British Publication, Gear News Collaborates with The Music Soup
- Cheryl Alterman | The Music Soup Editor
- Sep 18
- 9 min read
Updated: Sep 19
Gear News talks to world renowned British rock guitarist Paul Guerin.
My dear friend in the UK, Lars Mullen is a music journalist, photographer, musician and one of the funniest people I know. Lars spoke to another lifelong British rock guitarist, Paul Guerin for Gear News about his career spanning over 30 years in the music business, performing with a host of bands from Michael Schenker, to The Quireboys, Down ‘n’ Outz with Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot and his latest project Black Eyed Sons, along with his yearning for ‘all things steam’, rivets, bridges and of course, his love for Vintage guitars. Lars has shared his article for Gear News with The Music Soup. Hope you enjoy the read, Cheryl and The Music Soup team. ❤️ ☮️ 🎵
Written by Lars Mullen Photos by Paul Steadman – Amy Sue Parady I catch up with Paul with an early call as he resides in his studio in Texas. “We are 6 hours behind here in Texas” says Paul, “Mid-day for you in the UK, but early morning for me, hope we’re not videoing as I’m still in my pyjamas, how rock n roll is that?” Born in Newcastle UK, Paul is a native of the diverse and unique vowel sounding Geordie accent as he explains, “I spend 90 days a year here and I’m very aware of not being too influenced into being cloned as some sort of Geordie cowboy, although I’ve always worn the boots and the hats.” Due to its large size and diverse geography, lush forests, high plains, rolling prairies and rugged mountains, Texas experiences several distinct climate zones. Paul’s studio lies between Dallas and Houston, now in mid-summer, it’s hotter than a jalapeno pepper fresh out of the fryer, so I ask him how his Vintage guitars hold up to extreme temperatures. “It’s before breakfast and we are looking at 97 degrees (approx 36+) already, you can’t tell when dogs chase cats here, because they’re both walking”, he laughs. “It’s hot for sure, but on this trip, once again, I’ve played my Vintage guitars in both, comfortably cool air conditioned studios and at sweltering gigs, but you know, during the 15 years I’ve been with Vintage, I’ve toured constantly, it hasn’t let up. These instruments have been subjected to enormous temperature changes, from the plane’s cargo hold to ridiculously hot countries and the bitter Arctic Circle. They’ve literally travelled around the world on endless international domestic flights for years, on more planes than most people ever will. I used to worry when I saw the flight cases with new dents when they came around on the luggage carousel, but soon realised that these guitars, besides playing and sounding amazing, really are built for the road. You open the case and there they are, still smiling, I’ve never had a problem with the necks, frets, tuning or intonation. I’m looking here at my three main USA touring guitars, a Vintage V100 in Natural and a V52 in Butterscotch both from the ICON Series, I love how the low-key distressed finish is so authentic, and there’s also a double cutaway VS6 in Cherry Red from the ReIssued Series.
I’m still rocking out the maple V100 and the V52 with Black Eyed Sons, where I need a lot of raw energy for powerful, gritty riffs within a Southern rock style, they’re all over the album ‘Cowboys In Pinstripe Suits’ which was released earlier this year and received some amazing reviews, we’ve just released a new version of the album track ‘Dig Me Out of This Hole,’ with Angry Anderson on vocals and Ronnie Simmons both from Australian band Rose Tattoo, Scotti Hill from Skid Row on slide guitar, alongside bassist Chip Z’Nuff from American glam rock band Enuff Z’Nuff.
 There’s something about the way the Wilkinson pickups are wound, they deliver that perfect combo of power and immense tone, it's so cool to have all these sonics in guitars that sound so good, play so well but don’t cost a fortune. I can literally get any sound I want live, they sound amazing no matter what amp I’m using, and perfect for so many musical styles. |
The V100 model is my number one, I actually have two, a 25th Anniversary in Silverburst and a V100M with a maple top, which is first in line in the guitar rack. This one has been with me forever, throughout my days with The Quireboys and Joe Elliot’s Down ‘n’ Outz. I got a call from Joe saying he wanted to form a band just to open up for Mott The Hoople at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 2009, they were one of his favourite bands back in the day. This was supposed to be a one-off project, but it just evolved and we recorded at least 5 albums.
My Lincoln Studios here in Texas is a duplication of my Tynelight Studios at home in the UK with the same recording equipment and Vintage guitars. RBi Music who distribute Vintage in the USA are about 2 hours North East from here, so that’s a regular trip to see what ideas the guys have come up with, especially for the Vintage ProShop models and also to catch up with my pal Rick Taylor who is Product and Artist Relations manager there, Rick also played bass on 'Your True Colours' on the Black Eyed Sons album.
I’ve purchased all my Stateside Vintage guitars from Rick and the team, they’ve been so good and they are ‘on it’ straight away if I have a problem, that’s pretty much why we only meet up when I pay a visit to hang out, as I just don’t get any problem with these guitars.
 Needless to say, they all sound stunning live and in the studio, but whilst these touring guitars are sometimes locked up or in transit, I felt the need for more guitars, like you do, ha ha, guitars that can remain as studio models both here in the USA and in the UK. I tried a lot of brands, but just kept thinking how cool my live guitars performed, so again, harkened back to Vintage.
