Angus Young – Guitar World – March 1986 – Part 1

ANGUS YOUNG – RAW ENERGY IS ALL YOU NEED
Guitar World March 1986
By Joe Lalaina

(All parts in Italics and Quotes are from the March 1986 issue of Guitar World)

The little guy with the big SG is unconcerned with current guitar hero fashions. His stock in trade has always been the hard rock shuffle to a boogie beat. Before you drop the needle on any new AC/DC album, you know what to expect. Rarely has a band maintained such a consistent sound as AC/DC, they’ve been pretty much making the same album for the past ten years. Fly On The Wall, the group’s eleventh release, is no exception.

“I’ve heard people say all our music sounds the same,” says soft-spoken lead guitarist Angus Young, “but it’s usually just the people who don’t like us who say it.”

Not true. It’s just that ever since the band’s High Voltage debut back in 76, AC/DC has been playing the same relentlessly raw and straightforward style on every succeeding album. And that’s the way their fans like it.

I like AC/DC. They are a talisman to consistency. Each album is the same, however that doesn’t mean that each album was successful. You need great songs, and that is what AC/DC delivered on High Voltage, Highway To Hell, Let There Be Rock, Back In Black and on The Razors Edge. Credit both Mutt Lange for Back In Black and Bruce Fairbairn for The Razors Edge. Actually, The Razors Edge album is the most crucial album AC/DC ever did. After a steady decline in fortunes and sales since Back In Black, they kicked off the 1990’s with a bang. It made them relevant again. The Razors Edge album sustained them throughout the 90’s and into the now.

“We never go overboard and above people’s heads,” says Angus, who took some rare time out from his recent American tour to discuss musical and other matters.

“We strive to retain that energy, that spirit we’ve always had. We feel the more simple and original something is, the better it is. It doesn’t take much for anyone to pick up anything I play, it’s quite simple. I go for a good song. And if you hear a good song, you don’t dissect it, you just listen and every bit seems right.”

For any guitarist that is starting off, AC/DC wrote the book on beginners guitar. In the process, they also created songs that are timeless and a soundtrack to a whole generation of people in the seventies, eighties and nineties. I am just teaching my kids to play guitar and the first song i showed them was Long Way To The Top from AC/DC.

Although this stripped-to-the-bone approach has made AC/DC internationally successful, thirty million albums sold worldwide ain’t bad!, Angus is more concerned with having a good time than with album sales.

“We don’t go around the world counting ticket and record sales,” he says, “nor do we glue our ears to the radio to hear what’s trendy at the moment; we’re not that type of band. We do run our own careers, but we leave the marketing stuff to the record company. We make music for what we know it as, and we definitely have our own style.”

AC/DC defined a style and in the process spawned a million imitators. What a lot of people don’t understand, especially the international fans, is that Australia rock bands where all playing the same style. Rose Tattoo, The Angels, Daddy Cool, Stevie Wright all had that pub rock vibe. AC/DC just stood out a bit more. Credit Bon Scott and Angus Young. Brian Johnson walked into the house built by Bon and Angus.

Is there anything Angus considers special about his playing style?

“In some ways, yeah.” he says. “I know what guitar sound I want right away. And if I put my mind to it, I can come up with a few tricks. I mean, I just don’t hit the strings that my
fingers are nearest to. But the most important thing, to me, is I don’t like to bore people. Whenever I play a solo in a song, I make sure that the audience gets off on it as much as I do.”

Angus exerts more energy in the course of one song than most guitarists do in an entire show.

“I’m always very nervy when I play.” he says. I usually settle down after the first few songs, but it’s hard for me to stand still. I suddenly realize where I am, onstage in front of thousands of people; so the energy from the crowd makes me go wild. I’m always very careful, though. If you bump an arm or twist an ankle, there s no time for healing on the road. You can t tell the crowd. Hey, people, I can t run around tonight I have a twisted ankle.”

I have mentioned before about bands writing great songs and how that is very different to bands that write great songs that go down great live. AC/DC is another band, that has that foresight. The songs are all meant for the arena. To be honest, i don’t really remember a recorded song fading out, i am sure some do, however it is testament to the band that they write a start and an end.

Malcolm Young, AC/DC s rhythm guitarist and Angus older brother, would rather just stand in one spot and bang out the beat with thuddingly repetitive chord structures.

“Malcolm makes the band sound so full”, says Angus, “and it’s hard to get a big ego if you play in a band with your brother, it keeps your head on the earth. Malcolm is like me, he just wants the two of us to connect. Although he lets me take all the lead breaks, Malcolm’s still a better guitarist than Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen certainly knows his scales, but I don’t enjoy listening to very technical guitarists who cram all the notes they know into one song. I mean, Van Halen can do what he does very well, but he’s really just doing finger exercises. If a guitarist wants to practice all the notes he can play, he should do it at home. There’s definitely a place for that type of playing, but it’s not in front of me.”

Big call by Angus. Dishing on King Eddie. Back then, I was like WTF? How dare he? Eddie was king back in 1986. He was untouchable.

I didn’t even like AC/DC back in 1986 and I am Australian. I was so into the U.S. Glam/Hard rock scene, I failed to see the talent that was AC/DC. I am glad I made up for it in the nineties, when Grunge allowed me to drop out of the mainstream and go searching for classic rock bands.

These days, no one speaks their mind. They all want to be loved. No one wants to be hated. Guess what people, we can see right through it. We can tell the fakes from the real dealers. (Nice lyric line by the way, I will keep it)

Angus would much rather listen to old time players like Chuck Berry or B B King.

