Rick is one of Englands' greatest rhythm guitarists, his rock solid style has always been the core of the Quo sound.
Also known as 'The Womorr' (The Wild Old Man Of Rock and Roll) , he has written some of Quo's most memorable songs including '"Whatever You Want", "Backwater" "Living on an Island"' and "Rain". If you've seen Quo live you'll know the rush you get when Rick steps up to the front of the stage and hammers out the intro to 'Caroline' or 'Paper Plane'.
The enduring partnership of Rossi and Parfitt is the thing that keeps Quo rocking and even though they are very different characters, after more than 30 years together they are still the best of mates. Once known as the 'Wild Man' of rock, Rick insists that he has learnt to relax and now is a 'Mild Man' of rock, (If you believe that you'll believe anything!!)
Equipment
The White Fender Telecaster...
that is Ricks main guitar is a 1965 model with all the original Fender pickups and parts except for the bridge which has been changed to a Badass bridge, because he attacks the guitar and plays so hard he would tear his wrist on a normal Telecaster bridge.
The gauge of the strings Rick uses are: .14 .17 .26w .36w 46w 56w. (these are heavy gauge strings!)
He also uses an original Gibson SG which is tuned to an E chord. Both Rick and Francis use a number of open tunings and capos in the Quo set, between them they have 18 Guitars on the road and they are all looked after by Tonto, their long standing guitar tech.
Apart from the famous two Telecasters, They also use a 1981 Zemaitus for 'Forty Five Hundred Times' tuned to a B tuning with a .60 gauge bottom E string, a Schecter, a Fender Esquire that Rick uses on the medley tuned to G,G,D,G, B, D with a capo on the second fret, a Giffin and a Chet Atkins Acoustic used for 'Gerdundula'.
For 'Whatever you Want' Rick and Francis use a normal tuning but with the bottom E string tuned down to a D.
As Francis, Rick uses two 4x12" 8 ohm Marshall cabinets, a 100 watt JCM 800 Lead Series amp and sometimes a JCM 900. For effects, Rick also uses a Roland GP8 signal processor, which has three different chorus/flange settings and three overdrive settings.
He also uses a Vox AC30, miked and fed out to the front system which when mixed with the Marshalls makes the Quo sound
I’ve been a music journalist for more than 10 years. Over the years, many artists and managers have asked me what the best way to break into the European music market is.
Here are some things you can do:
Publish artist press releases, news, and tour dates to the CountryHome Forum on MySpace, http://groups.myspace.com/CountryHomeMagazine , CountryHome Forum is part of CountryHome, http://www.CountryHome.de , Germany's Premier Country Music Online Magazine. Everything you publish to the CountryHome Forum will be published in my weekly Newsletter which has over 80,000 readers.
Send me CDs and DVDs for review and set up an artist interview with me. All reviews and interviews will be submitted to the magazines I'm writing for. More information for which magazines I'm writing can be found at http://www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
Upload artist videos to http://www.MyVideo.de and http://www.ClipFish.de . Both websites are like http://www.YouTube.com and uploading videos is free. The websites are completely in German. If you don’t speak German and need assistance, I will help you open an account and upload a video for 25 Euro. Each additional video upload for the same artist name and at the same video website is 10 Euro.
If you have more questions about the European music market or about any of the information I send to you today, please contact me at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de too.
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany
Bonjour, je viens de renouveller ma demande et en revenant chez moi la précedente à été acceptée, c'est un jour magnifique. Que dire que je suis folle de Status Quo depuis.....si longtemps, cette année à été géniale je suis allée 2 fois vous applaudir (vu dans les photos) c'est à chaque fois magique, rien n'a changé. Vous êtes magnifiques tous et vous encore plus, la guitare hummmm, j'espère aller en 2010 vous applaudir encore, ma soeur surveille vous êtes son choucho. Il y aurait tellement à dire....mais je vais m'arrêter là. Longue route à vous et je sais que le mois de décembre est très chargé vous avez beaucoup de concerts. Bizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Christmas is coming soon. Are you looking for a Christmas present and would like to help handicapped children? Than please request the list of donations in kind from HelpCharity, www.MySpace.com/HelpCharity , by sending me an e-mail at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de . Many donations in kind are autographed.
If you don't have the chance to request the list of donations in kind, please add HelpCharity to your Top Friends!
Thanks for helping me to support handicapped children!
Christian
Founder of HelpCharity Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 (0) 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 (0) 171 6903352 E-Mail: Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de Internet: www.MySpace.com/HelpCharity Internet: www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka