Interview: Paul McCartney's Guitarist - Brian Ray.
Thursday, 01 July 2010
Written by Adam Simpson
I had the fantastic opportunity to interview Brian Ray. Brian is an award winning musician, singer and songwriter who has worked as a session musician for the likes of Rod Stewart, Kelly Clarkson, Smokey Robinson and Etta James. But it is as Paul McCartney’s sideman that he is most famed. Playing bass and guitar alongside the ex Beatle.
Brian is soon to release some solo material, with an album and a couple of singles on the way as well as touring the USA this summer with Paul McCartney once more. I took the opportunity to interview Brian and find out a little more about his solo venture and also what it is like to work with a British Pop Icon.
What led to the decision to work on a solo album? Especially when you have been so successful working with Paul McCartney.
“I have been writing songs ever since I was a kid. Whether it be re-writing pop songs that I heard on the radio with my own new lyrics or my own songs. Through high school I wrote songs, I have always just loved the process of writing songs. For me I am not really complete unless I am doing that as well as performing. It’s a part of what I do.”
You have worked with some amazing acts, such as Paul, Smokey Robinson and Rod Stewart and also had the opportunity to play some amazing venues. What has been the best personal experiences whilst working with these people and at these venues?
“Montreux Jazz festival with Etta James when I was just a kid. I was 19 years old and I arrived in Europe for the first time with Etta James as her musical director. It was just Etta, her husband and me. The band was put together by the great Claude Nobs who has been putting the festival together for nearly forty years now. Claude went ahead and put together a stellar band which included John-Paul Jones on bass, Rick Wakeman on keyboards. So sitting with these guys and some great sax players from back in the day was a big event. During that time at rehearsal John-Paul Jones took me under his wing and invited me to dinner with the Led Zeppelin guys and we became really tight. I think that was a stellar first moment for me. The next was with Etta James again, opening for the Stones on a US tour during the Emotional Rescue era. Playing for those guys was a remarkable moment for me but nothing matches the moment that of that has led me to today which is playing with Paul McCartney. That has been THE event. With Paul it has been one iconic venue after another, whether it is playing at the White House for The President, the Hollywood Bowl or the Royal Albert Hall. All these places I have seen in my imagination I have now gone and played. Paul has conquered and I have been able to stand by his side.”
What’s the most random venue you have played with Paul?
“Let me see... That would be Amoeba Records; it’s a record shop in LA right on Sunset Boulevard. It was a manic scene there, people were waiting outside for two days, there was only room for a few hundred people and it was first come first serve. We were just playing in a record store which was random.”
How different is it for you to be working as a solo artist, compared with your work with Paul?
“Well it’s very different. I look behind me and I don’t have a team of back line crew! It’s a little bit more slim of a production. That’s good though because it keeps me planted in my own roots and history. For years and years with Etta James and in my own solo projects it was like, put your amp on your knees and drive down to the pub and play a gig. Not that it is quite that spartan when I play my own gigs but we don’t have 160 people behind me. Plus you are right there on your own, you don’t have Paul McCartney and his legacy to stand beside, the spotlight is on you. There is something really fun about that but at the same time playing with Paul has set me up in a way that I don't feel I have a tone to prove anymore, so I am actually more relaxed being in the spotlight than I would have been ten years ago on my own. I feel like I accomplished more than I ever set out to as a kid.”
What can we expect from the album and who have you worked with while putting it together?
“You can expect a lot of reckless wild guitars in a modern rock/pop setting. The emphasis on big hooks lyrically, melodically and guitar wise. It’s a more aggressive sound then the recordings I have done before this. You can expect strong songs because I am just a nut for a hook. I love hooks, in pop, RnB, wherever, I just want something to be so sticky you can’t get it off your mind. I don't feel like I have done my job until I have made a song fairly irresistible. It is a more aggressive louder more abandon on the guitar sound, there are some wild guitar chances taken in a modern rock sound. Some of the people involved include Scott Shriner (Weezer), Elvis Costello’s drummer and bass player Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher on bass, Adam McDougal from the Black Crowes playing keyboards. Abe Laboriel Jr co-writes one track and drums on a couple of them. It’s all been engineered, mixed and recorded by Joe Zook who has worked with Weezer, Pink, One Republic and Leona Lewis. It was recorded in LA.”
How happy are you with the material you have produced?
“I am very pleased with what I have done so far. It’s ongoing; I am going to be putting things out there in the coming years. I am really pleased with the new record and the guitar fans out there can expect some crazy colours and some real risks taken. On the song ‘I Found You’ in the middle of a power pop rave up it breaks into an insane guitar driven marching band, with guitars playing what would normally be the part of a horn in a marching band.”
How much inspiration have you taken from Paul when putting your album together and who else would you say have influenced you musically when making this album?
“Paul’s influence on me is hard to quantify. The guy is always whistling a tune, as he walks along the stage in front of 50,000 people; he is whistling the melody to a song he hasn’t even written yet. He is just walking talking music. I think that has permeated all of us in the band, especially to me in my writing.”
What else has inspired you when penning your lyrics for this album?
“On previous recording I was still plumbing the depths of my own experiences, this time I decided I just want to write an album that lifts the spirit of my fans and my friends. Especially during this tough time economically, I wanted to come up with something that was just lifted the spirits. That’s why I came up with the title ‘This Way Up’."
What else have you got planned for the remainder of the year?
“I don’t know my exact schedule with Paul, but I'm hoping I might have some time in September to put together my own band and put on my own solo tour and slip in and out of some cool little venues. I want to just get out there and have a little fun.”
When can we expect to see some solo material on the record store shelves?
“At the end of the first week of August we will see the physical product and the whole digital album. There will be a limited edition deluxe edition up on my site, www.brianray.com. There will be a load of fun extras available on the site including some guitar picks and some stickers that you can stick on everything from your neighbour’s car to your own forehead.”
The singles “I Found You” & “Happy Ending” will be available following their release on July 6th.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
What can we expect from the album and who have you worked with while putting it together?
