Scott McKeon Interview

by Tom Watson.

20-year-old Scott McKeon is a budding bluesman from the small English coastal town of Wimborne. Though his style of the blues, or blues-rock, or, as I call it in the interview below, contemporary-retro-electric-blues, struck my ears as engagingly unique, McKeon's story in many ways echoes the experience of thousands of guitar players around the world who connect with the music that came before them, spend countless hours learning the vocabulary, then mix the sound of the past with a feel for the present to create the future.

McKeon is also representative of the DIY-MySpace-YouTube generation of players that self-record, promote and distribute with the aid of the Internet. His debut album, Can't Take No More, was recorded to computer by Scott in his living room. The album mix is the result of a collaboration between McKeon and Jesse Davis (The Hoax) made possible by email and online chat. A MySpace connection Scott made with well known rock photographer Robert M. Knight (interview) resulted in an email to Modern Guitars about McKeon's music, which in turn led to this article. Welcome to the CyberDelta.

But, wait a minute, what can a 20-year-old healthy looking young man from a small English coastal town have to say through the blues? Much, if you're willing to step outside the purist box and open your ears to the pleasure potential of vitality.

Ringo Starr did the blues a disservice. "You got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues, and you know it don't come easy. You don't have to shout or leap about, you can even play them easy," go the lyrics to Ringo's solo release, "It Don't Come Easy". How often has the first phrase about having to pay dues to sing the blues been cited by so-called purists when it comes to the issue of authenticity? How often has this idea been used to support a blues pedigree stereotype? Even Eric Clapton has felt the resulting guilt. In a 1994 interview published in the From the Cradle Tour Guide, Clapton confesses, "I am qualified to sing the blues, because of what has happened to me, but I still don't think I'll ever do it as good as a black man. And there's racial overtones in that, I'm afraid, but that's the way it is. I'll do my best, but that's all I can do."

Nonsense. Imagine if we held artists in other genres or media to the same requirement of having to actually lived or done what they write, paint, or sing about in order for us to accept their work as authentic - only a felon on death row would be allowed to write an action movie screenplay. The issue is art, not documentary. An individual's ability to effectively communicate emotions isn't dependent upon gender, race, age, or the having or lacking a degree from the school of hard knocks.

Consider the age factor. We tend to assume that the blues is for seasoned individuals with a mature take on life, and especially on love, but aren't we forgetting something? Remember the first time your teenage heart was broken? Deadly stuff. When you're 18, you bleed. When you're 50, you tend to add another layer of scar tissue and move on. Thank goodness McKeon and thousands of other players his age are turning that raw emotion into the blues instead of urban pop-angst.

Robert Knight isn't the only one to recognize the engaging vitality of McKeon's music: He is managed by Paul Crockford's firm (Mark Knopfler, Gary Moore, and many others); will open for Joe Bonamassa's upcoming UK tour; recently entered into an agreement with Mascot-Provouge Records for Can't Take No More; and, will have a busy summer appearing at blues festivals in Europe. Scott McKeon brings something fresh to the blues table, especially to ears outside the UK - a blend of influences you'd expect mixed with some early British blues greats that are often overlooked these days. McKeon's music is a reminder that the blues doesn't come from a place on the map, but from a place in the heart.

Listen to four songs by Scott McKeon from his debut CD, Can't Take No More

Interview (February 13, 2007)

Tom: Scott, I’m giving you a stage name.

Scott: Okay.

Tom: From now on, you’ll be known as The Blender.

Scott: Why's that?

Tom: Everything I read about you before receiving your CD mentioned Stevie Ray Vaughan, so I expected to hear another young guy playing Stevie Ray licks that I've heard I don't know how many times before, but that wasn't the case. There’s a dash of SRV in your playing, but I hear equal doses of Hendrix, Clapton, Jimmy Page, Peter Green, Gary Moore, Tony Iommi, and more. That's why I'm calling you The Blender.

Scott: Great, cool. I'm happy with that. That's a good name.

Tom: Let's put it on the record that it's a compliment…

Scott: No, that's really cool.

