As I do every month, I picked up latest edition of Australian Guitar magazine. Like Rolling Stone they’ve also run a Big Day Out feature, this time running a much better interview with Adam. The interview is really quite good, and for guitar geeks like me talks about his gear in a bit more detail. Here’s a few highlights.
On the Big Day Out:
AG: How does playing a festival like the Big Day Out compare to playing an arena or theatre show for the band?
AJ: It’s a whole different kind of vibe, as people are there to see and hear a bunch of different bands. You don’t have a lot of time between the bands to really pump in what you can do like in a more intimate and controlled setting such as an arena or a indoor venue, but it’s all good though. I think we have a really good show and good special effects so people will love it.
On song writing and alternate tunings:
AG: When it comes to the experimental aspect of Tool, do you tend to explore different tunings or play around with different effect pedals in order to come up with the soundscapes you hear in your head?
AJ: Yeah, but tastefully, it’s not just like “Hey, here’s a new tuning”. It kind of depends on what the song needs. We wrote a couple of songs that came from working on riffs with a B/E tuning. Though the guitar is in the normal 440 tuning, the tuning itself actually sounds really low, as the E string is tuned to B, while the A string is tuned to E, with the rest of the strings remaining in standard tuning. it’s like and octave and a low kind of harmony…like a seventh. Anyway, they didn’t really pan out, but I think it will pan out on the next record.
On his guitar rig:
AG: When it comes to the stage, what is your gear set-up like?
AJ: It’s basically just 3 amps, a Marshall Super Bass head and two Diezel VH4s and three cabinets and a Leslie. And that is it. It’s what I’ve always had. One amp is kind of the master, while the other two fill in what the master’s not getting. Guitar-wise, I use two silverburst Les Paul Custom guitars. One is used as a back-up, though I hardly ever use it. Sometime though, if I’m using a different tuning like a B tuning or the B/E tuning, I’ll have another guitar too so I don’t have to change the tuning.. I can just grab the guitar and it’s all tuned and ready to go and intonated.
Ok, that’s as much as I willing to type up for the moment, and don’t bother asking for scans since I won’t do it. Good to hear that they’re already thinking about the next album, though i do remember talk around Lateralus time of them not having a long gap between releases….
Thanks for that
Have a safe New Year
“G”