DATE OF INTERVIEW:

JIM DAVIES

7th May 2009

METAL DISCOVERY: With an album obviously full of instrumental tracks, did you find it difficult in naming the individual tracks or are there distinct ideas behind each of the titles reflected in the music?

JIM DAVIES: Nah! That’s the easy bit! [laughs] I’ve just got a lot of silly names! The thing with me is I’m a bit of a history buff, so I’m massively into Ancient Rome and all these sort of things, so I just tend to read all stuff like that. I’ve just read that book ‘Rubicon’ by Tom Holland and that stuck in my mind. I think that’s the easiest bit, just finding names. Some of the names are a bit silly but…I remember reading an interview with someone who was playing with Jeff Beck saying he was staying awake at night worrying about the names of his instrumentals, but I don’t think you need to worry too much unless you call them something absolutely ridiculous.

(Jim Davies on developing his electronica-rock fusion playing style)

"I suppose there’s not many guitarists out there that know how to play over dance music. It’s not as easy as it sounds...Because the frequencies are so low you’ve got to play high stuff, and that sort of changed how I played."

Jim Davies - uncredited promo shot, 2008

Photograph supplied by, and used with permission from, Karl Demata at Eleven PR

Interview by Mark Holmes

PART 2

PART 2

MD: I think some are a bit ambiguous but tracks like ‘Rockers Vs Ravers’ is kind of like you know what to expect from that, and when you listen to it you’re like, oh, yeah, yeah…

JD: But that’s funny; there’s a story behind that as well. Back in 1995 I did a gig with The Prod in Ireland on New Year’s Eve, and we went out shopping, and I found this t-shirt that said Rockers Vs Ravers, and I was like, ah, I’ll have that, so that’s just something that’s always stuck in my mind and then, when I did that tune, I thought that’ll fit that tune quite well.

MD: Fourteen years later!

JD: Fourteen…ah, don’t! It makes me feel old!

MD: Do you ever hope, or think it would be possible, to get out there and play the music live, using lots of backing tracks obviously.

JD: It gives me anxiety attacks just thinking about it! But it could be done. I just think I’d have to be really, really honest about it and say there’s absolutely no way I could play every single sound on this album. There’s just no way I could do it but, if I did it in an honest way and said look, I can only play what I can play, there are certain parts that I can play, you know, I’d have to work out what the main, most important parts were and play them. I think as long as you don’t go in there and pretend you’re trying to play everything…but you know what it’s like, you’re gonna get guitar geeks there who are going, ah, he’s clearly not playing that. So you’ve just got to be honest, and say I’ll play what I can, what I can’t play is on the backing and there you go. But I got a scary phonecall from the bloke at…one of the head boys at Ibanez who has put me forward to do a festival in Germany and that’s a possibility, so that’s sort of kicked me up the arse to think, maybe you can do this live. It is scary because when I was writing the album, I wasn’t really thinking about how I was gonna do it live, it was more just having fun creating all these different textures and sounds without thinking you’re not going to be able to do it live and then doing something easier. So I think it’s doable but, like I said, it gives me a panic attack!

MD: Obviously an idea in its early stages, but what kind of lineup would you envisage?

JD: Me and a laptop! [laughs]

MD: Just yourself?

JD: Yeah, I was thinking about that, and I think if you try and get a band together it would be a nightmare because you’re gonna have drummer and I’d need about fifteen guitarists! I think the easiest way to do it would be to just have a laptop and me playing what I can. I actually went to see a guitarist…do you remember Jennifer Batten?

MD: Yeah, I saw her recently in the middle of March up here in Lincoln.

JD: Yeah, me too, and I thought that was really cool.

MD: She had the laptop and a backdrop of projections; the videos.

JD: Yeah, that’s right, she was playing along to a laptop - that was quite inspiring; I thought that was really good. I think I’ll just do something like that, to be honest.

MD: Apart from the farting song, I found that a bit…

JD: Yeah, the farting song was a bit weird!

MD: Yeah, it was just a bit like, no, don’t, don’t do that! That was just too surreal!

JD: [laughs] No-one really got it, did they?!

MD: No! There was no laughing or anything!

JD: Friends of mine just left at that point! I think they just felt really uncomfortable and left!

