![\"\"](\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/RussHewitt_186_sm_myspace.jpeg\" "\\"RussHewitt_186_sm_myspace\\"")
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Nueva Flamenco guitarist, Russ Hewitt, has taken an interesting road to get to where he landed. Starting off as a rock guitarist, Hewitt spent more than 20 years of his career in the genre. However, once he discovered the nueva flamenco style of guitar, Hewitt found his true calling. Read on to find out how he got his start in the genre, what approach he takes to set himself apart from other guitarists, and just why recording his first record took almost 3 years!<\/p>\n
CP:<\/strong> I\u2019d love to just start off for people who are a little less familiar with your music, can you tell us kind of a little bit about how you got your start and developed your style?<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> Well, I’d say that probably 90 percent of all the guitarists that play this nueva flamenco style actually started off doing rock guitar. I was no different (laughs). I spent my youth learning the latest Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Ozzy songs, I spent about 20 years doing the rock thing of cutting out a CD and so forth. While all of that was going on, I discovered, and actually I discovered it studying classical guitar in North Texas\u2014 I discovered this \u00a0nueva flamenco style, and I just enjoyed it. It was Ottmar’s first CD, and I thought, \u201cThis is very enjoyable,\u201d and I started to gravitate towards it. Even after I graduated with a degree in classical and continued doing the rock stuff, I found that when I wasn\u2019t out on the road and I was doing Duke\u2019s locally, that restaurant, you know, they wanted a little more something that was upbeat, and the classical just wasn\u2019t, but they all loved this nueva flamenco thing I was doing. So, I just started doing it at various restaurants in the early 90’s. It was good money, it was fun to do, and it was doing during a time when rock and the guitar solos were out of fashion. But ironically enough, doing this nueva flamenco style was all I did all night. So I was able to not only keep up my chops, but it was a different outlet of release from the rock things I was doing. So I had been doing that for a while, and then the producer of my last rock band album actually, I flew him out to Dallas to do some overdubs, and he went to a nightclub and heard me do my flamenco thing with my old band. He said, \u201cYeah, at some point, I would love to record the band.\u201d At that time, my focus was the rock band, and trying to get it off the ground and going. Finally, when the rock band disbanded, my producer just felt that we should move forward with this nueva flamenco style. So, not only was he the producer of the rock band stuff, and both of my nueva flamenco CDs, but he played bass on them and is now currently my live band player.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> That’s awesome.<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> And the irony of it all is that between the 25 years of rock and the seven years now I\u2019ve been doing this nueva flamenco stuff, I\u2019ve gotten more radio play, more radio press, more CD sales in flamenco than all of the years of the rock stuff combined. So, it took a long while, but I\u2019m finally where I\u2019m supposed to be.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Totally. I think it\u2019s so funny too because so many people say, \u201cI did this for so long, and the second I changed gears, all of a sudden, everything started to click.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> Yeah, and I think, \u201cMan, what if I had started 10 years earlier doing this and so forth, and so much of it is timing too. Ten years ago, I wouldn\u2019t have met my producer, so I would have maybe self-released this stuff, but I wouldn\u2019t have had the players I had on it, I wouldn\u2019t have been at the same place I\u2019m playing at now. So I wish I would have started with this, but I think I would have ended up much different than where I would be now had I started so early in this style.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Sure. And do you feel that your background studying classical guitar really gave you an edge technique-wise to transition you into this nueva flamenco style?<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> Absolutely not.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> No?<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> (Laughs) But it did help with everything I did in rock, you know, it\u2019s funny. And I love having these conversations where I\u2019m in Dallas, I\u2019m in University of North Texas, I\u2019m hiring these players and so forth, and I\u2019m actually now good friends with the teacher that taught me at North Texas all these years ago. But there is absolutely nothing I do now that has anything to do not only with classical guitar but with school, period. I\u2019m doing flamenco stuff, and that isn\u2019t taught— you know, I\u2019m writing songs, anything using exotic scales, that isn\u2019t taught. I am improv-ing over changes, they don\u2019t teach that in classical. I\u2019m reading chord charts and all you read is music in classical and really, the thing that I contribute to my classical guitar studies is it taught me the process of learning. But, playing with a pick came from playing the rock guitar stuff, the majority of my chops are 80s shred stuff like Yngwie and Paul Gilbert that all apply to the style, which is what everybody else does. Like Rodrigo y Gabriela, that guy is a 80s metal guy that now does stuff like Strunz and Farah.