Guitar Icon GUTHRIE GOVAN Talks Working With STEVEN WILSON - "He Certainly Has Some Unusually Specific Ideas About What A Guitar Should And Shouldn't Do Within The Context Of His Band"
August 21, 2019, 5 years ago
English guitar icon Guthrie Govan (The Aristocrats) spoke with Ultimate Guitar about working with former Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson on the latter's solo muisc. Following is an excerpt from the chat.
UG: Last year, we got the chance to speak to David Kilminster, who also played with Steven Wilson. According to what David said, Steven really hates vibrato. Was this the same case when you were in his band?
Govan: "Pretty much! I remember him expressing a particular aversion to any note which he deemed to sound overly 'American'! I chose to interpret that as his way of describing the wider, more extreme end of the vibrato spectrum: he's just not a fan of '80s-style 'guitar hero' histrionics so I guess perhaps the sound of really wide, aggressive vibrato on guitar is something which he associates with the more comical excesses of the 'Spandex Age' of rock.
I have a suspicion that Steven's ideal guitar player might actually be someone more in the vein of Robert Fripp, who pretty much represents the antithesis of that style... Steven Wilson certainly has some unusually specific ideas about what a guitar should and shouldn't be allowed to do within the context of his band. Ultimately, though, it's his music and his vision so... whatever works!"
Read the complete interview here.
