Total Guitar

The Playlist: James Alex

The punk rockers’ leader lets us into his classic rock and indie-fuelled record collection

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The song that inspired me to play… PinballWiz­ard– TheWho “Pete Townshend’s the reason I play, he feels like a god to me. Then I saw a high school production of Tommy, with school kids playing those songs, and I thought, ‘You can be 15 or 16 and play songs that Townshend wrote?’ It cracked my whole head open; I thought, ‘Maybe I can have a go at this’.” I wish I wrote this riff… Don’tFear TheReaper – Blue Öyster Cult “This is my ‘am I in tune?’ riff. That thing is timeless, there’s no one that doesn’t hear the first few picks and know that riff. I’m a real rock ’n’ roll romantic, you know when you hear the first few notes and everyone’s like ‘aaaah!’ Don’t Fear The Reaper’s always had that on me.” The first song I learned to play… SmokeOn TheWater – Deep Purple “I learned that and Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution by AC/DC in the same lesson. I know Smoke On The Water is a lot of people’s first, but yes, those were my first two.” I’m currently listening to… Caught ByTheFuzz – Supergrass “I’m rediscover­ing it. There’s just a relentless­ness to that song; there’s this bridge and pre-chorus that I really wish I wrote. I’m trying to rip it off but it’s so perfect that I can’t without stealing it!” The song I’d like to cover… StaringAt TheSun – Ultra Vivid Scene “It’s just a beautifull­y crafted song, and the guitar work is really incredible. That song should have been gigantic, but I think it was written 20 years too soon. I can’t play the part yet, it’s so weird and beautiful that my fingers aren’t cooperatin­g quite yet.” To introduce someone to our band I’d play them ... Bad Art And Weir do Ideas– Beach Slang “I think that song encapsulat­es Beach Slang pretty well; the raw guitar tones with the Johnny Marr-esque picking over it. And the messaging, [it’s about] a kind of cracked-butnot-broken spirit.” The most challengin­g song of ours to perform live is… ThePerfect­High– Beach Slang “We’ve been faking it and getting by pretty well so far! [laughs] I think some of the stuff on the new record’s going to [challenge us]. I brought more Britpop, shoegaze and nu-wave stuff into it, and I think that might be challengin­g because it’s not so dependent on a full-throttle wall of sound. The Perfect

High in particular I think might be particular­ly challengin­g once we start doing it in front of a room of people.” My favourite solo is... Eruption– Van Halen “I think it would be incredible to walk into parties and play Eruption, but that’s never going to happen. Guitar solos, I see the power of them, but I never try to play a hundred notes – I try to play three that make you feel something. Take Disorder by Joy Division – that kind of stuff. A couple of notes that really reach into you, I think I subscribe to that more. I think that hits a little harder and resonates deeper. Beach Slang support Green Day at the British Summer Time festival at London’s Hyde Park on 1 July.

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