"I never cared what was cool, you know?" he says. That amp gave so much texture it's just so beautiful."Ĭonsidering Last Splash was recorded in an era awash in new and improved tech, you have to wonder what led Deal to err toward vintage kit. And this was before eBay and stuff, so you could go to a pawn shop and get stuff like that cheap. It's almost sneery and just such a cool pedal."īut the Marshall JCM800 wasn't the only amp Deal plugged into: "Oh! I had this beautiful Montgomery Ward Tube Tremolo, which sounded gorgeous. But I love the Boss Digital Delay it gives the guitar such a wonderful, sour, metallic sound. And I had an Ibanez Tube King, which I still have, too. "I had a Boss Digital Delay, which I still have on my ' board. "Oh, I was a kid in a candy store," Deal reflects. Considering Deal was backed by a Marshall amp known for its pedal-platform prowess, a bevy of tasty stompboxes beckoned at her feet. Of course, pedals were behind some of those "crazy noises". And again, I wasn't shredding, so I could play with feedback, crazy noises, and go into a room and make a racket." "The biggest thing was getting the mechanics of where to put my fingers down, which came pretty easily. If I had been someone who was sitting down and learning all of that for the first time, I think it would have been harder. "Īt this point, we remind Deal that she wasn't learning only guitar on the fly while recording Last Splash but also mandolin and lap steel, which was no small feat.Įver humble, Deal explains, "I may have been learning, but the concepts were not new to me. So, we always loved country, but not shitty country that sounds gross. Look at songs like Drivin' on 9 or Roi those are beautiful! But as far as what inspired me while we recorded Drivin' on 9, me and Kim were always into classic country, like Hank Williams. "Because we've always believed this band is an art rock band first. "I'm glad you mentioned that song," she beams. The Breeders in 1993 (Image credit: Kevin Westenberg) While many of Last Splash's tracks are riff-driven, it does host several gentler moments, such as Drivin' on 9, which Deal says is a perfect encapsulation of the Breeders' "art rock band mentality". It's not the version that ended up on Last Splash, but it will be part of the reissue we call it Divine Mascis." He ended up putting a vocal on it and some guitar. I remember we got stuck and ended up thinking, 'I wonder what J Mascis would do with this song,' and we sent it to him. "And I mentioned Divine Hammer before that song was a last-minute addition. "I remember Cannonball being one where I had to mute the strings," she says. I used the Strat on Last Splash but didn't get the Mustang until we were on tour."Īs Deal looks back on the Cannonball and Divine Hammer sessions, it's easy to forget she was a novice player while recording them. I also had a Fender Strat and a Mustang, like Kurt Cobain had – only mine is a weird blue color with a red tortoiseshell pickguard. I didn't record with it, but I did get it while on the Last Splash tour. I still thank God for that amp because it's so versatile."Īnd as far as guitars go, Deal says, "I still use the same Les Paul that I got in Philadelphia. I've been on tour and had access to other amps, but I always go back to my Marshall. I used that on Cannonball and most of Last Splash. "It was a Marshall JCM800, which is such a workhorse. "The gear we used is easy to recall because it's the same gear I still use today," Deal laughs. As for Kelley, she was focused on extracting the sounds from a host of tried-and-true gear. Of course, at the time, neither of the Deal sisters imagined the song would become so well-loved. "And then there was No Aloha, which was interesting because the hardest thing about that was making sure I landed on the right frets because, at that time, I didn't have much string control."Įlsewhere, in the Soon-To-Be-An-Indie-Anthem Department, songs like Cannonball were percolating. I'd play the mandolin part, and then our violinist, Carrie Bradley, would do a call-and-response with me. "If you look at a song like Divine Hammer, it's a conversation between the violin and the mandolin. "I knew what we were recording didn't require shredding, so I could take an approach centered around serving the song. "My thought was, 'If I can hum it, I can play it,'" Deal says. For Kelley Deal, no amount of experience or technique could compensate for the passion and foresight she brought to the band as the Breeders embarked on a journey to record what would become Last Splash.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |