From triumph to tragedy, here is his story, Yesterday we lost our brother, and the world seems a little smaller because of it, began Corey Taylor. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), 2004), in a heartfelt tribute to his old bandmate, The inside story of Vol. Also my fingers aren't that fast, I can get to a decent speed but I'm not freaking Billy Sheehan.". People say they eat into frets, but Ive never found that to be the case, and I change them every night when Im on tour. I just pick out licks and phrases I heard my heroes play. I introduced him to the wonderful world of Eventide, and we used the H9 a lot. Early producer Ross Robinson, who worked on the groups self-titled debut and its Iowa follow-up, went as far as labelling him the bands secret weapon, blessed with absolute integrity and a talent for coming out with the most unbelievable ideas. Incredibly, he was welcomed into the band, Vexx. I really like the growl Tonys got on it and it really suits the songs perfectly. So all those prominent bass players really caught my ear and I thought it was so great, because it was such an important part of the song. Take the song 'Scissors', from the first album, where I'm tuned to an octave below A. 1974 Rickenbacker 4001, Amps Summary of Gary Moore's Gear What guitar did Gary Moore play? I have to find my place in Slipknot and stay away from just following the guitars, so I play along with what the drums are doing. Captain is the primo guitarist in my book.We both share a love of pop songs. "He had the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known, and he had the greatest soul I've ever . Although the band parted ways with Joey in 2013, the remaining seven musicians immortalised their grief and memories on 2015s .5: The Gray Chapter. Captain, what was it like working with Visconti from a guitarists perspective? We spend a lot of time thinking about Paul, Shawn told us in 2018. "We were on Ozzfest and I had the one Soundgear bass, which was really old, with no back-up guitar and we were playing all these shows. What gear was important to making the new album? They started sending me Soundgears but I didn't want to play them and I said, 'If you start making these ATK's again like this one, I'll switch companies'. But the time was right. He wrote that whole song, and there was such an essence about it that was so odd; the way his eyes were looking at his guitar, and the way he was writing it when we were playing together, it was almost scary, he told Revolver in 2010. Joey also recalls laying down the drums for All Hope Is Gones Gehenna, while Paul wrote instinctively. Gray: I used the 1980 Ric that I used on TheBlack Album, but the one that ended up on most of the tracks was my very early '74. What was the first bassline you ever tried to play? If you think it's fucked up and weird, then that's cool because it's your thing. The Damned play their unofficial anthem, Smash It Up, from 1979s Machine Gun Etiquette, at BBC Radio 6s annual Christmas Punk Party. Pure Ric-into-Ampeg glory. Total Guitar has not edited this interview, deciding instead to leave as much of Paul's personality and character in as possible RIP Paul. As Paul got to know his new instrument, he developed a strong attachment. Heavy gauge picks. I think it was made in February, which was just a month or two after they stopped doing the toaster pickups. Tony McPhees Groundhogs performance of Cherry Red on Top of the Pops departed radically from the shows usual fare, and that was the moment I decided to get a guitar and only a Gibson SG would do. It was his older brother, Jay, who introduced him to the music that would change his life Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Stones, The Beatles, Alice Cooper and Kiss. Jun 1, 2002. verdict on the 50 albums that shaped 2022. The bass player often partnered with ex-drummer Joey Jordison, fleshing out early anthems such as Surfacing and Spit It Out, the former including riffs hed written back in his Body Pit years. I went down and played with them. Those were round wound. We've got songs on the albums that are in our normal drop B tuning, and we do a drop A tuning, and I do another tuning where I'm actually in octaves - it's weird! So between that and jamming along with the records is how I got my fairly unorthodox guitar technique together. The deep, menacing notes heard during the intro and verses build an almost horror movie kind of suspense in between the grinding guitars and its hair-raising You all stare but youll never see theres something inside me chorus. That changed my world, he recounted in Paul Gray: Behind The Player. 