“Those guys have great feel, ” says Angus. “They hit the notes in the right spot and they know when not to play. Chuck Berry was never a caring person. He didn’t care whether he was playing his tune, out of tune or someone else’s tune. Whenever he plays guitar, he has a big grin from ear to ear. Everyone always used to rave about Clapton when I was growing up, saying he was a guitar genius and stuff like that. Well even on a bad night Chuck Berry is a lot better than Clapton will ever be. Clapton just sticks licks together that he has taken from other people – like B B King and the other old blues players—and puts them together in some mish-mashed fashion. The only great album he ever made was the Blues Breaker album he did with John Mayal and maybe a couple of good songs he did with Cream. The guy more or less built his reputation on that. I never saw what the big fuss was about Clapton to begin with.”

That is what made Angus a legend, he always spoke his mind. The world we have today is all about yes people and making sure that we don’t offend. We all want to be loved, hence the reason why one person has 5000 Facebook friends. Yeah Right. 5000 Friends. What a load of B.S? No one speaks their mind these days. The kids grow up these days, being told by mum and dad what a great game they had in football, and how great they are at reading and how great they are at this, when all they did was touch the ball once and play with the grass most of the time.

It’s easy to get lost in those comments against Clapton and Van Halen. If you do, you miss the point Angus is trying to make. He has no time for technical players, but he has time for Chuck Berry. In relation to Eric Clapton, he didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about, he believed that others where better, like Jeff Beck.

“There are guys out there who can play real good without boring people. Jeff Beck is one of them. He’s more of a technical guy, but when he wants to rock and roll he sure knows how to do it with guts. I really like the early albums he did with Rod Stewart.”

There is that name again Jeff Beck. When I was reading this magazine, Jeff Beck’s name came up a few times. I had to check him out. This is 1986. No internet to Google Jeff Beck. No YouTube or Spotify to sample him. I had to walk down to the local record shop and look for it. Good times. I am glad I lived them and I am glad they are not coming back.

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

Next 100 Years, I Could Make A Living Out of Lovin’ You and Ain’t No Cure For Love – Classic Songs Waiting To Be Discovered

Crush. Does anyone know that It’s My Life came from this album. You can say this was Bon Jovi’s renaissance. After delivering a terrible album in These Days and a worse solo album in Destination Anywhere, Jon Bon Jovi needed to go back to Rock N Roll. Luke Ebbin was on board to produce the album. It was to be his first major production credit and what a good job he did with it. It’s My Life was a monster. So whatever came after it, wasn’t going to matter. Call it the curse of the Number 1 effect. Crush was a great album. However, it was the B-sides that came with the CD-singles that were the standouts.

Next 100 Years was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. It has that Beatles Hey Jude ending and then from about 4.25 it just goes into overdrive. It’s got that Seventies vibe, that abandonment. Hell the song even goes up to 6.19 which strays very far from the pop formula that Bon Jovi is renowned for. Sambora wails on the guitar. This is the year 2000, Nu Metal is ruling the scene and guitar solos are non-existent. Trying telling that to Richie. He must have missed the memo. If there is one thing I can say about Richie, he stayed true to himself as an artist. He didn’t follow the grunge trend or the industrial electronic trend Jon followed on Destination Anywhere. He just remained the same. His second solo album, Undiscovered Soul was a real standout in 1998. I even watched him perform, 5 minutes from my house, at the Shellharbour Workers Club. Now that was an unexpected surprise.

I’ll believe
When you don’t believe in anything

That is life. When I don’t believe someone else i know believes in something better and vice versa. The Yin and the Yang.

I Could Make A Living Out Of Lovin’ You was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Billy Falcon. If you like AC/DC, if you like rock n roll, this is the song for you. It’s the a quality AC/DC song not written by the Young Brothers. This song was on the Australian deluxe version as a bonus track. To me, it is one of the best rock songs Bon Jovi has written. It’s got that Bon Scott tongue in cheek attitude in the lyrics. It is the guys having fun. Yes FUN. That is what it is supposed to be about. Having FUN.

If there’s something that needs fixing
I’m the man to see
Look me up, I’m listed
Just check under “B”
If you’re ever on the spot
Well, I’m good with my hands
24-7 I’m your handyman

Until the work is finished
Well, I don’t get paid
I don’t mind getting dirty
That’s my middle name
I’m in the service business
So I understand
Call me 24-7, I’m your handyman

Aint No Cure For Love is the best ZZ Top song not written by ZZ Top. How this song has not ended up as a Bon Jovi classic is a tragedy. It’s the guys having fun again. It’s written by Richie Supa, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. Supa is known for his contributions to Aerosmith, plus Sambora used him for a lot of the Undiscovered Soul songs. This is Classic Rock revisited in the YEAR 2000. It deserves more attention. It show a different side of Bon Jovi.

Cupid was a blind man
He must have missed his mark
Shot an arrow in the air and hit me in the heart

I went to see Saint Valentine
Said whats come over me?
Daddy must have missed the chapter about the birds and bees

You can be the King of diamonds
You can cash in all your gold
You could hire Johnnie Cochran
It’s too late to save your soul

NEXT 100 YEARS – YouTube

I COULD MAKE A LIVING OUT OF LOVIN’ YOU – YouTube

AIN’T NO CURE FOR LOVE – YouTube

Music

What made Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet Explode?

What made Slippery When Wet explode?

A lot of people credit Bruce Fairbairn for it. Others credit the influence of Desmond Child, while others would credit the sound engineering and mix by Bob Rock. Others put it down to Jon and Richie finally finding their niche as songwriters and finally others put it down to the Pizza Parlour Jury. Could it have been the labels release schedule and marketing plan? Could it have been that the scene needed a shake up and this album was right time, right place?

First let’s put into context where the band was at in 1985. They had just finished a nine-month world tour for 7800 Degrees Fahrenheit. The band was in debt to the record label for a couple of million bucks. The guys where living at their mom and dad’s, and wrote most of the songs for Slippery When Wet in Richie’s mom’s basement.

