SIXTY SECONDS WITH...
A minute’s all it takes to find out what makes a great guitarist tick. Before he jumped into his limo for the airport we grabbed a quick chat with Janus Stark and ex-Prodigy guitarist, Gizz Butt.
Janus Stark and ex-Prodigy guitarist Gizz Butt.
GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without?
GB: Janus Stark have our own Jim Dunlop Tortex 1.14mm picks!
GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be?
GB: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Boss Chromatic Stage Tuner and Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, but if I was playing through a borrowed amp with only one or two channels then I’d sacrifice the NS-2 for an MXR Line Driver to boost those solos.
GT: Do you play another instrument well enough to be in a band, and if so have you ever done it?
GB: I’ve played bass guitar in Sabbat, Andy Sneap’s thrash metal band. We’re best mates and he mastered the new Janus Stark album. I’m very proud of him.
GT: If a music chart were put in front of you, could you read it?
GB: Yes because I teach grade 8 students, but I’ve had Georgia On My Mind with no chord names or tab put in front of me and that was an absolute bastard!
GT: Do guitar cables really make a difference? What make are yours?
GB: You want to bet! Don’t buy the cheapest because they’re crap. I use Custom Lynx with Neutrik angled jacks.
GT: Is there anyone’s playing (past or present) that you’re slightly jealous of?
GB: When I first heard and saw Eddie Van Halen it really kicked me into touch. I realised that I was only at the beginning and I was nowhere near as good as what I kept telling people.
GT: Your house/studio is burning down: which guitar do you salvage?
GB: I have a one-off custom-made Ibanez GAX which the Ibanez Yoshinio factory made for me in my Prodigy days and I’ve used it on every recording. It sounds like a cross between a Les Paul and a Flying V. Really unique tone.
GT: What’s your favourite amp and how do you set it?
GB: I have a fantastic JVM 410 H 100-watt head which is like four amazing Marshall heads all in one. The lead tone of OD2 is pure Gary Moore. Bass 3pm , Middle 11am , Treble 11am Gain on full – in the Green mode. The Green and Orange modes of OD1 are my favourite for rhythms. I generally up the bass slightly, drop the mid and treble slightly and crank the gains but it depends on the venue.
GT: What kind of action do you like to have on your guitars?
GB: I have it set around 1.8 mm on the thick strings and 1.1 mm on the thin. I have to be able to bend those strings without them choking and I like some resistance but I ain’t no masochist. I’ve split my fingernail skin many, many times. Ouch!
GT: What strings do you use?
GB: Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkys are the perfect
Eb all-rounders for playing in standard E or for me but if the tuning gets deeper then the string gauge goes up to skinny top/heavy bottom.
GT: Who was your first influence to play?
GB: It all began with The Beatles and George Harrison until my brother introduced me to the album Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd and Jimi Hendrix. I was 11! He wouldn’t let me out of the room until I’d learned Red House!
GT: What was the first guitar you really lusted after?
GB: When I was 13 I hung out at the Peterborough music store Live Music all the time and this shipment of new Ibanez guitars – The Studio and Musician range- came in. I wanted that Ibanez ST55 so bad, I’d go there every day after school to play it. I saved every penny I could and sold Pools coupons to raise cash. My parents made up the rest for Xmas 1979 and I got it.
GT: What was the best gig you ever did?
GB: The first Prodigy gig at T In The Park festival, Scotland was really special. It was massive, mind-blowing and I felt very loved. You can’t ask for too much more but playing Janus Stark is more fulfilling because it’s full of guitar solos. Far more than the Prodigy shows.
GT: And your worst playing nightmare?
GB: When a bunch of psychopaths enter a show with no interest in the music, it’s the worst. I played a pub in Peterborough called the Yard Of Ale. It was just a fun, covers gig. Everyone loved it until they let in this bunch of psychos. Then all hell broke loose. I won’t be back there again.
GT: Do you still practise?
GB: Practising relaxes me. It’s a beautiful thing. If you allow yourself the time you can go over and over things until they expand and open the doors to more ideas. You can get lost in it and feel really fulfilled. I recommend it, highly.
GT: Do you have a pre-gig warm-up routine?
GB: I play a little solo live, which I change most shows so I’ve been warming up with that but also I like to go over a 10-minute amalgamation of the solos on the new Janus Stark album as that pretty much covers all ground.
GT: If you could put together a fantasy band with you in it, who would the other players be?
I PLAYED A PUB IN PETERBOROUGH. IT WAS JUST A FUN COVERS GIG. UNTIL THEY LET IN A BUNCH OF PSYCHOS AND ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE.
GB: It would be me and the three guys from the Australian band The Living End. I love that band!
GT: Present company excepted, who’s the greatest guitarist that’s ever lived?
GB: Very, very tough question as my taste in favourite guitarist changes with the seasons. Last season it was Stevie Ray Vaughan but this season it’s Gary Moore, and his playing in The Stumble at the Montreux Live Jazz Festival in 1990. It’s delicious!
GT: Is there a solo by someone else that you really wish you had played?
GB: Eddie Van Halen’s Eruption! To this day that solo still sounds terrific! I’m not talking about the tapping section, it’s all the rest of it, the twists and turns. The attack, tone and attitude, and of course the speed. The delivery in that solo is undeniable.
GT: What’s the solo or song of your own of which you’re most proud?
GB: Well, there’s a song on the new album, Angel In The Flames, called Karmageddon with a solo that builds and builds, Todd Winger: honks “I and was blessed to have wails, then snaps. Lots of complex sweet joined the Jackson melodies with fast runs and juicy blues licks Guitars family tree” and bends. It works for me!
GT: What would you most like to be remembered for?
GB: The new Janus Stark album Angel In The Flames says it all for me as a player, lyricist, composer, as a person. If we are talking about a legacy then I would like this album to be my legacy.
GT: And what are you up to at the moment?
GB: Janus Stark are out on tour in 2020. We have 20 gigs from February to April so check our website http://janusstark.co.uk/ and our facebook site https://www.facebook.com/ JanusStarkBand And get your hands on the new album. It is literally full of guitar!