Vicki Peterson’s career with The Bangles was built out of playing guitar parts that serve the song. She’s still doing that – although her solo songs have more emotional depth than those from the past.
“I do write personally,” she says. “I don’t worry about bringing things I’ve done into what happens now. I’m not worrying about, ‘Wow, this song sounds like the second Bangles record.’”
She has no plans to erase her history. “It’s wonderful,” she says. “I’m grateful that things lined up the way they did. There’s many fantastic musicians who never got a shot at that kind of exposure or reached the audience I have.
“I came back around to Walk Like an Egyptian. I realized it was a really fun record to make for me. It was so silly – none of us took it seriously. But people who are solid players have asked, ‘What are you playing at the end of that song?’
“I was just goofing around. But I’m grateful to have been a part of something that continues to be present in our world today.”
Her new album, Long After the Fire – a collaboration with her husband, John Cowsill – is set for release on April 25.
What’s Long After the Fire all about?
“It’s a project John and I have been talking about for years. He was touring with the Beach Boys, so it took us a while. It’s like a love letter to two of his brothers, Bill and Barry, who were excellent songwriters, singers, and instrumentalists on their own and with The Cowsills.”
What gear did you use?
“We weren’t super precious about the guitars. I have a couple of go-tos – a ’67 Stratocaster, and a ’73 Les Paul which I call the ‘Love Thing’ because it plays so beautifully. It just fits in my hands in a nice way. I have a Gretsch Country Classic Junior; I like how it pairs with the acoustic guitar that John plays live.
If you have 20 minutes to get out of your house before it burns down, what do you take?
“In the end, I’d grab four guitars: the Les Paul, the Strat, my Gretsch, and my Gibson SJ-45. They’re my babies.”
Do you have a tried-and-true approach?
“We perform as a duo mostly, so it felt pretty organic to land in certain soundscapes with these songs. Some of them are specifically rooted in the ‘50s and early '60s, so it’s easy to head for reverb and delay sort of sounds.”
How would you describe the evolution of your guitar playing?
“I’ve always seen myself as a bit of a hack player! As a kid I learned guitar mostly to write songs. I was a bit lazy about learning the craft. So I feel like a beginner in a lot of ways; I’m still learning stuff all the time. There’s so much I don’t know how to do.
“One of the Bangles' producers, Davitt Sigerson, said, ‘You’re a guitar composer.’ It was like, ‘Don’t worry about being a great player; you’re a composer.’ He was right – and that’s what I really like doing. I like writing lines within the song, weaving within and finding notes within the chord that spell out the melody line.
“That’s always come pretty easily to me. And I really enjoy playing noise guitar, which I was lucky enough to do with Dream Syndicate last winter and spring. I had so much fun just making noise!”
What keeps you inspired to push the envelope?
“The sense that I’m still learning. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but what keeps it interesting is finding new and old things.”
Do you find it hard to keep your past from creeping into your new music?
“Not with this project, because the songs were written by John’s brothers, who’ve passed away. We were stepping into their personas and deciding, ‘How can we take this song and make it our own, but still honor their memory and intent?’
I have to remind myself onstage, ‘Just be present. Let your thinking and mind go.’
“I refer to myself as a serial band member, because I’ve always worked with other people. Every band has a different chemical makeup and approach. So things are going to be very different from what happened with The Bangles – and it’s all good and valid.”
Would you say The Bangles are what you’re most proud of as a guitar player?
“I still have people saying, ‘That’s where I started playing guitar.’ I’m so very proud of that – but it’s hard to have an overall perspective on what you’ve done.”
You play a bit of bass on this record. What was that like?
“There were a lot of things I’d never done before that I got to try out! A bassline is like the lead line of one of the songs by Barry Cowsill, who was a phenomenal bass player. I got to sort of imitate his style, which was really fun.”
You worked with Tom Petty on [his song] Waiting for Tonight in 1988. What was that like?
“Most of the work with Tom was vocals. But there was a moment when rehearsing for the MusiCares Person of the Year award just before Tom’s sad and tragic death, and I had the experience of playing with the Heartbreakers.
“It was just at rehearsal for that one show. But picking up an acoustic guitar and being surrounded by the music of those players… I really recognized, ‘This is America’s band. This is the best band in America.’ To be contributing to that sound was really magical.”
Was there a moment with The Bangles where you grew considerably as a guitarist?
“There’s so many ways to grow as a player. One of them is learning how to play in the studio, which was very foreign to me when I was 21 years old. Knowing the responsibility of it – that what you’re putting down is going to live for all eternity – if you’re lucky – was a big learning curve.
“There was a moment when I was a little too precious about what I was trying to do live. Then I said, ‘Just let go and stop thinking about it.’ That was a moment when I got my active brain out of the way of my hands. I have to remind myself onstage, ‘Just be present. Let your thinking and mind go.’”
There’s a lot of photos of you from the ‘80s with Carvin shred guitars. The Bangles weren’t a shred band – but at least those were period-correct!
“Come on! We look like we could have been that band! We were a garage band with three-part harmonies on top, but we looked like we could shred!”
Considering your love for Strats and Les Pauls, how did the Carvin guitars come into play?
I really like how Carvins played… they were really dependable
“I fell upon them in the late ‘80s and I really liked how they played. They were really dependable. To this day I have a white Carvin that I still pull out and love. They’re very dynamic, you know? They speak – they’ll cut through, and that’s always a good thing when you want to get through the noise.”
Could you shred if you wanted to?
“Only in my dreams, baby!”
How do you hope to be remembered as a guitarist?
“For writing songs that are accessible, that people can feel and experience on a personal level – but maybe in a way they wouldn’t have thought to express themselves.”
- Long After the Fire is available for pre-order now.
