Alex Lifeson Distortion

I love the Grace Under Pressure sounds. But when I think of Lifeson's tone from that era, I think a lot more of his use of chorus/flange and reverb than I do his distortion. Then again, I tend to attribute that sort of tonal control to picking hand dynamics and technique, rather than gear. Give Alex Lifeson any random guitar, amp, distortion, and chorus/reverb, and he'll sound EXACTLY like Alex Lifeson. 

Here you are guy's, not Alex but a couple of nice Geddy Lee interviews that I found this morning on the Basschat forum that i'm on talking about his bass tone:

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/173867-geddy-lee-on-his-tone-and-playing/

Fox On The Rocks wrote: Thanks Tony Hope you have a great time at the WA show, and if you already went, I hope you had a good time. Have you guys ever considered covering Rush? Or is it only, strictly Budgie and Wishbone Ash?

Thanks!   I will go and see Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash on 21st April which is the day after our next gig in my home city, Nottingham (should be fun)! The last time we played there, George Lynch from the band Dokken (now Lynch Mob) walked in and spoke to me, I didn't even recognise him! His band were playing at Rock City, a large venue nearby, the following day after our gig. His band Lynch Mob was headlining "Firefest" which Rock City have every year with loads of bands on. Mind you he has changed a lot in appearance since I saw Dokken support AC/DC in the mid 1980's.

It's been a while since i've watched MTWA so no doubt i'll have a good chat with him (and the band).

In For The kill is strictly a BUDGIE tribute band so no we won't play any covers...not even Rush! That said i've been thinking of doing a second band playing covers but that's just a thought and not yet reality.
I've been listening to some Q107 radio yesterday and today, you are right it is a good station.   too many adverts though! By the way you have a PM so please check your messages.


Edited by clarkpegasus4001 - April 08 2012 at 14:40

Yeah that's the video with Simon Lees playing. The sound is ok I can't understand why you can't hear it? Simon is a mega guitar player playing in Anubis and solo projects. He's also a guitar teacher, there's lots of video's of him playing his "one man show" stuff on the web.

John Shaw, the drummer in that video was one of the guitar players in what became Phoenix Rising (Wishbone Ash tribute) I met him in 2005. He had came to my place to buy some gear I was selling. It was he who asked me to go for a jam. They needed a bass player so I borrowed John's bass for the jam because I hadn't got one and I had only played a VERY limited amount of bass up until this point, because I was a 6 string rhythm player, playing in the home for fun They had been playing just a couple of WA tracks for months! We just jammed the WA track Blind Eye and  I was asked to join instantly! with no bass, and no knowledge on how to play the bl**dy stuff! It was my idea to form a WA tribute band because we all liked them and we didn't think there were any WA tributes around at that time but there turned out to be 4! I then went and bought my Rickenbacker bass from the States. I had never played any WA stuff on bass before although i've been a fan for years, so I had to learn very quickly! It turned out both guitarists had the talent to play WA stuff.

John had only been playing drums for about 8 months prior to that video, he had no lessons either, he's an amazing talent really and quite an accomplished guitarist as well. Unfortunately he left In For The kill in the summer last year after he lost his dad to an heart attack and it affected John quite badly. He has since resumed playing guitar again, playing in a local covers band. He was replaced by James Baxter who also plays in Russ's Black Sabbath tribute band (Sack sabbath). and teaches drums, mainly to youngsters.
Russell Saxton i've known only since he joined us in 2008. Another great little story there! John was going to be the guitarist in IFTK. We couldn't find a drummer so he decided he would do it (he said he'd always wanted to have a go at drumming anyway) and we would try to find a guitarist because good drummers are hard to find and there seemed to be more guitar players around. On the very day he bought his kit, Russ was teaching in the very same shop upstairs. John knew of Russ because he lived locally, and he asked him if he would like to play guitar for us. Russ is in a Black Sabbath tribute so he said he didn't have much time, but he asked John what music we were playing and he said Budgie. Russ said YES!! I LOVE Budgie, he's been a big Budgie fan for years, so he came to rehearsals the following day and joined straight away. We were gigging about 6 months later. Russ plays in Sack Sabbath, IFTK and an acoustic duo playing Led Zep stuff, he's also a guitar teacher, a busy man then!