Tom: …because out of this music blender comes Scott McKeon. What got you into the retro fuzz sound?

Scott: That would probably be a combination of Hendrix and the later Stevie Ray Vaughan stuff that uses a lot more fuzzy tones. I'm a big fan of that because it makes you play the guitar differently. It's not the same kind of playing where the note lingers on forever. With the fuzz, it dies off quite quickly, but at the same time, if you play the guitar differently it can also hold certain notes. When you play with a clean, driven sound, it's easy to do lots of staccato-y short notes, but with the fuzz it's really easy to do that and yet kind of linger.

Tom: The instrumental track, "Fuzz Six Six Six", on Can't Take No More seems like slide guitar without the slide.

Scott: Yeah. That's because I'm bad at playing slide.

Tom: The fuzz gives you an old fashioned-recording blues sound.

Scott: Definitely. I think it's probably my favorite pedal to use. The thing is, it cleans up really nicely. If you just back off the volume on the guitar, you'll suddenly have a really clean sound. Then, if you turn it up to 10, it transforms into this fuzzy mess.

Tom: You are now The Blender and we're going to call your style of music … let's see, what are we going to call it? Contemporary-retro-electric-blues?

Scott: That's good. Better than blues-rock.

Tom: The blues-rock label’s a little overused these days. Tell me your story. Where do you live?

Scott: A small town called Wimborne, which is on the south coast of England.

Tom: How far is that from London?

Scott: It's about two hours. Sort of close, but not that close.

Tom: How large a town is it?

Scott: It's pretty small. I'm kind of near Bournemouth and South Hampton so we're pretty near the sea.

Tom: How does someone from a small town on the coast of England come to the blues?

Scott: Well, I started off playing rock 'n' roll bits and pieces when I was about four. My dad used to play guitar. Like most dads, he bought a guitar for me and sort of showed me a few chords. I started playing Buddy Holly and Elvis and Gene Vincent sort of stuff.

Tom: Is that what your parents were listening to?

Scott: Yeah. That's what they were into. And it wasn't until I was about 12 that I saw a tape of Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was a tribute show, you know, the concert with Jimmie Vaughan and everyone playing, and there was a tiny clip in there of the solo from “Tightrope”, and it amazed me. It was like a revelation seeing this guy playing with so much power and soul, but at the same time it was controlled. It seems like anyone can get it. It's not limited to guitar players. It's that kind of soul, which transcends knowledge or being into something.

Tom: You're 12 at this point. Had you already started with garage bands?

Scott: Yeah, and before that I’d play with my dad. I was like this cute little kid, and I'd come out with a full size Strat and play rock 'n' roll songs. After getting into the blues, I sort of got a little band together, a few geeks and stuff, doing some covers of blues tracks.

Tom: What’s the music scene like where you live?

Scott: It's okay, yeah. I wouldn't say there's a lot of blues guitar or anything like that, but there's definitely a little bit going on with a few people into it. But that’s not what really got me into it. There's not really a big scene here or anything, but there are some great bands that have come from here. I don't know if you've heard of The Hoax.

Tom: Jesse Davey and his brother.

Scott: Yeah. Very great band. They came from not far from here. I'm trying to think of who else. But there have been a few, especially The Hoax. They've been a big influence.

Tom: How old were you when you were exposed to The Hoax.

Scott: I was probably about 16 or 17 when I first heard them.

Tom: Did you get to see their live shows?

Scott: I didn't actually get to see them until after they split up because they split up in '99, I think. Quite a long time ago. I was about 13 when they split, and I hadn't heard of them at that point. Then someone showed me their video and I got into them after that and kind of got to know Jesse from talking to him, which eventually led to us doing the album. But, yeah, they were a great band. Really cool.

Tom: When did you start gigging?

Scott: Probably when I was about 13 or 14, just sort of doing little pubs. My dad got a band together for me. I would go along, and it would kind of be a bit like here's this young little kid playing guitar and he's good for his age.

Tom: Was it a blues band?

Scott: Yeah, we'd do Buddy Guy covers, Stevie Ray covers, Jonny Lang stuff.

