Although not previously a lover of Gibson’s finest, Saul Davies cadged a Les Paul Goldtop from Larry Gott when he left the band, and life hasn’t been quite the same since. “That guitar became more relevant to what we were doing,” he explains. “We were a bit twangy when we first started, but we’ve got a bit more hunkier. When I see myself on telly, I think ‘Wow! Look at that guitar!’ I can’t take my eyes off it.”
For acoustic duties, Davies employs a couple of Godins and a Lowden; his other main electric is a G&L ASAT. “It sounds gorgeous,” he purrs. “It’s got more body than a normal Fender sound, somehow….”
The G&L and the Les Paul are put through a Fender Prosonic head, a Marshall cab and a considerable array of FX pedals. “I use all sorts: a Pearl Flanger, a Tube Screamer – both She’s A Star and Runaground have got Big Muff all over them,” he enlarges. “I also play violinm which I often put through my MXR Blue Box octave divider. I have to limit myself onstage to just a few pedals though – because I jump around so much, I have to know that whichever ones I jump on, it’ll basically sound alright.”
Adrian Oxaal has remained faithful to his Fender Jazzmaster for over ten years. “It’s the guitar I learnt to play on,” he coos. “I got it initially because I liked the shape, but now I still use it for nearly everything I do” Other instruments that Adrian calls upon include a cello, a Takamine acoustic and a Mosrite (‘for feedback and microphonic noises’). “Larry Gott used to play a lot of slide, so when I joined I bought a Blade Strat-style guitar and hiked the action up to cover those parts,” he adds. As for amps, Oxaal proudly boasts his Fender Blues DeVille can melt cheese at 50 yards. “It’s a great lead amp, cutting but not tinny. It’s really good for rock riffs where you don’t want clean or fuzzy, but something in the middle.”
Even when jamming, Oxaal likes to set out his full FX pedal armoury, including a wah-wah, a Big Muff fuzz, a delay and a flanger. “It’s a great combination for getting the right texture for a riff,” he beams, “and when you sweep the wah-wah in and out, you get all sorts of psychedelic progressive rock shite!”
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