At the Customs House by Sandra Scherning

A man perfectly in tune with life

The name Dominic Miller may not be familiar but you will have heard his music.

He's the guitarist many top musicians and producers turn to, the man Sting calls "my right hand and my left hand".

He was on stage with Sting at the Live8 concert in Hyde Park and has a mutually beneficial relationship with the Wallsend-born superstar stretching back 18 years.

But he has worked with many other household names including Sheryl Crow, The Pretenders, Paul Young, Rod Stewart and Pavarotti.

Proud to call himself a session musician, he is certainly among the elite of that ilk. And he is certainly one of the star turns at the sixth International Guitar Festival at the Customs House, South Shields.

His concert promises to be worth hearing but any aspiring musician could also benefit from the workshop that precedes it.

As well as being an accomplished musician, Dominic talks undiluted common sense.

Born in Argentina in 1960, he moved to America in 1970 and then settled in London in 1978 when he came to study at the Guildhall School of Music.

Asked if his ambition was to become a rock star, he replies: "Of course, I hugely admired Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. But I'm not sure if I ever wanted to be the front man.

"I always saw myself as the guitarist in the band. I used to go to concerts when I was 14, 15 and this was the guy I wanted to be, the moody guy with the guitar who just stands there playing with his head down while the lead vocalist goes crazy.

"I certainly didn't want to do that. In those days anyone who had a guitar was my role model and it's still like that.

"I still get the goose-bumps when I walk past a guitar shop and see a shiny red guitar. I still haven't lost that - but I suppose Hendrix is my all-time favourite."

In a world of stars and monster egos, Dominic Miller is refreshingly down-to-earth. Top performers and producers will ask him to contribute to recording projects but not only because of his brilliant musicianship.

He attributes his success partly to the fact that he has always striven to make himself available.

"I don't turn anything down unless I simply can't do it. I have terms, of course, and if people can pay, then great. But if someone is up for it, I don't care who they are because I'm not too proud.

"If a producer says, 'I'm doing a record for so and so', and I say I don't particularly like their music, that producer might not consider me again. I'm interested in doing new styles of music so I'll do everything. It's all a learning process.

"A lot of teenage boys will aspire to heavy metal but maybe if you listen to something you would never have dreamt of listening to, like bossa nova, which is a form of jazz, you could bring something original to your heavy metal and maybe get a unique sound."

As well as appearing on Sting's Soul Cages album and the Phil Collins album, But Seriously, Dominic has also released several solo albums, including Shapes, in 2003, comprising new interpretations of popular classics.

Such is modern digital technology that distance performing is now perfectly possible. As we speak, Dominic is preparing to record a session for a guy in Los Angeles. "This is the kind of stuff you could only dream about 10 or 15 years ago," he says. "Technology is moving so fast that everything has got simpler.

"The downside is that you miss that human contact, being able to see a musician's or a producer's face."

With the available technology, he argues, your next-door-neighbour could make a record but not necessarily be able to perform it. He says this can have an effect on audiences who still want to see music performed.

"When you play in front of 250,000 people it does pay to have a bit of experience.

"There were a few big name bands at Live8 who were certainly overwhelmed.

"It's great that the guy I work with, Sting, is very experienced because it makes you feel good. I think we did a good show."

Dominic is looking forward to coming to Tyneside where he has performed a few times with Sting. He remembers it as a place with small, intimate venues, which he likes, and "very nice, very hospitable people".

Although originally scheduled to perform on Friday, he will now do so on Saturday, having unwittingly double booked himself - an error for which he apologises profusely.

© Newcastle Journal | July 2005

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