“I WANTED TO take all of the sophistication out of it,” Paul Pigat says of Let’s Go!, the latest album by his rockabilly trio Cousin Harley. But few, if any, would call the disc’s 10 retro-rock scorchers unsophisticated. Pigat has a knack for crafting dazzlingly tight guitar solos that sit gemlike within well-honed songs that he dashes off with apparent ease.
“I took a little lesson from AC/DC on the solos for this record,” he says.
“And that’s to make the solo completely different from the rest of the song. Rather than just soloing over a verse or bridge progression, there’s a new harmonic change for the guitar solo. You haven’t heard anything like that so far in the song. AC/DC were always great at that.”
Pigat’s approach to the rockabilly idiom is adventurously eclectic, incorporating elements of everything from hard rock to Western swing. A doting Dutch fan dubbed them “The Motörhead of Rockabilly.”
“I’m not a purist by any means,” Pigat admits. “I’ve always been interested in taking the parts of American music that I love and mashing them together. Country, blues, rock... a little bit of everything in there. We’re still a country/rockabilly/rock ’n’ roll band, but the last few records were very Western swing. With Let’s Go!, however, I wanted to make another rock ’n’ roll record. So this one is getting back to our rock ’n’ roll roots and what we originally started with, which are raunchy and aggressive. But we kept a little country tinge to it too.”
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Kittie - Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara Mcleod discuss the canadian metal powerhouse's unexpected rebirth — by fire!
Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod explain that making new music was “not on their bingo card” when the band regrouped in 2022 for a few festival appearances, preferring to think of the sets as more of a “final lap” than a new beginning. But drilling into old favorites — whether the nu-flavored teenage slams of 1999’s Spit or the more venomously groove-thrashed tunes of their late-’00s period — revealed that despite not having raged together in years, there was something undeniably special about Kittie’s musical connection. “Playing with these girls is like putting on an old pair of pants,” Lander says. “It’s very comfortable — and it looks good too.”
McKinley James - Why all you really need is a guitar, a drummer and some serious low-end six-string skills
Nashville-based blues rocker McKinley James came flying out of the gate in 2022 with his Dan Auerbachproduced EP, Still Standing By. His momentum screeched to a halt, however, when his keyboardist split, leaving only him and his drummer, Jason Smay (who also happens to be his father). “For a moment, I was like, ‘What are we going to do?” James says. “But then I thought, ‘Well, other bands have succeeded as a duo. Maybe we can, too.”
TC Electronic TC 2290P Dynamic Digital Delay
THE MID EIGHTIES was a golden age for digital delay, thanks to the proliferation of pro- and studio-quality rack effects units from Eventide, Korg, Lexicon, Roland and Yamaha.
Danelectro Doubleneck
WHEN I THINK back to the Seventies, the famously coined “Me” decade, it seems the only surefire way you could leave audiences awestruck was to strap on a doubleneck guitar.
CARLOS ALOMAR
The former David Bowie guitarist talks Young Americans, Station to Station and the Berlin Trilogy, plus recording (and co-writing) \"Fame\" with John Lennon
GEORGE TERRY
It turns out Eric Clapton's Seventies guitarist (and co-writer of \"Lay Down Sally\") also played on ABBA's \"Voulez-Vous.\" Below, he looks back on a decade-plus of E.C., Bee Gees, Diana Ross and more
FRANK MARINO
The Mahogany Rush frontman charts the band's Seventies lows and highs, plus SG's, pickups and how he was definitely not visited by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix
DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT
The jazz/funk/fusion veteran on his smooth segue from Herbie Hancock sideman to full-on Funkdaledic member -plus his '70s gear and what he learned from Shuggie Otis
PAT TRAVERS
The Canadian-born virtuoso discusses the rise and fall of the Pat Travers Band, witnessing the U.K. punk revolution and the riotous roots of \"Snortin' Whiskey\"
JOE PERRY
The iconic guitarist looks back on Aerosmith in the Seventies, the decade that literally made and temporarily broke apart those Bad Boys from Boston
