One For The Road
Supersonic Blues Machine’s rock dynamo extols the virtues of the Kemper Profiler and his memory foam pillow…
What was your first gig and how did it go?
“It was with my dad’s band when I was nine years old and I got up and did a couple of Deep Purple numbers with them. I just had a Strat copy; I think it was made by Encore. I had to prove that I was going to stick with it before my dad would buy me a proper guitar – and even then the next one was a Hohner Revelation, a 27-fret thing.”
Describe your current stage rig…
“I currently use a Kemper Profiler. Absolutely love it. I use profiles by Michael Britt, a Nashville session guy and probably the most famous profile maker. I run that into a Marshall cab on stage and obviously it goes out to the PA as well. I use that for effects and everything. I use some delay, reverb, for a couple of songs I use an octave pedal, a bit of fuzz. Most of the gains will come from the amp profiles themselves; the only time I add a pedal is when I use fuzz. Then I use a clean amp setting, I think it’s a Morgan AC20, and add a fuzz pedal to that.
“Guitar-wise I’m using a Seth Baccus Nautilus as my main guitar and I’ve just had another one built by Seth, a baritone guitar, with Bare Knuckle pickups, which is very nice. I’ve used it for the whole tour on a couple of songs, tuned to C standard. I also use a Fender Custom Shop Tele.”
What’s on your rider?
“It’s quite basic, really. We have some beer, lots of water and then just picky food: cold meats, cheese, fruit – bananas – some Haribo sweets…”
What’s your best tip for getting a good live sound?
“I think a lot of it probably depends on the venue you’re playing. One of the things I like about the Kemper is that I know I’ve always got a good sound through the PA. Obviously we’re playing bigger venues now, so the onstage sound isn’t really what anyone in the audience is hearing, it’s all through the PA. So if you’re playing bigger venues I think it’s always important to check the sound through the PA because, in the past, when I’ve been using valve heads or whatever, I’ve had a great tone on stage and then I’ve heard it out front and the engineer’s not mic’d it right, or there are some dodgy cables or whatever, and it ends up sounding rubbish. So my best tip is, use a Kemper!”
What non-musical item couldn’t you do without on tour?
“My pillow is very important; I like to have my own pillow. My wife hates it because I always end up stealing our best memory foam one from home when she’s not looking. Unfortunately, it is something I often forget and leave it in places and have to buy replacements out on the road. I take it into the hotel at night and forget to bring it out in the morning. But my pillow is my best friend.”
What’s the best venue you’ve played in and why?
“One of the things I like about the Kemper is that I know I’ve always got a good sound through the PA”
“I’ve played some pretty cool places, I’m trying to think… Let’s go for Shepherd’s Bush Empire. I did that last year with Supersonic Blues Machine. It’s a place that I’ve always wanted to play – it’s a historic venue, and it was my first show with Supersonic Blues Machine. So, in a prestigious venue like that, it was pretty good for me. It’s a big venue, about a 2,000 capacity, but it still feels intimate, just the way it’s laid out.”
What’s the worst journey you’ve had either to or from a gig?
“Actually, I think it’s the last one we’ve just done. We’d been playing in Belfast and we were due to get the ferry back home the next morning from Dublin, about two hours away. We got back to the hotel that the promoter had booked, it was probably about one in the morning and our ferry was at eight. So we were going to get a few hours’ kip and then get back on the road. Unfortunately, the hotel didn’t have parking for vans – in the UK we tour with two vans, a gear van and a passenger van – and it wasn’t really in the best area of Belfast and we didn’t feel safe leaving the vans. We decided to drive and try to sleep in the van on the way and it took us about 18 hours, including the ferry journey, to get back to Torquay.”
What’s the nearest you’ve come to a Spinal Tap moment on tour?
“They seem to happen every week for me. I haven’t had any spontaneously combusting drummers yet… Years ago when I was playing in the States, I was only 18 years old, my first major touring experience, and we were playing in Savannah, Georgia. We arrived the day before the show, went out for some food and thought we’d go and check out the venue. We went down to this place and it was pretty rowdy in there and we looked at the stage and they had one of those chicken wire fences in front like in The Blues Brothers. We had a few drinks there, met the manager and had a good time. Came back the next night and saw that the fence was no longer up. So I said to he manager, ‘What happened to the fence?’ and he said, ‘Ah, after you guys left it got pretty crazy and they tore it down.’ I asked if he was going to put it back up and he said,‘Nah, you guys will be fine…’”
What’s your favourite live album?
“I’d probably say Deep Purple’s Made In Japan. To be honest, it was probably the first live album that I ever heard, so it’s one that sticks out. I grew up with Deep Purple and it was inspirational at an early age. Smoke On The Water was the very first song I ever learned, but Space Truckin’ is probably my favourite track.”