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Thursday November 17th, 2001
Ian Love: Fate and good fortune with Rival Schools
by Lisa Sharken
A veteran of the New York hardcore scene, guitarist Ian Love made his markplaying in groups such as Burn and Die 116. Love recently joined forces with fellow New Yorker Walter Schreifels, a guitarist who served in NYHC groups Gorilla Biscuits and Youth Of Today and most recently was the frontman of the revered post-hardcore act Quicksand. The new band they formed is called Rival Schools and the title of its debut album is United By Fate [Island]. The band and albums names were borrowed from a favorite video game located in an Avenue A pizza place where the members were frequent customers. The game was called Rival Schools United By Fate. It seemed to be an appropriate match.
Love introduces himself to gibson.com by furnishing some background on his primary influences as a player and which artists have helped to sculpt his musical style. Love also provides some insight on how he constructs parts that strengthen the music of Rival Schools and enrich the groups over all sound.
Who are your main influences as a player?
Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and The Edge are the three big ones that I listened to.
Did you learn by taking lessons or were you self-taught?
I was pretty much self-taught. Id get records and then sit in my room and play along with them. I would also pick up magazines and try to figure out the songs from reading the sheet music and tablature.
How does the music you create with Rival Schools differ from that of your previous bands?
The music I play in Rival Schools is a little heavier than some of the music I played in other bands. Whats really nice about playing in Rival Schools is that I have a lot of room to play guitar and not worry about songwriting or singing too much. Its definitely given me the opportunity to just play what I feel like playing.
Where do you see the most change in yourself as a player?
My playing is constantly changing. Every time I get a new record or hear a new song or even just a tiny part of a song that I like, it inspires me to play things in a different way or to try something new.
Are there any specific players who have been influential to you in terms of style and tone or is it just a conglomeration of anything you might happen to hear?
Its just anything that I hear that sounds cool. Im not really into guitar hero type players. Im more into bands who use guitars in cool ways with a style and sound that are interesting. Many times its a song that has a unique sound to it, like the sound of a keyboard or some other instrument that gets me to play guitar differently. I also like to listen to great singers. Jeff Buckley is one of my favorite artists.
As players, how do you and Walter differ in both style and tone?
Walter is the songwriter and hes usually the one who comes up with most of the main riffs, so hell just rip with that. Walter also plugs straight into the amp, so his tone is pretty basic. I use a lot of different effects, so I do all kinds of different things sonically and kind of layer stuff on top of what he plays. Were very different and the contrast works out really well.
Describe your live rig.
In my live setup, my main guitar is a 69 Gibson ES-335 with a Bigsby. I also have a 64 Telecaster and a 69 Guild jumbo acoustic that I bring out for when we play in-store acoustic sets. Onstage, I play through a 72 Marshall 2x12 open-back combo. Its a 50 watt amp and it sounds amazing. Its the one that came out right after the Bluesbreaker combo.
For my effects, I have a custom pedalboard that was made by a guy in Atlanta. In it, I have an Ernie Ball volume pedal, VHT Valvulator, Colorsound fuzz/wah pedal, Boss Supershifter pedal, Z-Vex Fuzz Factory, Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, Line 6 Modulation Modeler and Line 6 Delay Modeler with an expression pedal to change the settings. I also have a Theramin that I use through a Boss delay pedal. Its a really small, custom-built Theramin that was built in London. Its about the size of a walkie talkie.
Tell us about the studio experience. Did you use the same gear to track the record?
The recording experience was cool. We had a lot more stuff to play around with and a lot more time to work. There were over 20 guitars there, including a lot of stuff that Gibson loaned to us. We hired a guitar tech who brought a lot of stuff in too, like old Echoplexes-a solid-state and tube one, and a lot of effects pedals and more old amps like an original Vox AC30 Top Boost. For my tracks on the record, I used a VHT Pitbull head and Bogner 2x12 open-back cabinet along with a tweed Fender Bassman, an Ampeg Jet and an old Gibson combo that was really cool. We also used Walters Marshall and my Marshall JCM 800 series head. I also used an old Leslie cabinet to run my guitar through on a few tracks.