 It was a fine excuse to meet up with JHS in the UK who own and distribute the brand worldwide and RBi Music in the USA, hence, I have a duplicate set of recording guitars which include a Vintage V4 bass from the ReIssued Series in Boulevard Black which just delivers every time without complaining. There’s also another distressed Vintage V52 from the ICON Series, a beautiful Vintage VS6V ReIssued with vintage style Vibrato in Gun Hill Blue and this wonderful single cutaway V120 in a distressed Gun Hill Blue over-Sunburst. I mean, how cool does this guitar look? I can get so many different sounds from the Wilkinson W90SK pickup, I play a lot of slide on this one. ' There’s a cool photo taken of myself with the V120 on Texas railway tracks and another with my gorgeous Vintage Historic Series ‘Orchestra’ electro-acoustic with a fabulous Vintage Sunburst finish, amongst some of the classic American railroad engines.
 I have this passion for steam trains, rivets and old railway bridges,” he laughs. “It’s like a school kid’s dream come true and probably stems from my childhood school days growing up in Newcastle in the UK, where the annual field trip was a mandatory visit to the railway museum in York. Luckily and uncanny to the fact, is that my girlfriend Amy Sue Parady, is the president of the Texas State Railroad, so I get to ride on the trains and toot the horn, some of these monsters are over 120 years old and, like the old American riveted steel truss bridges, are mega structures in themselves. We met when I was touring the USA with The Quireboys, and I am so humbly grateful to her for helping me set up the studio here and, she purchased the guitars...how lucky am I?"
 It was Paul’s pal, British rock guitarist and Vintage endorsee, Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell who originally suggested he should try out the Vintage brand, he explains, “Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell has been in a host of high profile bands, including Samson, Humble Pie and Bad Company with Paul Rogers, he said I should try out the Vintage guitars, he’s a big fan, and his V100 ICON Lemon drop is amongst his favourite models. I was sort of, well ok, as I had an arsenal of guitars that I’d been using for a long time.
I met up with the guys at JHS and they let me loose in the showroom where I tried a host of different models, I was really impressed with the playability and sound, this was before they told me the prices, which was a jaw dropping moment in itself, I couldn’t believe how they could deliver this quality at these prices. Over the following years my guitar collection expanded to say the least and a big percentage include a lot of Vintage instruments including the likes of this beautiful big bodied VSA850 semi-acoustic finished in Orange with pearloid bindings.
 I particularly like the way Vintage haven’t sat back on their laurels, they’ve always moved forward within designs and electrics, some of the acoustic and electro-acoustics designed by two incredible British guitar designers Alan Entwistle and the late Paul Brett are outstanding, built with a passion and again, available at such reasonable prices. I produced a British rock band called Hearts and Souls and we made a video of an acoustic version of their song ‘Nights Of My Days’ using three Vintage Elektra electro-acoustics built and designed by Alan Entwistle who is renowned for his alternative body designs, hardware and wiring options. Just like the promo said when the Elektra models were launched in 2024, the bolt-on neck is akin to an electric guitar, installed within a single cut-away acoustic body, it’s more like a hybrid that sounds both great unplugged or through an amp, the preamp does the job perfectly and, has a twist within the electronics with Entwistle‘s on-board ATN5 - 5 Way Rotary Frequency Selector.”
 Paul is already compiling new songs with Black Eyed Sons lead vocalist and guitarist Guy Griffin, who also records and plays live with a distressed Vintage ICON Series V52 in Butterscotch he continues, “Yeah, Guy also has a distressed Vintage V52, we get a lot of inspiration from these guitars, it makes so much difference when you have an instrument that you know is going to sound great, from first position clean, open chords unplugged on an acoustic, or overdriven barre shapes and lead lines hooked up.
 A while ago our manager rang me and said ‘I need an album in eight days, I’ve booked a studio in Sweden off you go’. I flew out thinking I’ll be on this plane coming back in 8 days, can we write, record and produce and album in that time?... but we did it. Having guitars that you know inside out and are working tools, can unlock a whole mindset of creative ideas. We work a lot in studios, but gone are the days when a band would rent a house and write an album. Like a lot of bands, it’s often done remotely these days. Joe Elliot will send me ideas and I’ll add guitars and send them onward to the other guys, that’s why I have the same studio set up here in Texas as in the UK and with portable equipment. It’s so easy to record on the fly, there’s a track I penned on ‘Cowboys In Pinstripes Suits’ called ‘Don’t Throw Me In The Corner’, where I recorded Chip Z'Nuff on bass and rhythm guitar in a hotel foyer in Spain. It’s amazing what can be done with modern technology and the internet. There’s a whole new generation of kids out there who really are well informed and have an open range within the internet, and not afraid to ask seasoned players about equipment, especially guitars and the like. I have had it said to me on the odd occasion that the only reason I play Vintage instruments is because I get them for free, well, I don’t, they've all been purchased. There’s no point in being an endorsement artist for a guitar brand if they don’t play and sound great, and can stand up to the rigours of constant touring, which Vintage have done around the world for the last 15 years, that just says it all. Listen to the album, you’ll hear how cool they are, and if you wanna see them in action, come see Black Eyed Sons during our ‘UK Tour Part One’ later this year, buy your tickets now… how’s that for a little bit of self promotion? Ha Ha!” 
Black Eyed Sons website - https://blackeyedsons.com
Black Eyed Sons FB - https://www.facebook.com/p/Black-Eyed-Sons-Official-61564951567105/
Vintage Guitars Website - https://vintageguitarsrus.com
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