I’m good now, thankfully. It’s been a while. But to be honest when I broke it, I had no idea that I’d broken it. I had no idea. I’ve never broken a bone before. I was picking up a case after a gig. Maybe it weighed 75 pounds. When I picked it up I heard a little pop. Originally I thought “Oh, my elbow hurts a little”, you know like when you stand up and your knee pops? I thought that is what had happened to my elbow. But in actuality, my arm kept turning and I had to stop it. I knew something was wrong. So, when I went to the emergency room they initially thought that I’d torn my bicep muscle but they took an x-ray and you could see there was a chip in the bone. I freaked out. I couldn’t believe it. They told me I had to have an emergency surgery to get it fixed. It was every guitar player’s worst nightmare.
– Yeah, you were in the middle of a tour when it happened?
– Yeah. I’m sitting there thinking “Can’t you guys just tape it up?!” They said I couldn’t do anything or go anywhere. It was horrible. The biggest fear when I woke up was that I wasn’t going to be able to move my fingers. But everything went great. It took a long time to rehab. For a while I couldn’t even get my arm straight. Thankfully now I’m good and if anything that accident opened my eyes to the fact that anything can be taken away in a moment.
– Although it was your right arm, you are actually left-handed, but play right handed. Has that given you something different, an advantage somehow, having your dominant hand on the fretboard?
– I felt like I had more control with this hand. Maybe I’m crazy, but it always felt like I could bend a little easier, and felt like I’m at home. That’s probably why I don’t use a guitar pick either. A pick never felt right. When I grab a guitar, I want to feel it under my fingers. So when I don’t use the pick that gives it a kind of unique sound, but I also feel like I have a lot of strength in my left hand, and that helps me take it over the edge a little more.
– My favourite guitarist, Jeff Beck, also didn’t use a pick. Was he the reason you don’t use one?
– Absolutely. Jeff and Albert King. When I heard his sound I thought “It sounds so quacky. How does he get that?!” He’s pulling up on strings. Then I discovered “Blow by Blow”, and I thought “This is the best ever”. I also heard Mark Knopfler and Derek Trucks. If these guys can get this amazing sound using their fingers I might as well just give it a shot.
– It’s all about the feeling for you?
-100 per cent. More than anything, the music has to feel good, not just sound good. My guitar playing is so physical. I get off on the physicality. I feel like I’m the one making the sounds and I can put everything I have into it. It’s intimate.
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