on vintage love and the embrace of many new boutique stompboxes, including models from SIB, Z.Vex, EarthQuaker Devices, Malekko, Durham Electronics, and Boss.
James Howling as he grips his 1999 gibson flying V. Photo by Linda Park
That said, Broemel is pretty adamant about the necessity of one vintage-styled piece of signal-altering gear. āIāve got one of those Tube Tape Echos,ā he says of the treasured Fulltone unit he used on pretty much every Circuital song. āThat thing is unbelievable. That and great amps are all you need in the studio. I try not to use too much, thoughāonly what I need.ā
Finding a Balance
Another reason why Circuital sounds a little more reigned-in than some of MMJās recent albums is the more supportive role that the guitars play. Whereas past MMJ tunes like āGideon,ā āIt Beats 4 U,ā and āTouch Me Iām Going to Scream, Pt. 1ā had more central guitar refrains, this set is very much about delectable songs that create an irresistible mood.
āI feel the guitar is far more effective on record when itās used sparingly,ā James says, ābut live it translates very well and provides a lot of excitement. So, I try to find balance between those two worlds.ā
Here Broemel cuts in to add some context. āWe approach all the instruments equally. As much as we try to experiment and try to use keyboards or saxophones or something to pull the weight of the midrange where the guitar would typically go, a lot of times weād end up saying āYāknow, the guitar is the best thing there.āā
James on the prowl with a Normandy Guitars Archtop plugged into Carr rambler (left) and
Mesa/Boogie Tremoverb heads, each powering a Boogie 2x12, at a 2008 New Yearās eve
gig at Madison Square Gardens. Photo by Jackie Roman
As an example of the type of egalitarian musicianship thatās more prevalent on Circuital, one need look no further than the build-up of the opening track, āVictory Danceā: A gong and a heraldic electric-piano refrain lead into spoken-word vocals that slowly build to a crescendo of strings and sparse, slapback-tinged electrics that snap here and there before tremolo-goaded chords warble and swell into out-of-control feedback and the whole song gets sucked into a frenetic vortex of sound. But Broemel feels the title track has the albumās finest guitar spot: Clean, palm-muted electric arpeggios and Jamesā lilting voice set a lovely, optimistic mood before the choruses lift you a little higher with John Mellencamp-like acoustic splashes and bristling power-chord stabs, and then, more than five minutes into the seven-plus-minute song, Broemel and Hallahan ratchet up the pulse with crashing snare and cymbals, a bunch of Bigsby wobbling, soaring melodies, and a series of joyous descending double-stopsāall with impeccable tone that speaks volumes with a delectable minimalism.
āI consider that a flashy guitar soloā thatās the big guitar moment for me,ā Broemel says. āBeing flashy just isnāt that important to me. I remember thinking, āThereās plenty of space for me to play a solo in this song . . . I could do that and that and that.ā When we were done with the main tracks, everybody went, āI think weāre done,ā and I was like, āWait a minuteā I was just trying to get stuff together during that. That canāt be it!ā I was totally bummed. We finished that session, went home, reconvened, and tried to record the song again, but we just couldnāt redo itā Iād grown accustomed to the solo I played and I was like āThank God it is what it is!ā Jimās vocal vibe, the weird piano notes, all the things that happened in that momentā they canāt be replicated. I donāt think itās the most unbelievable guitar solo ever played, but itās something Iām glad we caught.
