Bryan Jones
Crew – Guitar Tech
1. Who are you on tour with now and what are you doing for them, explain in detail?
I recently connected with a great group called The Mrs.
I am on board to facilitate production and brand management duties, as well as backline crew chief.
The gig is mostly conducted in and around the Austin, Texas region with fly dates scattered throughout the year. It’s a HUGH change for me… staying home (mostly)
AND getting paid?!!! I’m in!
I’ve spent the previous three years working with Shania Twain as backline crew chief and guitar/fiddle tech for the band director, and one of two lead guitar players,
Cory Churko.
Previous to that, I worked with Kelly Clarkson almost exclusively starting back in
June 2007. One week before ending the Kelly Clarkson “Stronger” tour in mid December 2012, my long time friend, and previous guitar player in Kelly Clarkson band, Cory Churko, called and invited me to be apart of the Shania Twain “Still The One” show at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Side note, by the grace of God, that’s usually how it happens. So after being on the road for basically the entire year, you get to go home for one day, clean all the laundry in your bag, take a shower in YOUR OWN bathroom, and then sleep in YOUR bed….ahhh! The next morning you are off to a new gig, new peeps, and an entirely new routine. Woohoo!!
When I arrived in Vegas, it turned out I was not only teching for Cory Churko, who is saddled with 10 electric guitars (all in various tunings), 2 acoustics, and 2 fiddles, but I would be taking care of, which is a new face to me at this point,
Jason Mowery / Utility player. Now Cory is a freakishly particular kinda guy when it comes to electric guitars. Jason Mowery is EXACLY the same but with acoutic instruments…. Jason is sitting there in front of his own guitar vault with an Ultracase 5 space fiddle stand on top. I start digging in and he has 4 electrics, 2 acoustics, 1 dobro, 1 mandolin, 1 banjo, and 3 fiddles…. wait… wha what??!! Needless to say, I had my hands full for two years!!!!
I inherited the crew chief position in Vegas six months in, due to losing crew chief to a band he had worked with for many, many years. I was, and continue to be extremely honored when long time and legendary tour manager, friend, and my TM in Vegas, Chris Littleton, took me outside one day and asked me to be backline crew chief for the remainder of the “Still The One” residency. “Backline Crew Chief” basically means that I get my ass chewed first. It also means I oversee everything related to any and all band gear and players. At this point in my career, I had never been crew chief on anything of this scale. I was excited and intimidated!! Everything went great and I was invited to continue on with Shania to complete the entire “Rock This Country” tour in 2015.
2. That’s a lot of big names, what do you do for work and fun when you are not on tour with The Mrs., Shania, or KC?
I stay active with various recording and band/music projects. I also like doing guitar setups and general repairs for locals, word of mouth only! Showing up to a studio recording session and going through the band’s instruments and then listening to the players AND the engineer rave about the ability to play trough the song and not have to re-tune because the guitar is intonated properly, is always the biggest giggle to me. As a recording engineer and a player, there is nothing more maddening when trying to record something and the instrument doesn’t play in tune enough to get a flow going. I don’t want to sit in a room for hours and hours re-tuning the guitar every time I want to play in a different position on the neck. F#$* that!!
Two of my most recent music/band projects are
So Called Underground
Rae
So Called Underground is a band that my fellow tech brother, Kenny Sharetts, started as a creative outlet for the original material he writes. Rae is one of my dearest friends and band mates Kelly Hensley that lives north of the Houston, Texas area. She has a separate building on her property next to her home that has been divided into two separate work spaces. Kelly successfully operates her own business out of one side and the other is a rehearsal / recording / louge area that serves as an awesome space for writing and recording. The entire property backs up to the Sam Houston National forest. Dirtbike ride anyone!!!! When we need to burn off a little steam, we jump on the dirt bikes and tear up the 100+ miles of trails!! It is so sweet!!! I love the outdoors!! I also enjoy giving back at my local church Promiseland San Marcos. I am in the rotation to play guitar or run sound on various Sundays when I am available. PSM streams live every Sunday, 8:15am, 9:45am, and 11:30am.
