You may not know him at first glance, but the work of Stoke-on-Trent native George Vjestica has probably impacted some of your favourite albums and movies
George Vjestica is part of Nick Cave &The Bad Seeds, having first lent his licks to 2013’s Push The Sky Away before coming on fulltime for Skeleton Tree (2016). Considering Cave’s restless creative muse and Vjestica’s following a player like Mick Harvey, his integration into the Bad Seeds machine is no small feat. But then again, the guitar is as much a part of Vjestica’s soul as a tool; just ask him: “It’s been a constant in my life since Iwas nine,” he tells Guitarist. “Rarely does a day go by when I don’t pick up a guitar and have a play around. There’s something so magical for me in those six strings.”
He adds: “I felt so sad when Jeff Beck died, and I really got stuck into how he played. I’ve got alittle studio, and I sat in there for about amonth trying to figure out his tone and how he used the tremolo. Ibecame obsessed with that track Nadia; I fucking love playing that song just for myself. I can sit in my little shed for hours just playing. There are so many great guitarists and musicians to be inspired by. I could go on forever!”
That willingness to shape-shift has served Vjestica well while playing behind Nick Cave, and also John Squire on his Marshall’s House record from 2004. And it’s been an asset while aiding in creating atmospheric scores for films such as Proposition (2005) and Lawless (2012). Thinking about how his experiences have shaped him over the years, he says: “I’m more geared towards trying to make my own records these days. It’s not just about playing the guitar; that is what has changed the most for me. You have to think about how to produce a track or an album and how it’s going to sound musically, lyrically and connect emotionally. Selfindulgence is totally fine. I’m all for self-expression.”
What inspired you to pick up the guitar?
“I saw Jimi Hendrix on the television when Iwas nine, which lit the fuse. My dad bought me a nylon-stringed guitar for Christmas. That was it –me and the guitar were inseparable.”
What type of music scene did you grow up in?
“I grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, the same place where Slash spent the first five or so years of his life. It’s a working-class town full of industry, so ‘rock music’, as it used to be known, was a big thing there, but it had a great soul scene and when punk happened that was big. Growing up, live music was everywhere in the 1970s and early 80s.”
Aside from Hendrix, what sorts of guitarists caught your ear?
“I have two older brothers who always had tapes and borrowed records from their friends, so I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Bowie and The Spiders From Mars, and loads of guitar bands. I loved Hendrix