There is a common myth that once a band is signed, they are showered with untold riches and that they have money coming out of their arse. That is so far from the truth. Bon Jovi where in debt and they were lucky that the label gave them a third chance.

From the 90’s onwards, labels didn’t give bands three chances. One chance was all they had. If they failed they will get someone else. These days the labels are irrelevant. They need to compete on a playing field where the rules change at the same rate technology changes and to be honest, they are so out of touch, it’s almost laughable watching them trying to hold on to the old way of doing things.

Let’s start with Bruce Fairbairn. Before he started doing Slippery he was coming off a multi-platinum run of releases with Loverboy and Honeymoon Suite, plus a Gold release with Krokus. According to Paul Dean from Loverboy, Bruce is super organized. He charts everything out and every song is broken into parts.

Slippery would go on to multi – multi platinum sales and New Jersey (also produced by Bruce would do the same). From Slippery, Bruce would move on to Aerosmith. Permanent Vacation, Pump and Get A Grip all went multi – multi platinum. He resurrected AC/DC’s career with the 5x platinum The Razors Edge after a steady decline in sales after Back In Black. It is safe to say that Bruce had a certain knack for getting the best out of the artists he produced. His track record is envious to say the least.

Then you have Desmond Child.

Jon and Richie wanted to write with another song writer, so that other people can perform the songs. Jon heard Tina Turner singing a song that Bryan Adams had written and wanted to do the same. That is how Desmond Child came on the scene. However the plan got skewed, as the songs that came out of those sessions where that good, that it was decided they will be kept for Jovi instead.

The first song Jon and Richie wrote with Desmond in Richie’s mother’s basement was “The Edge Of A Broken Heart”. The second song they wrote was “You Give Love A Bad Name” by referencing a song he wrote for Bonnie Tyler called If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man). The melodies and chord progressions are very similar.

He used the story of his 70’s girlfriend, Maria Vidal who used to work a diner and was called Gina, for Livin On A Prayer. In interviews, Richie has stated that Jon didn’t want the song on the album, while Richie was trying to convince him it was the best song they had.

I’d Die For You and Without Love where two other songs penned by Jon, Richie and Desmond. I’d Die For You even has a cult status as a fan favourite. Desmond brought the pop side to Bon Jovi’s form of hard rock, glam metal overtones.

The engineer and mixer Bob Rock

Jon heard Honeymoon Suite’s The Big Prize (another Bruce and Bob production) and that sealed the deal for Bon Jovi to also seek out Bob Rock.

The Pizza Parlour Jury

When Jon and Riche were making the demos in New Jersey, they would go across the street to the pizza parlour. They would ask a bunch of kids to hear some stuff. As Richie puts it, “It was like a marketing test . They came in and said, “Yeah, we like this one. This one gets through and that one doesn’t.”

They sure needed it as they wrote a truck load of songs. Apart from the 10 songs that ended up on the album, other songs that never made it include;

Never Enough For You, Borderline, Edge Of A Broken Heart, Heat Of The Night, Give My Heart, Lonely Is The Night, Too Much Too Soon, Game Of The Heart, Deep Cuts The Night, Stand Up, Walk Don’t Run, Out of Bounds, There Is No Answer, Promise, Take Me All.

Bouncing songs off different independent ears that are not related to the band, helped Bon Jovi focus on the songs that where stronger.

Polygram Records

Doc McGhee the Bon Jovi manager at the time has stated that putting out a record at the right time is very important. He further mentioned that the label looked at what other labels where releasing and picked a window where there was nothing really there competing against it.

August was the month that was selected and competing against Slippery When Wet where other August releases from Motorhead – Orgasmatron, Vinnie Vincent – Invasion, Warlock – True As Steel and Great White – Shot In The Dark.

If it was released in July, it would have been up against DLR’s – Eat Em and Smile for listeners’ attention. If it was released in June, it would have had to compete against Queen – A Kind of Magic, Genesis – Invisible Touch, Rod Stewart – Every Beat of My Heart, Madonna – True Blue and Cinderella – Night Songs. If it was released in May as originally intended, it would have been up against AC/DC – Who Made Who, Journey – Raised on Radio and Europe – The Final Countdown.

The Album

Let It Rock kicks it off Side 1.

The weekend comes to this town
Seven days too soon
For the ones who have to make up
What we break up of their rules

This song is written purely for the concert experience. That is foresight in itself. Apart from delivering a good album of songs, Jon and Richie are mindful of how they will go down live. The song is about rebellion, getting that fist pumping in the air, just to let your hair down on the weekend. Much like Loverboy’s Working for The Weekend. But in this case the rock is a fire that is burning out of control. Another analogy to melting rock temperatures (7800 degrees Fahrenheit). It’s funny where Let It Rock has that keyboard intro, Lay Your Hands On Me from New Jersey, is almost identical riff wise to Let It Rock and it has that long drum intro. It must be a Bruce thing, as even Turn Me Loose had a long keyboard intro. A good start by the Jon and Richie song writing team.

“Shot through the heart and you’re to blame, darling you give love a bad name.” The iconic a capella chorus. Then the band kicks in and Richie does his vocal melody lead until they start the strip bar sleazy verse riff.

I remember when I saw the clip, I was glued to my TV screen. I never got the name of the song and I thought it was called Shot Through The Heart, so I purchased the cassette album that had the song Shot Through The Heart. Of course that was the wrong song. Right band, but wrong song. The clincher for me was the chorus part after the guitar solo, where it’s just the voice and the drums (sort of reminded me of Queen’s We Will Rock You). You Give Love A Bad Name was the one that got the door opened and once the band unleashed Livin On A Prayer, the band started selling 700,000 records a month. It also featured the song writing talents of Desmond Child, who borrowed the vocal melody and chords from a song he wrote for Bonnie Tyler, called If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man).

