In Conversation With Elliot Easton (The Cars) | St. James | Blackstar
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2024
- We sat down with Elliot Easton, founding member and lead guitarist of The Cars to chat all about his discovery of guitar and why he's been waiting 40 years for the St. James 6L6.
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If I said it once, I've said it 10,000 times, Easton is one of the most under-rated guitarist of all time. He is outstanding and very influential as well as being a genuinely nice person.
We have to keep shouting Easton's praises to all we know.
Elliot is a real chameleon. My son played an album for me of one of bands he was into at the time(damn my feeble mind. I can't remember the name of the band. Sorry) and it turned out to be Elliot playing all the guitar! It was a style that was so different than what you think of when you hear the Cars. Really great player.
He’s a ‘hook master’.
Underrated? 🤨
Where you been?
This trend of people calling well known, praised and successful musicians "underrated" is SO annoying.
Just... stop.
Elliot is an absolutely fantastic player! I'd often wondered how he pulled off the runs the way he did, and just the way he delivered his musical phrases. He just seemed to have no limits to his playing.
That first CARS album was a masterpiece in rock history.
i would say that Candy-O is one of the greatest sophomore albums of all time... the follow-up is always the hardest
@@danoaudio9896 We used to cruise the gut to CARS. Reminds me of Alpine stereos, Mustangs and Vanilla Car Freshener.
I wore out the 8 track and two c.d’s of the first album.
All we played in the football locker room in 78.
And 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th
I am 57 year old Introvert/highly sensitive person. The Cars and Rush's music have been a huge help especially in my teens and twenties when I had difficultly navigating life.
RIP Ben, Ric and Neil
❤
58 years young here-Rush is the soundtrack of my, and many others youth /life-You are not kidding about how the music helped in our youths.
Are you guys me?
My two favorites as well. I guess I wasn't so weird.
@@scottarnest8980
No, you are not.
I took am 57 and I greatly admired both bands as well
Elliot is just the kindest most engaging person. His solos with The Cars always served the song..not the other way around. Just a great person and a great player!
Perfectly stated
Correct. Not like so many lead players who take off on some unrelated screed of notes.
I learned from Elliott. I like knowing more for my playing.
re: served the song. Agree. Although when he goes lead, all eyes are on him. He's really a good lead guitarist.
Elliot is one of the most musical and interesting players of the last 50 years.
Glad he said what he did about Ben Orr. Many times the egos of musicians/artists would never allow them to acknowledge that another member was so important to the chemistry band. Elliot is clearly a very humble guy, and The Cars would not be the same band without his guitar playing.
Elliot is a rare, unique, one of a kind player. NO ONE could ever replace him & his guitar was integral and crucial to The Cars sound. When you hear his songs, you instantly know his personally identifiable playing, just as much as Page or Gilmore. THAT'S Elliott Easton 🎸
@@in2livinithe made those songs as much as Ocasek did. Candy-o was Elliot's album.
@@zookytar Agreed 100%, IMO Ocasic was Arrogant, and highly overrated as a musician. Ben Orr was crucial to the Cars also. May he Rest in Peace 🕊️
Elliot is astounding. He has never played a solo that wasn't perfect for the song. We all obsess over speed and modes and arpeggios and this amp and these effects, but Elliott just makes us look like pretenders.
Oh, he can be very fast, too - but always tasteful. He idolized Johnny Winter. I doubt there was anyone faster and more articulate than Winter was. Every Winter solo is like an encyclopedia of the blues.
...well said!
Pretenders aren't a bad band to look like.
Just like when Jay Graydon did the solo on PEG for Steely Dan. ua-cam.com/video/Ghp88V3Qm8w/v-deo.html
Real deal.
Elliot Easton is a guitar master ! It is so fantastic to see a legendary pop-rock artist demonstrating and explaining his technique and style.
The examples he played is amazing.