3 era, he was unequivocal about the feelings Slipknot had stirred in him from the outset. How did the Australian singer die? One has a very chunky neck, and thats a 74, and the 77 has a thinner neck than a Fender Jazz bass. Reviews. Gray has been in and out of the bandmostly outsince 1984.Photo by Tony Woolliscroft. Sadly, those close to Paul knew hed been battling demons for a while. It's worked for me So far anyway! You've mentioned quite a few genres there, so what's your favourite bassline of all time? The words Fender, Telecaster, Stratocaster and the associated headstock designs are registered trademarks of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. There was nothing funny going on with the studio desk: everything was flat. You dont often get that, and I struggle to think of any other guitarist that Ive worked with that Ive had that relationship with. "After that the first real bass I bought was an Ibanez Soundgear and I still play Ibanez now. While the Damned are fronted by a crooning vampire-poet of a man in Dave Vanian, much of the groups sweeping sonic vision has hinged upon the guitar work, songcraft, and imagination of founding member Captain Sensible (born Raymond Burns). It's definitely a different thing compared to if I was playing in a punk band with only one guitar player and I could fucking, y'know, noodle around and do lots of stuff. Feb 21, 2015. I knew the guitar lines and could have jammed those, but the bass parts were totally different and I was like, Fuck! I had to go back and listen to them. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. What gauge is the low E string? Try this!. Then, of course, there are the two tracks he performed on as part of the Roadrunner United project, enlisting the crme de la crme from the legendary labels roster to collaborate for its 25th anniversary. "I always experiment and go with whatever the song requires. ", Don't miss the latest deals, news, reviews, features and tutorials. as for basses, I think Paul generally used flats on his Hofner and Rick, not sure about the Jazz bass he may have used later on (and no idea about the Fender 6 stringer that John and George sometimes used) tjmicsak Member Messages 5,690 Mar 24, 2010 #4 You can hear them on the older stuff. Theyre just magnificent!Paul Gray, Clairvoyant Chemistry: The Damneds Captain Sensible and Paul Gray, A Guide to Essential Effects Plugins for Your Home Studio, ESP Announces LTD Kirk Hammett Signature Series KH-V, Epiphone Introduces the 1958 Korina Flying V and Explorer, Building a Pro-Level Home-Studio Mic Closet, DAngelico Guitars Introduces Deluxe Eric Krasno Brighton Signature Model. We used that with an 8x10 and had everything up full blast and thats the sound on the record. The track also been a source of inspiration for Pauls successor, Alessandro Venturella, who told this writer about filling a great mans shoes and doing him justice for a 2019 Bass magazine cover story around the release of We Are Not Your Kind. . What kind of tips can you give us for improving finger stretches when playing bass guitar? While testifying in court against her late husband's physician, Brenna Gray revealed that Paul actually suffered a relapse around 2008 and later spent the last weeks of his life fighting a losing battle against his demons. We recorded at Atomic Sound in Brooklyn, which is a beautiful studio with a lovely, big wooden live room. It suits the Damned material better and cleans up nicer with the volume knob than a straight SG Standard, for some reason. Kill. "It depends on what I'm doing. Whether he knew you or not. When we started the band I felt it, right when we started it, and it still feels the same. Call us at 800-449-9128. After the set, the band huddled around Pauls jumpsuit, mask and bass as Til We Die poured out of the PA. My friends are all hurting, came Jims line. Bath Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Although not as light as some other guys on this . Bassist Paul, aka The Pig, aka #2, appeared in a black uniform, steadily headbanging and riffing while chaos erupted around him. However, it is generally believed that he typically uses roundwound strings on his bass, with a gauge somewhere in the range of 45-60. The blueprint Paul helped draw up for Slipknot shines through its bludgeoning riffs, and even through the energy of latest album We Are Not Your Kind. While Paul tragically left us too soon, his creative influence remains. They thought it was cool thats how I got playing bass.. Most of the guys you cited developed their sounds around a Rickenbacker bass, and thats been your instrument of choice over the years. Luckily it all seems to work most of the time anyway. The studio has an excellent Fender Stratocaster that Captain used on at least three songs, for arpeggio things or anything that we needed a clearer sound on beyond the overdriven Gibson sound hes known for. Im not a control freak and I want them to express themselves, and I wouldnt work with them if they werent great musiciansthats my criteria. As far as opening gambits go, the first musical track on Slipknots debut is as good as it gets. Actually, none that I can think of. Instead of sticking with the drop B tuning used on its other tracks, Paul used a drop A tuning with this thickest string another octave down which he described as a super low, almost sub-woofer kind of frequency. in July 2008. I knew the guitar lines and could have jammed those, but the bass parts were totally different and I was like, 'Fuck!' I didn't think they would, but they called me up and said, 'Here you go!'". String gauge. After then he used steel strings. (Image credit: John McMurtrie) "Yesterday we lost our brother, and the world seems a little smaller because of it," began Corey Taylor. Rhythmically, however, the song was a bit more challenging; Pauls verse basslines picked as strict alternate 16th notes throughout, which, once you factor in the boiler suit and pig mask for the live shows, would have been a quite a workout for