(TV) "Like who cares?" / Guitar Player, January 2006, "Chasing The Mus e - Tom Verlaine", Andy Ellis

["Casey, Leo J" <Leo.J.Casey@Volpe.dot.gov>]

Guitar Player, January 2006, "Chasing The Muse - 
Tom Verlaine", by Andy Ellis
 
When Tom Verlaine and his band mates formed television in 1973, 
the quartet offered a new vision of twin-guitar interplay.  Instead of 
tackling the supercharged blues of the Allman Brothers, or indulging 
n the cocky swagger of Thin Lizzy, Verlaine and second guitarist 
Richard Lloyd embraced clangy, street wise lines and clever chordal 
riffs that meshed as tightly as teeth in a stainless steel zipper.  Though 
Television emerged from the big Apple's new wave scene alongside 
Blondie, the Ramones, the Patti Smith Group, and the Talking 
Heads-all of whom turned the infamous CBGB club into the epicenter 
of East Coast rock---the band's sonic signature had as much to do 
with artfully orchestrated guitar and spidery, modal jammings as it did 
with the quirky vocals and choppy rhythms of the day.  After two 
brilliant albums---1977's Marquee Moon, and 1978's 
Adventure---Television split up, with Verlaine and Lloyd pursuing 
solo careers.
 
In 1992 Verlaine surprised fans and dazzled critics with Warm 
and Cool, a brooding masterpiece of twangy instrumental guitar.  
Recently reissued by Thrill Jockey in a significantly expanded edition, 
Warm and Cool stands as a tuneful testament to Verlaine's relentless 
imagination and ability to coax a full spectrum of colors from his 
6-string electrics.  Nearly a decade and a half after its conception, 
Warm and Cool sounds better than ever. 
 
Andy Ellis:  In addition to the 14 tracks from the '92 release of 
Warm and Cool, the reissue contains eight new tunes.  Were 
these tracked during the original sessions?  

Tom Verlaine:  No, they came later.  The oldest one is from
 '93, I believe.  They're little ideas that I'd get in the studio.  
I'd say, "Can you roll the tape so I don't forget this?"  I took 
those little pieces, dumped them into a computer recording 
system that [Television bass player] Fred Smith set up, edited 
out the mistakes, and Fred added some bass.  What his 
software was I have no idea.  As far as the 14 original songs, 
there's no difference between the first album and this reissue.
 
Ellis:  Can you recall the guitars and amps you used"
 
Verlaine:  The guitars differ wildly from track to track.  For 
the first song---"Those Harbor Lights"-it was a very beat-up, 
thin Hollowbody Kustom [likely a K200] through a blackface 
Fender Super Reverb.  I used that amp a lot on Warm and 
Cool.  The volume was pretty low---the knob was maybe at 
3 or 4.  For the three "Depot" tracks, I played a Strat through 
several '50s P.A. heads I still have and use.  On "Boulevard", 
it was a small solidbody Framus with flatwound strings.  I used 
the Kustom on "Saucer Crash", as well as on the Framus for the 
background sounds.  "Ore" and "Lore" were performed using the 
Kustom guitar through the P.A. amp.  "Sleep Walkin' " was a 
Vox Solidbody----one of those weirdly shaped teardrop things 
you have to play standing up.  That's also the solo guitar on "Spiritual". 
 I played it through a flip-top Ampeg B-15 bass amp.  "On Little 
Dance", I think a Strat and a Danelectro each had a part.   For 
"Harley Quinn", it was a Jazzmaster and a Strat.
 
AE:  Did you listen to Duane Eddy or Vinnie Bell when you were a kid, 
or did you simply stumble into this twangy sonic universe by chance?
 
TV:  I didn't't own a Duane Eddy or Vinnie Bell record until the late '80s.

I'm sure I heard those sounds somewhere along the line---maybe as 
backing guitar on some vocal track from the '60s.  I discovered I liked
 those late-'50s twangy sounds better than the kazillios of chorusy tones t
hat dominated the '80s.
 
AE:  On Warm and Cool, your music seems to fall into two categories:  one 
involving very melodic themes, as in Those Harbor Lights" and
"Sleepwalkin'", 
the other consisting of little jams like "Saucer Crash", or purely sonic 
improvisations, such as "Ore" and "Lore".  Describe how you approached these

different pieces.
 
TV:  The whole record was recorded in two nights, so there wasn't a lot of 
rehearsal.  Mostly, it was a matter of suggesting something to Billy [Ficca]

for the drum part-like, "Let's do brush strokes with no hits on "Harbor 
Lights"---and throwing a chord chart at the bass player.  Actually we 
recorded "Harbor Lights" in one take.  For "Sleepwalkin' ", the tape 
was rolling, and I said, "Here we go-just play".  For the "Depot", series
 we worked off variations of a bass line, and for "The Depot Dark Clouds", 
I just suggested doing some cymbal crescendos.  "Saucer Crash" was 
definitely a guitar jam with the tape rolling and no rehearsal.  "Boulevard"

had a chord chart.  "Harley Quinn" was something I'd quickly put on tape 
at a session with Fred Smith and [Patti Smith's drummer] Jay Dee 
Daugherty.  That song had a chord chart, as did "Little Dance".  "Spiritual"

was just me playing guitar alone in the room, and then overdubbing a 
drone behind it.
 
