interview with Reb @Gearphoria.com 2014

Posted June/2014 interviewed by Alison Richter
http://www.gearphoria.com

Better Days Here: Winger guitar slinger Reb Beach tells GEARPHORIA about making the new record Better Days Cominf and about his relationship with the guitar and bandleader Kip Winger...

IN THE 25 years since Winger released their self-titled debut album, everything and nothing has changed for guitarist Reb Beach. He still makes music with the bandfs original members, vocalist/bassist Kip Winger and drummer Rod Morgenstein, now joined by guitarist John Roth. He still uses the same Suhr guitar and Marshall amp that he purchased over 20 years ago. He is still, in his words, gan f80s rock guitarist,h and an in-demand one at that, always busy recording and performing with his bandmates, as a member of Whitesnake, and with his own group, The Reb Beach Project.

What has changed, of course, is the music industry. Once dominated by MTV and high-gloss music videos, today, fans can simply go online and watch professional and audience-made clips of their favorite bands. Radio as we knew it during the so-called ghair bandh days is long gone, and with it the mystique that surrounded recording artists. Beach remembers when everything changed, and how, almost overnight, Winger and other rock bands were cast aside as musical tastes made a 180-degree shift. He sold his house, his guitars, moved home, and rebuilt his career, beginning with a call to join Alice Cooper. Through it all, the members of Winger never lost their friendship or their desire to make music together.

Even as poster boys in consumer music magazines, Winger earned respect and adulation from fans and gear publications. Beneath the surface of glossy press photos and videos that had the band fluffed and puffed for the cameras were schooled musicians, educated and trained in the craft of playing, writing and performing. More than two decades later, Wingerfs members have maintained and even expanded their credibility, and rightfully so.

Reb Beach describes himself as ga pretty happy guy,h and it comes through in his interviews. Serious about his music, he doesnft take himself too seriously. Hefs sharp, witty, quite the conversationalist, and clearly passionate about his work.

GEARPHORIA: Vocal harmonies have always been a big part of Wingerfs sound.
Was having that ability a prerequisite for joining the band?

REB: We came out in 1989 and big harmonies were the thing. Thatfs what everyone was doing, so you had to write a chorus with harmonies, and when it comes time to go out onstage, youfve got to be able to sing those three-part harmonies.
Itfs really important to Kip that it be tight, because it brings us up another level as a band and itfs what people listen to.
They listen to the vocal, and itfs the most important thing in the music. When Paul [Taylor] left the band, we were looking for a singer more than anything else. Winger music is not easy to play, so you have to be able to play it and sing. We found John Roth and he was perfect. Itfs really hard to find a guy who sings his ass off and can play the complicated Winger stuff. The fact is that
not many good guitar players can sing.
As a matter of fact, most guitar players canft sing, or suck at it. They say they sing and theyfre not singers. Think about it. How many really good guitar players sing their ass off? Therefs Richie Kotzen... and Richie Kotzen! Therefs really not many. You need a guy who can sing like Kip, with that powerful, gutsy voice, because I sound like Dennis DeYoung and that just doesnft work. Itfs really clean and not rock, so he has me doing all the falsetto stuff, so you canft really tell. The reason Ifve kept my job in Whitesnake for twelve years is not because of my guitar playing. Itfs because of my singing.
It would be hard to find a guy to replace me. I couldnft sing out of tune if I wanted to, and the vocals are a really important factor to f80s music.


GEARPHORIA: Letfs go back to gWe came out in 1989 and big harmonies were the thing. Thatfs what everyone was doing, so you had to write a chorus with harmonies.h Did you really feel pressured to write a certain way?