Everyone is always welcome to tune in!!
My only other non musical passion is bmx collecting. I love the old school early 70’s to mid 80’s style bmx and cruiser bikes like Cook Bros, Hutch, PK Ripers, and Kuwahara.
3. That’s so cool, tell me about your favorite piece of gear that you use and why?
On the road; Peterson tuner and Kemper Profiler
The Peterson tuner is so accurate and reliable. I’ve witnessed dudes almost losing their gig because they thought their brand of tuner was fine… It’s not… Peterson and done! It is THE staple that allows me to translate the knowledge of what I do into an extremely well done job.
In the studio; 2″ – 16 track tape and 3M 996 tape…(when a project warrants it and they can afford it.) They don’t make the original 996 formula. I’m still crying inside.
Not everything needs to hit tape though, but I sure do miss the good days.
It is really hard to select just one piece of gear as a favorite. I’m a gear junkie!
Ultimately, it always comes down to what I’m recording. For instance, male lead vocals, I’m a huge fan of the CM7 or U47, or even a C12 or Elam 251. I do like to ask the singer if they have a preference… Some guys can rock a sm58 in hand.
For female vocals, the M49, when I have access to it. Which is rare. Boo.
I subbed for an engineer buddy, Brian Baker, for a day (back in the 90’s) at a studio in Houston, TX called Sound Arts. The studio owner had tons of vintage gear and had recently acquired a pair of channel strips and a stereo compressor out of an old EMI console. I’ll never forget it cause of the big quarter moon style faders. We used a Neumann KM 56 tube microphone but it was the stereo version if I remember correctly. Any who, the producer Sam Taylor, was playing guitar really softly and quiet. The mic pre’s input gains were cranked WAY up and then compressed pretty aggressively and it sounded wicked!!! Until the garbage truck rolled by.
4. Ha! Oops. I know how that goes. Is there any specific gear you like that most people might not know of, what makes it so special?
On the road: The Pic Stik!!! This little jewel attached to the guitar strap and holds guitar picks. No tape, no mess, they come back empty and I fill them back up!
5. Nice, that’s handy. What is your favorite place you’ve visited while on tour and what makes it so memorable?
New Zealand! I was on tour with Kelly Clarkson and the entire band and crew took a ferry from the main land to a smaller island and rented scooters. A motley crue scooter gang!! The scenery was the most gorgeous and breathtaking examples of the earth that I had ever seen. I’m ready to go back!!
6. I’ve never been to New Zealand, I can’t wait to go someday. What’s it like to live in Austin, TX, with so many musicians that even the doorman can shred?
I would not know cause I’m never there, ha!! Seriously, on any given night, you can find somebody or some band killing it, in various musical genres. I appreciate the diverse community of hard working musicians in and around Austin and in the great state of Texas. I have mad respect for those who continue to follow their musical and/or entertainment passions.
7. Me too, I’m still chasing away at it. Explain what it’s like for you to work closely with Cory Churko, possibly the most amazing person and musician I have ever met?
You just said it. I am SO blessed!! Forever grateful!! It is a neverending education.
Cory pushes me on all fronts professionally and personally. I truly enjoy the challenge. Every tour is an opportunity to put together new gear and routing to accomplish everything that is required and asked of us by the artist and tour.
Cory comes up with new guitar rigs every tour. In 2007, I did my first Kelly Clarkson tour with Cory. He ran his own Pro Tools rig that “chased” the show machine for patch changes as it processed all his instruments AND vocals before it went to FOH/MON worlds. Cory has some of the best ears! He gets great sounds. His ears are so keen to what needs to happen in the big picture and even the little nuances. We are always on the look out for new gear to keep “the boss” happy, the boss being Shania, Kelly, Reba, etc. Over the years, we have simplified things. Sort of.
