In the past 25 years, Joe Bonamassa has dropped 16 studio records. That’s a lot of music, meaning it’s hard to keep things fresh – and his latest, Breakthrough, despite its title, doesn’t even try to break new ground.
The truth is, it doesn’t have to; it just needs to reflect the type of music Bonamassa likes to create, which tends to rub about half the hardcore blues community the wrong way – not that Bonamassa cares.
“What I interpret the blues as is different from what other people interpret the blues as,” he says. “I’m long past the point of caring. There’s nothing I can do to change people’s opinions about me, nor do I wish to.”
That’s not to say Bonamassa is on the losing end of the stick. Quite the contrary: he’s perpetually on tours that include continuously sold-out arenas. Even so, Bonamassa keeps a level head when it comes to the subject of his success.
“I’m not in the thought process of going, ‘Well, this is the most important thing in the world,’” he says. “What I offer is an escape for two hours and 10 minutes. When we play a show, it’s an escape from politics, the world’s problems and your personal problems. You enjoy the show, or put on the record, and you forget. That’s what music is about. It’s always been about that.”
Perhaps that line of thought is the true meaning of Breakthrough’s title.
“It’s escapism and inspiration,” he says. “It’s eliciting feelings of joy and just zoning out and relaxing. When it becomes too serious and something that people fight over, it loses its intent of what it was supposed to be in the first place. That’s my opinion.”
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What’s the story behind Breakthrough?
“We started it two-and-a-half years ago. We took the tracks to Nashville, finished those tracks and wrote more. Then I ended up going to L.A. with [producer] Kevin Shirley, where we did 18 or 19 tracks, and we whittled those down to 10.”
You’re blowing good takes figuring out whether you like the Klon overdrive better than the Ibanez Tube Screamer
Do you find it challenging to keep things fresh after releasing so much music?
“Honestly, we felt like we weren’t repeating ourselves, and that’s hard to do after more than 15 solo albums. It’s impossible to go, ‘How am I going to reinvent myself without going full dubstep, or having a crazy production, which my fans aren’t going to like, and which there’s no way I can pull off live?’ You keep to the confines of what you do; it’s hard not to repeat. So that’s what we were going for, and it took longer than I thought.”
When it comes to solos, are they premeditated, or do you just peel one off in the moment?
“I always start with an initial reaction. If there’s some adult chords, yeah, I gotta work it out, but if it’s just straight ahead, I’d rather just not think about it. If I miscalculate the amount of bars, I’d rather peel it back and punch in.
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Did any new gear discoveries shape this record?
What I discovered on the last two or three records is you don’t have to bring 80 guitars and every pedal you own to figure it out
“What I discovered on the last two or three records is you don’t have to bring 80 guitars and every pedal you own to figure it out. It’s all about knowing what a simple chain of gear will do, and what you need.
“Knowing what you need is way more important than saying, ‘I’ve got every option in the world in front of me; let’s try it.’ You’re blowing good takes figuring out whether you like the Klon overdrive better than the Ibanez Tube Screamer. I’d rather just have a good take with good tone and taste.”
So you don’t have a secret weapon in terms of tone?
“Roll the volume back two numbers. [Laughs] That’s the trick. If you get the gain you want out of the rig, roll it back two numbers. Make it harder to play. You don’t want your favorite tone. The tone secret is to set your gain, roll your volume back and challenge yourself to play cleaner. You will absolutely love it and be way more happy with the tone – and you’ll be proud of it.”
Do players rely too much on pedals that mask their natural tone?
“We’ve been down that road before, us and the media. Players can do whatever the fuck they want, I don’t care. How about that? [Laughs] You do you, I do me, and we’ll see how it works out. I don’t give a shit what anybody else does.
“I’m not gonna comment on other players’ business; they can do whatever they want. Have at it. I’m happy for you. If you want to lug a tabletop full of shit around to a club, God bless you. Mazel tov. And if you want to plug straight into the amp, it’s all good. It’s just guitar, man. It doesn’t matter.”
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That’s fair. Everybody has their own process.
“And if the process is taking a small amp and a large pedalboard and creating textures and layers that weave in and out of the tune, absolutely, that’s a great way to do it.