Tom: Were you singing at that point?

Scott: Yeah, I used to sing. I've got the recordings. There I was with a high-pitched voice singing “Pride and Joy”.

Tom: What kind of pubs were you playing?

Scott: Just live music pubs. We'd get all our friends and family down. Loads of people would come and watch.

Tom: This is still in your city, around that area?

Scott: Yeah, around this area.

Tom: Give me a name of a pub that you played in a lot.

Scott: We used to play at one called the Shoe Inn. That's near South Hampton, and it's just a tiny place, but it's one of the first gigs I did. It's quite funny, looking back on it now.

Tom: You must have had a good time.

Scott: Yeah, I used to love it. I think I was too young to really know what was going on.

Tom: Scott, you were too young to even be in the place.

Scott: That was a lot of the problem, because my dad was trying to get us gigs in these really cool venues and they said, "Well, we can't let him in because you have to be 18 or 21 to come into this place, so you have to wait."

Tom: Something tells me he had a good record collection.

Scott: Definitely. I think the thing that I tried to do, and my dad did with me, is listen to what influenced people like Stevie Ray Vaughan and what influenced Hendrix, as opposed to just being one dimensional and listening to their playing. Getting into the people who inspired them and the people who inspired them. Going back to the root of it, which obviously opens up a huge world, an encyclopedia of everything.

Tom: I get a sense from your album that if Stevie Ray Vaughan had been popular in the UK in the '60s, this is maybe how British blues pub bands would have interpreted some of his music.

Scott: I think that's cool. We have our own British-style blues tradition. I love Clapton's playing with the Bluesbreakers. And obviously Hendrix was based in England a lot when he started out, and Led Zeppelin and the Beatles and everything else. There's definitely a huge history of bluesy Englishness in my playing.

Tom: The blues were a big thing in the mid-'60s in the UK.

Scott: A lot of early British bands started out pretty much as a blues band, but because they didn't play exactly the same way as the guys in America did, with the tapes they were listening to like Howling Wolf and everyone like that, they kind of accidentally made their own interpretation of it, which always just sounded amazing. But it became their own sound at the same time. It wasn't like a carbon copy of what the original sounded like.

Tom: Must have been strange to play the blues in a pub at night and go to school the next morning.

Scott: Yeah, but it was cool. I think, like a lot of people, I wasn't really that into school. It always got in the way. But I think a lot of people around here were quite cool with it. I kind of kept it quiet because I was a bit shy about it really. I used to get embarrassed. They used to say at my school, come and play on a Sunday, come and play on Sunday. I was like, "I don't want to. I don't want to play in front of everybody." I wanted to keep it to myself.

Tom: I doubt that the kids at school were into the same music you were.

Scott: Not at all. Later on, when I was 13 or 14, people really weren't into the same thing. But as people get older and go to college and stuff, it seems a lot more people get into other styles of music. They start getting into Led Zeppelin and rock and Megadeth. Everything like that.

Tom: What kept you on track? It must have been hard to go your own route instead of joining the pop or rock club.

Scott: I think I just found something that really did something to me. My dad died when I was 13 and obviously he was a big influence on me in terms of guitar. We spent a lot of time watching the videos of Stevie Ray Vaughan and that kind of thing, I sort of really related to that experience. And each time I play, it's kind of … I don't know, it's a nice feeling for me. I guess that has a lot to do with it. And the blues is such an honest music and so real. I think any great music will have something bluesy in it, whether it's vocal, melodic, or jazz, it's all coming from that same place.

Tom: How did you learn to play?

Scott: Just with the help of my dad and friends and stuff.

Tom: The older crowd.

Scott: Yes. I’ve a few friends sort of around my age and we'll play guitar and we’ll talk about listening to different things and finding out about different guitarists. I think that's how it works, isn't it? You talk to people and they say, "Oh, have you heard this guy? Check him out." You gradually build up a list of all these different guitarists, whether it's an older player or Derek Trucks or John Mayer recently, and you say, "Oh, yeah. That sounds cool."

Tom: When did you get your '62 Stratocaster?

