Q&A: Guitarist Boz Boorer
For those of you who don't already know the name Boz Boorer, he's a legendary guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Although he's a rockabilly legend, he may be more well-known for both playing guitar and writing songs with Morrissey, including the songs "The more you ignore me, the closer I get", "Speedway", "Now my heart is full", "Jack the ripper", "The world is full of crashing bores", "Come back to Camden", and from Morrissey's latest album, "I'm throwing my arms around Paris". Check out his website http://www.bozboorer.com/ to discover everything about this amazing legend still rocking among us.
Q: Tell us what made you want to be a rock-n-roller and begin playing guitar? Marc Bolan.
Q: You're the longest-running member of Morrissey's band. Why is that, and how do you juggle your other musical projects, family, and personal life with the rigors of Morrissey's almost constant tour schedule? I have no idea!
Q: You've got two recording studios now. Why two, and why Portugal? Well, I go between London and Portugal, so to enable me to work I have a set up in both places.
Q: Tell us a wild-n-crazy tour story of the past. Too many to mention, my last encounter with hotel staff included me having to speak to someone in Singapore to get connected to the internet, there's always something crazy going on
Q: Do you drink alcohol? What's your beverage of choice? Yes, at the moment I drink mainly white wine , but I love beer and vodka, and apple martinis and margaritas and vintage ruby port and and and and
Q: You have lots of cool guitars. Do you have favourites to play? Why do you like them better than others? 63 tele , all the stars were aligned when they put it together the feel and sound is so superior to anything else I have.
Q: Do you use effects pedals? What do you use and why? Lots of effect pedals for different sounds , at the moment always a transmorgifier compressor on all the time, an echo pedal for "Irish blood", and "How soon is now", a Roger Meyer voodoo bass pedal for the distortion on "The loop" and certain boosts throughout, a slow behringer phaser for the first solo in "Billy Budd", and an electro harmonix nano tremelo pedal for "The loop" and "How soon is now" , and an Boss acoustic sim for the breakdown in "Black cloud". There's also a Boss reverb, used on "The loop" and "How soon is now" and a BBE booster pedal I use at will.
Q: What sort of Amplifier do you like to use and why? Blackstar ac30 clone - great sound rich tone , back up is reissue Fender bassman same reason.
Q: Do you have any personal favourite songs to perform live, and why do you like those better than others? Things go up and down with me at the moment "Why don't you find out for yourself" is always a fave and "Paris" is sounding pretty good at the moment too
Q: Do you have plans to do any Polecats tours between Morrissey tours? What are your near-future plans? There are a few Polecat shows before the end of the year I am hoping to do.
Q: Is it ever surreal being surrounded by fanatical Morrissey fans, and is it surreal to you to be considered a legendary guitarist and songwriter that people idolize? Well it's not surreal, it's real.
Q: Who was your favourite producer to work with to date and why? Jerry Finn had a remarkable skill of recording the best possible sounds onto tape.
Q: What other performers have you worked with, both in the studio and live, that you really enjoyed working with more than others, and why? Ronnie Dawson was a singer who reached into me and pulled some remarkable playing out of me that I didn't know existed.
Q: Do you have a favourite place to perform on tour and why? I like familiar towns Copenhagen and Berlin , but I always enjoy new ground, like Russia, Poland, Estonia and Czechslovakia that are coming up.
Q: Did you come up with the sweet guitar line for "the more you ignore me"? and how do you come up with stuff? does it just happen? The more you ignore me riff came in the studio after the song was written, I was jamming on a guitar I have that used to belong to Marc Bolan, an old SG.
Q: Tell us about the sweet custom gold guitar you've been playing live recently. I have a deal now with Gibson and they have loaned me the lovely gold top until they build me one with a bigsby.
Q: Do have a liking for rockabilly or cranking it up LOUD with the more straightforward rock better? Rockabilly was my first love, it will be my last.
Q: Do you have any opinions on the music videos you've done with Morrissey and do you like any of them a bunch? I don't really watch the videos, "Glamorous glue" was fun in Chicago and "Pregnant for the last time" we did in Berlin.
Q: Whats the biggest crowd you think you performed in front of, and does the audience size ever freak you out?Biggest crowd is Glastonbury, over 100,000 and there's people over the hill you know can't see you... can't freak out in front of a crowd!
