After spending his youth recording mates’ bands, and then a decade working in the studio and on stage with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, Kevin Bivona of SoCal ska punks the Interrupters is aware of the recipe for the excellent ska guitar tone.
“I’m a giant fan of the bridge pickup,” he says, “however the factor is, if you happen to’re on a clear tone on a bridge pickup, it doesn’t have a whole lot of physique.” To steadiness, he runs his principal guitar, a Fender Telecaster, via a Fender Blues Deluxe with the drive set at 4. “That approach it’s received some physique coming from the achieve, but it surely nonetheless has this brilliant high. It doesn’t break up an excessive amount of.”
Bivona landed on his skankin’ good tone by experimenting with achieve phases on his guitars and amps earlier than he might get pedals to do the heavy lifting. It’s nonetheless the core of his sound – with some added reverb and delay right here and there – and he used it throughout the newest launch by the Interrupters, In the Wild.
Loaded with bouncy ska-driven songs like In the Mirror and pop-punk singalongs like the leadoff Something Was Higher, In the Wild captures the band at the peak of their powers.
Their penchant for earworm hooks is a product of Bivona reducing his enamel on the Beatles and the Seashore Boys, however for guitar suggestions he studied how Roddy Radiation of second-wave ska legends the Specials balanced upstrokes with rock ’n’ roll leads. Discovering Sublime and studying how to play their hit Fallacious Approach additionally had a huge effect on his enjoying model, he says.
“In the event you pay attention to the approach Brad Nowell performed ska, he’s received a lot finesse, however there’s additionally a lot occurring along with his left [fretting] hand; he’s muting and participating for every upstroke. His proper hand is actually strumming via, and on early ska information, there was no muting.
“What’s thrilling to me about ska is the power [and] the syncopation,” he says. “The power you will get throughout with having the guitar enjoying on the upbeats, the bass driving via and strolling round, and then a type of mid- to up-tempo, four-on-the flooring [beat]. It simply turns into a giant dance social gathering, and I’ve at all times liked that.”