4.52am Issue: 002 2nd October 2016

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WELCOME
Hello again
Well, despite the best efforts of
technology, “Issue One” seemed to go
down well and many thanks for all the nice
feedback – it seems we did something
right, if inadvertently. As we had to leave
the videos out last time, we decided to
add a Video Vault this week, so that you
can see what you missed.
This week, we’re made-up and chuffed to
have one of the nicest guys in music Mr
Mark King of Level 42 gracing our pages,
along with the genius that is Luke Haines.
Not forgetting of course Status Graphite,
we couldn’t miss them with Mr King in
town, and the brilliant Cog Effects and
MadeByMike are here too along with the
most beautiful idea from Rift Amplifiers, the
what-If that is the Brownie 5.
Personally though I’ve been drooling over
the 1970 Gibson Gold Top.
Lots more too of course, not least
somewhere beautiful to lay your guitar
from those clever chaps at Stand-Made.
Enjoy
Mark Davidson
Editor

CONTENTS
FEATURES
MARK KING
There is Something About Him
STATUS GRAPHITE
The KingBass Paramatrix
LUKE HAINES
Smash The System
RIFT AMPLIFIERS
The Improbable Brownie 5
COG EFFECTS
Cog T-47 Analogue Octave
CARLOS SANTANA
Forever Smooth
MADE BY MIKE
Ultralord
ALEX KEEVILL
If You Don’t Want To Lose It
TONY VINCE
Kawai Me A River
HUGH FRIZELL
1970 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top
STAND-MADE
You Really Wood
DAVID WITCHELLS
Pink Paisley Telecaster
REVIEWS
COLONEL GIMP VINTAGE
REVIEWS
The Mighty Lemon Drops ‘Uptight’
SIMON REYNOLDS
Shock and Awe
ELLE EXXE
Love Fuelled Hate
HEALTH & BEAUTY
No Scare
JAKE SHIMABUKURO
Nashville Sessions
JULY TALK
Touch
KISHI BASHI
Sonderlust
LION & THE WOLF
The Cardiac Hotel
SKINNY LISTER
The Devil, The Heart & The Fight
ULTIMATE PAINTING
Dusk
END PAPERS
CREDITS & THANKS
VIDEO VAULT
JULIA JACKLIN
KAMIKAZE GIRLS
MICRODANCE
PROBETT ’59
ROCKET
THORNTON DEXTER
MOJO GOLD FOIL
CHASING CADENCES
PROUD HONEY
SPITFIRES
MOUSES

FEATURES

MARK KING
There is Something About Him
If ever there is a vote as to the nicest
geezer in music, forget your Dave Grohls,
although I hear he makes a tidy cuppa, and
get ready to celebrate with an inimitable
slap of the bass strings by Mr Mark King.
And despite everything that has happened
to him, I get the feeling that he has always
been this way, and when we had a chat
back in August, even the most boring of
questions (and to be fair I’m nothing if not
unoriginal) were met with humour and
grace.
But it all started back in the Isle of Wight in
1970. The Festival was on and despite the
fact that he was 11 years old meant he
couldn’t go, I asked Mark what it was like,
“Oh yeah! The Isle of Wight Pop Festival
was a huge deal there in 1970, and still
resonates today in Bestival and the IW
Festival, sadly I was a little young to go, but
remember hearing the strains of music
drifting into my bedroom. My younger
brother Nathan was born that same
weekend, so it was a good one all round!”
Did it have an effect on his later career?
“Well it sharpened up an already growing
appetite to play live. I loved, and still love
playing drums, and that same year joined a
local covers band called Pseudo Foot - yes
really! The Island had plenty of venues for
amateur and semi-pro bands to keep the
holidaymakers entertained, and there really
is no better way of getting your act up to
speed than playing regularly with different
musicians, and playing all kinds of music,
from ballroom, to country, to pop, rock
etc. On the subject of drums, by the way,
I heartily recommend playing them as a
great way to improve your overall time
and sense of rhythm.”
After a few years playing drums in various
bands and an unfortunate incident with a
milk float, Mark followed the familiar path
and at 19 moved to London and switched
to bass. I wondered how that happened
(especially as he had a reputation as a
drummer),
“The store I got my first job in in London,
Macari’s, didn’t stock or sell drums, but
had a healthy turn around in lovely
guitars and basses. I was able to check
out the visiting bassists that would drop in
between shows, and got to see a few
guys ‘slap’ the thing. I thought “this is
cool... I can do this! “and just started
drumming on the bass.”
Level 42 was formed quite soon after
Mark’s move to the Smoke, even if
nobody realised it at the time,
“No, it was very much a democracy of
four mates killing time by jamming
together once a week at the Music School
Mike Lindup was attending. When I say
killing time, I mean that this was a good

way to keep playing with like-minded dudes
while we waited for our various destinies to
unfold. I don’t think any of us thought that
this WAS the band, funny eh?”
Things moved forward at a pace from the
rehearsal room, and the usual constant
series of gigs were quickly followed by a
deal with Elite Records, was this the start
of the party?
“I guess it was in hindsight. Andy Sojka
liked one of the progressions we played,
and suggested we come up with a top line
(melody ) and find a singer. This became
‘Love Meeting Love’, our first single on Elite
Records, and also saw the introduction of
Wally Badarou, who was fundamental to
the band’s sound from there on.”
From there the band would record the
‘Level 42’ album and would finally get an
advance that let them buy some decent
gear,
“The album ‘Level 42’ was actually our
second album. We had already recorded the
untitled first album for Elite Records, but by
the time Andy Sojka had finished it we had
signed to Polydor. That untitled album was
never released on Elite and subsequently
came out as ’The Early Tapes’ after the
‘Level 42’ album. Signing to Polydor was
important because we actually got an
advance which we desperately needed for
equipment. My share of the advance was
£500, and I had to buy a bass and rig out of
that. That was when I came across the
Jaydee Supernatural in a music shop on
Charing Cross Rd. I love that bass, and still
have it today. My first bass rig was really a
guitar amp, a Roland JC200 head, running

through a Marshall 8 x 10 guitar cab which
used to fart quite a bit when I was giving it
some! I used a Yamaha E1010 analogue
delay unit too. The Roland/Marshall rig did
me proud for a couple of tours, but by late
1981 I had discovered a new company in
Essex called Trace Elliot, and off we went.”
The album was well received at that point,
and you released ‘Love Games’ which saw
you on Top of the Pops for the first time -
I’ve just watched it on YouTube and it
looks like uncomfortable fun. How did that
feel and how did it compare to your preconceptions?
What was the celebration
after like?
“Uncomfortable fun is a good summation of
it really. It was our first time on TOTP and
was a big deal for us. We had Leroy
Williams guesting with us on percussion at
that time, and Leroy was the only bona-fide
‘star’ in the band because he had already
been on TOTP with Hi-Tension. I have fond
memories of Leroy sitting in the front of
our Leyland EA350 van travelling back from
a gig in Braintree when the expansion tank
from the radiator, which was situated in the
passenger side front wheel arch, started
spewing out boiling, rusty water…. ha!! We
had to start that old van by shorting the
solenoid with a 2 pence piece. Happy Days!”
From that point forward, Level 42s sales
went through the roof of that really big
house over the road, and U.S tours saw the
band partying with Madonna and Tina
Turner and enjoying the excess and success
that being a star in America brought in the
1980s.
Videos had obviously come to be massively
important, and I couldn’t help but ask about
what I’ve always thought was one of the
best, the slightly disturbing promo for
‘Something About You’. Being such a British
thing, I had to ask what the record company
felt about it?
“I think they were happy with it. Polydor
America weren’t too sure at first, but after
the song went to number seven in the
charts they insisted the character featured
in the next video too! The ‘clown’ character
was loosely based on Archie Rice, a
character Laurence Olivier created for the
film ‘The Entertainer’. Stuart Orme directed

the video, and he was very happy for us to
get involved in the storyboarding, so we
did.”
Over the years, Mark has been well-known
for a number of his bass guitars, but it is
the ones made with him by Status that
seem to have been his favourites,
“I have a great working relationship with
Rob Green (from Status Graphite) who
makes the basses for me. We met way
back in 1982 when I went to the Music
Messe in Frankfurt for TraceElliott and got
talking about what I might like in a bass,
but it wasn’t until 2000 that we actually sat
down and came up with a design from
scratch, which became the Kingbass. Over
the last ten years we kept tweaking it, and
the introduction of a full parametric eq for
the latest Kingbass Paramatrix has been
the icing on the cake for me. Alembic do a
signature model, and Fender ran a limited
edition signature Jazz Deluxe, as well as the
good old Jaydee MK bass too.”
What comes next for you and Level 42
then?
“I’m currently prepping for the Autumn tour
which takes in 20 dates in the UK in
October, then off into Europe for November.
The tour is called “Sirens II”and picks up
from where we left off in 2014 with a sevenpiece
band. We have had a great festival
season this year too, and played some new
territories in Curacao, Chile, and Argentina.
Busy is good.”
More information non Mark and Level 42
Here

