Carmine Rojas: Crossing Boundaries  (February 2012 Bass Player issue by FreddyVillano)

Carmine Rojas is the consummate bass sideman, and that’s not by accident. Over a career that has spanned four decades, the native New Yorker has laid tasty foundations for a long list of heavies that include Tina Turner, B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, David Bowie and Rod Stewart, for whom he served as musical direction from 1988 to 2003. Since 2005, Rojas been touring and recording with blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa, whose 2011 release Dust Bowl- as well as Don’t Explain, Bonamassa’s gritty soul collaboration with singer Beth Hart-Showcase Rojas’ ability to tap into a wealth of musical styles for any given gig. His secret? Respect, “If you’re going to do this and make it  a career, respect it. It’s very sacred. Where the information comes from is spiritual. You have to be above yourself and respect the flow of energy and where it comes from.

How’d you hook up with Joe Bonamassa?

I have to thank [producer] Kevin Shirley for piecing this together, because at first, I wasn’t sure about being in a blues band. I didn’t know if it was going to be interesting enough. Buy it’s not about playing “Sweet Home Chicago” until we’re blue in the face. I get to throw some 6/8 in there just to clever it up.

You worked with David Bowie on hits like “Let’s Dance” and “Modern Love,” and your bass line on “China Girl” is classic

Iggy Pop’s  original version of “China Girl” doesn’t even have a bass line. The day before we cut that song, the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb” was on the radio. Brian Jones’ great vibraphone part has the same chord changes as “China Girl” –E to D to C. That’s where my bass line comes from.

What prepared you to be a musical director for Rod Stewart?

I learned a lot Carlos Alomar, David Bowie’s musical director for many years, who took me under his wing. He would mix genres all the time, like Latin with Rock. He’d say, “Let’s put [Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1888 symphonic suite] ‘Scheherazade’ in this punk thing.” I’d be like “You can do that?” and he would say “Year,Sure-Just turn the groove around.” As long as it was in the pocket, I could do whatever I wanted with Carlos. I was never Limited.

Ron Wood’s bass line on “Maggie May”: Masterpiece or mess?

[Laughs] You can her Woody messing around and missing the root notes; that’s a brilliant, walking/country-western line that he put in a little rock flair into. I added my own thing to it’s the kind of line you can mess around with. I would throw in an extra 3^rd somewhere or stay on the V chord for a while. I altered that line all the time.

What’s the difference between backing an icon like Rod Stewart and a guitar hero like Joe Bonamassa?

There isn’t really any difference, because I still play what I call “Across-the-boards” bass. Maybe with Joe I try to come up with more Andy Fraser-like parts, but I’m using the same spirit, the same techniques, the same aggressiveness, and I’ll add to it whatever I heard the day. My ipod stays on “Shuffle” all day long, and I play along with whatever comes on. If I hear something I like-even if it’s keyboards, horn parts and vocal lines-I try to figure it out and then us it in the show somewhere.

Gear:

Basses: Xotic XB Series 4 and 5-strings, Rig: Gallien Krueger Fusion 550 amp, Gallien Krueger Neo Series 4×12 cab, Strings: Ernie Ball Super Slinky (0.040 – .125), Other: Brace Audio digital wireless

Source

Time to run out to your local Barnes and Noble (for those in the United States) and grab your copy of Classic Rock magazine. This publication is huge in Europe. When you want all the big music news, you read Classic Rock magazine! Joe is on the cover, also included in the magazine is a “greatest hits” CD. The disc includes twelve tracks from Joe’s various studio records. A lot of news is unveiled, Joe outlines his plans for 2012! The magazine runs about $15, well worth the price. It will look great with a signature!

His favorite guitar is a ’59 Les Paul Sunburst, a “Holy Grail” that he actually takes on the road with him.

“I tour nine months a year,” Bonamassa told Gibson.com, in a 2011 interview. “What am I going to do, come home and noodle with it on the couch? Go, ‘Wow look at this, I’ve got a ’59 Les Paul that never gets used, maybe on a recording here and there.’ I’d rather get a nice case for it–which I did–hire an ex-secret service agent as my security guard–which I did [laughs]–and take it on the road.” In an interview with AmericanBluesScene.com, Bonamassa praised the ‘59’ Les Paul’s extraordinary tone. “I have over 300 guitars, but out of all of them, that one is definitely my favorite.”

