Ana Patan writes songs, plays guitar and sings, in a style of her own. Born in Romania, settled in Germany and for now living in Sweden, she’s been performing throughout the world with many remarcable musicians or with her solo project. She features on Devin Townsend’s latest release „The Puzzle/Snuggles“ with guitars and vocals, and her recent album „Spice, Gold and Tales Untold“ has been recorded analog on 2″ tape, alongside personalities like Jonas Hellborg, Zoltan Csörsz, Jonathan Herrera and Devin Townsend, and has been getting a lot of appreciation in the German and international press.
When did you start playing guitar, and do you remember your first guitar?
I must have been around 10 when I started picking up some chords from my elder brother, on an acoustic we had borrowed from a neighbour, who conveniently never asked for it back. I was soon making up songs and playing them for and with the neighbourhood kids, back in my native Romania. It was much later, in my early twenties, that I finally switched to electric and got deeper into playing it, studying licks and riffs, going to school and learning the music theory and all that. My first electric was a bulky Strat, the cheap version made in Mexico (one doesn’t learn driving in a luxury car, right?). I didn’t know how to set it up so my skinny fingers struggled greatly with the high action, the thick strings and the chunky neck… quite a heavy guitar to carry, too… otherwise, a beauty, in shiny bordeaux red! I played it a lot, for quite a long time, and I still have it.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your favs?
Chris Rea for one, his songs and voice were what inspired me to play music. The guitar came with all that, in a package, I suppose. I admire the guitar playing of Willie Nelson, Regi Wooten, Joni Mitchell, Joseph Spence, Devin Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Carlos Alomar, Adrian Belew… each one special in their very own way, and in service of songs, actual pieces of music.
How many guitars do you own and what are your favorite models?
Ha, ha, I don’t know, really! Not many, maybe 6, 7…? I have them scattered around places, and fail to keep a proper account of them. I’ve been getting rid of a lot of my guitars over time, and I discover it feels good to part with some, especially if I haven’t been playing them for a while… off they go, to make someone else happy! The few babes I kept are special, there’s a very nice Godin, very light, multiskilled and easy to play, with a midi output as well (guitar which I use in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma703C8xF04 – a song in Romanian, in harmonic minor, with a lot of diminished chords and moving voicings on a static chord – this guitar is perfect for this sort of light, playful moods). Then there’s the Revelation, quite a looker with its excentric but elegant curves, and also quite a comfortable one to play. It was an endorsement from Hohner, from the times I was playing some of their exotic-looking guitars on music trade shows around the world. One of them was The Black Prince, a Staufer design I believe, built in a Telecaster shape for no less a personality than Prince. I remember it had a terrific sound and physical stability, but being only a prototype I didn’t get to keep it. My working horse is a heavily modified Framus Renegade, which I’ve been playing almost exclusively since I got my hands on it, about 12 years ago. It embodies everything I need in a guitar, good balance, thin neck, light weight but with and a big voice and a rocky disposition. I gave it a pair of Bartollini pickups, that can range from caressing to roaring, and a system of True-Temperament frets, which improve intonation without getting in the way of my playing.
The way you make use of your guitar is rather different, a slightly distorted comping, with lines that are not the usual guitarist’s riffs. How did you come to this?
By accident, I guess, that’s what comes out when I play. I’m trying to listen to the song and create what it needs on the guitar. The guitar is such a versatile tool, can cover such diverse grounds and replace so many instruments, it can lay down pads, fill up gaps, give accents, keep a groove, decorate where necessary. Can take a song anywhere, giving it dreaminess, melody or edge, getting it to soothe or shock, or just support it in a simple way. There’s so much to do on the guitar, I’m surprised of any guitarist practicing to sound like another guitarist, when there are so many unexplored options. In fact, that’s why I was forced to pick up the guitar myself, in lack of a supporting, sensitive guitar player who wouldn’t play millions of notes a minute to show off his technical skills.
Which guitars and amps were used on your new album „Spice, Gold and Tales Untold“?
The songs on this album go into many different styles, I wanted to unify them by a common sound. So I used only one guitar on all of them, the white Framus Renegade, varying only the level of cleanliness or distortion. It was the same with the bass: with a couple of exceptions, the three different players used one and the same instrument for the recordings. The guitar amp was a custom-made, by Jonas Hellborg – who, besides being the bass virtuoso that many of us know, is also a brilliant electronics designer! He also built the two cabinets I used for the guitar recordings, two Custom-Made 1X12″ with Celestion Greenbacks.
Talking about Jonas Hellborg, how did you get such personalities like him, Devin Townsend, or Zoltan Csörsz to play on your album? Was it intimidating?
Yes, a bit! But they are all very nice people – which brought us together in the first place. I met them in diverse musical situations, we connected on a human level, started on a purely conversational plane, and over time formed a friendship, stayed in touch… eventually got to make music together, and it felt right. Of course I had approached many musicians about these recordings, but most of those relationships never came to anything, there was no click, either personally or musically. This sort of things can not be rushed, if you haven’t met the right musicians yet, you just haven’t. So when, in turn, Jonas, Devin and respectively Zoltan manifested interest in my music, it all simply fell into place, they looked at the songs in the right way, observing, trying to contribute, to help. For me it was extremely instructive and interesting, watching them at work! It improved my musical understanding tremendously!
If you could only choose one guitar, which one will you take?
I do use pretty much only one, the Framus Renegade mentioned above. It’s not the most handsome guitar I’ve layed my hands on, but we have developed a working relationship together, and over time we got to know and almost like each other. (This is the guitar in all the videos underneath.)
bandcamp: https://anapatan.bandcamp.com
webpage: https://anapatan.com
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM5WAbzSgcumvtHyEldLkaw
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anapatan.music/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ana.patan/
twitter: https://twitter.com/ana_patan
spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3J67UEcdviYVyrcVSQfhWP
