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Troy Van Leeuwen looks set to join J Mascis as a paid-up member of the Squier signature guitar owner’s club as he unveiled his new 12-string guitar live – and did so in some style.
The Queens of the Stone Age guitarist has got game. He has a theatrical flair. Some guitarists – say, the influencer set, – might have leaked their new electric guitar on their socials, a Tik Tok come hither to get those pre-orders jacked, a Facebook humblebrag.
Van Leeuwen? He stepped up onstage in the company of R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Andrew Watt to perform the pair’s theme song from HBO’s The Rooster, I Played the Fool, live on Jimmy Kimmel.
And they had company. Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was there too on drums, as was RHCP alum Josh Klinghoffer, with former Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney. All the while Van Leeuwen was playing his 12-string Squier.
Then, after the show, he wrote on Instagram: "In case you missed it, I had the pleasure of playing with @michaelstipe along with @thisiswatt @chadsmithofficial @joshklinghoffer and @chrischaneybass on @jimmykimmellive.
"I also got to debut my new @fender Paranormal Troy Van Leeuwen Telecaster® XII 12-string available this summer. Sounds and looks gorgeous!"
Mic dropped. That’s how you leak a guitar.
Van Leeuwen has a long-standing artist relationship with Fender. His signature Jazzmaster – whether in Oxblood and Age Copper – is one of the coolest artist collabs the Big F has ever undertaken. But is it about to be upstaged by its more affordable budget brand?
Squier, after all, has the wiggle room to spec up utterly nutball creations. Its Paranormal Series has always been like looking at Fender design fundamentals through a bizarro lens, and this new Van Leeuwen 12-string is like viewing the Fender Telecaster through the funhouse mirror.
There are no more details. Van Leeuwen played it onstage with a supergroup, to a watching TV audience of millions – and then to all those VOD folks watching on YouTube. Then posted a pic of it to his Instagram account.
But there is a sense we have seen this before. Look at the pic at the top of the piece. That’s Leeuwen, with maracas, in Lisbon playing live with QOTSA, and he has what looks to be the same guitar, the Telecaster, 12-strings, Copper Age Metallic finish and a tortoiseshell pickguard. This, however, was a Fender custom build.
The Squier Paranormal 12-string Tele is all new. When will we see it? Well, it’s like the man said, summer – and summer has just got going.
