Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 5 Dec 2022 10:39 am |
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Steinar Gregertsen was a wonderful person and musician. Here is an interview I did with him maybe 15-20 years ago that was never published. Note that this unedited.
First things first: how did you get started playing lap-slide and Weissenborn guitar? Who were your heroes?
David Lindley’s work with Jackson Browne in the 70s made a huge impact on me, and along with Ry Cooder he got me interested in slide guitar. But for some reason I didn’t get my first lap steel until ’99 when I bought a cheap Supro student model. I played it for about a year before I drifted back to bottleneck slide and regular guitar, and didn’t get seriously hooked before I bought a “Superior Hawaiian” Weissenborn copy in April ’03. That was it, I was hooked, and I’ve never looked back......
You live in Norway, correct? I know nothing about the music scene in Scandinavia and even less about the lap-slide and Weissenborn scene! How would you describe the local music scene where you live? Are there other lap slide/Weissenborn guitarists in your area? How does the local scene affect you as a performing musician, for good or for bad?
I live in a very small town called Arendal, on the southern coast of Norway. The music scene is very vibrant and at a really high level of quality, especially considering the size of the place, but I am the only one playing lap steel here. It’s not possible to make a living as a freelance musician on a small place like this, so I teach private guitar students 4 nights a week to secure a minimum income to cover the basics. I’ve never been a ‘big city’ guy so I like it like this, moving to Oslo (as many musicians from the provinces eventually do) has never tempted me even if it would probably have been a wise career move.
I am guessing that like many of us, guitar was your first instrument. How many instruments do you play? Do you find that playing multiple instruments enhances your approach to playing slide?
Yeah, I started playing the guitar in ’72, after spending a few years playing saxophone in the school’s marching band. My first “pro” band experience was as a 15-year old bass player in a cover band, and I’ve loved playing the bass ever since, especially fretless.
I also know my way around a keyboard, but I’m no pianist. For some reason it has never really appealed to me – perhaps it’s too ‘mechanical’? – so for me keys are “tools of the trade” and not much more, although using the synth for sound design has always interested me. I also played the flute in my late teens, and sitar in my early twenties, but they’ve both kinda faded away (4-5 cold and dry Norwegian winters killed my sitar...).
I think it’s a good thing to play several instruments, they all influence each other, and when I go through periods where “#1” bores me it’s good to know that I can pick up “#2” or “#3” and find new inspiration. Sometimes I have fun trying to make the lap steel sound like a regular guitar (check the wah solo on “Unfinished Business” as an example) and vice versa.
How would you describe yourself as a musician? What do you call your music?
I honestly don’t know... It’s all just music to me and I am influenced by so many different genres so I really don’t know what to call my music anymore. One of the hardest thing when working on my CD – “Southern Moon Northern Lights”, to be released in February – was deciding what NOT to include, there were so many things I could have included if I should cover all my musical interests. But despite this I’m sure there are many people who will find it confusing in terms of styles......
I am a very intuitive player, usually go by my gut feelings,- the less I think the better I play, and I never prepare a solo, I just go for it (unless there’s some very weird chord changes involved). When I am hired for a studio session it’s usually because the producer wants the material “roughened up” a
I love your tone on lap steel but also Weissenborn. Is there a difference in how you approach or play each instrument? Any insight there?
Not that I’m aware of - my technique is pretty much the same on both. Only thing I can think of is that while I always use a Shubb SP-2 bar on Weissenborn, I experiment a lot with different bars, including a variety of bullet bars, on lap steel. Still looking for “The Perfect Bar”..
You are obviously a very creative musician. Where do you draw your inspiration and/or creative ideas from? Is it from listening to other slide players or from other musicians and/or instruments? How do you go about writing new tunes?
While I listened a lot to lap steelers when I started I try not to listen so much to typical steel music today. I think that can sometimes be a dangerous thing to do, and cause musical inbreeding to some degree,- I pretty much prefer to listen to singers and instrumentalists who do music that’s pretty far removed from mine, my steel playing is in many ways an attempt to compensate for my lack of a good singing voice (I use to say that Ray Charles is my favorite guitarist...).
I notice that I have reached a sort of listening fatigue at this point in my life, probably because I have worked with music for so long, so for ‘recreational purposes’ I rather prefer watching a good movie, reading a book, or simply listening to “the sound of silence”.
