FURY 'CROSS THE MERSEY
Dominic Hilton recieves bazouki enlightenment and learns it may be possible to have a fulfilling relationship with your credit card.


Not often does a new band offer something different at a time when every imaginable permutation of styles seems to have already been covered.
Yet, Liverpudlian rock-hoppers, ManBREAK, have put an innovative and original spin on some old styles, soaked in attitude and started attracting a lot of attention. Over a swaying bed of hip-hop beats and greasy loops, they build up walls of dubby bass and distorted guitar that owes as much to Parliament as it does to Rage Against The Machine.
This is the backdrop to their provocative, hard-edged lyrics that are hidden in perfect-pop hooks and beautiful Beatlesque harmonies. Their groovemongous first album, "Come and See' is a Guitarist office fave and was rewarded five stars in our July 1997 album reviews, so it seemed only right to track down the main guitar component of the five-piece to flesh out the details.
Snaykee and weird-monikered bandmates (Swindelli - vocals, Roy Van Der Kerkoff - bass, Mr Blonde - vocals, rhythm guitar and Stu Boy Stu on drums) have been holed up in the notoriously rock'n'roll Columbia Hotel in London. In fitting tradition a number of them had been cajoled into a drinking bout by some fellow guests; a dipsomaniacal death-Swede Entombed. Thankfully Snaykee, wisely teetotal, avoided a massacre ("They were starting to dissolve by the time I went to bed!") and is bright eyed enough to launch into the history of his group.
"I joined the band with Swindelli when their guitarist left," he begins after slurping the froth off a cappuccino. "After that the band split up and me and Swindelli kept working together for about a year. We then started to advertise for a bass player and drummer, which was Roy and Gareth [aka Mr Blonde]. We also knew about Stuart [aka Stu Boy Stu] as a drummist and that Gareth was a singer, so we moved Gareth to singer/guitarist and Stu to drummist. And the band started."
Back in the Real World
Their debut album was recorded in two sessions, over a five week period at Peter Gabriel's state-of-the-art Real World studios. Maybe not an obvious choice for a fledgling guitar-based band. "We chose Steven Hague to produce and he works out of there a lot, also if someone says you can go in and record in Real World studios you don't complain," he deadpans. "It really is the business, and there's very little you can't do there. It is seriously well-equipped but also unpretentious, and a great working environment."
When you check out the credits on the album sleeve you realise that ManBREAK create their complex sound by including an extra member to provide loops and samples, who was joined in the studio by a pianist, cellist and a violinist.
With these extra elements in mine, Real World doesn't seem that extravagant for such a project. "We recorded all the guitars, bass and drums about 80 per cent live on digital 48-tracks that Steven Hague uses. He has an old-fashioned way of doing things. We would do three takes for each part, which he would then go through and chop out the parts he wanted, which managed to keep that live feel. We always try to replicate anything we've written and play it live in the studio; that's the essential element for a band using technology. The two elements should complement eachother, not fight eachother, and you should be able to bring loops or whatever in and out of the music without it falling apart, which is the hip-hop way."
Mixed up kid
In a band coming from so many directions at once, it isn't surprising to find out that the young Snaykee wasn't weaned on rock alone. "I got into music I discovered punk at seven or eight; I think that any at that age thinks people sticking pins through their face is fascinating. There was also a lot of Sly And The Family Stone around, which I listened to, but I'd grown up on The Beatles and country and western. My grounding was quite an eclectic mix of things like grunge and Northern soul and Tamla. It was the bane of my life at the time, but now I realise it introduced me to so many types of music, like reggae, which I was surrounded by from an early age."
When it comes to actual guitarists that have helped mould his style, yet even more names are added to his many influences. "Angus Young, 'cos he played like BB King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. I like people who are exciting and can effect others. If Jimi Hendrix heard Stevie Ray Vaughan, he would've loved it. What I play isn't that exciting so I can't judge who is brilliant, bad or indifferent, but you can make a qualitative judgement on how a player might affect someone else who is really good. I try to do that when I play - imagine how someone like that would like me to play it, rather than just copy their style."
However, Snaykee's favourite metal riffer is none other than the demonic, leather clad George Harrison. "George Harrison is a great metal player, his playing can be so abrupt and chopped up like his solos on Taxman. (Sorry, that was Paul, mate... Ed.) Then again, Jimi Hendrix heard 'Sergeant Pepper' and learned a lot, which must be the greatest compliment. "I also appreciate bands like Rage Against The Machine. They crossed over perfectly when they did that thing with (rapper) Schooly D using Kashmir for 'The Bad Lieutenant' soundtrack. Putting that into a band situation was stunning. I've seen them live a few times and they're great to watch but they are almost too progressive for their own good.
Open tuning, open mind
For a hard-core band they certainly have their big chords in the right places, but at the same time they're not shy of using sweet melodies and poppy hook-lines. "It's great to use crash chords then add some blues-based lines over the top. That's all a lot of our stuff is, it's open tuned as well. I can't read music but I know how to detune then throw in minor 3rds and 7ths, which leaves everything wide open. Also, if you're tuned to an open G then it'll always be major based, no matter what you do to it. Even with three Gs droning away it sounds melodic and happy, and I try to have an open string going all the way through the song.
"The way Swindelli writes appears to change key a lot but in fact the key stays quite ambiguous and leaves it wide open for me to embellish it with small parts and melodies. We could go for big rock solos but they just wouldn't fit and I'm not being pious about that, because I've worked hard to get them to fit. I always remember Keith Richards' reply in an interview when he was asked if he was a lead guitarist or a rhythm guitarist; he just said,"I play guitar."