Scott: I can't remember exactly, but it was probably about 10 years ago.

Tom: Then you got it before the prices went through the roof. What were you playing before that?

Scott: I’m lucky I got it when I did. Before that I just had a new Fender Strat, I think it was a reissue or something or other.

Tom: Do you remember what you paid for the '62?

Scott: My dad bought it as an investment, really. I think he bought it for him more than for me.

Tom: Turned out to be a good investment.

Scott: Definitely. I didn’t pay much attention to that factor at the time, but I'm glad I got it.

Tom: You've made some modifications to it, at least in terms of the pickup switch, correct?

Scott: Yeah, the pickups were all old, and I've had it re-fretted and it's got really big frets on it. With the pickup switch, I heard about Jimmie Vaughan doing this, which is sort of why I did it, but in the bridge position.

Tom: So you can use the tone control.

Scott: Yeah, just so you can change the tone. And I use that a lot with the fuzz pedal, just put it on the bridge pickup and then sort of turn the tone right down. You get real Voxy … I don't know if it's a Gibson sound, but it really doesn't sound like that classic Strat sound. There's a lot of difference to that, which is really cool.

Tom: Is fuzz part of the identifiable Scott McKeon tone?

Scott: Maybe, but I can’t say for sure. I like to try different things all the time. I really like that fuzz sound, but I also like a lot of different tones. Sometimes I like to do a real tiny sort of clean Fender sound, and then go into a really big sound with fuzz and Leslie and huge ambient guitar sounds. I like doing that a lot, and mixing between sort of small sounds and then big sounds.

Tom: Where's the wah-wah pedal?

Scott: I do have one. I do like to use it.

Tom: On your CD you've got the Univibe, the Leslie, the fuzz box, I was surprised there wasn't some wah.

Scott: I definitely use it live.

Tom: Where are you playing live these days? I hear you're going to open for Joe Bonamassa.

Scott: Yeah. That should be cool.

Tom: Where else are you playing? What's your gigging life like?

Scott: It's cool. We've got some great gigs and festivals coming up over the summer. We're doing a lot in Europe and obviously throughout the UK. The main thing will be doing really cool gigs with Joe and doing festivals and stuff because a lot of the time, I'm sure you know what it's like, in the blues world when you’re just starting out there's a lot of kind of crappy clubs that you have to play which aren't always fun. Luckily, we've got the record company behind us and a good agent.

Tom: You've signed with Mascot-Provogue?

Scott: Yes. They're in Holland.

Tom: And they're going to help you, or did they put you in touch with a promoter so you'll be playing the festivals over there this summer, is that the deal?

Scott: They've been really cool doing stuff. It's still quite early days. I've only just signed with them. But we've got a really cool agent. He's really helped us out. I have to see what happens really. Although I've been playing for quite a long time, this is my first outing, really.

Tom: Yes, your coming out.

Scott: I've got a lot to prove, I guess. I've been practicing.

Tom: Blues fans can be a tough crowd. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Scott: Yeah, it's hard. I think the main thing for me is if I'm enjoying doing it …

Tom: Of course.

Scott: I get the impression that if we're making music and I get off on making it and listening to it, then hopefully someone else will feel the same. I think if you didn't feel that, then there'd be something missing.

Tom: What's tough about the blues is the fact that it's a traditional form trying to stay fresh. If you're too traditional, half the camp says, "Oh, he's too traditional. It's the same old stuff." If you're too contemporary, the other half of the camp thinks you're not traditional enough.

Scott: What I'd like to really try and pick up on in the future is the funkier side of the blues and guitar playing and stuff. I think Stevie Ray Vaughan really had that sassy kind of minimalist approach, even though you wouldn't necessarily associate Stevie Ray Vaughan with that funky side, but I really like that sound. I think there's a lot you can do with mixing that bluesiness and the fuzziness with funk. I really like making the guitar sound like a synth sometimes.

Tom: Like a voice.

Scott: Definitely. Just using it in a different way in saying phrases, as opposed to sort of just going and playing licks that don't mean anything.