I had also asked on our web site whether
anybody had questions for Mark - here are
a few of the cleaner/legal ones,
RichardJ: “Most important to me, are
there any Level 42 plans for the future?”
Mark King: “Hi Richard, Yes, more of the
same will do for me and the band. Sirens II
is on the horizon, and I’m loving trying
some old songs with new arrangements to
facilitate the brass. Hopefully see you out
there somewhere.”
Blueskunk: “Is it true that a single flick of
your thumb is equal that of a prime Mike
Tyson left hook.”
MK: “Hahaha! I’ll bite your ears off too
Blueskunk.”
Slacker: “Lessons in Love-how do you play
all those slappy triads and sing at the same
time and not train wreck?”
“Was Jaco a conscious influence?”
“Are you upset that Jo Bonamassa has more
signature gear than you?”
MK: “Lessons in Love is still one of the
more strenuous songs to play. The bass line
is pretty relentless, so a good workout for
you, and singing stops you thinking about
how much your arm is aching. I love Jaco’s
playing. Unmistakeable, and always so
musical. Every bass player should listen to
him. Yes, I am upset that Joe has more gear
than I, its so unfair….”
DrBob: “Was your appearance as part of
the ensemble cast of the legendary French
& Saunders 'Ralph Mctell' sketch a career
highlight ?”
MK: “Indeed it was DrBob, not least
because I got to meet Lemmy for the first
time.”
Mark King, thumb like Tyson and a proper
bloke.

STATUS GRAPHITE
KingBass Paramatrix
Mark King mentioned in the article, he has
been working with Rob Green of Status
Graphite for 16 years now on a number of
signature basses, all of which continue to
push the boundaries of what can be done
technically and all which continue to
manage to look futuristic despite the basic
design being a couple of decades old now.
As Mark says, they started with an original
design and then over a decade or so,
tweaked it until they finally got to the
Kingbass Paramatrix, complete with a full
parametric equaliser. He explained,
“Rob and I often tweak the KingBass
design, but the Paramatrix isn't so much a
tweak as a seismic shift”
And whilst visually it is close to the previous
versions of the KingBass the Paramatrix,
looking in detail it was more than just a
fancy equaliser that they added to the core
recipe.
But pretty radical the equaliser is and
though I don’t normally like to copy and
aste from web sites, I think this time it is
simpler to do just that:”
“The KingBass Paramatrix is the result of
over 12 years development.
A radical active EQ design and Tri-Max
pickups are at the centre of the
transformation.
The EQ includes both treble and bass
controls plus dual parametric circuits,
all working independently to allow a vast
range of tones.
Bass control = +/- 12dB shelved from
100Hz
Treble control = +/-14dB shelved from
10KHz
Each parametric circuit operates around a
different range of frequencies:
Low = +/- 10dB variable between 85Hz
and 850Hz
High = +/- 12dB variable between 1.5KHz
and 15KHz
Each Status Tri-Max pickup uses a unique
coil system and three position switch to
select either side of the pickup individually
or both at the same time.
All positions are fully hum-cancelling and,
when combined together, allow 9
different options which can be blended
together via the pickup balance pot.”
From there we are looking at a woven
carbon graphite through neck design,
with a body that has a solid mahogany
core, capped with either graphite or a
selection of ‘posh’ wood veneers. A first
for the KingBass is that it has a fauxbinding
a la PRS, as well as the usual top
carve. This looks quite beautiful and it is

always impressive how such minor changes
can have such a large visual impact.
As for the rest, obviously it is back to a
headless design after the Olde Wolde
headstock Status dabbled with for the
KingBass Mk-II, which balance-wise,
visually as well as whilst playing is a
positive move.
Of course no talk of a Status bass would be
complete without looking at the LED
fretmarkers, and special star shaped ones
appear here that are available in a selection
of colours. Pretty cool.
All the usual Status options are available,
so your Paramatrix can be made fretted,
plain, lined or micro-lined on its 24 fret
phenolic fingerboard which is available
either in a 32 or 34 inch scale.
To summarise, Mark King obviously knows
what he wants, and Rob Green is an
awesome maker of unique musical
instruments, so whatever they come up with
was/is always going to be special.
We’ll hopefully look at the rest of the Status
Bass range over the coming months, and
their guitars too, of course.
You can visit Status Graphite Here, and you
really should.

LUKE HAINES
Smash The System
I promised myself, I really did promise
myself that I wouldn’t use the word ‘Genius’
in any review I write for 4.52am or Guitar
Quarterly. I mean, for one it is a little overexposed
and naff, not least because every
footballer who can trap a ball or singer that
can do a slow acoustic version of a fast indie
song and flog it to M&S come Christmas,
gets tarred with that stickiest of sticky
brushes.
Although to be fair, making money out of a
song these days perhaps does need a
certain kind of genius, now I come to think
about it.
But regardless of that and free Y-Fronts for
life, I find that it is only week two and
already I am dropping the ‘G-Bomb’.
For genius, Luke Haines most certainly has,
for he has produced a quite ridiculously
unique and never-more-eccentrically-British
album in “Smash The System” that is both
breath-taking in its scope and perfectly
obtuse.
I caught up with Luke a few weeks ago in a
“Gimps and Morris Dancers” club in the
Reeperbahn in Hamburg, sometime in the
1970s, where we had the opportunity
between dances to talk our way through the
album.
However, as a long-term fanboi of Luke’s I
couldn’t resist asking him about the Auteurs.
I wondered whether he gets fed-up of
people asking him about music he made
over 20 years ago?
“No, I really don’t care, it is nice in a way
as I have made lots of records and if they
still matter to people it is great and it is
only fair to talk about them”
Obviously, the Auteurs was the first band
where you had control, but before that
you appeared in The Servants. How did
your experience in The Servants shape
how you wanted to do things with the
Auteurs?
“With The Servants I was just there to be
a guitar player and nothing more. They
already were writing really strong songs,
so it was a great opportunity to learn how
to write songs, and then all the recording
side of things too. I think you develop an
instinct about what works and what
doesn’t and I had the chance to gain that
before it was all on my shoulders”.
When the Auteurs debut album “New
Wave” came out, I remember feeling that
for a debut it was very precise compared
to what a lot of other first albums were
like,
“In a way it felt like my second album as I
suppose I’d made all my mistakes or seen
them with The Servants, so I was a little
ahead of some of the other bands.”

Moving forward, you recorded at one point
as the ‘Baeder Meinhoff’, and 1960/1970s
European Terrorism is a recurring theme in
your work. What attracts you to it? Is it as
simple as modern terrorism is rubbish?
“I really don’t know what it is, I think it is
just growing up at that time it stayed with
me, it gets into your head. I guess I like
experimentation so in my mind I saw
terrorism mixing up with some really
hardcore Funk - so yes, a mixture of terror
and funk. (laughing)”
All of which brings us to Luke’s new album,
“Smash The System”, his first album-ofsongs
after a number of concept albums.
To say this is like nothing else, is really to
undersell it and whilst you can follow a
thread back to some of the tones and
songwriting of the Auteurs, he is constantly
moving forward, looking for new
songwriting techniques and new sounds
even if they often come from his beloved
vintage synths.
I asked Luke about how the songs were
written,
“I spent a lot of time trying out new/old
synths, discovering new sounds. I’m a big
believer in analogue gear, the synths
especially just seem to have their own
sound rather than trying to be something
they aren’t, like with digital. As for the
songs, they are all about the times we live
in and whilst I can’t really - the song isn’t
the place to - give empathy or guidance, I
chose to go surreal with it and discover
pathways like that.”
The first song on the album is “Ulrike
Meinhof's Brain Is Missing”, a crazy and
crazed tale of his daughter’s quest to find
his brain which quite literally did go
missing. This is hallucinogenic in its scope,
but like the rest of the album there is
seriously strong song-writing underpinning
everything else that is happening, which is
important as in lesser hands the songs could
be totally swamped. For an opener it is epic.
I asked Luke about his approach to
recording,
“I have my own studio thankfully, and have
used it for the last six albums. The type of
music I make would be impossible in
commercial studios as the costs would be
prohibitively expensive as I can spend large
amounts of time on really small details. I am
not a perfectionist looking for the
impossible, I just have my own method. It
works for me.”
One thing that quickly becomes apparent, is
that Luke uses guitar tones in the same way
that he uses synth ones - almost like colours
in a paintbox, seemingly able to just nail
whatever sound he has in his head at will.
He really is some player though, and no
doubt underrated compared to those who
were his contemporaries. Julian Cope
compared him favourably with Radiohead’s
Johnny Greenwood a few years ago, and it
is a good comparison as the way he uses
guitars now is a world away from the jangle
and strum of his early work and you get the
sense from both Luke and Johnny that it is
the sound that counts, not the instrument
used to get it. Throughout this album you
hear such moments - fuzz that really could
be Hendrix, wah that could be Charlie Pitts
and stomping Glam boogie that really could
be Bolan or Ronson in their gilded pomp.
In terms of guitar gear though, Luke really
isn’t a snob. His main guitars haven’t
changed for years - a 1980s MIJ Fender
Telecaster he bought for £300 in 1985, a
beautiful Les Paul Custom, 3 Pickup Black
Beauty, and then a Danelectro ‘59 and a
Gretsch Baritone for added depth. Some
beautiful acoustic is all played on an old
1965 Martin Dreadnought, which in Luke’s
words ‘Just makes anything you play sound
nice. The tone has nothing to do with me, it
is all the Martin.” I think he protests a little

