Richie Sambora
Photo : James Minchin
Richie Sambora has led the worldwide monster band BON JOVI as the guitar player as well as being responsible for taking duties as the group’s songwriter. He definitely brings the best out of BON JOVI’s music with his guitar performance and sound. Richie has released his 3rd solo album titled “Aftermath Of The Lowdown” and proves his talent not only as a guitar player, but also as a singer and songwriter. With his extraordinary talents, Richie has undeniably succeeded in crafting out an artistic album. Richie Sambora talks to MUSE ON MUSE about his new solo effort.
Photo : James Minchin
Interview / Text Mamoru Moriyama
Translation Louis Sesto (EAGLETAIL MUSIC)
Muse On Muse : Your new album “Aftermath Of The Lowdown” displays a great magnificence of musical aspects both as a guitarist and as a singer. The album seems to sum up what Richie Sambora is all about as an artist.
Richie Sambora : Exactly… My new album Aftermath of the Lowdown brings everybody up to speed and sums up who I am, both as a human being and as a musician and songwriter. Just a reflection back over the last 7 years of my life experience. Stories about what I have learned and how I grew up over the past and it’s where my musical journey has led me.
MM : You have released “Stranger In This Town” in ’91, and “Undiscovered Soul” in ’97. It’s been 15 years since your last solo album. What was the concept behind this new album?
RS : The concept behind “Aftermath of the Lowdown” is as I said, brining everybody up to speed as to where I’m at. Both as a human being and as a musician.
MM : Not only the vocals sound great, but the new album also has a very “live” feel with the guitars, featuring various techniques, sounds, and ideas. The album is definitely something that both guitar fans, as well as mainstream music listeners would enjoy. Did you think of a balance between the guitar music/mainstream aspects in the making of the album?
RS : On this particular record and all records basically, I just follow the songs. And in this particular album the songs are very personal to me, they are about my life so I approach them from a production stand point as a guitar player. As I just try to color with the paintbrush of the guitar, as much as possible. And also try to leave as much of the spontaneous jamming that I can leave on each song.
MM : Producer Luke Ebbin is also credited for songwriting among a number of collaborations with other writers. Was there any particular way you divided duties, such as writing the music/lyrics? Please tell us a bit about the songwriting process.
RS : The song writing process my co-writers help me tell my story about my life experiences, obviously. And we were in the same room writing music and lyrics, except for the track that Bernie Taupin, “Weathering The Storm”, which he handed me the lyrics to it, after many conversations about how I was feeling.
MM : Where do you get your imaginations for songwriting? Obviously, being able to write songs doesn’t come from just learning how to play your instrument or learning music theory. I’m sure it has to do a lot with life experiences as well. What is your perspective regarding songwriting?
RS : Usually my song writing comes from my own life experience or observation of different cultures and the way people feel and the way I feel about that. I seem to have a knack for writing about myself that somehow, has a ripple affect. People all over the globe seem to take it as their own.
MM : “Burn That Candle” is a great opening track featuring a good combination of big guitars with your energetic vocals. Did you improvise the solo for this song? The guitar performance is excellent with a lot of rock n’ roll spirit!
RS : Yes, actually all the solos were improvised, nothing was thought out. I walked in the studio and just kind of either played it with the band right there… and Burn that Candle down was right off the floor. And some of the other songs were overdubbed but, again… spontaneous.
Photo : James Minchin
MM : “Every Rose Leads Home To You” has a great melody with deep vocals, and seems to have the Richie Sambora trademarks. The ending of the song with acoustic guitars was quite impressive too.
RS : Thank you, Every Road Leads home to you” is a song that I wrote about me being on the road and missing my daughter, and missing home. I think everybody has a home that they want to come home to and I think that’s how I tried to color this particular track. And at the end it comes down to a very intimate voice and guitar by itself. I thought that was a good way to conclude it.
MM : Songs “Songs like “Nowadays” and “Sugar Daddy” have a very catchy and impressive melody, but we can also hear a lot of fine guitar performances included in the songs.
RS : Songs like Nowadays and Sugar Daddy are completely different styles. There are a lot of different styles I explored on this particular record. Nowadays has a bit of “punk” to it and Sugar Daddy is actually more of blues, modern blues thing… kind of nasty blues thing and I had an extended solo obviously in sugar daddy, all of the place and then Nowadays, I played a very different solo than I’ve ever played in my life on “Nowadays”. Kind of strange for me.
MM : On the vocal songs, obviously the rhythm guitars take up a large portion of the song. When you write the guitar riffs and rhythm guitar parts, what do you keep in mind in regards to maintaining a good ensemble for the song?
RS : When I’m writing the rhythm guitar parts and also the riff for the songs, you have to stay in line with the emotion and what your trying to sing about. Luckily for me it did support a lot of guitars on this record. I used the guitars, as I said, as a paintbrush many, many times.
MM : The lyrics from “Seven Years Gone” and “You Can Only Get So High” show struggles in life, nevertheless the songs do not portray a negative vibe, but rather something positive to the listener. What is your perspective regarding this point?
