AG (Australian Guitar: Paul Southwell): How did playing with Alice Cooper come about?
OP: I played ‘School’s Out’ with Alice on American Idol. Then Damon Johnson, Alice’s lead player, left to join Thin Lizzy. So Bob Ezrin and Alice were thinking about guitar players and they thought of me. They asked if I’d be up for it and I said, ‘yeah, totally’ as I’d had such a blast working with him.
AG: There’s a lot of material to learn for Alice. Was it a pretty quick turnaround?
OP: Yes, I had twenty five songs to learn a week. I was doing my EP [‘Fire’] in Nashville. Alice said, ‘you’ll be guesting’, so I thought that was playing a few leads here and there. But I was actually learning all the leads and playing in harmony with Steve Hunter, who is an amazing guitar player and then playing all the rhythms and background harmony vocals. There was a lot to learn. I had to learn the songs the way they were but with ‘Black Widow’, where we’re just soloing around, I could do my own solos. But with the main lines and main structured solo parts that you hear on the record, I had to learn them.
AG: Doing your own music and then coming into a gig where you’re effectively a hired gun, were you allowed to do your own thing at all?
OP: Alice allows me to do my own thing. Before ‘Only Women Bleed’ I did my solo for about a minute. ‘Black Widow’ is where I’m soloing away doing my own thing aside from the main parts and I get to solo at the end of ‘I’ll Bite Your Face Off’.
AG: Was it your interest in blues guitar that led you to PRS guitars?
OP: Yeah, I played Fenders and Les Pauls before but PRS seemed to be more diverse. You can pull different tones out of it and they have this distinct sound. I feel like when I’m holding it, it’s not even like I’m holding a guitar, the weight feels so comfortable. I feel that Paul has such a passion for making guitars. At the factory, everyone making the guitars are guitar players. So, there is a lot of love there. They are pieces of art, really.
AG: Do you move around the pick ups at all?
OP: I’m actually using the HFS [PRS bridge] and the Dragon II [PRS neck] pickups. I have a recent new model [2012 SE Orianthi]. The last one I had was all sparkly [Red Sparkle]. This is contoured with a blade switch selector. We just upgraded from the last one and it is in scarlet red. It is not sparkly (laughs).
AG: Well, presentation is part of it.
OP: Yeah, I wanted that and the first one was modeled off ‘Pepper’ [PRS Custom 24] which is the main guitar I used with Michael Jackson. It was sparkly because of the Swarovski crystals and I thought it was really cool for kids who had seen that. For this new one I thought of those that didn’t want the sparkles. It’s a cool colour and they are different.
AG: Did Michael gave you the same leniency, playing wise, that Alice gives you?
OP: Yes, he did. He chose me from YouTube. I guess he was asking people for a female guitar player. He chose me and they reached out to Steve Vai. Also, Carlos Santana mentioned me to Micheal Bearden, the musical director who was talking to people in the industry. So I auditioned but he wanted me to put my own personality to everything. I didn’t try to be Eddie Van Halen or Jennifer Batten. You can’t step in their shoes; they’re amazing. So I went in there and played the solo but did my own sort of thing to it.
AG: You’ve said that a lot of the time playing for Michael wasn’t about being a solo guitarist as such but it was really playing a lot of rhythms. I’m guessing a lot of people wouldn’t see past the flashy side of the show.
OP: That’s it. There were a lot of funky rhythm parts. There were definitely lots of little parts that myself and Tommy Organ, the other guitar player, were playing. He is an amazing R’n’B funk guitar player. He’s really been in that world and is a great lead player too. I wanted to play parts that would be complementing his playing. For the little parts of ‘Thriller’, you have to be right in the pocket (clicks fingers). It took me a while to get into that groove. I definitely learned a lot from the whole experience.
AG: Were there nerves as well, being it was Michael Jackson?
OP: Initially yes, I was very nervous about auditioning. I mean, just meeting Michael, he was the greatest entertainer that ever lived. He was a really sweet person and made me feel comfortable once I met him. For three months it was like a dream come true. Afterwards it was a nightmare. But everyday, going in, I couldn’t tell anybody because I’d signed. So in the morning I would be cleaning up dog crap and going to the supermarket and then in the afternoon, playing ‘Beat It’ with Michael Jackson then going home (laughs). My family and close friends knew but a lot of people I did not tell until afterwards.
AG: So having gone through all of those industry machinations did it take any of the magic away from initially hearing ‘Thriller’ at all?
OP: No, it doesn’t at all, once you hear those songs. It was magical for the entire thing. Rehearsals were magical and even behind the scenes there was a lot there. Michael was one of those people with presence. He was an entertainer and an incredible pop singer that sung for real and danced. He could remember every single part to all of his records which was incredible. Very few people can do that.
AG: How did your association with Dave Stewart [Eurythmics guitarist] occur?
OP: I met Dave about a year and a half ago at ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ [SU2C]. He’d learnt one of my songs; ‘Courage’ off the ‘Believe’ album and we played that. I played with Heart and Steve Wonder and a bunch of different amazing people. We were up there jamming away and we had a dinner afterwards and became friends. We just hung out and played the blues a lot and wrote a tonne of songs. He went over to Nashville not too long ago and then called me. So I went over and listened to him make his record with incredible musicians. A few weeks later, I went back there, made my album and he produced it. We had a ball and he is so much fun. It was just amazing.
AG: How do you approach making your own albums now given that you have been around such big name artists?
OP: The first album I made took two or three years. We wrote about twenty songs for that. I enjoyed making ‘Believe’ and found the rockier songs were definitely where I felt more comfortable and with the blues. The poppier songs were since I really wanted to get on the radio and inspire more girls to play the guitar. I still want to do that and get back on the radio but definitely more in a rock way. I think this EP I just did, I feel totally comfortable with that. It is not over thought and I’m doing it without a label.
