NUNO BETTENCOURT On Performing With RIHANNA On 777 Tour - "She's Been Great About Letting Me Be Me"
November 21, 2012, 11 years ago
EXTREME guitarist NUNO BETTENCOURT recently spoke with Fuse News about being a member of pop start RIHANNA's touring band, a gig he's had for the last three years. Check out the video interview below:
Back in 2010, Bettencourt spoke with BW&BK;'s Carl Begai about being a part of Rihanna's live band. An excerpt is available below:
“That was one of those unexpected little things that happens,” Bettencourt says. “A friend of mine, Tony Bruno, called me up when Extreme was off the road and he told me that if I wasn’t doing anything, Rihanna was looking for a guitarist. He told me that before I said no – and I guess he figured I would because there isn’t really a lot of guitar in her songs – the idea was that she wanted to make the live show a bit heavier because she’s into bands like Linkin Park and stuff like that. She wanted somebody to make things rock a little bit, which meant that I would basically get to do what I do if I took the job. I thought it was really interesting to be able to play my style of guitar over her stuff, I thought it would be fun, so I went for it.”“It’s cool. I wouldn’t have been interested if I wasn’t able to be myself, and it’s a challenge because the set is 24 or 25 songs that requires a different sort of guitar playing to pull it off. At one point I’m playing pop stuff and making it a bit heavier, there’s some funk and R & B, some ballads, some piano stuff, even some Hispanic flamenco, so it keeps things interesting. It certainly feels more at home than I thought it would.”
Go to this location for the complete interview.