REB: Yeah, we did, from the label and from [producer] Beau Hill. There was a formula to the songs and we were definitely pointed in one direction. On our second album [In the Heart of the Young, 1990], we branched out a little bit, and they told us they were going to release eMiles Awayf as the first single, which we put on the album for Paul. It was a good song, but we were worried about releasing it as a single at all because it was a schmaltzy ballad, and it was a time when bands were getting shot down in flames when they would release their schmaltzy ballad; they were all of a sudden known as a schmaltzy ballad band, i.e., Night Ranger, Extreme, and other bands. Theyfre known for their ballads. The great thing about Winger is wefre not known for our ballads. We had six Top 40 singles that were mostly rock songs. Anyway, they told us, gWefre going to release eMiles Awayf first,h and we knew that was going to be the kiss of death, so we wrote eEasy Come Easy Gof and eCanft Get Enufff in one day. That was a good thing because they did really well. On the third album [Pull, 1993], we broke away from Beau Hill and we did whatever the hell we wanted. That album, to this day, remains the favorite of most Winger fans that are musicians. It is definitely a masterpiece. Ifm not saying that Ifm great. Ifm saying that [producer] Mike Shipley, who died last year, was great. He did Back In Black, for Godfs sake! The budget was $300,000 and we had two 48-track digital Otari tape machines running at the same time. It was just insane. But getting back to the harmonies and choruses, I couldnft write a song thatfs not catchy. Thatfs not my style. You want a good hook, you want people to sing along with it, and you want to make them feel a certain way, but if they canft remember it, therefs no point in it.


GEARPHORIA: Speaking of Winger fans who are musicians, they all want to know what you use, every detail, from the guitars . everyone knows youfre a longtime Suhr player . to the picks and the cables. Do some of them put too much importance in the gear thatfs being used? Are they obsessing too much?

REB: Yeah, for a lot of people. A lot of it is in your fingers, but if youfve got a crappy amp and crappy pickups, itfs tough to make that sound good. It would still sound like me if I did that, but I use a pickup that sounds very fat. I use EMG pickups and always have, and theyfre fat-sounding. Thatfs probably the most important key. If you want to get my tone, youfve got to have EMGs, or else it wonft work. I use a John Suhr Custom Audio head. He modded the amp that Ifve been using; hefs been modding my same Marshall and it sounds exactly like the Custom Audio head. Itfs the same thing; itfs the John Suhr mod that sounds humongous and amazing and you donft have to touch any knobs. You can put them all at the middle and it sounds incredible. I donft use effects, really, especially when Ifm with Winger. I donft even have a clean sound. I have one sound, and when Ifm in the studio with Kip, all I use is a Suhr distortion pedal, the Shiba. I go into the distortion pedal and into the amp and thatfs it, and Kip adds a little delay. I really love making cool, crazy noises, like Tom Scholz [The Reb Beach Project was a month away from opening for Boston at the time of this interview], but Ifm meat and potatoes.


GEARPHORIA: How long did it take you to find what you needed for your sound?

REB: If I plug into an amp, I know immediately if I can make it sound good or not. You just know right away. When we started, I was a session player first. I came in to do the first session of my life at Atlantic Studios and it was on a Fiona record. They had a Marshall there. All the Marshalls at SIR, Beau Hill would write down the serial numbers that were the good heads, and eventually so did I. That first day, I had never played through a Marshall, so I didnft know how to make a Marshall sound good. I didnft even know how to make it have distortion. Beau called in Kane Roberts, who was the guitarist with Alice Cooper. They were in Studio B and we were in Studio A. He taught me how to use a Marshall. He was like, eGain on 6, Master Volume on 3, Treble on 6, Mid on 4, Bass on 10. Thatfs it. Just do that every time. Youfll be fine.f And thatfs what I did. I ended up being a session player for Beau and it wasnft because I was so good. Itfs because I did it for 500 bucks. I wasnft in the union. I was a kid. I was real nice and totally green and easy to work with, but I was a good player. Thatfs how I ended up doing all those sessions, at least starting, because I didnft know I was getting totally ripped off.


GEARPHORIA: In addition to being a good player, you need people skills in order to be a session player.