Tom: One of the tricks to breaking into the blues arena is playing live, and playing as many festivals as you can. The problem with CDs is that in some ways they're like dead, cold bodies. They get sent out to folks like me who perform autopsies. We pick them apart like a scientist looking for this influence and that influence, all of which may have very little to do with the artist's live performance.

Scott: That's really what I need to do, as I guess with any guitarist, is just play live as much as you can because that's ultimately where you learn your craft.

Tom: And it's how you build up the fan base.

Scott: Exactly. Obviously promotion, too. You need to play to as many people as possible just so people can see you, I guess.

Tom: What about the United States? When will you focus on the States?

Scott: Well, soon hopefully. We're in talks with a couple of people. We're hoping to get over this year sometime, but there's nothing confirmed. That, obviously, for me is the main place I want to get to because mainly everything I listen to is from America. It would be nice to go.

Tom: It's a big market, of course. Tell me about the time you went to Texas and your blues holiday.

Scott: We just went there to see Texas and visit Antone's and a few of the other places. I was playing in one of the guitar stores there, and one of the owners of Stub's Barbecue walked in. He was like, "Oh, there's this jam at Antone's tonight. I'll see if I can get you up on stage." So me and my dad sort of went, "Oh, yeah."

Tom: What was your father's profession?

Scott: He was mainly in advertising and marketing. That was his business. But he'd come from sort of a music-based background, working in guitar shops. And he was in Minns Music. It was a big company in the '60s and '70s. And he had something to do with that and he helped them out in America. That was his background. Then he sort of went away and did other things. It wasn't until I came along that he got back into guitar.

Tom: How did you hook up with photographer Robert Knight?

Scott: Just through MySpace, really. I think I sent him a friend request, and he had a listen and then sent me a message and said, "Hey. I really like your stuff. Can you send me a CD?" So I sent him a CD. It was probably only three or four months ago where I first met him online, I guess. That's the really cool thing with MySpace in terms of promotion and getting contacts and getting people to hear your music. It's so cool.

Tom: Has he taken any photographs of you yet?

Scott: Not yet. We've yet to meet in person, but hopefully soon.

Tom: And Paul Crockford?

Scott: I can't remember the exact story, but basically a CD got passed on to him from a guitarist from Level 42. Do you remember that band?

Tom: Sure.

Scott: I've got his name for you now. It's Jakko Jakszyk. That's how you spell it.

Tom: I love the modern world.

Scott: Yeah. Jakko passed on a CD to Paul and he came to one of our gigs and was really impressed. And Paul's cool. He's into blues and obviously he looks after Mark Knopfler. He's been a great help.

Tom: How long ago was that? How long have you been with him?

Scott: That was 2004, I think, so probably about three years now.

Tom: So, so far, so good.

Scott: I think, like anything, it's had its ups and downs, but I'm glad in a way, because it gives you time to get better. If I was 12 and something happened, I think it would be a bit of crap. You don't know who you are, and you're just sort of playing the licks you've heard and sort of looking up to Hendrix.

Tom: That's an issue you're going to face, if you haven't already - authenticity. How does a 20 year old, much less a 12 year old, have enough life experience to authentically sing the blues?

Scott: I think definitely at 12 it's difficult. But I think it had more of a comedy value than actual …

Tom: Or novelty. Let's say novelty.

Scott: Yeah, novelty. People coming and saying, "Isn't that cute? He's singing about how his baby left him and he's only 12." And I tried to steer away a little bit from that on this CD. But you learn each day. You can only play from your heart and your soul, and hopefully that's got enough authenticity to make people be interested or believe you.

Tom: It is what it is.

Scott: Exactly. I can't fake it or pretend to be into the blues. I think it has to be something that is a passion and in your blood.

Tom: I think that's why the blender analogy works so well, because that’s what a musician does: He or she listens to all these things, all the classic influences, then stirs them up and puts his or her own spin on it, and says here's what I am.