\u00a0 All of those crazy licks and so forth, those are rock guitar licks applied to the nylon string. And one of the things that I have been getting in to, once I started doing this full time, is the gypsy jazz guitar stuff. So, a lot of my licks are\u00a0bastardized versions of gypsy jazz guitar stuff too. So that\u2019s the combo that I have.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Oh man, I love having these conversations, I hope you know how entertained I am- because I had a completely different experience. I went to a contemporary music school, so, I had the complete opposite side, where I barely studied classical music at all in college, and I feel like technique-wise, now I kind of wish I had a little bit at least, because I\u2019m really good at reading down charts, and I\u2019m God-awful at reading sheet music if I ever wanted to. So it\u2019s total opposite, it\u2019s so funny to hear you be like, \u201cNo, that didn\u2019t help me at all, that\u2019s not at all what I\u2019m doing,\u201d whereas I\u2019m like completely the opposite, where I\u2019m like, \u201cIt helped me do all these things and it\u2019s what everyone else is doing, but it\u2019s not helping me do some of the crap I want to get done now.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> Well, you remember, now, being a product of the late 80s, and I was doing the shred guitar. \u00a0I spent, probably to my fault, way too much time doing technique and scales, as opposed to writing songs or so forth. So by the time that I finally got to North Texas and started studying classical; my chops were already probably peaking at that point. It was there long before the classical stuff, and so had I not done that, there would have been some official stuff to it, but even looking back at the schooling days, there is, in hindsight, even designing the classical guitar program, there wasn\u2019t a whole lot of emphasis on technique. Now let\u2019s say if you were doing some legato stuff and your left hand was a little weak, they\u2019d say, \u201cOkay, here are some techniques to work on them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Really and truly, the only thing- once you get past reading the notes, performing the piece- the only thing that distinguishes one player from another is their technique. Their ability for control of the strings, if they can pull off a fast run, if it\u2019s clean. So there should have been a tremendous amount of focus on technique, and in school, it really wasn\u2019t. It was, \u201cOkay, learn this piece, perform it, I noticed a little deficiency here, so work on this exercise.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n You know, it should have been more of a boot camp type of thing, and it just wasn\u2019t. And ironically enough, the guy I\u2019m playing with tonight is a friend of mine, graduated with a jazz guitar degree from North Texas. What he has been doing since he\u2019s been graduated for the last 15, 20 years, is a 80s hair metal cover band. And that\u2019s all he does. He does a Guns n’ Roses tribute band, he does an 80s tribute thing, and I was doing an Aerosmith thing. Some art kid was like, \u201cOh, what would North Texas say?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n And he\u2019s like, \u201cYou know, they\u2019d probably be proud, because I\u2019m the only one that\u2019s gigging.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYep.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Exactly.<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> So many people that I know that graduated just don\u2019t even do the music thing anymore. So the fact that I get to do it for a living already is a success, in my eyes.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Absolutely. And kind of going into your writing a little bit, I know you said you didn\u2019t really study that as much. Did that come naturally for you, or did you kind of have to start studying it or just kind of practice doing it? How did you get into it?<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> Oh, that\u2019s a good question. You know, with the writing style, like when I was doing the rock band stuff, I took a long time to write stuff. I took a long time because I wanted to make sure it was right, I wanted to make sure that it didn\u2019t sound like the other rock stuff that was happening at the time. When I sat down to start writing my first CD, I had to, as an artist, go, \u201cWhat am I going to do that is going to be different, and that I\u2019m going to bring to the table, and that\u2019s going to distinguish me from the other guys trying this stuff?\u201d As a listener- and I\u2019m sure you\u2019re well aware of this- as I\u2019m listening to a CD, if by the fourth song, I\u2019ve heard it all, and it\u2019s 12 songs of the exact same thing, that\u2019s horrible.<\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s the other thing, you know, there\u2019s a lot of stuff that I think that I approach that other artists in this style don\u2019t think about, stuff like: I won\u2019t have any more than two songs in the same key on the album.\u00a0In this style, everyone loves E minor or D minor. Well, you hear four songs in E minor, and you’re bored. So, I limit the keys to no more than two songs per CD in the key. Tempos, meters, you know, on the first CD, obviously there\u2019s 6\/8, there\u2019s 7\/8, this next can be 3\/4. There can be any variation of that. On the new CD, I\u2019ve got a tango, I\u2019ve got a milonga, I\u2019ve got a samba, some cha-chas, I\u2019ve got a song in 11\/8. So I\u2019m very conscious, you know, I don\u2019t want every song four-on-the-floor, straight rhumba. Sonically, it\u2019s very boring too. So, with writing this first CD, my approach was to use exotic scales as extensively as I can. Like, “Baja el Sol,” the first song I wrote, I used the Hungarian Gypsy minor scale. I wanted to use exotic scales. I noticed some players in this genre will do certain things a lot, but not others. Like Jesse Cook uses a lot of 3-noter string stuff but doesn\u2019t get any arpeggios. So I\u2019m going to add an arpeggio, so I don\u2019t sound like Jesse Cook.