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The
following article appeared in the October 1999 issue of Guitar
Techniques magazine. The author was David Mead.
Natural
Second...
Dominic Miller's first solo album has sold over 30,000 copies to date
- a remarkable feat, seeing as it was initially only available over
the internet. Since its release, fans have been baying for more and so
another album entitled Second Nature is set to hit the world's record
stores ('First Touch', 'Second Nature' - you sense a theme?).
Immediately after its release, Dominic returns to his day job which
just happens to be 14-month world tour with Sting. Guitar Techniques
caught up with him after a seminar at this year's International Guitar
Festival in Bath.
"'Second Nature' is not like 'First Touch'," he says firmly. "I didn't
want to make it the same, because that's just not what I do. Obviously
a lot of people wanted me to do the same kind of record,
instrumentalists. 'First Touch' was what it said it was; it was a
first instalment and formed the prelude to 'Second Nature' in a way. I
wanted to use more sounds and textures - I used Manu Katché on drums
and he contributed a lot to to the record: not just his drumming but
his musicianship. I used Pino Palladino on bass, Adam Glasser on
harmonica and I used flute on one track - just different textures. The
music is coming from the same place; same writer, same guitarist, but
it's probably a bit deeper. I certainly did a bit more with Brazilian
styles. I started making the album during the world cup and do
obviously I was quite influenced by football, the weather and Brazil!
The the winter came and the influences changed again..."
Like 'First Touch', the new album is totally instrumental. Is Dominic
ever tempted to write for vocals?
"Well, the melodies to all the tunes that I write are always vocal. As
you can hear on 'First Touch' and again on Second Nature, I'll play
two guitar parts; I'll do something like the melody on the left and
the harmony on the right. At solo gigs I try to do a combination of
the two. There are some solo tracks, but not many. But the melodies
are usually in my head - they are 'sung' and so they have 'breath'.
Every so often I toy with the idea of singing, but I think that would
be the end of my career."
His
melodies transfer very well to actual 'songs' - Dominic has co-written
a few tracks with Sting. Was Sting's 'La Belle Dame Sans Regrets'
Dominic's melody?
"Yes. Whereas 'Shape Of My Heart' was the melody over my tune. I do a
lot of songwriting with people. One of my day jobs is to write songs
for pop artists. I collaborate. And so that influences me with
instrumental music as well, the lyricism and the form of a piece of
music."
Taking a couple of tracks from the new album, how did 'Truco' come
about?
"'Truco' is the name of a card game in Argentina. It's quite
aggressive card game - there's plenty of screaming and shouting. It's
a cross between poker and bridge. I was in Buenos Aires and I had my
Walkman and was sitting in this bar. People are so noisy in Buenos
Aires, there's a lot of screaming, shouting and yelling. Some people
were sitting next to me playing this card game and I remember
recording the ambient noise of waiters and clanging and general noise
for a whole cassette's worth. It inspired me to write this tune which
is frenetic - a fast riff with Pino playing some awesome be-bop. I
asked him if he could play the bass part again an octave higher and he
had absolutely no problem with it! So when you hear the track, it's
not an octivider, it's two basses. I also detuned the guitar; the bass
E string went down to D and D string went down to C and I use that
sort of harmonic tapping thing. Then the drum machine comes in with a
sort of drum'n'bass riff. That was fun to do."
Another outstanding track is 'Quiero Decirte'...
"'Quiero Decirte' means 'I want to tell you' and it's totally
Brazilian. It was written during the World Cup and it's a typical
bossa nova sort of thing. I had the idea of there being narrative in
it because I've always liked the way Barry White used to do all those
things that went 'Hey baby, I want to...' and so I got this friend of
mine to write me this dodgy Spanish poetry and put that over the top.
I'll probably regret it for the rest of my life! I just wanted to do a
Barry White in Spanish."
What about 'In A Whisper'?
"I recorded that live with Manu and Pino. I used a steel string guitar
for that one. It's the last track on the album, officially; but the
'real' last track is an Elton John song called 'The Last Song' taken
from his 'The One' album. I always liked that song. I'm not a huge
Elton John fan, but I thought it would be wacky first of all to do a
cover. I've always wanted to do a cover and it just happens to be an
Elton John song which I really, really, like and so I've put that on
the end. I pretty much copied the melody note for note and it really
works well on guitar."
Dominic uses a fair amount of altered tunings in his compositions.
Which comes first - the tuning or the song?
