Not being able to predict what kind of music wed deliver mustve pissed off the record labels, because things never lasted long before us being shown the door. He wrote the kind of music with Joey that made me want to put my face through glass, he said. The first 5 strings often stayed the same string gauge throughout his career. These guitars come to Paul with pickups and volume and tone controls already installed. JavaScript is disabled. He was the sort of person who, when he got his meagre paycheck from working at the gas station, would go down to the bar and spend it all buying people drinks. Corey called him their secret weapon. Its cheaper, too, and once youve smoothed the frets and boshed on a scratchplate, youve got yourself a cracking guitar for what it costs. So many things set him apart from the rest: his attention to detail; his ear for hooks; his approach to a riff; his ability to hear several variations on a riff so it never felt repetitive; his vision for songs or passages; his single-mindedness when it came to fighting for what was best in a song I could go on and on here.. Based on that statement, it is likely that these strings were used even prior to that, were his main choice before he started playing Stratocasters (at which point he began using Ernie Ball strings) A metalhead through and through, he nevertheless began listening to funk and jazz, taking a few lessons to learn slap and pop techniques. The quiet lay heavy in the air, and seemed to stretch for miles. Ive always used .009.042 gauge strings: Rotosounds if we can get hold of them. Ampeg was also really great to me and I can't say anything bad about them. Jim and I would be writing, and wed get close to some stuff and be like, What would Paul do? We try to utilise that all the time. Also my fingers aren't that fast, I can get to a decent speed but I'm not freaking Billy Sheehan.". Early producer Ross Robinson, who worked on the groups self-titled debut and its Iowa follow-up, went as far as labelling him the bands secret weapon, blessed with absolute integrity and a talent for coming out with the most unbelievable ideas. Based on the Ibanez ATK series, it features a massive 5-piece maple/walnut neck, light ash body and an ultra-powerful tripl Show More. Aug 24, 2009. While testifying in court against her late husband's physician, Brenna Gray revealed that Paul actually suffered a relapse around 2008 and later spent the last weeks of his life fighting a losing battle against his demons. When it came to music, Paul was up there with some of the greats, remembered Corey, in a heartfelt tribute to his old bandmate. Those killer riffs on Surfacing, which switch from propulsive to filthy, came from his death metal project, Body Pit. It was his older brother, Jay, who introduced him to the music that would change his life Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Stones, The Beatles, Alice Cooper and Kiss. After then he used steel strings. Luckily, it didnt choke at the Albert Hall during our 40th anniversary show. Theyre really consistent. Never having had a lesson, I play completely by ear and I often overstretch myself. Ibanez and Peavey have somebody everywhere.". Sprayed sparks all over the place. "You know what, some of my favourite basslines are the simplest ones ever. It isn't THAT different, I listened to the rest of the album with the exception of Bother it sounded like Slipknot with the proper amount of band members. Its a real players bass and has obviously been played and loved for over 40 years and it really feels like it! Gary Moore played Gibson Les Paul guitars. I've no idea if he used foam with the Hofner (hollowbodies don't have much sustain in the first place) but I would definitely assume that was going on with the Rickenbacker stuff. Strings 2 : Electric Bass Nickel Plated Steel with NANOWEB Coating. I was writing lyrics when Paul and Joey played this to me, Corey told Kerrang! What gear was important to making the new album? Permutations! Despite his use of D'Aquisto strings in the 1960's and 1970's, Paul has always preferred the D'Addario lighting (EJ16 phosphor bronze) on his acoustic guitars. "It depends on what I'm doing. Lurking in the back of the studio was this really, really old Ampeg, which the guy said was handwired. He had something going on in his mind, and I was like, OK, I need to back off I cant touch this. And if you listen to that song, you can tell that theres heartfelt pain in that., Shawn had never intended to join a metal band, but got sucked into the promise of what he could create with someone as talented as Paul. I don't even know if you can actually hear it - it was more like a sub-woofer king of thing. . There is no definitive answer to this question as Paul McCartney