Committing To The Song

Ali Handal Cuts Back the Blazing Solos to Focus on Composition.

- Michael Molenda

FOR YEARS, ALI HANDAL’S REPUTAtion has centered around her big riffs, burning yet melodic solos, and huge voice. But for her most recent album, That’s What She Said [Red Parlor], the rocker decided to take a little “quiet time.” Blame the Dobro.

“That gorgeous red/silver resonator influenced the character of the record, along with my Gibson SJ-200 acoustic,” she says. “As we started producing tracks, the Dobro’s rootsy, bluesy sound inspired us, and we kept using it on more songs.”

As a result, the album took a left turn from Handal’s rockier side, and charged down the singer/songwriter path. Electric solos were, for the most part, abandoned in favor of fastidiously crafted acoustic tunes—all of which brought forth the question, “How does a lead guitarist not solo?”

So “Rocker Ali” took a vacation for That’s What She Said?

Well, my mind tends to go to extremes. I had done full-on electric rock records, and this one was completely acoustic, so maybe I went too far in the direction of not playing flashy solos [laughs].

I’m curious how a guitar player who can rip decides to forgo solos on her own record?

I didn’t get where I wanted to be in my career. I didn’t become Orianthi. That’s what I wanted 20 years ago, and it never happened. People didn’t give a sh*t. And it occurred to me that people are way more interested in you when you have songs they remember. So I’ve really been focusing on songwriting the past few years, and I think the biggest strength of this record is that it has memorable songs.