Scott: Yeah. And I thought that was something that was amazing that you said about me, because when I listen to any great guitarist, you can hear what influenced them. You can hear Jimmie Vaughan, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix, Lightnin' Hopkins, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, but yet they come out with something fresh because they've got a different take on it. When you hear an Albert King lick from say Stevie Ray Vaughan, it doesn't sound like him copying Albert King, playing it note for note. It's something that's influenced by Albert King and hopefully is coming from the same place.

Tom: The argument can also be made that if an artist could only speak about something he’s lived, who’d be writing or singing about extreme human experiences? Who’d be writing action movies? We don't need to have specifically lived an experience to have an understanding of it.

Scott: And everybody interprets things differently. You could be talking about feeling down or whatever, but I don’t think you're necessarily talking about your specific personal experiences. You're relating to a theme, an idea, a feeling, and then the person listening to it can interpret it in a way that helps them because the blues, ultimately, doesn't bring you down, it makes you feel better. If you're down and you play the blues, it doesn't make you feel worse, it makes you feel great, because you're playing this amazing music that touches people. Then there's the other side to the blues that's really happy all the time. Shuffles and saying I love the world and I love my baby and everything's wonderful.

Tom: Yes. One of the great things about the blues is it tells the listener, "Sweetheart, you're not alone."

Scott: Exactly. It's got a real soothing quality about it. It's just so soulful. It's great. All those blues licks, whether guitar licks or vocal licks. But you hear it so much in any good music from any style, Stevie Wonder or Donnie Hathaway, doesn’t matter. Great singers are real bluesy when it comes down to it. Really bluesy.

Tom: When did you actually finish this album?

Scott: We finished at the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006.

Tom: You're an Internet kind of guy. That's how you and Jesse Davey worked on this album. Did you send tracks back and forth?

Scott: I recorded it all on my computer, just using a Firewire sound card. And I recorded it in my front room. Originally, it wasn't intended to be an album. It was like an EP or a demo. And I sent some of the tracks to Jesse, and he said he'd go about mixing and just sort of see what they sounded like. And it sounded really cool, what he did, so we thought, "Let's just do it." I'll record the tracks and send them to you, and we can sort of mix it together. He was ultimately mixing it, but I could say, "Look, we should try this." Or he'd have suggestions about how to mic up amps or mic up the drums. So it was really easy, actually. We’d chat online to get different ideas across. It's a really easy way of working because you're not limited by time. It's not like you're in the studio and it's costing 800 £ an hour. You can just work into the night.

Tom: How did you record the drum tracks?

Scott: We did it live, the three of us. Quite a few of the tracks, the three of us were playing. Like the tracks "Can't Take No More", "All The Same", and "I Can See Through You" were me, Ben, and Geoff. I should mention Ben and Geoff. Ben Jones plays drums, and Geoff Lai plays bass.

Tom: Where did you record them?

Scott: Just in my house. It was really loud. We had a few complaints.

Tom: Who set up the mics and the board?

Scott: Me. I just set it up myself. It was quite a small setup, really. We just had, I think we had 10 tracks to record. We didn't do the vocals at the same time, but most of the tracks we did drums, guitar, and bass at the same time, or at least drums and a rhythm guitar. Then on a few of them, I added a solo to a few tracks and obviously we did the vocals separately. So it wasn't the huge studio and there wasn't any budget or anything. It was very much, we did it from home. And obviously that's where Jesse did a really cool job of making it hopefully sound like a professional recording as opposed to a homemade project.

Tom: It doesn't sound like a living room.

Scott: You can hear on a couple of the tracks, you can hear … we've got double doors in the room, and I had the amps in one room and I was with the drums in the other room, and you can hear the door rattling if you listen carefully.

Tom: It's got good ambiance.

Scott: That's cool. I think it's quite large sounding and quite edgy as opposed to being real clean-cut and studio-fied. We tried to keep it live. A lot of the solos were one take, or we did them at the time, which I think is cool because it takes away from the vibe if you wipe something out …

Tom: You can work it to death.

Scott: That can be cool sometimes, like in your head you've got an idea for a solo and you need to work it out a little bit to try and get it out. But I try and stay away from it too much, because it just sounds wooden and crap otherwise.

Tom: Whom do you see as your audience?