has been known to use a variety of different strings on his Hofner bass over the years. We used that with an 8x10 and had everything up full blast and thats the sound on the record. I just pick out licks and phrases I heard my heroes play. What gear are you using live?Sensible: We have built up a collection of Marshall EL84 20/20 20-watt stereo power amps, which might even have warmed up Mrs. Thatchers cold heart if someone had thought of it! Back in the late 1960s the bass player in my band (who was left-handed) purchased a Hofner. Tony McPhees Groundhogs performance of Cherry Red on Top of the Pops departed radically from the shows usual fare, and that was the moment I decided to get a guitar and only a Gibson SG would do. Those strings are absolutely the go-to strings for me and I absolutely love them. For a taste of Th Nine at their absolute world-commanding heaviest, the opening 25 seconds of People = Shit will be hard to beat. I was going to donate my Epi Viola, but after putting LaBella flats on it, I liked it too much. 1980 Rickenbacker 4001 I don't know what he used on actual recording. Alter Bridge, Halestorm, Neck Deep, Bob Vylan, Hot Milk, Palaye Royale, Jinjer and more join this years Download Festival. Despite being less overtly punk than the typical Damned record, I managed to squeeze the odd solo in here and there. I havent a clue about scales and stuff. A big chunk of foam being used on this tune (1:51.) Originally titled Lust Disease on an early demo, Iowas lead single might not be one of Slipknots fastest or heaviest, but its riff is certainly one of their busiest from the earlier years of their career using double notes, slides and chromatics that snake their way around the fretboard. What was your philosophy about shaping the tones for this album? The Damned play their unofficial anthem, Smash It Up, from 1979s Machine Gun Etiquette, at BBC Radio 6s annual Christmas Punk Party. We both also share a love of melody and those three chords at the start of Louie Louie and all of the American garage-rock from the 60s. The bass player often partnered with ex-drummer Joey Jordison, fleshing out early anthems such as Surfacing and Spit It Out, the former including riffs hed written back in his Body Pit years. Actually, I did go on and try to compose something better, but we liked the skin-of-your-teeth excitement of the originals best. Bassist Paul, aka The Pig, aka #2, appeared in a black uniform, steadily headbanging and riffing while chaos erupted around him. Clapton used these strings in the early days, around the Cream era. Gary Moore preferred Dean Markley Electric Guitar strings he used .010 set (2504B) or a .009 set (2508). Those were round wound. Hed listen to Cliff Burtons bass fills repeatedly, rewinding his tapes until he had figured them out. Gauges . The Damneds vision of punk has included liaisons with deep psychedelia, piano-driven pop, farfisa-dotted slam-dance anthems, and proto-gothall laced up with the anger and devil-may-care attitude that made punk punk. I introduced him to the wonderful world of Eventide, and we used the H9 a lot. A true athlete when it comes to traversing the fretboard of a Rickenbacker bass, Grays lead bass style and the way his playing seamlessly weaves with the Captains is a massive part of Evil Spirits musical bedrock. As the date drew near, it was clear Shawn was ready to go all out. While it might seem unusual that I like Mountain and Deep Purple, considering the music Im known for playing, Captain is into the really obscure progressive rock stuff and has that in his playing. "It's a little bit of both, like on songs like 'Wait And Bleed' I'll use my fingers But then there's songs like 'Sulfur' or 'People = Shit' that have grind parts where you need the attack of a pick. Captains songs are Gods gift because theyre so melodic. When asked, three albums in, if this is what he imagined being a rock star would be like, he humbly replied, I dont really consider myself a rock star, but obviously I guess I am. Guitars They thought it was cool thats how I got playing bass.. I listened to Chili Peppers, lots of funk and jazz players Lots of Bootsy Collins stuff, so I tried to learn as much as I could. "He had the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known, and he had the greatest soul I've ever . Gauges : Medium 46-63-80-102. