In a great interview for guitar techs and guitarists and musos everywhere, Premier Guitar has today published a insightful joint interview with Jon Hudson and Bill Gould.
And the interview has a number of surprising revelations, primarily that Bill plays guitar on some tracks on Sol Invictus:
Hudson: Billy actually played slide guitar for that song [From the Dead] after everyone else thought it was done. I was pretty floored when I heard it and felt it added to the song so much.
Gould: I just felt that outro part needed a little bit more emotion. I heard it in my head, so I tried it and it worked out. The guys responded really well to that addition. It’s really just colors and textures I’m adding—I’m a shitty guitarist [laughs].
Hudson: Bill plays the solo on “Superhero.” It’s really great. The arrangement had changed, and Bill recorded that at the last minute after I tried tracking it, but what I played didn’t add anything and his take has a great vibe and meshes really well with the song. Sometimes you have to concede and be happy he’s in your band and your producer [laughs].
Gould: I wrote that song, so I threw that part together as a placeholder to show Jon what I was going after. When he came in he had a few runs at it, but ultimately he told me to just use my original recording. I was like, “Are you sure, Jon?” He was totally supportive—that’s just an example of how everyone has matured and we can work for the greater song rather than worrying about who played every note on the record.
2 things about this…1) Jon is right, Bill’s slide guitar at the end of From The Dead really seals the deal emotionally in that song. 2) I like the guitar solo in Superhero…but it’s rare that there is so much space in a FNM song for a solo, I think it was nice of Jon to let Bill’s solo remain…but I tend to think if they hadn’t been trying to get it out as a single and taken more time, Jon could have come up with something better…I was ranting on here earlier desiring to hear Jon shred on a solo. I already think Jon does the solo better live than Bill’s version on the track. Oh well, it certainly works.