"Brian Setzer Remembers the Day Keith Richards Gave Him His Les Paul: 'Keith, Your Guitar Only Has Five Strings!'"] - Guitar | Technique

It’s been 45 years since Stray Cats released their first two albums — Stray Cats in February 1981 (featuring “Runaway Boys,” “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut”) and its follow-up, Gonna Ball, in November. Both were recorded in England while the band was living there, the former co-produced by Dave Edmunds with singer-guitarist Brian Setzer.

At the time, Stray Cats were the toast of the British music world, lauded by the likes of Led Zeppelin, the Who and the Rolling Stones, which had the rockabilly trio open their shows during the band’s 1981 American tour. Setzer, not surprisingly, remembers that embrace fondly.

“All the great British bands that all the Americans admired loved the Stray Cats and totally understood what we were doing,” Setzer tells us via phone from his home in Minnesota. “Where the American bands were all trying to be English bands, the English bands looked at us like, ‘This is the real thing.’

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Setzer performs with the Stray Cats at the Lyceum Theatre in London, 1981. (Image credit: David Corio/Redferns)

“They really embraced rockabilly and knew what it was. They had lived through the whole Teddy Boy thing. They knew Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. Their influences were Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup.

“So when we came over there and hit the airwaves and hit the television, they really rolled out the red carpet for us. It was an amazing experience.”

Slim Jim Phantom, Brian Setzer and Lee Rocker of The Stray Cats perform on stage at the Lyceum Theatre in the Strand, on March 23rd, 1981 in London, England.

Stray Cats at the Lyceum. “All the great British bands loved the Stray Cats and totally understood what we were doing,” Setzer says. (Image credit: Pete Still/Redferns)

Among his “million stories” from that time, Setzer recalls that the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards rolled out a red carpet at his home one day for a memorable session.

I picked up a guitar and I went, ‘Oh, he must’ve broken a string. It’s only got five strings.’”
— Brian Setzer

“He invited me over, and he had about four or five Les Paul Customs lying on the floor, with the Elvis Presley Sun Sessions playing. I picked up a guitar and I went, ‘Oh, he must’ve broken a string. It’s only got five strings.’ I picked up another one, same thing. I said, ‘Keith, your guitars only have five strings!’

“He explained to me his tuning and how he played. I said, ‘I can’t play these things.’ Luckily I brought my guitar with me, and I think we started just jamming on The Sun Sessions — ‘Baby Let’s Play House,’ ‘That’s All Right (Mama)’…”

Setzer, of course, was and remains a Gretsch man. He’ll have his three main G6120s electrics with him on Stray Cats’ upcoming summer tour, which starts July 24 in Las Vegas. The trek finds him back in good health after having to cancel a planned run last year while overcoming an incapacitating autoimmune disease and an equally debilitating addiction to the over-the-counter drink Kratom.

Brian Setzer

Setzer poses for a Guitar Player magazine shoot in 2019. (Image credit: Tony Nelson/Future)

But he tells us that he’s had some surprising experiences on the Gibson front recently, after acquiring a 1960-vintage Les Paul Sunburst and a 1959 Flying V.

“I did it because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was definitely a good choice,” says Setzer, who was more enamored with one than the other.

“The Les Paul is an incredibly constructed guitar. I get it,” he reports. “It plays in tune all the way up, all the way down. The pickups definitely have their own characteristics, a very unique sound. At the end of the day it’s not my sound, but I totally get it. They’re beautifully made, and they play beautifully.”

Brian Setzer of The Stray Cats performs on stage at O2 Academy Birmingham on June 23, 2019 in Birmingham, England.

Onstage with the Stray Cats at O2 Academy Birmingham, England, June 23, 2019. (Image credit: Steve Thorne/Redferns)

The Flying V was more to his liking, however.

“Check this out: I recorded myself just playing live in the studio, playing the Flying V on some tracks and the Gretsch on others. Do you know, I couldn’t tell the difference — which tells me the Flying V is a very twangy-sounding Gibson guitar, not like a Les Paul at all, even though it has the humbucking pickups and that very unique sound.

“I suppose it had a bit more sustain with those big humbuckers, but it’s so close [to the Gretsch], going through the chorus echo. I suppose if you took off the echo you could differentiate it a little more, but not much. They’re totally unique guitars, very different sounding than a Les Paul.”