āAnd thatās been the huge lesson of this record,ā Broemel continues. āItās all about intent versus just letting it happen. If you try to play it well, itās terrible! If youāre just playing for the sake of playingāif you can somehow get to that place where you get something neat that you didnāt intend to doāthatās better than something you wouldāve come up with logically.ā
Broemel listens to the atmospheric kerrang of an 11th-fret power chord ringing out through
his ā88 Les Paul Standardās bridge pickup. Photo by Chris Schwegler
Carl Broemelās Gearbox
Guitars
Duesenberg Starplayer TV, Duesenberg Double Cat 6/12, 1988 Gibson Les Paul Standard with Bigsby, Gibson goldtop Les Paul with P-90s, reissue Gibson Les Paul Junior, GFI S-10 pedal-steel guitar
Amps
Carr Rambler, Carr Vincent, vintage Fender Vibrolux, vintage Fender Princeton Reverb, vintage Fender Vibrasonic (for pedal steel)
Effects
Keeley Compressor (two-knob), Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, Electro-Harmonix Freeze (āMy new favorite pedal!ā), Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Fulltone PlimSoul, Fulltone Tube Tape Echo, Durham Electronics Sex Drive, Eventide ModFactor, Eventide TimeFactor, SIB Mr Echo, Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, Hilton Volume Pedal (for pedal steel), Fulltone Fat-Boost (pedal steel), SIB Mr Echo (pedal steel), Boss DD-6 Digital Delay (pedal steel), Eventide ModFactor (pedal steel)
Strings and Picks
DāAddario EXL 115s (electric), Jim Dunlop Tortex .73 mm
Jim Jamesā Gearbox
Guitars
Custom 2008 Breedlove Revival 000, ā50s Martin 000, Gibson J-185, Gretsch Super Axe, 1999 Gibson Flying V, 1975 Fender Strat, two Gibson ES-335s
Amps
3 Monkeys Orangutan head and 2x12 cabinet, Mesa/Boogie Tremoverb head
Effects
Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, Boss RV-3 Digital Reverb/ Delay, Boss TU-2 Tuner, SIB Mr Echo, Z.Vex Box of Rock, Z.Vex Woolly Mammoth, EarthQuaker Devices Monarch overdrive, EarthQuaker Devices Ghost Echo, Malekko Spring Chicken reverb
Strings and Picks
DāAddario EXL115 sets (electric), and DāAddario EJ17 sets (acoustic), Jim Dunlop Tortex .88 mm
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J Mascis is well known for his legendary feats of volume.
J Mascis is well known for his legendary feats of volume. Just check out a photo of his rig to see an intimidating wall of amps pointed directly at the Dinosaur Jr. leaderās head. And though his loudness permeates all that he does and has helped cement his reputation, thereās a lot more to his playing.
On this episode of 100 Guitarists, weāre looking at each phase of the trioās long career. How many pedals does J use to get his sound? Whatās his best documented use of a flanger? How does his version of āMaggot Brainā (recorded with bassist Mike Watt) compare to Eddie Hazelās? And were you as surprised as we were when Fender released a J Mascis signature Tele?
Editorial Director Ted Drozdowskiās current favorite noisemakers.
Premier Guitarās edit staff shares their favorite fuzz units and how and when they use them.
Premier Guitarās editors use their favorite fuzz pedals in countless ways. At any point during our waking hours, one of us could be turned on, plugged in, and fuzzed outāchasing a Sabbath riff, tracking menacing drone ambience, fire-branding a solo break with a psychedelic blast, or something else altogether more deranged. As any PGreader knows, there are nearly infinite paths to these destinations and almost as many fuzz boxes to travel with. Germanium, silicon, 2-transistor, 4-transistor, 6-transistor, octave, multimode, modern, and caveman-stupid: Almost all of these fuzz types are represented among our own faves, which are presented here as inspiration, and launch pads for your own rocket rides to the Fuzz-o-sphere.
Ted Drozdowski - Editorial Director
My favorite is my Burns Buzz, a stomp custom-made for me by Gary Kibler of Big Knob Pedals. Gary specializes in recreations of old circuits, and this Burns Buzzaround-inspired box has four germanium NOS transistors and sounds beautifully gnarly. It improves on the original, which Robert Fripp favored in early King Crimson, by adding a volume control. I went a little stir-crazy acquiring fuzzes during Covid lockdown and now have an embarrassing amount. My other current darlings are a SoloDallas Orbiter (which balances fuzz with core-signal clarity), a Joe Gore Duh (a no-nonsense, 1-knob dirt shoveler), and my Big Knob Tone Blender MkII 66, which taught me how smooth and creamy fuzz can be with carefully calibrated settings. These pedals allow me to cover all of my favorite fuzz sounds from the past 60 years. I do have one more secret weapon fuzz that only travels to the studio: an original Maestro FZ-1 that I picked up used for about $20 in the early ā90s. Itās banged up but functional, takes two 9V batteries, and is righteously juicy.
Nick Millevoi - Senior Editor
The two greatest fuzzes Iāve ever played are a Pigdog Tone Bender build and a Paul Trombetta Bone Machine. Both experiences will stick with me for decades to come. But creations by those two masters of fuzz come with a price tag high enough to keep my time with those pedals fleeting.
Instead, my favorite fuzz is an inexpensive, mass-produced pedal that hasnāt left my board since I reviewed and subsequently purchased it in 2021: the Electro-Harmonix Ripped Speaker, designed to emulate the distorted tones on ā50s and ā60s records that were created with broken or misused gear.