Elliot Easton and James Honeyman-Scott (RIP) from the Pretenders are one of my favorite 80's indie rock guitarists and both of them always lent an amazing air of rockabilly, cow punk aesthetic (tinged with jazz dips too) that set them apart. Easton has crafted some of the most memorable lead guitar phrasings in rock. He is one of those guitarists that other guitarist admire.
their recordings are so unmistakable and personal. definitely elevated the overall effect the band music had an a listener
Elliot is one of the greats!! His solos and overall playing on Just What I Needed, My Best Friend's Girl, Candy-O, Touch & Go, Shake It Up, You Might Think, Magic and many more songs are nothing short of amazing. One of my favorite players. Thank you for all the great music since 1978 Mr. Easton!!
Elliot is one of the all time greats. Every solo is a song within the song; melodic, sing-able and memorable. No shredding needed.
Solid but far from all time great
He played to the song.
you people really need to drop the "shredding" thing as the height of guitar playing lol. Most of us guitar players don't care about that at all.
Elliot is awesome!! One of the best, most tasteful guitarists of all time!!
Growing up in Boston I had the opportunity to bump into Elliot a few times in my late teens/early 20’s. The Cars were my favorite band during my high school years and I loved his playing. Cut to the present and I’m playing and singing lead in a Cars “tribute” band called Panorama. About a year and a half ago I had the honor of playing with Elliot in a show on Ling Island. It was an absolute thrill and I got to spend quite a bit of time just sitting and talking with him. He was so down to earth and relatable! It’s a wonderful thing to meet one if your heroes and not be disappointed. For the show, he was in amazing form and absolutely nailed all his solos. I felt the urge to pinch myself as I stood on stage right next to him, singing Cars tunes and having him rip into his solos, sounding just like the records I’d been listening to for years and years. It wa ms truly an amazing experience and as we parted, we embraced. He kissed me on the cheek and said, “You’re a good Man!” Talk about a moment to remember!
Thank you Elliot!
Elliot is a blessing to the world.
I watched this interview twice. I am a girl from the 80s and I have mad respect for the Cars. All of the members were exceptional. I think Elliot Easton was extremely underrated. What a great guy!
Elliot's brilliant playing ia a major factor in what made The Cars great. I could watch him play and never tire of it.
The Cars were extremely innovative and creative. Eliott is pretty amazing how he integrated the styles and influences into the Cars music. Very underrated and inspiring
What a monster guitar player in disguise. Elliot played some of the craziest and tasty solos in the Cars. A friend of mine is a metal player and he once mentioned Elliot in a conversation. He asked me have you really listened to the lead guitar player in the cars? I was way ahead of him. I answered so, your finally figuring out how good he was on those Cars recordings! The playing in "She used to be Mine" is over the top good with tone to match.
Elliot's solo on Just What I Needed is probably in my favorite guitar solo of all time.
Elliot is not only a monster guitarist and amazing composer...he's also a sweetheart of a guy. Very rare in the music business.
au contraire, one thing these youtube vids have taught me is that the majority of ''great'' guitarists are genuinely ''great'' characters as well, easton being a tad ''greater'' than most when it comes to personality, and right up there when it comes to technical prowess and composing tasty riffs & solos
Elliot was my first guitar idol and is still my favorite. Always articulate, informative, and kind. He wrote the most brilliant guitar solos.
Had to learn the “Just What I Needed”solo for my band. The individual notes themselves aren’t difficult, but the string bends he uses are what makes it challenging. There’s a lot of them and you have to hit the sweet spot on every one or it sounds crap. Elliot is a great guitarist!
Yeah and the quick bends where you move to adjacent strings make it tricky too... Plus you have to mute the sound at the top of some of the bends rather than bend and release. It takes some practice but it's very satisfying when you finally nail it. I just started the other night, I'm getting there.
@@lomarsweed6604 yes exactly!
