John Squire has revealed the reason why he has never launched his own signature guitar.
The Stone Roses member is regarded as one of the most influential British rock guitarists of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and an icon of the Britpop scene – so it may come as a surprise that he has never issued a signature model of his own.
Well, during a new interview with Guitarist Magazine as part of the March cover story, Squire was asked why he had yet to release his own design, which led to him revealing the simple answer: “No one’s asked me.”
Speaking with the outlet, the Stone Roses star also shared that another British guitar asked him the same question, and speculated the issue may have been to do with the brand he plays the most often.
“Jimmy Page once said to me, ‘Have Gibson not been onto you?’ And I said, ‘No, maybe I play too many [Fender] Strats.’ Jimmy said, ‘Yeah, probably,’” he recalled, before going on to add: “I think it’s more likely to be that they don’t know who I am.”
The interview with Guitarist comes in light of Squire teaming up with another Britpop icon, Liam Gallagher, to share a collaborative album.
Both the former Oasis star and Stone Roses frontman shared their self-titled debut album earlier this month, following the release of the lead single ‘Just Another Rainbow’ and follow-up ‘Mars to Liverpool’.
The album was given a four-star review, with NME stating: “Although [Squire has] been more focused on creating visual art in recent years, the guitarist’s genius remains undimmed, as he adorns these bluesy arrangements with slow-burning grooves and wailing licks that ache with his life-long love of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page.”
“This is psychedelic, on occasion even transcendent music brought down to earth by Liam’s gravelly sneer, an intoxicating mix that often comes good on the singer’s promise that they’ve combined ‘the best bits of Oasis with the best bits of the Stone Roses’,” it added. “You think: why didn’t they do this before?”
Later this month, the pair will head out on a UK tour, starting in Glasgow’s Barrowland tomorrow (March 13) and rounding off in London’s Troxy on March 26. The shows sold out within 30 seconds – see the full list of dates here.
In other John Squire news, last month the guitarist explained why The Stone Roses never made a new album during their 2011 reunion tour, revealing that “no one wanted to do it”.
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