Did I mention Cory is an amazing player and singer?? I mean, that’s where it all starts, the player. His ability to write or construct parts, learn, then play and sing his parts in tune, in time, and with vibe. That’s awesome! Cory always says, “Put your best foot forward”. Cory’s consistent vocal and instrument execution night after night is what I have come to respect most. Cory is the real deal.
9. Yeah, he is great. Tell me about your role in “So Called Underground” with Kenny Sharretts, another one of my best friends and a badass drummer and drum tech?
Oh man, again I am blessed to be included as one of two guitarists with So Called Underground. Kenny’s creative energy/process can make these raw, crazy, all over the place, ideas flow in at light speed! Then, other song ideas arrive focused, direct, and some fully done! I get involved in different places with each song. Sometimes it’s helping with incomplete songs ideas, other times, the main outline of a song is completed by Kenny, Christina, and Carson and I contribute to final song tweaks and production ideas. When we are both off the road, I usually head up the recording/engineering of the basic tracks.
A dear friend, and former band mate, Dwight Baker, owns a studio called Matchbox Studios in the hill country. Over the years of playing and touring, I have acquired a bunch of guitars. I keep about half of them at his studio. It ranges from Les Paul’s, SG’s, Tele’s, 12-string Strat’s, various acoustics in standard and Nashville tunings, papooses, mandolins, a resonator and a dobro. We trade out studio time when the studio is not booked. That feeds my creative bug and allows me to stay on my engineering chops and try new things.
Once the basic tracks are cut, we all work as a group to refine and finish each tune.
To date, we have had the privilege of having some special peeps like Jerry McPherson, Jason Halbert, and Nate ******, play on certain tracks.
Sometimes I am not the right guy for a part or song so I am happy to step back and let others take the lead on mixing or tracking and playing specific guitar parts.
The song is the most important aspect. Whether I am playing or engineering, I truly enjoy being apart of the creative process as a whole.
10. I love writing with Kenny too, he is very gifted. When you’re in the studio, what is your preferred recording software and why?
Pro Tools, cause everyone has it. I complete most of my work with Pro Tools. I like the workflow flexibility it offers. I used Nuendo since v1 and still do. I like Logic 10 for writing as well. Learning DP now
11. There’s so many to choose from, I continue to learn as much as possible for all of those as well, each offering different advantages. How did you break into the music industry?
I grew up playing music in different bands with different peeps. The first band I was ever in was called Blue Green Horseflys! With Jason Touchette and David Piggott, two of my best friends. It was a punk rock band and we would switch instruments every song. That’s how we wrote! Ha! Each song had its own thing cause each guy would play a different instrument. It was nuts too because the lyrical content was pretty filthy at times. All in good fun though!
I later played guitar in a band called Podunk for ten years starting in 1991.
Jason Touchette was the singer / guitar player, Paul Soroski played bass, and the above mentioned, Dwight Baker played drums. We made a handful of records and toured a ton. I remember Podunk opening for Kings X on the Welcome Home Mr. Boubous tour. I ended up running monitors for Kings X that tour.
When not doing weekend warrior shows or just balls out touring, I produced and engineered demos, EP’s, and records for other bands in various recording studios to make a living.
In 2001, I left the band. As a musician I struggled financially and was staring at the ripe old age of 30. I was really over the bar scene so I started hunting for a gig that “paid”. I ended up working as a tour manager, guitar tech, sound dude, and merch dude for the one and only Monte Montgomery.
www.montemontgomery.net
Six months later I received a call to guitar and drum tech on Michelle Branch.
Since then, I have toured with The Dixie Chicks, Enrique Iglasias, Anastasia,
Kelly Clarkson, and Shania.
12. That’s rad! It happens so quickly. All of a sudden you’re in. Explain an average day off, while on the road?
Man, back in the day I wanted to explore the city and just take it all in!
Now, some days are spent in the hotel room jamming and writing while other days I do absolutely nothing!!! Ha! Now that’s a good day off!!
Thank you! Bryan Jones, Guitar Tech. It has been an honor to interview you, and a pleasure to get to know you better…
