“IT’S A FIRST FOR FENDER”

JAMES BAY ON HIS ONE-OFF GUITAR AND NEW ALBUM

Singer-songwriter James Bay couldn’t be happier with his new guitar. Four years in the making, the Fender Pink Lemonade Mustang is a genuine one-of-akind. He talks about the guitar’s design and about this forthcoming third album, Leap.

How did the project come about, James?

I’d finished writing my song Pink Lemonade, which I remember really nailing the sound for through a Fender Princeton and a guitar with P90s. I thought - in my indie rock, early-kings Of Leon-inspired state - that the Mustang is one of the Fender guitars that really personified that sonic and aesthetic. I’d found a Fender Cyclone years before that I didn’t buy - it was the only Mustang I’d seen at the time with P-90s. So I said, ‘What I’d love to do, Mr. Fender, is recreate the Cyclone, tweak a few things, put P-90s and a pinkish colour, and call it the Fender Pink Lemonade.’

Why did it take so long?

It’s a first for Fender. Apparently, on every headstock they’ve ever produced, they’ve never put anything more than the model name after the word ‘Fender’. So ‘Pink Lemonade’, in the Mustang font, is the first time they’ve ever done that. There were a lot of boardroom meetings to just allow one guitar to get made like that.

What are its defining features?

The colour is a bit unique in that it’s sort of the Fiesta Red, but I wanted a coral type thing. I asked them to take everything off the back of the neck, so it’s very woody, and there’s lots of lovely relic-ing all over it. The P-90s are Curtis Novak handwound and they’re stunning!

With its indie, grunge and stoner rock connotations, is the Mustang a good indication of where your ever-evolving sound is heading?

I will lean in that direction, but the list of sonics there doesn’t necessarily line up with, say, The Rolling Stones, which is an electric guitar sound I love. I’ll always try and sound like them in some way or another. So yes and no. Before I met a record label - before anybody had any idea that I existed musically

- I’d been in bands that were trying to sound like Kings Of Leon or The Black Crowes, so I’m often picking from a pretty long menu of different guitar sounds.

What can people expect from your new album,

Leap?

I’m always trying to push a boundary somewhere. With the second album it was sonically - I threw a bunch of synthesisers at it and had a great time. But guitar is where I’m comfortable and also where I can push myself, so there’s a lot on this album. It’s still not drenched in solos, which is something I absolutely indulge in live, but there are more guitar parts, which I’m really excited for people to hear. There’s a lot of live takes. Not from shows, but everyone in the room - so there’s a very live feel and momentum.