MD: She looks quite old now - how old is she now actually?

JD: She does look old, yeah. I used to quite fancy her actually!

MD: I remember she had this old footage of her bad hairdos from the past and pointed out she had some bad hairdos, but I thought her hairdo now is not too great!

JD: No, and the farting song wasn’t good; I wouldn’t be doing with that!

MD: Do you use an E-bow on the album at all because it sounds like you do at certain points - like the haunting tones in the background of…particularly ‘Empire’?

JD: No, but I know the sound you mean. There’s a sound I’ve got that’s called a Fuzz Sustain; it’s one of these endless sustain sounds that’s a really sort of fuzzy smooth sound. I know what you mean; I do know exactly what you mean. It’s using that neck pickup so it’s a nice smooth sound and then just using an endless sustain sound.

MD: You’re often credited as one of the pioneers of electronica-rock fusion guitar playing - do you regard yourself as that and do you hope the new album will kind of consolidate that tag?

JD: Ahh, that’s scary! It’s not really my style; it feels kind of uncomfortable because I’m not really that sort of person. I tend to keep myself a little bit to myself and I never think of it like that. I mean, I think I was there in the right time at the right place and got into the electronic music at the right time at the right place when everything was crossing over. I sort of picked up on what The Prod were doing…they’re the main pioneers really, and I sort of picked up on what they were doing on ‘…Jilted…’ and the same as Pitchshifter, I think they were pioneers as well, obviously I came into the fold. But I don’t know, maybe…I don’t want to say yes or no really. I suppose there’s not many guitarists out there that know how to play over dance music. It’s not as easy as it sounds. You do have to completely change…the way I play is shaped around dance music because I play over drum n bass and breakbeat stuff that you can’t do certain stuff. You can’t do really chuggy low stuff because you just won’t hear it. Because the frequencies are so low you’ve got to play high stuff, and that sort of changed how I played. I think if you stick your average metal guitarist in a room and go, right, play over this beat, a lot of them would just look at you like a confused puppy and go, no, I’ve no idea how to do that. That’s why I’ve been inspired by the sounds in dance music and just listen to how they come in and how they’re used. That’s why I use a lot of filters; envelope filters; wah-wahs and sounds like that, and just try and emulate that. So I don’t know. It’s a very, very flattering thing to say but I’m too level headed to agree with you!

MD: What’s your current main setup effects-wise? I think I read you use a lot of Line 6 effects.

JD: Yeah, I’ve got a Guitar Rig 3, that’s my thing at the moment. I use that on my laptop and that’s been revolutionary really for me with all the sounds you can get on that. I’ve started using a lot of Blackstar amps. I don’t use a lot of proper amps if you know what I mean - I tend to DI a lot of my stuff. I don’t really tend to mike it up because I’ve just always done that. When I started playing there was no room to mike up Marshall cabs so I’ve just always gone out of the back of my effects units and that, without me knowing, constituted getting my own sound. It helps when you play over dance music to DI stuff because it gives you that really harsh, abrasive sort of sound, you know, it really comes through. I’ve done a few gigs recently with just a laptop. I’m not doing that many gigs at the moment, but the ones I’ve done, with DJs and stuff like that, I had to stick the sound out my laptop and I’ve got Guitar Rig 3 on there, and it sounds amazing.

MD: And do you just use Ibanez guitars?

JD: Yeah, yeah.

MD: What ones out of interest?

JD: Well, I’ve never been really fussy about…I’m not one of these guitarists that you have to have a certain type of rosewood, and it has to be a certain gauge of strings. I’ve always like Ibanez because that’s what I grew up playing, and I’ve got an endorsement deal with them, but I was always quite good with that - I didn’t try to just blag as many guitars as I could. I always used to approach them for a guitar when I actually needed a guitar. Most of my guitars are like RG550s, old ones. I’ve got a Prestige Ibanez that I use quite a lot. But I wouldn’t say this album was done using…I don’t know, it’s hard to explain, but the amp side of things, and the effects side of things are probably more important to the sound than the guitars. Obviously if I used a Strat you’d hear the difference in tone but…I’ve always just liked Ibanez, and I’ve never been much of a guitar geek, to be honest. You know, I’m still absolutely shit at changing my strings! I’m still rubbish!

