Influences etc.
Ouch!
That was my 1986 Gibson ES335. I played the Duane Eddy sounding licks on "Coming up Close” on that guitar. I put it in the back of a pickup truck (with a cap) on top of a pile of other gear in a hurry and I tore off leaving for a gig. It hit the window which popped open and it slipped out and fell onto the road where it was run over. Once I got over the shock I recalled how it actually had a little farty sounding distortion on the bridge pick up that I didn’t like. It never sounded good clean and direct. I would have never tracked it down to fix it though. I bought it new and I was in denial about the bad sounding pick up from day one. What, I’m going to replace the pick up with a new one? I couldn’t believe it was real because it always sounded that way and it was subtle so I blamed my attack. Evidently the Lord stepped in and put us out of it’s misery. Plus I got insurance money. Everything worked out. Good riddance, piece of shit vintage Gibson. Sold the parts on ebay too.
I have many influences. My top 4 guitar influences would probably be Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Brian May.
The Beatles were a big influence, Paul is the gold standard for singing, writing & playing. I loved Mick Ronson era Bowie, I was a huge Queen fan for their first 3 records. T Rex, The Sweet, Mott, Alvin Lee at Woodstock, "Machine Head" and Deep Purple, Grand Funk, all figured into my early listening. At age 23 convinced I'd be a good guy for The Pretenders, I sent a letter to their management a few months after Honeyman Scott died, making outrageous claims and basically begging for 15 minutes of attention. I got a nice letter back saying sorry, we hired Robby McIntosh which I'll scan at some point.
I went through a fusion phase and still love Billy Cobhams “Spectrum" album, I adore “Avalon" (Roxy Music) It was that love that lead to Rhett Davies producing the 2nd and 3rd ’til tuesday records. I'll listen to Sade somewhat regularly, the Annie Lenox “Diva" record was played a lot a few years ago, Lindsey Buckinghams "Out of the Cradle" was a desert island disk to me at one point and I love to crank Robin Trowers "Bridge of Sighs”.
I listen to and appreciate all forms of music, really I do. I love songwriters like Jimmy Webb, Bacharach/David ....Duncan Sheik! I love odd ball stuff too. I get dreamy over selected, "The Carpenters", but not really corny Carpenters, there is a definite line between "Top of the World" and "Close to You" in my mind and I love listening to Mel Torme. A friend turned me onto Free Design....WOW! I love the Richard Harris record "A Tramp Shining” but I feel equally passionate about Band of Gypsys & “Machine Gun". I think Fiona Apple is fantastic, and I love trance dance stuff too. The Streets (UK rapper Mike Skinner), 30’s and 40’s era big band, Doo Wop, Django, Stevie Wonder. Aretha, Beyonce.....everybody that’s good, too many to name, many new ones too. For what it's worth I find autotune really annoying and horrible. It already sounds dated.