much there, but listen to the songs and see
what you think.
Speaking of which, the second song on the
album is “Black Bunny (I'm Not Vince
Taylor)” which is a ‘What-if’ of a song,
dedicated as much to Ziggy Stardust as
Luke’s eccentric hero Vince Taylor. It opens
with a riot of fuzz wah guitar before it
descends into a Theme-from-Pong
soundtrack. Luke talked about this being a
nightmare and taking ages to mix, and it is
obvious why, but it is seamlessly done.
I won’t go through every song, but the
awesome Bomber Jacket, a song dating
back to the Auteurs is simple yet a slice of
genius. If you knew the ‘70s you will
definitely recognise his imagery. Luke
talked about some songs taking forever to
reveal themselves and this is definitely one
of them, years passing before it unravelled.
“Bruce Lee, Roman Polanski and Me”
couldn’t be more different, exploring the
(alleged) true story of the film-maker
Roman Polanski who was convinced that
Bruce Lee was responsible for the death of
Sharon Tate, even after Charles Manson
was convicted. The filmmaker even hiring
private detectives to try and prove Lee’s
guilt. Moving forward again, whilst ‘Cosmic
Man’ is Luke’s manifesto if ever he has
written it down, “Smash The System” took
a long time to feel right as it is a genuine
cry, and what you would record
immediately at 18, perhaps you think about
more later. This is a song above politics,
where listening to Davey Jones of the
Monkees makes you realise that he, and
music generally, is a higher force for good
than any political leader that ever li(v)ed.
And the album ends with a quite fitting
“Are You Mad?”, with is a perfect
comedown, a down to earth song that
obsesses over the simple fact that we are
born fucking mad and we die fucking mad.
It is the one fact of life, the way of
humankind.
“Smash The System” then is that rarity, an
album produced by a major artist without
the filter of focus groups, marketing and PR
strategies and the rest. You are getting the
real juice here, Luke is definitely for real and
lucky for us that really isn’t going to change
anytime soon. Smash The System is out on
the rather cool Cherry Red Records.
Find out more about Luke Here
Buy Smash The System Here

RIFT AMPLIFIERS
The Improbable Brownie 5
I first spoke to Chris Fantana back in July
and was seriously impressed with his
approach to the whole boutique amplifier
building business. In the last issue, when I
talked about Andrew Thornton’s approach
effectively being to do an Orange Juice (err,
rip it up and start again - sorry) the
comparison I had in mind was with Chris,
who has seemingly followed a more
pragmatic, traditional route. Not that either
is wrong, just interesting to see two
different approaches.
Chris started Rift a few years ago after
starting by doing repairs through necessity -
there wasn’t a tech within fifty miles, oving
on to building a kit or two and then finally
building an amp to his own specification -
tweaking the classics rather than starting
again from scratch. As Chris said,
“Guitarists are a conservative bunch, so to
cater I offer the three main food groups -
Tweed, Blackface, and Plexi. These are the
types of amplifiers that people will always
come back to, whatever the latest ‘musthave’
is. I try to offer the classics along with
models that other builders don’t, like the
excellent sounding Brownface amplifiers of
the early 60s.”
What of course he doesn’t say there is that
every amp is made from scratch to the
highest possible standards. Something I
probably don’t need to say as none of the
builders we are featuring do anything
else, but in a world of far Eastern pennypinching,
made I should keep saying it, as
it is something that seems to be easily
forgotten when it comes to reaching for
your wallet.
Of course Chris does a lot more than
replicate some old amps, and in our first
visit to Rift Amplifiers, I wanted to have a
look at Chris’ own ‘What-If’ amplifier, a
replica he made of an amp that never
existed but really should have (maybe not
a replica then, more of an imagining) the
amp that should have filled the gap
between the Tweed and Blackface
Champs, what Chris has christened The
Rift Brownie 5.
Talking to Chris, it soon becomes
apparent that the anomaly in Fender’s
amp ‘history’ really got to him, as he
explains,
“The mighty Fender Champ went from its
Tweed iteration straight to Blackface,
missing out on enjoying a few years as a
Brownface amp. This has always bugged
me and I wondered 'What would a
Brownface Champ sound like? Of course,
there's no way of truly knowing so it's
down to interpretation...and trial and
error.”
Once he had decided to do it, there were
decisions to be made,

” I worked on the prototype on and off
over a six month period, trying to capture
the Brownface sound. I eventually settled
on a Vol/Treble/Bass arrangement with
preamp voltages closer to the Tweed amps
than Blackface.”
Of course, Chris also offer additional
features such as a proper spring reverb and
tremolo, with a specification of:
Preamp Valve: 1 x ECC83
Power amp Valve: 1 x 6V6
Rectifier Valve: 1 x 5Y3
OPTIONAL: Reverb or Tremolo
Finger Jointed Pine Cabinet w/Brown Tolex
High Quality Transformers
Jupiter Yellow Vintage Tone Capacitors
Handwired circuitry
High quality valve sockets, no rattling like
the NOS ones
WGS G8C Speaker
14½" x 17 x 7¼"
So it is no monster, even if it sounds like
hell on ice.
As I said last week, we’re looking at the
individual ‘products’ in 4.52am whilst Guitar
Quarterly is all about the builders, so we’ll
be back to look at another Rift amp in the
coming weeks.
You can find out plenty more about Rift
Amplifiers Here

COG EFFECTS
T-47 Analogue Octave
I’m a little late starting to write this, as I’d
decided that the T-47 Analogue Octave was
the understatedly perfect place to introduce
you to the rather wonderfilled world of Cog
Effects, but then I decided to check a couple
of facts on their website, and, not to put too
fine a point on it - lost an hour dribbling
over the screen as I worked my way
through their list of Custom Builds.
My god, they have done some flight-deckcool
looking pedals, I can only imagine what
fun they would be, though how anybody
would ever remember the settings on their
multi-fx is beyond one so simple as I.
But back to the point, Cog Effects is run by
Tom George in Sheffield, which is up North
somewhere I understand, and as seems to
be the way, started as a hobby, morphed
into an obsession and ultimately when his
band died a death and with one kid at home
and another on back-order, it seemed a
good idea not to be permanently on the
road and became a business. And what a
business the chap built.
As I keep saying, we’ll have a proper feature
on Tom and his company in Guitar
Quarterly, whilst in 4.52am we’ll slowly work
our way through all of his effect pedals and
tell you all about them over the months
ahead.
I suppose I should have started with the
Cog Tarkin, it being their first pedal and the
one, no other than Dweevil Zappa bought
as an ‘early adopter’, but we’ll come to
that later, as today I wanted to start with
the simple T-47 Analogue Octave.
I don’t think I mentioned this to Tom but
I had one of these and it was beautifully
built and as solid as something jammed
between a hard thing and a rolling stone.
What really caught my imagination was
that it was basically two octave pedals in
one, complete with twin controls that
could be set independently.
I’m a simple soul and confuse easily, so
being able to dial-in two octave settings
and then have an A/B switch to swap
between them, as well as the usual on-off
switch, well, happy daze. No need to tapdance
a couple of pedals, lovely.
One cool thing I should mention, is that
Tom is a demon for trying to miniaturise
pedals so that they are still functional -
none of those teensy switches that snapoff
when you look at them - but are
surprisingly small for what they contain,
and the T-47 is surprisingly svelte given
the options it gives you.
Actually, I’ve changed my mind about not
simply including makers’ blurb, as I think
for pedals at least it is worth having. So
fill your boots, and if you are looking for
an Octaver or two, these are well worth
your time. Check them out.