Livin On A Prayer was the song that Jon wasn’t even sure should be on the album.

Bob Lefsetz posted that Livin On A Prayer is where Bon Jovi got the girls and that is what has kept the band going. He aint wrong there and Jon knew that, hence the reason why he rewrote the song over and over again for each album that came after. New Jersey had Born To Be My Baby (again a co-write with Desmond Child). Keep The Faith had the title track (the chorus chord progression is identical, except in a different key and again a co-write with Desmond Child). These Days had Hey God, Crush had Its My Life (Max Martin comes into the fold now), Bounce and Have A Nice Day had the title tracks. The Circle had We Weren’t Born To Follow and the Greatest Hits had This is Love, This is Life. For What About Now, the whole album is following the themes from Livin On A Prayer. If you are on a winning formula, do it right again and you will hit pay dirt.

Tommy used to work on the docks
Union’s been on strike
He’s down on his luck…it’s tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love – for love

It’s a movie in words. Life is tough but as long as we love each other, we will be okay. A lot of people were not okay, but Livin On A Prayer made them feel that they were, as Tommy and Gina were also living the same life they were living.

Social Disease is the pure filler that needed to be written so that Bad Medicine could be written.

So you telephone your doctor
Just to see what pill to take
You know there’s no prescription
Gonna wipe this one away

In never should have ended up on Slippery. Edge of A Broken Heart is far superior. I know that Jon apologised for that omission. To be honest the song never had a chance with the listeners coming off three winners already. It was a poor song from the Jon and Richie team. At least they made up for it in the next song.

Wanted Dead or Alive was the 80’s version of Turn The Page which Jon more or less copied again for the Young Guns soundtrack and had another number one hit in Blaze of Glory with a cool Jeff Beck solo. Wanted was written by Jon and Richie. This song didn’t reach number one, but it is a number one song. A cult classic. A radio staple. When the song was released as a single, the multi-million fan base had already digested it. They didn’t need to buy the single to make it No. 1. It was already that in their hearts and minds.

Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it’s not for days
And the people I meet always go their separate ways

Life on the road is just that. I am just finishing off reading a Randy Rhoads bio, and it’s pretty clear that Randy started to hate the road. He wanted to quit Ozzy’s band and study classical music. He worked his whole life to achieve rock stardom and now that he had it, he was going to give it all up to follow his dream of classical music. Sadly he never got there. That is another thing that seems to be forgotten, the road also kills.

Raise Your Hands (Let It Rock part 2) kicks off side 2. Another Jon and Richie composition. The motto of this song is simply. Come to the show, raise your hands and get wild. It doesn’t repeat what Let It Rock started, it takes it into overdrive.

Raise your hands
When you want to let it go
Raise your hands
And you want to let a feeling show

Without Love is the second track after Raise Your Hands on side 2. This was a Jon, Richie and Des composition and is forgettable. The first side was pretty much spot on, that it was hard to get into Side 2.

I saw a man down on lonely street
A broken man who looked like me
And no one knows the pain that he’s been living
He lost his love and still hasn’t forgiven

I’d Die for You is another Jon, Richie and Des composition. It has become a cult classic for Bon Jovi, with fans hoping that it gets played each night, like Runaway.

I might not be a savior
And I’ll never be a king
I might not send you roses
Or buy you diamond rings

We are not perfect in relationships, however we try our best. A lot of the times our best is not good enough and it all ends bad.

Never Say Goodbye doesn’t get out of second gear

As I sit in this smokey room
The night about to end
I pass my time with strangers
But this bottle’s my only friend

And Wild in the Street is a song that could have ended up on a Bruce Springsteen B sides album.

In here we got this code of honor
Nobody’s going down

As Bob Lefsetz puts “if you want to relive 1986, if you want to know what it was like way back then… You play “Slippery When Wet.”

Music

VITO BRATTA – Guitar World September 1989 – Part 1

VITO BRATTA – Guitar World September 1989 – Part 1

It’s a different experience when you open a Guitar World issue from September 1989 and re-read it in 2013.

It’s a who’s who of where are they now. Marty Friedman and Jason Becker are hot off the press with their Cacophony releases and are endorsing ADA Amps, Jeff LeBar from Cinderella is endorsing Ernie Ball Strings, Richie Kotzen is endorsing Ibanez, Kip Winger is endorsing Peavey and Brian Forsythe is promoting Kix’s fourth album Blow My Fuse, before it exploded with the song Don’t Close Your Eyes. Johnny Diesel is well known in Australian circles and he is in there promoting Johnny Diesel and the Injectors that went on to make a big splash on the Australian scene during this period. To a kid starting out playing guitar it just looked like one big hard rock, metal party was going on in the U.S. I wanted to be part of it.

Marty Friedman went on to join Megadeth and found success. Then he left to follow his muse writing Japanese pop music.

Jason Becker’s story is a sad one. He went on to replace Steve Vai in David Lee Roth’s band only to be struck down with a rare disease at the age of 20 called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. From recording the A Little Ain’t Enough album in 1989 to being given three to five years to live. He is still alive now and communicates via eye movements.

Richie Kotzen has had a varied career. Apart from being a solo artist, he went on to replace CC Deville in Poison. The album Native Tongue was a brilliant album funk, blues rock album and it is a shame it didn’t get the recognition it did. He also replaced Paul Gilbert in Mr Big between 1998 and 2004.

However, the reason for this story is Vito Bratta. He is on the cover. The hot shot guitarist and songwriter from White Lion, promoting their latest release. Big Game was the follow up album to the mega successful breakthrough album Pride that spawned the hits Wait and When the Children Cry.

