I didn't see anyone mentioning this interview so I thought I'd post it here too (also cross-posted in a different thread in the Oasis board, because Tim talks about his guitar playing and Noel's guitar playing). It's a long but interesting interview; here's an excerpt from it, including a question about whether Tim wants to work with Noel again.
Tim Smith: 'Noel Gallagher's Songs Are Great And He's A Great Songwriter'
How did you get involved with the High Flying Birds?
It happened because the guy who was playing keyboards and the guy who was playing drums, I got them to come over and play with me in Sheryl's band in '99 and have been in the touring band ever since then. The keyboard player, Mike Rowe, had played keyboards with Oasis before he had joined Sheryl's band and I met him because he was a big Jellyfish fan. And the drummer, Jeremy Stacey's twin brother Paul was playing in Oasis as well so we all kind of knew each other and had been working together or had played together.
Jeremy Stacey and Mike Rowe played on the High Flying Birds album.
They had played on Noel's record and were in rehearsals in London and I guess they had another person playing guitar who was sort of a friend of a friend and for whatever reason it just wasn't working out. They called me at the last minute and I was in Los Angeles doing a recording and said, "Hey, would you be interested in coming over to do this?" So it was sort of a last-minute thing and learned about three or four songs on the plane right over and just went to the rehearsal studio and plugged in and played loud and hard [laughs.]
Was it sounding good at that first rehearsal with Noel?
Yeah. I mean I always tell people when they ask me what it's like playing with Noel is that his songs are great and he's a great songwriter. His guitar parts are pretty simple and a lot of cowboy chords [basic chords] and shapes like that and not a lot of intricate things. But it's cool and you have to know how to do that too. I felt like it was real natural for me because I've always played like that as well.
You did know you were joining the band as a guitarist and not a bass player?
I assumed when I was coming over I'd just play rhythm guitar but I ended up being asked to do a few leads, which I've never really done. That's been kinda fun for me just messing around with pedals and stuff to get tones and solos and things and I've never really done that.
That must have been challenging.
That's been fun. It's been fairly natural but I am the only American in the group and I was really shy. The first thing I said was, "Well he knows I'm an American right?" and it was, "Yep, yep, he knows."
Had you been a fan of Oasis?
I liked Oasis and I had a couple of their early records. I think most people in America knew about them but they were never the huge, huge thing they still were or that Noel is now in Europe, the Far East and the UK. We're playing sold out arenas over here [Europe] and it's crazy; I had no idea. I mean I went and saw Oasis in Atlanta in a small club and it was just like, "It's really loud and they're not moving around at all. Cool songs. So what?" That was kind of my feeling.
Did you know about the drama between Noel and Liam?
A little bit only because we knew some of their touring staff I had worked with and some of the guys in the band were friends of them and kind of knew what happened. I think I even remembered being in Atlanta and they canceled the show and we'd read that Noel had just quit the band and was on a plane. I think really that was happening so much here and there that people kinda got tired of it. I just stopped paying attention. I know they had done a tour with the Black Crowes and we knew all those guys and we knew there was always a struggle between them and stuff.
Had you ever met Noel or Liam prior to playing in High Flying Birds?
I had met them years ago when we were down in South America. I met Noel and he definitely seemed like the guy who was all about writing songs and stuff and could have a conversation. Whereas Liam just was having drinks all the time so there was definitely two kinds of personalities here.
Did Noel show you any of the guitar parts he wanted you to play or make suggestions?
I think he wanted things played pretty much the way they had been worked out. I mean there were some parts I thought he would have wanted me to do that he was covering and vice versa. I wanted to get a little deeper into different effects and things to bring out parts and to play with a little bit more of a layered sound. And he was like, "Ahh, that's just too much." One of the first things he said when I came in was, "Look, if I don't say anything to you it means I like what you're doing." Which is cool but then you never really know is it rockin' or is it just OK. I would try and cover where there would be multiple overdubs on the record, "How was I gonna do these?" Kinda fudged my way around some things.
Did you do much rehearsing?
We tweaked it a little bit and we rehearsed every day where we'd just run the set once and then he'd leave. We had a long time to kind of wrap our heads around what worked best and get it all sorted.
You mentioned earlier about how you were experimenting with capos and that was a technique Noel had also been using.
Yeah, there's a couple songs where he might have the capo on the seventh fret and I've got the capo on the second or first fret; I can't remember which one. I think the song was "Broken Arrow" that we played live like that. And I've just always been a fan of that kind of thing where you can get different things and the different textures you get from the different capo positions and what the chords can do and stuff. It just gives it a richer thing where you can't really tell what the chord is when you play it right together. That's what I like and I think he was hip to that. Yeah, he's aware of it.
Noel typically played acoustics on songs like "If I Had Gun"?
Yeah, Noel was playing all the acoustics, which I thought was kind of surprising. I thought I would have been playing more rhythm acoustic stuff but he really likes doing that. It gave me the wherewithal to be the rock guitar player, which I've never really been [laughs].
When Noel picks up the electric on a song like "Aka... What A Life" the feel is much different than when he plays acoustic?
Yeah, obviously when he's playing electric and using all his effects and his delays and things it's definitely a different thing than just strumming. But I think he's a great acoustic guitar player. He plays with a really thin pick and he doesn't play too hard. When I was growing up I would hit the guitar so hard because I would be so excited about playing, I would just hit the pick so hard. He had already mastered that and figured that out so when I see him play he just knows what he's doing on acoustic and it sounds great.
There is footage of the High Flying Birds performing at Live at T in the Park and the guitar sounds are pretty big.