T-47 Analogue Octave
The T-47 Analogue Octave is the perfect
solution when you need more than one
octave sound but don't need the complexity
of the T-70 or the hassle of multiple octave
pedals. Problem solved.
The T-47 features the full control sets of
two T-16's, with level controls for clean
signal and octave down signal plus the
Filter control to adjust the octave down
tone for each channel. The A/B footswitch
allows you to swap between the two
presets on the fly. Simplicity and versatility.
With north-mounted jacks and a footprint
not much wider than a single T-16 with
jack plugs engaged, the T-47 provides
amazing flexibility and incredible tones in a
super compact enclosure.
To treat yourself to this beautiful pedal visit
Here
* Clean and Down levels are independent
* Filter allows you to shape your octave
down tone
* A/B footswitch swaps between two
independent octave channels
* 2.1mm Boss-style 9v DC input (power
supply not included)
* North-mounted jacks to reduce
pedalboard footprint
* True Bypass
* Die-cast Aluminium box

CARLOS SANTANA
Forever Smooth
Ever since his very public career resurrection
in the late-’90s due to his ‘Supernatural’
album and the simply genius ‘Smooth’,
Carlos Santana’s career has taken the usual
superstar guitar player route that we’ve all
seen many times before with Clapton and
his chums - gather the usual suspects and
record a new album or play a charity gig.
So this year’s release of Santana IV was as
unexpected as it was welcome in that not
only had he dug deep to record some really
good songs, he had gathered the version of
the Santana band last seen playing together
on (arguably) his best ever album, 1971’s
Santana III.
OK, it couldn’t be exactly famous-friendfree,
but Ronald Isley feels a part of the
band on the two songs he joins them on,
and altogether it is a mature album,
although where on III you often felt the
players were pushing the boundaries of their
musical prowess, these days they seem to
be playing within themselves more. But then
I’m sure they have learned a thing or two in
the ensuing 45 years, and I don’t think the
‘70s version would have had the control to
produce a performance like they have here
on songs such as ‘Leave Me Alone’ or the
epic ‘Forgiveness’. In truth, the songs are
often stronger on IV than III and the
production definitely is.
It is genuinely nice to see Santana’s
guitar playing stretched though and Neal
Schon definitely challenges Carlos and
provokes a performance - the old fighter
coming out punching - and it is a glorious
thing to see at times.
I’m not particularly into watching videos
of bands in recording studios, but I would
love to see how this was put together as
there genuinely is a solid bond and love
between the players across the record. It
feels like a band that is bigger than the
sum of its parts, when could you last say
that about a Santana record?
Of course after III, Neal Schon and Greg
Rollie left Santana to disappear into total
obscurity (a little band called Journey that
clearly never got very far) so where
before we were left wondering what
might have been, at least with IV we are
getting a glimpse, even if we know deep
down that the technique might have
improved but some of the fire is
dampened.
To summarise then, whether you think
you like Santana or not, this is well worth
your time, especially if you are a guitar
player – some of the rhythm is worth the
cost alone.
You can find yourself a copy of Santana
IV Here if you have a mind to.

We couldn’t feature Mr Santana without looking at ‘Smooth’ and as we have the legroom I
thought a bit of an introductory collection of his best songs might be in order too…

MADE BY MIKE
Ultralord
I’ve always had a secret liking for Made By
Mike pedals, not least because they were
local to me in Bristol and I always felt that
one day I’d get my act together and buy
Mike Livesley a lemonade or something and
have a natter. Of course I still haven’t
gotten around to it, and interviewing him
recently over the ether, I find he’d moved to
the beautiful seaside of Portobello in
Edinburgh yonks ago.
I really should get my act together.
But regardless of Mike’s location, I still quite
fancy sharing a sherbet with him, as he
epitomises the DIY pedal making chic and
humour that has always made it such a
brilliant ‘movement’. When you visit his web
site, the first thing you see is,
“Hi, I'm Mike. You might recognise me from
such videos as ‘that one off youtube where
the guy can barely play’. I also build pedals.
All pedals available via this website are
made by hand, by me, in the UK.”
See what I mean. Anyway, one last time I’ll
say that in Guitar Quarterly we will be
covering the makers whilst in 4.52am,it is all
about the pedals. So to start with, here
we’re checking out Mike’s crazy-barkingmad
“Ultralord” pedal and as Mike described
it so neatly,
“This one is a recreation of an old pedal
built by another builder who long since
downed tools.
It's a bit of a DIY Classic and was brought
to my attention by my buddy Tim, who
also does all the graphic design work that
goes into MadeByMike decals.
I originally built him one as he was keen
to try it, and it was so batshit insane and
fun that I couldn't not offer it as a pedal
to my customers.
It's in the same sonic ballpark as things
like the Fuzz Factory, Wolf Computer and
the like in that it can be a full-bore fuzz
machine, sound like your amp is very
badly damaged, sound like a Mario
Nintendo game, and also make no sound
whatsoever.
It is a very strange unstable pedal but
nonetheless a useful sonic tool and quite
a piece of work!”
Check it out for yourself Here

ALEX KEEVILL
If You Don’t Want To Lose It
I am happy and grateful to have been given
the opportunity to write this article; but I
am not happy for the reasons that I felt
compelled to do so.
Mark reached out to me after I created a
Facebook group titled ‘Support
Independent, Emerging Artists’. The
purpose of the group is to allow music fans
and music makers the chance to shout
about music they feel should be getting
more attention; but perhaps more critically,
music that, despite its quality, is not selling.
My band, The Microdance is the exemplar
closest to me – I’m not going to espouse
the quality of my own music, plenty of
others have done that. I can’t overstate the
positivity of the reviews our debut album
‘New Waves of Hope’ and subsequent single
‘The Ride Today’ received – including from
this very publication (thank you very much!)
– phrases such as ‘best rock album this
decade’, ‘masterpiece’, ‘alternative rock is
finally in safe hands again’ ‘most critically
acclaimed rock album in years’ and ‘100 of
the best music journalists could not do this
album justice’ were thrown about liberally –
from small blogs, radio DJs, international
magazines and the music buying streaming
public alike.
If I were to tell you how many copies those
releases have sold, you’d probably think I
was having you on.
From an inside perspective, it appears to
me that, notwithstanding protestations to
the contrary, no one from the generation
who actually know differently (as in grew
up in a time when music was procured
almost purely through sales) really gives a
shit - because while they are happy to
listen to and post links to music on
Soundcloud, they are not happy to pay
for it; unless it’s a reissue from that band
they loved in the 90s.
It is so bad that, while a band used to be
a genuine vocational choice (provided it
was either good or commercial enough),
I’d now be hard pushed to cite an artist
friend who is gaining financially from their
music (and I have too many friends or FB
acquaintances who make great music to
list); in fact, I’d be hard pushed to find
one whose musical aspirations don’t
present them with a large financial deficit.
The corollary of this is that the deficit
infects all levels of the industry. The
majority of contracts offered from labels
these days are licensing contracts and not
record contracts; meaning that artists are
expected to pay for the production of
their music while labels ‘exploit’ that
music to the best of their abilities while
taking 50% of revenue. But what does
that mean? Actually, not much. We spent
over a year negotiating with a label (our

4th label in three years!) over the release
of New Waves of Hope on both CD and
vinyl; when it came to the crunch, they had
$2,000 to spend on promotion in the
states. So, the band pays $18,000 to
produce a 70 minute album in two weeks
(no mean feat and an album that sounds
like it cost significantly more to make) and
the label offers possible attention from low
level blogs. In the end, we just thought
f*** it, let’s do this ourselves.
For artists operating at a low to mid
commercial level, streaming is absolutely
not the solution: we actually get less than
0.1p per Spotify stream – contrary to their
claims of 0.6p as an average. That means
that we get around 80p for a thousand
streams – how many album sales would
equate to 1000 plays? Put it this way, the
streaming revenue is considerably less than
0.5% of that of album sales; if we had
earned 200 times what we have done from
our music, there would still be a band.
I think what a lot of people don’t consider
is the longstanding effects of this malaise –
as in ‘dudes, we really can’t make any more
music’ and neither can that other band who
you streamed on Soundcloud a thousand
times! I have over 150 songs that I could
release under the TMD moniker but I
honestly have no idea how and when I will
get to record any new music. I say ‘I’
because, like so many of our peers, the
band has split largely due to the
demoralising lack of rewards for our
efforts. This is a confluence of influencing
factors; a cultural shift and one that begets
an expectancy of free content – and so that
means this is not a game or a set, it is
match point to an opponent who actually
thinks they’re on our side.
Then there’s the argument ‘artists should
make art for art’s sake’; if that stops short
of being outright stupid, it’s certainly facile.
Could Topshop keep manufacturing clothes
if they didn’t sell any?
I don’t, for one second think that this
Facebook group is going to make any real
difference; but I suppose it offers a bit of
solidarity to struggling artists and at least
I’m doing my bit. If we all did, things may
take a turn for the better. Perhaps skip
Friday’s latte and buy some music?
If not, Neil Young may be proved wrong in
the near future – my my, that’d be a shame!
You can find the FaceBook group Here, and
if you have taste and honour, perhaps treat
yourself to The Microdance’s wonderful
debut album Here.