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases. Works 23; All; Songs written by Paul Gray [US1] Original songs. But in the beginning, after we got our record deal, I went to Warwick actually. Then I moved to Iowa and I didn't have any friends there, I didn't know anybody, and I was in this music store and I overheard this dude talking about needing a bass player. Everything else has been me just experimenting.". Its what he was born to do, its what hed love to do, its the thing hed love more than anything., As fans wondered about Slipknots future, the band grieved. Rock n roll needs its rough edges. It was always the singer or the guitarist that got the glory, so I liked the slightly subversive nature of those bass players. Has there ever been something that was just too far out for the Damned? Ive been there from the beginning, when Paul recognised my ability as an artist and said, Just do it, man! He is honoured, but can never be replaced. They started sending me Soundgears but I didn't want to play them and I said, 'If you start making these ATK's again like this one, I'll switch companies'. "I always experiment and go with whatever the song requires. I have to put on the heaviest string I can find to actually do it. His knack for finger-twisting, down-tuned riffs including extreme slides and bends is what made their assault all the more bludgeoning, a skill which hed undoubtedly sharpened as a death metal-obsessed teenager. They gave me a full deal and they treated me really good, which was great because we had no money at that time and I couldn't afford anything. We chart much-missed bassist Paul Gray's 10 greatest tracks for the Knot, The only way I can sum up Paul Gray is love, said Corey Taylor in a tearful emergency conference held the day after his bandmate has passed. If I have a lack of inspiration, theres a few tunings I like, which have come up with some good results. Paul Dedrick Gray Born April 8, 1972 Died May 24, 2010 Country United States IPI 00344172381 21 works Affiliation ASCAP Member of Slipknot Bass (1995-2010) Meta. Its a drag to repeat yourself, and thats why no two Damned albums sound alike. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) landed a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. "I have to find my place in Slipknot and stay away from just following the guitars, so I play along with what the drums are doing. Once you get up to .100 or a .105, it just sounds kind of dull to me. I had to go back and listen to them. And none of us would be on the path that were on right now in life, or have the sorts of lives that we have, without him.. Instead of sticking with the drop B tuning used on its other tracks, Paul used a drop A tuning with this thickest string another octave down which he described as a super low, almost sub-woofer kind of frequency. No tricks, no pedals, no nothing. So I begged my mum for a guitar, and she finally got me one. I became slightly obsessed with the solos on Strange Town and the way the excitement builds in them, carrying the listener away on a tidal wave of excitement. Did I ever really think a friend was going to die? How would you describe your playing style? When you play, do you prefer to play with a pick or your fingers? It required the heaviest gauge top string he could find in order to hold the notes well enough to record. Whats the writing process in the band today?Sensible: We write as individuals, then throw our stuff into the Damned pot and see what it sounds like. Let your thoughts out and dont let anyone stop you from what you feel and what you think! So now Ive got his blood boiling in my veins. He wrote that whole song, and there was such an essence about it that was so odd; the way his eyes were looking at his guitar, and the way he was writing it when we were playing together, it was almost scary, he told Revolver in 2010. verdict on the 50 albums that shaped 2022. "I started with Ampeg but now I'm with Peavey. The world will never know another man as amazing as you.. The words Fender, Telecaster, Stratocaster and the associated headstock designs are registered trademarks of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Ross Robinson, producer of the first two records, told NME: As a musician, he brought absolute integrity. Any doubts over Slipknot sustaining the brain-melting brutality of their debut were answered in a vicious storm of blastbeats and tremolo-picked guitars that felt even angrier and more possessed than before. I looked at the sheet Id been working on and at the bottom was the chorus for Psychosocial already This song was meant to be. The breakdown after the guitar solo remains a highlight of any Slipknot live set, its members falling into a Meshuggah-esque groove as Corey screams of, The limits of the dead! Using a mixture of palm-muting, chromatics and pauses to twist and stretch the listeners ear in new and unexpected ways, it would be one of Pauls final contributions to the Knot. Its so easy to be generic or cheesy in metal, and Paul never was. Tony Visconti is mates with Eventide designer Tony Agnello, who brought some interesting toys to Atomic to play with, and which