KEELER TONES!
Celisse Henderson announces signature fuzz pedal
Keeley Electronics has partnered with blues-rocker Celisse Henderson for an all-new Artist Series edition of its Monterey Rotary Fuzz Vibe. Boasting eye-catching psychedelic artwork by Dominican graphic designer and illustrator Lia Sued C, the new stompbox houses the same circuitry as Keeley’s original Monterey, with a rotary speaker simulation and a Fairchild Semiconductor transistor-powered fuzz, each with its own independent footswitch.
Like the original Monterey, a three-way switch on the pedal’s front face toggles between Rotary, Vibe and Wah modes. Coupled with its fuzz section, this allows players to experiment with a rainbow of 60s psychedelic, Hendrix-esque tones.
For added tonal manipulation possibilities, the pedal also features internal dipswitches, which allow players to reverse the order of the fuzz and modulation sections. While fuzz is conventionally placed before modulation, swapping them around leads to a host of ring modulation-type sounds.
The Artist Series Celisse Monterey is available now for $299, limited to 50 units. For more information, head to https:// robertkeeley.com/product/montereycelisse-artist-series – a portion of sales will go towards helping musicians struggling as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Keeley kicked off its Artist Series in December last year, teaming up with Nashville six-stringer Daniel Donato for the Cosmic Country Phaser. Back in June, Celisse dropped her most recent single Freedom in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Sam Roche
After leading Scottish hard rockers The Almighty in 90s, Ricky Warwick joined Thin Lizzy in 2009, and now fronts splinter group Black Star Riders. His current solo album When Life Was Hard And Fast is a celebration of no-frills, rock’n’roll...
What exactly are we hearing on your solo album?
We used my Gretsch guitars, plus a lot of [producer] Keith Nelson’s vintage Teles and Gibsons. There was a Rickenbacker 12-string on a few tracks too. They were fed through some Bogners and Marshall JCM800S. It was all old valve amps and vintage guitars. There were no plug-ins or any crap like that. I don’t care what people say, they’re okay for demos, but when you’re making a record digital stuff is a big no-no for me. And I don’t really use much in terms of effects. If you’ve got a great sound, you’ve got a great sound. Keep it that way!
And what about for acoustics?
I’ve got an Avalon acoustic – they’re a company based in my hometown of Newtownards in Northern Ireland and they make beautiful hand-built guitars. That’s what I have at home and use for writing, along with a Gretsch Falcon. Ultimately, I need something that can take a lot of battering, fitted with 13 gauge strings. It has to be heavy duty... I need the barbed wire ones! Over 90% of everything I’ve written has been on acoustic. It’s an old cliché but if it sounds great like that, it will sound great no matter what.
The solo also comes with your Stairwell Troubadour covers set.
I wanted to do Dead Or Alive’s You Spin Me Round as an Irish folk punk song! I like going to songs that were part of my youth and looking at them differently. And I learned Oops!...ididitagain when my youngest daughter was mad about Britney Spears, so I could sing it to her. You take this bubblegum pop song, change the progression and it starts getting pretty dark and sinister. As much as I loved covering Iron Maiden and Johnny Cash, I dug the fact people might go, ‘What the f*ck is he doing covering Dead Or Alive or Britney Spears?’
You’ve been a member of Thin Lizzy, alongside the band’s legendary guitarist Scott Gorham, for over a decade. What has that taught you?
Everything they wrote was memorable! It was all built out of great melodies and standalone
parts that were instantly recognisable as hooks, from the vocals to even the drums. There were a lot of cool pushes and pulls, or notes you might not hear initially, but it was all special and all vital. And Scott Gorham’s vibrato is second to none. I’ve never heard him bend a note flat or sharp – it’s always spot on. Whenever we’ve had changes with the line-up, I know the vibrato of that player is very important for him – the vibratos need to match up for the dual leads. That’s very high up in his list of priorities.
As for your own style, it’s always been more rhythm than lead-based.
I don’t have the patience to learn all the scales. It never interested me. The guitar for me is a tool to get my angst and my songs out. My heroes were always the rhythm guys. James Hetfield has one of the best right hands out there. The same applied to Malcolm Young. Players like that are the powerhouse that drives the band. It’s not always about the widdly widdly! When I play a lead I like coming at it from a Neanderthal kinda angle, it sounds more cool to my ears.
Amit Sharma