Interview with Anthony Gomes: ‘I still believe in a world of guitar heroes’

St. Louis, Misssouri-based rocky blues singer and guitarist Anthony Gomes brought out his 13th album High Voltage Blues in September, comprising a compilation of his favourite songs throughout his career as well as three new tracks. It’s an apt title for a firecracker of an album offering beguiling riffs and even bigger grooves.

‘It feels like a first record,’ Gomes said enthusiastically. ‘I feel like I’m a late bloomer and it’s just coming together. I’ve always been attracted to the blues, I feel so energized and excited. I love classic soul like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett and B.B. KIng, David Bowie and Black Sabbath. I was concentrating early on to be a blues artist but now I’m gonna be myself, be rockier, and I think audiences have responded well to that. You try to synthesize everything you have experienced as an artist and create something from it. I was very inspired for the first time to say: “I’ll let my music freak flag fly wide!”‘

He has certainly achieved that. From the infectious opening riff of ‘Painted Horse’ to the melodic outro of ‘Blueschild’, Gomes showcases the songwriting and guitar skills that have developed him a loyal following, with new tracks like ‘Fur Covered Handcuffs’ and ‘I Believe’ complementing staples like ‘Red Handed Blues’ and ‘Blues In The First Degree’.

Western themed ‘Painted Horse’, with its heavy, growling opening riff and fiery licks is a tribute to some of his musical heroes: ‘In the lyrics, I quote Jimi Hendrix and pay tribute to John Lee Hooker,’ he said. ‘It’s a super charged Muddy Waters-like riff. The ‘painted horse’ represents “the mutt”, a bit of everything, the idea that you’re a badass bringing all these things together (laughs). It’s one of those universal songs to try and maximise the badassness.’

As the track kicks off: “I’m badder, baby, than Jesse James. Ride the deck of your hurricane. Tip my hat when I pass you by. ‘Scuse me, mama, while I kiss the sky.” A hard-hitting riff gives way to his gravelly vocal delivery on the verses and the momentum culminates on a slick solo anchored by the rumbling rhythms of legendary bassist Billy Sheehan and Korn drummer Ray Luzier, who guest on three of the tracks. ‘To me, the song is everything the album represents,’ he said. ‘It’s a song of unity and a celebration of diversity. The song depicts this vision of a gunslinger who pulls into town on this mutt. However, he’s going to win the race because he’s the baddest horse out there.’

‘That one gave me licence to show my humorous side’

One of the standout tracks for me is the new song ‘Fur Covered Handcuffs’ about a man who is presented with some hot pink furry handcuffs by his girlfriend, much to his slight dismay. It’s cheeky and very funny, kicking off with the words: “My baby went shopping on the internet, said she got me something special, something I wouldn’t forget. When I opened up the box, I didn’t know what to think, there were two furry bracelets chained up in hot pink.” I tell him that the lyrics always make me laugh and he grins: ‘That one gave me licence to show my humorous side,’ he said laughing. ‘It’s on the edge of risqué. It’s an empowering song for women, it’s the female here saying to the guy: “Hey, we’ve got to spice it up”. I was inspired by ZZ Top. I loved they could do an entire song about an object. It just seemed so funny to have fur covered handcuffs.’ I ask him if someone did actually buy him the handcuffs in question and he laughs. ‘No, it’s not based on a real story, I wish I had a great story for you!’

The new version of ‘Blues-A-Fied’ is a blues shuffle wrapped around the snappy strut of a swaggering riff as a gospel-style refrain rings out. ‘That riff’s played with the amp turned all the way up, I borrowed it from Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady”,’ he said. ‘I love as an artist and an arranger to create an intro. You don’t just smack them with the song (laughs), you can’t just give them everything at once! We’ve created our own vernacular. Instead of saying “You were rocked last night”, we say, “You were Blues-A-Fied”. With rock, you can rock their faces off. I felt we needed a new word for blues. The blues can come in and beat you up (laughs). It’s like being in the boxing ring.’

As the song kicks off: “I’ve been blues-a-fied. The blues comes in and knocks you down. Don’t see it coming ’til you hit the ground. Oh babe, you had me hypnotized. Since I met you, baby, I’ve been blues-a-fied.”

