Robin Trower: guitarinternational interview

Brian: Upon leaving Procol Harum to start your solo career, you immediately got into what generally became known as the signature Robin Trower sound. Did a lot of time, effort and research go into creating this?

Robin: Well, it all really started from that very distorted Hubert Sumlin sound, and a track by Muddy Waters called “Still A Fool.” I was always trying to make it, right from the moment I’d heard it, you know, that Howlin’ Wolf noise. That’s what it developed into really. In the early ‘60s I put it through a preamp to get the overload sound.

You couldn’t buy an overdrive pedal. I used to put it through a little practice amp and then into a bigger amp to try and get that sound. Eventually I started getting fuzz boxes, when they started making stuff like that. During my early period I had custom-made overdrive stuff because I didn’t like what they were making at the time. more