A tune can start off in a variety of ways, I don’t have a standard pattern there. Sometimes it’s just me fooling around on the lap steel or an acoustic guitar, and suddenly something ‘hits’ (“Northern Lights” is a result of me sitting down to check out the Dmaj7 tuning, never planned to write a tune...). Other times I can find a loop with a cool groove and start jamming along on the bass, if something comes from it I’ll start building chords and melody around that.
I gather from your web site that you write music for commercial applications. Do your clients make any distinction between the guitar and lap slide or Weissenborn? Do they get specific about wanting to hear the sound of lap slide vs. guitar, for example?
It depends on the job. If it’s a TV commercial it’s prostitution all the way,- they usually know what they want and I don’t have much creative input,- they want something that sound like “this and that” and I have to put on my “professional hat” and deliver the goods. It’s just a job, but a ridiculously well paid one which is why I do a couple of them a year.
I’ve made music for a 6-episode TV series plus a couple of other TV programs, and also multimedia/ballet music, and that’s a whole other deal,- usually people contact me because they’ve heard stuff I’ve done and want me because of my “style” (whatever that is). Those are very cool jobs and usually offer me much artistic freedom,- I often end up with a mix of electronic sound design and more organic/acoustic elements, including slide.
Given your location, I have to ask...does anyone ever ask you to play country music or bluegrass when they find out that you play lap steel and Weissenborn? (this is the standard response where I live, BTW). Do you own a resonator guitar?
Hehehe... In fact, I have played Weissenborn on a couple of C&W inspired albums, and the producer said he wanted me because I am not a typical country player, so he figured I would add ‘something different’ to the music. I like producers who think like that....... I’ve owned a couple of squareneck resonators, but they never really appealed to me the same way a Weissenborn does. They’re a bit too loud and twangy for me, I prefer the warmer sound of wood. But I have considered getting one of the new GoldTone/Beard resos, just to have one available for session work.
Would you say your music is melody driven or chord driven?
Ahhhh, that’s a tricky one.... Probably both, some of my tunes are all about creating a mood rather than presenting a humable melody (“Will The Wind Ever Remember” is one example of that), while others focus on the melody. Joni Mitchell has been a huge influence on how I approach chords,- if I could only write as good melodies and lyrics as her I might get somewhere........
Tell us about your right hand technique. Do you use thumbpicks and/or fingerpicks?
For lap steel and Weissenborn it’s always plastic thumbpick and two metal fingerpicks. On regular guitar it’s either flatpick or bare fingers. I prefer the feel of playing with my bare fingers, but I’ve found that for getting the clarity and dynamics I want when playing lap style I have to use thumb/fingerpicks. Speed doesn’t bother me, I’ve never been a fast player anyway......
Your music and your recordings as so polished and beautiful! Awesome sound quality! Please share your thoughts and experience on the general subject of recording. How important is equipment vs. skill as an engineer? How can others get the best sound on their recordings?
Thank you! Once you reach a certain quality in your equipment – where your tracks doesn’t drown in hiss and noise – it’s all about your ears and ability to use whatever tools you’ve got. I started recording my own music using a 4-track cassette deck, a cheap reverb and a Boss “Dr. Rhythm” drum machine 20 years ago, and I am glad I have that experience,- working on limited “lo-fi” equipment taugth me a lot about how to make the best of what I’ve got.
I think it’s important to have a very clear idea about how you want your stuff to sound and what you’re aiming for. This may sound very obvious, but it’s really not,- I think many people’s recordings suffer because they just want to get the tracks captured on disk/tape and believe they can “fix it in the mix”. That rarely works, it’s very important to have a sort of overall image of how you want the finished mix to sound when you start recording the first tracks. Always try to capture a sound that’s as close to your ideal as possible,- there’s a definite limit to how much you can tweak a track in the mix before it starts to sound artificial and lose its natural appeal.
It’s also very important to arrange the music in a way that leaves enough space for all instruments, and also “carve” extra space for them with the EQ when necessary. Last,- NEVER bring in instruments that doesn’t have a specific function in the arrangement, just to make it sound bigger. In 95% of the cases you’ll end up with a muddy and over-crowded mix. Remember KISS – “Keep It Simple Stupid” – a few well performed and recorded instruments with lots of room to move in will almost always be more effective and powerful than lots and lots of overdubs (it took me a long time and a many crappy mixes to learn that lesson.......).