Scott: I think it's a pretty big audience. We get people about my age and slightly younger, and sort of the young guitarists that are into Stevie Ray Vaughan and Rage Against the Machine and Hendrix and all those kinds of things, and they really like it because it's a bit different than just being 10 tracks of shuffles, which isn't that appealing. It's got a lot of younger people, so they really get into it. And then we get the older blues crowd that are into the T-Birds and Led Zeppelin and things. But it's a really wide spectrum of people.

Tom: What about the rock community? How have they reacted?

Scott: That's another thing that's really cool. There are a couple of tracks on there, like “Can't Take No More”, that probably sound more rock than bluesy. I like to think it's bluesy, as well, but I think it appeals to people that are into rock, definitely. And I'm really into Audioslave and Tom Morello's guitar playing. I think it's really cool. I love the different sounds. All those different noises he gets.

Tom: Have you started thinking about the next album?

Scott: Yeah, but not too much. I'd like to do something that's not a million miles away from what we are doing, but is definitely more modern sounding in a way. A bit more fresh and a bit more me, if that's possible.

Tom: You play slide guitar?

Scott: Badly.

Tom: An honest answer.

Scott: I love playing it, and you can get really vocal with the licks. I think Derek Trucks is amazing with that.

Tom: I think that's what a lot of listeners are going to like about your instrumental track. Like I said before, it sounds like a slide guitar without the slide. It sounds like it was recorded 40 years ago.

Scott: That's what we wanted for that track. I just set up my amp, and it was a quick reverb, I think, on that track, and again with the fuzz pedals.

Tom: Your website details your gear. Anything new that we should know about?

Scott: I've had things changed, like speakers and modified slightly just to sound a bit cooler.

Tom: But you're basically a pretty simple, vintage kind of guy.

Scott: Yeah. It's not too complicated. I think I used the Fender Quad Reverb and Fender 75. I've got a Leslie cabinet, as well, and an old Fender Vibratone.

Tom: I heard the Leslie but I forget off the top of my head which track that was.

Scott: I think it might have been “Shot Down”. I really like that sound, but sometimes it can get too much. Obviously, it's highly associated with Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Leslie sound, and it's a real identifiable thing. It's a really cool effect to have.

Tom: You have an actual Leslie.

Scott: Yeah.

Tom: Why the real thing? You can get pedals that come pretty close.

Scott: It's just the sound you get with the real Leslie. It's actual air moving around the speaker. I like the sound of the effects but they sound like effects and they don't sound like the real thing. But that can be cool, as well. And obviously I like the Univibe. It's a completely different effect with the Leslie.

Tom: The nice thing about pedals is they're a lot lighter.

Scott: Definitely.

Tom: A lot easier to transport, so to speak.

Scott: That is the other thing.

Tom: If readers were only going to listen to two tracks from Can't Take No More, what would you recommend to them?

Scott: I think probably the title track, "Can't Take No More". That’s a hard question. I think maybe something like "I Can See Through You" or "Maybe" - it's quite a long track, but it has a few different styles in there.

Tom: You wrote all of these tracks yourself, right?

Scott: Yeah. I wrote most of them myself. I wrote some with the drummer, Ben Jones. He's really cool. He plays guitar as well. He's a pretty mean guitarist. And Geoff does, too. We're all actually guitarists in the band, but, like Ben will play drums in this and Geoff plays bass on this, but when they go off and do their thing, they play guitar. So it's kind of a guitarist thing. In fact, we do this stupid thing where we swap around sometimes.

Tom: Well, it's a show.

Scott: It's quite funny. It's a little bit cabaret.

Tom: Where would you like to live? If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you move to for awhile?

Scott: I think it would be cool to be in America because of the music.

Tom: What city?

Scott: I think New York could be cool for music. I don't know. It would be hard to pinpoint one place, but somewhere in America would be cool. It's a big place.

Tom: You're going to open for Joe Bonamassa, but who else would you like to open for?

Scott: I'd love to play or open for Jimmie Vaughan, Derek Trucks or Robben Ford, Clapton, B.B. King. Any of those would be cool.