Thanks for your comments regarding my vocals, however I hate the sound of my voice which is the main reason why i've not finished my recording project!

Your friends Rush tribute band are awesome! They are such a difficult band to copy.

May I humbly suggest that you continue with some lessons. I am self taught but that makes me somewhat limited. Good luck!



Edited by clarkpegasus4001 - April 07 2012 at 15:10

Fox On The Rocks wrote: That's just phenomenal! You are so lucky Tony.  That project you were referring to, are you still working on it or is it something of the past? Also, I read somewhere that John Wetton was a member of Wishbone Ash for sometime.

Lucky? yes sometimes, sometimes not! Another nice little story for you is my current band In For The Kill (Budgie tribute) decided to do a gig for Budgie fans (called Bando Bash after the fan forum website and budgie cd Bandolier). We invited a band called Anubis to open for us. This was to be their very first gig. Anubis are a band formed by ex-Budgie guitarist Simon Lees, he played on their last studio album. We asked Simon if he would like to join us on stage after our set which he duly did! So we got to jam with him which was very cool . He sang and played the solo to a song called "I Turned To Stone" We did not rehearse it, it was the first time (and last) we had met, but it was great fun! It is on Youtube somewhere.

Yes I started doing my own recording project, writing and playing my own material. It's rock, not prog, it's kind of Budgie, "riff" based 70's classic rock in style I guess. It's unfinished as it needs vocals, backing vocals and in some cases....some lyrics! because i'm not happy with some of them. Rob Hewins ex-MTWA drummer is an excellent engineer so I hope he will re-mix it and make it listenable if I can persuade him,   I've done it on a laptop using Cubase recording software and very simple equipment, as i've never recorded anything before. It really needs some work, I dunno if i'll ever get it done. I have had a friend do a cd cover for it (he has done 3 Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash cd covers) and I have thought up a title for it. I'll reveal all IF I ever get it done.

John Wetton did join Wishbone Ash yes, he's on the Number The Brave album, he came in after Martin Turner left, but he did not last long.

Fox On The Rocks wrote: So, you've met Martin Turner and he asked you if he could use your Bass for a remaster? That's unbelievable! How did you guys come into contact with each other? Mutual friends? Was he at one of your shows?

What happened was, our Wishbone Ash tribute band called Phoenix Rising formed in 2005 the same year Martin started his version of Wishbone Ash. They did a "warm up" gig in November 2005 at a small club in Measham, Derbyshire (not too far from where I live) so our band went along to watch them, and they were excellent, we were blown away to be honest. We got talking to the band after the gig. I got on really well with the (now ex-drummer) Rob Hewins and we became good friends after that. We, of course, mentioned that we had set up a tribute band etc.......

One afternoon I got a call from someone saying it was Martin Turner and could he speak to me, I thought it was some sort of joke at first as you would. So I asked how he got my number and he got it from Rob, so it really was him! He said he was in the recording studio's in Milton Keynes (not too far from London) and he wanted to re-record Argus with his new band and call it Argus Through The Looking Glass. He said to me "I hear you have got an old Rickenbacker 4001?" He said he needed one to recreate the sound he got at the time of the original Argus recording back in 1972, so he asked if could he borrow mine. Not a problem. So I met up with (now ex-guitarist) Keith Buck and he took it and bought it back a few days later. Martin then rang me a week or so later to ask if he could borrow it again because there was a recording "blip" on the track "Blowin' Free" so he borrowed it again for a couple of days.
Except for the intro part on the opening track "Time Was" which is like a couple of harmonic notes, the rest of the album is my bass. That's why there is a thanks to me (Tony Clark) on the inner sleeve notes, there is also a thanks to me on one of the two live albums the band also did. I became friends with the band, but mainly Rob and current guitarist Ray Hatfield in particular. I've watched the band over a dozen times or more, but not since Feb 2010. I've watched Rob and Ray in other projects, solo gigs etc.......as well, and Ray was even kind enough to come around to my place and put some guitar solo's on a project I started doing.