TONY VINCE
Kawai Me A River
It isn’t every week that we will be able to
mix our love of all things guitar, geek and
vintage with a little social therapy, but today
I’m pleased to say that Tony Vince, the
keeper of the Kawai-shaped flame is going
to bare his soul for us. So help him god.
Hello, my name is Tony and I’m a Kawaist.
Or Kawaholic. And this is my story.
A long time ago, no, I mean a long time
ago, a teenage Tony decided that learning
to play the electric guitar was the way to
creative satisfaction, cultural contribution,
fame, fortune, and girls. Mainly the latter.
My first guitar was the end result of lots of
early morning paper rounds and a parental
loan. A Columbus LP copy.
Today those things would be called
“vintage” and much would be made of their
Made-in-Japan-ness. Collectors’ items. I’d
rather compare them to outside lavs. The
only people who look back and “remember”
them fondly didn’t actually have one. Even
the teenage Tony realised that fame and
fortune needed a slightly better instrument.
Enter International Musician and Recording
World. In the days-before-Internet, it was
my connection to the world of guitars and
instrument lust. I could read the reviews,
cut-out the ads, dream the dreams and
count the girls.
I really don’t remember why the ad from
Tim Gentle Music (Southend, Essex,
c1979) caught my attention, but it did.
Mr Gentle had managed to grab the UK
stocks of a guitar that few people had
heard of even then, and virtually no-one
remembers now, as the brand was either
changing distributor or pulling out of the
UK market. Having grabbed the stock, he
was offering them out at a massive
discount, and a £300 guitar could be mine
for £150.
I knew nothing about it. Never seen the
brand before. Never read a review.
Never tried one. And although £150 was
half-price, it was still a lot of paper
rounds. But it looked both familiar and
different at the same time. It had a
“something” about it that called out to
me. I had a choice of two models, picked
one - mainly because it had an extra minitoggle
switch - and got myself a new
guitar.
A Kawai KS12XL.
If you’re looking at the photos, my first
Kawai was the flat-topped, clear finished
guitar. It’s a solid mahogany body with a
multi-piece mahogany neck, and that -
that - headstock. I’ve had that guitar for
c35years now. It’s been with me through

thin & thick, hair & no-hair, fame, fortune
& girls. OK, so the fame, fortune & girls bit
never really happened, but I don’t want to
shatter any dreams here.
Back in the day, probably the most
recognised non-US-mainstream guitar was
the Yamaha SG1000/2000/3000 range.
Mahogany body & neck, maple cap, twin
HBs, double cutaway, great build quality
that embarrassed the “majors”, great
sound, and a definite cool factor to it. It
was the guitar to be seen with, and many
of the guitarists in many of the bands were
indeed seen with one.
My Kawai KS12XL ticked many of those
same boxes. The build quality was
absolutely up there with the best, it
produced a great thick-but-clear
humbuckery sound and had a definite wow
appearance (just look at that headstock!).
But no-one was playing one. Yamaha had
the endorsees, Kawai had me.
I was a happy teenage Tony with my Kawai
guitar, playing in my band, dreaming my
dreams of rock stardom.
Through the years during which those
teenage years have become a distant
memory, I sometimes wondered what the
“other” Kawai would have been like - it
didn’t have the extra mini-toggle, but did
have a carved maple top and - even in the
b&w IMRC ad - looked a bit more wow (and
a bit more like a Yamaha SG2000) than my
guitar.
That sometimes wonder never really went
away.
Roll forward 20-odd years, and someone
invented the internet, and search engines,
and even on-line auction sites. The
sometimes wonder became a sometimes
browse and sometimes search. Of course, I

created a saved search on that on-line
auction site to alert me if ever one of those
other guitars appeared.
And one day, one did.
Just like the original Tim Gentle ad. A
Kawai KS11XL, natural finish. It looked
immaculate, with the original case, just like
the day it left the shop. Finally, I could
find out what “the other one” was like. I
bid. Highest bidder. Someone else bid
more. So I bid more again. As did they.
As did I … until the price went up to a level
that I thought would be mad to bid more.
I could have done, the cash was there, but
I thought I’d be sensible and walk away.
Sensible me.
I pulled out of the bidding, the guitar sold
for £5 or maybe £10 more, and I’d been
sensible to avoid getting dragging in to the
bidding war.
Sensible me. Oh silly, silly me. Saving that
£5 or £10 has proved to be rather
expensive.
That silly-sensible moment was nearly 15
years ago, and I still kick myself for missing
that guitar. Over the next few days and
weeks my Kawai Kwest began. If there was
one immaculate, just like the ad, Kawai
KS11XL in natural finish out there, there
must be another. I just had to find it. So
I’d get out there on-the-online and I’d find
it.
Anything you want (and a lot more besides)
can be found on the world wide web.
Right? I searched for Kawai guitars, and
found …

Well, I found nothing very much really.
There were websites by the hundreds or
thousands dedicated to the Yamaha SGs
and numerous other Japanese brands of
the time. Anyone looking to buy a Yamaha
SG was spoiled for choice. Ditto Washburn
or Aria or Ibanez or even Columbus. But
nothing for the Kawais
How could that (not) happen?
No Kawai website. No Kawai fan-group
discussion forum. Nothing. Not often that
you find a vacuum on the www.
So I built a website. A Kawai website.
Build it and they will come.
And they came.
The website started getting emails from all
over the country, the continent and the
world. A typical message would read “I’ve
been looking for information on these
guitars for years and never found anything,
thanks for creating this, here are some
photos of my Kawai”.
And then a message added “and would you
be interested in buying it?”.
And I was. And I did. It wasn’t exactly the
Kawai that I’d been looking for, but who
knew if I’d ever find another one of those
(I’d been looking for a few years by then,
with no luck), so I’d grab this one whilst it
was on offer.
In the early years, if a Kawai crossed my
path, I bought it. Consequently, I’ve had all
sorts of oddball guitars - from the multipickuped
/ multi-switched 60s models (look

at Teisco branded products) through to
models from the last range that Kawai
produced in the 1980s. I’d like to say that
they’re all top quality examples of guitar
design and manufacture, but that would be
stretching things just a little. But Kawai
definitely did have a “purple patch” of
guitar making in the late 70s and early 80s,
and it’s the models produced in that period
that I’ve gradually focused on.
There were two main ranges in this period
and you’ve probably noticed photos of
some similar looking guitars, being the first
of those two ranges - the KS range. The
photos show the KS12XL model (with the
flat top) and the KS11XL (with the carved
maple top). There is/was a KS10 too,
although this had a different body shape
with an odd cutout at the base and - after
a couple have been and gone - I’d say
wasn’t quite up to the standard of the
KS11/KS12. Each of the 10/11/12 models
came in two flavours - the XL variant that
you see here, and a Jr model. The main
differences being losing the wrap-over
Badass style bridge for a separate bridge &
tailpiece arrangement and the Jr using
some slightly downgraded pickups. That
said, I’ve never had a Jr model in my
hands, so I can’t really comment on the
comparative quality or sound of the
different variants.
I have owned a couple of the Yamaha SG
guitars from the same era, and I will
honestly say that the Kawais are very
comparable in terms of construction
design, materials quality, playability and
sounds. Yet whilst the Yamahas get pride
of place in any (virtual) shop window, the
Kawais languish in a dusty corner at the
back.
And that’s actually where the natural
finished KS11XL was found lurking. A shop
in Carlisle. One day, an email pinged into
my inbox from someone who knew what
he’d seen in the dusty corner and let me
know. Roughly 10 seconds later, I was
phoning the shop and arranging for the
guitar to be paid for and couriered to my
door.
It was about 10 years on from my sillysensible
moment, during which time I’d
tracked down and bought (and then sold)
quite a few Kawai guitars, and certainly
spent a lot more than I’d have had to spend
to win that auction. But it’s been fun, it’s
been interesting, I’ve swapped stories with
other Kawai owners from - literally - across
the world via the website, and I’ve acquired
a little collection of interesting Kawai
guitars.
In fact, the latest acquisition arrived just last
week. It’s the only example of this
particular Kawai model that I’ve ever seen
… but (perhaps) more on that another day.
You can visit Tony’s Kawai Site Here

HUGH FRIZELL
1970 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop
In last week’s issue we heard all about Mr Frizell’s band, Proud Honey in quite the overthe-top,
sycophantic album review, so in an attempt to redeem myself, this week I’m
happy to introduce you to the chap’s delicious 1970 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top, and say that
it looks OK. That it is quite nice really. A bit old looking, but hanging in there.
There, that is much better.