his left arm. The lead guitar breaks on Evil Spirits sound very in-the-moment, but also precisely mapped.Sensible: They are pretty much first takes. There were three mics on it: one on the speakers, one three feet back, and one six feet back, and a little bit of DI. Produced by the venerable Tony Visconti (best known as the helmsman of classic David Bowie and T. Rex albums), Evil Spirits sees the return of the Captains favored bass guitar sparring partner, Paul Gray, to the Damned for the first time in nearly a decade. Based on that statement, it is likely that these strings were used even prior to that, were his main choice before he started playing Stratocasters (at which point he began using Ernie Ball strings) I recall after releasing a self indulgent double album featuring quite a lot of trippy guitar noodling, one critic asked, Who does he think he is? The 15-minute epic that closes the Knots second album showcased a very different side to Pauls playing, more '90s rock than extreme metal in feel sharing similarities with the kind of lines heard in bands like Tool and Pearl Jam. A true athlete when it comes to traversing the fretboard of a Rickenbacker bass, Grays lead bass style and the way his playing seamlessly weaves with the Captains is a massive part of Evil Spirits musical bedrock. Genre politics and hyperbole aside, the Damned have always been the musicians band among the classic punks, and the group has always operated with a policy of lawlessness when it comes to the music they make. Those Rickenbackers actually had built-in string mutes, as did Paul's later Fender Jazz. Luckily, it didnt choke at the Albert Hall during our 40th anniversary show. Its got a really nice punch. Paul didnt know anyone in Iowa, so six months in, when he overheard some guys in a local record store talking about needing a bass player for Metallica and Slayer covers, he volunteered his services. There was, however, a lot more to the man than extreme noise Paul cited names like Flea and Bootsy Collins alongside more audible influences such as Cliff Burton and Steve Harris, describing the latter as an idol for his ability to play all over the bass and leave no fret untouched. Now42 years since they became the first of the British punk groups to put out a single, with 1976s New Rose, beating the Sex Pistols by a month, and 10 years since their last studio album, So, Whos Paranoid?the Damned have returned with Evil Spirits, an album that bristles with the vitality, immediacy, and irrepressible creativity thats earned them the distinction of being one of the most important punk bands of all time. Eventide H9, Strings and Picks Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. From triumph to tragedy, here is his story. When I moved to Iowa, I didnt have any friends or know anybody. Strings 2 : Electric Bass Nickel Plated Steel with NANOWEB Coating. After the third or fourth show I met somebody from Warwick and they sent me out a Corvette or some model and it was awesome. Although fans knew Paul as part of the nine, he had a low public profile, rarely speaking to the media. I just do standard exercises, you know, what do they call 'em? 3: (The Subliminal Verses) landed a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. I used to use those gray Hercos for years, even in Thin Lizzy. Let's take a closer look at the strings Sir Paul used and continues to use, as well as how they helped to shape his tone. Added by Bastien. Works 23; All; Songs written by Paul Gray [US1] Original songs. Ampeg 8x10 cab "I started with Ampeg but now I'm with Peavey. Which is a hard thing to do with nine people in the band!, He was also a skilled composer who could pervert the markers of extreme metal. Its a mission statement that encapsulated The Nines bloodthirsty ambitions and set the bar incredibly high early on, the verse shifting between a staccato and muted delivery to a more open, groove-orientated feel for tension and release. John Paul Jones. Its cheaper, too, and once youve smoothed the frets and boshed on a scratchplate, youve got yourself a cracking guitar for what it costs. The day after it happened, we were all over the place, and we all kind of made our way to my house, he recalled. TC Electronic Nova System . The Damned opened for T. Rex back in the day, and I even asked Captain why we never did this before. staff present the albums that shaped their individual 2022s! Of course, when younger I may have felt slightly different. He could listen to something and de-construct it in his head and go, You know what? You gotta find your pocket. He had the biggest heart of anyone Ive ever known, and he had the greatest soul Ive ever had the privilege to know. We came in through the front and walked through the crowd, just dead-cold staring at people like we didnt know they were there, says Anders, who left the band later when Corey Taylor was recruited. Gary Moore played Gibson Les Paul guitars. I thought it was the coolest thing ever., By the age of 16, Paul was living in an apartment with his friends Frank and Chris, jamming Danzig songs in the living room under the moniker Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. So I went over and said, 'Dude, I play bass' even though I didn't have a bass guitar and never picked one up. ], my chum [singer-songwriter] Martin Newell