THE LONGTIME ROXY MUSIC GUITARIST TALKS OBSCURE GEAR, EARLY GIGS AND EMBARRASSING ON-STAGE MOMENTS
— Joe Matera
What was your first guitar?
It was a Cuban guitar my mother bought to teach herself to play in Havana, Cuba, in 1957. It’s a beautiful little nylon-string guitar that has travelled with me my whole life — and I’ve also used it on records. I was about seven and because I kept wanting to touch it, she ended up teaching me how to play some “acompañamiento,” which means a style of playing that goes “under” songs, and that’s how I started playing. Later when I was 10, I was given £5 as a birthday present by my parents and I used it as the deposit for a red Hofner Galaxie, which I still have.
What were the first songs you learned to play?
Cuban and Latin songs, what they call evergreen songs, which are still played today in the Spanish-speaking world. The songs had nothing to do with rock, as it was mainly music from South America. The first song I learned from start to finish was “Cielito Lindo.” When I lived in Venezuela, a British boy showed me how to play R&B like Chuck Berry and that was it. I was converted to rock ’n’ roll and begged my parents to send me to London. I was 9!
Do you remember the first gig you ever played?
I had been sent to a boarding school in South London, and with some other friends at the school we formed a band with this crazy name — the Drag Alley Beach mob. We were about 12 and played on a stage in the school’s music room.
Ever have an embarrassing moment on stage?
There’ve been many hairy moments when your equipment isn’t working at crucial points where you could be at the mercy of a lead or a wireless system that just doesn’t work. One time, I was playing in Seville at a thing called Guitar Legends in 1991. I was the musical director and had chosen the best guitarists in the world, and we were playing outdoors and all these famous people were there. I was doing my own little set and half way through it, when there was a gap, and where I was supposed to come in with a new number, it suddenly stopped working. And this was being broadcast live on TV in America and all over the world! I thought, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do?’ Luckily, I had the Miami Horns with me, so they just improvised while the guys fixed my gear. It was the scariest moment in my career. And it’s happened quite a few times.
What’s your favorite piece of gear?
I love echo units. The cheapest one you could
