Dan Patlansky Masterclass
David Mead catches up with the South African bluesman mid-tour to talk about his new album and record an exclusive video lesson…
Audiences all over the UK are discovering Dan Patlansky. There’s a definite buzz about the man with the battered ‘60s Strat and a dazzling take on modern blues rock – and it’s getting louder. Settled into our studios, we chat about Dan’s new album, Perfection Kills and mention that it’s his third European release. “In the big scheme of things it’s my ninth album,” he laughs, “But it’s the third album I’m releasing in the UK…” The other albums are available in his native South Africa, but recent years have seen him spread his wings and start touring all over the world, often sharing the stage with such stalwarts as Joe Satriani and recently Joanne Shaw Taylor. The new album has also seen Dan take over production duties. “The last albums were successful,” he says, “But I found maybe they were slightly over-produced for my ear – a lot of the magic got produced out. I learnt a lot from the last producer, Theo Crous, who is a great producer, so I decided to produce myself with everything I learned from him, but tried to keep the live feel on the album.”
The result is a white-hot firepit of blues rock with solid writing and awesome guitar playing, with a lot of the music recorded old school, live in the studio. “I didn’t want to go on the road with the album and find that it sounds vastly different when played live,” Dan continues. “I wanted to level the playing fields between the two and I think we did that. We recorded the album mostly live in the studio, apart from the odd solo and overdubbing vocals and stuff, and you can really hear it. It’s still a song-based album – we focused very heavily on the songs – but it’s got that live energy. The album’s called Perfection Kills – we didn’t want to make the album perfect because, for me, as soon as you try and make any art-form perfect you end up taking the magic and special moments out of it. So we did it a little bit more raw and real.”
Has your approach to songwriting changed for this album?
“It pretty much stayed the same. I’m a firm believer that there are certain people who can do blues in the traditional sense where they can play a 12-bar blues – every song on the album’s a 12-bar blues – and they do it so well. Unfortunately I’m not one of those guys! So I’ve always relied on bringing different elements of songwriting, drawing from different genres that I’m influenced by and trying to blend them into what I do, the blues-rock thing. That, for me, is the most exciting thing; if you write a little pop chord progression that you really like the sound of, putting it into what I do and trying to blend the two together… for the most part it doesn’t work and it sounds horrific at the end of the day, but occasionally it all comes together and you get this slightly more unique song that’s not the tried-and-tested blues-rock thing. It’s blues rock from a different angle, because I’ve got influences from all over – from modern prog guys like Steven Wilson, who I’m a massive fan of, and my favourite band of all time, Pink Floyd – not necessarily blues bands, they’re something else. But I love that sound and I love trying to add little elements of that into the blues-rock thing – and obviously I’m influenced by the blues, too.”
How did you go about developing your guitar style?
“Going through my parents’ CD collection, where they had all the Stevie Ray Vaughan, Clapton, Floyd and Hendrix… I never had the tabs for anything. The first solo I worked out was Shine On You Crazy Diamond, the David Gilmour solo and, for me, that’s like a masterclass; beautiful playing and it’s not too hard to work out because there’s no blistering fast things with weird notes in. It’s pretty much G Minor Pentatonic for the whole song and it’s just beautifully phrased, beautiful playing. So I started off with that and BB King, Albert King and then kind of slowly progressed to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Hendrix, and by that stage it was easier to hear – it was slightly faster and a couple more notes added into the mix.
“I bought this little machine in the ‘90s, I can’t remember who made it, but you plugged your CD player into it, slowed the music down but kept the pitch the same. It
sounded really weird but it really worked, so if there was a super quick line and you couldn’t get all the notes you could just blast it through this little device and hear it back at half or a third of the speed. That really helped me to get some of the stuff, but for the most part it was all by ear.”
How about the 1990s guitar instrumentalists? You’ve toured with Joe Satriani, was he an influence?
“Joe, out of all those guys, was definitely an influence. I think he was very hard to ignore as an up-and-coming guitar player.
There was a particular Joe Satriani album that was a massive influence on me. It was just called Joe Satriani, I think, and it wasn’t his first album, it was way after Surfing With The Alien and it was an album that almost sounded to me like it was recorded live with a live band. It had more of a bluesy edge to it, but not blues, if you know what I mean? That album was a massive, massive influence on me and obviously, having the great honour of touring with Joe, he played a lot of those songs from that album live and it was almost like a religious experience seeing him play them.”
