In just five short years, two scorching albums, and hundreds of electrifying, shock-rock performances (think fake blood and straightjackets like Ozzy, Cooper, and Manson), Starcrawler has earned big-named fans like Elton John, Dave Grohl, Mike Campbell, and Ryan Adams. (The latter produced their 2018 self-titled debut featuring Beck's daughter Tuesday on the cover. Both of them are fans, too.)
Much of Starcrawler's glam-punk swagger is due to the peanut-butter-and-jelly relationship between singer Arrow de Wilde and guitarist Henri Cash. His prickly guitars and redlined Ramones rhythms flank her seething, sneering, sensual vocals making every second of Starcrawler's 28 minutes a gas. And most of it was done on three strings.
"Having three strings allows me to just play," admits Cash. "Half the strings, half the brain power [laughs]… I'm so used to the 3-string setup that it feels natural and I don't think about anything."
2019's follow-up Devour You maintained the daring Stooges' snarl, but incorporated slower tempos and B-Bender moans for the Let It Bleed-esque "No More Pennies" and dream-pop swirler "Born Asleep." The result is still an overall good-time ruckus, but the occasional change of pace makes the faster-paced uppercuts hit harder.
In between recording fresh material for Starcrawler and a new project, gear-gobbling guitarist Henri Cash virtually welcomed PG's Chris Kies into his L.A.-based tone zone.
In this episode, the sharp-dressed man shows off his main custom builds from Randy Parsons (including a 3-string ripper), induces serious gear lust with his collection of Fenders, Gretsches, and Gibsons, and shows off the degrees of burn bustling on his board.
Special thanks to Vice Cooler for all of Henri's video and photography.
[Brought to you by D'Addario Auto Lock Straps: https://ddar.io/AutoLockRR]3-String Parsons White Bat
Harlan Howard described country music as "three chords and the truth." For Starcrawler guitarist Henri Cash, it's "three strings and the power."
Above is Cash's custom-made, 3-string "White Bat" built by esteemed luthier Randy Parsons who has delivered jaw-dropping instruments for Jack White, Jimmy Page, and Joe Perry.
About four years ago, Cash first encountered the Seattle-based builder's work at a NAMM Show when his aunt—custom strapmaker Jodi Head—and Parsons were booth neighbors. Throughout the show, they bonded over music and unusual instruments. At the close, Randy offered to build Henri a custom White Bat model.
The key elements making it his dream machine (a cross of his beloved White Falcon and Randy's original Bat) would be the single TV Jones Power'Tron Plus (Cash only uses the bridge pickup in any guitar), a built-in R2R Treble Booster (approximating the onboard 9V boost found in late 1960s Gretsch Rally models), and a Bigsby vibrato (huge Neil Young fan). For this one, he actually uses partial sets of Ernie Ball Baritone Slinkys (.026–.036–.046).
Parsons White Bat
Here's a full-fledge, 6-string White Bat built by Randy Parsons. This one is chambered like the 3-string Bat and features all the same accoutrements. For his standard 6-strings, Henry goes with Ernie Ball Power Slinkys (.011–.048) for most guitars. (He puts Slinky .010s on his Les Pauls for "Skynyrd" bends.)
1980s Epiphone Les Paul
This 1980s Epiphone Les Paul is where all the 3-string raging started for Henri. His father is a musician and often plays in open tunings. He always tried to play his dad's instruments but couldn't quite grasp it until he broke the part of the Les Paul's bridge and saddles. Instead of taking it to his dad to fix, he removed the strings and quickly realized with the remaining top three strings (tuned to D–A–D), he could cop chords and compelling sounds.
His dad encouraged the musical pursuit knowing his son was a fan of other "mutated" players in the B-52s, Morphine, and The Presidents of the United States of America, but he did warn that if he was going to continue playing just three strings, he should move them further down the neck to balance out the tension. After that (and adding a Stones-y G–D–G tuning to his repertoire), Cash was off and riffing.
When schoolmate Arrow de Wilde approached Cash about playing guitar, he had only played drums and bass in previous bands, but he was interested and most of the early Starcrawler jams were written on this 3-string Epiphone.
1950s Gretsch 6130 Roundup
A recent addition to Cash's abundant collection is this 1950s Gretsch 6130 Roundup complete with the western motif and Dynasonic pickups.