In the music video for ‘Blues-A-Fied’, Gomes visits numerous landmarks in Memphis that are important to the history of blues music, including the Stax Museum, Sun Studios, B.B. King’s Blues Club and the legendary Crossroads also make an appearance in the video.

Sheehan and Luzier also appear on ‘Born To Ride’ and the bonus track ‘Rebel Highway’. Renowned vocalist Bekka Bramlett and The Voice contestant Wendy Moten also show up on the new version of ‘Darkest Before The Dawn’.

‘It was great to circle back to some of my past work and look at it from a different perspective’

‘We had a lot of fun rocking these songs up,’ Gomes said. ‘As an artist, it was great to circle back to some of my past work and look at it from a different perspective. Billy and Ray really pushed the way I play guitar and they added a whole new element, with a little insanity! I like to think of my style as what it would be like if B.B. King was in AC/DC, that’s what I feel we try and capture. That’s High Voltage Blues in a nutshell.’

Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, he fell in love with music as a kid, listening to everyone from Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix to Jeff Beck and Eddie Van Halen. ‘Much to his dismay, my father bought me a guitar when I was 14 (laughs). He’s old school, he believes in being a renaissance man, in being well-rounded,’ he said. ‘I didn’t have any aspirations to be a professional but I loved it so much, it made me feel so alive. I was playing the guitar for three hours every day after school. Nothing spoke to me like music. I learned about love and heartbreak from songs. There’s something about music that gets inside of you and becomes a part of you; it moves you in such a way. Music is the pure emotion provided to you. Words can be uniting but in a different language you can often express something more precisely.’

He is referring to his French-Canadian roots on his mother’s side and his Portuguese roots on his father’s and we chat for a while about just how differently you express yourself in different languages: ‘It’s so true. The joking in French, the timing is so different, it doesn’t translate, you can’t just translate it, it doesn’t work!,’ he said. ‘My dad listened to a lot of Fado music (a form of Portuguese singing that is often associated with pubs, cafés and restaurants), he emigrated to Canada when he was 25. I did a song in French, ‘N’abandonne pas’ for my mom, she was very happy that I wrote one in French. She loved it when we played it in Québec.’

‘I wasn’t just a fan of his music but of him as an ambassador’

Grinding it out, Gomes caught the attention of B.B. King’s bus driver at a jam night: ‘I was in college playing at this little pub,’ he said. ‘If you played well, they’d give you a beer. If you played really well, you got two beers. Well, you’re a student, so getting two beers felt like a million dollars (laughs). This guy came up to me at the end and said “Who’s your favourite guitar player?” and I said “B.B. King” and he said “I thought you’d say that. I’m his bus driver, come and see him tomorrow.” I didn’t know if it was legit (laughs), he said he’d get us four tickets for his show the next night, so I went along with some friends. We were front row seven. At the time, I was writing my Masters thesis on the cultural revolution of blues music and I wasn’t just a fan of his music but of him as an ambassador. So I’m there, I wore dress pants and a really fancy vest, I’d even made up these cheap business cards (laughs). He took 30 minutes with me, he gave me wisdom beyond measure. I gave him a card and he said “Oh, may I keep it?” That night gave me the courage to tell my parents that I didn’t want to go to law school but that I wanted to be a musician. I was lucky enough to tour with him a few times and I have never met a more gracious person. He was incredible. B.B. King gave me such wonderful advice, in regards to being a bandleader and hiring musicians, he always said to choose character over talent. His advice was: “You can take a 70% musician and with work get them up to 90% but a 70% man will always be a 70% man”.’

Gomes went on to share the stage with the likes of Buddy Guy, Robert Plant and Joe Bonamassa. His 2018 album Peace, Love & Loud Guitars went to the top of the iTunes Top Blues Albums Chart. A year later, Guitar World readers voted him one of “The 30 Best Blues Guitarists in the World Today” with the publication noting: “Gomes is another power player who is at his best when his gear is in the scorched earth between blues and rock”, which is deftly put.

Over the years, he has gained a better understanding as to how best harness both his voice and the guitar: ‘I’ve learned how to embrace my voice as a guitarist and as a singer,’ he said. ‘I understand who I am, and I use my strengths to my advantage. I have a blues soul and a rock ‘n’ roll heart. I love to jump back and forth between both with a modern day approach. When I play rock, it’s got a little more dust to it. I just try to be the best me I can be. So, I’m the best Anthony Gomes impersonator out there,’ he quipped.