Retro inspiration is not all it has to offer though. The rip knob, which controls transistor bias, is the star of the show, interacting with the fuzz level to deliver everything from a smooth, mild fuzz to sputtery mayhem that can evoke a faulty channel strip or old tube combo thatās been set ablaze. I prefer to crank the rip knob and feed it to a phaser and slapback analog delay, which gives me a bit-crushed-like gnarliness. Pull back on the rip or add a boost in front of the pedal, and it has a more organic but still gated sound, which, for me, can be just the thing to set my sound apart in a more traditional setting.
For a cool $116, the Ripped Speaker, which seems to fly under most fuzz freaksā radars, might be the special something that complements the rest of your board or just a tone you turn to on occasion. Either way, itās a great deal.
Luke Ottenhof - Assistant Editor
You could give me the most powerful-sounding fuzz in the world, but if it was in a stupid-looking enclosure, I donāt know if Iād give it a second look. This is just how we operate: Vision is the sense we privilege most, even in matters of audio.
Luckily, the most seismic, monstrous fuzz Iāve ever heard also happens to come in a beautiful package. The Mile End Effects Kollaps, built by Justin Cober in Montreal, measures an elephantine 7 3/8" x 4 5/8" x 1 1/2", and its MuTron-meets-ā60s-Soviet aesthetic matches the sounds its guts produce. The Kollaps is modeled after the nasty Univox Super-Fuzz circuit, and carries a few of that pedalās hallmarks, including its use of germanium diodes and midrange boost control. Cober added a switchable Baxandall active EQ circuit, with up to 12 dB of boost and cut to both low and high frequencies. Coupled with the mid-boost toggle, this gives the Kollaps a shockingly broad range of tonality to play with.With the mids off, the Kollaps is jagged and ruthless, a deafening turbojet of upper mids and chest-vibrating lows that yanks me toward the darker, less commercially successful corners of ā90s doom and noise rock. Kicking on the EQ circuit and boosting the lows turns it titanic. With the balance (volume) and expand (gain) controls maxed, the Kollaps starts to live up to its name, crumbling into a thick, overextended chaos in a way more polite fuzz circuits rarely do.
My favorite Kollaps sounds occur when the mids are engaged, for an articulate, deeply textured fuzz sound that retains your attack. Playing with your guitarās volume knob, you can coax a range of EQ profiles and take advantage of the upper- and lower-octave content in the fuzz. With guitar volume lower, you can access some unbelievably emotive and sensitive sounds that still teeter on the edge of chaos and violence. Itās a rich, volatile circuit that gets as close as Iāve heard to a sound and physical feeling Iād call āplanet-destroying.ā
Charles Saufley - Gear Editor
My first fuzz, A Sovtek Big Muff, remains tied for first place among many favorites. The pedalās most famous virtuesācorpulence and sustaināare among the reasons I treasure it. But the way the Sovtek pairs with a Rickenbacker 330 and Fender Jaguar, which were once my two primary guitars for performance and recording, made it invaluable in various projects for a long time. Neither the Ricky nor the Jag are sustain machines, but the wailing mass of theBig Muff makes their focused voices an assetāinspiring tight, concise fuzz phrases, hooks, and riffs as well as articulate chords.
A silicon Fuzzrite clone built by good pal Jesse Trbovich (long-time member ofKurt Vileās Violators) runs second place to the Sovtek in terms of tenure, and is a very different fuzz. Itās a piercing, hyper-buzzy thing, but a perfect match for a squishy 1960s Fender Bassman head and 2x12 I adore. Perversely, I sometimes couple it with a Death By Audio Thee Ffuzz Warr Overload or Wattson FY-6 Shin-Ei Super-Fuzz clone. These tandems create chaos and chance, but sing loud and melodiously tooāat least when Iām not intentionally bathing in feedback. The Jext Telez Buzz Tone, a clone of the mid-ā60s Selmer circuit, is often my go-to now. Itās a low-gain affair compared to the other fuzzes here, and I use it in its even-lower-gain (and vintage-correct) 3-volt setting. Itās pretty noisy, but it is thick, dynamic, detailed, raunchy, and plenty trashy when the occasion demands it. Itās also a very cool overdrive when you back off the gas.Jason Shadrick - Managing Editor
I rarely need fuzz in my everyday gigs, but it's one of the most fun effects to explore when I'm noodling around. At a NAMM show a few years ago I plugged into Mythos' Argo and as soon as I hit a note my eyes lit up. The sound of the fuzz wasn't unwieldy or hard to manage. It gave me the illusion of control while the octave was the magic dust on top. I knew right then I wasn't leaving the show without one. After I spent some time with it, I became enamored by how much more the Argo can do.