Since then White Lion went on to release Mane Attraction in May 1991 and by September that same year they called it a day. Vito Bratta hasn’t released anything musical since Mane Attraction in 1991. Brad Tolinski interviewed Vito.

“Guitarist Vito Bratta’s work is immediately distinctive for its strong sense of melody, thoughtful use of dynamics and pick attack, as well as a graceful near-metronomic sense of time that sounds neither forced nor rigid. Although he’s definitely not from the Malmsteen School of high baroque, Bratta’s liquid phrasing is in spirit reminiscent of certain passages from Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. The elegant trills over the A chord in the ninth measure of the solo in “Wait” and the call and response of the alternating legato/dettache phrasing in “Don’t Give Up” suggest a player who understands music in a classic, rather than classical sense.”

To add to that, Vito’s grasp of melody and modes to me was at a very high level. Songs written by Vito cover a lot of different musical styles. His choice of notes, different chord voices and harmonies was a pleasure on the ear palette.

“I’ve been developing a more personalized approach to chord voicings and inversions. The problem is these voicings don’t always sound good through a distorted amp. So instead of using more conventional inversions, I’ll arpeggiate the chord. This allows me to mute certain notes within the chord, eliminating some of the ugly overtones you get when you play close harmonies with distortion. Al DiMeola once said his muting technique was a result of not wanting to wake anyone when he was practicing late at night! Sometimes good things come out of compromise and determination.”

Apart from being a guitarist in a successful rock band, he was also an artist. To Vito it was all about the music.

The mention of Al DiMeola and how he came to have an unbelievable muting technique shows that he knows his stuff, he has listened widely, he has studied what others have offered before him and incorporated it all into what he does.

Vito also talks about the limitations of playing through a distorted amp and how he circumvented those limitations, by changing the way he plays. Instead of standard power chords, he is arpeggiating inversions of that chord and muting the strings at the same time.

GW Brad Tolinski: Another unusual aspect of your rhythm technique is the extensive use of fingerpicking, particularly on the new record. How did that evolve?

Bratta: That was another outgrowth of my song writing. I usually write songs by myself, then play then for Mike so that he can write lyrics. Because I want to give Mike the most accurate picture, I’m forced into creating a fairly complete sketch with my guitar alone. I know an easier way would be to use multi-track tape machines, but I’m not into that. So when I start thinking of the basic feel, I’ll come up with a bass part and play it on the low strings with my thumb. Next, I’ll try and create a chord progression and try to coordinate the chordal movement so that I can play the bass line simultaneously. Finally I’ll add a suggested melody line on the top. The only way to have all three things happening at once is through some form of fingerpicking.

Since this approach really excites me, I didn’t want to drop it when we went into the studio. That’s why my rhythm guitar parts have a lot of movement. If I was going to use the typical heavy metal approach on something like Little Fighter, I would just chunk away on the low E and A strings.

These days, artists would multi track everything in the demo stages. Hell, I do, it’s easy. Vito developed a fingerpicking style that combined what classical, blues, country and bluegrass players do however he applied it in a pop sense. Imagine being the singer and you get given a demo that has the bass parts, the chords and the melody lines all on one track as an acoustic guitar piece. To me this is what made Vito different to the other players. He was a guitar nerd and I mean that in a good way. He knew his shit, but he wasn’t textbook. I know that the 90’s served up the argument against players with technical ability not playing with feel. Bullshit I say. Just because a technical player can step on the gas when they want to and drive at 200km per hour, it doesn’t mean they have no feel. I was doing something similar like Vito, however as soon as I got my multi track recorder, I stopped doing it and took up the technological alternative. Looking back, I do regret it, as it is a skill now that has been relegated to beginner’s level again, instead of remaining at an advanced level. Technology has made us lazy, and it has made us cover up how bad we really are. If we can’t sing, we auto tune, if we make mistakes, we fix up the note/s.

GW Brad Tolinski: Many of these concepts were evident on Pride, but the execution was more rigid.

Bratta: The reason for that is kind of complicated. I wrote the whole Pride record on acoustic guitar. Then I went into the studio and started playing all these wonderful chord inversions through a Marshall, and it came out sounding like shit. So instead of rewriting the whole album I kept the voicings, but did a whole lot of muting. Big Game on the other hand was written on my Steinberger in dressing rooms across the U.S., so I had a chance to audition all my ideas on an amp way ahead of time. As a result, I was able to create sympathetic voicings so I didn’t have to mute the strings as much. The overall sound is more legato and less staccato, and the pre-production made me more at ease in general.

I can totally relate to that. I write every song on acoustic guitar and when it comes time to electrify it, I end up changing it a lot of it and it loses its soul. Just by replacing an arpeggiated part with a power chord, it is enough to lose the feel you are trying to convey. I then try and fix this problem by adding multi guitar lines which could either muddle the song even more or bring clarity. It’s a hit and miss game, and previously when I have been in studios where time is money, it’s being more miss than hit.

One thing that Vito shows is that he is a persistent artist. He is prepared to persevere for his art. Not many artists these days, have those attributes. To use an analogy, a lot of artists will dig away in the mines for years on end, only to stop a few centimetres dirt short from the gold or diamonds waiting on the other side. And then you have one artist that just keeps on digging and they reach it. Never give up on your dreams and walk away. If there is a lesson to be learned here, persevere and keep on getting better.

GW Brad Tolinski: Your latest work doesn’t sound as heavy as it did in the past, yet it does sound more aggressive.

Bratta: After touring with AC/DC and Aerosmith for a year, I felt a little more aggressive. Some nights I would come up with something pretty, but after seeing Angus bash it out, I would say “Fuck pretty”.

