Copyright © 2009 Bobby Owsinski
Brian Ray Interview Excerpt
At a time in his life when many professional musicians are a bit jaded and burnt out, Brian Ray still has the same sense of fun and enthusiasm of a 15 year old in his first garage band. Never mind that he may be at what many might consider a musical pinnacle by being in Paul McCartney’s touring band, or that he’s had a career studded with great gigs and hit writing (like a #1 in three formats for Smokey Robinson), Brian’s still the same down-to-earth guy that you’d expect to find at the local Tuesday night jam.
Brian was kind enough to share some of his insights garnered from a wide range of experiences that vary from starting out playing clubs and parties to writing a number one song to sharing the stage with a number of musical legends all over the world.
How did you get the gig with McCartney?
At my birthday party my friend Abe (drummer Abe Laboriel Jr.), who toured with me with Mylene Farmer and Johnny Hallyday, told me he was now working with Paul McCartney and they were going on tour but were looking for a guitar player who could play bass. I just put my arm in the air and said, “I’d love a shot at that,” which was way out of my character to do something like that. I’d always gone from gig to gig by word of mouth and I was normally too shy to stick up for myself like that. A couple weeks later I got a call from Paul’s producer David Kahne to come to his office in Hollywood. We just talked music and then he handed me a bass and I played a little while we were just chatting. Then he handed me a guitar and we chatted some more when he finally said, “We’re doing one song at the Super Bowl in 2002 and we’re looking for someone to play bass. Are you into it?” Of course I was into it! He said that they were looking at a couple of other guys but he had a good feeling about me and would put my name forward. The next day I got a call to see if I could be on a plane to new Orleans the day after that to play a song with Paul McCartney!
I played the gig and it seemed to have worked out well. I was shaking Paul’s hand at the end where I said, “Thank you. It was a real privilege and if I don’t get to see you again, thank you very much,” when I realized that I couldn’t let go of his hand (laughs), but he invited me back to the bar for a drink with the rest of the band. At the end of the night he was saying his goodbyes to everyone when he said, “Welcome aboard, Brian. Stick with Abe and Rusty (guitar player Rusty Anderson) to show you the ropes and I’ll see you in five weeks.” I couldn’t believe that I was in after only one song! So I just ran home and started woodshedding and cramming. I set myself up like I was training for the Olympics and went through all his material from The Beatles to Wings to the solo stuff and just applied myself to it for five weeks, knowing that he may come in and change everything that I learned or even just let me go. So I didn’t treat it like I had the gig, I treated it like I had another audition. It just so happens that we had five days of rehearsal as a band before Paul got there so we were all prepared by the time he arrived. After the first rehearsal he said, “Hey guys, sounds great. I’ll see you tomorrow.” That was really the first time I allowed myself to think, “I’m going on tour with Paul McCartney.”
It must be intimidating to play his parts with him being there.
I just didn’t put that in my mind. I guess I was nervous but I just didn’t look up too much for the first couple of weeks. It was all I could do just to play and sing the parts right at the same time because there’s a lot of counterpoint vocals where you’re singing and playing in two directions. I didn’t have any time or energy for the existential idea of playing bass for The Beatles bass player (laughs).
What are your live rigs like?
I have two Ashdown bass rigs with the heads kept off-stage. Then I have two Divided By 13 guitar amps as well. I use two 19 watt 9/15 heads and two 2x12 cabinets on stage with a simple pedalboard. Also, I play 12 string on Band On The Run and acoustic 6 string on a lot of songs, so I have to be ready to play a different instrument on every song that we do.
What guitars and basses are you using?
When I’m playing with Paul I use a ’61 Les Paul SG, a ’65 Reissue SG and a ’59 Gretsch Double Anniversary that I like to use. For bass I use a Gibson SG bass and a Guild M85 bass from the early 80’s. I also use a Taylor 12 string and a ’63 Gibson Dove six string. Sometimes I’ll also sometimes use a James Trusart guitar, a Patick James Eggle guitar, or a variety of other guitars like Les Pauls, although I think I’m going to play Les Paul Jr.’s on the next tour.
You said you use a simple pedalboard. What are you using?
I’m using a Demeter Compulator, a Divided By 13 Joyride (a great overdrive pedal) and Dyna-Ranger treble boost, Line6 delay and modulation pedals, a volume pedal, and a Divided By 13 Switchazel that has a buffer in it. Then, believe it or not, I use an Alesis Mirco-Reverb for some of The Beatles stuff where you want some reverb on stage. It’s the best sounding stage reverb that I’ve heard.
How is it different playing with Paul than all the other gigs you’ve had?
He calls upon us to want to do everything we can at the highest possible level. He’s really great to work for and he’s not tough on us but the material itself is very demanding and keeps you focused. There’s a lot to think about when you have to sing some of those background vocal lines while playing that intensely during an almost three hour show. And lot of his post-Beatles stuff has a lot of the song structures that are not as simple or predictable as you would think they are. We just learned a song from Wings called Mrs. Vanderbuilt that we played in concert in Kiev recently. It only has three chords, then a release section with another three chords, and you’d think it’d be very simple but the song form is so strange and completely unpredictable that I defy anybody to play that song down faithfully the first time. So the music just requires a lot of concentration. You want to do your very best when you’re playing those songs along with that voice for that audience we get to play for.
What advice do you have for someone just starting out playing in bands?
I would say to listen more than you play. Pay attention to downbeats from the drums and bass and play those downbeats with total conviction. Play with good time and think of that as more important than playing with energy or technical ability. Playing with good time and with good attentive energy is the most important thing.
And keep your ears and your body pointed towards whomever is the singer. People just showboating and facing the other way when somebody’s carrying the song doesn’t help the whole. It’s really got to be about the singer when you’re playing.
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