Elliot's solos are fairly easy to play badly. They take a lot of work, practice and polishing to make them sound good. But it's worth the effort. They are so much fun to play. Interesting, distinctive challenging and always perfect for the song. They are just so musically expressive. He's a terrific guy and an inspiration to so many of us.
Perfect guitar solo. Welp, guess I’ll be listening to the Cars for the next several hours.
I was in a country rock band 80-85. We occasionally did rock covers to mix things up. Always loved the Cars but didn’t understand at the time how truly good Elliot was. I tried to dissect and learn his solo on Bye Bye Love. I could do it at half speed but not a prayer in real time. It was at that point that I realized how underrated he was. And after that, I quit taking all his quick and cute solos for granted and appreciated them for the short little masterpieces they really were.
And I just gave my 33 year old son the debut album on 180 gram vinyl for his Christmas present.
I’m so glad Elliot is doing well and producing content to be listened to and enjoying. If you read these comments Mr. Easton, thank you so much for your contributions to music history.
I hsve been playing for 59 years and Easton was a breath of inspirstion for me. He is a unique and competent guitar innovater.
He is one of my all time favourite players. What a great vocabulary and melodic sense he has. Cheers
Berklee doesn't matter, Nomenclature do not matter, it's about playing from within and if you listen to "You're all I've Got Tonight" when he solos over a one chord vamp, the ideas are there....they flow. You can sing them.
Eliot, you've been my favorite forever, your solos are like little compositions.
Well… That’s the thing… Once you know it, you can kind of forget about it. Musicians are little bit funny… And guitarists most of all. Because there’s so much you can kind of get away with a guitar, and perform intuitively not that I haven’t been self-taught musician on every instrument… Guitar meticulous… With the folk and rock ethos of hitting the right mix of genuine and the earthy and the catchy… I mean, think of John Mayer. OK, maybe he only spent one semester at Berkeley… But it seems unlikely that he would be as good a composer and player if he didn’t have a deep knowledge of music and of the fretboard.
Yes… His solos are perfect little compositions.
One of the finest Guit-fiddle players ever. Style, clarity, inventiveness!
Elliott is such a great guitarist. Always so musical.
Definitely one of the greatest. Clean,innovative, and memorable. A guitarist of the first degree.
The first song I learned on guitar was My Best Friend’s Girl as soon as that album dropped, been addicted to this band since summer of 1978.
I could listen to Elliot talk about his life and musical career all day long. 🎸🤘🏼👍
Most underrated guitarist of all time!!! Elliot Easton is a master and a genius!!! Thank you for all the great music you have given us. It is part of my being and soul.
Man, what a class act. Elliot’s playing is great and it’s such a treat to hear him talk about guitar playing. His work with the Cars is timeless and top notch.
Elliot is a legend!!
EE seems like he’s one of the coolest cats around and one of my favorite guitar players. All his interview are gold.
The solo from Shake It Up is still one of my all time faves.
He recorded some of the most perfect lead solo parts with impeccable alignment to song structure. I get the same feeling with Ritchie Blackmore, Neil Shon and David Gilmore.
Elliot is very creative in his playing. The solo on Touch & Go for example is a composition in itself. Unfortunately few guitarists know who he is.
Humble and so grounded in his gift for expressing himself through his guitar. Thank you Elliot!
Even as kids we marvelled at Elliots diversely styled solos, They always stood out in a perfect way.
Yes, Elliott, we are most definitely still listening! Thank you.
Man, I love this guy! The Cars were THE group for me back in the 80s, and the chance to hear him talk about his musical roots, his playing in the band, etc. - it’s a treasure!
As somebody else here already said, his solos were so musical. I can probably sing them all, I listened to them that much. Just great stuff! Thank you Elliot!
It's crazy, but they sounded 80's even in the (late) 70's..
What was that riff he played at the beginning?
What a terrific guitarist. You listen to the Cars solos and they are so amazingly melodic.
We played only 2 cars covers: Dangerous Type and Just What I Needed. I remember those solos being so much fun to play and just listen to. Easton is an icon in rock guitar. He’s instantly recognizable! Great musician.