REB: Oh my god, yes! Oh my god! Youfve got to go in there and, gMan, this track sounds great! Oh man, this is rockinf!h even if itfs a piece of crap. If you want to work again, youfve got to be a joy to be with and remain positive about everything.


GEARPHORIA: In listening to the new album, there is definitely some different stuff going on there. The title track for instance. What can you tell us about that song?

REB: Some people hate it because itfs a departure for Winger, for sure. I had that lick, and Kip liked it because hefs an old hippie, so we started messing with it. I picked up the bass and said, eWhat if we did this?f and Kip liked it. Then Kip wrote the chorus . it came to him, it beamed into him . and itfs on video in the eMaking Of.f That video [the DVD is available with the Deluxe Edition of the album] really shows how we write together. Basically, Kip hits the drum machine and plays a beat. Then hefll play a single note, like E or A, something that guitar players like, and hefll thump on the bass. Itfs up to me to come up with a guitar riff. We always start with a guitar riff because Ifm really good at writing them. Itfs something Ifm great at. I can sit there and play and I donft even know if itfs cool or not. I know at the end of the day if it is, but Kipfs the one who has to go, eThat! Whatfs that?f and I say, eI have no idea.f We have to rewind, because he has to record me all the time because I play and I have no idea what I just played. Itfs all improv and screwing around. He plays it back to me and I learn it. Kip is a master arranger. He studies arranging, he arranges for 76-piece orchestras, so he knows exactly where to go, and thatfs why it happens so quickly. We write a song a day, basically. Kip is a workaholic. We eat at 10:00, wefre in the studio at 10:30, and we work until wefre fried. Wefve been doing it the same way since 1989.


GEARPHORIA: How would you say your relationship with the guitar has changed over the years?

REB: Zero. It hasnft changed at all. Itfs exactly the same. I still play the exact same licks. I never practice. Guitar is the least important thing to me, honestly. I never play guitar unless I have to. I write songs on keyboards, mostly. I donft take it for granted, though. I love the guitar. I just donft have that spark that I had when I was a kid and my whole life was guitar. I played all day, every day. I know guys who are still like that, who carry a guitar around with them everywhere, and the whole thing is just guitar, guitar, guitar, and all they do is talk equipment. Ifve had the same equipment for twenty years. Ifve never changed my guitars or changed my amps. Once I find something, thatfs it. Ifve never found anything better.


GEARPHORIA: The musical complexity that people comment about regarding this album is nothing new. Those elements, which some people are now calling eprog rock,f were present on the first album. eSeventeenf is full of them.
Had the lyrics not been about a girl, do you think that the level of musicianship would have been more obvious?

REB: Yes. That song is not easy to play. Guitar players have a really hard time with it because itfs all on upbeats, and for me, thatfs really natural. I hear things in upbeats. If you watch me onstage, my head is going up while everyone elsefs head is going down. Thatfs the explanation on eSeventeenf. Everyone does the lick wrong. Therefs one note that everyone does wrong, and thatfs the coolest part of the lick. Winger has always had a progressive side to it . always. Always. The stuff isnft easy to play, but itfs a little bit masked. The early stuff, especially, is totally masked by the poppy melodies. My thing was to write riffs that werenft
necessarily that easy to play, that werenft that basic, and put the radio melody over it. eRainbow in the Rosef was on the second
album and thatfs progressive as hell. Even eHeaded for a Heartbreakf is kind of progressive in that itfs such a great arrangement. Itfs actually better than typical Kip Winger arrangements. Itfs one of his best arrangements, now that I think about it.


GEARPHORIA: How does Kip make you a better musician?

REB: Kip and Mike Shipley taught me everything I know. I used to rush all over the place. Ifd play after the beat. Itfs a typical guitar player thing. In Winger, especially when youfre recording, you have to play perfectly in the pocket, or else Kip wonft accept it, so you have to play through the music. It took me a while to learn to do that. I had to train my ear, and Kip was a big part of that. I know so much more about music than I used to know and I didnft learn it at Berklee. I learned it from Kip


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