Interview with Madonna’s guitarist, Monte Pittman written by Katie McCort

1.Which is more difficult: Writing an album or producing an album?

Writing

2.Studio or Stage?

Stage

3.Do you prefer guitarists who are known for their innovative riffs or their intense, face melting
 solos?

Riffs.

4.Which legendary music event would you rather have played at: Woodstock or Live Aid?

Woodstock

5.You have been working with Madonna since 2001. Looking back at every live performance that
you were involved in, what is your most memorable moment?

So many to choose from! The very first show of The Drowned World Tour in Barcelona. Things got really real really fast.

6.Explain the experience you had while helping to write songs featured in numerous Madonna 
albums.

Easy Ride” came from putting some chords together that you can play the Harmonic Minor scale over. Then we passed the ball back and forth so to speak. On “Hey You”, there are 2 parts in 2 different keys so I came up with a transition that married them together.

7.Your work with Prong is very different compared to your work on Madonna’s albums compared
to your new album Pain, Love & Destiny. What influences allow you to be so dynamic?

The notes and chords are the same. The feeling behind it puts it in a different genre.

8.Do you prefer to write concept albums like that of Pain, Love & Destiny?

I didn’t plan on it being a concept album. I tell people it wrote itself. My belief is, “we” don’t write the music but it’s channeled to us. I just noticed last week that the first line in “About You…” is “I’ve got something to say” and the first line in “Burn Down The Garden” is “I just had a thing to say”. The beginning and the ending to the album. I didn’t plan that. there were a lot of freaky things making this album. Every time I made plans or pushed, it backfired.

9.When you were writing Pain, Love & Destiny did more inspiration come from your own thoughts
and feelings or the world around you?

It all just comes to me. It pops in my head and I can’t get it out.

10.Pain, Love & Destiny is a huge step up from your previous acoustic album since it incorporates electric guitars and synth. When performing live, would you rather re-create that bolder sound or would you prefer stripping it down and doing more personal, acoustic gigs?

The idea is that I can do anything with it. I can play the songs stripped down with just me and an acoustic. I can also do the songs just like the album. Also, I can do The Deepest Dark songs with a band and they all fit together.

11.Would you rather sell out Wembley Stadium or rock an intimate blues club?

Wembley Stadium!

12.You were a part of Adam Lambert’s Glam Nation tour. How did your guitar skills influence the music?


I think it gave the music a kick in the ass. That’s always the case playing something live though. There was a lot of spontaneity when we played together. We have this bizarre chemistry playing together where we know what we both are going to do before we do it. Completely one with each other. Partially because we’ve played and written so much with each other for so long. In our personal lives, we are very different. I think it’s in your differences that you find some of your greatest strengths.13.Tell us about your experience with Kickstarter.

It was an amazing experience. I’m so appreciative of each and every person’s support. It’s a lot of work but well worth it. We didn’t expect it to blow up like it did. You live and you learn. I would do several things differently now. The key to make it successful is to be creative with incentives. I played house parties, gave guitar lessons, and sent out signed cd’s. That helped it the most.

14.Being an independent artist, you do not have anybody from ‘The Big Four’ breathing down your back. In an industry that is so corporately controlled, what has been your strategy for staying ahead in the game without giving into the likes of Sony or WMG?

I’m not trying to be a Top 40 artist. I’m doing what I love and I can be my own boss. I have complete control over my music. I’ve never submitted anything to a label before. I don’t know how happy a label would be if they signed me, but then I went out on the road with Madonna for a year. I joke around with friends saying my fate is when I’m in my 40′s (long from now!) I’ll be wearing a hat playing blues and calling myself Monte Lee Pittman! lol

15.Even though you are an independent artist, would you still consider your art completely liberated?

Yes. I like being able to do whatever I want. My first album was only acoustic guitar and vocals. My second is a full on rock album with solos and jams. My next album will continue with all of that but I’ve been writing some traditional blues, stuff that’s closer to Pantera, old Metallica and a little Alice In Chains. There will be more acoustic songs and some more Texas blues type music.

16.How have you seen the music industry change from the time you started in the 90’s to present day? Is it for the better or for the worse?

It’s worse but what’s going on today is nothing new. Right now, people are more focused on singles. This happened in the late 70′s. Then it was about selling 45′s. It was a bleak period in music too for some. Everything always has it’s antidote come along and that’s part of the cycle of music. In the early 80′s you had MTV and cd’s and that changed everything again. We’re just in a transition right now. The good thing is that we can get our music out to pretty much the entire world with the press of a button. People used to make cassette tapes of albums they liked. I look at all the downloading of the past ten years as a modern day version of that.

17.If you could perform with any group or solo act, dead or alive, which would it be?

The Beatles because if you were to pick one it would be cool to play with the Beatles. I’d say Metallica too if they wanted to have 3 guitars!

18.If one day you woke up and you were deaf, what album would you most miss listening to?

That changes every day. Pound for pound the most influential album to me is Master Of Puppets.

19.Album or single? CD or vinyl?

album – vinyl

20.Out of all the people you have personally met, who has been the most influential to your career? To you personally?

My guitar teacher, Robert Browning.

21.Guitar of choice?

I have a signature guitar coming out with Jarrell Guitars. It’s called the MPS. It can do anything! If I had 1 guitar that could be used for my entire career so far, this would be the one.

22.What is your proudest moment in your career so far?

I’d say now. Pain, Love & Destiny is still doing great. People are catching on to it slowly but surely which is what I would prefer. I’ve got my own guitar coming out, I’m playing the Super Bowl with Madonna who I’ve been fortunate to play with for over a decade now. I’m packing shows on my own and I’m loving it.

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