got a lot of usethe H9 in particular. Rock n roll needs its rough edges. Which is a hard thing to do with nine people in the band!, He was also a skilled composer who could pervert the markers of extreme metal. Pure Ric-into-Ampeg glory. Although Slipknot's Paul Gray was known to many simply as . Paul Gilbert Guitars and Gear List (2023 Update) Christopher D. Schiebel June 24, 2022. If theyll go for that, then theres not much thats off limits Damned-wise apart from opera, that is. It may not display this or other websites correctly. So I went over and said, 'Dude, I play bass' even though I didn't have a bass guitar and never picked one up. Search Ray Brown for details. It dealt with depression and survivors guilt, but also the strong love Corey had spoken about in the press conference. We've got songs on the albums that are in our normal drop B tuning, and we do a drop A tuning, and I do another tuning where I'm actually in octaves - it's weird! I will miss him with every fibre of my heart, as will everybody at this table and everyone who knew him he was the best of us.. Photo by Matt Condon. ), but i'm not 100% sure Apr 26, 2001 #3 Jman Mar 24, 2000 Waterport,NY To make it worth your while, you must consider how much sugar was added to their . The only way I can sum up Paul Gray is love. Hellfest reveal 2023s line-up with headliners Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Mtley Cre and KISS. The Kerrang! Grays recorded output with the Damned includes two of the bands most revered and musically fibrous albums, Strawberries (1982) and The Black Album (1980). Paul Dedrick Gray Born April 8, 1972 Died May 24, 2010 Country United States IPI 00344172381 21 works Affiliation ASCAP Member of Slipknot Bass (1995-2010) Meta. John Paul Jones. They were the first company to give me a deal and Warwick basses are great - I'll never talk crap about Warwick because they're amazing basses and an amazing company too and super great guys. It's weird but I love the bassline in Van Halen's 'Running With The Devil' in open fucking E. Now, I appreciate any player who can lay down a solid bass groove, like Cliff Williams from AC/DC. Eddie Van Halen. Recorded at Download 2009, Paul talked to TG about his solid playing style, his reason for being a bass player and his tips for making you play better. Matrix VB800 Some of it I tap out, some of it is more simple, and some of it I have to follow the guitars and do runs and leads and stuff like that. What gauge is the low E string? As a standing tribute to the late Paul Gray, TG presents this never-before published interview with the Slipknot bassist. Slipknot is more dangerous now than ever and I have the fuel known as Paul Dedrick Gray in my blood, he said, even more fired up than usual. From triumph to tragedy, here is his story. I loved anything with a galloping bass line that challenged the listener beyond widdly guitar stuff or a bloke shrieking his head off. The deep, menacing notes heard during the intro and verses build an almost horror movie kind of suspense in between the grinding guitars and its hair-raising You all stare but youll never see theres something inside me chorus. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). We really textured it very heavily. This was noticeable with all of the guitar-centric genres, most notably with hard rock and heavy metal. He doesnt use conventional tunings a lot of the time, and a lot of the strings sort of ring on in an open tuning, and it gives the bass so much more room to trade off and prompts more ideas in my playing. How long have you been playing bass guitar for, Paul, and why did you choose bass as your main instrument? Overview. Pauls final album, 2008s All Hope Is Gone, shot to No.1 in eight countries. He brought the knowledge and the enthusiasm, and he was the most social of all the people on the metal scene. String gauge. Its complexity is countered by the open-string drone that dramatically brings everything to a close the guitar and bass amps ringing out together in a hellish orchestra of earth-shaking noise. The studio has an excellent Fender Stratocaster that Captain used on at least three songs, for arpeggio things or anything that we needed a clearer sound on beyond the overdriven Gibson sound hes known for. Im an indie dude or an alternative dude, whatever the fuck that means. When I moved to Iowa, I didnt have any friends or know anybody. One of my brothers friends had a weird right-handed bass, which I strung left-handed, and a practice amp. On Slipknots off-time, Paul and Joey would hunker down to write in Pauls basement. and four years as Production Editor and Deputy Editor at Bizarre. Paul himself remarked on how it was a sound you felt rather than heard, more atmospheric than melodic in nature. 