The most underappreciated guitarist in rock. The first contemporary guitar influence for me growing up late 70s early 80s, I learned a bit of the rockabilly from him and how to solo based on his playing. He brings it every damn time, a true artist.
Eliot is The man.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I am a Massachusetts guy and I played your first album over and over and over. But the Candy-O album was the one that came out when I met my then future wife and we listened to the cassette in the car everywhere we went. Unfortunately I lost my beautiful wife a year and a half ago and when I want to back to the summer of 79 I have you on my playlist.
Thanks again ❤
Elliot is a class act across the board. A great musician and The Cars wouldn't have been The Cars without him.
Bless your heart Mr. Easton, you still inspire me to this day!
He's good. They played live. They could all play. He always nailed his solo riffs.
I grew up listening to the cars. They were ahead of their time. I still love their music today and so does my grandkid. The guitar work was amazing.
I knew this guy was playing country telecaster the second I heard it way back, then…
That was massively interesting. I had no idea Elliot was so accomplished.
Thanks for posting.
Unbelievable how good he is!
Elliott thank you for the music that was an integral part of the soundtrack of my youth.
He is such a nice guy and rocks most under rated guitarist. I've met him a few times and have always walked away so impressed!
You can still see the kid in him! He’s obviously still in love with playing his machines! Absolutely one of my favorite players!
Love his playing on “The Dangerous Type”
Eliott is a humble genius. Of course people still listen. The cars broke down new age pop and rock barriers.
This was EXACTLY how Elliot presented himself the day I met him! This is the REAL guy! Pleasant is the most accurate description that comes to mind. Truly, a gentleman, as well as an incredible musician. GREAT VIDEO.
That first album was phenomenal with so many classic tracks and so much fantastic diversity in Elliot's playing. He truly is a highly influential master guitarist.
Love the Cars. One of those Bands that has there own sound. Some of my favourite, songs are Cars songs Wish this video was longer. Elliot is so underrated. Love the fact, that he mentioned Ben Orr.
Sooo talented and always so perfectly complements the other musicians and singers - a generous, incredibly melodic player. Great to watch him play live with the Cars and other bands because he really gets into it physically as well 🔥🔥🔥
Dudes killer. He also has the same haircut and outfit I had in my 6th grade school photo. Legend
I always did like Elliott's guitar playing. He's such a down to earth guy. Too bad the car's are not around anymore, but they sure did leave us some good music.🚗
Such an amazing guitar player. Elliot Easton doesn't get talked about nearly enough. I loved hearing those portions of his solos in isolation. The country / rockabilly sounds are so cool.
Thank God they make Left handed Guitars, we always need to hear more from Elliot.
Elliot Easton is an absolute gem - he’s up there with Luke for me as one of the most inspiring players of those years. Just one of the most melodic players that always served the song
Elliot Easton is one of the greatest guitarists in rock history. His leads are masterpieces and his rhythm guitar propels a phenomenal, high-energy band. A classy guy and a legendary guitarist.
Incredible innovative guitarist. Definitely a major influence on me. Thank you so much, Elliot.
Influenced a ton of guitarists. Myself included. So tasteful in his phrasing. Memorable solos. ❤
Talk about a man who delivered the song through his tasteful playing and genuine talent. Thanks Elliott for some of the greatest rock guitar of the eighties...
I remember clearly when the first Cars album came out; it sounded great; was just what we needed
Elliot Easton is a legend.
Elliot Easton is such a great player.
Elliot’s and awesome nice guy and player that always injects the perfect riff in the song!!
Thank you for doing this Elliot - we love you and are inspired by you.
Fine guitarist...
Always has great solos
Under statement of the century. lol
@@MikaelLewisify
OK... One of the best...