RS : Songs like Seven Years Gone” and “You Can Only Get So High”, they don’t come off as negative, they are actually positive songs. Because at the end of a struggle you always learn something, and if you do come out on the other side of a struggle, usually you have survived. You have weathered the storm and there’s an optimistic new beginning to life after that.
Photo : James Minchin
MM : “Weathering The Storm” has a dramatic structure and sound. The guitar solo brings in a dynamic tone. Very impressive!
RS : “Weathering the Storm” is a song I wrote with a genius lyricist, Bernie Taupin. And Bernie and I got together and talked about what the record kind of was about theoretically. And how I was feeling. He came back to me with a couple sets of lyrics and “Weathering the Storm” was one of them. It was the first time I’d ever written like that, in my life, where I wasn’t the lyricist. So that one was just me as a musician and I wrote all the music and he wrote all the lyrics on “Weathering the Storm”.
MM : There are many great guitar players that are also great singers. You are definitely one of them. Can you tell us how you view the connection/relationship between singing and playing guitar?
RS : The relationship and connection between singing and guitar playing… I think if you are doing them both at the same time, you are actually accompanying yourself with the rythym guitar. But when you are actually playing a solo, you are actually singing through your fingers. When an improvisational person, gets a chance to just sing through his fingers from his heart, that’s when you know you’ve become good.
MM : “World” is a great closer for the album with your beautiful acoustic guitar and voice reaching out to the listeners’ heart with a message. You also had a strong message in the last song of the “Stranger In This Town” album called “The Answer”. What exactly did you try to express in these two closing songs？
RS : Both “The Answer” and “World” are trying to tackle large subjects. In a very intimate way, so there’s not one answer to life, for sure. So I was just questioning if there was or not. At the end of the song I concluded that there wasn’t just one. That there was just how you lived, is the answer to Life. And “World” was kind of a question and answer between one man and the planet that’s been around for 10 million years.
MM : The guitar sound on this album was fantastic, always creating a good match to the song. Is there anything you keep in mind when making your guitar sound? Do you have any tips for sound making?
RS : Basically, I’m lucky enough to have a great vintage instruments and a lot of great amplifiers, and a collection of pedals. So I’ve been collecting these things for almost 30 years now so for me, I just kind of put them together and see what actually fits in to each song. I know specifically if I’m looking for a Strat or a Les Paul coupled with a Marshal or a Fender Twin.. you know, the different sounds that that would make. So you gotta’ do what’s right for the song.
Photo : James Minchin
MM : Every note in your guitar solo, and every chord that you play seem to have some kind of “spirit” living inside of it. What do you think is necessary for one to reach such a level when playing the guitar?
RS : I try to put as much feeling as I can, obviously, in every guitar solo. When a player gets good, you can hear the sincerity in the notes that he plays. I think that after doing it for a few years it just happens naturally.
MM : In the past, you have participated in compilations such as “Guitars That Rule The World” with the song “Mr. Sambo” as well as Steve Vai’s Xmas album “Merry Axemas” with “Cantique de Noel (O’ Holy Night)”, which were both great pieces of music with fantastic guitar performances. Do you have any plans in the future to make a guitar instrumental solo album?
RS : Right now I don’t have any plans to make a guitar, solo instrumental album, but never say never. Maybe down the road I will. But my solo albums are basically going to consist of me singing and playing.
MM : Please tell us about your gear. What guitars, amps, effectors, foot pedals did you use for this recording?
RS : As I said before, I have an amazing amount of vintage guitars and amplifiers, pedals.. basicaly I have one of everything. At least one good version of every instrument, one good version of every amp that anybody would ever want so I just kind of put them all together and that’s the way I make records.
MM : What kind of guitar picks did you use? What kind of guitar strings did you use?
RS : On this particular record I think I used a lot of Herco picks, kind of medium thin, gold Hercos. And also just a fender medium, that was my two picks of choice for this particular record.
MM : It seems like we’ll be seeing a new album from Bon Jovi soon. What do you have coming up next for both Bon Jovi as well as your solo activities?
RS : The new Bon Jovi album will be out sometime in March of 2013. And a subsequent tour after that. So I think people will be seeing me a lot.
MM : Please give a message to your Japanese fans.
RS : I’d like to say thank you to my Japanese fans for always being there and being loyal for the last 30 years and I’m looking forward to coming and seeing you guys. Sorry I couldn’t come there on this particular tour, I just didn’t have the time. Thank you for everything, you guys are great .
Richie Sambora Official Site : http://richiesambora.com/
AFTERMATH OF THE LOWDOWN / Richie Sambora
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1.Burn That Candle Down
2.Every Road Leads Home To You
3.Taking A Chance On The Wind
4.Nowadays
5.Weathering The Storm
6.Sugar Daddy
7.I’ll Always Walk Beside You
8.Seven Years Gone
9.Learnin’ How To Fly With A Broken Wing
10.You Can Only Get So High
11.Backseat Driver (Bonus Track)
12.World