MD: Was that a bit of a ‘Passion and Warfare’ thing that inspired you to play Ibanez?

JD: Yeah, yeah. And it was Paul Gilbert really with his pink RG550.

MD: I fell in love with Ibanez when I saw the pictures on the cover to ‘Passion and Warfare’. I’ve still got one of the original RG560s.

JD: Yeah, I’ve got one of them as well. If you look carefully on the back of the album, there’s a little picture from inside the studio and there’s a bright yellow Ibanez, and that’s one of the ones that I wouldn’t dare take out these days, but that’s from that era, one of those original ones.

MD: And you said you have an endorsement deal with Ibanez?

JD: Yeah, I have, yeah. I’ve always been…with Ibanez, like I said, I’ve always only asked for guitars if I actually need them rather than just try and scam…because people are clever and they work that out very quickly. I’ve been doing this now for quite a while and that’s important because you can then go back to them when you actually need something. When I endorsed them if I was just like, “I need ten guitars”, and maybe they might have given them to me, but then they might not have given me anything else ever again, so I always try to…

MD: You don’t want to push it.

JD: Yeah, I stick with the people I like…like Blackstar, I’m using them a lot; I’ve got a really good relationship with them, and just don’t take the piss and then they’re far more open to helping you out and giving you stuff when you actually need it.

MD: That’s a good idea, yeah. You mentioned earlier about Guitarist magazine’s Guitarist of the Year competition…I think I read on your MySpace you started playing at sixteen but three years later you were in the finals of that - did you practice intensively when you began, or was your talent more kind of natural than that?

JD: No, I practiced a lot. I was a geek! I didn’t use to go out very much; I just practiced. Not loads but I used to run home from school, play for an hour in my dinner break, then run home again and, you know…rubbish with girls. I never got anywhere with girls. That’s the reason I got into guitar because I wasn’t getting laid! So as soon as I got a guitar….it took a long time, but…! [laughs] My mate’s laughing at me now!

MD: Marvellous!

JD: Yeah, but I did really go for it; I did spend a long time practicing but then I got to that point where I thought, hang on a minute, I’m alright, I’m quite good, but I’m gonna go with this. There are loads of guitarists out there who are good rock guitarists, but I got a little bit fed up with it. That’s when I started looking for different inspirations and got into electronic music which changed everything really. But yeah, I did properly go for it.

MD: Kind of in between your rock and electronic stages, you mention Steve Vai as an influence on your MySpace - were you inspired by tracks like ‘Alien Water Kiss’ and his more effects based pieces?

JD: Yeah, and this is what people don’t realise about Steve Vai. Everyone just says…obviously he’s an amazing shredder but they don’t realise, if you listen to ‘Passion and Warfare’ on headphones and you listen to all the sounds and layers and everything that’s going on…I mean, I like Joe Satriani, but if you listen to him he’s a bit more of a bread and butter rock n roll guitar player - there’s a guitar, there’s a bass, and there’s drums.

MD: Yeah, and losing a lot of cred at the moment by suing Coldplay!

JD: Yeah, exactly. And I like that, but it’s sort of …don’t get me wrong, it’s not simple, but when you listen to it you hear drums, guitar and bass, but when you listen to Vai you’ve got so much else going on, and when you think that’s all come out of his head, it’s amazing. He’s a big influence on me because when I write something I’m thinking about the other layers and not just the main lead parts. But he’s definitely a big influence.

MD: If you had to name one track from ‘Passion and Warfare’ then, what would be your favourite track?

JD: ‘The Riddle’.

MD: Ah, a different kind of answer, everyone seems to answer that ‘For the Love of God’.

JD: Yeah, but I did that at a school concert actually

MD: You played that?

JD: Yeah.

MD: Seriously?! Wow! Note for note?

JD: Sort of! Just about!

MD: That’s an amazing track, I think. But ‘The Riddle’ - awesome too.

JD: Yeah, when it kicks off in the middle, I love that bit, when it all breaks down, and then it just roars off again. I love that.

MD: ‘The Audience is Listening’ as well, that’s pretty amazing.

JD: Yeah, I love all of them; the whole album.