Yeah, it was turning to 11 and probably pushing on one of my pedals. I've been loving my rig and stuff. I saw that T in the Park thing and I couldn't believe it. When you're working and you're playing you're just doing your thing. I knew there were a lot of people there and stuff but it's just you don't really the mix when you're onstage and stuff. So I heard it and it was like, "Wow, this is like an epic big rock concert."
You play a Telecaster but typically you're a Gibson Les Paul guy?
Yeah, a couple of Les Pauls and a couple of 335s. Noel had basically said he just liked 335s and I ended up bringing a Nash Telly. I listened back to some of the stuff we were doing when we were both playing Gibsons and sometimes they were kind of canceling each other out. I actually brought it out to play on "If I Had a Gun" and I found out later he'd actually said, "You know what? I think I did play a Telly on that" so that worked out. Mostly Gibsons but I'm not afraid to use anything.
What kind of pedals did you use with the band?
What I really got into when I started playing with him was getting a Strymon TimeLine, which I had not really heard about. I've been using that for delays and a Strymon El Capistan, which I love. For my overdrives, my guitar tech Andy Harrison who I had worked with from Sheryl Crow, he built amps and made his own pedals and stuff. He made a custom Foxx Tone Machine Octave Fuzz Clone that he brought out that is amazing. I use that and this thing called a Keeler Design that's a Push pedal. Not the Keeley but Keeler that is the weapon for me. That guy's amazing and I love his stuff.
What else did you use?
I have a Ratt pedal and an MXR Custom Comp pedal [CSP202]; Boss Reverb [RV-5] and Tremolo pedals [TR-2]; and I use a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler for a few things just so I don't have 15 other pedals on the board. But the Strymon TimeLine, oh my God. Oh man, it's just unbelievable. It can do so many things.
What kind of amps did you pull out for the High Flying Birds?
I run the rig in stereo between one of the new Vox AC30 amps they're coming out with that I had never really played but I just got them brought over and I loved 'em. And a 20-watt HiWatt head with a 4x10 cabinet. The two of 'em just running all the time and I loved the way they sounded together. 'Cause the HiWatt's a little bit more dirty and crunchy and you get that sparkly spank of the AC30.
There's a video of High Flying Birds performing at the BBC Theater last November and doing "(I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine." You get a chance to solo a bit and do some shredding.
[Laughs] I's not really shredding; it's just a solo.
That solo section actually suggests Jimmy Page's solo in "Stairway to Heaven."
Well the solo was already written some I'm just copping it. So I didn't have anything to do with that. Noel had done that and I thought he was gonna play that and we were in rehearsals and he said, "No, I want you to play the solo." He told me that at the end of the day and the next morning I was like, "Ah, I've picked up that solo if you're ready to do it" and he was like, "Really?" And I went, "Yeah." He's kinda like, "You've already learned it?"
What was that like learning a Noel Gallagher solo note-for-note?
He's an interesting guitar player because he taught himself and there's sometimes where he can show me something or he can tell me something and it's in a way that I understand it. And sometimes there's other things that he has his own language about that I kinda have to go, "Oh, you mean this" and I get it.
This goes back to what you were talking about with Sheryl Crow's musicians and how they were somewhat challenged in their approach to her music.
Somebody like Lyle Workman who I'd worked with is an unbelievable guitar player and he's one of those kinds of guys. He's a virtuoso and he can play anything but he also knows when not to play. Then you get somebody like Noel who might have what some people might call limitations because he's only using what he needs to use to get his point across. That's just as powerful as the other way.
How has the tour been going?
We're doing some festivals and then we're gonna get a little bit of a break and do more festivals. We go back to the Far East and finish the tour in October and November with Snow Patrol in the U.S. and then we're done.
Has there been any discussion about you playing on the next High Flying Birds album?
Umm, well you know he's always writing songs and I don't know what his plan is. He talked to me once about getting involved with something. He kind of plays all the guitars and bass on his records. I can't speak for him but it seems like from what I've heard other people that have been working with him in Oasis through to this that he's really happy with this and the record's done really well. He's obviously been happy with that success.
You would like to work with Noel Gallagher again if the opportunity arose?
I'd love to play with him again and even though this is called Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, I don't think he's ever thought of it as a real band but just a vehicle for him. And if it comes around again, I'd love to. I mean I'd love to do more with him; I think he's great. I'm not worried about it or whatever but we'll see.
Are there any other projects you've been pursuing?
I have a band with a bunch of people in L.A. called The Tall Boys, which is kind of like a Fleetwood Mac-y kind of thing. There's two girls in the band and we just write songs together. My friend Jeff Trott who wrote all the songs with Sheryl Crow is in the band and that's what I was doing when Noel called so I kind of put that on hold. And maybe I'll go back and do some stuff with Sheryl next year. That and I just got married...
Congratulations.
Thank you. I want to have some time home with my wife and all that so I'm looking forward to a little bit of a break.
Your work with Noel Gallagher and Sheryl Crow has consistently been imaginative and so well-executed. You are a really good guitar player.
Not that this has been a fun thing for me sometimes but the fans for Oasis were rabid. When Noel put this band together it doesn't take much for you to go find people saying some pretty horrible stuff about me because I'm the new guy, I'm American, and I don't look like what they thought they needed a guitar player to look like. Whatever it is. I have to take some of that and go, "Get a life. C'mon."
Play all the good notes, Tim.
Alright, man, a pleasure. Take care.
Interview by Steven Rosen
Ultimate-Guitar.Com 2012
Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5
Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5