Again the fan in Vito comes to the fore. He is letting the bands that White Lion is playing shows with influence him. He is watching what they do, he is seeing what songs and riffs work in a concert atmosphere, because in the end, bands sink or swim based on the live show they deliver. He is letting their sound, their aggression influence him. Song writing isn’t just about musical notes and words. It is about attitude and feeling. What sound is needed to convey love or hate? Minor key songs are sadder, major key songs are happier. Crazy Train from Randy Rhoads is a perfect example, where major and minor combine in a glorious display. The intro is F#m, the verses are A major and trippy, the chorus is back to F#m as the root. The song is both pretty and aggressive. Vito was a master of both. Like Randy Rhoad’s he was bigger than the band he was in.

Part 2 will be a review of Big Game, plus more from the interview where Vito also talks about Big Game.

Music, My Stories

Remembering Mega

Mega isn’t his real name, but a nickname given to him for his love of the band Megadeth.

This all begins in the Australian summer of 1985, when I first heard Stay Hungry from Twisted Sister. It was on a cassette tape and it was my cousin Mega that introduced me to it. He also had a video tape of rock and metal music clips that he taped from the music programs that used to play on Friday night and Saturday night.

That is how we did it back then. There was no Spotify or an iTunes store to sample songs. We religiously used to stay up late, so that we could tape the new video clip from our favourite bands or bands of similar style. Hell by staying up late, that is how I was introduced to Motley Crue(the Smokin In The Boys Room clip and then Home Sweet Home clip), Ratt (the Round and Round clip), Quiet Riot (Cum on Feel The Noize clip), Vah Halen (the Jump and Panama clips) and many others. But one band stood tall over all the others for me back then. And that was Twisted Sister. We’re Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock where doing the rounds back to back.

We’re Not Gonna Take It, No
We Ain’t Gonna Take It
We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore

Three opening lines that summed up the youth of 1985. The ones that didn’t want to follow what their fathers did and leave school early to work the factory floor. This was our war cry. Mega and I listened to this song over and over again, by watching the video clip over and over again. We even rented Animal Farm because we saw the psychotic parent from the video clip on the cover.

We’ve got the right to choose it and there ain’t no way we’ll lose it, this is our life, this is our song
We’ll fight the powers that be, just don’t pick our destiny cause you don’t know us, you don’t belong

Mega’s dad was one of those people that never should have been a father. He was all about money, money and more money. Mega came a very distant last. He always kept on comparing Mega to other kids. Poor Mega could never measure up to his father’s expectations. That is why this song was special to him and he made it special to me. Mega’s life was exactly that of the kids in the video clip; however his life didn’t end up getting back at his father, with the power of music. He just used the music to get away from it all.

You’re so condescending, your gall is never ending, we don’t want nothin’, not a thing from you
Your life is trite and jaded, boring And confiscated, if that’s your best, your best won’t do

Those words could have come from any adolescent child in the eighties. Mega’s room was a cultural haven. The walls where covered in posters from Hard Rock, Glam Rock and Metal bands at that time. He had a record collection that left me envious. He cherished his records. He wouldn’t lend them out to anyone and only he could touch them for fear that they will get scratched. I remember one day, when Mega and I went to the Utopia Record Store, which at that time was in a little shop at Martin Place train station in Sydney. Mega had the money so he picked up a few more albums and I just stared at the covers of albums that I wanted to buy. We return back to Mega’s place and it was chaos. His parents trashed his room, the records where all over the floor, pulled out of the covers. The reason, his mum smelled cigarette smoke on his clothes when she was throwing them into the wash and wanted to find where the cigarettes where hidden, so they trashed his record collection. Seriously, who hides a packet of Winnie Blues inside a record cover?

I remember him saying to his parents, IF THAT IS YOUR BEST, YOUR BEST WONT DO. That is how important music was to him, he even quoted the song. Hell, he even tattooed the TS logo onto his shoulder.

We’re right/yeah, we’re Free/yeah, we’ll Fight/yeah, you’ll See/yeah

We’re Not Gonna Take It summed up how we felt at the establishments, our parents and all the rules of what we should be. Songs like I Wanna Rock, Smokin In The Boys Room, We Rock, Cum On Feel The Noize and Shake Your Foundations summed up what we wanted to do.

I WANNA ROCK! (ROCK)

The war cry.

Turn it down you say
Well all I got to say to you is time and time again I say No
NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!

I can’t even mention how many times Mega’s parents would walk in and turn down his stereo and then walk out. As soon as the door shut, Mega would crank it again.

Turn the power up
I’ve waited for so long so I could hear my favourite song so let’s go
GO! GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!

When it’s like this I feel the music shootin through me
There’s nothing else that I would rather do

Music when done right is like that. You lay back with the album, the lyric sheet in front of you and listen to each song and read the lyrics. It was a therapeutic feeling, without going to therapy. This is something kids these days will never feel as their lives are always on the go and they are connected to each other 24/7. Back then, no one was texting you or phoning you, there was no Facebook to kill time on and there was no Computer in the house that you could use. Music, Books, Magazines and TV was all we had, with the occasional Cinema outing for a new release.

Cum on feel the noize
Girls rock your boys
We’ll get wild, wild, wild
Wild, wild, wild

That’s all we wanted to do. Get to the Rock N Roll show, to hear the music, to feel the noise so that we could get wild. Mega just wanted to be a drummer. He saved up his social security money to purchase a drum kit and then saved up again to purchase another bass drum so that he could do double kick. His father frowned at him and they both kept on yelling at him every time he played. His father wouldn’t let Mega borrow the car, so we used to catch the train with his drum kit and my guitar and amp to the rehearsal room. That is full blown commitment.

We always talked about our band and the songs we would write. We never got there. He more or less gave up drumming due to all the stress pushed on him from his parents. He failed at school so his father wasn’t pleased, especially since Mega’s sister was all A’s. He went to Art School as his other talent was drawing, and that led nowhere as Australia post-recession in the early 90’s wasn’t employing young up starts. And this was the pre Internet era.

