This article series is about the tools of popular guitarists or bassists.. What are their favorite guitars or basses and how is it related to them? This time with the band Flaming Wrekage (Dave Lupton / guitar, Juzz Humphry / guitar & Lach Campbell / bass)
Who am I interviewing?
Dave Lupton, Rhythm guitar and vocals.
Portrait credits are Sandra Markovic and black and white live photos are Rhys Bennett.
When you start guitar playing and do you remember your first guitar?
I started when I was about 14 years old. My uncle taught me some basics on the acoustic and at some point during those first lessons, “The Unforgiven” by Metallica had crept into my very limited repertoire. I had to have an electric to play that song properly, so my parents bought a second hand Yamaha strat copy off my cousin for about $200. I covered it in Metallica stickers and spent every waking hour trying to learn all of their riffs!
What are your influences and which guitar players are your faves?
Metallica was the first and definitely most important influence on me. James Hetfield’s approach to rhythm guitar really connected with me from a very young age. It made me look at the guitar in a different way; opening up a new world of right hand fury! Writing a memorable riff is always of key importance to our songwriting and really builds the foundation for the other guys to play over. Hetfield is the king! When I realised that lead guitar wasn’t for me, I developed a real fascination with rhythm guitar players. The engine room behind the whole operation. These guys are often the quiet achievers but the nuts and bolts of the band, especially when you’ve got a wild lead guitarist in your arsenal. Malcolm Young has gotta be the best example of this. His ability to hold down a riff is second to none, and I love his setup. Thick strings, one pickup, no bullshit! Another hero of mine is Bill Steer from Carcass. He’s gotta be one of the coolest cats out there. He could slot into a Deep Purple show and no one would tell the difference. I’m a huge classic rock fan, and everything he does comes from a 70s rock n roll background but adapted to a death metal setting. Other honorable mentions include Mikael Akerfeldt, Mark Morton, Lindsay Buckingham, Dave Gilmour and Jim Migoine. The list goes on!
How many guitars do you own and what are your favorite models?
I have two touring guitars and an acoustic that I just use for writing at home. Both electrics are flying vs and that has become my go to shape for tone, feel and weight. One is 2016 Epiphone and one is a late 80s Japanese Greco. Both have been heavily modified for my setup. Because I’m on vocals too, I like to keep my guitars very simple. Bridge pickup only and one volume. Lean and mean! I’m a huge fan of Gibson style guitars and have been looking for the perfect Les Paul for a few years now. Maybe 2024 is the year I finally get one. Gibson guitars just sing and the backbone of so much rock and metal that we all love. They just feel great in the hands and play so smooth!
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
For me its all about consistency and being able to handle the rigors of the road. For my guitars, I’m looking for great sustain, a weight works for me and great play on the neck. Everything else can be changed. That’s pretty much what we did with that Greco. It was in rough shape when I bought it, but I could tell it would be a killer guitar and after a bit of work it’s definitely my number 1 now! Like guitars, amps can vary so wildly. In a live setting I’m after something that responds nicely to the attack I put on the guitar. Something with a good mid range response works really well for me. I don’t like to run excessive amounts of gain. I prefer to hear the amp for what it is and then just put that extra bit of spice on top with overdrives. I’m looking for an amp that can do 90% of the tonal work without any pedals and that responds best to my style of playing. Tone is in the hands! I’ve found that the EVH heads work best for me for this reason!
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
I prefer tubes any day of the week…BUT…amp modeling has come so far that is fast becoming the preferred option for touring players. They’re light, increasingly more reliable and compact. I’m not in a position to judge anyone that has gone down the digital path and I am very interested to see where it is headed with so many more brands offering options. There is a risk of going too “clean” though from my view. It’s easy to go down the rabbit hole of playing to click tracks, having everything time aligned and trying to replicate the exact sound of the album. I think there’s a big difference between the album and the live experience and sometimes it can become blurred in the quest of perfection. However, a properly dialed in Quad Cortex or Kemper can sound amazing. If we were ever to go down that path, I would absolutely be running a separate power amp and still going through guitar cabinets on stage. I’ve gotta have some air movement up there!
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
We used a lot of different stuff on this album as there were so many opportunities for experimentation. For guitars we used:
- Greco 80s Flying V
- Epiphone 2016 Flying V
- Jackson Kelly US
- Fender 12 String acoustic
- Fender Telecaster
- Duesenberg Chambered Caribou – For one chord only!
