On 7 July,\u00a0erstwhile 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 \u2013 which the Crazy Truth mainman describes as \u2018a challenge.\u2019<\/p>\n
I caught up with Steve and asked him how the gig came about, \u2018I met designer Fabien Rozan in Paris back in 2003 when I was touring with Willy DeVille. Since then we’ve stayed in touch \u2013 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!<\/p>\n
\u2018As of the morning of the show I had a whole different thing planned \u2013 A medley of the designer\u2019s favourite songs by the Stones, Dolls, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, etc.\u00a0But backstage the producer said to me, \u201cThat doesn’t work \u2013 try something else\u201d All I could think of was how \u2018Staying Alive\u2019 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.\u00a0Then it had to be hypnotic and similar throughout the whole nine minutes without getting boring \u2013 a challenge for any guitar player, not to mention one playing alone. \u00a0I knew an analogue delay pedal set to that tempo would keep it sounding full.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Once 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 \u2013 that’s live improvisating<\/em>!’\u00a0<\/p>\n