Paul Benjaman is a foul, unhealthy guitar man. The Tulsa twanger serves up a imply, funky stew on My Dangerous Aspect Desires a Good Time, mixing rockin’ funk and blues with a facet of bayou chunk. Aided by lap-slide ace Jesse Aycock (VG, July ’21), Benjaman’s gritty vocals, riffs, and speedy leads are undeniably fierce and enjoyable. Higher but, he recorded the album in Leon Russell’s outdated studio.

You appear to embrace the less-is-more aesthetic of ZZ Prime, Dangerous Firm, and Blackberry Smoke.
Angus Younger as soon as spoke of the lengthy hours AC/DC labored on riffs, and I took that to coronary heart. A terrific riff is simpler than any guitar pyrotechnic. The memorable ones have some sleight of hand concerned with how the notes are made, so after you get the fundamental thought, experiment with including slides or bends and play with the timing on or behind the beat. Extra time might be spent perfecting a riff than it takes to grasp positions of Phrygian dominant or no matter.

The title observe principally lays again, however on the finish, there’s ferocious choosing. Who’re your influences?
Jimi Hendrix is all the time someplace close to the center of what I do, and the lick on the finish of “My Dangerous Aspect” was impressed by Steve Pryor, a Tulsa legend who was the most-magical guitarist I’ve ever heard. Past that, I received loads from the good Texas gamers like Freddie King, Billy Gibbons, and Eric Johnson. There’s additionally some Audley Freed, Jerry Cantrell, Cream-era Clapton, Tom Scholz, Marty Friedman, and Wayne Krantz in there. I search for new concepts each day, and my guitar-book assortment is uncontrolled. Additionally, I studied with Junior Brown, and he taught me that blues, nation, rock, and jazz come from the identical place. So why not put them into the identical track?

“Detroit Prepare” has a quintessential Tulsa beat – laid-back and funky with out being straight-up funk.
The unique Tulsa gamers instructed me they had been attempting to play Jimmy Reed songs they heard on the radio – some had been swinging the beat, whereas others performed straight. That mash-up was finally known as “the Tulsa Sound.” The “Detroit Prepare” groove got here to me after opening for Tony Joe White within the Netherlands. He and J.J. Cale might flip one chord grooves into meditative 10-minute epics.

“Native Honey” is a groovefest with funk guitar. How did you get that quack tone?
That’s my ’59 Stratocaster; after I purchased it, the paint had been eliminated and it had non-original electronics, so I put the Fender Eric Johnson Strat set in it with a five-way change. On that observe, you hear the middle-and-bridge combo. Additionally, I’ve been a fan of Nile Rodgers since I used to be a child, and was attempting to get that vibe.

Do you may have a classic assortment?
The star of the file is the Strat, it’s on virtually each observe. You’ll additionally hear a ’60s Silvertone 1446, ’56 ES-125, 1990 Les Paul Customized with Lollar Imperial humbuckers, ’78 Taylor, Seth Lee Jones Customized with TV Jones Magna’Trons, an Ed O’Brien Stratocaster with the sustainer electronics, and a Freeway One Strat with a DiMarzio Tremendous Distortion within the bridge.

What different gear?
The amps had been a 100-watt Bogner Helios Eclipse head, Dangerous Cat Cub V, Magnatone Twilighter, and a ’72 Tremendous Reverb. Results included a classic Univox PHZ-1 Phazer, Beetronics Octahive fuzz, Bogner Oxford fuzz, MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe, Xotic SP compressor, ’80s Ibanez Stereo Refrain, and a Leslie chop-top cab.

Listening to “La Serpentine,” a query involves : Do you continue to mic amps within the studio, or do you utilize digital IRs, like everybody else?
I attempt to maintain the guitar sounds analog. Happily, with everybody switching to IRs, you could find used isolation cupboards. I discovered one for $150 that had a Celestion Heritage speaker, so I put an SM57 on it and closed the door. I might plug any of my amps into it, and if I wanted to fluctuate the tone, I nudged the axis of the mic. This streamlined the altering of amp setups and stored the sounds natural and belonging to me – not another person’s IR.

Inform us about recording at The Church Studio, in Tulsa, as soon as owned by Leon Russell.
I had three days there with the band, and recorded fundamental tracks for 23 tunes, 12 of which ended up on the file. All the things had a move in there, and our musical selections got here as simply as if Leon was whispering over our shoulder.

This text initially appeared in VG’s August 2024 situation. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.