Marc Ford doesn’t lug his resume around with him – he’d rather keep both hands free to carry guitars. Yeah, the list of folks he’s played with in the past is an impressive one (we’ll get into some of them as we go; you can always look them up), but that’s not what Marc Ford’s all about.
Truth be known, for however many hit records he’s been a part of in his career or sold-out shows he’s played, you’ll never hear as much pride in Marc Ford’s voice as you will when he talks about playing guitars with his son Elijah or singing alongside his wife Kirsten. They’re both key to the sound of his new album Holy Ghost, released by UK label Naim Edge Records.
Holy Ghost certainly has its moments of guitar brilliance that Ford is known for. But for the man himself, it was all about being surrounded by a talented group of players (the band Phantom Limb at the core) who brought his deeply personal, honesty-filled songs to life.
As the late, great Ronnie Lane sang in “Debris”, Marc Ford has been there and back – and he knows how far it is. Holy Ghost is the sound of a man who knows who he is, making music with family and friends – and enjoying every moment.
We were fortunate to have a chance to talk about the new album with Marc as he was preparing to head to England to kick off a spring tour. His conversation is much like his guitar playing: to the point with no unnecessary flash; riffs that say something. But make no mistake about it; just like a where’d-that-come-from guitar lick, Marc Ford is likely to dryly flip a funny line at you – or drop some bit of insight that you feel lucky to share.
BR: Marc, I want to be one of the few people who doesn’t begin an article about you with the phrase “former Black Crowes guitarist,” if that’s okay with you.
MF: Good. (laughter)
It’s not denying your past, but it’s obvious you’re not living in it, either. You’ve moved on – everybody’s moved on – and that’s a good thing.
Yeah … thanks. I appreciate that.
Most people don’t go around saying, “Yeah, I’m doing a pretty good job with this company – but I did a really great job with this company,” you know? I mean, I understand it sells papers and magazines – and promoters want to do it all the time. I can’t get them to stop … people have got to do what they’ve got to do.
So, do I have the story right: you produced UK band Phantom Limb’s album in 2012 – and that project sort of evolved into them backing you on Holy Ghost ?
Yeah, I met Dan Moore – Phantom Limb’s keyboard player – when I was on a tour with Booker T. At first, they were going to have me sit in on the record they were starting. Then they got ahold of Ryan Bingham’s record …
Which you produced.
That’s right: it all turned around to having them come out here to California and I produced the whole record for them. And it went great.
So, I had this batch of songs and wasn’t really sure who to use to record them with … the bands I’ve played with around here didn’t seem to quite fit. It finally dawned on me that Phantom Limb was the perfect band. I called Stew Jackson – he’s their guitar player and the leader of the band – and said, “I’ve got some of the best songs I’ve ever written – why don’t you produce me?”
Stew said, “Get on over here.”
And I did.
I’m glad you did.
Me too. (laughter)
I want to make sure I give everyone proper credit – is everyone in Phantom Limb on the album?
Yeah, except the singer – Yolanda Quartey – who quit just before I left to go over to the UK to record. Their album was just starting to pick up steam and they were about to spend the year touring. I don’t know the details; I told them I didn’t want to get in the middle, you know?
I was prepared for them to say, “No, Yolanda’s gone.” But Stew felt that if I still wanted to come over and do the record, it would probably be great for morale.
The great thing was, the band got to see the value of what they do – regardless of who was singing. As a band. They’re great, you know? So that was cool.
So we have Stew Jackson on guitars – who produced the album, as well. Dan Moore plays keyboards; Luke Cawthra is also on guitar; Andy Lowe on bass; and Matt Jones on drums?
Actually, it’s a different Matt: Matt Brown. The other Matt got done; he couldn’t do all the touring because he teaches. But, if I got it right, he found this guy he was teaching – Matt Brown – to take his place.
Basically, they switched out Matts.
Well … they probably already had the shirts made up, you know?
Yeah. (laughter)
And then your wife Kirsten’s on vocals, too?
That’s right. We tracked everything at Rockfield Studios for three days and then went to where Stew lives in Bath. There’s a little boathouse there that they converted into a studio and that’s where we did the overdubs.
We were doing “Turquoise Blue” and I told Stew, “My wife has an amazing vocal part worked out for this.” We e-mailed the track back home to her; she went over to her dad’s place, recorded it, sent it back over and we put it on.
After a little bit of listening to roughs, I said to Stew, “Doesn’t it seem odd to only have her on one song? Maybe we ought to get her on some more?”
And Stew said, “Yeah – and you ought to have your friend Chris Lizotte sing on some stuff, too.”
So I sent Stew a bunch of tracks with Chris and Kirsten and let him sort out it as far as what worked. They’re not really featured – it’s more of a big background … kind of a choir sound a lot of times. But having their voices really helped blend what we’d already recorded.
Oh, absolutely – a big bed of sound that supports the soul of the songs. And your son Elijah is on guitar?
