Back in May, I wrote a feature about some of the bassists who most influenced my own style as a proud, four-string player. This month, I’ll be featuring ten guitarists I hold in similarly high-esteem. However, despite the occasional dabbling, I’m really not much of a guitarist myself. This month’s list doesn’t cover influences as much as it covers musicians I truly enjoy listening to. This will also showcase my specific tastes when it comes to guitar playing, far removed from flatulent, obligatory guitar solos or hyperspeed shredding. I don’t offer up these ten individuals as “better” than the classic guitar heroes people know and love. Instead, I want to shed some light on a few figures who might get lost in the shadows of those virtuoso behemoths or who legitimately deserve every ouch of praise they’ve ever received.
#10
Name: Adrian Utley
Associated Bands: Portishead
Much of Portishead’s smoky, dark vibe originates in the clattering rhythms and Beth Gibbons’ yearning voice, but Adrian Utley deserves heaps of credit for his ominous guitar style. One of my favorite atmospheric guitarists, Utley’s playing rarely dominates songs, but were you to take it away, Portishead’s songs simply wouldn’t work. For a band that requires drama and tension to operate properly, he’s simply indispensible. Drawing heavily from his film soundtrack background, Utley’s warped spy themes and moody, noir-ish riffs are subtle, but undeniably effective.
Required Listening: “Mysterons”, “Sour Times”, “We Carry On”
#9
Name: Rowland S. Howard
Associated Bands: The Birthday Party, Crime & The City Solution
A perfect foil to Nick Cave’s eruptive vocal performances in the Birthday Party, Rowland S. Howard blurs the line between apparent lack of skill and pure, inspired genius. On purely technical grounds, much of Howard’s guitar is “bad playing”: big slashes of noise from guitar, atonal screeching, yowling feedback and so forth. However, hidden in that chaotic mess is a man ripping apart classic blues riffs with abandon, casting the blues in a violent, bloody light. Perhaps it doesn’t sound all that…pleasant, at times, but it’s not supposed to. Cave is a visceral songwriter and, in Howard, he found one of the most viscerally powerful guitarists of the era.
Required Listening: “Nick The Stripper”, “Dead Joe”, “Junkyard”
#10
Name: Adrian Utley
Associated Bands: Portishead
Much of Portishead’s smoky, dark vibe originates in the clattering rhythms and Beth Gibbons’ yearning voice, but Adrian Utley deserves heaps of credit for his ominous guitar style. One of my favorite atmospheric guitarists, Utley’s playing rarely dominates songs, but were you to take it away, Portishead’s songs simply wouldn’t work. For a band that requires drama and tension to operate properly, he’s simply indispensible. Drawing heavily from his film soundtrack background, Utley’s warped spy themes and moody, noir-ish riffs are subtle, but undeniably effective.
Required Listening: “Mysterons”, “Sour Times”, “We Carry On”
#9
Name: Rowland S. Howard
Associated Bands: The Birthday Party, Crime & The City Solution
A perfect foil to Nick Cave’s eruptive vocal performances in the Birthday Party, Rowland S. Howard blurs the line between apparent lack of skill and pure, inspired genius. On purely technical grounds, much of Howard’s guitar is “bad playing”: big slashes of noise from guitar, atonal screeching, yowling feedback and so forth. However, hidden in that chaotic mess is a man ripping apart classic blues riffs with abandon, casting the blues in a violent, bloody light. Perhaps it doesn’t sound all that…pleasant, at times, but it’s not supposed to. Cave is a visceral songwriter and, in Howard, he found one of the most viscerally powerful guitarists of the era.
Required Listening: “Nick The Stripper”, “Dead Joe”, “Junkyard”
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