After we watched them in 2005, our band played our first ever gig just 2 months later Jan 2006, Rob and Ray turned up! we were gobsmacked that two such wonderful musicians would even bother to watch us, but they did. I hadn't been in a band for 25 years , as if i wasn't nervous enough! They came to see us again some time after. At another gig, Keith Buck and his girlfriend came to watch us. Unfortunately Martin lives the other side of the country so he never did get to see us. Our band split up after a couple of years, but i'd rather not say why on an open forum.


Edited by clarkpegasus4001 - April 06 2012 at 19:07

Fox On The Rocks wrote: I assume they had a big impact on Iron Maiden as well, seeing as the guys from Maiden are know for their twin guitar sound and must have drawn influence from Wishbone Ash. I just searched up the BBC performance I was talking about and this is it: Jazzy drums and great, bluesy guitar work! Which bands are their biggest influences? Zeppelin must be one of them. Any Prog influences? Yes, maybe?

Iron Maiden were influenced by Wishbone Ash alright, but they were more heavily influenced by Judas Priest and Budgie. Iron Maiden and Judas Priest both supported Budgie back in the day believe it or not!  Priest used to support Budgie in the mid 70's, Maiden sometime later. Both bands went massive, Budgie? well that's another story!

The track on Youtube is Vas Dis which was an unusual one for Wishbone Ash because they didn't write it themselves like they did with just about everything else. It is the opening track from the second album Pilgrimage. I really like that one, because i love the jazz feel and it's different I guess. I did learn it on bass but our band never played it live, only jammed it not long before we split up. Martin Turner is using a black Rickenbacker which got broke on an aircraft, so he started calling them "girl's basses" but it didn't stop him asking to borrow mine when he re-made Argus (Argus Through The Looking Glass) with his band Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash did it? He has a modified black Rickenbacker 4000 now with an added "toaster" neck pick up, girls bass indeed! ha!
I'll be seeing Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash live in a few days actually.


Edited by clarkpegasus4001 - April 05 2012 at 10:38

Negoba wrote: I love Lifeson's tone especially during the middle classic period. He's got a big sustain, thick textured tone. His suspended chords add alot to the bigger rhythm presence. Back in my rock band days "Limelight" was one of my favorite songs to play as a guitarist. That solo is relatively simple but so tasty.

One of Lerxt's best! He creates an incredible atmosphere and mood with that solo. I couldn't imagine Limelight with any other solo other than that. It perfectly fits the tone and concept of the song. What I really find interesting about Limelight, and I get this from one of Ged's interviews, is that the verses and the choruses of the song contradict moods. The verses are upbeat and display the happiness of fame, while the choruses and solo show the sadness/cons, or something along the lines of that. Guys like Petrucci and Adam Jones owe a lot to Alex for their playing styles.

Negoba wrote: I love Lifeson's tone especially during the middle classic period. He's got a big sustain, thick textured tone. His suspended chords add alot to the bigger rhythm presence. Back in my rock band days "Limelight" was one of my favorite songs to play as a guitarist. That solo is relatively simple but so tasty.

I love Limelight too.

No nothing by either of them, if I tell you it will ruin the suprise! Wishbone Ash were really the first band to use twin harmony guitars. They influenced many bands such as Thin Lizzy. Argus from 1973 was a worldwide selling album and put them on the world map selling millions and a firm fave with many WA fans. Funnily enough it's not my fave. I prefer the mid/ late 70's stuff the "Laurie Wisefield" era WA's second guitarist (he became guitarist for Tina Turner after WA). My fave albums are New England and There's The Rub, although I do have a fondness for the 1st album. I like Just Testing album also and saw them on that tour. After that album original bassist Martin Turner left. I personally don't think they have been the same since. He formed his own version of WA in 2005 the same year my tribute band formed. WA are still going with just guitarist Andy Powell from the early days but the music is different to my ears. I watched them live for the first time in 1978 which was No Smoke Without Fire Tour. Here's some samples of their stuff I dunno if you will like it or not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zYCkysupUo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVunNDAz6sk&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD6OWWxt6h8
I am also partial to the track Handy from the 1st album which is a long track that features bass solo's, we used to play that live.

I suspect Kim Mitchell has heard of both WA and Budgie.

My mate says he is buying my acoustic on Friday. I am also trying to sell my bass amp and cab.


Edited by clarkpegasus4001 - April 04 2012 at 10:00