Young Southpaw talks to phenomenal Norwegian guitarist Hedvig Mollestad about her new record Ekhidna, opening for John McLaughlin while six months pregnant and having just had appendix surgery, snakes, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Lifeson, and much more.
https://soundcloud.com/hedvigmollestadtrio
Hedvig Mollestad: How do you feel about John McLaughlin’s way through music, his career, where he started and where he is now
Young Southpaw: I listened to that new record he put out a couple months ago, I enjoyed it. My favourite stuff of John McLaughlin’s are those Miles Albums, those electric Miles albums. A Tribute To Jack Johnson, I could listen to that forever. Just wonderful playing. And of course Bitches Brew and Live/Evil and all those. That for me is my favourite type of music.
HM: Live/Evil and Bitches Brew to me also is just, that’s just the defining what you have to try to avoid, because you can never be close to how good those records are. So if you play that kind of music it’s really hard to avoid those references. It’s really really really hard because you can never be that good. And still it’s so fun when you get into that kind of place with musicians. Absolutely.
Something I found fascinating with John McLaughlin because he is just a machine, like his technique, talking about fast but he has his own way of playing fast. It’s very accentuated, in a very pentatonic-based position. But suddenly it’s not. And I’ve been thinking, because the Mahavishnu records has this thing that is something that I’m still listening to when I listen to them, that is the guitar sound. It’s wrenching, and it’s roaring, and it’s in your - it’s almost inside your face, because it’s so close. To me, that is one of the things that I really cherish.
......
HM: The Antilone riff is very jumpy
YS: It’s like a frantic boogie. And the opening, my first thought was AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’.
HM: Yeah. I love AC/DC, really love them. Yes, that is a great reference, and also the Black Sabbath opening. The rain and the thunder. That’s fantastic, I love that reference. Putting on a jazz record in 2020 and saying ‘ah, I hear AC/DC in this jazz-rock’, that is a goal achieved. Thank you so much.
EPISODE 57 - LOU MATHEWS & JIM GAVIN
EPISODE 56 - MIKEY GEORGESON II
EPISODE 55 - RACHEL LOVE
EPISODE 54 - LANA BASTAŠIĆ
EPISODE 53 - MØTRIK
EPISODE 52 - PHILIP JEAYS
EPISODE 51 - MIKE CARLON
EPISODE 50 - ANTON BARBEAU II
EPISODE 49 - JOHN HIGGS II
EPISODE 48 - BREATHLESS
EPISODE 47 - BRECHT EVENS
EPISODE 46 - THE CATENARY WIRES
EPISODE 45 - FIGHTMILK
EPISODE 44 - REGGIE CHAMBERLAIN-KING & BRIAN SHOWERS ON CONALL CEARNACH'S 'THE FATAL MOVE'
EPISODE 43 - STEPHEN COATES
EPISODE 42 - ANDREW SHAW
EPISODE 41 - BEN SIDDALL FROM THE LODGER
EPISODE 40 - PETER BEBERGAL
EPISODE 39 - HEDVIG MOLLESTAD II
EPISODE 38 - STEVE AYLETT
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