STAND MADE
You Really Wood
I never thought I’d see a company like
Stand-Made in the UK. Not that there is a
lack of craftsmen, or an appetite for the sort
of top quality guitar stands and racks they
carve (generally) from Oak, but compared
to say the U.S of A, where these things
would no doubt sell by the shedload (do
Americans have sheds, I wonder?) and
double-up as gun racks, the market here
would seem to be limited.
All of which pondering goes to show that I
know precisely nothing, nada and zilch, as
Stand-Made have not only been producing
some truly beautiful guitar furniture since
2012, they are about to buck just about
every trend in British business, never mind
the British Music Business, and open a
shop/gallery/workshop to display their
wares.
Now ambition I admire, but lunacy is much
more fun, so I had to track down Andrew
Bennett and find out what’s going on, as it
were. And once I had, well I asked him a
few questions.
Mr Bennett, can you give us some
background information, please?
“Well, I’m a genuine “Shropshire Lad” and
I’m very fortunate to live with my family on
the edge of Much-Wenlock in the heart of
rural England. Stand-Made is a busy
collection of small wood workshops now
dedicated purely to hand making Guitar
Stands and Racks in real Oak, individually
and to order.
We established the business in 2012.”
What was the motivation behind starting
the company?
“Our main workshop was founded by my
father who began making furniture as a
master joiner/cabinet maker over 50
years ago.
As a child doing small & basic jobs at his
side, I had already begun playing and
developing my love of guitars and an
appreciation for fine woodwork. However,
it took until 2012 for me to finally pursue
the idea for Stand-Made as my father
began to “slow things down”.
My family had been asking me to tidy up
the collection of guitars strewn around
the house for a number of years so I
decided to make a Rack that would not
only store/display them safely but be a
quality piece of furniture they would
approve of! After a few friends had seen
it and local musicians had asked me to
make them a Rack, we soon built a
website and began getting enquiries &
orders from real customers. Since then
we have established quite a wide range of
Stands and Racks and gradually seen the
business grow from strength to strength
with fresh orders & enquiries now coming
in nearly every day.”

Focussing on your Guitar Racks, they
obviously look beautiful, can you tell us
about the design?
“I was always taught to keep things simple
and I think our success to date has come
from designing pieces of “guitar furniture”
that not only function properly but blend in
very well with many people’s homes. As
space is a premium for many of us, we also
wanted to make sure the floor dimensions
were kept to a minimum – our Racks are
only 50cm deep and the neck rests angled
so they can be positioned flush up to a
wall.”
What woods are available and do you need
to consider sustainability?
“We occasionally get asked to make Stands
& Racks in other woods but our main
material is Oak. Oak is very popular but
also a very sustainable wood. We purchase
all of our materials locally – the small
independent timber yard we use has been
run by the same family for over 80 years!”
Obviously, with some nitro and oil finishes
you have to be careful about stands - is
this an issue with yours?
“We give our customers the option of high
density foam or real natural leather
channels to cushion their guitars however,
we do highlight the fact that as there are
literally thousands of nitrocellulose
manufacturers/mixtures using a unique &
differing ratio of chemicals, it would be
impossible for us to test every single one of
them. We’ve been making Stands & Racks
for 4 years without a single problem or
complaint but offer the same advice as ALL
the established & international guitar stand
manufacturers (check their small print!) –
customers should keep an eye on their
guitars for any initial signs of a reaction and
refer to their guitar’s manual for any
additional guidance.”
You have expanded your line, and offer
customisation etc. what sort of proportion of
your orders are bespoke too off-the-shelf?
“We still make everything to order, regularly
tweak dimensions to suit customer’s needs
and we’re nearly always working on new &
bespoke projects, some of which make their
way onto our website and get introduced to
the range – our latest being a twotier/double-decker
Rack for guitars and/or
cases!”
Any famous guitarists using your stands?
“Yes, one of our first orders came from
Chris Difford (Squeeze). Soon after that
came Martin Carthy MBE (via Eliza), then
James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street
Preachers) and we’ve recently made a lovely
bespoke Rack for Neville Marten (Guitarist &
Guitar Techniques). There are a couple of
others too but sadly we can’t mention
them!”
So before you go then, what’s all this about
a shop then - are you mad?
“We think we might be just about to open
up the UK's first ever SHOP (in bricks &
mortar) dedicated purely to making & selling
Guitar Stands & Racks.
After 4 years trading online (plus a few
Guitar Shows), our small "Great British"
business has finally outgrown its current
workshop and we decided to move into
premises where customers will be able to
come and see us physically making our full
range of products, touch & feel them,
discuss their requirements with us and order
or buy from "off the shelf".

This is a big step for us but after all the
support & commendations we have
received from our 100's of customers and
overseas orders just starting to take off, we
really think now is the time.”
And you have to say, I think he really
might be right. One thing people will
always pay for is quality, whether it is a
£5,000 guitar, bespoke amps and pedals or
a beautiful handmade stand to keep their
guitar collection in, it really is a case of buy
quality and buy once.
Well, maybe apart from guitars and pedals,
clearly.
You really should visit the Stand-Made web
site and once their shop is up-and-running
we’ll have to pop along and see how things
are going.
Visit Stand-Made Here

DAVID WITCHELLS
Pink Paisley Telecaster
It only seems like a week ago that we were
stealing admiring glances and perhaps
wondering how we could get our hands on
David Witchells’ gorgeous Monterey Strat,
and here we are again about to do the very
same thing. This time though, it is James
Burton instead of a Mr Hendricks of Seattle
who was the inspiration and indeed the
chap that will forever be associated with the
guitar David built.
The story goes that somebody at Fender
(isn’t it ironic that that name we never
hear?) came up with a lurid pink paisley
design for a guitar, and Fender didn’t have a
clue what to do with it. It was the ‘60s but
man, this was way out there. I like to think
there was a meeting with all these old guys
clasping pipes between their teeth,
wondering who of the youngsters they could
give it to try - to try and see if they could
sell a few. They hadn’t heard of the
Beatles or the Stones, Dylan was too
hippy, when with a snappy finger standup,
one of them remembered that their
kids used to love that caterwauler from
Memphis, maybe his band would give it a
go. So someone took it to James Burton,
and he really wasn’t too sure, but Elvis
and the rest of the band loved it, so he
figured he’d give it a go.
I mean, I like to think that is what
happened, but to be honest I couldn’t
really be bothered to Google it and find
out, so who knows.
But either way, the Paisley Tele is as cool
as it gets and with an Allparts body David
has again pulled off the perfect guitar. I’m
heartily jealous, and I’m sure you are too.

REVIEWS

COLONEL GIMP
Vintage Reviews – The Mighty Lemon Drops
"
I remember it well, a Christmas special of a
sort, perhaps it was 1986, at the sweatbox
that was the Powerhouse nightclub in the
centre of Birmingham. I may have had a
few sherbets in preparation at the Grapes of
all places, so was a little wobbly as I tried to
hand my Crombie overcoat to the young
minx behind the cloakroom desk.
She had the look of a young Cilla, which
was ironic as she couldn’t sing and was
somewhere on the gothic spectrum from the
looks of her, but you never can tell.
As I arrived at the bar with my companions,
still smarting from the simian doorman’s
refusal to allow my silver capped ebony staff
entry with me, I think it was Pop Will Eat
Itself who were causing much moshing and
the place stunk of patchouli and snakebite,
a local delicacy if a strange cocktail. This of
course was before the ‘Poppies’ went large,
but they were fresher somehow then, so
very fresh. So very, vital, in their leather.
If I remember soundly, they gave way to an
energised Crazyhead, one of those shouldhave-been-massive
bands, that nobody can
ever really explain why it didn’t happen. In
truth, there are so many that could have
been contenders, that never were. A
wonderful band though, at least on that
stage, on that night.
As co-headliners, I never really knew what
dictated the running order, but next came
an odd band with the wonderful name of
Balaam and the Angel. Slightly more
Gothic than the rest that night, though
more as the Cult became, than the
Mission remain, if you see what I mean.
Perhaps the cloak room minx approved or
was even the booker, but I have to say I
enjoyed them massively, though the
inter-song banter was totally illegible in a
way only the Scots can manage,
especially ones from Cannock.
But finally they gave way to the band we
had come to see, local heroes indeed
(although, all were that night) the Mighty
Lemon Drops, fresh from their
appearance on the infamous C86
cassette, and full of vim and vigour, fire
and disdain.
I can remember seeing their hand printed
posters everywhere, even as far south as
Coventry. The City Centre was plastered,
mercifully, I thought at the time - even
Godiva blushed at the state of that place
in the ‘80s, I can tell you.
Oh looking back now, even on their debut
album Happy Head, the live experience
was so much more explosive than the
records ever were. The guitars live were
scalpel sharp and you could feel the skin
on your face peeling as they exploded
through Inside Out, Biggest Thrill, Like an
Angel and the rest.

