“FOR ONE SOLO I WAS USING EIGHT FUZZ PEDALS!
The reunited Alexisonfire are reinventing post-hardcore – with “ancient” effects and blues-inspired solos...
Did that approach also extend to having less defined rhythm and lead guitar roles than previously?
Dallas [Green, guitar/keyboards] really wanted to focus on singing, and he likes playing rhythm guitar. So, early on, we made the decision that I was going to play all the leads, which is very different from what we’ve done in the past. I think it’s just something that suits both of us better. The guitar playing I’ve been doing, my interest in guitars, and what I’ve been listening to has definitely been a lot more 70s stuff with lots of lead playing.
Which artists inspired you in particular?
I’ve always been drawn towards blues-based guys – guys who are trying to rip off Hendrix, or the old school dudes like Albert King. I think all the melodic leads come out of that.
There’s quite a Hendrixian, wah-soaked solo on Reversethecurse. Could you talk us through some of your favourite lead performances on the record?
That was a fun one. I was listening to (cult stoner rock band) Fu Manchu all the way while driving to rehearsal. Then I got into Toronto and I went and bought a wah pedal and wrote that song. I also really like the really clean, melodic playing in the bridge of Dark Night Of The Soul.
I feel like that’s very Allman Brothers or Grateful Dead-inspired stuff. One of the things that definitely felt like the way to end the record was World Stops Turning with the never-ending guitar solo that happens at the end of it. I went for a full, ‘standing on the edge of a cliff’ type of solo.
What guitars did you take into the studio?
There’s my ’52 Les Paul Junior, which has been my main guitar for a long time. There was a ’59 Double Cutaway that I borrowed from this old guy who lives in Port Dover, Ontario. I’ve been trying to buy it from him for years. It’s the best sounding guitar in Canada. Other than that, I’ve got one of those metal-necked Kramer guitars, which I did a lot of the heavier rhythm tracks with. Then, a 2019 Custom Shop Strat that I played a lot.
An array of tonally very different beasts...
Certainly. I definitely tried to use them in different ways. I brought a full first generation Sunn Model T stack, but I played the Strat through that. Then, for the stuff that’s supposed to be heavier, where I used the Gibsons with the P-90s, I ran a 1950 Fender Princeton, cranked. It takes a long time to realise that you can make stuff sound the heaviest with the smallest amp, but when you do, it’s a real game changer. They take pedals in a really crazy way, too.
Beyond the wah, what were you playing with in the pedal department?
I’ve got one million pedals. I brought absolutely all of them. I’ve got an OG [Proco] RAT that I used on a lot of stuff. I’ve got a really old fuzz
called a Companion, and it’s the fuzz that was on those early Jesus And Mary Chain records. That’s on a lot of stuff. I’ve got a bunch of those massive old Maestro pedals – like the Phase and the Rhythm ’N Sound. I used the fuzz from the Rhythm ’N Sound a decent amount, as well as the bass setting on that. I’ve got another Maestro Phase and that’s on some of the dreamier stuff, too. It was mostly just ancient finicky pedals that you kind of need to kick.
The kind you have to kick and then never touch again...
Yeah, don’t even look at them! One of the things that I really, really love is – for the guitar solo on World Stops Turning – I was using all of the fuzz pedals. I’m not sure if you’d notice it without it being pointed out, but, when it’s all starting to fade out, you can hear me clicking off each one of the pedals. There were eight or something, and that’s the end of the record.
You mentioned that the songwriting was more or less worked out ahead of recording, but had you also decided upon tones you wanted to capture from prep you’d done in the rehearsal room?
The rehearsal room sounded like sh*t! I don’t think I’ve ever been in a good one or written songs in a suitable environment. We wrote [2009 album] Old Crows/young Cardinals above an insulation factory. The guys that worked there would burn insulation when it got cold, and the room would fill with smoke. This time, we were at our record label, but we were still in a brick box, wearing construction headphones and unable to hear the PA. So, we definitely didn’t have any tones dialled in. But Dallas and I are both on the neverending search for tone. As you mentioned, all the guitars I brought are very different tools tonally. For all the parts we did individually, I’d have a different idea of how we could get to that tone, and what pedals and amps would help facilitate that. The Princeton made a large showing, but I also had a 60s Vox, my Morris Custom head, an old Plexi, my Hiwatt, and a few combos.
Do you travel lighter for touring and would you ever be tempted by a profiling amp for recreating studio-born sounds on stage?
When I play live, I have two 70s Marshall 8x10s, and then I usually use my 80s Hiwatt and my Sunn Model T.
Live, it’s less about nuance and more about being devastatingly loud. I think anyone using one of those profiling amps is out of their goddamn mind! Do whatever you want to do and be whatever guitar player you want to be, but that’s as far as is conceivably possible away from the type of guitar player I want to be. For the last ten years, I had this idea of turning on all my delay pedals and then taping my guitar to my amp, so it was just endlessly making noise. I’ve been doing it at the end of our shows for a long time now, and you f*cking can’t do that with a Kemper!
“Anyone using one of those profiling amps is out of their goddamn mind!”