EverTune Featured Artist: Scotti Hill / Skid Row

The Skid Row legend talks about playing big stages, working with super producer Nick Raskulinecz, and who his favorite bands and guitarists are in this spirited discussion. Excerpted from EverTune TV Episode 007 with Matt Blackett.

Let's talk about your playing a bit. I've listened to your work a bunch over the years and when I hear you deliver the big riff, I hear I hear some AC/DC in there. I hear some Led Zeppelin in there. But you tell me. What is the kind of stuff that got you into it initially? Well, as most guys in our genre and our age, I was a big Kiss fan, so that kind of got me started in the direction of heavy music. But you mentioned AC/DC, and they're probably my overall favorite band. I really like good grooves and stuff like that. My biggest influence would be Jeff Beck probably, from the fusion years: Blow by Blow and Wired. And of course, Eddie Van Halen. I love guys that play great melodies, like Neal Schon, Steve Lukather, and Brian May. Something else those guys have in common is they all have a really nice wide, smooth vibrato.

Skid Row toured with Van Halen on the Balance tour. What was it like for you to be able to see Eddie do his thing day in, day out? I mean, it was incredible. That's the answer you would expect. It was incredible, not only watching him every night, but seeing him walk around backstage, carrying his guitar. He always had the guitar. If he was bored, he'd come down to the dressing room and walk in and be like, "What are you guys doing?" And you'd be sitting on the couch and he'd be standing in front of you with a guitar, doing that [tremolo picking] butterfly thing, and you're trying to talk but you're just blown away. And then watching the show from the photo pit, watching him do his solo. I realized what a gift it was to be there when we were there.

What are some other tours that stand out in your mind over the years? Aerosmith. We did an Aerosmith tour in like 1990. It was a long tour and just, you know, seeing those guys in the hallway and talking shop with Brad and Joe was really cool. Our first big tour was with Bon Jovi. We learned a lot about performing in front of a large audience. I can remember Richie Sambora saying, "You've got to play to the people in the last row. Those are the people you have to project to.You have to project your energy to the people in the back. This way the whole room feels it, not just the people right in front of you." That was a great piece of advice from a band that was really a great live band to watch every night.

We had Pantera out with us on our Slave to the Grind tour, so that was that was pure debauchery. Every night during the show, after the show, backstage on the bus, it was a party, and Dimebag was incredible. Every night on his game, just didn't even have to think about it. He just did it, you know? I mean, of course he put effort into it. He had pride in his playing, but he made it look so effortless.

So now we'll get to the EverTune part of this. What are the guitars that we installed bridges on for you and Snake? Snake and I both got Epiphone Les Pauls. I think he got the 60s version and I got the 50s version. He likes a little thinner neck and I like a little fatter neck. You put the EverTunes in those and we cut all our rhythm tracks on those together. Then we doubled them and they stayed in tune.

Was this your first time tracking with an EverTune guitar? Yes, and it's just a gift from the gods, because you lose so much creativity stopping and tuning. And when you start layering guitars and there's a little bit of pitch difference, you start getting phasing issues and all this crap. So this just speeds up the whole process and keeps the creativity flowing.

Our bassist, Rachel Bolan, he was like, "Oh my god, do they make this for bass?" I said, "As far as I know, it's on the drawing board, but it's coming."

It's actually it's beyond the drawing board. It's going to be a minute before it sees the world, but it's definitely coming. If Rachel's got one of those Spector basses of his that he wants an EverTune bridge on, you talk to me. Oh yeah. You'll be hearing from him.



Check out the full EverTune TV episode below:

❯❯❯ Time Stamps ❮❮❮
0:00 Intro
1:33 Influences
6:18 Playing on big stages to massive crowds
10:12 Touring with Van Halen
12:03 Other memorable tours
15:00 Working with Nick Raskulinecz
18:23 Continuing work on the record
19:13 Using EverTune in the studio
24:10 The EverTune bass bridge
24:50 What do you do when you're not Skid Rowing?
26:10 How does it feel to be still thriving after all these years?

❯❯❯ Skid Row online ❮❮❮
➜ Main Website
skidrow.com
➜ Social Media
facebook.com/skidrow
instagram.com/officialskidrow
instagram.com/scottihill
youtube.com/user/SkidsTV

❯❯❯ 'The Gang's All Here' album ❮❮❮
➜ October 14th, 2022
➜ Pre-Order here: https://skidrow.lnk.to/TheGangsAllHereAlbum

❯❯❯ Related Videos ❮❮❮

❯❯❯ Bonus Video ❮❮❮

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