The Serpent's Wares
After listening to Japan and Heaven 17 and reading Smash Hits, Snaykee admits that his first instrument was a keyboard, which was quickly traded for a bass and finally an SG copy and Kay combo. These days he has a slightly more impressive setup. "I use a Marshall 6100 [Anniversary model] head and a Mesa 4 x 12 cab which sounds pretty authentic for the vintage modes. I also use a JMP-1 preamp for demos, which sounds incredible if you record clean then send it to tape - incredible compression."
This British flavour also continues with his guitars. "Patrick Eggle New Yorkers. I got one about five years ago, no frills, no polish, that I swapped for a Strat Deluxe that I had abused to death. I love it, it's fantastic and really light - it doesn't deserve to still be around. I love the eggcutter stuff at the bridge [extra long string travel from tune-o-matic bridge to staggered ferrules in body top] which you can pick or use bend chords or parts of chords. I have two of them, plus a Les Paul and this guitar that I just got. This one took four years for this guy Leslie Adams to build - Leisurely Adams I call him - but he is a fantastic builder. The idea was to get a guitar that could be booted around, and I've tested it and it works - although I did lose a machinehead as you can see."

Bazouki Joe
Snaykee has used open tunings for six years when he nailed the technique when he landed a gig that required a mix of standard and open tunings. Instead of returning for each song, he realised that he could move his capo around in an open tuning, to let him play Keef-like chord structures in the required key. He was also involved with a band that fused jungle-speed dance beats with a bazouki, which is tuned like a violin; BDAE. He claims it makes the guitar an easier instrument to play, as it frees your mind from all the keys and chord structures you've learned and offers interesting harmonic differences.
Possibly the most bizarre technique Snaykee employs is a credit card.
"I used to a BOSS delay and hit the hold button and mess around with the frequency, but it looked stupid with me dropping to my knees all the time. Then I found you can replicate those sounds by using the side of a credit card to scrape, hit and shorten the strings, just like a huge plectrum." He also gets slide effects by abusing trems, files, batteries and 'anything that doesn't slide well'.

Written by Dominic Hilton; from Guitarist, January 1998

Back To The Article Index

This page hosted by GeoCities Get your own Free Home Page