One
of the best of the new breed of progressive pop / rock bands, Apollo
Sunshine released a great classic album in 2008. Back in the heyday
of progressive rock and psychedelia, bands would have killed for a
cover art as cool as Shall Noise Upon. Even with the scaled
down CD look, there’s plenty to ogle at. The three Apollo Sunshine
core members—Jeremy Black, Sam Cohen and Jesse
Gallagher—are helped out by a range of top players. Some
of the cuts are pretty hard rock based, but when they get in their
prog groove, Apollo Sunshine can’t be beat. In the spirit of
modern rock bands like Super Furry Animals and Flaming Lips, Apollo
Sunshine aren’t afraid to take chances and most of the time the
results pay off. Fitting in between the rock tracks and the more progressive
moments is some exquisite slide guitar work in the spirit of Beatles
guitar icon George Harrison. One of the best and more upscale tracks
here, cut six, “Happiness” is a beautiful prog-rock instrumental
that would have fit in on a late ‘70s album by Caravan or even
Genesis. Hopefully, they’ll pursue more tracks in the spirit
of that track. Perhaps the next Apollo Sunshine CD will be the make
or break but in the meanwhile, Shall Noise Upon is a splendid
statement by a band of gifted, modern players with a wide screen musical
imagination. www.ApolloSunshine.com
MUSIC
WEB EXPRESS 3000 presents
Guitars
Center Stage
Guitarists making waves in the music world,
their new recordings and gear.
an interview with Apollo Sunshine guitarist SAM
COHEN
Musical Background
I
started playing guitar at 12, so that's 17 years. I'd always loved
music from the 50's and 60's as a kid. When I started playing music,
those influences really rushed in and never left.
New CD
My latest album from Apollo Sunshine is called
Shall Noise Upon. We recorded it up in the Catskills, in New
York at a great place called Old Soul. That place was full of amazing
instruments, and it has a 2" tape machine, so we were able to
get great warm, saturated sounds and had lots of inspiration from
all the possibilities those instruments gave us. Stylistically, the
album is sort of a tour of all the different music we love and are
inspired by, so that allowed for a lot of fun experimentation with
different guitar sounds and ways of approaching my parts.
Favorite Guitars
I'm
a big fan of oddball gear. I love the sound, look, and feel of vintage
equipment, tube amps, etc... But i don't have a collector's mentality
or the money to support that kind of habit. So I love finding those
off-name old pieces that aren't yet totally overvalued. I'd rather
have something really weird and rare than something really prized
that I have to worry about keeping pristine. I did a lot of my parts
through my '52 Gibson GA-20 amp. Those are amazing sounding, in the
ballpark of a Tweed Deluxe, just darker in sound, and very affordable.
At least they were when I got mine. My guitar is a pieced together
franken-jazzmaster-copy with Gibson humbuckers and a custom analog
delay built in. I got that done by a couple of friends called Herscheltronics
and Casper electronics, who I work with regularly in Brooklyn. I also
use fuzz pedals built by them. For acoustic, I love my old pawn shop
no-name nylon string, but I borrowed some steel strings for the album
(Gibson, Sovereign). For hollow-body stuff, I've got a great sounding
80's Epi Sheraton that I stripped the finish on and added a Bigsby.
Strings, I use 10's or 11's. Not picky, but 9's feel ridiculous to
me. I also play a 70's Emmons pedal steel, and an Oscar Schmidt electric
autoharp.
Musical Influences
Obviously,
Jimi Hendrix is just some of the most enjoyable guitar playing ever,
so I readily admit that I unabashedly love Hendrix, but that's just
kinda like loving Mozart. I mostly enjoy simple but somehow warped
guitar playing: Link Wray, The Misunderstood, Os Mutantes... I love
George Harrison's precisely weird bends and slide work. The Stones
up to around 'Exile'. My favorite slide playing is from Santo and
Johnny (“Sleep Walk”, “Summertime”). The Ventures
have always rocked my world. Speedy West for pedal steel. I also really
dig dirty early blues/rockabilly/rock n' roll (Howlin' Wolf, Muddy
Waters, Chuck Berry). I get a lot of comps with rare stuff in that
vein. And I love psych stuff, the guitar playing on Serge Gainsbourg
records, etc, etc. Some of my favorite music doesn't really feature
the guitar.
Web Site
www.ApolloSunshine.com
or www.myspace.com/apollosunshine
