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Date Posted: 09:40:34 03/24/02 Sun
Author: Tess
Subject:

Richie Sambora: [ByJovi] Magazines articles/interviews_press releases

From: http://www.guitar.com/features/viewfeature.asp?featureID=141
{If you would like to go to the address above, please highlight it, "COPY" the code and past it to your address browser and press GO. The link will not work for some reason if you click on it.}

Kiss Reject, Pop Rock Hero
Richie Sambora Finds Salvation with Bon Jovi
by Jeff Perlah

In 1983, just a few months before he joined Bon Jovi, guitarist
Richie Sambora was in a practice room bashing out songs like "Detroit
Rock City," "Hard Luck Woman," and "Rock and Roll All Night" with
three musicians who know the tunes better than anyone. That's right,
Sambora was auditioning for the "hottest band in the land, Kiss."
"They were actually pissed I showed up," Sambora recalls. "They liked
they way I played but they were going, "you know this one? That one?"
And I'm goin' "No."

After being turned down by Kiss ("Honestly, I didn't really want it.
I was really only trying for it as a good business measure"), he went
for his next big audition, and bingo, he was invited to replace
guitarist Dave Sabo in Bon Jovi.

17 years and $80 million in Bon Jovi album sales later, Sambora is
sipping coffee early one morning in a New Jersey studio. In an hour,
he and his bandmates will start rehearsing for their upcoming tour in
support of their latest album, Crush. At this point in their career,
practicing isn't a big deal for the group, but Sambora still feels
the adrenaline rushing. "For our last tour [the 1996-97 These Days
tour], we rehearsed one day. But this time, we're doing a whole four
days - that's big for us."

Bon Jovi's new material warrants the extra rehearsal days. Crush
contains the usual Bon Jovi trademarks - surging pop-metal and
anthemic rock 'n' roll celebrating the group's hard working,
fun-loving New Jersey roots. But it also features the most mature
guitar work Sambora has exhibited to date. "I think I'm falling into
my own style, which is kind of an organic blues-based rock 'n' roll
kind of thing," Sambora says. "For instance, I played a lot more
slide on this album. My style has become a lot more 'me.'"

Guitar.com: Four days of rehearsing still seems pretty minimal.

Richie Sambora: For us, being a band for this long, the only stuff
that we really have to go over is the new stuff. We opened our last
tour by playing in Bombay, and then went through Malaysia, Indonesia,
other places in the Far East, and that's what we kind of considered
our warmup.

Guitar.com: How long is a typical Bon Jovi tour?

Sambora: For a band like us, it takes about a year to get around the
world. Last tour was about 42 countries, and 72 sold-out stadiums.

Guitar.com: What's the craziest thing that's ever happened to you on tour?

Sambora: After all these years of touring, there's been a lot!
[laughs]. A lighting rig once busted and came down on my head, and
busted my head open. That was in Wembley Arena in the late '80s.
Luckily it didn't come down too far, it might have killed me.

Guitar.com: How would you describe your guitar style?

Sambora: I think I'm a utilitarian. I like to play many different
styles and different tones. I like to look at songs as sonic
paintings, and lucky enough for me, I'm such as guitar collector and
all the guitars have different tones. You stick 'em with different
amplifiers and then you make your own colors.

Guitar.com: Has it always been this way?

Sambora: If you listen to the earlier albums, I basically had one or
two guitar tones. On this, [Crush], the sonic depth of what I'm
painting seems a lot deeper to me. I think in the '80s, I was
searching. To have a stylistic voice is actually the hardest thing
for a band to do. Right around Slippery When Wet [1986] is when I
think I hit stride. At that point, my style as a guitar player was a
bit more flamboyant. Those were the days when Eddie Van Halen was
doing his tricks, and guys like Satriani and Vai were also popular.
But at the same time, I wanted to play the right things for the
songs, being a big Beatles fan and guy who likes Aerosmith, Led
Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, and Muddy Waters. At that point, I also
infused the acoustic guitar back into pop music. It was something I
mastered playing in those bars early on, but which I didn't have a
chance to play on our first two records [Bon Jovi and 7800
Fahrenheit]. I also brought the guitar talk box back into rock music
back then.

Guitar.com: Are your solos spontaneous these days?

Sambora: The solo at the end of "Next 100 Years" is two takes that I
kind of stuck together. But there's also a lot of one-take soloing
going on. I don't do a lot of struggling on this record. Once I got
the tones I was looking for, it came out real easy. It's not that I
rehearsed at home before I walked into the studio, it just happened
spontaneously.

Guitar.com: Did you use a lot of effects on the album?

Richie Sambora: No, and I think the guitar sounds are pretty "true,"
partly because of good mic placement and a great studio.

Guitar.com: Let's hear more about the studio.

Sambora: Jon built a wonderful big studio here in his house. We did
the record there, which took a lot of pressure off as far as studio
bills. Also, we had no creative time limit; you come in when you want
to play and you don't have anyone up your ass to get out. And you can
leave everything set up. So it was a very comfortable record to make.

