Photo by Simone Cecchetti
“I thought it was about time I stopped helping other people with their careers and got on with mine,” laughs Dave Kilminster about the motivation behind his 2007 debut album, Scarlet. After playing the role of über-sideman to a list of rock royalty that includes John Wetton, Keith Emerson, and most notably Roger Waters, Kilminster stepped out on his own with a tight collection of tuneful originals. During a break from Waters’ seemingly never-ending touring production of The Wall, Kilminster decided to revisit Scarlet. “When I finally got time to go back and look at it, I realized it deserved a lot more. So I went back in the studio and had a fiddle with it with a good friend of mine, Jamie Humphries, who is a great guitarist, and we ended up with The Director’s Cut.”
Sonically, the original version was missing something. The drum sound didn’t match Kilminster’s vision, and that led him to strip away some unessential elements and make the album sound more focused. “It was almost like there was a great sounding album underneath all this crap on top of it,” says Kilminster. “When I took the recording to Jamie, he made the drums sound like they should have in the first place. Then I did a few extra vocal harmonies. We were rushed in those initial sessions and I wasn’t particularly confident about singing, but this time Jamie just told me to go for it.”
The entire Scarlet experience gave Kilminster what ended up as a grad school education in following your creative muse and not settling for a lackluster sound in the final product. “You learn a lot by just throwing yourself in the deep end and that’s what I did,” recalls Kilminster. “Everything just took a little longer than I wanted it to.”
But not everything about Scarlet was a total miss. Very early on in the process, after a day of jamming in preparation for a Keith Emerson tour, Kilminster decided to skip the traditional building-block method of recording an album and focus instead on capturing the trio’s live feel. “I listened to that recording when I was going home and realized this is what’s missing—three people playing together live.”
That in-the-room-energy permeates The Director’s Cut, from the slinky funk-rock groove of “Static” to the Zep-meets-power-pop feel of “Liar, Liar.” The latter features some of the most fluid, shred-tastic soloing that Kilminster has ever done.
“I’m not a big fan of effects on overdriven sounds. When I do the ‘Comfortably Numb’ solo with Roger, I put on this
chorus to try and make it sound a bit more like the record, and I always hate doing it,” says Kilminster. Photo by
Ronald Santerre
Even though the production might have gotten a little out of hand, Kilminster’s guitar rig was about as simple as you can get. His main tools were a black ’74 Fender Telecaster and a limited edition Vox AC30.
“I wasn’t quite sure what we were going for—maybe I was still in my Jeff Buckley phase, to be honest,” says Kilminster. “Later when I went back, I decided that the clean bits weren’t clean enough and the overdriven bits weren’t heavy enough.”
That desire for more dynamics led Kilminster to shun many effects—especially for his dirtier sounds. “I’m not a big fan of effects on overdriven sounds. When I do the ‘Comfortably Numb’ solo with Roger, I put on this chorus to try and make it sound a bit more like the record and I always hate adding it.”
Kilminster’s usual recipe for stellar tone involves a great guitar and a great amp. Even a delay doesn’t interest him. “The first time I ever used a delay on a guitar solo was when I started playing with Roger. It wasn’t something I particularly wanted to do.”
With the entire Scarlet experience behind him, Kilminster began working on his next solo album this past December, but the opportunity to participate in the “12-12-12” Hurricane Sandy benefit at Madison Square Garden conflicted with his recording dates. While preparing for his new solo project, Kilminster took some radical steps to reinvigorate his writing and playing.
“Why is it that most guitarists write their best material in their early-to-mid 20s? I wonder if it’s to do with the fact that you are still learning the instrument. You’re still messing around and not really quite sure what you are doing and you stumble across these great sounding things. How could I unlearn the guitar quickly?”
The notion of “unlearning” the guitar inspired Kilminster to explore an entirely new tuning. After a few tweaks of the tuning pegs, he landed on C–G–D– G–A–D, a tuning firmly in the DADGAD family, but with some added low-end thump.
Dave Kilminster's Gear
Guitars
1974 Fender Telecaster, Suhr Custom “Rose”
Amps
Vox AC30 Limited Edition, Brunetti Mercury
Effects
Suhr Riot, Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble, Ernie Ball 6166 volume pedal, Eventide TimeFactor, Boss TU-3 chromatic tuner
Strings, Picks, and Accessories
D’Addario EXL110 .010-.046 strings, Dunlop Gator Grip 2.0 mm picks
“I just thought this was so exciting to come up with a tuning where I had no idea what I was doing,” says Kilminster. The original idea was to use this new discovery for the main rhythm parts, but then move over to the comfortable surroundings of standard tuning for the solos, but Kilminster hasn’t yet made the final decision. “I could be totally shooting myself in the foot with this. Do I really want to relearn all my modes, scales, and arpeggio shapes?”
