Interview mit Emmanuel Dalle von Benighted

Hello and thanks for taking the time for this interview. How are you doing?
Hi! You’re welcome, just fine, thank you. I hope you’re all doing well too despite this Covid shit.

When did you start playing guitar?
I really started in 2001 when I was 13. But when I was around eight, my parents bought a “decorative” ukulele at a local market in Tahiti, where I lived then. A few hours later, I removed it from the wall and I tried to play something… I stopped two or three days after… because, you know, it was a decorative ukulele…

What made you want to learn guitar back then?
It happened when I discovered metal. I was twelve and I was directly fascinated by this kind of music because of the sound and the picture that emerges from this particular universe. I spent all my pocket money on metal magazines in which I could find some CD samplers, and the more I listened to them, the more I wanted to play the songs on a guitar. The following Christmas, I received my first guitar.

Have you already learned (or had to learn) another instrument before?
No, but I’ve only started to learn the piano a few months ago…

Do you remember which model your first guitar was?
Not really, the very first one was a cheap unknown sub-brand guitar from a beginner guitar pack offered as a “test instrument”. As I immediately loved to play the guitar, I got my first real good guitar one year later for my birthday, I think. It was second-hand Ibanez RG550 (Japanese/1991) neon yellow with a black pickguard. Now I realize how lucky I was to find this incredibly good guitar.

How many guitars do you own?
I actually own eight guitars but between my previous ones and all the instruments changes, I probably owned around 20 guitars.

Do the instruments have different uses for you, so do you have different ones for different bands or occasions, like studio, live gigs and holidays?
Yes, since I’ve started playing in BENIGHTED, I’ve always had at least two dedicated guitars for the band (main and spare), which I also use for studio recording. I use my other guitars to play at home in different tunings, from six to eight strings, so that I can enjoy to play what I want …which is also useful because I teach guitar.

What do you attach particular importance to from a technical point of view, what criteria must an instrument meet for you to be satisfied with it?
I used to be very picky about the neck thickness a few years ago, but not anymore. For me, a good guitar is a guitar with a great finish quality and a good tone, obviously, but all my guitars have to be fitted at least with locking tuners, Floyd Rose (or a similar bridge) or an Evertune system. The tuning stability and accuracy is the most important thing, more important than the comfort to me, if I had to choose.

You often hear about musicians who seem to have a special connection to their instrument. Do you feel the same way? Do you have a favourite instrument?
I think it’s more about something sentimental. I have/had this kind of feeling with two of my guitars because I’d played hours and hours and hours on them for several years. It’s true for my old Ibanez RG550 that I was talking about and my Lag Arkane Prestige 2000. Now the fact is, with all the opportunities we have as musicians to be endorsed by brands (I’m actually with ESP) and potentially own a lot of guitars or change them every years etc… ; this feeling to have a “special relationship” with an instrument doesn’t have time to be created and disappears. Concerning my actual favourite guitar: it’s a Japan custom shop ESP Snapper that I bought last year. The job done on this guitar is outstanding! The price too… but it’s a work of art.

Did you make special modifications to it, or is it a custom model anyway? Can you tell us the technical details here?
Not at all, it is a custom model, but I’m not the original purchaser. It was made for a NAMM show. ESP put some of their custom models on sale after the event and I got one of them. It’s a Strat-typed, kind of 80’s looking guitar. I wanted a very versatile guitar to be able to play from jazz fusion shred stuff to neoclassical (no death metal for this one!). For the nerds: the body is made of swamp ash with a top quilted maple tiger eyed sunburst with a natural binding. The neck is a bolt-on hard maple, fingerboard bird’s eye maple, radius compound (240-305), slim U shape, scale 648mm, 22 frets (stainless steel), abalone dots and bone nut. Gotoh locking tuners. ESP Flicker-III bridge. Pickups are Seymour Duncan STK-7 n (neck), STK-7 (middle), TB-16 (bridge). Controls are master volume, a master tone, a 5-ways selector and a mix variation switch and all the parts (bridge, tuners, knobs) are gold finish and a black metallic brushed pickguard.

Is there a model, such as the instrument of a great role model, that you would like to play one day?
Not really. I think the next “big” guitar I’ll own will be my own custom shop model. But I don’t have a real concrete idea of what I want yet.

Which type of guitar picks do you use – and why this type?
I use 1mm Jumbo Jazz shaped picks (i got an indorsement with InTune GP). I was used to play with JazzIII picks, but their small size was a bit risky for the gigs conditions. It was too easy to drop them. The Jumbo Jazz shape has just that JazzIII “pointy” shape, but with a regular size, which is the perfect compromise for me. And 1mm is just the perfect thickness to allow control and speed.

Amps are often leased for tours – is that okay with you or do you have your own amp with you? Which model do you play?
I always have my amp with me. I play on a Kemper head, it’s small and light enough to bring along anywhere around the world. A lot of touring bands play on them because you can have your sound with your presets at any places. I remember when I used that ridiculously heavy Peavey 6505 head on tour… God bless technology!

Besides the instrument and the amplifier, effects play an important role in the sound. Do you rely on single pedal mines, a multi-effect board or a combination?
All is in my Kemper. That’s why I really love this head. No more boring pedalboard installation at home or on stage.

Let’s go into detail: Please explain the elements of your effect loop. Which devices do you use, in which order and why?
With BENIGHTED I tour with a Peavey 5150 Kemper profile made by the amazing PJ666 Kemper profiles (downloadable for those who have a Kemper and are in search of good metal profiles). As we play a very fast and “direct” music, I don’t use a lot of effects. Only a noise gate and an overdrive type TS-9 or OD-9 in the stomp part to have a better precision in the attack and a delay on my effects part for the leads/solo.

Mind game: You are only allowed to take one single (!) effect on stage – which one do you choose? Which effect pedal makes up your sound?
The noise gate is the most important thing on stage, and as I play on a Kemper, I use the one from this head. You can’t sound “professional” on stage if you don’t use it. It’s quite disgusting to hear a lot of feedbacks or other noises every time you stop playing, on break parts or the end of a song etc… In another way, if we strictly talk about a guitar sound, on stage I‘ll use my new distortion/overdrive handmade pedal released by Klirrton and our amazing producer Kristian Kohle Kohlmannslehner, which defines my sound because the last BENIGHTED album is recorded with it.

 

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von BENIGHTED (@benighted_band) am Apr 27, 2020 um 9:53 PDT

Is your effect board „ready“ or in constant change?
My effects “part” is ready and doesn’t move for what I’m doing with BENIGHTED, but at home I always try a lot of things.

Finally, do you have a tip for beginning musicians?
If you’re a beginner, just play as much as you can. I say play because a lot of people only practice. Practicing guitar with exercises is important, of course, but don’t forget to play. You have to enjoy what you do, so don’t be in a robot mood, don’t lose the fun. Play a lot of songs that you like, and another important thing to me, keep trying to write your own music as soon as possible and regularly, even if you don’t have a band (record yourself, or write on Guitar Pro, for example). Then you practice your own stuff, which can really help to expand your musical personality and make you a better musician.