We’ve hosted our fair share of playthroughs on GuitarWorld.com, but this particular example from Liverpool art-rockers SPQR marks a first for us: an electric guitar playthrough with live vocals!
The beautifully shot footage sees guitarists Pete Harrison and Connor Dickson delivering a stripped-back take on current single Just Sumfin in historic venue Gullivers in Manchester, UK.
“This is the first SPQR song without distorted guitars,” notes Harrison. “Thank fuck. Don’t need them. It’s all about finding new ways to get things across, cos life’s boring and you have to make it interesting yourself.”
On the tonal front, the pair keep things compelling with syncopated Boss RE-20 and Mooer Reecho delay pedals, run into the crystalline cleans of Blackstar’s Studio 10 6L6 combos. Guitars are a Fender Lone Star Strat with House of Tone ‘House Special’ humbucker and ‘Frankenstein’ Squier Strat with House of Tone ‘Jazz House’ pickups.
This more delicate approach transforms the track into an ethereal ballad, in contrast to its angular krautrock-derived roots (which you can hear below).
If you dig the SPQR sound, you’d be wise to check out their forthcoming No Brain, No Pain EP, out on April 30 via Nuthin Gud Records.
