All posts tagged guitarist

  • The Vine interview: James Williamson of The Stooges, December 2010

    An interview with The Stooges‘ guitarist James Williamson for The Vine. Excerpt below.

    Interview – The Stooges

    Fact: The Stooges are one of the most influential rock bands of all time.

    Fact: Raw Power is one of the most influential rock albums of all time.

    Released in 1973 to sparse acclaim and an underwhelming commercial performance – Raw Power peaked at #182 on the Billboard charts – the album eventually spread like a virus throughout the next generation of rock musicians, many of whom would introduce their own fans to The Stooges. Among them: Kurt Cobain, who named Raw Power his all-time favourite; Johnny Marr of The Smiths (and, more recently, Modest Mouse and The Cribs); Henry Rollins (who has the words ‘Search And Destroy’ tattooed across his shoulder blades); and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols, who says he learned to play guitar by taking speed and playing along to Raw Power.

    Of the album’s guitarist, James Williamson (main pic, far left – 1972), Johnny Marr said: “I’m his biggest fan. He has the technical ability of Jimmy Page without being as studious, and the swagger of Keith Richards without being sloppy. He’s both demonic and intellectual, almost how you would imagine Darth Vader to sound if he was in a band.” Williamson first joined The Stooges in 1971 as second guitarist, but the band was dissolving before his eyes. Only a recording offer from David Bowie to Williamson and vocalist Iggy Pop got them back together for one last stab at rock stardom as The Stooges. With the Asheton brothers in tow – Scott (drums) and Ron (bass at the time, but he’d later play guitar during more recent incarnations of the band, up until his death in 2009) – Williamson co-wrote Raw Power with Iggy and played all of the guitar parts. Despite Bowie’s involvement, though, the record didn’t perform commercially, and the band again split. Williamson went on to collaborate with Iggy as a writer and producer for a couple of Pop’s solo ventures (1977’s Kill City and 1979’s New Values), but after falling out with the singer over Soldier’s recording methods, the pair remained estranged for 16 years.

    What happened next is one of rock music’s strangest tales: James Williamson gave up on music entirely, graduated from California State Polytechnic University with a degree in electrical engineering, and went on to work for Sony Electronics for 25 years. Most of his colleagues had no idea of Williamson’s involvement with The Stooges, despite Iggy Pop doggedly working himself into a position of international notoriety as one of rock’s most outlandish performers. The Raw Power guitarist wanted nothing to do with it. It took a university essay written by Williamson’s son, entitled ‘Coffins In The Corner’ – in reference to his father’s guitar cases sitting up against the wall, unopened all throughout his childhood and adolescence – to provoke the guitarist to finally accept Iggy’s offer to reform the band in the wake of Ron Asheton’s death last year. It also helped that Sony offered him a generous early retirement package from his role as Vice President of Technology Standards. Now Williamson, aged 61, is touring the world, playing The Stooges’ celebrated catalogue to a new generation. The Vine connected with the guitarist ahead of the band’s appearance on the Big Day Out tour in January and February 2011.

    Andrew, how are you doing?

    I’m very well, thanks. It’s 7 a.m.

    7a.m.? [laughs] I’m sorry to put you through that, but I guess we could find the time we could both do it.

    Absolutely. It’s an honour, mate. I found your website while I was researching for this interview. I was intrigued by a couple of things. First, what’s the origin of your nickname?

    Oh, Straight James? After The Stooges had split up, Iggy came out with an album called The Idiot, and he had a song on there called ‘The Dum Dum Boys’ (link). In that song he talks about “Ron did this,” and “Scott, he did that”, and then “What about James? He’s gone straight”. So after that, I tongue-in-cheek named my publishing company ‘Straight James Music’ and it kinda stuck from there. I’ve had it ever since.

    For the full interview, visit The Vine.

    For more of The Stooges, visit your local record store / online outlet and immediately buy/download their three albums: The Stooges, Fun House, and Raw Power. Thank me later.

  • Mess+Noise ‘icons’ interview: Mick Turner of Dirty Three, December 2010

    A two-part interview for the Mess+Noise ‘icons’ series. Excerpt below.

    Mick Turner: ‘Icons’ interview

    In the first installment of a two-part interview, ANDREW MCMILLEN talks to Mick Turner about his early days with the Moodists and Venom P Stinger, his distinctive style of playing and how his life changed when he joined the Dirty Three.

    Mick Turner’s shadow looms large over the Australian musical landscape, not just due to his considerable height but also through his distinctive six-string contributions over the past 30-odd years to acts as diverse as Dirty Three, Venom P. Stinger, The Moodists and The Sick Things, not to mention the material released under his own name. Besides his music, Turner’s distinctive painting style has appeared on Dirty Three album covers and, more recently, hung on walls in public exhibitions.

    I caught up with Mick the day after a rare solo show at the Lofly Hangar in Brisbane in June, alongside collaborators Jeffrey Wegener and Ian Wadley. When I join him at Ric’s in the Fortitude Valley, he’s digging into spicy beef noodle salad and orange juice. I’m early, so while he eats, we discuss last night’s show, Australian politics (Julia Gillard had just become prime minister overnight, to national surprise) and sport (neither of us give much of a shit) before relocating next door to Kaliber, a quieter spot with a courtyard. Mick’s sinuses are playing up, but he stays and talks for an hour-and-a-half. Much like his guitar parts in the Dirty Three, however, it takes a while for him to warm up.

    A loose kind of style

    How do you feel about music this year, Mick? Are you still as excited about it as you were when you started?
    I am. I suppose it’s a constantly evolving kind of thing as an artist. My inspiration hasn’t stopped. I’m still trying to make that great record that I’ll probably never make.

    When did you first become interested in music? Did you play as a child?
    I inherited my brothers’ and sisters’ record collections. They were quite a bit older than me; when I was seven or eight-years-old, and I just became a very avid music fan very early on. I started teaching myself to play guitar when I was 13.

    Was there a point where you just decided to throw yourself into a career in music?
    I’ve had a couple of periods where music is all I’ve done for a living. One was early on with The Moodists. We went to live in England in 1983. That just happened because the offer was there. They asked me join at the time they were just about to go. I think I was on the dole. We scraped by for two years over there nearly starving but it was a lot of fun. I left The Moodists, after we returned to Australia in 1985. I kept playing music, but had started doing day jobs, of course. Then in 1993 Dirty Three started making more money than I was earning in my job – I had been working in the CSIRO library for quite a few years. I made an active decision to quit that work and just do music.

    You’ve been playing with Jim White for over 20 years. I’m interested to know what you see when you look across the kit at him while you’re playing music together.
    Jim’s a great player, he’s totally unique. I don’t know anyone who plays like him. He’s kept working at it determinedly for so long and he’s very on top of it now, and he’s got a very singular vision of where he’s going with his music. He’s very serious about it, but it’s great. I have a lot of admiration for Jim. He’s bit of a celebrity in NYC where he lives now, known as one of the world’s great drummers.

    For the full interview, visit Mess+Noise: part one, part two. Thanks to Mick for being a thoughtful and engaging interview subject.