“I’ve always picked up my dad’s guitars, but I wasn’t that serious about it. Then I realized it was natural to me – it was so deep in my soul I didn’t have a choice”: Thurston Moore loved her demos. Now Devon Ross is journeying from actor to guitarist
Inspired by ‘60s pop and ’90s alt-rock alike, the Fender Mustang-toting Irma Vep star – and daughter of Lenny Kravitz guitarist Craig Ross – brought her debut EP to fruition with help from the Sonic Youth icon
(Image credit: Sarah Piantadosi)
If you binged your way through HBO’s quirky comedy drama series Irma Vep, then you’ll probably recognize Devon Ross from her starring role as Regina. Or if you happen to be into high fashion, you might have clocked her modeling for the likes of Gucci, Valentino and Vivienne Westwood.
But this is Guitar World – and the ultra-cool L.A. native turned London it-girl has now focused her creative energy on music, and just dropped her debut EP Oxford Gardens.
It arrived via Thurston Moore and Eva Prinz’s indie label, The Daydream Library Series, and features four taut proto-punk earworms that showcase Ross as a guitarist and songwriter to watch.
From the indie rock wooze of Swim to the jagged staccato riffery of Killer, the EP fizzles with all the excitement of someone who is exploring who they are as an artist; and that’s because, well, Ross is an artist.
“I didn’t even have time to think about what I wanted the sound to be when I started recording,” she says. “When I was mixing I was thinking about those things, but when I was writing, the songs just came to me so naturally.
“I was listening to a lot of Pavement and Sonic Youth and ‘90s music. I was listening to a lot of The Raincoats, The Stooges and Television. So, I think whatever I was listening to just kind of seeped into my brain.”
Although this might be her first release, the 23-year-old is no newbie when it comes to guitars. Her father, Craig Ross, is Lenny Kravitz’s longtime guitarist and she grew up to a soundtrack of rock ’n’ roll and gained an insight into the touring lifestyle at a very young age.
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“It was normal to me,” she says. “Going on tour and being in studios was just like being in a kitchen or going to the office with your parents or whatever. I’d be like, ‘It’s kind of boring’ – it’d be loud and smoky and just not a place for kids!”
Initially, her father’s profession made Ross aspire to be something different – a ballerina, as it happens – but in her teen years, it became obvious that guitar playing was simply in her blood. “I’ve always picked up my dad’s guitars and learned little songs, but I wasn’t that serious about it. Then, when I was about 14, I realized it was something that was natural to me, and so deep in my soul that I didn’t really have a choice.”
Signs of her aptitude first showed during lockdown, when she started posting Instagram videos of herself and her dad ripping through guitar covers of Freddie King and Jeff Beck at home in her bedroom, in front of walls plastered with posters of rock icons from decades gone by.
She has a love of all things vintage and a particular fascination with the Swinging 60s era of London. So, following her heart and her musical obsession, she recently moved there, to allow the spirit of the city to flow into her music.
“I’ve always been so infatuated by London and England as the mecca for everything I love,” she says. “When I first started going to London, I would see a tree and be like, ‘That’s so Beatles!’ Everything got me like that.”
Of course, she’s since checked out the guitar buyer’s heaven that is Denmark Street and visited all the city’s best live music hangouts, with MOTH Club a particular favorite. “As I started making friends there and getting a little community, I realized everyone’s a musician and everyone’s in bands.
“Everyone knows each other and it’s a much tighter-knit community than in L.A, where it’s a bit more spread out. So yeah, London has definitely been the main musical inspiration for me.”
I’ve used my Goldtop so much and I think my Mustang solidified a new sound and a new era of my songwriting
Her EP was mastered at Abbey Road Studios because – as Ross puts it – “Why the fuck not?” And it certainly doesn’t get more London or more Beatles than that. But she cut the songs in rather a more makeshift environment, imbuing each of them with just the right amount of DIY charm.
“I recorded it in Paris actually, in my closet,” she laughs. “It was the first time I had recorded my own music, so I was just figuring it out as I went along.”
She used two sonically very different guitars: the Fender Mustang that appears on the EP’s cover, and well as her “old trusty” ‘80s Les Paul Goldtop. “I’ve used my Goldtop so much and I think my Mustang solidified a new sound and a new era of my songwriting,” she reflects, having acquired the guitar just before making the record.
“I think it kind of catapulted me into myself. Sometimes you need to buy a new thing to get inspired.” It’s a sentiment that will no doubt make anyone who’s ever experienced a bout of G.A.S. nod vigorously in agreement.
I was really experimenting with noise. I love pop songs – not like Taylor Swift – but like how The Beatles would do a structured, catchy song
As for pedals, a Mosky Super Rat distortion is the hero of the EP. “It’s like a ProCo RAT, but more,” she enthuses. “That’s on most of the stuff I play, but my collection is getting bigger – I remember whacking loads of shit on there!
“I was really experimenting with noise,” she continued. “I love pop songs – not like Taylor Swift – but like how the Beatles would do a structured, catchy song. I also love experimental stuff, noise and drones, so I just wanted to find a way to make a hybrid of those.”
You’ll also hear some delicious delays and dreamy clean tones that give strong Television and Sonic Youth vibes – which leads us neatly back to Ross’s friend and creative champion, Thurston Moore.
They first met at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Irma Vep, for which Moore had provided much of the score. A little starstruck at first, Ross introduced herself; and after hitting it off, later shared some demos of her music in the hope that he’d “maybe just tell me he likes them or hates them or whatever.”
As it happens, Moore loved them, and couldn’t wait for Ross’s music to become part of his Daydream Library Series. He also invited her to open a show for him at London’s legendary 100 Club. It was Devon’s live performance debut and an experience she now looks back on as “just crazy” and the “perfect first gig situation.”
Has the elder avant garde icon actually had a hand in steering her sound? It’s a solid case of “not really,” and that’s what Ross finds “so cool” about their partnership. “We’re always on the same page and he has such good taste,” she smiles. “I feel like he trusts my decisions.”
As 2024 rolls on, the guitarist-model-actress hopes to tour the EP and already has ideas cooking for a debut album.
Since graduating university with a degree in English, Ellie has spent the last decade working in a variety of media, marketing and live events roles. As well as being a regular contributor to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and GuitarWorld.com, she currently heads up the marketing team of a mid-scale venue in the south-west of England. She started dabbling with guitars around the age of seven and has been borderline obsessed ever since. She has a particular fascination with alternate tunings, is forever hunting for the perfect slide for the smaller-handed guitarist, and derives a sadistic pleasure from bothering her drummer mates with a preference for “f**king wonky” time signatures.