Gretsch White Falcon
Another pivotal guitar used a bunch in the studio and onstage is this big, beautiful Gretsch White Falcon.
Fender Road Worn '50s Telecaster
Since getting it (and before falling for the Parsons), this Tele has probably logged the most hours by his side. He scooped this original-run Fender Road Worn '50s Telecaster at Imperial Vintage Guitars. It's worth noting that the original Road Worn relic'ing was relegated to just the neck, so all the body bruises and bashing has been added by Henri's hands. Starcrawler's 2018 self-titled debut featured mainly this Tele and the 3-string Parsons.
1970s Fender Telecaster Custom
When Ryan Adams produced the band's first album, Cash fell in love with his 1974 Fender Tele Custom. At the time, he couldn't afford a vintage guitar (so he settled for the previous Road Worn Telecaster), but after saving some scratch and lurking on eBay, he landed this (at the time) clean Tele Custom.
He deemed it his No. 1 before heading out to support Starcrawler, but at the first show it screeched and scratched because the pickups weren't potted and Cash plays with lots of volume and gain. He went to Welcome to Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar in Seattle to have it serviced, but still needing to play that night's show, they dropped in a temporary fix—a Lollar Special T. The replacement sounded so good that Henri left it and has the now-wax-potted original single-coil in the guitar's case.MIM Fender Classic Series Tele with B-Bender
Thanks to his uncle Brad Rice (who's played guitar for and collaborated with Keith Urban, Ryan Adams, Jason Boland, Will Hoge, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Whiskeytown, and Jack Ingram) and falling in love with the Clarence White-era Byrds, Cash specifically scored this tobacco sunburst MIM Fender Classic Series Tele so he could recreate White's Parson StringBender (now owned by Marty Stuart). He even added the Nudie sticker (above the neck pickup) and swapped out the stock tuners for banjo tuners. He recorded with it and plays it onstage for the songs "No More Pennies" and "Born Asleep."
Satellite Coronet
Some P-90 bark for the in-progress Starcrawler album was dished out by this Satellite Coronet that is now no longer in production because of a lawsuit issued by Gibson.
Custom Echopark Clarence
When opening for the Distillers, luthier Gabriel Currie gifted this custom Echopark Clarence model before a show in Detroit. A notable first happened with this T when Henri resuscitate it himself with a headstock repair while touring in Europe.
Kauer Banshee
If you share a house with another guitarist, you know where to go looking for your instruments when they go missing. Cash and his father play tag with this custom Kauer Banshee that howls with a single Lollar.
1966 Gibson SJN Country Western
Prior to the quarantine, Cash didn't have a suitable acoustic. And your roommates and neighbors can only take so much noise, so he scooped this 1966 Gibson SJN Country Western. Now it's one of his favorites: "Every time I sit down with it, I feel like I'm getting somewhere."
1950s Gibson LG-1
Cash's friend (and guitar sleuth) "fenderfinder" helped him land this 1950s Gibson LG-2.
Fender American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster
Originally a skeptic of the acoustic-electric hybrid, but after spending some time with the Fender American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster, Henri's a believer. He's enjoyed blending the acoustics and dialing up some Weezer-y dynamics.
Henri Cash's Wall of Amps
"Sound guys usually hate me," goofs Cash. "I typically tour with a Showman, Bandmaster, and Vibroverb … but they're only on the two or three!" For much of quarantine and this Rundown, Henri plugged into a Fender '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition and a 1959 Fender Vibrolux that an '80s punk painted red.
Henri Cash's Pedalboard
Most of Henri's pedals fit into one of two categories: mayhem and movement. The wild bunch includes a trifecta of EarthQuaker Devices (Bit Commander, Hoof, Park Fuzz Sound), R2R Electric One Knob Treble Booster, and DigiTech Drop. And for the some subtle gruff, he's got a Way Huge Red Llama. The modulation and time-based boxes are a MXR Carbon Copy, Strymon Flint, DOD FX60 Stereo Chorus, TC Electronic Shaker, and EQD Afterneath. A MXR Clone Looper is a practice tool, Strymon Qjai powers his pedals, a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner keeps his guitars in check, and a Lehle Dual SGoS Amp Switcher controls the Fenders.
