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Kee Marcello | |
EuropeArticle from Phaze 1, November 1988 |
"ON THE WORLD TOUR WE GAINED A LOT OF EXPERIENCE AND THE BAND BECAME MUCH TIGHTER... THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO AS A BAND IS PLAY LIVE."
"What really made up my mind was that the band were so together. I mean, you could see the determination in their eyes, they all had the same goals."
Kee picked up the guitar for the first time at the age of 13, inspired by the likes of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Carlos Santana. At the age of 18, he left the "small country town" where he had been brought up and moved to Stockholm, where a succession of events led to work first as a session guitarist and then as a producer.
"It's difficult to decide what made me produce albums and become a session musician", recalls Marcello. "It was a series of things that happened that made me do that. I met the right people... Someone told me that everybody in this business thinks it's a matter of who you know, but actually the thing is to be able to put yourself in the position to meet the ones you should know."
With considerable production experience under his belt, hasn't there ever been the temptation for Marcello to take over the reins of a Europe recording?
"No. I experienced it before. It's really hard to get away with producing and performing an album. It's a lot of work just doing the guitar parts. You'd think it would make things easy but it's really much harder work and I'll never do it again."
So working with a producer who is detached from the band is a definite advantage?
"They say 'I'll keep this one' and 'What do you think about this sound?' - that sort of thing. It's great. It helps to have somebody objective to come up with ideas."
To play the kind of lead guitar expected of a band like Europe, Kee keeps himself in trim, picking up a guitar every day and running through a series of licks or scales. Before a concert, the preparation is more intense: "About one hour before the concert, I get dressed and then I lock myself in a room with an amplifier and I play the guitar for about 40 minutes. I start with just slow scales... then eventually I'm really warmed up for the evening. About five minutes before the gig we all sing harmonies together to warm our voices up."
And who said rock bands weren't professional?
ChitChat
Interview by Chris Hunt
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