“I’VE ALWAYS LIKED THE IDEA OF A
BITING PICK ATTACK WHEN USING
AN OVERDRIVEN TONE – I SUSPECT
IT COMES FROM LISTENING TO
A LOT OF ZAL CLEMINSON”
W
hen Guthrie Govan and his cohorts Marco
Minneman and Bryan Beller released
Tres Caballeros back in 2015 – The
Aristocrats’ third full-length in four years –
it wasn’t unreasonable to expect the band would
more or less follow the two-year album/tour cycle
that’s become almost standard in the music industry.
But Guthrie has never been one to do what’s
expected and the four-year gap since that album- with him spending a great portion of those
years working with composer Hans Zimmer and
contributing to movie scores for such films as The
Boss Baby – led many to ponder if we might ever see
another release from the rock-fusion supergroup.
Thankfully, on 28 June 2019, the answer to that
question was served up in the form of You Know
What...? – a customarily quirky title for the band’s
fourth studio album.
We caught up with Guthrie just as The Aristocrats
were commencing the first leg of their North
American tour to find out why there had been
such a long break between albums, and if a new
solo record will ever see the light of day...
Did you plan to have such an extended hiatus
between this album and the last?
“Not really... it just transpired that each of us had
other commitments during that period, so it took a
little while for everyone’s calendars to align again!”As you would expect from The Aristocrats, there’s
plenty of playfulness, but predominantly there’s
a darker, more exotic feel to the album. Is that
something you noticed?
“That wasn’t a planned thing at all – each of us
writes our three songs without necessarily knowing
what the other two might have in the works. But
of course, we did all notice that slight mood shift
at some point. In fact, I remember talking to
Bryan about the slightly darker vibe of the new
album and somewhat fancifully, we concluded that
perhaps it was just time for the band to make our
version of Van Halen’s Fair Warning – also a fourth
album and similarly characterised by an atypically
brooding seriousness!“Having said that, I think the sheer over-the-top
silliness of When We All Come Together alone manages
to balance everything out nicely!”There’s a more aggressive edge to the album at
certain points, too – particularly on Terrible Lizard.
Did the song’s subject inspire a certain ferocity?
“Possibly – though in my mind, the eponymous
dinosaur wasn’t necessarily doing anything
threatening! Mainly, I pictured it just lumbering
around and being ridiculously large, so I guess the
song’s primary objective was to evoke thunderous
footsteps rather than any specific act of ferocity.
“In general, I’ve always liked the idea of a biting
pick attack when using an overdriven guitar tone;
I suspect that probably comes from listening to a
lot of Zal Cleminson from The Sensational Alex
Harvey Band when I was much younger. Also, the
new voicing of the MKII version of the Victory V30
amp probably helped me to articulate a little more
of that vibe. Perhaps that contributed something
extra to the Terrible Lizard guitar sound?”In Spanish Eddie there’s a wonderfully spanking-
clean guitar tone. Was that your Strat with the stock
noiseless pickups?
“Ah, the very same mystery section! That was actually
the neck humbucker on my ash-bodied GG signature
Charvel, running into an AC30, of all things. When
we started to run through the tune in the studio,
that section started out as a more Zappa-esque
jam where I was using an overdriven tone and an
envelope filter, but then I came to realise that the
song needed something more mellow at that point, to
enhance the ‘surprise factor’ of the following section.”There are also some crushingly heavy tones on the
album. Did you experiment in the studio to find the
right balance?
“I did indeed experiment – the place where we
recorded had a fine collection of interesting vintage
guitars, amps and effects. Given that the studio
owners actively encouraged us to try stuff out,
I felt that it would have been rude not to do so!
“In terms of unexpected amp choices, I used the
aforementioned AC30 for the clean sounds in Spanish
Eddie and Last Orders, and I seem to recall that we
tracked All Said And Done with a small Carr combo- I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve forgotten the model
name – as we were intentionally looking for a more
‘retro’ tone on that track.
“Guitar-wise, I used a nice 60s Jazzmaster for
Spiritus Cactus and a 70s Les Paul for The Ballad
Of Bonnie And Clyde. The Les Paul was actually the
property of Kenny Loggins, as it turned out: it was set
up with ultra-light gauge strings and preposterously
low action so I definitely struggled to keep it in tune.
Nonetheless, I really wanted to channel more of a
GUTHRIE GOVAN
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