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Right.<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> Now Strunz and Farah, they do arpeggios and 3-noter strings, but they don\u2019t do any blues-based pentatonic riffs, so I\u2019ll add that. I\u2019m aware of what others are doing, and I\u2019ll either avoid it, or add something to it, where it doesn\u2019t just sound like this guy is just ripping off Al Di Meola. That’s in my thought process when I write this stuff. You know, I literally wrote it, with an old, old Roland 880. This thing is ten years behind the technology curve, but it\u2019s all I needed. I mean, literally, I recorded one click track, recorded one rhythm, and then wrote the songs that way.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> (Laughs) Glad to know someone’s still getting use out of that!<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> It\u2019s a very interesting process on this first CD because I used my local guys and the producer flew in to record us. We recorded the CD, finished it, mixed it, and then listened back to it. There were all kinds of sonic problems, like the drummer recorded with old drum heads, so the lower bass notes made the bass sound out of tune, but the bass wasn\u2019t out of tune. So I was like, \u201cOh, no!\u201d And then the question is whether we\u2019re going to re-record it. The drummer played too busy, so then when we brought in the percussionist, he was like, \u201cThere\u2019s no space for me to play.\u00a0Do you want me to play on top?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI guess.\u201d You know?<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Totally. It’s a common problem though when you’re tracking things separately. Sometimes it’s just hard to leave space.<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> Even in my guitar sound, I play live with a Godin guitar, but we mic the Godin because once you plug in a nylon string guitar, there\u2019s a plastic sound quality that there is no getting rid of. If I play it, you\u2019ll hear the plastic. So we mic the Godin, and the problem with mic-ing the Godin was, because of the thin body of the guitar, there is absolutely no bass and there is a ton of mid-range. So after we finished listening and fixed what we could, the producer was like, \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d and I was like, \u201cI think we can do better.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n So we completely trashed the whole CD.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Wow. That’s a bold move.<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> Yeah. We re-recorded and everything. The whole process took three years from beginning to end to re-do. Now, in the digital world, this stuff lasts forever. So our thought is, mix a song, be as sonically perfect as possible, and the playing has to be spot-on. Because if it is done right, 20 years from now, if you listen to the CD, it sounds new. You know? Or if it is done cheaply, then you\u2019re going to hear it. In the many years of the rock stuff that I did, I\u2019ve had to do the pre-excuse before playing someone a CD. “We\u2019ve got much better songs now, but check this out,\u201d or, \u201cWe got a different singer, and it sounds better,\u201d or, the pre-excuse before handing a product out.\u00a0 I spent a lot of time doing that. I just wanted something where I could hand over a product and be proud of it, \u00a0and that\u2019s why it took so long.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> What are you looking most forward to about coming out here to Anthology?<\/em><\/p>\n RH:<\/strong> California seems to really embrace new music and new artists in general. There\u2019s a little niche that I found here, and it\u2019s very nice. But it\u2019s time with the second CD being out, and having some chart success on both discs, you know, now is the time to try to expand not only our audience, but just to get out there and do the big concert thing more with the band. It\u2019s always been, and I feel confident, if you hear us, if you see us, we\u2019ll eventually bring you over.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em> Russ Hewitt on Spotify<\/a><\/p>\n WHAT: <\/em>Russ Hewitt <\/strong><\/em> An Interview with Russ Hewitt By Casey Pukl Nueva Flamenco guitarist, Russ Hewitt, has taken an interesting road to get to where he landed. Starting off as a rock guitarist, Hewitt spent more than 20 years of his career in the genre. However, once he discovered the nueva flamenco style of guitar, Hewitt found his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1442],"tags":[11512],"class_list":["post-6634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","tag-artist-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32896,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6634\/revisions\/32896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSpecial thanks to Russ for his time! Be sure to check out his incredible show tomorrow night\u2014 you won’t want to miss out!<\/p>\n
\nWHEN: <\/span>Wednesday, June 20, 7:30pm <\/strong><\/em>
\nTICKETS: $10-$24 <\/span>Buy Tickets<\/a><\/em>
\nMORE INFO: <\/span>Artist Profile<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"