Janick Gers

I accidentally found an interview with Janick (during the 2nd leg of TFF tour) and thought this is curious:

''Well, firstly, y'know, I played with the Gillan band for many years and I was just the only guitarist, y'know, and I know I can play just by myself in any band, and I know that Adrian can do that too, and I know that Dave would fit into any band as the main guitarist, so the first thing you do is throw your ego away, and then you start looking at how can we make Iron Maiden sound bigger and better, and it's a case of being very subtle, a way of playing between ourselves, and being able to step back and let other people move forward, and having like, just creating tapestries within the songs and trying to make songs sound better for having the three guitarists, but on the other side of the coin as well, when I did stuff like Tattooed Millionaire with Bruce which is the solo album we did… that very first track (''Son Of A Gun'') had eight guitars on it. Y'know, when you play, I'm playing highs and playing lows, and dropping themes in there, I'm playing, em, lots of different inversions of chords, and when you come to do it live and there's only you, you have to pick which one you're going to do and you can't create that sound you had on the album. You have to create a different sound, and, y'know, if you listen to Jimmy Page with the Zeppelin stuff, he did the same. He would have to look for, y'know, the harmony to use that would make the song sound right, but with us we have the three guitarists, so, as I said about ''The Talisman'', y'know, I put about six guitars on the middle section.
There's plenty to choose from between us three which one plays what, and we never tread on anyone's toes because there's just room for all of us. We make the room by playing different themes and we all have such different styles, it makes the band sound bigger, it doesn't squash it, y'know. That’s the feeling we get on stage, whether that comes across in the mix is another thing. It depends on the guy on front. But, no, I never feel, y'know, squashed. I’m quite happy to take a step back and push other people forward to make the band sound better, and that’s the trick – it’s not guitar frenzy. We’re not trying to be the three best guitarists in the world. We’re trying to make Iron Maiden sound better than any other band.''

8 guitars on ''Son Of A Gun'' (from Tattooed Millionaire) / 6 guitars on the middle section in ''The Talisman'' (from TFF)... :huh:

With only one guitarist in a band is tough to make all the guitar parts of a song live (with all of the different parts recorded in a studio), but I thought ''Son Of A Gun'' live sounded close to the album version. For ''The Talisman'' is easy, because Maiden are with three guitarists, as Janick said above.

yknow-interviews.blogspot.com

Janick Gers [Iron Maiden]

In February, 2011, I interviewed Janick Gers, one of Iron Maiden's three guitarists. The band was in Singapore on their The Final Front...
yknow-interviews.blogspot.com yknow-interviews.blogspot.com
 
Forostar said:
Aha that was just because Bruce gave him the mike. That doesn't really count. At least, I thought you meant he did backing vocals standard. And that's not the case.
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He did the best he could when Bruce nearly knocked his teeth out with the mike - that's what he did. But on reflection I think "tuneless" was a bit unfair, he's actually holding the tune pretty faithfully. It's just that he still sounds like he's talking rather than singing.

Anyway my only point was that you get to hear his voice, singing part of the song. And that does count, whether it was official or not.
 
Not to do with his solo career and the story is old so apologies if it's actually well known but I've certainly never heard it before:
www.blabbermouth.net

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Singer Checks In From Europe

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN frontman Doogie White has posted the following message on his official web site: "The [YNGWIE MALMSTEEN European] tour is drawing to an end but I must let you all know how much fun we had at Graspop [Metal Meeting] in Belgium. The day was made up of a stellar performance from...
www.blabbermouth.net www.blabbermouth.net
:nuts:
 
Black Abyss Babe said:
Not to do with his solo career and the story is old so apologies if it's actually well known but I've certainly never heard it before:
www.blabbermouth.net

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Singer Checks In From Europe

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN frontman Doogie White has posted the following message on his official web site: "The [YNGWIE MALMSTEEN European] tour is drawing to an end but I must let you all know how much fun we had at Graspop [Metal Meeting] in Belgium. The day was made up of a stellar performance from...
www.blabbermouth.net www.blabbermouth.net
:nuts:
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Might be 16 years old, but that does not make it less hilarious.
 
Here's another Kerrang! Gillan interview, this one is from August 1982.

Gillan talks about Janick briefly on page 2 columns 3-4. I was surprised to learn that Janick had never heard of "Helter Skelter" before they did the Gillan cover, considering he styles himself as a Beatles fan - maybe he only knew the singles, if he was into them as a little kid? Or maybe he'd moved on musically by the time "White Album" came out in 1968 - Janick himself has said that the first album he bought with his own money was "Full Cream", which came out in 1970 (he would have been about 13 then).

The statement "discussing "Smokestack Lightning" was like talking about a Napoleonic campaign. That's how historical it is in his eyes" is interesting too, but I'm not entirely sure how to interpret it - was he awestruck, or dismissive, or was it simply new information to him at the time?

Whatever, Gillan goes on to comment non-committally about Janick's stagecraft and to compliment his musicianship:
Gillan Aug 1982 1.jpgGillan Aug 1982 2.jpgGillan Aug 1982 3.jpgGillan Aug 1982 4.jpg
 
Forostar said:
Never knew Janick was a Beatles fan.
Where was that expressed?
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I can't quickly locate an interview where he says in as many words "I am a Beatles fan" (though I'm sure there is at least one such) but it is hinted at fairly often. Here are a few examples:

  • "We must have been about nine, and we kept, like, this little imaginary band going for years. I was the guitar player, always. I wanted to be John Lennon." (quoted in "Run To The Hills" - Mick Wall, page 276). Further down the same page the author states that "After the Beatles, Janick got heavily into rock".
  • "I started out wanting be John Lennon, then, once I got into the guitar properly, I decided I'd rather be Ritchie Blackmore" - quoted here.
  • Fan club mag #110 included a short interview with Janick: titled "Janick Reveals All", it would more accurately (but less dramatically) be titled "Janick answers a few random questions", the last of which was concerned with what music he was playing in his car at the time. Janick answered by listing the last ten songs his iPod played on shuffle, followed by the comment "Can't believe a Beatles song didn't pop up!". NB This is also where I learned that "Full Cream" was the first album he bought.
 
Is this Janick's longest solo in a song (1:75 minutes long)?

White Spirit - ''Midnight Chaser''

 
The_7th_one said:
I did not hear that Janick had would re-recorded 'Bluesy Blue sea' for Ian Gillan's Inn album in 2009. Nice surprise

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Holy crap, is that in B tuning? Pretty sure at least the bass has a low B, but the guitars also sound downtuned.
Janick, bring some of that to Maiden!
 
Mega said:
Holy crap, is that in B tuning? Pretty sure at least the bass has a low B, but the guitars also sound downtuned.
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On the DVD disc is a song commentary by Ian Gillan (similar to "voice of Crube" on Bruce's "best of") - I don't currently have the means to play it but from memory he says something like "the guitars were tuned to low B because they sounded so lovely there." This commentary used to be on You Tube but I can't find it now.

He also says Janick's name far more than the content actually requires - I guess low B-tuned guitars aren't the only things that sound lovely ... :innocent:
 
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