For the techno geeks; I record and mix in Steinberg’s Nuendo on a PC, using a relatively RME Hammerfall 9632 soundcard, and 90% of all the EQs, compressors, etc, are from two UAD-1 cards. From drum programmin I use Toontrack’s “DFH-S” plugin and sample library. When mastering I use Steinberg’s WaveLab and the UADs.
Do you read music? Are you a "schooled" musician? How important is it - in your opinion - to know music theory, etc?
My knowledge of music theory is very basic, pretty much what I learned when I played saxophone in the school marching band, plus the extra chord/harmony stuff that I’ve picked up over the years as a guitarist. I sometimes wish I knew more, although I’ve never had to sight read music on a session.
I’ve never been able to understand those who claim that a solid theory foundation “removes the heart from your music” and all that stuff. Knowledge can never be a negative thing, it’s how you apply it that’s critical.
Tell us about your guitars. You have a variety of different instruments. Tell us about your gear and how you go about choosing an instrument for a specific sound on a recording, etc.
I’ve never been a collector,- if an instrument don’t serve a specific purpose I’d rather sell it to someone who needs it more than me instead of keeping it as a cute wall hanger and conversation piece. So I really don’t have that many, and they all have their personalities.
My custom Asher Electro Hawaiian is my ‘all-round’ lap steel and my definite favorite, with a very full and warm sound. The Lap King Bel Aire has more bite and is great when I need a lap steel that can really cut through a mix. The 8-string GeorgeBoards is brand new, and I bought it for having a more “classic” steel guitar sound available, plus to take advantage of the chordal possibilities of the 8 strings (It’s the GB on “Will The Wind....”).The mongrel “LapStrat” is pretty much only used for experimenting with tunings, plus gigs at places where I don’t feel like bringing my expensive Asher.
And, of course, they’re all tuned to different tunings, which is an important reason for owning several lap steels.
I’m really fond of the simplicity of major chord tunings,- there’s something about them that seems to bring out the best in me. So my major tuning, that I use for most tracks on the CD, is open-D (low to high DADF#AD). But lately I’ve started exploring the “6th” and “13th” tunings more, especially D13 (CDF#ABD),- it’s a great tuning with a more “jazzy” vibe.
For the 8-string the jury is still out, at the moment I have it tuned to a G6 with the 6th on top (GBDEGBDE), but that may change tomorrow. I’ve experimented a lot with tunings and spent a fortune on strings for that guitar.. On “Will The Wind...” I had it tuned to a D6add9 (BDF#ABDF#E).
I see that you have commissioned Rance White at Lazy River to build a "teardrop" Weissenborn guitar... What can you tell us about that? Why a teardrop Weissenborn?
How do you get such great tone on your lap steels? What does your signal chain look like - amps, effects, etc?
First of all, I am very happy with my Lazy River Weissenborn, so when I decided I wanted one more acoustic lap slide guitar, I wanted Rance to build it for me. What I was looking for was an acoustic for use in ensemble settings, tuned to D13, so bass response wasn’t so important to me. At first we talked about making a squareneck parlor guitar, based on my ‘30s May Bell parlor, but then I changed my mind and decided for a “teardrop” model instead. It’s the “mojo” – the teardrop models has mojo to die for, I’ve always loved the looks of them, and I suspect it will have many of the same sound characteristics as a parlor. I basically just want an acoustic that can cut through in a mix,- just like the Asher and the Weissenborn is related to each other, you may call the teardrop an acoustic relative of the Bel Aire lap steel (same tuning too...).
My recording setup is really simple,- my pedalboard includes; Ernie Ball volume pedal, Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde overdrive/distortion (most of the tracks on the CD are recorded with a Fulltone Fulldrive2 though), Keeley compressor, Fulltone SupaTrem tremolo and a DSL EchoTap delay (I never record the delay, but add it in the mix). For wah I use a Fulltone Clyde, but it’s not permanent on my pedalboard.
Then the signal goes to a POD (the original one, which ‘everyone’ loves to hate), set to a clean “Fender Blackface”, so I basically use the POD as I would with an amp on stage. Live I use the same pedalboard into a 30W Peavey Delta Blues with one 15” speaker. It’s not the best amp around but it works, it’s tube, and I’ve never been picky regarding amps anyway, that’s not where my tone comes from.
There is so little in the way of "new" music written on Weissenborn guitar and/or lap steel. who are some of the contemporary players that you admire?