Guitar.com: Production-wise, some of Crush is reminiscent of the Beatles.

Sambora: Oh, absolutely. I'm a George Martin advocate and I always
thought he was this fifth Beatle. I've gotten to know him over the
last couple of years, and he's given me a lot of hints about exactly
what went down. On the song "Next 100 Years," from the new album, we
wanted to go into that whole double-time, crazy-ass jam thing that's
in the end, because there's not a lot of bands actually doing that
anymore. We thought, "let's ask George to put strings stuff in." We
called him, but he's retired now. So I just said, "look, I gotta
steel your shit then." [laughs]. We hired David Campbell, who is
Beck's dad, to do our strings, and our co-producer Luke Ebbin also
worked on them.

Guitar.com: The songwriting of "Say It Isn't So" is also reminiscent
of the early Beatles.

Sambora: Especially in the chorus, when Jon sings "say it isn't so,"
and I answer him with another lyric behind it.

Guitar.com: How many songs did your write while working on this album?

Sambora: We wrote 60 songs to get to the 12 on the record.

Guitar.com: On one hand, Crush has a contemporary, techno-influenced
quality - like on the dancy rhythm elements of "It's My Life." At the
same time, Bon Jovi still sounds like a good ol' rock 'n' roll band.

Sambora: We wanted to make a record that was true to our heritage as
an American rock 'n' roll band. We also wanted to make a record with
a 21st century production. We gave our sound and style a new face.
But when we tried to take the drums out completely, it did not work
for us. We're a live band, and we needed some bashin' drums. Then we
had the careful job of how to integrate the three different drums
loops that are on that particular track with normal drums.

Guitar.com: Even though the band doesn't rehearse much, do you
practice guitar a lot?

Sambora: Sure, and I'm always trying to teach myself something new.
The thing that really spurs me on are different instruments and other
equipment, so I'm always buying new stuff or tradin'. I'll get a new
amplifier or a new stompbox and put them in line with a bunch of
other different stuff, and that's kind of the way I practice. But as
far as me practicing techniques anymore, no, I really don't do that.

Guitar.com: What was your first guitar ever?

Sambora: A $10 guitar that was returned to E.J. Corvettes, which used
to be a big department store in New Jersey. My dad used to work there
part-time in the music department and he brought it home for me one
day.

Guitar.com: When did you start playing?

Sambora: I was about 14, which is a little bit late. I was playing
other instruments before then, but I just wasn't diggin' them. I
picked it up pretty naturally, and it just kind of clicked. I had one
lesson and then decided I was going to teach myself. I wanted to gain
my own style, so I sat down with a lot of records and picked off the
records.

Guitar.com: Who are your biggest influences?

Sambora: It's about the blues, and modern day blues in rock 'n' roll.
I started with guys like Johnny Winter, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and
Jimi Hendrix of course, and then went backwards to Albert King, B.B.,
and Muddy, and then all the way back to Charley Patton. Forwards and
backwards.

Guitar.com: Any regrets regarding your career?

Sambora: I feel so lucky in my life that there's not a lot of stuff
I'd do differently. I'm a workin' musician. In the perfect world you
want to end up being like Jimi Hendrix. You want to be someone who's
critically acclaimed and has influenced millions of guitar players.
But I'm happy to be a workin' musician and have a lot of hit songs
and have the talent that I have. There's not a lot of regrets.

Header Photo Credit: Robert Matheu

> From: http://www.guitar.com/features/sidebar.asp?featureID=141&page=3

Richie Sambora: Tones to Crush

While working on Crush, Richie Sambora drew extensively from his huge
vintage guitar arsenal, and from "tons" of amplifiers.

Guitar.com: What were some of the guitars you used?

Richie Sambora: I played a lot of Strats, from 58 up, and including
my Richie Sambora signature series Strats, a lot of Teles, including
a '52, a '50 Broadcaster, Taylor acoustics, Martin acoustics-I have a
bunch of great old Martins, two main Les Pauls - '59 and '60
Sunbursts, a bunch of Gretches, a Rockjet, a Silverjet. Jesus,
everything.

Guitar.com: What about amps?

Sambora: I got a bunch of old Fender Tweeds, from Super Twins to
Supers. Also, Champs, AC40s, Silvetones, Felmers, VHTs, Dumbles, a
bunch of Marshalls - I love this new Marshall 200 head, it's
something I've been playing around with a lot - some Mesa/Boogies.
Everything I could get my hands on.

Guitar.com: So you're an avowed vintage gear addict?

Sambora: The great thing about my vintage instruments is that they're
all played, they stay in turn, and they record well. And if they
don't, I eventually trade 'em. Sometimes it takes two or three years
before you get 'em right.

-- Jeff Perlah

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Replies:

Re: Richie Sambora: [ByJovi] Magazines articles/interviews_press releases -- Daniel, 15:49:58 03/27/03 Thu