19 years ago Wow, I'm getting old! The track also been a source of inspiration for Pauls successor, Alessandro Venturella, who told this writer about filling a great mans shoes and doing him justice for a 2019 Bass magazine cover story around the release of We Are Not Your Kind. He had the biggest heart of anyone Ive ever known, and he had the greatest soul Ive ever had the privilege to know. I figured that it couldn't be that different to playing guitar, but later on I found out it's a totally different thing. Sensible: Unlike some punk bassists who could only play by numbers, with the potential song disintegration if they lost their way, Paul can really busk it up! We had confidence in each other that it would work, and we hadnt played together [in the studio] for nearly 22 years! There was just something huge coming through him.. Ernie Ball Power Slinky Bass Strings (55-110) Paul Gray was known to use the Ernie Ball Slinky Bass Strings. It makes pedals sound great, so my live setup, which was formerly my travel rig, but sounded so good it became the main one, is a Dunlop wah into the TC Nova System through a Marshall EL84 20/20 and a Marshall 4x12. As a standing tribute to the late Paul Gray, TG presents this never-before published interview with the Slipknot bassist. 1977 Rickenbacker 4001 Originally posted by volumefiend. Unsurprisingly, Evil Spirits sounds very much like a continuation of the sonic tack the group were on at that point in their career. Paul Dedrick Gray was born in LA on April 8, 1972. And yes, listen to any isolated Beatles-era bass track and it's pretty obvious that flat wounds are part of the equation. Barely a year before, they had played their career-best show as first-time headliners at Download. Their string of hits included Stimulation and I Could Make You Love Me. Even if you're playing metal bass, listen to jazz, country, punk rock or whatever because you can always pick up tips from other players. During the third Slipknot record I met Dave Ellefson from Megadeth and he said, 'Try this out man' so I played through his Peavey amp. Just seeing them up there with the red lights and smoke it was all evil. We spend a lot of time thinking about Paul, Shawn told us in 2018. I can only speak for myself, but to me its just the greatest thing thats ever happened in my life, he enthused. staff present the albums that shaped their individual 2022s! As one of the three founding members of Slipknot, Paul Gray fast became one of their key songwriters his name more often than not found in the credits for the tracks that werent assigned to the group as a whole. Its been 10 years since we lost Slipknot bassist Paul Gray. Kill. The top 3 are unusually light for a blues man. You must log in or register to reply here. They received a settlement in 2018. Paul is survived by his wife Brenna and their daughter October, who was born three months after his death. All rights reserved. While their 1999 self-titled debut would prove to be a landmark, 2001s Iowa earned them a No.1 in the UK, while 2004s Vol. .60 mm Dunlop Tortex. I named all of them after the Captain, and I think maybe there will be a Captain Sensible pack at some point for the H9. TC Electronic Nova System In tribute to Paul's indelible legacy and legend, we're going to look at a side of the man that was rarely seen, let alone written about. I always watch other bass players no matter what kind of band they're in, how long they've been playing for or if they're any good, because you can always learn something from someone else to add to your technique and make you play better. I try not to step on anybody's toes but try not to get lost either. Those Rickenbackers actually had built-in string mutes, as did Paul's later Fender Jazz. Whether he knew you or not. Captain Sensible and Paul Gray, quite sensibly, stick to their perferrred Gibson SG and Rickenbacker 4001 combination. Although the band parted ways with Joey in 2013, the remaining seven musicians immortalised their grief and memories on 2015s .5: The Gray Chapter. It looked pretty violent. My mates at school and I would swap records and I got into Hawkwind with Lemmy and Machine Head by Deep Purple, and the bass was really prominent in both of those groups. Eventide H9, Strings and Picks What Strings Did Freddie King Use? Captain, please tell us a bit about who influenced your guitar playing? When Macca's Rickie was sent for an overhaul to Rickenbacker, they found that the bridge pickup was dead and had been dead for a long time, turns out that when Macca stripped his Rickie, he tried to get rid of the cover for the bridge pickup, so he sawed it open, which in a horse shoe is a big mistake, since that cover he wanted to get rid of is part of the pickup.