Tom: So, any of the blues masters would work.

Scott: I think it would work well, even with a rock band. Like I said before, bands like Audioslave and Red Hot Chili Peppers. I can see it being put in that kind of a genre, too.

Tom: Is it a handicap living where you do? You're two hours out of London. Or does the Internet make you … well, I have no room to talk. I live in a small farming village in northern Portugal.

Scott: I was going to say, you're in Portugal. When my agent was telling me about the interview and he said, "This is an American guitar magazine." I'm like, "Great." And then we sent the CD to Portugal.

Tom: Sometimes, I have to admit, it's a bit of a handicap. What about you? Are you tempted to move closer to London, or do you think the Internet makes it not so important these days?

Scott: I think the Internet is so good with things like YouTube and MySpace. There's so much inspiration at your fingertips that you can just get instantly. It almost doesn't really matter. Obviously, you can't beat seeing a live band or seeing a guitarist up close, but I don't think it's a handicap at all, really. Not in this day and age. Maybe if it was in the '40s or '50s and you were trying to play blues, it would be. But I don't think it really matters where you're based. as long as people can get access to your music and you've got access to other people's.

Tom: What about the blues scene in the UK these days? Is it growing, withering, strong, weak? What's your take?

Scott: I think it could do with a kick. The last great band, really, The Hoax. And since then, there hasn't really been a lot that's come out. There's a great guitarist called Matt Schofield. He's more in the Robben Ford bluesy kind of vein, but he's really good. But there's not like a huge amount. There is a blues scene, but what you tend to get is older, retired businessmen playing blues for fun, which is good, but it's not great.

Tom: That's sort of what The Hoax was all about, wasn't it, to give the blues a contemporary twist?

Scott: Yeah, and they were really successful with that. It's a shame they didn't go further, because they were really onto something. I think they could have been huge. Jesse's guitar playing, and Hugh's singing, and the songwriting and everything was really cool. They took that whole Stevie Ray Vaughan power Texas blues thing and really made something different with it, which was really cool. But, also, I think at the same time they came out, you also had Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Chris Duarte - I think one of his albums came out at a similar time. So I think in the mid '90s there was a bit more of a boost, wasn't there, with bluesy kind of stuff.

Tom: Do you think maybe you're a member or a leader maybe of another wave of British blues?

Scott: Yeah. I'd love to think so. I think I've got a long way to go before I can say anything like that about myself, but it would be great to be considered that.

Tom: Is there a resurgent British blues movement that's not "let's do Stevie Ray Vaughan covers?"

Scott: I think so. I hear it more in a way from America, like the White Stripes and the Black Keys. I just dropped my guitar. You know the tremolo arm? It just broke.

Tom: You just broke the tremolo arm?

Scott: It wasn't the original. Don't worry. You know the screw bit, on the tremolo the bit that screws in, it got snapped in there.

Tom: I've had that happen. You've got to be very careful getting that puppy out.

Scott: Anyway…

Tom: Never a dull moment.

Scott: Getting back to the blues. Have you heard much about the White Stripes sort of thing? I think that kind of influenced "Fuzz Six Six Six", that kind of drums and guitar and fuzziness and stuff. That's where that came from. And I think there is some of that going on in the UK. But I don't know how much of it. People that say they're into the CD and stuff are obviously into it, but I haven't seen a lot of people doing it. There seem to be a lot more people into the more technical side of guitar.

There are loads of guitarists that are really good, but they're just technical guitarists, and there's nothing else to it. Also, a lot of guitarists might be great rock guitarists, but they have to go away and play in cover bands or play pop just so they can play at all, which is a bit of a shame really, and a bit of a waste. There's a lot more that could be done. It's hard to know what will happen, but there's definitely a huge market for it. As you know, there are so many people into Joe Bonamassa and Clapton and everyone. I think it's there, it just needs to be brought a bit more to the front.

Tom: With that, I'm going to let you go, Blender.

Scott: That's cool. I'm really happy with The Blender.

Related Links
Scott McKeon
Scott McKeon on MySpace
Joe Bonamassa tour date information

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