with Classic Sounds By Kyle Swenson
From Guitar Player, July '99
It's no surprise that critics labeled Chicago's Wilco as a "roots rock" band. After all, rootsy, countrified sounds permeate Wilco's first two albums, and songwriter and guitarist Jeff Tweedy was a founding member of the punk-country band Uncle Tupelo. And, just last year, the band teamed up with folk singer Billy Bragg to record Mermaid Avenue [Elektra], an album of new music composed for unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics.
Things are different now. Wilco's third album, Summer Teeth [Reprise], draws more from the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Bee Gees than rural America. "Roots rock is such a ghettoized term," says Tweedy. "Country and folk influences have always been part of rock and roll. That term implies stuff I really abhor -- like bands that just co-opt styles as opposed to writing honest songs. It's nice to feel like you're part of some musical continuity, but the dominant thing you should take away from a bygone era is what's you, and not what reminds you of something else. We've definitely scratched our roots/country itch, and I haven't been interested in writing songs like that for a while."
Wilco's evolution has already confounded some critics who can't reconcile the fact that Summer Teeth is not a roots record. But, while the band's whirlwind of vintage sounds and catchy melodies now nod to '60s Brit pop, the songs are 100% Wilco.
The resulting stylistic hybrid is a mix of modern-pop arrangements and songwriting concepts dressed up in vintage guitar tones, Mellotrons, Hammond organs, analog synths, piano, and horns.
Cutting Teeth
One secret of Wilco's classically modern sound is that the band keeps things relatively au naturel. While tracking Summer Teeth in Austin and Chicago, the band used minimal effects. Besides the sounds of particular guitars and amps -- which were typically compressed to tape -- a Leslie, a Roland Space Echo, and an EBow are among the few signal processors gracing the record. Even when the band mixed the album at the fabulously equipped Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles, the members avoided the studio's racks and racks of outboard gear.
"We hardly used any of it," says Tweedy. "If we only used Joemeek compressors all day long, I'd be happy. You can make a good-sounding record with very little gear. All of those old dub records by Lee Scratch Perry were recorded on three tracks, and his only effect was an Echoplex. You could argue that the audio quality isn't that great, but you can't deny the music creates a world of its own."
As the main responsibility for creating the album's sonic vibe fell to the instruments, Tweedy and co-guitarist Jay Bennett selected their guitars carefully. The mainstays were a '71 Fender Telecaster and Jazzmaster; a Gibson ES-330, Hummingbird, J-45, Les Paul (with mini-humbuckers), and SG-style, P-90 equipped Les Paul Junior; a Martin 0-18; and a '40s German Höpf archtop.
A minor, yet essential component of Wilco's vintage flavor is that their guitar strings may be as old as their influences. "I never change my strings," admits Bennett, who uses broken-in D'Addario .011s. "The old ones sound better and feel nicer -- and I use medium-heavy strings on my electrics because they produce a more solid sound and stay in tune. Also, my action is pretty high. When you're bending strings, you have to be able to get under them, so you need a little height. I hate a guitar that's effortless to fret, because you can't feel enough resistance to know what you're playing."
A number of amps were used during the Summer Teeth sessions, including a Fender Bassman, a tweed Fender Deluxe, a '60s Gibson Ranger, a Marshall JCM 800, a Vox AC30, and an old 1x12 Supro. "Single 12s actually record better than big 4x12 cabinets," claims Bennett. "If you close mic a big 4x12, you've got three unmiked speakers pushing air into the room. The sound from those speakers bleeds into the microphone, and that can cause phase-cancellation problems that thin out the tone."
A decidedly non-vintage amp that joined the sessions was Line 6's Flextone physical-modeling combo. "It's the Swiss army knife of amps," says Tweedy, whose favorite settings were Flextone Crunch, Black Panel, and Brit Class A. "I've had a vintage ear for a very long time, but it's amazing how much we used the Flextone after having spent $30,000 on old gear."
"The Flextone is not quite as good as the real things," adds Bennett, "but if you're frustrated with all your old amps crackling and buzzing -- or you need to get a sound quickly -- it's real painless. Just leave a Flextone set up with a Shure SM57 in front of it, and flip the amp's dials around until you get a good sound. The Flextone is great for little parts that have to happen fast."
Tone Tricks
Not all the songs on Summer Teeth were produced by simply plugging a guitar into an amp. Tweedy and Bennett did employ some crafty tuning and signal-processing techniques. "On 'Can't Stand It,' I tuned my Tele to D, A, D, F, A, D -- which makes it sound like a 12-string because of the high- and low-A and D strings," says Tweedy. "It's easy to play octaves in this tuning, and the drone brings out seventh chords. That's why the chorus on the tune sounds like a Carpenter's song."
On the twangy "ELT" -- the album's most country-flavored song -- Bennett used the Bigsby B and G Bender on his Les Paul Junior to create "fake pedal steel" sounds. "It's like a Hipshot thing, but it predates that stuff. It's actually pretty tough to work," he says. "It doesn't sound right unless you push a lever down immediately after picking the string. If you bend too quickly, the attack comes in the middle of the bend. If you wait too long, it sounds like you're bending the string with your finger. I also tuned my first string up to F# because I couldn't play an open Em chord with a B on the high-E string. By tuning the string up to F#, however, I was able to play the chord by reaching my pinky to the 5th fret. If I find a voicing that isn't physically playable, I'll just change the tuning to make it work."
The rhythm-guitar parts on "I'm Always in Love" were performed on an old National Telecaster copy that was converted into a baritone guitar. "It's a standard guitar scale," details Tweedy, "but Jay put bass strings on the guitar and re-intonated it. It's a little hard to play, but it sounds way twangy."
Although Bennett and Tweedy steered clear of most effects, they couldn't resist a few dashes of processed color. For example, the warbling banjo on "Via Chicago" was produced by a Maestro Rover. "It sounds somewhat like a Leslie, and it looks like a humidifier," laughs Bennett.
For the wah-like acoustic guitar part on "Shot in the Arm," the guitarists hooked up a Maestro Parametric Filter. While Tweedy played the guitar, Bennett messed with the knobs to cut and boost midrange frequencies and change the bandwidth. "We were using all the stuff we could find to achieve something an expensive box could do in ten seconds, but wouldn't sound right," explains Tweedy.
Despite the moments of inspired sonic wackiness, the most evocative performances on the album were recorded very naturally and organically. "For a lead vocal, you almost always get a more passionate take if you're singing live along with the acoustic guitar," says Bennett. "The acoustic bleeds into the vocal mic, which adds realism to the sound. Actually, everything bleeds into the vocal mic, but all that ends up being a part of the sound, too. When we were mixing, we said, 'Wow, the drums sound really cool.' And then we realized we didn't even have the drum faders up yet -- they were bleeding through the guitar and vocal tracks!"