Yeah, and sings on pretty much every song, too. He’s probably the voice you hear the most. The two of us tracked the record together live, sitting face-to-face with acoustic guitars.
Elijah’s got his own thing going on musically as well, right?
Yeah: Stew just produced a new record for Elijah and his band – Elijah Ford & The Bloom. They’re working on mixing it right now.
He’s playing with family, too: his uncle and his brother-in-law are in his band. It’s a big family affair everywhere you go now. (laughs)
Elijah’s got two records out already – I produced his first one and then he did an EP.
I’ll keep an ear to the ground for the new one coming up.
Cool.
So, you went into the Holy Ghost sessions with a pocketful of tunes you were feeling good about.
Yeah, a couple of them had been around for a while and hadn’t really found a home – and I’m glad they hadn’t, ‘cause they finally did on this record. Some songs just sort of graduate toward each other and make sense, you know?
Most of them were written over the past five years, while I kind of took time off to be home with my family. We moved to San Clemente and I started playing locally; playing a lot of acoustic music. This album is kind of a snapshot of that.
Let’s talk specifics about some of the tracks. That first sweet little tune – “If I’d Waited” – sounds like it’s just you, a guitar, and a microphone.
It actually was the last thing I did for the record – recorded it the day I was leaving. I told Stew, “I got this one little thing that’s only about a minute long … I think it would be a great opener for the record.”
We just took one microphone and opened it up wide so you got traffic noise in the back … as lonely-sounding as possible.
The harmonies we were talking about on songs like “Blue Sky” … “In You” … “Turquoise Blue” … “Badge of Descension” … is that how you were hearing them in your head right from the start?
I didn’t necessarily mean for it to sound that big, but I’m really happy with the way it turned out. It’s big, but it’s not overwhelming … it doesn’t sound like it’s trying too hard.
I had demo’d these songs myself in the garage, you know. And as we were recording, I started to get suspicious. I said, “Stew, have you played the demos for these guys?”
And he said, “No, they haven’t heard any of these songs before.”
They were hearing them for the first time while we were sitting there recording them: “Here’s how it goes – 1 … 2 … 3 … 4…” and we’d record them.
They were all playing practically identical parts to what I’d played on the demos … better than I did, of course. (laughter) It was so close, I thought they’d heard the demos and they were trying to mimic them. It was really cool.
The solo on “Blue Sky” – I’m assuming that’s you. What were you playing for a guitar?
Yeah, it’s me. I gave my son my ’62 Tele for a wedding gift and we each flew with one guitar on the record: Elijah brought that one and I had my Asher. I think I was playing the Tele on that solo.
Elijah let you touch it, even though it’s his now?
Yeah. (laughs) He loaned it back to me for a second.
That’s a good son, right there. (laughter) The guitar break on “Dancing Shoes” soars over top of a wordless vocal chorus … it sounds like angels.
Cool – thank you.
I can’t tell if that’s a lap steel or someone playing slide on a six-string … with a touch of wah pedal.
That’s me playing slide with a wah.
There’s something about it against those voices …
There were a lot of happy accidents on the record like that. I didn’t know what I was going to play.
My friend who makes BMF pedals came over from the US. He brought this new wah pedal he’d just made; I told him, “Plug it in. Let’s hit ‘record’ and see what happens.”
I grabbed a slide … and it worked out.
And who’s playing the pedal steel that’s woven through the album?
That’s Stew. It came out really nice.
“Dream #26” is a whole lot of things: a confession; a reflection; a thank you; a look ahead … it’s another big song that’s not trying to be a big song.
Thank you. I’ve got to the point in my life where I can be as honest as I want to be. I’m not hiding anything or trying to be anything … it just is, you know? It’s just … I don’t know if I was necessarily trying get any point across.
I just kind of blurted a lot of these songs out on paper … and there they were.
It’s personal, but not so much that you have to look away. The same thing with “In You”: it’s a beautiful love song … and it makes me smile to know that’s you and your wife singing it together. I don’t want to embarrass you, but I could imagine that being hard to do.
No, you’re right: some of these songs are a little tough to sing because they are so personal and honest.
I guess that’s a good sign that they’re working. (laughs)
Right on. Dan’s keys are a beautiful touch on that.
Yeah – that three-note solo … it’s just right.
Those guys are all phenomenal players – but the great thing to me is what they don’t play, you know? They know how to play to the song and for the song … and not for themselves.
Dan was playing this beautiful grand piano that was in the studio. It’s the same piano that Freddie Mercury recorded “Bohemian Rhapsody” on.
Really?
Yeah … an incredible sound. There are a couple songs where you hear that final piano chord, just sustaining and ringing out.
You know it’s not an electric piano trying to fake it.
Naw – it’s like an eight-foot or nine-foot piano.
It sounds like it’s a quarter-mile wide.
Yeah! (laughs)
I was driving with my wife the first time I listened to “I’m Free”. She made me hit “repeat” as soon as it was over – seat-dancing like two kids on a Saturday night. That’s your doo-wop tune on the album.
Yeah: that was Stew, putting all those vocals together. He did a great job.
