The Guitar Magazine – September 2019

might well be the single most important thing that

anyone else ever taught me.”

Anyone who has tried to become virtuosic knows

there are psychological barriers to overcome to

be able to nail it when it matters. Did you have to

overcome those sorts of hurdles?

“I suppose the trick is probably to incorporate the

right kind of mindset into your practice routine and

to work on being able to play things effortlessly while

feeling relatively relaxed. This is very different from

knowing that you’re capable of doing something,

but only if you try extra-hard and apply your

maximum level of concentration: in a real gig

environment, there will always be a million other

distractions, so it’s good to have a little ‘headroom’.”

Do you have plans to update your Charvel signature?

“Honestly, I’ve pretty much run out of things

to request or complain about! Then again, I was

absolutely sure that we were done way back when

the first version of that guitar came out and then,

gradually, a few little additional ideas for the ‘Mark

2’ version started to emerge so... who knows? Now,

though, I really feel like I have the ideal instrument

in terms of being able to cope with all of the different

musical situations I might encounter.”

Can you see another solo album happening, or are

your creative and compositional ambitions best

served up in the context of The Aristocrats?

“I can certainly envisage one happening sooner or

later, but it’s really not my top priority... if and when

it does happen, it’s unlikely to bear a great deal of

resemblance to its predecessor. Erotic Cakes was a

shamelessly guitar-centric offering, whereas these

days, for the most part, I’m really more interested in

music as a whole, as opposed to focusing on guitar

per se. One thing I particularly enjoy about working

in an Aristocratic context is I get to function as part

of a whole band where everyone’s contribution is of

equal importance. I’m also really enjoying my

involvement with Hans Zimmer’s world – both the

live shows and the occasional new movie score – as

that provides an opportunity to explore how guitar

might fit within contexts where it wouldn’t usually

be expected to make an appearance!”

The Aristocrats’ new album, You Know What...? is out now.

Read more from our interview with Guthrie on Guitar.com

ABOVE The Aristocrats
(Guthrie, Bryan Beller and
Marco Minneman) pose for a
group photo with legendary
drummer Simon Phillips

GUTHRIE GOVAN

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