- Rig Rundown - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell ... ›
- Rig Rundown: My Chemical Romance's Frank Iero - Premier Guitar ... ›
- Rig Rundown: Olivia Jean - Premier Guitar | The best guitar and ... ›
- Rig Rundown: My Chemical Romance's Frank Iero - Premier Guitar ›
- Rig Rundown: Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson & Cindy Cashdollar - Premier Guitar ›
- Rig Rundown - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell - Premier Guitar ›
- Rig Rundown - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell - Premier Guitar ›
Billy Gibbons is an undisputable guitar force whose feel, tone, and all-around vibe make him the highest level of hero. But that’s not to say he hasn’t made some odd choices in his career, like when ZZ Top re-recorded parts of their classic albums for CD release. And fans will argue which era of the band’s career is best. Some of us love drum machines and synths and others don’t, but we all love Billy.
This episode is sponsored by Magnatone
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
Released in 1983, the Roland SDE-3000 rackmount delay was a staple for pro players of the era and remains revered for its rich analog/digital hybrid sound and distinctive modulation. BOSS reimagined this retro classic in 2023 with the acclaimed SDE-3000D and SDE-3000EVH, two wide-format pedals with stereo sound, advanced features, and expanded connectivity. The SDE-3 brings the authentic SDE-3000 vibe to a streamlined BOSS compact, enhanced with innovative creative tools for every musical style. The SDE-3 delivers evocative delay sounds that drip with warmth and musicality. The efficient panel provides the primary controls of its vintage benchmark—including delay time, feedback, and independent rate and depth knobs for the modulation—plus additional knobs for expanded sonic potential.
A wide range of tones are available, from basic mono delays and ’80s-style mod/delay combos to moody textures for ambient, chill, and lo-fi music. Along with reproducing the SDE-3000's original mono sound, the SDE-3 includes a powerful Offset knob to create interesting tones with two simultaneous delays. With one simple control, the user can instantly add a second delay to the primary delay. This provides a wealth of mono and stereo colors not available with other delay pedals, including unique doubled sounds and timed dual delays with tap tempo control. The versatile SDE-3 provides output configurations to suit any stage or studio scenario.
Two stereo modes include discrete left/right delays and a panning option for ultra-wide sounds that move across the stereo field. Dry and effect-only signals can be sent to two amps for wet/dry setups, and the direct sound can be muted for studio mixing and parallel effect rigs. The SDE-3 offers numerous control options to enhance live and studio performances. Tap tempo mode is available with a press and hold of the pedal switch, while the TRS MIDI input can be used to sync the delay time with clock signals from DAWs, pedals, and drum machines. Optional external footswitches provide on-demand access to tap tempo and a hold function for on-the-fly looping. Alternately, an expression pedal can be used to control the Level, Feedback, and Time knobs for delay mix adjustment, wild pitch effects, and dramatic self-oscillation.
The new BOSS SDE-3 Dual Delay Pedal will be available for purchase at authorized U.S. BOSS retailers in October for $219.99. To learn more, visit www.boss.info.
English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock is as recognizable by tone, lyrics, and his vibrantly hued clothing choices as the sound of Miles Davis’ horn.
Itchycoo Park
“I like my songs, but I don’t necessarily think I’m the best singer of them,” he effaces to me over Zoom, as it’s approaching midnight where he’s staying in London. “I just wanted to be a singer-songwriter because that’s what Bob Dylan did. And I like to create; I’m happiest when I’m producing something. But my records are blueprints, really. They just show you what the song could be, but they’re not necessarily the best performance of them. Whereas if you listen to … oh, I don’t know, the great records of ’67, they actually sound like the best performances you could get.”
He mentions that particular year not offhandedly, but because that’s the theme of the conversation: He’s just released an album, 1967: Vacations in the Past, which is a collection of covers of songs released in 1967, and one original song—the title track. Boasting his takes on Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play,” and Small Faces’ “Itchycoo Park,” among eight other tracks, it serves as a sort of soundtrack or musical accompaniment to his new memoir, 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left.
Hitchcock, who was 14 years old and attending boarding school in England in 1967, describes how who he is today is encased in that period of his life, much like a mosquito in amber. But why share that with the world now?