With a summer European tour with Roger Waters on the books, Kilminster is hoping to not only finish a new solo album, but also pair up with master shredder Guthrie Govan for a duo album that will certainly grab the attention of guitar nerds on both sides of the Atlantic. “I’ve actually written some tunes for that because I really, really, really want to do it,” he says. “Hopefully, if time permits, we could be in the studio around October. When we play together there’s this kind of ESP thing that happens and it’s so much fun. It needs to get down on vinyl, or plastic, or whatever.”
Snowy White
Guitars
White has had his main guitar, a 1957 Les Paul Goldtop, for 40 years. He says it's a "fantastic guitar, stays in tune, sings on every fret." Despite being a vintage instrument, White treats it like any workhorse guitar: If something needs changing, he'll do it. The guitar has been rewired, refretted, and has new tuners.
Amps
White uses a pair of newer Vox AC30s with Master Volume. He sets them for a little bit of breakup on the amp itself, but still with a fairly clean tone. He mostly uses one combo, but kicks in a second AC30 for solos and powerful rhythm work.
Pedals
White uses an Ernie Ball VP JR, Boss BD-3 Blues Driver for most of his distortion, a Boss OD-3 Overdrive in conjunction with his Boss GE-7 Graphic Equalizer to dial in what they call "Snowy's Note," a long-sustaining section of a solo that's tuned to the sweet spot based on the room each night, a Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble used as a chorus pedal to add thickness to solos, and a Line 6 M9 Stompbox Modeler used for echos and chorus. Also on the board is a Boss TU-2 Tuner and Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus power supply. Off to the side of the board is a Boss PSM-5 power supply and master switch pedal (like all players in the show have), which is used to control the rackmounted delays.
Page 1: Snowy White - Page 2: GE Smith - Page 3: Dave Kilminster - Page 4: Roger Waters
GE Smith
Guitars
In the guitar boat is an all-original 1951 Fender P-bass used for more song-oriented parts, a Fender fretless bass with Seymour Duncan pickups for "Hey You,"
a 1962 ES-335 that he's used throughout his career and is stock other than a refret, a "parts" Tele (with a '63 body and pickups, '68 neck, and an Epiphone mini-humbucker set closer to the bridge for a nasty in-between sound used for slide), and a prototype and production models of his Fender G.E. Smith Signature Telecaster. Not pictured is a stock black Fender Precision Bass used for front-of-stage songs, where all of the instruments must be black.
Amps
Smith uses a 50-watt Marshall head (the second is a backup), "set loud with no treble" through an old Mesa 4x12 with original speakers. The cabinet is configured with the top two speakers open-back and bottom two closed, which he likes because it sounds like two 2x12s.
Pedals
Smith uses the Radial Tonebone JX-2 Pro as a clean boost, Boss CE-2 Chorus, MXR Carbon Copy Delay, Seymour Duncan Deja Vu delay, and Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Blue (set to Rhythm for lighter overdrive). He switches delays through the show depending upon the intensity needed. The Carbon Copy is used earlier on for its more organic, analog tone. He uses a Korg Pitchblack tuner for both guitar and bass, and like the other guitarists on the show, uses a Boss PSM-5 power supply and master switch to control the rackmounted TC Electronic delays for "Another Brick in the Wall."
Page 1: Snowy White - Page 2: GE Smith - Page 3: Dave Kilminster - Page 4: Roger Waters
Dave Kilminster
Guitars
Nicknamed "Rose," Kilminster's main guitar is used for most of the show's electric parts other than in "Hey You." It has a swamp ash body with a maple neck, a Seymour Duncan Custom bridge pickup, Suhr Fletcher Landau single-coils, and a Suhr tremolo and tuners which are now out of production.
Amps
Kilminster uses a duo of 50-watt Mercury amps. Brunetti added a wattage switch for him so he could run them at 20-watts, which Kilminster still describes as, "ridiculously loud." He EQs the amps fairly flat and uses both heads in stereo.
Pedals
Dave uses an Eventide TimeFactor, Boss CE-2 Chorus Ensemble, Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, Suhr Riot distortion, Wah, Ernie Ball VP JR, and Boss TU-2 Tuner, as well as a Boss PSM-5 power supply and master switch pedal, which is used to control the rackmounted delays.
Page 1: Snowy White - Page 2: GE Smith - Page 3: Dave Kilminster - Page 4: Roger Waters
Roger Waters
Basses
His main instrument since the 1970s, Waters uses this P-bass for all of his bass parts on the show. It's the model his signature model is based on. He uses Rotosound 66 strings. Waters keeps a clone of this guitar made by the Fender Custom Shop as a backup and he also has a clone with a rosewood neck that's used only for the front of the stage, where the instruments are supposed to be dark.
Amps
Waters uses an Ampeg SVT-6 Pro, with one spare, through three 4x10 cabs rewired to 8 ohms (two running with one spare). The same system is used throughout the Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall tours.
Effects
This is Waters' original Pete Cornish-built board that was built for him just before the original Wall album in 1980. It's kept in the back and controlled by his guitar tech. While he used to use the phaser and echo, he now primarily uses the Bassballs circuit as the delays are controlled via rackmounted TC Electronic units.