And a massive-sounding slide solo on top of everything else. With the vibe of that song, it could’ve just as easily been a horn break – but the slide guitar is perfect.
Cool – thank you. That was actually the third guitar that we used – an Airliner. They were like a catalog guitar back in the late 50s and 60s … kind of art deco-looking – like a Silvertone … that sort of thing. They’re making them again and Stew’s roommate had one. I just picked it up and gave it a go.
“Just A Girl” is the most California-sounding song on the album.
I can see that. (laughs)
Fictional character or old memories?
A little of both … I can start with somebody or some situation in mind, but you usually end up protecting yourself or someone else. To make a good, interesting story you mix both fiction and truth.
I love the tumble-along rhythm of “You Know What I Mean” that’s set up by the chord changes. There’s a banjo tucked in there somewhere – who was that?
Yeah, on there and on “Dancing Shoes”. That’s Stew’s roommate – Louis Lewis-Smith. L-O-U-I-S and then L-E-W-I-S … and then a dash … and then Smith.
Thank you for spelling it out.
I had to ask twice in the studio myself. (laughter)
We talked about the harmonies on “Turquoise Blue”; there’s great texture as well. Acoustic guitar; the keys; the electric guitar hanging just on the outskirts until it’s time for the break. It’s one of those arrangements that you can pick something different out of every time you hear it.
Some of that Stew did after we left. I think that’s actually him playing the electric rhythm guitar; he did that in a couple of places where he thought it could use a little bit of help. And I agreed.
There’s a lot going on without it being cluttered – and that’s just great choices. It says a lot about the players: nobody’s going, “Look at me! Look at me!”
“Sometimes” has some grit and grease, but the keyboard keeps it from being a guitar song. It kind of holds everything at bay.
Yeah – that was a Rhodes. I had this melody that was basically the tune. I didn’t want it to be the piano; didn’t want it to be an organ … and I asked, “Do you guys have a Rhodes here?”
And they said, “Yeah – hang on.”
10 minutes later, we had this beautiful old suitcase Rhodes. Again, it’s Dan being his tasteful self, not doing anything more than is absolutely needed.
The guitar break on “Sometimes” has moments that almost sound like Hendrix-style backwards-suck to the tone … but I don’t think it’s a reversed loop.
No, no. (laughs) Part of it is, you know, loving Hendrix; and part of it has to do with the BMF fuzz pedal I was using – when you hit it hard enough, it starts to cave in on itself a little bit. That and bending the notes the right way, you get kind of a backwards effect. I think it was all one pass – “Turn it on and let’s do this.”
Stew said, “What are you doing?” (laughter) “That’s that weird Marc Ford backwards-forwards guitar thing.”
I said, “Yeah, well … I got that going for me …” (laughter)
Big harmonies again on “Badge of Descension”. I love how the acoustic guitar hands it off to the organ … and then it sounds like a 6-string electric right on the wingtip of a pedal steel at the same time, weaving with each other.
That’s what I thought, too – but Stew said it was two pedal steel tracks. I think he’s lying to me, but … whatever. (laughter)
“Call Me Faithful” had to be the closer – it couldn’t be anywhere else except the last track on this album. It’s funny; I think it’s the least amount of guitar on any of the album, but at the same time, it’s the most you.
Thanks. That’s one of the older songs; I wrote it on tour in Europe years ago. My wife and I were about to be separated at the time and it’s just basically just me going, “Sorry … I’m sorry …”
I love that song; so does my wife – every time she hears it, she bawls.
When we played it, Dan did that outro thing – and the first time I heard the playback, I said, “That’s the end of the record, right there.”
I knew “If I’d Waited” needed to start and “Call Me Faithful” needed to end – and the rest I didn’t care. I told Stew to decide.
So you’re heading out on tour over across?
We fly to England and meet up with the band to rehearse. First show’s in London; then we go to Europe for almost six weeks; then we’re back in the UK for a week.
The coolest part is, Elijah’s going with me. He’s going to open up the shows with an acoustic set – and then he jumps in with the Phantom Limb guys and they’re my band.
Oh, man – to do that with your son is such a great thing, Marc.
Yeah – he played with me when I had Fuzz Machine. I think he turned 18 on the road … we had to sneak him into most of the clubs. (laughter) He’s amazing; he blows me away as a player and as a person. It’s really wonderful to get to spend 6 weeks road-tripping around Europe with him.
And then come home and tour the states with this music?
Yeah, I’d like to. The Phantom Limb guys, all they ever wanted to do was come tour the States. And I’ve told them, “Well, I’d rather go to Europe …” (laughter) But yeah: if it made sense financially, I’d love to have them over here.
Marc, I wish you all the luck in the world. It’s been great talking with you. You’re not only a survivor – you’re proving that there’s plenty of room for family in rock ‘n’ roll.
I appreciate that; thanks, man.
*****
Brian Robbins flies on the wingtip of a pedal steel with his buddies in The Horseshoe Crabs over at www.brian-robbins.com
