Universally Speaking
Blood Sugar Tech Magik
Guitar technician Dave Lee never misses a Chili Peppers gig. He can't afford to, he's the man in charge of all John Frusciante's gear...
In 1988 Bas Player Dave Lee was marking time doing construction work. But when he almost cut off his thumb in an accident, it was time for a change...
So, Dave, how did you come to get this gig?
At that time a friend was working for RATT as their guitar tech and he suggested I get into the profession. He hooked me up with this band King Diamond and I began helping set up the monitor system. Then, when they fired the bass tech I seemed the obvious choice.
After that tour was over, another friend who has a rehearsal studio in North Hollywood, hokked me up with the guy that managed Faith No More. They still hadn't quite broken yet. I started working for them and the manager also managed other bands so I went from there to all kinds of different bands.
Eventually a guy that I'd worked with started working for the Chili Peppers, for Flea. Dave Navarro didn't have a guy at the time because his tech was working for someone else after Jane's Addiction had broken up, so I came in and helped out for a while, tech-ing for Dave. Then Dave left and John Frusciante came back and I stuck around.
What do you do when a tour's over?
For the last four and a half years the Chili Peppers have been so busy, there's very little time when they aren't working. I work with John in the studio too, doing his solo records and shows. He played acoustic shows for To Record Only Water For Ten Days and John is just one of those guys who loves to work, which keeps me full-time employed. I count my blessings for that. The atmosphere working with the Chili Peppers is great. They're very thoughtful people and are over the 'rock star' kind of thing.
How do the other guys feel about John doing his solo stuff?
They've been so busy that they're glad for him to keep on workin' while they have a little time off to rest.
What sort of thing does your tech-ing involve on a day to day basis?
Mostly just unkeep and changing strings. I change strings on every guitar for every gig. John's guitars are all stock and I have a particular way of locking the strings to the Kluson machineheads. John bends real hard so I have to make sure the strings are stretched in real good. We don't have much trouble considering so much of John's aquipment is vintage. I use three guitar tuners; a Peterson Virtual Strobe, A BOSS TU-12 and a Korg too. You gotta be sure, right?
How are John's guitar set up?
It's not real low. Some guys have 'em real low but his is pretty high.
So, what's a typical day for you?
After every show I'll talk to John and ask if there's anything in particular that he noticed that might need to be changed or improved on. I set all the equipment up and line check it during the day. The band don't soundcheck, maybe only once every few months. They'd rather just come in and play, unless there's some kind of a sound problem that needs working out. Generally they just don't soundcheck.
It seems like John is calling the shots a lot on the new records?
More of it has to do with people really trusting his opinion. John's kind of keyed in to what's a good idea and what isn't and so they listen to him. There are so many bands today that I don't think are good and it's nice to see a band that can actually play, doing so well.
What's the set like right now?
Obviously they're playing stuff off the last two records and BloodSugar, but there's been plenty of jamming lately. They'll bust into some James Brown and stuff like that. They were having a lot of fun in London because all John's big heroes were there, man. Jimmy Page was there, Jeff Beck was there, Radiohead were there, so John was just busting out all his chops. It was really fun because in the middle of a solo you'd hear The Train Kept A Rollin' from The Yardbirds and all that kind of stuff. The guys usually jam between songs.
Usually Anthony will write the set-list and then I'll go through it with John to make sure he gets the right guitar for particular songs. For example, on Soul To Squeeze he likes to be handed a Strat that's tuned just right before he gets it, because he hits it pretty hard and he wants to be confident that he's in tune right away. We also have to make sure that the song before that one will be a Tele song, so that I have the Strat to hand to him. The only time there's a problem is if they suddenly change their minds mid-set and do something I wasn't expecting.
It must be scary seeing John hit those vintage guitars so hard every night?
I keep trying to persuade John to play those Relic guitars that Fender make, but he likes the life that a vintage instrument has - the history and all the songs that it has played. But Flea has one of those Jaco Pastorius basses - the Relic one. Every little nick on that thing is the same as the original. I sent the Fender Custom Shop some pictures of John's 1962 Strat because there was a guy named Jake, that was working in the studio with us, who wanted a guitar just like that. So he was gonna have Fender make one. It seems to me like it would be a pretty cool model to build.