“Touring with him was massively influential just because of the great guy he is – besides being one of the nicest human beings, the biggest inspiration I took from him was he’s the most consistent player I’ve ever heard. I had probably 30 shows with him across Europe and the UK and every night he was on.”
And apparently you had the chance to play through Joe’s rig?
“It was near the end of the tour; I think we were playing in Southend or Glasgow or somewhere. We’d been on the road for a month and Joe’s tech, Mike Manning, said, ‘Would you like to play through Joe’s rig?’ Who would be stupid enough to turn that opportunity down?
So I strapped on one of Joe’s signature guitars and there were two signature Joe Satriani Marshall heads and cabs behind me. I think the volume was on 10 and the gain was on 10 on the amps – I hit one note and jumped out of my skin! I’d never heard that kind of volume before; the sound was incredible, the sustain was for weeks. I always thought I was a loud player and I apologised to his crew on the very first show in Budapest, I said, ‘I play quite loud, but I turn my amp backwards, I use a plexi screen in front of it to kind of try and bring the volume down…’ and I could see the puzzled look on their faces and there was giggling. It was like, ‘That is not loud. That is a practice amp!’ I got the fright of my life, it was almost difficult for me to play because I wasn’t used to that level, you know? It was crazy – and the level was being matched through the wedges in front of him, too, so it was like being bombarded from both sides.”
It’s blues-rock from a di fferent angle, because I’ve got influences from Steven Wilson and my favourite band of all tim e, Pink Floyd
Do you enjoy playing live?
“Yeah, for me that’s really where it’s at. It’s a very different experience to playing at home or playing in the studio; there’s something about an audience and getting your head into the right space before you go on stage. For me, I’ve never been an exhibition type of guitar player; back home in South Africa I’ve done a lot of stuff for Fender – workshops, roadshow things – and I’m fairly pathetic at it because I don’t know what to play if I’m just on my own. I’ve never been good at the showy-offy stuff, like ‘Check out this run!’ I’ve always been better at playing with a song or having just a little more purpose. So the live thing is great for me because there’s always that purpose of playing for the song instead of simply trying to look impressive.”
There would appear to be a current blues renaissance; What’s your take on it?
“Firstly I think the blues element in it… it’s the DNA of all modern music. Classical aside, I think that anything you hear today stems from the blues at some point. Blues is such a simplistic form of music and the only way to play it properly is to play with feeling and expression. Because of its simplicity it’s a great platform to express through and a lot of listeners can relate to it because it’s not overly technical or ‘snooty’ shall we say.
“I’ve just always loved the blues-rock thing because it’s this perfect marriage of rock and roll and blues where you’ve got that expression side and the simplicity from the blues, but the edginess and power from rock and roll and I can’t think of a better marriage. I believe this renaissance is due to a couple of people: obviously Joe Bonamassa’s a big one, but I also think The Black Keys and Jack White have been a big, big part of that movement. Though they’re not the level of player that Joe Bonamassa is, they’ve just made blues cool for the younger generation. It’s obviously a far more vague version of the blues; it’s like a very raw and garage-y sounding version, but it’s made it cool again. Blues might go through its waves of popularity, but it’s always there; there’s a blues bar in every city where blues bands are playing.”
How is the future shaping up for you?
“I think the ultimate goal for anyone involved in blues-rock right now is to follow in the footsteps of Joe Bonamassa. To have that kind of incredible career is unbelievable and I think a lot of guys like me, we’ve got to thank Joe because he’s really opened the doors and made the whole blues thing a lot more accessible to people — he’s been a saviour of blues-rock for the modern era. So I think his career is something to lust after, I suppose.”
“So for me it’s just a case of touring and spending a lot more time in the UK and Europe. It’s just a case of slowly but surely building up the following here and getting more people into the shows. We see more of that every time we come back, you know? Shows are slightly fuller and we can now get booked at slightly bigger venues. Of course it helps being support for guys like Joe Satriani, Joanne Shaw Taylor and King King. It’s fantastic, you’re broadening your listenership, reaching into further corners, I suppose, more than anything. And I have to say it’s been a lot of fun! ”
Blues is the DNA of all modern music. I think that anything you hear today it stems from the blues at some point