AG: Do major labels tend to say, this is the pop idiom we want you to fill and just do middle eight solos? Yet you got an instrumental on the album.
OP: Yeah. I think ‘According to You’ was great and inspired a lot of girls to want to play guitar. It is always a celebration when we play that song live and they sing along and that’s great. When we play it in Japan, the girls are all singing and they don’t speak English. It’s a feel good song and an empowering song. But I think this new record is more in the rock direction. I just feel that you grow, you’ve got to change and you cannot stay the same.
AG: Do you play that sort of rockier stuff for the Michael Bolton audience?
OP: I’m a guest with Michael and just jam out with him. He’s an amazing singer and is actually a great guitar player. We’re playing ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ and ‘Steel Bars’, which I recorded with him. I just recorded ‘Money’ with him in Los Angeles recently. So we’re doing that and a few other songs in the show. He’s got his PRS guitar. I actually met him at a Paul Reed Smith show.
AG: What sort of amplifiers are you generally using?
OP: I’m using an EVH Mark II [Peavey EVH 5150 II] amplifier and the cabinets as well. I really like them as their sound has a lot or presence and clarity. I went through a lot of amps and thought that this has got guts to it. I call it the beast.
AG: With the names you’ve mixed with you could pretty much get Mesa Boogie, Marshall or whatever else so to stick to one model is good.
OP: Yeah, I just feel that when you plug into an amplifier without the effects or anything, it has got to sound good. It has got to be a good marriage with the guitar and the amp. I just think that PRS and EVH are good together. I don’t like to use that many effects either. It is just a wah pedal and a tuner. Sometimes I have a Decimator [ISP Technologies Noise Reduction Pedal] for the noise.
AG: Have you considered the Carvin Legacy amps?
OP: I love them too, they’re great. Yeah I’ve played through them. When I jam with Steve, usually I’ll pay through them. That is what he has got in his studio. They sound awesome.
AG: Do you ever think you’ll change from PRS guitars?
OP: No because with Paul’s guitars, I have been playing them since I was eleven. Every now and then you pick up another guitar and it feels like I don’t know if I’m cheating or anything (laughs). I’ve been playing them for such a long time that I just like that is definitely my sound that comes through a Paul Reed Smith. I love them. Not only do they sound good, they are great looking guitars too. Pieces of art, the woods and everything, they stay in tune and they are just great.
AG: For the instrumental song ‘Highly Strung’, did Steve Vai present the theme parts and then suggest solo spots or did you collaborate on the whole song?
OP: We collaborated on that song. We both wrote it and I went over to Steve’s place and he had this whole concept of where I’ll play something and he’ll play something and then we play the main riff together. We went from there and came up with all the parts. I think he wrote the song in a few hours and those guitars that you hear on the album are actually the demo guitars at his home studio.
AG: I’d imagine he’d have some top of the line gear to do those demos.
OP: Yeah, he’s incredible and I’ve actually known him for half my life now. My first support show was opening for Steve in Adelaide when I was fifteen. He’s such an incredible guitar player and an incredible person too, very encouraging. He didn’t have to email me and write those long encouraging emails to keep on going. He heard my demos and is like an uncle to me. I don’t want to play when he’s playing. When we jam, I don’t even want to play guitar, I just want to watch him because he is so amazing. I want to absorb what he is playing and try to learn it.
AG: Is it intimidating at all?
OP: No, because he is like the Hendrix of our time. He is such an innovator and when I’m in his presence he is like a teacher. You want to learn, you want to listen and you don’t want to play over it. You go into Guitar Centre sometimes and you see these kids shredding away and it’s like a ‘who can play the fastest?’ competition. Music is not like that. I love to write songs and I like to write lyrics as well. I’m more about melody. I’m a blues based sort of player and I think that melody is something that people remember.
Stairway rebuilt and environmental acoustics.
It would seem to be almost asking for rock aficionado criticism but somehow the one song that all guitar heads know yet are not allowed to play in any guitar shop since ‘Wayne’s World’ got an airing with an all star band on ‘American Idol’. That show, since syndicated out to the rest of the world reaping massive payola, can at least say they did something to raise funds for those in need. A certain irony but indeed commendable. So it was that an all star band was one of the fundraising features. Oh, the song was Led Zep’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Takes a brave soul but when you’ve got Steve Vai on board, you know it works. It was also a good opportunity to find out about eco-friendly acoustics.
AG: With your acoustic guitars, what do you mean by an eco-friendly guitar?
OP: I actually have one of those, a Martin, which I use at home. But live I use a Gibson and they have a really fat sound. We went on a radio tour around America and they just sound great on the radio. They have that full sound and ring to them, especially when you’re playing a mini acoustic show in a room full of people you know it can sound good without even being plugged in. Gibson’s are great. But yeah, I actually have a Martin eco-friendly guitar and they replace the trees they cut down to make them which is great.
AG: Was that used on the ‘Stairway’ cover?
OP: Actually Steve Vai played the acoustic on that [double neck live]
AG: You’ll probably get the die hard Zep fans having a go regardless.
OP: Yeah, going in and covering that song, I don’t quite know how to explain it. They were such a great rock band and it’s such an amazing song. You really want to do a good job on it but once I heard Mary J Blige sing, I thought, ‘Wow, she’s putting everything into it’ and it was her own take on it. She sang her ass off on it and sounded incredible. Being part of it was a real honour, working with Steve and Travis Barker, Randy Jackson and Ron Fair [veteran A&R producer] who actually signed me played keyboards on it. It was just a really great day and we recorded it at Capitol Records. I think we recorded it about ten times, just live and they picked the best one. Then being able to perform on Idol was a real blast.