In the mid ’70s, before he launched his solo career, Hitchcock was the leader of the psychedelic group the Soft Boys.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
“I’m 71; I’ve been alive quite a long time,” he shares. “If I want to leave a record of anything apart from all the songs I’ve written, now is a good time to do it. By writing about 1966 to ’67, I’m basically giving the context for Robyn Hitchcock, as Robyn Hitchcock then lived the rest of his life.”
Hopefully, I say, the publication of these works won’t ring as some sort of death knell for him.
“Well, it’s a relative death knell,” he replies. “But everyone’s on the conveyor belt. We all go over the edge. And none of our legacies are permanent. Even the plastic chairs and Coke bottles and stuff like that that we’re leaving behind.... In 10- or 20-thousand-years’ time, we’ll probably just be some weird, scummy layer on the great fruitcake of the Earth. But I suppose you do probably get to an age where you want to try and explain yourself, maybe to yourself. Maybe it’s me that needs to read the book, you know?”
“I’m basically giving the context for Robyn Hitchcock, as Robyn Hitchcock then lived the rest of his life.”
To counter his description of his songs above, I would say that Hitchcock’s performances on 1967: Vacations in the Past carve out their own deserved little planet in the vintage-rock Milky Way. I was excited in particular by some of his selections: the endorsement of foundational prog in the Procol Harum cover; the otherwise forgotten Traffic tune, “No Face, No Name and No Number,” off of Mr. Fantasy, the Mamas & the Papas’ nostalgic “San Francisco,” and of course, the aforementioned Floyd single. There’s also the lesser known “My White Bicycle” by Tomorrow and “I Can Hear the Grass Grow” by the Move, and the Hendrix B-side, “Burning of the Midnight Lamp.”
Through these recordings, Hitchcock pays homage to “that lovely time when people were inventing new strands of music, and they couldn’t define them,” he replies. “People didn’t really know what to call Pink Floyd. Was it jazz, or was it pop, or psychedelia, or freeform, or systems music?”
His renditions call to mind a cooking reduction, defined by Wikipedia as “the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture, such as a soup, sauce, wine, or juice, by simmering or boiling.” Hitchcock’s distinctive, classic folk-singer voice and steel-string-guided arrangements do just that to this iconic roster. There are some gentle twists and turns—Eastern-instrumental touches; subtly applied, ethereal delay and reverb, and the like—but nothing that should cloud the revived conduit to the listener’s memory of the originals.
And yet, here’s his review of his music, in general: “I hear [my songs] back and I think, ‘God, my voice is horrible! This is just … ugh! Why do I sing through my nose like that?’ And the answer is because Bob Dylan sang through his nose, you know. I was just singing through Bob Dylan’s nose, really.”
1967: Vacations in the Pastfeatures 11 covers of songs that were released in 1967, and one original song—the title track.
❦
“I wait for songs to come to me: They’re independent like cats, rather than like dogs who will faithfully trail you everywhere,” Hitchcock explains, sharing about his songwriting process. “All I can do is leave a plate of food out for the songs—in the form of my open mind—and hope they will appear in there, hungry for my neural pathways.”
Once he’s domesticated the wild idea, he says, “It’s important to remain as unselfconscious as possible in the [writing] process. If I start worrying about composing the next line, the embryonic song slips away from me. Often I’m left with a verse-and-a-half and an unresolved melody because my creation has lost its innocence and fled from my brain.
“[Then] there are times when creativity itself is simply not what’s called for: You just have to do some more living until the songs appear again. That’s as close as I can get to describing the process, which still, thankfully, remains mysterious to me after all this time.”
“In 10- or 20-thousand-years’ time, we’ll probably just be some weird, scummy layer on the great fruitcake of the Earth.”
In the prose of 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, Hitchcock expresses himself similarly to how he does so distinctively in his lyrics and speech. Amidst his tales of roughing his first experiences in the infamously ruthless environs of English boarding school, he shares an abundance of insight about his parents and upbringing, as well as a self-diagnosis of having Asperger’s syndrome—whose name is now gradually becoming adapted in modern lexicon to “low-support-needs” autism spectrum disorder. When I touch on the subject, he reaffirms the observation, and elaborates, “I think I probably am also OCD, whatever that means. I’ve always been obsessed with trying to get things in the right order.”