Greg Leisz is definitely on top of that list, I have yet to hear him play one note I didn’t like. I discovered him when I heard the “Santo’s Dream” track he was represented with on the “Legends Of The Incredible Lap Steel Guitar” CD (on Horserock Records – a highly recommended CD!). I think it was just a couple of months after I got the Superior Weissenborn, and I just went; “That’s exactly how I’d like to sound!!!”......
His playing is so free of the standard cliches, always very melodic and serving the song, never flash for flash’s sake,- if he plays dobro and lap steel with Bill Frisell, pedal steel with Joni Mitchell, or “classic C6” lap steel with Willie Nelson, he’s always “in the music”.
You know,- there are those who use the music as a vehicle for their egos, and there are those who use themselves as humble servants of the music. Leisz is definitely in the second group.
Jerry Douglas is impossible to not mention,- he really is an alien from another planet who scares the shit out of me every time I listen to him. He can play anything...
Don Rooke of The Henrys is another very interesting player. I have their “Joyous Porous” album and he’s really going places on that Kona. I feel strangeley connected to them because of their experimentation with loops and electronic devices while still managing to sound “rootsy”.
And then there’s all the other great players out there, too many to mention,- every time I listen to a track someone has posted on the Steel Guitar Forum I am reminded that I’m just a newbie in this world of lap slide playing and has a lot of learning to do...
I am really excited to hear your forthcoming c.d.! What can you tell us about the c.d., the musicians and the project in general? Where can we buy it?
Well, it’s called “Southern Moon Northern Lights” and will be released in February. The title is meant to reflect the fact that I have one foot on the banks of the Mississippi river and the other in the Norwegian fjords and mountains. I’m kinda equalliy inspired by the American roots tradition – especially the southern “swamp” rhythm’n’blues tradition – and “spacey” Norwegian jazz artists like saxophonist Jan Garbarek and guitarist Terje Rypdal, the “ECM” sound if you will, by some described as “The Nordic Sound”..
I play all instruments myself, with the exception of the synths on “Northern Lights”. That one’s a funny story,- I emailed the Weissenborn track to a good friend of mine, Alf Emil Eik, who’s a long time veteran of the Norwegian studio scene, and told him I thought there was something missing. A few days later he sent the finished mix with the added synths in return, asking “Well, does this sound like northern lights to you?” Yup, sure did......
There are 11 tracks on the CD, 9 instrumentals and 3 vocal songs. Same ratio for originals and covers,- 9 originals and 3 covers. It will be available at CD Baby, the Steel Guitar Forum, possibly the Horserock Records website, plus direct from me (only through PayPal though. I will store a number of copies at a friend in the US for fast shipping to US/Canada customers).
I have been working on these tracks over a very long period, sometimes taking 2-3 months between finished tracks (the oldest is from April, ’04). Not because I spent so much time on each tune, but I simply didn’t want to rush anything, I wanted to make sure that I can listen to it 5-6 years down the road and still say to myself that I did the best I could at the time (hopefully I’ll keep developing and hear stuff that I wish I had done different, but at least I’ll know I gave it my best there and then). I didn’t want to make any compromises or cut any corners just to finish the CD.
Another thing is that I believe many CDs today are much too long, I swear by the “good old” vinyl standard of approx 40 minutes. That’s about as much as most people can digest in one go, and very few artists are capable of filling 60+ minutes with high quality material. So I decided early on that I didn’t want any fillers or dead meat on the CD, and kept it to 40 minutes playing time. Needless to say there was a lot of “kill your babies” processes involved here, and there were times when I desperately missed an outside producer, but fortunately I’ve had good friends who’s not been afraid to tell me a thing or two involved in the process.
Next time I hope I will be able to afford renting a “real” studio and a well rehearsed band, it can get rather lonely doing everything yourself and I consider the contributions of other musicians as very important, but for this CD my options was to do it this way or not at all..
One of my main motivations for releasing this CD, besides the music that begged to be recorded, was to have a high quality ‘demo’ of my own playing. I’m really not comfortable being a frontman and don’t have any big plans of touring to support the CD, I prefer being a sideman and let other grab the spotlight. So I have this dream that some great songwriter will appreciate my playing and want to use me for his/her projects, then I can release a solo CD every now and then on the side.
So in a sense you can say I feel like a “David Lindley” still looking for my “Jackson Browne”....
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