Q: Do you ever use "in-ear" monitors, or do you prefer the floor monitors, and why or why not? Trad floor monitors work for me, I did enjoy in-ears when I did a couple of gigs with chicane, but I don't think it would work with Moz if we all had in-ears.
Q: Any thoughts as to the striking backdrops morrissey uses live, such as the sailor or skinhead girls and such? back drops? great idea! every home should have one!
Q: Tell us what made you want to be a rock-n-roller and begin playing guitar? Marc Bolan.
Q: You're the longest-running member of Morrissey's band. Why is that, and how do you juggle your other musical projects, family, and personal life with the rigors of Morrissey's almost constant tour schedule? I have no idea!
Q: You've got two recording studios now. Why two, and why Portugal? Well, I go between London and Portugal, so to enable me to work I have a set up in both places.
Q: Tell us a wild-n-crazy tour story of the past. Too many to mention, my last encounter with hotel staff included me having to speak to someone in Singapore to get connected to the internet, there's always something crazy going on
Q: Do you drink alcohol? What's your beverage of choice? Yes, at the moment I drink mainly white wine , but I love beer and vodka, and apple martinis and margaritas and vintage ruby port and and and and
Q: You have lots of cool guitars. Do you have favourites to play? Why do you like them better than others? 63 tele , all the stars were aligned when they put it together the feel and sound is so superior to anything else I have.
Q: Do you use effects pedals? What do you use and why? Lots of effect pedals for different sounds , at the moment always a transmorgifier compressor on all the time, an echo pedal for "Irish blood", and "How soon is now", a Roger Meyer voodoo bass pedal for the distortion on "The loop" and certain boosts throughout, a slow behringer phaser for the first solo in "Billy Budd", and an electro harmonix nano tremelo pedal for "The loop" and "How soon is now" , and an Boss acoustic sim for the breakdown in "Black cloud". There's also a Boss reverb, used on "The loop" and "How soon is now" and a BBE booster pedal I use at will.
Q: What sort of Amplifier do you like to use and why? Blackstar ac30 clone - great sound rich tone , back up is reissue Fender bassman same reason.
Q: Do you have any personal favourite songs to perform live, and why do you like those better than others? Things go up and down with me at the moment "Why don't you find out for yourself" is always a fave and "Paris" is sounding pretty good at the moment too
Q: Do you have plans to do any Polecats tours between Morrissey tours? What are your near-future plans? There are a few Polecat shows before the end of the year I am hoping to do.
Q: Is it ever surreal being surrounded by fanatical Morrissey fans, and is it surreal to you to be considered a legendary guitarist and songwriter that people idolize? Well it's not surreal, it's real.
Q: Who was your favourite producer to work with to date and why? Jerry Finn had a remarkable skill of recording the best possible sounds onto tape.
Q: What other performers have you worked with, both in the studio and live, that you really enjoyed working with more than others, and why? Ronnie Dawson was a singer who reached into me and pulled some remarkable playing out of me that I didn't know existed.
Q: Do you have a favourite place to perform on tour and why? I like familiar towns Copenhagen and Berlin , but I always enjoy new ground, like Russia, Poland, Estonia and Czechslovakia that are coming up.
Q: Did you come up with the sweet guitar line for "the more you ignore me"? and how do you come up with stuff? does it just happen? The more you ignore me riff came in the studio after the song was written, I was jamming on a guitar I have that used to belong to Marc Bolan, an old SG.
Q: Tell us about the sweet custom gold guitar you've been playing live recently. I have a deal now with Gibson and they have loaned me the lovely gold top until they build me one with a bigsby.
Q: Do have a liking for rockabilly or cranking it up LOUD with the more straightforward rock better? Rockabilly was my first love, it will be my last.
Q: Do you have any opinions on the music videos you've done with Morrissey and do you like any of them a bunch? I don't really watch the videos, "Glamorous glue" was fun in Chicago and "Pregnant for the last time" we did in Berlin.
Q: Whats the biggest crowd you think you performed in front of, and does the audience size ever freak you out?Biggest crowd is Glastonbury, over 100,000 and there's people over the hill you know can't see you... can't freak out in front of a crowd!
Q: Do you ever use "in-ear" monitors, or do you prefer the floor monitors, and why or why not? Trad floor monitors work for me, I did enjoy in-ears when I did a couple of gigs with chicane, but I don't think it would work with Moz if we all had in-ears.
Q: Any thoughts as to the striking backdrops morrissey uses live, such as the sailor or skinhead girls and such? back drops? great idea! every home should have one!