By 1997 Mega was diagnosed with schizophrenia due to a chemical imbalance in his brain. His parent’s won. His parents finally had control of him. From all the medication that was prescribed, Mega ballooned into a 140kg slob. I abandoned Mega after 2006. It was too painful to see him. He hadn’t showered for weeks and he looked like Crusty the Clown from The Simpsons. He never could remember the last time we spoke due to the medication even though it was 24 hours ago over the phone. It got to a stage when I called and his parents wouldn’t even give him the phone. I used to send him CD’s of the EP’s I was doing with my band, and his parents wouldn’t give the CD’s to him.

I heard he broke the fridge door because aliens where inside it. Prior to his diagnosis, I remember I was at his place and he goes to me ‘She is there.”

“Who is there”, I answer back. Mega’s face got all spooky and weird.

“Her. She is there next to you, laughing”, he answers back. I am at this stage thinking WTF. The hairs on the back of my neck are hard as a rock. I turn to where he is pointing and as I expected, no one is there.

“WTF, Mega. What’s this shit?’ I fire back, both worried and angry with him. What came next freaked me out. He started laughing hysterically, like those weird horror movies where kids have these evil imaginary friends. Typing this and recounting the events is just freaking me out.

Mega was such a mega influence on my life and the music I listen too. He was my first cousin. Mega’s mum and my mum are sisters, but they are so different. Maybe because my dad was a muso it was easier for me, but Mega he didn’t get that. That is why he loved coming down to our place and staying for a week or a month. He was liberated at my place. We would go down to the Pub, drink beers, shoot Pool and just crank the Jukebox until the morning hours. On the other hand his home life was hell.

It wasn’t healthy anymore for me to be around him. I didn’t want to be dragged in to all of that shit that was going on. By 2006 I had my second child. I didn’t want my kids growing up around an uncle that was mentally ill. Selfish and cruel maybe, but these are the choices we make in life. You can say I took the easy way out by abandoning him, and a lot of people condemn me for it, but those people haven’t dealt with a person that has a mental illness. Then others, who have experienced mental illness with loved ones, tell me that they only wish they had the courage to walk away. Instead they got sucked down with their loved one and are now suffering depression as to why they couldn’t help them.

Mega is still alive. He will probably even outlive me. But to me Mega died in 1997. After that it wasn’t Mega anymore. The jokes and the laughs went out the window, his fascination with Horror movies became greater and his paranoia was getting the better of him. I still think he will knock on my door and say, what’s up, have you heard the new ….

Music

Teaser

I first heard Teaser when Motley Crue covered it for the Stairway to Heaven/Highway To Hell compilation album for the Moscow Peace Festival. This was back in 1989, and I saw the writer was a T.Bolin. Pre Internet era, meant I had to go to the record shop (which in my case was Rings Music World) and ask them if they have anything on T.Bolin?

The lady knew me well as I was a chronic asker of music that she never had in stock and she knew very well, that she was going to spend time looking through massive folders from different distributers.

Lo and behold, she told me that she can import it in and it was going to cost $40 to get it in on LP. I said import in. Think about that for a second. I spent $40 on an album that I only one song on it. That is the power of music and the need to have that one song. And it was the last song on Side A. It was written by Tommy Bolin and Jeff Cook who was in the band American Standard and Energy with Bolin in the late sixties.

The first thing that grabs you is that funky sleazy riff and the wolf whistle slide guitar.

That woman’s got a smile
Puts you in a trance
And just one look at her
Makes you wanna dance
Those dark and those red ruby lips
Only a fool would pass them by
With just a hint of ruthlessness
Sparklin’ in her eye

After hearing that first verse I was reminded how similar Bon Jovi got to it with You Give Love A Bad Name. And then the chorus comes in.

She’s a teaser and she’s got no heart at all
She’s a teaser and she’ll tempt you ’till you fall.
Yeah she’ll tempt ya ’till ya fall.

Who hasn’t come across a woman like that?

She sips gin from a teacup, wears those fancy clothes
And somebody always knows her no matter where she goes
She’ll talk to you in riddles that have no sense or rhyme
And if you ask her what she means, says she don’t got no time

The second verse reminds me of T-Rex’s Get It On,

Well you’re dirty and sweet
Clad in black, don’t look back and I love you
You’re dirty and sweet, oh yeah
Well you dance when you walk
So let’s dance, take a chance, understand me
You’re dirty sweet and you’re my girl

Then the solo breakdown section kicks in where it’s just the bass and drums simulating an excited heartbeat at the beginning and it moves into a free form jazz fusion lead break. Jeff Porcaro from Steely Dan and Toto fame played drums and Stanley Sheldon from Peter Frampton’s band played bass.

As I listened to the album over and over again, I found other gems in the instrumental Homeward Strut, with its James Gang Funk inspired verses and its unbelievable harmony lick that acts as a Chorus.

The piano ballad Dreamer with Glen Hughes singing the last verse (even though he is uncredited) and piano played by David Foster, the same David Foster that would go on to produce and compose songs for Whitney Houston, Michael Buble and many others.

You have the blues funk of Savannah Woman with Phil Collins even providing percussion.

Side 2 doesn’t have the same impact as Side 1. People People is lacklustre, while Marching Powder is a jazz fusion instrumental, reminiscent of Return to Forever. Wild Dogs is so so, but the closer Lotus makes up for it with its fusion of hard rock, blues, jazz, funk and synth orientated pop.

Similar in structure to Teaser, it has that unbelievable breakdown solo section, which closes the album.

In 1975, he released Teaser and Come Taste the Band with Deep Purple, and in 1976 he released Private Eyes in September. By December he was dead. His music forever lives.

