HAILS FROM: Hobart, TAS
PLAYS IN: A. Swayze & The Ghosts
SOUNDS LIKE: Red-hot punk rock with a melodic edge
LATEST DROP: Paid Salvation (LP out now via Ivy League)
What’s your current go-to guitar?
My dad bought me a 1977 USA Mustang, and I f***in’ love it! It feeds back pretty harshly and makes the sound engineer pretty upset. I can’t get enough!
How did you initially fall in love with the instrument?
When I was four years old, my older brother borrowed a Yamaha nylon‑string classical guitar from a cousin of ours. He didn’t use it, so I picked it up and just never put it down. I still have it now and use it for a lot of writing.
What inspires you as a player?
The Velvet Underground, Metallica, Opeth, Queens Of The Stone Age, Death, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, RAGE, System, Parquet Courts, Nirvana... These are the kind of bands I just wanted to replicate when I was younger (and still do now). I can’t help but have their style of playing influence me. I’d start ten different bands if I had the time!
Are you much of a gear nerd?
I love a great amp! I used to be into pedals, but I got a little bored with them to be honest. Plugging a guitar straight into my Marshall JCM800 and getting the right EQ sounds incredible, and experimenting with tone influences my playing as a guitarist. Maybe one day I’ll get a Mesa Boogie.
Do you have any ‘white whales’?
I want Steve Albini’s Travis Bean! The next time Shellac come to Australia, I may buy a balaclava...
What would your signature model look like?
I’d probably want the body made into a 3D shape of my head with my lips as the bridge. I love Ibanez, and I wouldn’t mind a legitimate ‘Wizard’s neck’ for my signature model. Any dead wizards around?
If you could jam with any guitarist, dead or alive...
It’d have to be Josh Homme, and the song would be “Regular John”. He’d then ask me to join the band so I could die happy (and rich).
