Second Nature

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."

© Guitar Techniques magazine | October 1999

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