Music

Guitar World – January 1986 – Part 2 – Dave Meniketti Speaks

Dave Meniketti shoots his mouth off.

That is the title of the segment by Bob Grossweiner. And boy doesn’t he just do that. It’s very hard to find anyone these days that is so honest in their views of other contemporary musicians. You see everyone wants to be loved, so in order to be loved people pretend. Not Dave Meniketti.

Who is Dave Meniketti I hear people asking?

Basically Dave Meniketti is the lead singer/lead guitarist of Y&T. Y&T started out as Yesterday and Today in the late seventies where they released two albums that did nothing and then changed their name to Y&T where they started getting some traction with albums like Earthshaker, Black Tiger, Meanstreak, Down For The Count, In Rock We Trust, Contagious and Ten. My own personal favourites are Meanstreak, In Rock We Trust, Down for the Count and Contagious.

It was due to this article that got me started in seeking out the music by Y&T.

Anyway let’s get to his views;

Dave Murray and Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden): ‘I don’t like them. Both are poor to adequate guitarists”.

Iron Maiden is coming off the mega successful Powerslave World Tour which resulted in the also mega successful Live After Death release and you have DM offering his own true opinion on them. That’s ballsy.

Mick Mars (Motley Crue): “Not the greatest player but a great guy. He doesn’t play very well. He’s not inspired and he’s very sloppy. He sounds like he picked up a guitar two years ago.”

I think the Dirt sums up Mick Mars and where he was at with his life during this period. DM got it spot on, with Mick not being inspired. Mick likes the blues and along his path to Blues stardom he ended up in Motley Crue. To be honest I saw the Crue live and when Mick Mars started doing his guitar solo, I felt like walking up on stage and pulling his guitar lead out.

Chris Holmes (WASP): “I don’t like him. It’s bullshit guitar playing.”

I totally agree with DM on this one. Holmes was rubbish; Blackie was the brains and the talent behind that outfit. When he got rid of him, he created The Crimson Idol. Enough said.

Matthias Jabs and Rudolph Schenker (Scorpions), K.K Downing and Glen Tipton (Judas Priest): “Guitarists to fill holes where solos are. I don’t find them inspiring soloists.”

I think he is a bit harsh on the Scorpions and Judas Priest duo, especially when the Scorpions where coming off the success of Love at First Sting and Judas Priest where on a roll that started with British Steel in 1980. Nevertheless DM was asked on his views and he gave them.

George Lynch (Dokken): “He reminds me a lot of a lot of Los Angeles guitarists. Good and technical but relying a lot on the bar. He gets boring after a while.”

Do we get this kind of honesty in 2013? Hell no. We only get this kind of honesty if someone breaks up and wants to vent their laundry to the world. DM and his band Y&T were practically had traction on the West Coast of America, and it wasn’t until 1985 that they toured the Midwest of the U.S. 1976 was when the first Y&T album came out. In 1972 the band was formed. 13 years later, they finally started to get traction around America and not just the West Coast. How many musicians starting off these days, will put in this kind of effort?

DM also had kind words to say about other guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen, Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot), Eric Clapton, Van Halen, Gary Moore, Angus Young, Neil Schon, Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Ted Nugent, Ronnie Montrose, John Sykes, Ritchie Blackmore and Billy Gibbons.

For Neal Schon he mention how he learned a lot from Neal, how Clapton is a master and not a clone, how Hendrix was his biggest influence, how Billy Gibbons is the ultimate in R&B influence in Rock N Roll and how Jeff Beck is an innovator.

Finally, Meniketti was respected by other musicians and he was even asked to join Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne’s new solo band before Randy Rhoads came on the scene.

Music

Vito Bratta – White Lion – Fight To Survive Review.

1985 – Fight To Survive

File:Fight to survive cover.jpg

Stand Outs

Fight To Survive – musically brilliant. Lyrically it’s good as well about street life and fighting to be alive each day. Great tapping intro that breaks down into the bass groove for the verse, with the volume swells and then it picks up for the big chorus. Love the delay in the solo section.

All The Fallen Men – Very Neil Young Rocking in the Free World influence in the verses. Then again this came before Neil Young.

El Salvador – The best song on this first album. The flamenco intro moving into the distortion riff is brilliant. You can hear Al DiMeola’s Mediterranean Sundance. And once the song kicks its all Thin Lizzy. Phil Lynott would be proud.

Clichéd Songs

Broken Heart – Mike Tramp’s lyrics where typical of the 80’s. Bratta shreds in the solo section with tapping and tap bends.

All Burn In Hell – reminded of Twisted Sister’s Burn in Hell. Musically is typical of the 80’s. Love the syncopated interlude before the solo. Very modern alternative rock metal vibe there. Solo section to me is a song within a song.

Bad Songs with Great Bratta Moments

Where Do We Run – reminds of a 100th rate AC/DC song in the verse. Tramps lyrics and melodies are lame. It’s a shame that it has a killer solo, very much in the vein of Randy Rhoads – Flying High Again and George Lynch – Tooth and Nail.

In The City – up until the interlude and solo section, where Bratta wails, the song sounds like a Y&T rip off lyrically. Firehouse also did a song, where the vocal melody was similar. Does anyone remember The Dream?

Filler Songs

Cherokee – again the lyrics are tacky, “Cherokee, riding free”.

Kid of a 1000 Faces – the less said about this song the better.

The Road To Valhalla – with that title I was expecting something epic.

Music

Vito Bratta – Unsung Hero

He was called an Eddie Van Halen clone. There is no doubt that Van Halen was an influence, however a listen to the four White Lion albums Vito was involved in is a musical journey in classical, blues, rock, metal and pop.

1988 – Guitar World gives Vito Bratta the award for Best New Guitarist.

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