Aussie
guitarist Ben Rogers graduated from the sound of his Instrumental
Asylum and in 2007 he hit the street with Reverb Rehab.
The results are pretty much the same: expertly crafted and rocking
guitar instrumentals highlighted by Ben’s vast knowledge of guitarists
and guitar arrangements. How many instrumental artists can combine
tracks as diverse as “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “All
The Things You Are” and Bert Weedon’s “Ginchy”
all on the same album? Decked out with guitaristic cover art—with
the back cover listing all the instruments used here—Reverb
Rehab features Rogers on a wide range of electric guitars backed
up by Nicki Scarlett (bass) and Denis Close (drums).
The overall one-two punch of dazzling instrumentals played by expert
hands makes Reverb Rehab one of the most favorable guitar instrumental
CDs of the millennium. Added assets include detailed track by track
notes on these classic covers and originals. www.blazz.com.au
GUITARS CENTER STAGE:
AN INTERVIEW WITH BEN ROGERS
BEN ROGERS
Musical Background
I spent my childhood in a rural grape-growing settlement called Coomealla,
in the southwest of New South Wales. One of the itinerant grape pickers
sent off a mail order for a guitar and instruction book. It was one
of those advertisements that said “Learn to play guitar in three
weeks!” He started teaching himself to play and then gave me
a few lessons in the basics of plectrum guitar. I was immediately
hooked, and started saving up for my own guitar. Eventually I had
enough to buy my very own arch-top acoustic - an Australian Maton
Alver. This was in 1962. I then took lessons for four years from a
retired orchestral guitarist, and while still in high school started
playing professional gigs in an instrumental trio, usually in country
dance halls and private parties. As the sixties progressed the Ventures,
Shadows and Duane Eddy were displaced by the British invasion. Teenage
bands followed this trend, and I spent a couple of years playing covers
of the Beatles, Stones, Kinks and Easybeats. Later on I moved across
the continent to Perth, Western Australia, where I played all sorts
of styles. I did a bit of session work for unsigned country music
artists, played bass guitar in an original folk-rock band, played
in a rhythm and blues pub bands, and formed a quartet called Vipers
Dream, which was one of the first groups in Australia dedicated to
the hot swing music of Django Reinhardt. In 1989 I moved to Melbourne
and spent the next few years playing all sorts of things; freelance,
corporate jazz gigs, and my own original projects. During a jazz gig
with drummer Denis Close I discovered that he shared a love for surf
guitar music, and we decided to form Instrumental Asylum to play that
style. Bass player Nikki Scarlett was recruited to complete the trio,
and we now all contribute to the compositions and arrangements for
the project.
New CD
Our new CD is called Reverb Rehab, and it’s being released
this month. After our 2006 debut album we still had a lot of material
that we wanted to get down, and we were encouraged by favorable reviews
so we headed straight back to the studio. We have our own studio in
Melbourne, and we usually record live with a relatively simple setup
sometimes 3 or 4 drum mics, one mic on the bass amp, and a couple
of mics for the guitar amps. Although there's a lot of surf-style
music on both our albums, we draw from a range of influences with
our writing and the tunes we cover - “Mr P.C.” by John Coltrane,
“Nuages” by Django Reinhardt, and “She’s Not There”
from the Zombies.
Favorite Guitars
I have a weakness for guitars, and have about 20 new and old, including
a few Alver Maton arch-tops, similar to my first guitar. Favorites
depend on mood and material. For Reverb Rehab most tracks were done
on a 1962 Fender Strat reissue, but on two tracks I used a 1963 Guild
Thunderbird, which has a classic surf sound, and one track features
an early sixties Maton Fyrebird 12 string with Bigsby tremolo. All
of the guitars used on the album are pictured on the CD artwork. One
track has an acoustic rhythm guitar, and for this I used a “cats
eye” arch-top made by UK luthier John LeVoi. I also use this
guitar for “hot swing” gigs. I use GHS strings - GB-Low,
(011 to 053). They’re designed for tuning lower than concert,
but they work well for me at standard pitch. My amp setup is a 1980s
Mesa Boogie Simul-class III combo amp, and a 1961 Fender Vibrolux.
I plug straight into the Boogie without any pedals. I don’t like
using pedals between the guitar and amp, for me it seems to affect
the attack of the guitar. I run a line out of the Boogie into a Boss
Giga-delay pedal, and from this into the Vibrolux. This gives me a
big echo sound without any loss of presence.
Musical Influences
Initially Hank Marvin was a big influence, hearing The Shadows single
“FBI” coming out of the valve radio in my father’s
old Hudson Super Wasp was a life changing experience. My older brother
had 5 albums by The Ventures, and I nearly wore these out! Other early
influences included Duane Eddy, and Australian surf bands such as
The Atlantics and Dave Bridge Trio. Over the years I’ve got into
all sorts of guitarists including Santana, Jeff Beck, JJ Cale, David
Gilmour, Peter Green, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Danny Gatton. However
my all-time favorite is the incomparable Django Reinhardt.
Web Site
www.blazz.com.au
ben@blazz.com.au
www.BenRogers.com.au
