MONTE PITTMAN – American Rock Artist and Madonna’s Guitarist

1. Hello Monte, please let us know how did you start your music career?

I got my first guitar when I was 13 and started a band with some friends soon after that. We played our first show when I was 14.

2. Why did you choose to move in Los Angeles?

I loved that so much music that I grew up with came from there. Living in East Texas, I was always in a hot, humid climate. I immediately loved the weather in LA. I was drawn to the nostalgia. So many bands I liked growing up started there.

3. While being the guitar player of Madonna, few people focus on your previous work with Prong. Please let me know all the details…

Prong was one of my favorite bands when I was learning how to play guitar. I first heard about them when the first student I ever had brought the “Beg To Differ” album to lessons and turned me on to them. I can say the “Cleansing” album influenced me greatly and is still one of my all time favorite albums. It has one of the best guitar sounds ever recorded. Prong is Tommy Victors band. It can’t go on without him. I played guitar on the “100% Live” album where I’m pretty much doubling his guitar part where it sounds live a studio recording but live. On “Scorpio Rising” I played guitar and some bass. We didn’t have much time to record that and all of the Prong gear had just got stolen after a gig in Dallas of all places. Later on I came back and played bass and a lead or two on the “Power Of The Damager” album.

4. Are you still in touch with Prong?

Yes. Tommy and I talk when we have time. He’s been busy touring to promote their new album “Carved Into Stone” and playing with Danzig and Ministry. I’ve been rehearsing with Madonna since pretty much the beginning of the year. If you’re not familiar with Prong, go check out all of the albums.

5. How did you get in contact with Adam Lambert?

We had mutual friends that put us in contact. I used to play Club Makeup sometimes. It would happen the first Saturday of every month. It was a band led by Xander Smith. It usually had Noah Shain on drums, Abby Travis on bass, and Eric Mayron on keys. There would be a different theme each month. If it were Prince month, everyone dressed like Prince or his band and we would play all Prince songs. There would be a different singer for each song. I asked some of them who they thought was the best singer around and Allan Louis said Adam. Later on Lee Cherry introduced us and we started writing together and started a band called The Citizen Vein. I never liked the name but we had to pick something.

6. In November 2009 you released your first solo album entitled, The Deepest Dark. What were the dark experiences that made you baptise this album with that title?

I wanted it to be  an album that I could recreate anywhere. I love acoustic music and the situation presented itself like that. It was hard getting everyone in The Citizen Vein together to play because we weren’t usually in the same city. We all wanted to do it but were always in other places for other shows. Who knows what we could have accomplished had we had the time.

7. What else do you remember from that album?

The Deepest Dark was made in three days. It was recorded in Los Angeles, mixed in New York, and Mastered outside of London. I like that it has all three of those vibes associated with it. It was recorded by Jon Armstrong. We had the best mics that the studio had in our room because they were concerned about them getting broken by some of the people recording in their other studios. We used Golden Ratio to place the mics all around me. We used an entire board just for acoustic guitar and vocals. In the mix, the mics get turned off and on or up and down for ambience.

8. In 2011, you released you second album, Pain, Love & Destiny. Would you like to talk about it?

“Pain, Love, & Destiny” has the acoustic guitar and vocals foundation but also has other instruments as well. It’s the next step where I’m going with my own music. It was recorded last summer. Noah Shain produced it. Kane Ritchotte played drums and Kelly Rhoads played piano. I played everything else. That wasn’t really by choice, it was from running out of time in the studio. Before recording it, I was playing live with Warren Willis, Tommy Ratliff, and Xander Smith. I really wanted them to play on it but because of time issues it didn’t work out that way. Looking back though I’m very happy things turned out as they did. When I get my next album out, I’ll take all of that past where I left off with it also. It’s going to get pretty heavy but there are also some things even more stripped down.

9. Most of the rock guitarists choose to use a  “dirty”, distorted sound in the recordings.You have an extesive use of acoustic guitars in your albums which proves your talented playing and that you are not afraid to have a clear guitar sound. Would you like to comment on that?

I like how an acoustic guitar sounds combined with an electric guitar. It gives it a certain texture. You can break it down live and just play it acoustic and it’s still something familiar with the recording people are used to hearing.

10. You have used Kickstarter as a way to fund your album. What do you remember from that campaign?

I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. A lot of people hadn’t heard of Kickstarter at the time. It’s a great way to get your project up and running. At first, I thought it was just asking your fans for money but I saw where you give an incentive. Some of those incentives were much harder to fulfill than I thought. Maybe I’ll use Kickstarter again. Maybe I won’t. I would definitely recommend it to anyone for getting a project going.

11. Do you intend to tour for your own album after Madonna’s tour?

Yes! I’m going to get my third album out and then start booking tours. I’m going to take it in baby steps.

12. What would be your advise to all the newcomer guitarists?

Keep yourself humble and versatile at all times. When you play guitar in a band with people, you’re part of a team. Always take care of your team.

Info:
http://montepittman.com/
http://www.montster-of-rock.com/

1st photo credits:
Lisa Pittman