"There are two ways to answer that: sometimes, if I'm bored or
uninspired, I'll just detune in a way I'm not used to and either throw
some shapes or just jam and you'll always stumble on some happy
accident. Whether you call it an 'accident' or 'luck' is debatable,
but if you are smart or aware enough to realise that you've stumbled
on the relationship between two chords that you like, it's worth
writing a piece of music to that. So it's like an accident sometimes
with detuning. Then, say you've found something which makes sense,
what I sometimes do is tune the guitar back normally and then play the
tune again. But by detuning I've been inspired to write a piece of
music. Sometimes I'll just detune the guitar to DADGAD because it's
one of my favourite tunings. It's great for folky sort of stuff and I
know a few shapes in that domain."
If
a song can start with something simple as the relationship between two
chords does this mean you can sometimes write a song from the middle
out?
"Oh yeah. Every song has a sort of punchline: it's what some people
call 'the money' and it's just a question of recognising that. Then
you build around it; you don't necessarily use it at the beginning or
the end. 'Shape of my Heart' was a case where the riff came first.
Sting's skill was taking it where it went, the key change and how we
got back: But I think it's important to recognise when you've stumbled
across something and then it's down to the placement of that riff -
those two chords or the melody or whatever."
So
the formula for songwriting is one per cent inspiration and 99 per
cent perspiration?
"I wouldn't say that those were exactly the right numbers, but it's
pretty true. A lot of my proudest writing moments have been brought
about that way. I'll just be sitting there and playing and then I'll
come up with something by accident - a moment of inspiration. If you
just wait for it, the chances are that it won't happen. It's work."
Is
it true that sometimes things come just like that and other times you
really have to work on them?
"What you really have to work on is finishing a piece of music. But at
least you have something and it's not a problem - it's a piece of
work. It's like a mathematical problem - you have to find the answer.
That's fun; I like creating problems for myself like that. The biggest
problem is not having anything to write at all - and I've been through
that, too."
Dominic's other day job. of course, is playing guitar in Sting's band;
there's a new album and tour planned in that camp, too.
"The new Sting album has a distinct Eastern influence. It was produced
by a guy called Kipper and they really went for the Eastern, Moroccan
vibe. Sting spent a lot of time in India and places like that and it
really comes across on the new album. It's all those Eastern scales
and things like that. It's a very energetic album: it's a mix between
'Ten Summoner's Tales' and 'Nothing Lìke the Sun'. It's quite jovial -
not too deep or thoughtful like 'Soul Cages' or 'Mercury Falling'
were. But there is a darkness or moodiness about it, too."
The
tour is to be 14 months long - how do you prepare for that length of
time on the road?
"We rehearse a lot. Sting likes to be ready. I think there's a lot to
be said for that; preparation is everything for this kind of tour.
There is a lot of jamming on stage, but you have to know what the
basic common denominator is for the song first. We rehearse that until
the cows come home and just go over and over and over things. We
rehearse pretty much the whole repertoire and he'll draw a set from
that and then change it at his leisure as the tour goes on. There's no
such thing as being over-rehearsed. The good thing about being well
prepared is that you might get a night where you're uninspired or not
feeling up to it and you can just engage autopilot. Then you just go
to what you've rehearsed and that's going be good enough."
So
there's a fair amount of flexibility on stage?
"Not until we know the set. He's very strict that way and I'm glad he
is. The solos are different: 16 or 32 bars to do whatever you want,
but otherwise he's very strict. Until you're confident with the
arrangement you can't go off and take risks. Usually, after about
three weeks of a tour, you can find yourself going for it."
Are
you revising any of your gear for this tour?
"I'm getting Pete Cornish to rebuild my pedal board because the
roadies are scared of it. It makes them nervous. It's scary to look at
and it makes all sorts of funny noises, but it's my trademark. So for
this tour, we're going to get Pete to take it apart and hardwire it.
I've got a couple of new gadgets: an ADA flanger which I really like
and a few more gizmos."
Still using the Boogies?
"Yeah. I still use two Mk III Boogies and I go into two 2 x 12 cabs."
And
the Fernandes guitar?
"No, I'm using the Fender (a 62 sunburst Strat - ed). No locking trem
or any frills. For the last tour I started with that guitar and then I
dropped it in favour of the Fernandes, but then I just got bored with
the sound and thought: let's have a laugh. The guy out front said he
thought the Fender sounded better. It responds to what I want to do,
but I'll keep the Fernandes as a back-up. If the Fender goes out of
tune I just give it to my tech and we swap it. We've got our pit stop
down to about five seconds now!
"I want to take the Les Paul out on this tour. It's a heavy-sounding
guitar but the tuning's great on it. I figure it's time to bring back
the Les Paul."
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