Did you use one specific setup for the main tracks and many different setups for texture tracks?
Yes. My main setup was my ES-335 with the VHT head and Bogner cabinet. The thing that changed the most was the guitars. Id use the 335, but I also used a borrowed Les Paul on some tracks and my Tele on others.
For a lot of the stuff I do, the sounds are very different on each song. Id use a lot of effects and set them so that everything would really differ on all the tracks.
In the studio, we had all the amps set up, miked and ready to go, so all you had to do was change where the cable was plugged in. It was really easy. For a lot of the songs, we didnt have everything planned out, as far as what tones we wanted. So there was a lot of experimentation going on. There were some songs where wed just want one particular sound, so wed just plug in and let it rip.
The producer helped us a lot with constructing the sounds and knowing which guitars and effects to use in specific spots, so we didnt record the same parts over and over with different setups. There were a lot of parts where wed have Walters riff with his straight amp tone, then Id play my parts with a combination of effects, like a crazy fuzz/wah sound, and that would be the extent of it. I had a lot of effects boxes hooked up and once you start playing with those, it really changes the way everything sounds. I used an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man on a lot of the tracks and used a Prescription octave/fuzz pedal for a lot of the fuzz sounds. I did a lot of wah stuff, too. We also had a Z-Vex Seek Wah, which was really cool. The Seek Wah was used on the beginning riff of High Acetate. We had a lot of acoustic tracks on the album, too.
How many parts would you put on a song?
It would vary. Walter would usually record one or two tracks, then Id put down a few and wed have about six guitar tracks in total. A lot of my tracks were just texture parts. I wasnt in the studio for the mixing process, but I know that some of the texture parts I recorded didnt make it on the record.
Is it difficult to cull all those texture parts into one part to play live?
No, I think its a lot of fun. Im really into experimenting and every night its going to sound a little different from the recorded tracks, but its intentional. Actually, I think its really cool to keep it sounding different. I think my job is a lot of fun and its pretty easy for me to come up with the parts.
How do you set the controls on your amp for a live gig?
I keep the bass, middle, treble and presence controls set at 6 and I have the preamp set between 5 and 6. The amp really sounds its best when the master volume is at about 5 because it pushes the tubes really well. I dont like too much distortion. The Memory Man I use has a level control on it that can be used to overdrive the sound or make it cleaner. It works in a very cool way. The way I set it, the amp sound is sensitive to picking dynamics, so it will be clean if you play lightly and it will break up a little bit if you play hard, so its all in the way you play. I dont ever do any volume swells. A lot of time Ill play with feedback with the ES-335, where Ill put the guitar up to the amp and get some cool feedback and overtones.
How do you like your guitars set up?
My guitars are strung with Gibson .010-.046 gauge strings and I like the action set as low as it will go before it starts buzzing. I use Dunlop gray nylon .73 mm picks.
What advice can you offer to another player on developing their own unique sound and style?
Just keep playing no matter what and try to find inspiration in something - and it doesnt necessarily
have to be a guitar player. Emulate or imitate the people that you like. If theres something that inspires you to play a certain way, then just go for it.
What advice would you offer to other guitarists on playing in a two-guitar band?
Just a click away . . .
Gibson ES-335
Gibson Les Pauls
Gibson electric strings
Gibson Echoplex Digital ProRival Schools
Listen to United by Fate
Rival Schools tour dates
Play whatever is best for the song and dont overplay. Most importantly, listen to the vocals and make sure that what youre doing is working with the vocals.
Who are some of your favorite new artists?
I like listening to Coldplay, Radiohead and I really like The Strokes, too.
Lisa Sharken is a New York City freelance writer. She regularly contributes to national guitar and music media as well as gibson.com.
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