He uses heavy gauge strings partly as a “preventative” measure.

“I’m not a shredder guy,” Bonamassa once told Premier Guitar, “but I have shredder tendencies that I think get in my way. I have a tendency to put in a million notes and show off to the world, and that’s not usually my best solo. So, the .011s keep me from going there all the time. I can ramp up to it, but I’m not living there, over-playing all the time.”

His all-time favorite guitarist is Free’s Paul Kossoff.

“He’s such an unsung hero,” Bonamassa told M – Music & Musicians, in 2011. “His playing cuts like a knife through butter. You can feel his emotions in every note, whether it’s a hard note or a soft note. He’s a tactile player. And the tone he got with that beautiful ’59 Les Paul was just crushing. I actually got to play that guitar as a show in Newcastle last year. A friend of a friend owns it, and he let me borrow it I. That was a thrill. I felt like I was channeling Kossoff.”

The first rock song he mastered, as a child, was Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile.”

“I learned that riff properly,” Bonamassa told M – Music and Musicians. “A lot of kids today learn the Stevie Ray Vaughan version of that riff. Hendrix’s ‘Slight Return’ riff is different.” Bonamassa also told GuitarMessenger.com that the only other guitar piece he learned, note for note, was the dueling solo from the film, Crossroads. “That was difficult and challenging and very frustrating,” he said. “I’m just not a note-for-note kind of guy.”

Those trademark shades he wears vary with the seasons.

“I have four sets of them,” Bonamassa once told GuitarMessenger.com. “I have the ‘hot summer show’ ones–called Silhouettes, because they wrap around your ears. That prevents them from sliding off. Then, when you get into the wintertime and the theater’s not that hot, I wear a set of Pradas. I also have a set of Ray Bans and a set of Revos. I’m sure I’ve bought enough sunglasses to put somebody’s kid through college.”

The place you’re most likely to find him, when he’s not on tour, is The Home Depot.

“I’m deep into home improvements,” Bonamassa told a fan forum, in 2006. “I love The Home Depot. I’m good at walking in and picking things out, buying the supplies for the deck or whatever other project is on the list. But I leave the work to the pros. I’m just good at the buying part.”

His biggest regret is that he didn’t start singing at an earlier age.

“I didn’t start singing ‘till I was 18, and that’s something I deeply regret,” Bonamassa once lamented. “But then again, there’s tons of stuff where you go back and say, ‘Well, I should’ve gone left, but instead I went right. That was a bad decision.’ Anything that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and makes you smarter for the next day.”

He would much rather perform live than record in the studio.

“The studio is a daunting place, for me,” Bonamassa told GuitarMessenger.com, in 2007. “Some people flourish in that environment, but I don’t. Everything is decisions. ‘Is this good enough?’ ‘Is the sound just right?’ ‘Is there enough reverb?’ ‘Is it panned correctly?’ I get overwhelmed. Whereas, live, who cares? It comes from the top of your head, and you just blow it out. If I suck tonight, I’ll be better tomorrow. The cool thing about live is there’s always tomorrow to redeem yourself.”

The most important advice he received from his mentor, B.B. King, had nothing to do with guitar playing.

“He said, ‘Watch your money and keep your eye on the business side of things,’” Bonamassa told M – Music & Musicians, in 2011. “It’s about music, but it’s also about business. He sat me down and said, ‘Joe, you need to always reinvest back into what you do, back into your fan base. Fans can detect if you’re not doing that, if you’re not doing things to improve the show.’ It’s no different from running a Walgreen’s, or a Joe’s Pizza Shack.”

He believes great rhythm guitar playing is underappreciated.

“Even someone like me, who often gets caught up in soloing, plays rhythm guitar eighty percent of the time,” Bonamassa once said, in an unpublished interview. “Even a guy who puts on a ‘guitar show’ has to play rhythm, and has to be fluent in chords and voicings. Also, if you don’t learn how to back off your volume when someone else is soloing, that’s problematic. Rhythm playing is about learning how to blend in with the band, and be part of the ensemble.”

Source: Gibson

Joe Bonamassa is featured on the cover of the July 2011 issue of Guitarist Magazine. The magazine is one of the largest, if not the largest guitar magazine in Europe. The magazine should be hitting new stands in the US as well, within in the next week. Both Borders and Barnes and Noble carry the magazine.