For amps we spent a few days reamping and finding the perfect tone. This album has a much bigger sound to previous releases, so as much as we loved the classic 5150 metal sound, we decided on the Mesa Mark IV. I’m really proud that we used this amp, because as you probably know any mistakes are very visible with this bad boy. It’s no walk in the park dialing this in, but the payoff is worth it. It has a massive mid range response. So much so that you have to scoop it to get it close to ‘flat’. It takes a lot of finesse but that head through an Orange and Mesa was the tone we settled on. We used that for clean tones too, with a few pedals in front. For leads we used the Marshall JVM.
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
It’s gotta be my Black Greco flying V. I’ve beaten the life out of it a few times and it’s still standing! Ripper guitar!
Who am I interviewing?
Juzz Humphry, lead guitar.
When you start guitar playing and do you remember your first guitar?
I think I started playing about 11 years ago, I saved up my monthly allowances to purchase my first guitar starter pack (including an amp and instructional dvd). I’m completely self taught with the help of YouTube videos and online guitar tabs, two of the first songs I remember learning are TNT & Let There Be Rock – AC/DC
What are your influences and which guitar players are your faves?
My top 3 guitar players of all time would have to be Marty Friedman, Alex Skolnick, and Alexi Laiho 3 players with incredible chops, memorable solo’s and licks and a real sense of melody!
How many guitars do you own and what are your favorite models?
I own about 9 guitars including the first guitar I ever purchased (kind of like a memento) 4 Jackson Kelly’s, a Jackson Warrior, a Jackson dinky, a BC Rich King V and an Ibanez RG. The Jackson’s are hard to beat with my main guitars being the Korean made Jackson Warrior, and the Japanese made Jackson Kelly both from the early 2000’s they really are the best guitars for both hard riffing and shredding solo’s which suits Wrekage Perfectly!
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
I’m a sucker for a Marshall tone pushed to the limits with a tube screamer, but some of the stuff from EVH sounds incredible straight out of the box. Again Jackson’s selections of components match comfort with quality ensuring the best output, chuck some Seymour Duncan pickups in there and your tone is unstoppable.
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
Given the option I’ll always choose a tube amp over a modeler, but with the growing costs of touring and the convenience of running 1 unit vs a unit and pedals is slowly winning me over. Still, long live tubes!
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
We used a range of guitars for this particular album. From 12 string acoustics to a telecaster and our main stage guitars, really trying to push the different flavours and colours that you can get from different tone woods and guitar designs. Amp wise, we used a Mark IV which is an amp that has an unbelievably responsive EQ resulting in hours of “tone searching”. We used this on the clean tones as well, with a trusty Marshall JVM for leads which is very familiar to me as I’ve used this amp live for years.
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
I’d have to go my Japanese made KE3, Seymour Duncan 59’ and JB, Floyd rose. It’s just such a workhorse that I cannot fault at all! Tuning stability, Tone, the craftsmanship is really on another level!
Who am I interviewing?
Lach Campbell
When you start bass playing and do you remember your first bass?
I started playing bass around 2008, my first bass was a cheap sx p bass clone. I still have it and converted it to a 5 string a while ago, it has no volume or tone knobs just direct from pickups to output. It’s also been painted a few times and sanded back a few more.
What are your influences and which bass players are your favs?
Influences are hard to recall because there are so many from Marcus miller to John Campbell, sometimes I like what they do because they’re just so good and other times it’s because of the sounds they pull out of their gear.
How many basses do you own and what are your favorite models?
I have 5 basses at the moment in various states of disrepair
- My first sx
- A bc rich warlock 5 string that has nothing but the pickups installed
- 2 ibanez SDGR basses
- And my most recent and favorite is my sandberg California 5 string, that thing always sound massive
What do you think makes the perfect bass and amp?
Perfect is hard, but for me it’s about versatility and mobility. Being able to travel with my gear makes it easy to produce a consistent sound at any show. For me the perfect bass is 5 strings and active pickups, everything else is for looks. the perfect amp has at least 400W, 5 band eq and can fit in a backpack, the rest is pedals and what your hands can do.
Which basses and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
For the latest album I used my Sandberg bass and my Ashdown RM500 through an Ashdown 8×10. Powerhouse combo right there!
When you only can choose one bass, which one will you take?
Definitely the Sandy! That bass is perfect for me.
https://www.flamingwrekage.com/