“If the process involves taking no pedals and creating a big, fat sound with a bare-bones approach, that’s great too. It depends on what song you’re playing. If you’re playing AC/DC, you don’t need a lot of pedals. If you’re playing Coldplay, yeah, you may need a delay and a reverb.”
You once said there’s a lane for every type of player.
“Everybody has room. There’s no right or wrong. We live in a world of influencers going, ‘Well, here’s the ultimate way to do X.’ The next thing you know, someone comes up with some oddball approach that changes the game again. But everybody is dealing with the same wood and wire as everybody else.”
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So it’s not the gear – it’s what you do with it?
“A Les Paul is a Les Paul. A Strat is a Strat. A Gretsch is a Gretsch. It doesn’t matter if it’s 60 years old or if it was finished six weeks ago; it’s about who drives it.
“The analogy I use is that the British racing driver Lewis Hamilton could get in a Toyota Prius and beat me on a fast lap, even with me driving his Ferrari race car. He just knows how to drive. I don’t know how to drive. I have more horsepower and a better-handling car, but he’ll figure out a way.”
One of the interesting things that happens when you put out new music is that people either love it or chastise you for not making traditional blues. Does that bother you?
“It doesn’t matter, because when I look at our last set of gigs and I see full arenas, I think, ‘We did something right, and the music struck a chord with a large number of people.’ So do I placate the minority of folks, or do I play an arena gig with blues songs that nobody else is doing? I’d rather do the latter. Why do I have to impress 10 people when a thousand people are saying, ‘Hey, man – I dig this’?”
The blues has always been fluid. It seems somewhat ridiculous to hold you to the standard set by Albert or B.B. King when you’re helping move the genre forward.
“But even the people who get praised and championed by the blues police think the blues police are a joke. They all roll their eyes in private.
“I’ve had this conversation with many of them, going, ‘I don’t get it. What makes you the arbitrator of anything? Why don’t you grab an instrument, or a harmonica, and write song tunes, while the rest of us judge?’ They wouldn’t like that. It’s like, ‘Who cares? It’s just music.’ It’s made to be enjoyed; it’s not that important.”
To that outside-the-box end, is there a record you love that might surprise people?
“One of my favorite records of all time is Here Come the Noisemakers by Bruce Hornsby [2000]. Why? It’s a masterclass in arrangements, light and shade, heavy and mellow, and it’s just a kickass band captured on the road. I love everything Hornsby does. I’ve taken a lot of his arranging skills and incorporated them into my own music.”
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Is there a classic guitar solo that players need to learn in order to truly understand the blues?
“No. If you truly want to understand the blues, you do it through experience and getting up there on open-mic nights. It all starts there. When I was a kid, a band called me up and said, ‘Okay, kid, we’ll give you a shot. Here’s one song.’ So you need to learn quickly how to communicate with the instrument and to get people’s attention and draw them in.
“Once you learn how to do that, any blues solo will fly. There’s not a series of notes you can point to, like, ‘If you complete this solo, you’ll have the Rosetta Stone of the blues.’ That’s not quite the case. It’s how you communicate through the instrument.”
What’s apparent about you as a player and artist is that you’re fearless, which is rare. How did you get that point, and how can other artists get there?
You’re not doing it right until someone you know makes a stupid meme about you. You’re not doing it right until there’s a pile-on about some interview you did about pedals 10 years ago
“You have to, at some point, say to yourself, ‘This is who I am, but not everybody is going to like it.’ And if you’re proud of it, and if somebody else likes it, then you’re doing the right thing. If you do it with conviction and for the right reasons, you’ll win. You’re not doing it right until you’re polarizing.
“You’re not doing it right until someone you know makes a stupid meme about you. You’re not doing it right until there’s a pile-on about some interview you did about pedals 10 years ago. So, you’re not doing it right unless you’re somewhat polarizing.
“There’s a quote from a bass player [Derek Smalls] from a great band [Spinal Tap], who said, ‘There’s fire and ice,’ but what you don’t want to be is lukewarm water. I’d rather quit than be lukewarm water. I’d rather be loved or hated – but not tolerated. I’ll leave you with that. You can clickbait me with that anytime. [Laughs]”