AE: Even when you have two or three guitars going in tune, the sound 
is still very sparse.
 
TV:  That was the initial concept.  The music would consist of 
lead, bass, and drums, and I'd fill in a bit of extra guitar if the 
tune needed it.  Time was a factor too. "Sleepwalkin' " has a 
couple of extra guitars, but they're doing little bits like a guy 
playing along in the corner.  Some of the songs have rhythm guitar, 
but it's so buried in the mix that you barely notice it.  "Saucer 
Crash" has the most parts coming and going---maybe four guitars. 
 I guess all the songs have two or three guitars, but these were 
done more like orchestrations, like, "Here's the flute coming in, 
and now here's the violin."
 
AE:  You sometimes tune below concert pitch?
 
TV:  Definitely.  I've tuned a half-step down since the early '90s.  
Some of the guitars on Warm and Cool are tuned down to D, 
or even C#---like "Saucer Crash."

AE:   So that's not a baritone in "Saucer Crash"?

TV:  No, I don't own one.  But I like that sound.

AE:  What are your string gauges?

TV:  I used to have a .056 on the bottom,, but now it's .050, 
.040, .030, on the sixth, fifth, and fourth strings, anything from a 
wound .020 to a .022 on the third---I can't play an unwound 
third---and then a .015 and a .013 on the second and first 
strings. Tuning down a half-step lessens the tension a tiny bit. 

AE:  Do you attack the strings with a pick or fingers?   

TV:  I like playing single-note parts with my thumb, though, 
for chords, I'll often use a thin pick.  A thin pick doesn't't 
make as much of a percussive sound as a heavy pick, 
so you don't really hear a click on each note.  I prefer 
that clarity.  Whenever I used a thin pick in the '80s, I'd 
break it in seconds, but now I can pretty much get through 
a show using one pick.  I'm playing lighter, and I don't 
play near the bridge unless I want some goofy special 
effect.  Instead, I almost always play over the neck pickup, 
but  with only the bridge pickup on.  That gives a full clear sound.

AE:  In places on this album there are striking parallels 
between your improvs and the modal jams of The Grateful 
Dead.  Did you ever tune into the San Francisco psychedelic scene?

TV:  I'd heard that music, but I never owned any of the records.  
During the 'Summer of Love', I was staying with someone who 
played Coltrane records all day.  So, for me, the modal side came from
Coltrane.  
And even before that in '65, I was listening to Eric Dolphy and Albert
Ayler.

AE:  Tell us the music you compose and perform for silent films---a project 
which you began in 1999.

TV:  There's a foundation  [the Douris Corporation] in Columbus , Ohio, 
that owns several thousand silent films.  A few years ago, they contacted 
me about performing music to accompany the screenings of some of their 
short films.  I've done this about 20 times around the world as a duet 
with guitarist Jimmy Ripp.  We play mostly in screening rooms and 
museums.  The music is half written and half improvised, and mostly melodic.


AE:  In the "Warm and Cool" mood?

TV:  Some pieces are, but not all.  One film was made in Denmark in the 
early '40s, when motorcycles became popular, and people were driving 
them too fast.  The government hired a well-known director [Carl Theodore
Dreyer, 
who helmed classics such as 1928's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" and 
1932's "Vampyr"] to make a film demonstrating the dangers of speed.  
Or accompaniment has quite a bit of fuzztone as a tribute to biker music.

With film scores, you're changing all the time:  30 seconds of fast tempo,
 then slow, then fast again.  So it's more like a set of minisuites for
guitar.  
Each score goes through six or more phases, though each phase tends to 
have a melodic theme.  Rather than simply jam to these films, we decided 
to work out music for each scene. If it doesn't't have a melody, at least we

have a scale in mind with a particular mood with a particular mood or
rhythm.  
Though most of the pieces are worked out with certain parameters, it's not 
entirely precise.  A melody may overlap into another scene---or stop before 
the scene does-because we're not locked into tempos or click tracks.  To 
help us remember the key changes and cues for various scenes, we work f
rom chord charts on a little lighted music stand, but there's not a formal
score.  
We've recorded all the performances, and Jimmy is slowly working on 
putting the music together for an album.

AE:  You played sax before starting guitar.  Has a sax player's need to 
breathe informed your guitar phrasing?

TV:  Possibly.  But I never played guitar along with records, so I never 
learned all the speed licks that everybody gravitates to when starting out.

I know 19-year-old guitarists who can play Danny Gatton solos note-for-note.

They don't really know what notes they're playing, but they do them
flawlessly.

AE:  What's your take on the state of guitar playing today?

TV:  I can't say I know a lot about it, because I don't play the radio.  
I buy records in thrift shops or flea markets---that's where I find 
things I've never heard.  I stumbled across several interesting albums 
on tour in Europe this summer.  One was a '70s Hungarian band 
using an electric zither, playing "You Are My Sunshine" and really 
bad American Country tunes.  It's an interesting idea.  I also enjoy 
listening to compilations of field hollers and gospel songs from the '20s 
and '30s---voices from long ago.  When I do hear a guitar in 
contemporary music, it always has the same sound.  I guess it's a 
distortion plug-in---"Preset 80" or something.  Like who cares?      
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