Oh, even then we saw the lineage of the
Doors through the Bunnymen to reach the
Lemon Drops, but who cared, who cares
now, they were simply divine.
Divine indeed.
And as I sit here now in my hackneyed
carriage, waiting for a moment's executive
relief, I have a copy of Uptight, their long
overdue collection of early recordings -
from 1985 and 1986 apparently - spinning
in the player and what a joy it is.
Not only to hear these long mislaid songs
once more, but to hear them in an earlier,
less produced and homogenised form than
the contemporary recordings, for these
show us the band as they really were, the
band that played that long ago night in a
piss-stinking club in a shite-strewn city,
that band that inspired so many more bands
in their wake, that band so many of us loved
that night, before we left, stinking of
snakebite and patchouli for the long walk to
Pigeon Park and a Night Bus home.
Uptight is a brilliant recording of a raw band
at their creative peak.
Pick up a copy Here

SIMON REYNOLDS
Shock and Awe - Glam Rock and Its Legacy
Anybody approaching Simon Reynolds
Shock and Awe looking for a lightweight
introduction to just what Glam Rock (or for
American viewers, Glitter, though they may
be revising that now) was, are in for a
surprise when they rest this 708 page
behemoth on their leg and watch their foot
turn blue.
This is a serious piece of work, weighs
1.1Kg in bare feet and quite simply is the
definitive work on the subject, covering not
only the early days and the obvious 70s tin
foil explosion on Top of the Pops, but
forensically following through its influence
on later artists and their work - right up until
the current day.
But this is no dry, academic dissertation,
instead it is a beautifully written, witty and
down-to-earth page turner of a book and so
engrossing that you only realise that you are
progressing as the feeling-in-your-leg ratio
moves from the right to the left.
And the depth of research apparent is more
than impressive on both sides of the
Atlantic, reaching beyond the obvious
stomping novelties of Gary Glitter and the
Sweet to look at the long-term influence in
terms of not only music, but fashion, sexual
fluidity and politics and taking time to look
at the impact the death of David Bowie has
had on the music industry in recent months.
And it feels perfectly natural that Reynolds
takes Bowie’s progression through the years
as his leitmotif, and the fact that he dictated
the definition of what that thing ‘style’ is at
every stage only makes it easier to follow.
The book could easily descend into a series
of questions:
What was Bowie doing when Iggy Pop…
What was Bowie doing when Lou Reed…
What was Bowie doing when Roxy Music...
What was Bowie doing when The Tubes...
What was Bowie doing when Japan…
What was Bowie doing when Suede,
Madonna, Manson, Gaga, Kanye, Ke$ha,
Beyonce…
But Reynolds never lets it escape him into
some sort of ode to the Thin White Laughing
Gnome That Fell To Earth and every point is
perfectly weighted, every assertion justified -
as I say, like his books on Rave Culture and
the C86 generation, definitive just about
covers it. Anything else you may read is
going to be a subset, this simply put, covers
it all.
You can pre-order a copy of Simon Reynolds
book, Here

ELLE EXXE
Love Fuelled Hate
It perhaps seems unusual opening our
reviews this week with a ‘Pop’ performer (if
there is such a thing, but then the Beatles
were Pop, The Smiths were Pop, even
Transvision Vamp were Pop, and they knew
Andy Warhol.) So I’ll make no apologies for
introducing you to Scottish singersongwriter
Elle Exxe (LX, apparently) who
over the last few years has been building a
fanship on YouTube under her given name
of Linda Harrison.
I can see a couple of lightbulbs at the back,
there.
Now, she is moving on to stage two as Elle
Exxe with her album Love Fuelled Hate
about to hit the charts, and being old I hate
to use phrases such as ‘blown away’, but
her songs and voice are quite literally
incredible. I mean she is that-lass-from-the-
Pussycat-Dolls talented, and I don’t give
higher praise than that, I even buy her
yoghurt.
And I really should mention that this isn’t
some X-Factor wannabe that has been
packaged and primed, Elle writes her own
material and they are proper-top-notch
songs, not ploughing the usual ABC of R&B,
instead finding new electronic genres.
This album is what Madonna and
Beyoncé will be doing next year.
But it is her voice that gives me
goosebumps, sounding completely different,
but only Janis Joplin, Patti Smith and Sinead
O’Connor have hit me in quite this way on
a first hearing. When she hits her higher
register, I quite literally stop thinking.
I’ll say no more though, as you are better
listening than me waffling, but put simply
Scotland has found its Beyoncé, its
Mariah, its Nicole and perhaps even its
Wendy.
You can buy Elle’s album There

HEALTH & BEAUTY
No Scare
Is it just me, or does everybody have that
dream where a guitar player from
Radiohead shacks up with the singer from
Gene and someone folky from Calling My
Shadow era Wonderstuff or maybe World
Freak Show era Levellers and are forced to
breed a super group of cosmicrabbits who
go on to make the most amazing futurefuck-music
and take over the world?
It is just me, isn’t it?
I mean I don’t mind if it is, I just wanted to
be sure before I tried to explain just what a
brilliant and – can I say incredible? –
incredible album Health & Beauty have
made.
Either way, in No Scare, Health & Beauty
have re-created four decades’ worth of
the finest vocal and guitar tones known to
man, built beautiful towers of song and
yet also built fragile-flimsy towers with
lots of guy ropes and generally produced
what is simply put the perfect album.
They open with the discord of Back to the
Place and your heart will be shredded.
Moving on to Asunci n Dayanara nothing
else matters, just listening is enough.
I’m not even getting into Beyond
Beyoncé.
In fact, I’m saying no more, this is
perfect, go and listen to it and then buy
it. Here.

JAKE SHIMABUKURO
Nashville Sessions
I must admit, I never imagined myself
buying a ukulele record this side of
retirement. My kids love them, and I have
spent many an hour trying to remember the
notes too, they are perfect fun, but listen to
it for pleasure? It seemed a little unlikely.
However, I have had a sheltered life and to
be perfectly honest I have never heard a
uke played the way Jake Shimabukuro plays
a uke. He is a uke monster, he is a virtuoso,
without wanting to saddle him with that sort
of baggage, he could yet do for the uke
what Hendrix did for the electric guitar.
And the ‘fro.
The Nashville Sessions is a brave album by
anybody’s standards. He booked a couple of
weeks in a Nashville studio, with two top
Nashville session players, bassist Nolan
Verner and drummer Evan Hutchings. There
was no plan, they were simply going to jam
and see what happened. As Jake explains,
“At first I was hesitant,” he admits. “‘We’re
just going to go in and jam? Really? With
nothing prepared?’ I never dreamed we
would leave the studio six days later with a
full album.”
“We approached the performance like a jazz
trio record,” he says, “but with a more
progressive rock sound.”
You use a lot of sounds on the album,
was it a conscious thing to perhaps sound
more guitar-like?
“In my live performances, I always make
sure I have a good balance of the natural,
acoustic sound of the ukulele and the
overdriven, electric sound,” he notes. “But
with this record, I would say there are
lots of experimental tones used on the
majority of the ukulele tracks. It just
seemed appropriate for this project. The
interesting thing about using different
sounds and effects—overdrive/distortion,
tube preamps, and a Leslie speaker
cabinet—is that they make you play
differently. You become a new person.
For me, that was very satisfying because
I found myself playing things I’d never
played before.”
This genuinely is a beautiful, creative
album and it is how the three work off
each other, figuring it all out in such a
short period of time that perhaps is the
greatest testament to all of their skills.
So if you haven’t thought about a uke
album before, check Jake out, he’ll show
you too, just what it can be.
Check out Jake’s album Here

