I Cottr Guitar I
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I Cottr Guitar I The Bansheesdrew heavilyfrom HammerHorror films. with SiouxieSioux reinventingherself as a haughtypin-up. WhileJohn McKay delivered some angular chops on Hong Kong Garden,their finest momentswere with John McGeoch,who alsoserved time with Magazineand PiL, and died in March2004.'l lovedthe fact "l that I couldsay, want this to soundlike a horsefalling off a cliff", and he would know exactlywhat I meant,'Siouxie said. Armedwith a YamahaSG'1000, an MXR flangerand a YamahaE1005 Analog Delay,John McGeochset the tone for goth soundscaping. Barrellingin from anotherdimension altogetherwere Melbourneanchaos merchantsThe BirthdayParty. Their guitarist,Rowland Howard, was pliantin the midstof the onstagehurricane, coolly flickingout icy licksas frontman Nick Caveand derangedcowboy-basslst Tracy Pewattacked the audienceand each other in a drug-fuelledfrenzy. 'When we movedto Londonwe had 'The gUitars is you two recordsthat we playedall the time,' beauty of electric saysRowland, safely entrenched in original putpose to Melbourneagain. 'One was PiLsMetal Gandefeat their Box and the other was by The a hugpextent'- RourlandHoward Contortions.I always loathed bands like KillingJoke that were regardedas our peers,but I loved RichardLloyd from couldn't cope with the idea of Tracy to distort it without everythingturning to Television,and RobertQuine. They playinga baritoneguitar at all,which isa mush,and youjust couldn'tbe in the weren't obsessedwith techniques- they shame.because the resultswould have room, it was so unbelievablyoffensive. 'l were far more interestedin the sounds beenquite interesting.' think the beautyof electricAuitars is they were producing.' Despitethis friction, the bandwere you can defeattheir originalpurpose to a 'They're Rowlandwas producingsome unitedin their missionto let all hellbreak huge extent,' he reflects. very otherworldlysounds himself, even loosein the studio. mechanical,so you can get all thesekind 'lt though the onlyguitar he everused was seemedthat everynew song we of soundsby doingthings that were "l - a'63 FenderJaguar. learned,Nick would sayto me want neverintended to be doneon them 'My basicset-up was my FenderTwin you to playa reallyhorrible sound here, whereasyou can'tjust puncha pedalon with full reverb,an MXRDistortion Plus but it hasto be completelydifferent to all the sideand makea weird noise. and an MXRBlue Box, which is likean the other horriblesounds you've done",' Particularlywith FenderJaguars; they've 'Junkyard octavedivider that doesn't track properly Howard remembers. was a got bits of metal everywhere,so you can so you get all these reallystrange flawed experimentin that we were get a lot of soundsout of hittingthem on harmonics.That's how I kept my sustain looking for extremesof sound, but it just the strings,above the neck,below the going for so long; if you've got a lot of turnedinto this white noise.Just as on bridge,all that sort of stuff.' treble it's got a reallystrongly gated Re/easeThe Bats,we surroundedmy amp Theresulting cacophony certainly made effect that adds deep sustainto a note, with a tunnelof corrugatediron and then an impacton the Britishgoth scene.Nick 'peers' beforeending dead. Neil Young used it attachedcontact mics to it. I was running Cavewrote an appraisalof their in 'paper for the sofo in On Broadway.' the guitarthrough a 24-bandgraphic EQ the NME,labelling them tigersall'. Insteadof usinghis bootslike his bandmates,Howard would punishthe audiencefor its blankethostility by combiningsqualling feedback with whammy-barabuse - something drummer(and surrogate dad) Mick Harveywas none too pleasedabout. 'Mickwas appalledwhen I got a guitar with a whammy bar,' Howard chuckles. 'Hewas alwaystrying to laydown the law but in thosedays he didn't havethe creativeauthority to backit up, so Nick and Tracyand I were likethe naughty boysand Mickwould try and keepus in line. He went absolutelyspare when Tracy got a FenderBass Vl, and told him it was to be gotten rid of immediately - he just 'On a collegecampus in Leedsthere wasa big duelarranged by the students. Theyhad adjudicatorsand propergear, and it was heldin a big courtyardon the Sisters'home turf. Roccoended up whippingAndrew's arse - we didn't get any soundchecksafter that because Andrew'ssuch a bad loser...' Husseyobviously thought so,too, as afteran acrimonioussplit with Eldritchhe startedThe Mission, a nameallegedly pinchedfrom Andrew'sforthcoming album.Their 1986 debut, God's Own Medicine,was recordedwith the help of 'Pete a hefty dose of amphetamines. Burns put all the gilitars 'There'smore guitar orchestration on that recordthan on any of the others; through a sequencer,$o I became lotsand lotsof guitaroverdubs,' Hussey 'l - sayswryly. also usedto