showed me a couple of his own tunings that, although a bit off the wall, have an infectious jangle thats particularly inspiring when it comes to 60s Beatles/Monkees kind of tunes. When it came to music, Paul was up there with some of the greats, remembered Corey, in a heartfelt tribute to his old bandmate. Sensible: Tony and engineer Kevin Killen thought the material had a 60s garage vibe, so sought out less-saturated distortions, mainly from the studio Vox AC30 and an excellent Matrix VB800 amp that Id packed in my suitcase, which certainly packs a punch despite being on the dainty side. All rights reserved. A fan of British blues-rock players like the Groundhogs Tony McPhee and Frees Paul Kossoff, and of Summer of Love psych-rock and the pomp of 60s orchestral pop music, the Captain has never relied merely on power chords and beeralthough those have often been a part of his recipe. Guitars Its been 10 years since we lost Slipknot bassist Paul Gray. 1990s British-made handwired Vox AC30 reissue Just seeing them up there with the red lights and smoke it was all evil. That 77 has much more of a Lemmy-type sound than my 74. Songs with JANGLE, let's display those electric 12 strings. Though omitted from later reissues, the ninth track from the Slipknot debut still towers among their darkest moments: lyrically, thanks to a title inherited from a fictional story about a girl who had been kidnapped and buried alive, and sonically, with Paul dialling in a woolly bass tone containing virtually no treble frequencies. For a taste of Th Nine at their absolute world-commanding heaviest, the opening 25 seconds of People = Shit will be hard to beat. What's Inside show "I was listening in on their conversation, eavesdropping, they were talking about doing covers of Slayer and Metallica - all these songs that I knew how to play on guitar. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases. Im having the time of my life.. Aqua Marine. But his music lives on, much like the band he was fundamental in creating. Stretching-wise, I started off on guitar so my stretching is kinda good for playing and noodling, but on bass if you can actually stretch from the 1st fret to the 5th fret then you have got some freaking long fingers - I can barely do that! Tony Visconti is mates with Eventide designer Tony Agnello, who brought some interesting toys to Atomic to play with, and which got a lot of usethe H9 in particular. Bunch of new American psychos just dropped. Its safe to say that when Slipknot takes time off, Paul was the one person worst affected by the other side-bands. JavaScript is disabled. Paul is survived by his wife Brenna and their daughter October, who was born three months after his death. Paul, who cofounded Slipknot in 1995 with drummer Joey Jordison and percussionist Shawn Crahan, was found dead at age 38 in an Urbandale, Iowa hotel room in May 2010. Photo by Matt Condon. Pauls final album, 2008s All Hope Is Gone, shot to No.1 in eight countries. I became slightly obsessed with the solos on Strange Town and the way the excitement builds in them, carrying the listener away on a tidal wave of excitement. The same was said of his personality, Corey often describing him as the glue of the band the one member who lived and breathed Slipknot all day every day, the worlds best cheerleader to bring them together no matter what challenge or hurdle lay ahead. Who wants to go onstage with an unblemished guitar slung round their neck? 2,977 1,264. We unselfishly say, Lets play Paul Gray riffs, or do it the way Paul would want it., Paul lives on through his family, music, and the army of maggots who hold him close. Gauges . Fans held t-shirts aloft, while Shawn and Corey stood at the back of the stage, arms around each others shoulders, faces crumpled with emotion. Although fairly light, I find the reduced-thickness picks weve moved over to hardly break any strings these days, which is good, because I hate changing guitars mid-gig. What Paul did with Slipknot was revolutionary. They also sound totally different. On May 25, 2010, the members of Slipknot filed into a room to face the press, on one of the bleakest days of their lives. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. They gave me a full deal and they treated me really good, which was great because we had no money at that time and I couldn't afford anything. "Actually it was some Sabbath and Metallica stuff. Everything else has been me just experimenting.". Although the Captain was stationed on bass for the Damneds first few recordings, he emerged on the groups third album, 1979s Machine Gun Etiquette, as a dexterous and melodic guitarist with a knack for penning killer hooks that draw on a surprisingly vast range of influences. I like to pick a patch out from the library and then heavily modify it for the song, and I really get in there and tweak them. Title Written by Originally by Original date Covered by ; Before I Forget . As one of the three founding members of Slipknot, Paul Gray fast became one of their key songwriters his name more often than not found in the credits for the tracks that werent assigned to the group as a whole. Given an exclusive listen to the second full-length in the months ahead of release, Kerrang! Today, we celebrate the songs which epitomised his pivotal role within The Nine. "But