JULY TALK
Touch
If you have ever heard Travelling Light by
the criminally neglected Tindersticks, you’ll
know where I am going to go with this, as
that is quite simply put one of the greatest
duets ever recorded.
So I’ll give you a few minutes to go and find
it. There, take your time, enjoy.
Back already?
OK then, imagine it being played by a
seriously top quality Stones/Neil Young
broken-in backing band, and even having
discovered New Wave cool you still wouldn’t
get close to the unadulterated joy you will
feel listening to Peter Dreimanis and Leah
Fay fronting the brilliance-in-excelsis that is
July Talk.
I am not joking when I say that musically
this band simply has everything, not just
rock, not just New Wave, not even just
Achtung Baby-period U2 as a nod to
Berlin Bowie via a touch of Edwyn Collins’
Fuzz, they have much more, much much
more.
And then on top of all that, on top of the
excellence of the songs – God how could
I have forgotten the songs, they are
seedy and dirty and epic and calculating
and fun and Nick-Cave dark all at once,
but add to the songs, those wonderful
vibrant energy orchard songs with apples
dropping everywhere, add to those the
wonderful grit-gargling of Dreimanis’
vocal mixing like one of those doubleslushies
with the sweetness of Fay, well it
is an awesome thing. Truly awesome.
Buy The Album Here

KISHI BASHI
Sonderlust
Kishi Bashi, is the pseudonym of composer
and recording artist Kaoru Ishibash,
probably best known in the UK for his work
as Jupiter One, and there is something of
the soundtrack about his latest album, with
subtle sounds nestling closely to intimate
soundscapes, if that makes any sense at all.
Vocally, and perhaps thinking more of the
style of deliver rather than the tone, he often
reminds me of Stuart Murdoch of Belle and
Sebastian, and there is that winsome art
across the album as a whole that is really
quite charming and beautiful, whilst
somehow leaving you to expect a punchline,
or at least a punch to your tenderest
blindspot.
“Hey Big Star” for instance starts as though
it could be Merry Christmas Mr Lawrenceera
Sakamoto/Bowie, before twisting into a
‘70s MOR style masterpiece and yet, there
we are again with the Belle and Sebastian
feelings.
It is probably simplistic to say that you
genuinely don’t know what is going to
come next - one moment it is a sample of
a video game soundtrack used to map a
new melody, next you have dropped into
the soundtrack of the Love Boat, and all
without a knowing glance or indeed any
sign of irony.
In a lot of ways, it is the perfect pop album
as anybody could listen to it and find
themselves drifting along quite happily,
but I can’t help but think that there is more
going on in the engine room than I’m
catching.
Perhaps it is me and the truth of the
matter is that there is something staring
me in the face, but after a while I just wish
it would shout ‘Surprise’, but like the
punchline, that just doesn’t seem to
happen.
Treat yourself Here

LION & THE WOLF
The Cardiac Hotel
Tom George is simply put one of a new
breed of singer songwriters that have an
emotional maturity that allows them to both
create fantastically sad songs, real moments
of emotion, and then twist them with a single
note so that they can become one of the
most uplifting times of your life.
Right from the beginning with Don’t Fail Me
Now, he sets a tableau for us all to see from
a distance that slowly unfolds and you
realise that it is some kind of rapture rather
than the empty solitude of a lonely room that
you originally envisaged it to be.
The album cover shows a vase of dying
flowers, and that is the perfect metaphor for
the album as a whole as your first thought is
that the flowers are wilting, but on closer
introspection you realise that they are the
richest of colours and the closer you get the
fuller the scent.
It would be easy though to focus on the
lyrics – they take you on a journey of their
own – but in terms of the guitar lines there is
a depth here that is rarely seen.
Initially I thought there were many layers of
guitar, some chiming others just
reverberating, but again, looking closer so
much of the guitar is tracked with brass and
organ and all the richer (I keep using that
word) for it.
And he really can make you cry with a
Salvation Army salvo as easily as he can
force the widest smile on your face with a
moment of silence. You just find yourself
nodding, what he says is just so true and as
a writer, like the way he works with the
guitar, it seems unfair to us mere mortals
as it becomes obvious that he was just
gifted extra colours for his art, extra notes
than the rest of us have to make do with
and extra levels of emotion than most of
us would want to feel.
I honestly believe that the Lion & The
World will go on to do amazing things, as
I say, he just has more colours than the
rest of us to paint with.
Buy this album and then his debut too,
Here

SKINNY LISTER
The Devil The Heart & The Fight
OK, I didn’t want to admit this, even to
myself, but I am a little bit in love with
Skinny Lister right now. They are hard to
pigeon-hole; on first view of their press
photos I thought there was going to be
some Rockabilly going on (I have a deep
love of all things Ted, and more than an
appreciation of the Cramps too), so I was
looking forward to it when I put the
imaginary CD into the imaginary Bose.
But no, there was more of a Celtic vibe
going on at than that, beautiful songs,
perfectly executed and male/female leads
that made me think for a while of Deacon
Blue and then something a bit more credible
and nasty around the edges than that,
perhaps The Men They Couldn’t Hang even
(and where did that thought come from, I
really don’t know. Just a vibe.)
But most of all, I gush because of moments,
it is always moments with me, and the times
when Lorna Thomas breaks through with
her Natalie Merchant joyous tone, singing
from the back of her mouth with a smile on
her face - I just join in and sit there
grinning like a Cheshire numpty, it really
is a beautiful thing all around.
And standing back now after going for a
walk to clear my head, it is that they are
like a nicely turned out Levellers or
Pogues, the dog not on a string but on a
Boho Etsy-sourced, upcycled leash, the
double-bass and uke nicely polished and
you know that they will hold the door
open for you as you enter the gig.
And that isn’t some reverse snobbery
about beards and porridge, no, they have
already made some fantastic music, they
clearly have joy in their souls and I can’t
think that what comes next from them
will be anything less than fucking
amazing. I really can’t wait.
Buy the album There

ULTIMATE PAINTING
Dusk
There is something quietly wonderful about
Ultimate Painting.
This, their third album, simply seems to drift
along, like an evening spent visiting an
English seaside town, perhaps out of
season, they like it best when it is quiet, just
driving along the front, nobody around, a
crafty spliff as you check out the derelict
pier, the lights across the bay are so
beguiling, and then there are the lights
across the bay, you just look at them and try
and imagine just how much fun they are
having over the other side, and you look at
the derelict pier and the lights across the
bay and just about stop as a Pokémon
hunter walks in front of you, oblivious.
And you look at the lights across the bay,
not the people, the lights, you really, really
care about the lights.
That they are having fun, you know?
Not that you aren’t too, you are just deeper
than that, immaculate even.
And right from the start, there is something
of the Velvet Underground about them -
there always was, an easy repetition that is
totally compelling, but under the drift and
they can just drift like nobody else, there
has always been a totalitarian brutality
about them.
They may be chilled and they may drift
(and man do they drift beautifully) but if
you don’t want to go with their flow, there
is a shiny shiny boot of leather that is
coming for your face.
It is that essential contradiction that
makes Ultimate Painting one of the most
exciting bands, in their own low-key way,
around at the moment.
And like the Velvets or Spacemen 3
before them, you will regret it forever if
you don’t dig their scene, if you miss the
chance to enjoy their music in person,
because it is a personal music, you just
gotta go with their flow to get the best of
what they offer. You just have to go with
their flow from dark until dusk.
Buy the album There

CREDITS & THANKS
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All content © Guitar Quarterly 2016. No parts may
be reproduced or stored in any format without the
express written permission of the publisher
Articles/Reviews: MD, NJ, LP, FM, TJ & RT
Kawai: Tony Vince
Lose It: Alex Keevill
Artwork: MD, FJ
Design: MD, JM & TJ
Photo Credits:
Mark King: Dave Wirran
Status Graphite: Status Graphite
Luke Haines: Cherry Red Records
Rift Amplifiers: Chris Fontana
Cog Effects: Tom George
Santana Band: Maryanne Bilham
Made By Mike: Mike Livesley
Alex Keevill: Alex Keevill
Kawai: Tony Vince
1970s Gold Top: Hugh Frizell
Stand-Made: Andrew Bennett
Pink Paisley: David Witchells
Colonel Gimp: Cherry Red Records
Simon Reynolds: Faber & Faber
Elle Exxe: Elle Exxe
Health & Beauty: Julia Dratel
Jake Shimabukuro: Jake Shimabukuro
July Talk: July Talk
Kishi Bashi: Shervin Lainez
Lion & The Wolf: Lion & The Wolf
Skinny Lister: David Edwards
Ultimate Painting: John Sturdy

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