It's inspired by the Prescription Electronics C.O.B. (Clean Octave Blend), so the control set is similar. The octave is always present in the signal path, but you can dial it out with the blend knob. The fuzz and volume knobs are self explanatory, but dialing the fuzz and octave knobs all the way down gives you a killer boost pedal. I find my favorite settings are at the extremes of the fuzz and blend ranges. Typically, both are either all the way up or all the way down. Another great experiment is to turn the fuzz down and then pair it with a separate drive pedal. And in octave mode, Argo is one of those pedals that inspires you to head directly for the neck pickup and stay above the 12th fret.
Columnist Janek Gwizdala with heroes Dennis Chambers (left) and Mike Stern (right).
Keeping your gigging commitments can be tough, especially when faced with a call from a hero. But itās always the right choice.
Saying āyes!ā to everything early on has put me in a place now where I can say no to almost everything and still be okay. That wasnāt without its challenges. Iād like to share a story about a āyesā that would haunt me for years.
As bass players, we can, if we choose, quite easily find ourselves in a wide variety of situations without having to change much about our sound or our playing. If your time is good and youāre able to help those around you feel good and sound better, the telephone will pretty much always ring.
Playing jazz as an electric-bass player living in New York City from 2000 to 2010 was somewhat of a foolās errand in terms of getting work. No one wanted electric bass, and bandleaders would go to the bottom of a list of 100 upright players before they would even think about calling you. Not only that, but I wasnāt even at the top of the electric list when I first moved there. Not even close. Anthony Jackson, Richard Bona, Will Lee, Tim Lefebvre, James Genus, Lincoln Goines, Mike Pope, John Benitez, Matthew Garrisonāthatās a whoās who of the instrument when I first moved to town, and I was very much a freshman with almost no experience. Almostā¦
Iād been lucky enough to play extensively with Kenwood Dennard (Jacoās drummer), and a little with Hiram Bullock (Jacoās guitarist) before moving to NYC which helped create a little momentum, but only a VERY little.
This is where the story begins:
Iād sent Mike Stern a demo back in late ā97. Heād not only taken the time to listen to it but had called my parentsā house right after I moved to the U.S. to tell me he loved it and wanted to hang. I missed the call but eventually met him at a clinic he gave at Berklee.
Of course, I was buzzing about all of this. It helped me stay laser-focused on practice and on moving to NYC as soon as possible. I got the typical ālook me up when you get to townā invitation from Stern and basically counted the seconds through the three semesters I stayed at Berklee until I could split town.
I arrived with a ton of confidence but zero gigs. And nothing happened overnight. It really took saying yes to literally everything I was offered just to keep a roof over my head. Through that process, I felt like I was getting further away from playing with my jazz heroes.
The early gigs were far from glamorousālong hours, terrible pay, and sometimes, after travel expenses, they cost me money to play.
āWhenever I have a single moment of doubt, I think about the time I had to say no to my heroesāthe reasons I moved to America, the reason I do what I do.ā
When Stern finally called, a few years into living in NYC, things started to move pretty quickly. I began playing a lot of gigs at the 55 Bar with him, and short road trips became a thingāa four-night stint at Arturo Sandovalās new club in Miami, gigs in Chicago, Cleveland, and upstate New York, and then some international work, including a tour of Mexico and a trip to Brazil, if I remember right.
But the hardest phone call of my career came from Mike not long into my time touring with him. It went something like this:
āHey man, whatās your scene in April? Lincoln canāt make a trip to the West Coast. Itās just one gig. Trio⦠with DENNIS CHAMBERS.ā
Mike didnāt shout Dennisā name, but thatās how I heard it. My all-time hero. Someone Iād been dreaming about playing with for over 15 years. And hereās the kicker: I had to say no.
Iād just committed to six weeks with Jojo Mayerās band Nerve in Asia and Europe, and there was no way I could bail on him. And there was no way I could afford to ditch six weeks of work for a single gig with Mike. To say that haunted me for years is an understatement. I was destroyed that I had to turn it down.
The tour with Jojo was amazingāthe posters hang in my studio as a reminder of those times to this day. And thankfully, I was able to go on some years later and play dozens of shows with Mike and Dennis all over the worldātruly some of the highlights of my career.
I still think about that phone call, though. Whenever I have a single moment of doubt, I think about the time I had to say no to my heroesāthe reasons I moved to America, the reason I do what I do. I get emotional writing and thinking about it even now. But I've learned to never have regrets and understand you just have to believe in the process and maintain the willpower to continueāno matter what.