New discoveries

Over the course of gig going, recent rehearsals and extensive radio listening, I have found three new-to-me bands that I want to share. Weirdly, they all begin with 'P'.

1. Peggy Sue - spotted supporting Wild Flag in Glasgow recently. Good voices and guitar action too.



2. Penguins Kill Polar Bears - overheard making a helluva noise at The Depot rehearsal rooms in Edinburgh. On the same evening Kid Canaveral were practising too - indie glitterati indeed!



3. Papercuts - yes, I know they have been around for a while, but that's ok! Sub Pop reckon the latest album is Belle and Sebastian crossed with Slowdive, recorded by Phil Spectre. How can that be bad?

Shredders in chiffon: Carrie Brownstein

Concluding the Shredders in chiffon series with one of the best guitarists I have ever seen - Carrie Brownstein. Formerly of Sleater-Kinney and currently touring with Wild Flag, the Portland-based musician often crops up in 'best female guitarists' lists.

Brownstein started playing guitar when she was 15 and stuck with it ever since. She attended the 'birthplace of riot grrl' Evergreen College in Olympia, Oregon at the same time as Kathleen Hanna and founded Sleater-Kinney with Corin Tucker in 1994.

Now with Wild Flag (a band that boasts another awesome female guitarist in the form of Mary Timony), Carrie's fluidity and speed up and down the neck results in some impressive (but usually fairly tasteful) solos. Combined with windmills plenty and some high kicks too, she's just so rock and roll.

And so to equipment: Guild S-100 with Bigsby and I've seen her use amps by both Vox and Fender. Pedal-wise, she uses a Line 6 Delay, Boss Blues Driver, Boss OD3 Overdrive and a Z-Vex Super Hard On. Thanks are due to Dr Mailbag Hickory for pedal ID skills - please visit the Mailbag Hickory photography blog or follow on Twitter - @stcstc.

Anyway, here is Carrie Brownstein ripping it up with Wild Flag in Glasgow recently.

Shredders in chiffon: Theresa Wayman

Lead guitarist with Warpaint, Theresa Wayman first picked up a guitar aged 9 to play along with her dad, but apparently didn't take the instrument seriously until much later, preferring piano and singing. Perhaps this is what's helped create her oft-ethereal and melodic approach to the instrument.

Theresa says that evoking a feeling is the key inspiration for the band's songwriting, rather than specific artists, although she often cites Bjork. She recently curated this playlist over at Spilt Milk, so that might contain a few clues? 

And there can be no doubt that there's a hint of shoe-gazing in there, whether intentional or otherwise. To that end, she plugs in an Electro Harmonix Small Stone and a Boss DD7 too. She also has a few distortions to choose from... 

Another Fender fan, Theresa plays a Fender Mustang through a Vox AC30. 

Here's the vid for Undertow, which I've never seen before! 

Undertow

Warpaint | Myspace Music Videos

Shredders in chiffon: Marnie Stern

Native New Yorker Marnie Stern is a massively dexterous guitar player. On her most recent album, she opined that 'Female Guitar Players are the New Black'. She might be right, but this one is all substance, not just style.

An advocate of tapping, Marnie's speedy skills need to be seen to be believed. On record, she builds up layers of sound to create hectic, rhythmic songs. Some people link this to prog. I would never say such a thing.

Stern has a quiver of guitars and can be seen tapping on a Fender Jazzmaster, a double-necked (!) Epiphone SG or a Flaxwood. Amp-wise, she uses a Fender Deluxe Reverb and doesn't go in for too many effects, favouring a clean sound to allow each guitar line to shine.

Marnie has this advice for females looking to learn guitar, which she shared in a 2011 interview with GuitarWorld magazine:


"I had been wanting to give guitar lessons to girls because I feel like women tend to use their voice as the starting point for a song and learn a few chords, and then it ends there because then they just use their voice to flesh out a song. I think you should look at the guitar differently instead of just something to help the voice. It’s its own amazing crazy thing that can bring about different ideas."

It's certainly worked for her!

Shredders in chiffon: Anna Calvi

With her stark onstage look, Anna Calvi is a surprise shredder. Technically, I think she's a shredder in silk, usually red, but you get the idea. She creates her trademark brooding and sweeping sounds with a fairly simple set up - Fender Telecaster, Vox AC30 (in red, of course) and a TRex Roommate reverb pedal, although she does use a delay pedal too, probably a Boss DD7. Reports of a Crowther Hot Cake are unconfirmed at this stage...

Classically trained as a violinist, Anna is a skilled guitarist as she amply demonstrates with the awe-inspiring Rider to the Sea which opens her debut album. Amongst her influences, she cites Debussy, flamenco and film and I reckon it shows.

Shredders in chiffon: Bilinda Butcher

Bilinda Butcher is perhaps best known for her work in My Bloody Valentine, the seminal post-rock group from the 90s. Providing vocals for the band, her guitar playing helped create the epic, effect-strewn sound that defined MBV.

Her weapon of choice tended to be a Fender Jaguar, but she also played Jazzmasters, and some internet research suggests that she used a modified Mustang... She also professes a love for Charvel Surfcasters, which I share. You can find out more about her gear here - vintage.guitargeek.com/rigreview/74/.

But really you should just sit back and listen to the helluva noise that she created. Amazing.