I'm not a guitarist or musician. I just finished a marathon of videos about Frank Zappa, Steve Howe, Robert Fripp, Skunk Baxter, Adrian Belew, Elliott Randall, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, and other wonderful guitarists. So this was in my feed. But I didn't know this player was THIS good...
Back in the day, listening to the early Cars records (often on horrific car radios and -- ulp -- 8-track), I figured much of that huge, swinging and ringing guitar sound was effects, production and studio wizardry...I never imagined he could actually play the solos as smoothly and crisply live. Apparently, I was wrong. Holy shmackerel, that guy is a great guitarist and I can't believe there are people who are this knowledgeable about music.
Some people are just born to do some things; like some athletes seem to be made to do a certain thing well, like, swim or play football or baseball; this guy is one of those "born" musicians...
Humble, smart, interesting storyteller, great creative guitarist. So glad to have grew up with Elliot and The Cars.
Elliot Easton is such a cool guy. Loved this interview!
Back in the 80 s ,i lived right down the street from elliots parent's. In cape coral Florida. His sister Lisa taught me chords. He has 2 other sisters Penny and Paula, i saw the gold and platinum albums and a shake it up ,, display.
Love seeing him producing the sweet pedal Steele stuff. I've been obsessed with the technique since hearing Jimmy Page doing it on ITTOD. Elliott is just the most tasteful, engaging class act guitarists guitarist. Those who know, know.
I remember hearing his advice when I first started playing... Listen to what you're gonna play over, (soloing) and then play what you imagined. One of the best pieces of advice and has served me well in exploring my voice.
Elliott is my hero, I am still dissecting/learning his solos and rhythm guitar parts. Plus he is absolutely one of the best live compared to the recordings, In fact the band was always able to replicate their albums live which is no easy task!
The king of the concise, imaginative guitar solo
And his hair still looks great !
🤘🤠👍
😊😊 my friend you created many great memories. You rocked the house and we loved your tunes. That first album was phenomenal. Thank you Elliott 💪💪✌️😎🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Very cool. My band rehearsed a couple of doors down from their rehearsal space in the Cambridge Music Complex. It was just after Candy-O. They were working on Panorama. Funny story. The band I was in was a top 40 cover band. We covered a few Cars songs. The security guard would spot Elliott on the security camera outside of our door playing along. They gave me some Candy-O picks but I gave them all to friends. Good times.
Elliot's leads aren't just solos so much as an integral parts of the songs. He's to the Cars what Ringo is to the Beatles in the sense that his contributions are deeply camouflaged into the tune.
Guy is an amazing player. Thanks for all the great solos.
Thank you Elliot for giving me your autograph back in Portland, Maine...on the Door-2-Door tour after the show. This teenager was extremely thankful! :-)
What a joy to listen to him share a part of his life with us, mahalo !
His leads always made me smile. I could hear his personality and sense of humor. Great underestimated guitarist!
He help create the 1980’s sound in the 1970’s! Amazing guy.
What *I’ve* said all my life, is that Easton’s SOLOS are more singable & memorable than the great songs in which he PLAYED them. And there’s NO other guitarist who achieved _that_ distinction-consistently-ever. 🤟
I'm 57 and like to think I have great taste in music got to grow up listening to the very best rock and roll of the last 50 years and it's my opinion that EE is a goddamned shred KING he is a MONSTER on the guitar and deserves mad RESPECT. He is right up there EVH and Lindsey Buckingham and Prince. RO was LUCKY to have him in The Cars.
I got the chance to see him live with the Cars in 1982.
He’s always been one of my favorites.
This man has never aged...just awesome
What a charming guy! A very original soloist at the time that elevated already good songs to great.
So cool to see and hear him. I love his stuff with the Cars. Lefty love ❤
His solo on "The Dangerous Type" is right up there with Glenn Tilbrook's "Another Nail in My Heart" !
Here's one of the best guitar players in all of rock and most people don't even know his name. He not only came up with some of the most iconic guitar riffs and progressions, he wrote and produced most of the Cars' albums.