This month sees the release of Samantha Fish’s latest studio album, Paper Doll. A ferocious, riff-laden powerhouse, it’s energised still further by the fact that it was recorded while her band was on tour and so the vibe throughout is stage fresh and positively electrifying.
Later this year Samantha brings her celebrated live show to the UK, complete with her cigar-box sidekick, her faithful Gibson SG and possibly a new companion in the form of a very special Christmas present she awarded herself last year…
You recorded this album when you were out on the road with your band. How did that work out for you?
“It required quite a bit of flexibility. I know a lot of musicians have done it this way – it was just new for me. But we were on tour and we had a pretty hectic schedule, so it was like, ‘All right, we’ve got two days off in Texas, let’s go into a studio between shows and start chipping away at this.’
“And, you know, five, six or seven sessions like that throughout the summertime, that’s pretty much how the record was made. I think it kind of lent itself to having this live energy.”
Are you able to write while you’re touring?
“It depends on the schedule. The day of a show is kind of tough for me because my day is planned out. I have a routine and it makes it difficult. You have to really dedicate the time to it and make it fit and it means you’re sacrificing something else. You just have to be in the right headspace, too.
“You can’t be rushed about it, you know? It’s not something I can just sit down for; I have to marinate an idea or a song and come back to chip away at it. But sometimes you’re running to soundcheck and a lyric idea will pop into your head, and it’s like, ‘I’ll take a second to write it down,’ and then it’s something I come back to.”
You’ve said you’re happy with your vocals on the new record. Are vocals something you’ve found challenging on any of your previous releases?
“I don’t think I’m ever going to be very happy with anything like that, but I do feel like I have tapped into figuring out how to do the thing I do on stage in the studio, which feels great because it’s a completely different environment.
“If you came up singing on stage, there’s a bit of freedom in that. You’re comfortable, right? So going into the studio, where you’re wearing these isolating headphones, it’s totally different and even these minute differences can change how you hold yourself.
“I’ve been in studios more and more over the years, and so you kind of get comfortable. Unfortunately, you have to learn to get comfortable under a microscope! Everything’s being recorded, so there’s not a lot of room to experiment and fail and grow and all that. But I feel like I finally got to this point where I’m like, ‘Okay, I can do the thing in here that I do out there.’”
It looks like there’s been a new addition to your guitar collection. Tell us about the sparkly ES-335.
I was actually having some issues with my SG last summer, just because I beat the hell out of it on the road
“Yes, it’s a new acquisition. I got myself a Christmas present last year. I’ve been wanting a big-bodied guitar and when we recorded Sweet Southern Sounds from the new record I played a 335 in the studio. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s time…’ I’ve been looking at that style of guitar for years, and that solo, it needs a big-bodied guitar, you know?
“There’s this, like, wild abandon with the way that it feeds back and you just get all this extra noise. It’s hard to tame, and that song requires that kind of an approach. It’s gorgeous. I got it from this guitar shop in St Louis, Eddie’s Guitars. They get custom finishes from Gibson there. It’s kind of a special deal that they run with that particular shop.”
Is it stock or have you had the pickups changed or anything on the guitar?
“No, I think [the pickups are] whatever they put in their Custom Shop guitars. I’m sure they’ve got a little extra sparkle to them… The whole guitar itself is incredibly special.”
Which other gear did you take into the studio with you for Paper Doll?
“We were on the road with the bus, so I had access to my entire arsenal of touring guitars. And then when we were going out to the California sessions – those were fly dates – I really could only bring, like, two guitars with me. So my SG is my go-to and comes with me everywhere.
“I was actually having some issues with my SG last summer, just because I beat the hell out of it on the road. I’m constantly having to make little repairs to it, and I wasn’t totally comfortable with the way that it was intonating over the summer. So Gibson was really amazing and sent me a backup SG, so I could have my sound on the record. That was the only one that I really pulled for from my own arsenal.”
“I brought my cigar-box guitar. But I love going into studios and playing with the gear that they have. Bobby [Harlow, producer] said, ‘This studio is going to have all these guitars. You don’t even need to bring any.’ Well, I’m going to bring one at least to make sure I feel good about what I’m doing.
“I brought my Firebird for the Austin session. I brought my Jazzmaster, but the studio had Les Pauls, 335s and a really cool Telecaster. The studio we played at in California – Savannah Studios – they had a range of stuff, kind of wild, funky, weird little guitars. We were just trying to find the best sounds. I was like, ‘I don’t care what it is. Let’s just pick it up and hear how it sounds in the context of the song’. It’s fun to do it like that.”
Were you able to use your own amps and pedals in the studio?
“We used what they had in the studio. They had some really cool old [Fender] Deluxes and stuff. I really like using small amps in the studio. You know, it’s an old Led Zeppelin trick, right? But they just sound pretty incredible.
If I can get the tone out of just the amp and the guitar, I’m not going to try to put an effect in place
“I’m gonna have to go back through my photos to find out exactly what I played on which songs. But we kind of just set up a room full of amps and when something wasn’t quite working for a song, I said, ‘Hey, switch it to the other amp.’
“But really, for me, especially over the last few years and different recording sessions, I like the Deluxes in the studio. You can just kind of crank them up and they’re very consistent, and you can get a full range of sounds and it’s one of those things where if I can get the tone out of just the amp and the guitar, I’m not going to try to put an effect in place. I’m not going to mess with a bunch of gained-up distortion pedals or anything, but I did have my Analog Man King Of Tone there, ready to go.”
- Paper Doll is out now on Rounder.
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
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