The Jesus and Mary Chain have shared their fresh opinions on rock guitar.
In a new interview with Stereogum at New York’s Total Bummer festival, the brothers and Scottish legends shared that Eddie Van Halen “ruined rock guitar.“
“I can’t stand Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing. I think he ruined rock guitar all through the ’80s and ’90s ’cause so many people copied him,” said William Reid.
On what he does like, he shared that Peter Hook, of Joy Division and New Order, has far better bass riffs.
Whilst the Total Bummer festival was full of what many may call ‘shoegaze’ bands, such as Julie and Drop Nineteens, the brothers also told Stereogum that they think the genre doesn’t actually exist.
On his own guitar style, Jim Reid shared that “Not having a lot of equipment actually forces you to be more inventive. I can play guitar, but only just. It’s kinda deliberate.”
“I play guitar to the level that I need to play guitar. And sometimes knowing too much about making music gets in the way, and it ends up back to Eddie Van Halen again, do you know what I mean?”
