"Because there's so much
ground to cover sonically, and tonally, I needed to have all the
essentials in front of me," describes Grantis about her pedalboard.
How structured are the rehearsals?
Every day we have new things to work on and new goals to accomplish.
Sometimes it’s working on new arrangements or lifting songs, putting a
setlist together, recording, or jamming out on different grooves. It’s
amazing to be able to do that together every day for hours on end.
When Prince brings in a song, is it a completed demo or just a few riffs?
Most of the time it would be jams that we would learn really
quickly. He would come in, show us something, or maybe give me a chord
progression. Prince really left a lot of room for us to contribute to
the arrangement, to decide on our tone, how we would play things, or
what inversions to use. Sometimes we would just record songs without
playing them all the way through. He would just queue things on the
spot. That really kept us on our toes. We would jam on parts for a while
to really lock in the feel. Other times he's giving me directions like
“Use the wah on this.” And then I just take it from there.
Donna Grantis' Gear
Guitars
PRS CE 22 “Elektra”
PRS S2 Mira
PRS 513
PRS Starla with Bigsby
PRS SE Angelus
Effects
Boss RC-30 Loop Station
Line 6 DL-4
MXR M159 Stereo Tremolo
MXR Micro Amp
Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
Fulltone OCD
Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer (modded)
Fulltone Octafuzz
Foxrox Octron
Electro-Harmonix Micro Q-Tron
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
TC Electronic Flashback Delay
TC Electronic Vortex Flanger
Boss BF-3 Flanger
Ibanez DML20 Modulation Delay III
Fairfield Circuitry Randy’s Revenge
Boss TU-2 Tuner
Fulltone Deja Vibe MDV-2
Jim Dunlop Eddie Van Halen Signature Wah
Ernie Ball volume pedal
Amps
Early ’70s Traynor YBA-1 (modded by Pat Furlan)
Strings and Picks
D’Addario .010–.046
Steve Clayton Delrin .73 picks
EBow
It seems like there's this line between an extremely tight arrangement and a free-form jam.
He’s a master bandleader and we’ve really learned how to communicate
onstage. We always keep our eyes on him. He could break things down at
any time, queue solos at anytime, stretch out sections—anything can
happen. Yeah, the other really cool thing is that he wrote the songs on
PLECTRUMELECTRUM specifically for us and with us in mind knowing our styles and musical personalities.
The band also went out on a few tours of small club shows. How important was that in developing these songs?
I think in terms of playing live it just really solidified the vibe of
the band and the energy we put behind those tunes. We actually recorded
the songs before playing them live. During the tours we only played a
couple of songs from the album. The rest of the material went all the
way back to Prince’s first album. The interesting thing is that all of
those songs were arranged for the four-piece band. That was really cool
because a lot of the songs have horns and arrangements with keys and
synth sounds. We had to take those songs and figure out how to make them
sound massive with only four people.
What guitar did you use on the album?
I used “Elektra” on the entire album, which is a PRS CE 22. That’s been
my main guitar since I was a teenager. Plus, it’s purple—so I guess it
was meant to be.
You cover an amazing amount of sonic space with all the different
tones in your live show. I imagine your pedalboard is pretty sizeable.
I have a massive pedalboard that Craig Pattison built me
specifically for this gig. One of my techs calls it the starship. It’s
three pedalboards, all connected together. Something like 20 pedals.
Because the group is only the four of us, there’s so much ground to
cover sonically, and tonally. I wanted to have all the essentials right
in front of me.
What pedal, or combination of pedals, do you use for your lead tone?
I actually use a lot of different combinations and when thinking
about the solos on the album, I wanted them all to be slightly
different, tone-wise. For example, there’s a song called
“AINTTURNINROUND,” and there’s a part where the guitars are feeding back
and the lyric is “What you are listening to now is an ultrasound of
Donna’s playing.” I stepped on almost everything. That was probably an
Octa-Fuzz mixed with an OCD and a TC Electronic Flashback Delay with a
Vortex Flanger and a Line 6 stereo delay—at minimum. For something like
“ANOTHERLOVE” that was pretty much straight OCD plus wah with a little
bit of the Flashback Delay. For “WHITECAPS” I wanted to get a warmer
tone so I used reverb with an Ibanez Tube Screamer that was modded for
me.
Rehearsals with Prince can be pretty intense. “Sometimes we are given a list of six songs to learn for
the next day. Or learn them by dinner!," mentions Grantis.
What was the mod?
A guy from Toronto named Pat Furlan did it. I’ve worked with him a
lot to mod my amps as well. I was looking for added warmth, a greater
range of attack, and longer sustain. Basically, I would describe to him a
sound, and then he would work his magic until we got to the right
place. On the album, I played through vintage Traynor amps from the ’70s
that were handmodded by Pat. We went through the process and he knew
who my influences were and what kind of sound I liked. He modded the amp
for me and after we went back and forth a few times, we landed on the
right tone.
What’s a typical day at Paisley Park like for you?
We go in and play all day, break for dinner, and then go back in and
play either late into the night or early into the morning. We’re always
working on new songs—it's become just part of the process. Over the past
year and a half it’s a lot easier for me to learn songs quickly and
remember them. I lost track of how many songs we’ve learned.
Do you chart them out?
I chart them out and we usually make our individual charts but we lift
by ear for our parts. Then I bring those to rehearsal and then the
arrangement will get changed or really picked apart. Then I make notes
and really try to commit it to memory at that point. Sometimes we are
given a list of six songs to learn for the next day. Or learn them by
dinner! I find that charts can be really helpful as a starting point.
There’s always a period of internalizing music and that just comes from
playing it and listening to it a ton.
Is there a particular song on the album you feel especially connected to?
“PLECTRUMELECTRUM” is really special. It’s a song that I wrote that
Prince rearranged. It’s an instrumental and everyone’s musical voice and
personality really shines through. Hannah has some wicked drum fills,
there’s this heavy bass groove, and Prince and I both solo. It was a
real honor to have Prince arrange a song I wrote. I definitely have
special memories about every song. One in particular is “ANOTHERLOVE.”
That was a song that we were recording at a three- or
four-in-the-morning jam. Prince has a way of really pulling out the best
in everyone. I really thought I would have to spend some time working
out something for that since it’s a giant solo in a
Prince song,
but he wanted to record it right on the spot. Prince and I are trading
fours, and as a guitar player, that’s so much fun.
Have you picked up any gear tips from Prince?
He can play any guitar through any amp and make it sound incredible, but
I think one of the sounds I really like is how he uses a flanger pedal.
There's a lot of room for feedback and really cool sounds. Other than
the melodic side of things and note choices, I’ve also really learned a
lot from him on how to create soundscapes to end tunes or between
phrases or before hitting a solo.
How has Prince changed your musical instincts?
I’ve learned so much from him about when to play and when not to
play. Plus, how to make every note count and play everything with
conviction. I’ve learned a ton about funk and rhythm guitar. I’ve put
together a “funklopedia” of all the funk lines and riffs I’ve learned
from him. It’s so incredibly tight and precise and there’s such a
special way of approaching that type of playing in terms of the attack
and rhythms, but loose at the same time. Hearing Prince, Hannah, and Ida
play still blows my mind. I just love where things are at right now.