‘I reverse engineer everything (laughs), I often start with a chorus and move backwards from there’

He likens songwriting to shopping: ‘Did you buy the shirt first or the pants?! You put it all together and it comes together, like songwriting. I have to have a concept, sometimes the riff comes first. With ‘Fur Covered Handcuffs’, the riff came from the melody. I reverse engineer everything (laughs), I often start with a chorus and move backwards from there.’

I tell him that I love the artwork to High Voltage Blues, depicting him with his trademark Flying V against an enormous lightening bolt and I ask him which model Flying V he has: ‘It’s a Gibson 2002,’ he said. ‘A tech friend told me to get one, he said it was a really good year. I use it a lot live but I usually write on a Strat, sometimes on a Tele.’ I ask him how many guitars he has in his collection: ‘I’ve got 15 or 16 but there’s always room to grow!’ I ask him what his dream guitar would be if money were no object: ‘That’s such an interesting question. I already have a ’65 Strat and a ’66 Strat. I have five or six guitars that are tripped out. I’d really like a Korina Flying V from the ’50s but they can cost $500,000!’ I tell him that I recently played an 80’s Flying V in a guitar shop and it was painfully hard not to buy it because it felt so right in my hands and he nods: ‘It’s so true, I think that the guitar chooses you, you don’t choose the guitar.’

The final new track ‘I Believe’ rides punchy distortion towards a timeless but universal mantra: “I still believe in humanity, and I still believe in love”: ‘It’s a reaffirmation of my beliefs,’ he said. Elsewhere, he infuses new energy into fan favourites such as ‘Peace, Love and Loud Guitars’ as well as ‘Darkest Before Dawn’ where he shines a light with a searing solo. The album closes with ‘Blueschild’ exploding on a seismic, final jam. ‘It’s autobiographical,’ he said, ‘Growing up in Canada, blues wasn’t such a big thing. ‘Blueschild’ is about being true to yourself as an artist and going down that road.’

‘Music taught me everything I needed to know about loving the planet and your fellow man’

In 2010, Gomes launched the national Music Is The Medicine Foundation, leveraging ‘the healing power of music’ to support children diagnosed with cancer, young adults with autism and war veterans afflicted with PTSD. Among various initiatives, it offers songwriting scholarships, music education programs and supplies schools with instruments. It has also received grants from State Farm Insurance and CVS Pharmacy. The inspiration for the foundation was born from his memories of watching his mother deal with mental illness at a young age: ‘My mom was physically there, but she was absent in many ways,’ he said. ‘Music taught me everything I needed to know about loving the planet and your fellow man. It prepared me for heartbreak and for joy.’

If he could go for a drink with anyone, he picks Jimi Hendrix: ‘I’m such a fan of his,’ he said. ‘What I admire is how his lyrics were so incredible and profound. He was witty and spiritual beyond his years. Bowie would be good, too, he reinvented himself so many times. He was in constant pursuit of inspirations. Their understanding of who they were and where they were heading was mind-blowing – I’m still trying to catch up!’

I ask him what his favourite moment has been as a musician: ‘I can’t tell you but it involved some fur covered handcuffs (laughs)! Seriously, my favourite moments are spending time with our fans at the meet and greets. They have been there for us for all of these years. We have a lot of laughs and they are my people. What I mean by this is that we are exactly alike. I’m a fan of so many artists and I love to meet them, too. I like to wait in line early to get a good seat, I buy the merch and I wear the t-shirts. I get it. We are part of a bigger collective – a brotherhood and sisterhood of this great thing called music. I am so humbled that they care enough for our music.’

Above all, Gomes is living proof that blisteringly good guitar music is alive and kicking: ‘I’m either the last of a dying breed or the start of a new revolution,’ he grinned. ‘I still believe in a world of guitar heroes. I strive for a world where you don’t have to be 19 years old to sell a lot of records and tickets and to make a statement. I’m one of those people who doesn’t think rock or the blues is dead, I’m looking for fresh ways to bring them together. I’m at the table rolling the dice all in the name of blues and rock ‘n’ roll. I know there’s never been a more exciting time for music and I’m here for the journey.’

(Photo credit: Stephen Jensen.)