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Steve Conte – Paris Fashion Show footage

On 7 July, erstwhile New York Dolls guitarist Steve Conte played a fashion show in Paris for designer Fabien Rozan. He was hired to play an improvised solo electric guitar piece that worked with the style, clothes and setting – which the Crazy Truth mainman describes as ‘a challenge.’

I caught up with Steve and asked him how the gig came about, ‘I met designer Fabien Rozan in Paris back in 2003 when I was touring with Willy DeVille. Since then we’ve stayed in touch – every time I played Paris with New York Dolls he came to the shows and brought his kids. He’s a talented designer and a great guy!

‘As of the morning of the show I had a whole different thing planned – A medley of the designer’s favourite songs by the Stones, Dolls, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, etc. But backstage the producer said to me, “That doesn’t work – try something else” All I could think of was how ‘Staying Alive’ and most disco songs were at a walking tempo (about 110 beats per minute) so I figured I’d start there so the girls could walk comfortably. Then it had to be hypnotic and similar throughout the whole nine minutes without getting boring – a challenge for any guitar player, not to mention one playing alone.  I knew an analogue delay pedal set to that tempo would keep it sounding full. 

‘Once I got the initial chord progression in my head I just played variations on a theme. There are some moments where it stumbled, but hey – that’s live improvisating!’ 

Steve Conte and the Crazy Truth website

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