Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I recently found this interview with Weller in Guitar World:

http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-pa ... onik-kicks

He is an odd bird in a way how he so rejects anything related to The Jam, including Rickenbackers (how he has given them away and sold them, etc.). I can understand how going solo benefitted him financially, but his rejection of the guitar and of The Jam strikes me as strange. It was a great band and Rickenbackers are fantastic guitars. Yes, they have a certain sound and you can spin that as 'one-trick pony' but EVERY guitar is like that. One can try to make a Strat sound like a Les Paul using different pickups, etc. but it will still have a Strat element.

I think 'From the Jam' sounds fine and Russell does a great job, don't see anything wrong with it. At least he is using a 330. Weller is a wealthy man and The Jam helped him get there, don't see anything wrong if he were still playing the JG 330.

Rick's certainly aren't one-trick-ponys, but most of the people that buy them only use them as a one trick pony.
Weller is no different to that.

Okay, to be clear where I am coming from, I am a massive Jam era Weller fan. I feel the songs Weller wrote back then are right up there with the very best that have come out of these Islands in the last 50 years. I just cannot understand why he still seems to have this mental block about talking openly/positively about the contribution he made (of course along with the rest of the band) during those years. I am hoping one day he will finally get his head out of his ar*e and give the fans what they want/pay for at his live gigs and properly revisit those classic tunes (after all, McCartney eventually swallowed it and now does the Beatles back catalogue...if its good enough for Macca.....) ...c'mon Paul..

I think it has more to do with how Weller views himself as an artist.

He isn't trying to turn his back to his past, he's trying to turn towards the future. He always has.

The downside to that is how his artistic growth turns off fans. It's no different than how people were shocked when he started Style Council. I think his whole career has been brilliant. He has stayed true to his fundamental roots and doesn't owe the use of Rickenbackers to his fans anymore than he owes them a Jam reunion (which he absolutely does NOT).

Besides, the Casino/SG setup he has used for the last decade is awesome, I think his tone has never been better!

I don't think he owes anybody anything, I think that The Jam is vastly superior to Style Council (no contest there at all) and I am baffled by his disparagement of The Jam. It is also superior to his solo stuff, which is good, I'm not putting it down. He talks about the past but we know he reveres the past, whether it's dressing like Steve Marriot or playing a Budokan-era Casino. Maybe Rick and Bruce were not easy to get along with but I've never seen a interview where he complained about them except that they were upset that he was ending a great band (a normal reaction).

Also, a Rickenbacker is far more stylish than an SG or a Casino. I'm writing him a strongly-worded letter today!

artisan4 wrote:I don't think he owes anybody anything, I think that The Jam is vastly superior to Style Council (no contest there at all) and I am baffled by his disparagement of The Jam. It is also superior to his solo stuff, which is good, I'm not putting it down. He talks about the past but we know he reveres the past, whether it's dressing like Steve Marriot or playing a Budokan-era Casino. Maybe Rick and Bruce were not easy to get along with but I've never seen a interview where he complained about them except that they were upset that he was ending a great band (a normal reaction).

Also, a Rickenbacker is far more stylish than an SG or a Casino. I'm writing him a strongly-worded letter today!

I agree. Paul Weller is famous and noteworthy mainly for his work in the jam...this is why he's called "the modfather". Some of his solo stuff is good, but electronic pop? Really? I like Weller and hope he will start playing good music again--the music most of his fans want anyway.

collin wrote:I think it has more to do with how Weller views himself as an artist.

He isn't trying to turn his back to his past, he's trying to turn towards the future. He always has.

The downside to that is how his artistic growth turns off fans. It's no different than how people were shocked when he started Style Council. I think his whole career has been brilliant. He has stayed true to his fundamental roots and doesn't owe the use of Rickenbackers to his fans anymore than he owes them a Jam reunion (which he absolutely does NOT).

Besides, the Casino/SG setup he has used for the last decade is awesome, I think his tone has never been better!

+1. Completely agree with that Collin.

Weller can still do it if/when he wants...c'mon man, it's not too late.

These guys have still got it....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLwvJVYO ... re=related

Difficult to imagine a better advert for Rickenbacker than this.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... xrRkLlol9Q

k43rover wrote:Difficult to imagine a better advert for Rickenbacker than this.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... xrRkLlol9Q

...seems the Rick in the second song is a Fakenbacker?

heinpete wrote:

k43rover wrote:Difficult to imagine a better advert for Rickenbacker than this.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... xrRkLlol9Q

...seems the Rick in the second song is a Fakenbacker?

that's ironic.....I hadn't got past the Jam clip but I think you're right....probably a Japanese job on the Joy Division song...maybe a Greco like this:

....apparently the Joy Division bass is a genuine Hondo

k43rover wrote:Difficult to imagine a better advert for Rickenbacker than this.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... xrRkLlol9Q

Well, that's interesting-I was 17 in 1979 so those people would be my age. Except those people have aged now and I haven't changed at all. Nope...Dorian Grey, that's me...yep.
Those beautiful Marshalls and he's playing through a Peavey?

It's a Peavey ad.