KIM MITCHELL - Max'ed Out On Amazement Page 5
by Martin Popoff

"I don't look at it as radical," continues Kim, disagreeing with my quip with respect to the rest of the rhythm section, the drums, or more specifically the drum sound. "I just look at it as a lot of attitude. We're not doing any strange weird special effects or it's not recorded in any weird, unusual manner. The drummer is an "A" list drummer in Nashville. So he's sitting in studios doing country all day and he wanted to seriously bust out and do some rocking. Although he does play on all kinds of rock records too. But I don't think it's unusual or radical. I think it fits the sound of the album. The album has a certain sound and everything. Yeah, it's not a metal drum sound, it's not a Michael Buble drum sound, it's not a Beatles drum sound, it's a Greg Morrow drum sound. Very aggressive. And cool drumming."

And back up to the guitars on our survey. By the way, we didn't talk about Kim's singing (and what is there to talk about?) - I love it, always have, and never thought anything odd about it. Still, playing Kim Mitchell and Max (the world's only Zappa-esque pomp rock band) for various American friends, oddly, I've had more than a few point out the vocals as a bit off-putting. OK, axes afire... all over this thing, they are. And weirdly, there's a bluesiness to the playing, but never, ever in a blues idiom. "Yeah, I think that comes from my attitude on the guitar, a lot of the bluesy riffs," semi-agrees Kim. "But it's surrounded with all sorts of racket, like I say, pieces falling off the bus."

Favourite solos? There's a crazy one in 'Killer's Name' - live last year at a festival in the idyllic forested heart of BC, Nakusp - saw 21 deer and two rabbits on the midnight drive back to my parents' house on Kootenay Lake - Kim played a monstrous solo guitar showcase of this song, done that way, he says, 'cos he hadn't taught the band the track yet.

"Yes, I have a crazy one in 'Killer's Name'," laughs Kim, "but my favourite two guitar solos are, 'N'awlin Nights', the last tune on the album, because there's like a duck quacking. It goes quack, and we f**kin' laughed every time that went by, because in the middle of the solo I go, 'OK, what am I going to do?' And I just hit that note, switched the pickup and went blasting into another section. And then there's 'Rock That Ride' which is a little more structured - I like the solo in that."

KIM MITCHELL - Max'ed Out On Amazement Page 6