Women and gents, Jared James Nichols is bringing savagery again to rock and roll. His weapon of selection – classic Les Pauls. His newest self-titled album bristles with ferocity the place bluesy grunge meets trippy psychedelia. His taking part in is intense, but virtuosic, and Nichols has a secret weapon that manifests his pentatonic fury. Right here, he tells all.

You manhandle the bejesus out of your guitars.
That’s my mission: How do I get that reside sound and power? Half of that’s the battle inside myself. I stated, “You realize what? I’m going to play the guitar like I imply it! I’m simply going to f***ing lay into it!” I co-produced this document with a good friend, Eddie Spear. He’s a younger man from England. He stated, “I don’t wish to make a secure document. I wish to make a document the place, once you flip it on, it feels just like the audio system are able to explode.” I might push it, then he would push it, after which I might attempt to push it additional. We had been attempting to one-up one another the entire time. I feel it made a more-energetic document.

It’s raw-sounding, as effectively.
After I play exhibits, individuals come as much as me and say, “Jared, you sound superior in your data, however your reside exhibits are the place it’s at!” We didn’t use a pc. We went straight to tape. The entire document was tracked reside in the identical room, minus the vocal, straight-to-tape. My vocals and 4 shimmery guitar overdubs are the one ones on the document. We didn’t double-track something; we had one microphone on the guitar, 4 mics on the drums, and one on the bass – and we had been monitoring loud. My ears had been ringing for per week from standing in entrance of a 1968 100-watt Marshall Tremendous Lead for 2 days (laughs).

After I consider guitar-focused data, I consider quite a lot of manufacturing – very slick taking part in, the place the whole lot is ideal. I’m not an ideal particular person in that regard. I make errors, I play arduous, and I mess s**t up. On the finish of the day, it’s extra concerning the humanity behind it. We went for that with this document, and I feel we received it.

How did you observe “Down The Drain?”
We completed the document, and I had that music sitting on the again burner. I performed the demo for a couple of individuals, they usually had been like, “Yeah, that should go on the f***ing document!” I ended up monitoring that via a Leslie speaker – not just for my guitar, however I plugged the bass into it. All of that weirdo Soundgarden-esque vibe stuff goes via that Leslie.

One cool half that we ended up doing was after the solo part, the place we added this cool drum fill. That was the one enhancing. We considered it like a Beatles-meets-Sabbath drum fill.

What different results did you employ?
I ran via three results pedals – an previous Tube Screamer, I borrowed a Klon from Joe Bonamassa, and I had a wah. Eddie was operating an Echoplex. As we had been monitoring my solos, I’d hear the Echoplex going loopy. He was taking part in off of me. There’s a solo on “Straightforward Come, Straightforward Go” the place you possibly can hear him revving it up. It’s super-psychedelic. While you’re taking part in at a sure quantity in that fashion, my thoughts needs to go heavy after which psychedelic. I really feel like the 2 mesh effectively. Eddie saved saying, “Let’s convey evil again to rock and roll (laughs)!”

How are you managing your extreme dependancy to Les Pauls?
Effectively, I used to be born in the identical city as Les – Waukesha, Wisconsin – and I attempted the whole lot and saved coming again. I love P-90 Les Pauls; one in every of my greatest heroes is Leslie West, from Mountain, and there are solely P-90s on this document. I’ve a ’53 wrap-tail known as Outdated Purple that I used for 90 p.c of the document, and that factor smokes.

I really like the early Les Pauls – I name them “the underdog ’50s” – ’52, ’53. These had been some cool-ass guitars. Certainly one of my others is a ’52 goldtop named Dorothy, with the old-school Tremendous 400 tailpiece. That guitar was in a twister and I had it restored. It’s one in every of my favourite guitars on the earth. It kills. I’ve performed quite a lot of guitars, however that one has the sauce.

What’s it about P-90s that retains you there?
P-90s get all of the in-between sounds. They get the syrupy humbucker sparkle, and you can even roll it again. I play with my fingers, they usually assist get that percussive assault once I’m attempting to get extra dynamics.

This text initially appeared in VG’s November 2023 difficulty. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.