He relates an anecdote about his school days: “So, if I got out of lunch—‘Yippee! I’ve got three hours to dress like a hippie before they put me back in my school clothes. Oh damn, I’ve put the purple pants on, but actually, I should put the red ones on. No! I put the red ones on; it’s not good—I’ll put my jeans on.’
Robyn Hitchcock's Gear
Hitchcock in 1998, after embarking on the tour behind one of his earlier acoustic albums, Moss Elixir.
Guitars
- Two Fylde Olivia acoustics equipped with Sennheiser II lavalier mics (for touring)
- Larrivée acoustic
- Fender Telecaster
- Fender Stratocaster
Strings & Picks
- Elixir .011–.052 (acoustic)
- Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom .010–.054 (electric)
- Dunlop 1.0 mm
“I’d just get into a real state. And then the only thing that would do would be listening to Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart. There was something about Trout Mask that was so liberating that I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t care what trousers I’m wearing. This is just, whoa! This music is it.’”
With him having chosen to cover “See Emily Play,” a Syd Barrett composition, the conversation soon turns to the topic of the late, troubled songwriter. I comment, “It’s hard to listen to Syd’s solo records.... It’s weird that people enabled that. You can hear him losing his mind.”
“You can, but at the same time, the fact they enabled it means that these things did come out,” Robyn counters. “And he obviously had nothing else to give after that. So, at least, David Gilmour and the old Floyd guys.... It meant they gave the world those songs, which, although the performances are quite … rickety, quite fragile, they’re incredibly beautiful songs. There’s nothing forced about Barrett. He can only be himself.”
“There was something about Trout Mask Replica that was so liberating that I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t care what trousers I’m wearing. This is just, whoa!’”
I briefly compare Barrett to singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, and we agree there are some similarities. And then with a segue, ask, “When did you first fall in love with the guitar? Was it when you came home from boarding school and found the guitar your parents gifted you on your bed?”
Robyn pauses thoughtfully.“Ah, I think I liked the idea of the guitar probably around that time,” he shares. “I always used to draw men with guns. I’m not really macho, but I had a very kind of post-World War II upbringing where men were always carrying guns. And I thought, ‘Well, if he’s a man, he’s got to carry a gun.’ Then, around the age of 13, I swapped the gun for the guitar. And then every man I drew was carrying a guitar instead.”
Elaborating on getting his first 6-string, he says, “I had lessons from a man who had three fingers bent back from an industrial accident. He was a nice old man with whiskers, and he showed me how to get the guitar in tune and what the basic notes were. And then I got hold of a Bob Dylan songbook, and—‘Oh my gosh, I can play “Mr. Tambourine Man!”’ It was really fast—about 10 minutes between not being able to play anything, and suddenly being able to play songs by my heroes.”
❦
Hitchcock does me the kindness, during our atypically deep conversation—at least, for a press interview—of sharing more acute perceptions of his parents, and their own neurodivergence. Ultimately, he feels that his mother didn’t necessarily like him, but loved the idea of him—and that later in life, he came to better understand his lonely, depressive father. “My mother was protective but in an oddly cold way. People are like that,” he shares. “We just contain so many things that don’t make sense with each other: colors that you would not mix as a painter; themes you would not intermingle as a writer; characters you would not create.... We defy any sense of balance or harmony.
“Although the performances are quite rickety, quite fragile, they’re incredibly beautiful songs. There’s nothing forced about Barrett. He can only be himself.”
“The idea of normality.... ‘Normal’ is tautological,” he continues. “Nothing is normal. A belief in normality is an aberration. It’s a form of insanity, I think.
“It’s just hard for us to accept ourselves because we’re brought up with the myth of normality, and the myth of what people are supposed to be like gender-wise, sex-wise, and psychologically what we’re supposed to want. And in a way, some of that’s beginning to melt, now. But that probably just causes more confusion. It’s no wonder people like me want to live in 1967.”
YouTube It
In this excerpt from the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film of Robyn Hitchcock, Storefront Hitchcock, the songwriter performs an absurdist “upbeat” song about a man who dies of cancer.