then I ended up going to Ibanez on the last album because - I can't remember where we were - but I went to a pawn shop and picked up this Ibanez ATK that they've stopped making and I just loved the way it played and sounded, so I started playing it too and Ibanez approached me to offer me a deal. They put together the spine-tingling Vermillion (for Vol. The quiet lay heavy in the air, and seemed to stretch for miles. Eleanor was promoted to the role of Editor at Metal Hammer magazine after over seven years with the company, having previously served as Deputy Editor and Features Editor. During the recording sessions for All Hope Is Gone, Paul had called Shawn to say he was too sick to come to the studio. And none of us would be on the path that were on right now in life, or have the sorts of lives that we have, without him.. Yet again, he moved. We got onstage and shocked the hell out of everybody. For nylon strings Chet and I both used D'Addario Pro-Art, although both of us at times have used LaBella 500p Professional concert & recording strings. .60 mm Dunlop Tortex. Theyre really consistent. TDPRI, short for Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue, is the leading online community and marketplace for Telecaster guitars. Sensible: Theres something about the Gibson SG 60s Tribute. He never returned home. With Mountain, Flowers of Evil has a live side, and the bass and guitar interplay on that album is just magnificent, and I love that really filthy sound Felix P. had: electric farts, we call it in the Damned. Someone else can probably add more, or demonstrate that my memory is faulty. His knack for finger-twisting, down-tuned riffs including extreme slides and bends is what made their assault all the more bludgeoning, a skill which hed undoubtedly sharpened as a death metal-obsessed teenager. We have three drummers, theres a lot of low end, do you know what I mean? Lurking in the back of the studio was this really, really old Ampeg, which the guy said was handwired. The guy I got it from says that it was a factory custom that had been requested to have the toaster pickup put on it. Through gigging, they met future members of Slipknot: Shawn Crahan in Heads On The Wall, Jim Root in Atomic Opera, Joey Jordison in Modifidious. Apart from a regular open-G blues tuning [Editors note: Check out Silly Kids Games on The Black Album for an example. Theyve been far too busy touring to devote time to nostalgia. Gray: We turned everything up full! 1980 Rickenbacker 4001 So I was like, I've moved to Iowa, I don't know anybody, so maybe I should jump in and say I play bass and try to meet some people? England and Wales company registration number 2008885. I was speechless watching him write this song. I always watch other bass players no matter what kind of band they're in, how long they've been playing for or if they're any good, because you can always learn something from someone else to add to your technique and make you play better. Any doubts over Slipknot sustaining the brain-melting brutality of their debut were answered in a vicious storm of blastbeats and tremolo-picked guitars that felt even angrier and more possessed than before. "In the beginning you will probably emulate your favourite players, but take that and make it your own and be yourself. On July 10, at 2pm, thousands of Sonisphere-goers joined together in a two-minute silence for #2. It allows you to throw things into the set on the flyjust call out a key and hell have a go at it. Columbus Ohio. Sensible: Unlike some punk bassists who could only play by numbers, with the potential song disintegration if they lost their way, Paul can really busk it up! We had confidence in each other that it would work, and we hadnt played together [in the studio] for nearly 22 years! Paul Dedrick Gray Born April 8, 1972 Died May 24, 2010 Country United States IPI 00344172381 21 works Affiliation ASCAP Member of Slipknot Bass (1995-2010) Meta. Some of it I tap out, some of it is more simple and some of it I have to follow the guitars and do runs and leads and stuff like that. It required the heaviest gauge top string he could find in order to hold the notes well enough to record. I was writing lyrics when Paul and Joey played this to me, Corey told Kerrang! Frank Zappa? Not quite, but I'll take that as a compliment whether intended or not! There was a band in our town that had a great bass player called Mark and he could play jazz and funk, so I sat down with him about five or six times and learned a lot of techniques. Which is a hard thing to do with nine people in the band!". Clapton used these strings in the early days, around the Cream era. I was going to donate my Epi Viola, but after putting LaBella flats on it, I liked it too much. I try not to step on anybody's toes but try not to get lost either. What strings did Paul McCartney use during his time in the Beatles, in particualr the strings he used on 'Come Together' Apr 26, 2001 #2 Ari Schor Mar 3, 2000 Montreal I have been told by many people that he used Pyramid Flatwounds ($!!!! Overview. We really textured it very heavily. Search Ray Brown for details. While it might seem unusual that I like Mountain and Deep Purple, considering the music Im known for playing, Captain is into the really obscure progressive rock stuff and has that in his playing.