TOTAL GUITAR MARCH 2020Mark Morton
“L
ast year, I put out the
Anesthetic album and did a full
live band tour, but after that,
I got the opportunity to do
some abbreviated acoustic
sets – one at the South Temple Festival, in
Columbus, Ohio, and one at Download last
vxpphu1#Wkdw#zdv#uhdoo|#wkh#Ľuvw#wlph#Lġg#jrw#wr#
do something like that...” the Lamb Of God lead
guitarist enthuses. Anesthetic#lv#Pruwrqġv#ghexw#
solo release; a hard rock and metal record –
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to do. The acoustic gigs? Well, that was
more of a change of direction...
“It went really well, and I was kinda
thrilled with the feedback I got from it.
For me, it was time to stretch out, get
out of my comfort zone a little bit, and do
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opportunity, and I really enjoyed it. So we
started this campaign – an EP of acoustic
songs, and some cool covers too.” The
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as revealed in cover versions of
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Gorman play drums on two songs, and
Marc Ford played a guitar solo, the only
guest guitar I had on that album. The
idea to me of having Lzzy [Hale] sing
that song [She Talks To Angels], coming
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heavy and cool. Black is just a great song,
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the Unplugged version – it gives me
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a bunch of times in his own acoustic gigs,
so that one was really obvious for us to
do. Our version is consciously strippedgrzq1#Zh#glgqġw#wu|#wr#uhfuhdwh#vxfk#d#fodvvlf#
song, we just put our own quiet spin on it and
it turned out cool.”
Talking about the challenges of choosing
songs to play live, Mark is pragmatic, with
songs seemingly choosing themselves or ruling
themselves out. He also reveals his emotional
connection with one or two favourites. “Some
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are pretty much thrash metal songs; we couldcertainly play them on acoustic guitars but they
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phoorz/#vwudljkw#urfn#vwxļ#rq#Anaesthetic and
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Hƭ [featuring the late Chester Bennington on
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a lot to us, and to me. There really is a song
underneath all that, and we got to the kind of
essence of that, instead of trying to replicate all
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version you hear on the album, we tried to
present and honour the actual song.”
We get the impression Mark has been
evolving as a musician, with the acoustic
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on acoustic, and almost all the new songs
on Ether. I recently wrote a couple songs
with Mark Lanegan, also on acoustic. It
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but outside of that, I keep an acoustic
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healthy to write on acoustic, because it
grhvqġw#ohqg#lwvhoi#wr#wkh#vruw#ri#wulfnhu|#- the technical focus – that we may
intuitively start doing when we grab an
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style. For me, when I play acoustic, I try
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chord before I decide where it will sit.”
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direction, Mark says, “I think with
Anaesthetic people saw there was a lot of
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phwdo1#L#oryh#phwdo/#lwġv#p|#krph/#exw#
I got the chance to do something a little
more diverse stylistically, and I pounced
on it. Maybe people will recognise me for
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all. You need to grow as a songwriter.”
ACOUSTIC
THE GUITARIST WITH THRASH METALLERS LAMB OF GOD CHANGES
DIRECTION WITH A NEW ACOUSTIC EP. WE JUST HAD TO KNOW MORE...
86
Words Stuart WilliamsMORTON WORDS
Mark’s happy with his acoustic guitars.
Just plug in and play through the PA...I have a pair of beautiful Guild D-55s, the electric ones.
The good people of Guild are taking great care of me.
They make a beautiful guitar and have really stepped
up. I’ve had my D-55 for years, it’s what I recorded all of
Ether with. Then coming over here, they gave me a loan
guitar that’s the same model, so I’m stoked. I’m in
good company, and we’re playing straight into the PA- no loop pedals or effects or anything like that, we’re
just playing the tunes, man. There’s nothing I love more
than chunking up a heavy riff, doing a screamin’ two,
man, pushing speakers, but this is just a different kind
of thing. I’m learning as I go, and making people happy.