Framus Signature Artist Earl Slick on New Bowie Album and his Framus Guitars

[Warwick Official]

As one of the most tried-and-true rock guitarists of his generation, Earl Slick’s illustrious career has spanned some of the most important genres and artists in the pantheon of modern music. His work with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phantom, Rocker and Slick, and countless others as a session and live guitarist have kept him in the spotlight for years. But his most well-known gig as guitarist for David Bowie has recently been dormant as the superstar vocalist has been on a long hiatus from touring and recording.

According to Earl, "The last gig we did was in June of 2004. It's been the longest ever period of downtime for him in his career. But next year will be 40 years since we started playing together so anything that he does doesn't surprise me." When asked if he was shocked to hear that a new Bowie record was in the works he says "It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't make a new record, but it also didn't surprise me that he did."

In discussing the recording process and the use of his Framus guitars, Earl says "When I got called into the studio, even after such a long time away it was just straight into business as usual. We work very fast because we don't nitpick every part under a microscope. If the vibe is right, it makes it on the record. We did three songs with myself, David, Sterling Campbell on drums, and Tony Visconti on bass, and the other 5 or 6 songs were overdubs of rhythm and lead parts. In terms of the guitars used, most of the tracks were done with my red Framus Earl Slick model with P-90s and a Bigsby. On more aggressive songs, I used the black version with PAF humbuckers. I also used a Mayfield Custom with humbuckers for some of parts as well."

When asked if there are any plans to take the record on select live dates or even a tour Earl says: "Speaking for myself and some of the other members of the band, we would absolutely love to take it on the road and tour again. But in the end it's all up to David, and like I said about the recording of the new album, it wouldn't surprise me if he didn’t tour, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if he did!"

The new record is titled The Next Day and will be released on March 12th, 2013 worldwide.


In this video, Earl talks about his Framus Signature Model at our booth at NAMM 2013:

[video=youtube;H5DA9X0HV1E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H5DA9X0HV1E[/video]