Joe Bonamassa & Glenn Hughes

We talk to the world’s hottest guitarist and the legendary voice of rock about the second coming of their phenomenal supergroup Black Country Communion.

The issue features both information on Joe’s solo career and Black Country Communion. These magazine are of high quality and the glossy covers always look nice with a signature. Make sure you pick up your copy.. Read more on Guitarist’s website.

Smokin’ Joe Bonamassa, seen in this video at the age of 12 in 1989. This is a new video that has appeared on YouTube. Great to see Len (Joe’s Dad) talk about  him playing at the age of six and even then out playing most adults.

Being in the 8th grade, he was a lot more mature than a lot of other kids at his age. Simply amazing! Enjoy… !

Joe was interviewed after a recent show in Ohio. He talked about how a lot of people have just discovered him and how everything has been changing so quickly. He also talks about playing the Taft Theater, which sits around three thousand people. Joe was asked about the top one hundred guitar players list released by Rolling Stone Magazine. Joe goes on to tell us why he doesn’t needs Rolling Stone or SPIN. It’s a shame that they have not noticed him.

Neither magazine has really featured Joe in print (Only once in SPIN, it was an ad that was paid for). Joe’s fanbase is all from word of mouth. Joe never has used a A & R radio guy either, for that matter. Check out the rest of the interview, it has interesting tidbits that you may have not known before.

A new Guitar Center Session features Joe Bonamassa. These sessions are on Direct TV, station 101. It looks like Carmine was there with Joe, while keys and drums were filled by other musicians. It is scheduled to air on January 1st. Guitar Center posted up a preview on YouTube and full video of Woke Up Dreaming.

Don’t forget to set your DVRs for this awesome performance. I would imagine that the session will run for at least an hour. It should feature an interview with Q & A along with a short set list. This will also air in 3D..do any of you  have Direct TV’s 3D service? For those who don’t have Direct TV, I’m sure that the videos will pop up on YouTube shortly after the airing. Enjoy!

Last November, blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa invited former Deep Purple and Black Sabbath vocalist Glenn Hughes to jam with him at the Houses of Blues in Los Angeles. The two had been plotting a collaborative project for some time, but didn’t know what shape it would take. Producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Rush, Aerosmith) caught the show and ran backstage afterward. Says Hughes: “He said to us, ‘I have a vision. Form a band with Jason Bonham on drums and Dream Theater’s ex-keyboardist Derek Sherinian.’ Derek and I looked at each other and went ‘O-o-kay,’ and then Kevin said, ‘You’ve got six weeks to record an album and you gotta come up with a name. Go!’”

Hughes and Bonamassa have different musical backgrounds, and were initially unsure what the album would sound like. “Joe is the new blues-rock guy,” says Hughes. “I come from the classic rock thing with Deep Purple, but my background is a lot of funk stuff as well. The longer we stayed in the studio, the louder we got. The Marshalls came out, the Les Paul’s were hung a little lower, and we started to make rock music.” The album — which hits stores today — was cut in just four days, with very little overdubbing. “I think the greatest records we’ve ever heard, from Zeppelin to Purple to Sabbath to The Who, were all recorded in the studio live,” says Hughes. “I’m the elder statesmen here and I’m really enjoying playing in a band again. I played with John Bonham a lot in my old band Trapeze, in 1971, and now I’m getting to play with his son thirty-nine years later.” After struggling over the right name, they settled on Black Country Communion, because Hughes and Bonham were both raised in the area of England known as Black Country.

Hughes knows that comparisons to other new supergroups Them Crooked Vultures and Chickenfoot are inevitable. “Those are my mates,” he says. “We’ve all had this dang ‘supergroup’ tag. I was around for early supergroups Blind Faith and Humble Pie. Labels don’t matter to me. Call it what you will, it’s just the right ingredients for a rock and roll band.” Things have gone so well, the band are already making plans for their second album even as they plot their inaugural tour for 2011. Hughes has no plans to revive Deep Purple or other old songs in their concerts. “We might do two or three stellar covers, and maybe a Zep song for the heritage of the Bonham name,” he says. “But I’d like to think we can do this on our own merit.”

Link to source article.