slow the tape redundant' I[/a5meHussey down to half soeeda lot so that when I put it backat the normalspeed it was an The SistersOf Mercywere particularly discoveredthat if you rana guitar octavehigher. You can't get the same crushedafter getting a dismissive throughit you get a gated"duh-duh- effect with any modern box or computer.' receptionfrom The BirthdayParty when duh" effect. Peteloved it. but insteadof Wayneand leadguitarist Simon Hinkler they supportedthem. usingit sparinglyhe went the whole hog were using the staplegoth effects- Formedin Leedsby the dark lord of and from then on all the guitarparts phaser,chorus and distortion- for a don't-call-me-goth,Andrew Eldritch, The endedup beingput in a sequencer,so I grand,doomy effect. Around that time I Sistersdrew from the theatricsof The becameredundant.' got a RolandGP8 rack, which was Damned,adding a dirty,distorted bass. The Sistersoffered WayneHussey a basicallyeight Bosspedals that you could GuitaristWayne Hussey came onboard in chanceto experimentguitar-wise, and for program.l've tried manythings over the 1984.and endowedthe bandwith more a whilethey coulddo no wrong - to years,but I alwaysgo backto that for live textures,including his trademark 12- most people,at least. music,'declares Wayne. stringacoustic. Thoroughly neglected 'We toured with the Sistersand I The band adopted a spaghettiwestern duringthe punkyears, acoustics were rememberWayne and Craigas beinga imageand addeda touch of Ennio makinga dramaticcomeback, with Gene coupleof basicnorthern lads,' Flesh For Morriconeto the windsweptguitars, LovesJezebel, All About Eve,Psychedelic Lulu'sNick Marsh wheezes. 'They'd sit quicklyaped by TheBolshoi and FieldsOf Fursand TheAlarm all introducinqthem thereand takethe mickeyfor halfan TheNephilim. They hit the stadiumtrail into the mix. hour:"Give us a go on your lipstick,then! with U2,and TheEdge's innovative style Priorto the Sisters,Hussey had drifted Lookat you - you looklike a right girlie!" rubbed off'on Wayne. 'l from bandto band beforehooking up Thenthat tour finishedand Wayne was listeningIo Joshualree a lot at with PeteBurns' rather'flamboyant' startedadopting the full look. the time,and I thought I wouldn't mind a project,Dead Or Alive.'When ljoined 'Our guitaristRocco Barker was a bit of that myself. I love With Or Without them theywere a goth band into The championfencer at school,'he continues, You, and Butterfly Wheel was my 'We Doors,'Hussey assures us. 'Then they on a roll.'He found out that Andrew emulationof that song,'he admits. startedlistening to a lot of gay disco Eldritchalso fenced, so he walked weremaking a bit more moneyby then, musicand it evolvedthat way.The onstageduring their soundcheckwith a so Simonwas usinga custom-built catalystwas I had a littleSH-101 synth I leatherglove, slapped it aroundAndrew's Zemaitisand I was usingGretsches, usedto playaround with, and I faceand threw it down, Starcasters,Les Pauls, 1 2-string acoustics, 55 I cottr Guitar I and of coursemy old Vox Teardropand GretschWhite Falcon... 'l had a guitarfrom FleshFor Lulu once,'he addsdarkly. 'They toured with us and I borrowedthis reallybeat-up, cheapthing, and they borroweda Telecasterfrom me. Duringthe courseof the tour I trashedtheir guitarso I ended up havingto let them keepthe Telecaster in returnfor this olankof wood.' Anotherband pioneering acoustics wereThe Alarm. Guitarist Dave Sharo was heavilyinto Woodstockfolk and British rockmusic. but it was hiscombination of electricand acousticguitars that gaveThe Alarmtheir organic,yet anthemicsound. Sharpripped the componentsout of a LesPaul and installedthem into his Epiphoneacoustic for a gnarliersound, and soupedup frontmanMike Peters' instrumentin a similarway Live,they'd use a hot-roddedMarshall, gettinginside the chassisand messing 'ln with the components the earlystages we useda lot of outboardequalisers, but eventuallyI found that reallygetting insidethe chassiswas the way to go,' he 'l says. wasworking with a greatamp It's not at all surprisingthat he was Marshfreely admits to owningthe doctor calledPeter Hartley, who'd been relieved- you candistinctly hear shades obligatoryBoss delay, flanger and chorus, modifyingamps since the earlydays of gf Cult'sclassic She Se//s Sanctua4u in The aswell as somemore curious beasts. Marshall.More or lessall throughThe Aarm's earliertrack. The Stand. 'Roccoused to havea Melostaoe echo AlarmI was usingmaster-volume 'l wasn'ttoo awareof them,' says with a littletape insideit that kept Marshallsconverted back to the same Sharp,'but we were rehearsingat a breaking,so he'd get a secondhand specsof the model1959 amp. lt studioat one pointand I happenedto cassettefrom Oxfamand take the taoe exploitedthe rhythmicstyle I playedwith, heara soundcoming from nextdoor. I from that. so there'dbe