Posted on May 24, 2011
Joanne Shaw Taylor is THE rising star on the British blues scene and her gigs are being widely regarded as the hottest ticket in town. A consummate guitarist, with a vocal style reminiscent of the great Janis Joplin, this is one show you do not want to miss.
She’s currently undertaking an extensive tour of Europe and the USA showcasing her latest album “Diamonds in the dirt”, and right now she is gigging up and down Britain, bringing her brand of rock-blues to her home country.
Sunday finds her in Bristol, where she will play at the Tunnels (Arches 31 and 32, Lower Station Approach Road, Bristol BS1 6QF – www.thetunnelsbristol.co.uk ). If you can get a ticket, it will be the best twelve and a half quid you’ve laid out in a long time. If you can’t, sell your body to someone in the queue – this is a must-not-miss event.
At twenty-five, she has the world at her feet and this time next year, the tickets won’t be easy to come by. Trust me.
This week, JST took time out from her tour to talk to us about where she came from, what she’s doing and where’s she’s going.
RockRebels: Did you always know you’d be a blues artist?
Joanne Shaw Taylor: I didn’t always know, no. However, I did when I got into blues – when I was about 13. I was playing electric guitar quite heavily and it was something that from the very beginning I took very seriously.
RR: Influences in the early days?
JST: In the early days I was listening to a lot of rock. Coming from the Black Country area, as you can imagine, my father’s record collection was very sort of Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Slade, Purple etcetera. In terms of the blues it was really Stevie Ray Vaughan who was the predominant influence.
RR: Why a Fender Telecaster?
JST: That influence was actually from Albert Collins one of my other influences – a combination of that and I found an older Telecaster with a slightly smaller neck that I still use as my main guitar to this day. Being female, I don’t have particularly large hands. To be honest it’s more comfort than anything.
RR: Amps?
JST: Fender Bassmans – a sixty-four head and a two by twelve cab. On this tour I’ve been using the Blackstar Artisan 30 which I really, really love, but I’m predominantly a Fender girl.
RR: The tour is massive undertaking. Do you find it heavy going?
JST: Yeah. We’re close to the end of it now. We started in America at the end of January and we left the States on April 3rd. We’ve done a fair bit of Europe on this run. We started in Germany and Switzerland and we went on to Norway, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Sweden and now the UK. It’s gone by very quickly, but looking back it’s certainly been a lot of shows and a lot of travel.
RR: What’s been your favourite venue so far?
JST: Oooo, well obviously I love playing the UK, obviously it’s home and it’s nice to be back for a little while. I think some of the festivals we did out in Norway were really great fun. We did some festivals with Imelda May and Joe Bonamassa out there… We’ve just completed a couple of gigs with Glenn (Hughes) which was fun. Being such a long tour it was nice to break up the monotony by seeing other artists.
RR: Your gigs are a lot more high energy, louder, brasher than your albums – is that a conscious choice?
JST: Yeah, I think quite a few people have noticed that. I think for me, being a blues artist, the live aspect is always going to be the main example of what you do, and it’s difficult to get that on record really. The records are a snapshot in time – one week when you record them. They’re two different formats.
RR: A live album in the pipeline?
JST: Yeah, I think so. We’re contracted to one more studio album, so we’re going to complete that next year. Then next year, I’d certainly be interested in doing a live album, possibly even a DVD as well.
RR: Do you have any favourites off the album, Diamonds?
JST: You know actually, live, “Dead and gone” – that’s coming into its own a little bit more. I think my favourites off it… they were “Diamonds in the dirt” and “Lord have mercy”, but that’s changed a little bit with playing them live. Now it’s probably “Dead and gone” and “Can’t keep living like this”. They’re a bit more a challenge to do them justice and do them live… that’s why I like them.
RR: What was it like working with Jim Gaines?
JST: Yeah, yeah – I love Jim. He’s and incredible person and he’s become close friend – him and his wife. On a professional level, he’s so humble given his CV. He’s so easy to work with.
RR: Were you taught to play, or did you teach yourself?
JST: I taught myself. I played classical guitar from the age of eight. When I picked up and electric, I figured that if BB King could teach himself, so could I. Not that I think I play like BB King. My record collection is very vast. I often listen to a lot of stuff, whether it be some of the country guys like Danny Gatton or Vince Gill, or some of the classic rock guys. It’s funny now seeing what you actually soak up. I don’t mean actually learn anything, but just sitting down and something sticks in your head.
RR: There’s a progression from White Sugar – a sense of moving forward. Are you exploring new areas of song writing?
JST: Yeah. There’s a couple of reasons for that. White Sugar it’s that case of, you know, it’s the first album. I had ten years to prepare it. That said, I only started writing about a year before White Sugar. So when we came to do the second album, we’d been drawing so much from the first album, we literally had a ten day gap to get the songs together. So, I’m not the most proficient song writer I guess. I don’t write that much, I just do it when I have to, but to break up the monotony I did try to push myself a bit. That’s the best way to become a better song writer, I guess. I’m glad we did that and I do think lyrically it’s a stronger album than White Sugar.
RR: I get the impression there’s a lot of life lived in your lyrics.
JST: Yes, I think the challenge for me was I wrote all the music first, as I tend to do. It’s obviously a heavier album, which I was excited about… That came from the band I’ve been paying with in the States regularly for the past two years. Being from Detroit, they come from a bit more of a rock background. So, I was quite excited that it was going in more of a rock direction and that was testing my guitar playing and vocals I guess. Then I was presented with a lot of music that was quite heavy, and the challenge was to steer away from bluesy cliché lyrics, which I think I’ve managed to do. So it was great fun to imagine situations where the lyrics went along with the darkness of the material, i.e “Can’t keep living like this”, or “Dead and gone” which is actually about being born again, so not a biographical song.
RR: What next for Joanne Shaw Taylor?
JST: We’re going to wind up this UK tour, then I fly back to the states the day after it ends and then it’s time to start writing. We’re pencilled in for the studios in September, so there should be another album coming out later this year and basically just touring a lot hopefully. That’s the plan.
Rock Rebels will be at the Bristol gig on Sunday and we reckon you ought to be there too. Joanne Shaw Taylor is too good to miss.
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