EXTREME Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt On Touring With Rihanna - "It Certainly Feels More At Home Than I Thought It Would"
June 6, 2010, 14 years ago
During a recent interview about EXTREME's new live album, Take Us Alive, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt discussed being a part of pop star Rihanna's live band on her current world tour. 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.
