Warren Mendonsa – The Interview – Part II

11) What’s the craziest thing that you’ve done on stage, or that’s happened to you?

Well I fell down on stage in front of 8000 people! They had these confetti bombs, and the paper’s coated with grease… So I take one step towards the monitor and I’m *insert slipping-on-grease-coated-confetti-like sound* and all the while I’m like must-not-let-Strat-hit-ground! I fell on my toe… Played the gig, after it removed my shoe the toe had swelled to twice the size and I couldn’t even walk!

Another gig – Festival of New Noise, we were playing No More Mistook, crowd was full of metalheads, and one guy comes up and does this to Rajeev *half of Victory-sign *. I don’t know all this is happening, finished my solo and Rajeev’s supposed to start off on vocals, and I can’t see him anywhere! I see a scruffle somewhere, Rajeev’s on top of this guy, beating him up, the Pentagram guys came in, and all this while I’m still playing ting-ting-ting-TING, and very calmly, he comes back and starts singing!

11) How was the reception this time? Did you expect 800 people at Hard Rock Cafe?

I had no clue man. I thought there’d be some 100 *WTF expressions from interviewers*. To be honest, it never strikes me that we’ve accomplished whatever – We were a decent band, wrote some decent songs, but never to the point where we’ve made a mark, or will forever be remembered. I went to Mithibai to judge their show and all these chicks are taking photographs, and I’m like, “No no no make them go away!” I try not to think about it! Try to keep everything in perspective, I play guitar, try to write good songs, if people like it, great! Hope I make a living out of it – not a very ambitious guy!

12) Then what do I tell those girls who’ve been pinging me, looking at the photos and asking who that hot lead guitarist is?

Tell them his name is Tajdar Junaid. He’s got his Myspace page and Facebook page. *huge laughter*

13) So what’s next for Warren and BSB?

Immediately I go back, start rehearsals for Blackstratblues gigs. Maybe collaborate with two other guitar players – one guy called Dylan Storey, other guy’s from a band called the Subterranes – really good improv-based guitar players.

14) What would you like to tell aspiring guitarists? Guys who’re now 20, and want to get where you are now, at 30?

You gotta be really obsessed, you have to put in the hours and everything. I made sure I played everyday. You’ve got to get to a point where you don’t have to prove anything to yourself or anyone else, you’re on a strictly musical level then. You don’t need to play fancy taps or sweeps for the heck of it, and do what the song needs - you can still be a great guitarist with just three chords - like Pete Townsend. Or Malcolm Young – Angus was the hotshot, but Malcolm kept it together.

Focus on rhythm playing. Even when playing solos – if timing or the phrasing doesn’t have the rhythmic sense, takes away so much. It’s like speaking – there are commas, paragraphs…

Work on your tone, you don’t need to copy someone else’s tone. I tried doing that, but at the end, it sounded like ME, not like the guys whose tone I tried to copy. Check out the sound of your (electric) guitar without plugging it in, listen to the sound acoustically, make sure there’s no fret buzz.

Work on your bending in-tune, so it doesn’t sound like an old lady screaming. A lot of my solos come from a vocal melody. Every time I’m stuck, I just put the guitar down, and try and hum out a melody and then play. Then you get to a point where, what plays in your head, comes out on the guitar simultaneously.

Put your ear against the speaker, at that height, and see what it sounds like. You’re standing at a height, the amp is on the ground and you don’t hear what exactly the mic is picking up. When it comes to tone, I try to get the lows, mids and highs balanced.

15) Are you working towards an Indian sound? I noticed CiJ is actually an Indian scale…

No really. While I lived here, really didn’t care about Indian music. When I go there (NZ), I guess I started missing home and crept in subconsciously. You know when you play ‘Indian’, the notes are still the same, it’s only the phrasing, the approach, the little slides called gamak. There’s a lot of stuff I do, which I don’t take live, because it’s not consistent yet.

I still think I play too much (in my songs) *smiles* I’d like to play a lot sparser. You don’t want to be the guy at the party who talks non-stop, you wanna be the guy who makes one quip, and everyone’s on the floor!

16) Yup, that’s about it! Thanks a lot, dude, for doing this!

All good, thanks for coming!

Download the full 46 minute interview here!

Bonus for Chordvine readers: Check out Warren playing the xylophone here!

Hooks (pun definitely intended) why you should download the full interview:

1. The real story behind PSP – how it went from being a piece of crap to the #1 song of the decade ;)

2. How Varad knows the PSP chord names better than Warren

3. Warren on the Fender Stratocaster vs Les Paul

4. Guitar geek alert: Why Warren plays half step down

5. The music scene in Auckland

6. More details on how The New Album was recorded

7. Warren’s personal favourites with Zero

Deepak Gopalakrishnan and Varad Wategaonkar are Zero/Warren freaks based in Bombay. One is an Old Man Sitting On a Corporate Porch, the other is Not SSJ College’s Type Of Engineering Student. Reach them at www.twitter.com/chuck_gopal and http://twitter.com/iDADDYDOODLE. Photos taken by the ultra-talented Prateek Dubey.