but he's mysterious.

i recently discovered something that i knew i always did subconsciously but never openly admitted it to myself.

i am obsessed with guitarists.

now me and 50 million other 14 year old girls can say the same thing, with our love of mysterious boys who are tall with dark hair and look down to the ground and write the most sensitive songs but they will never see the light of day cause they're not the star so they'll just have to play out their emotions through a distraught guitar solo.

guitarists: not as cocky and pretentious as the lead singer, not as weird and moody as the bassist, and not as laid-back and naive as the drummer. they are always the perfect amount of selfish, depressed and self-involved for them to break your heart.

i've dated a few musicians but never a full fledged lead guitarist. too dangerous. i also vowed to myself to just stay clear of musicians in general. they always look so good, but man are they a pain in the butt to fall for. am i right girls? you've been there.

anyway, despite all that, boy do i love guitarists. and no matter what concert i go to, my eyes immediately fall to the side of the stage where the guitarist is set up and they usually don't wander anywhere else. i have such a strange fascination with them. i wait for the little moments where they finally look at the crowd and smile, the moments where they sing (guitarists with underrated backing vocals, be still my heart), how many guitar switches they do, everything is interesting to me. the lead singer or anyone else in the band can never entertain me as much as the guitarist.

weird? maybe? yes? whatever.

the last concert i went to, the temper tramp (check em' out live if you get the chance, balls to the wall amazing) my habit didn't betray me. i flew right to our lead guitarist who did not disappoint. even my concert going companion, caely-ann, commented on him: "he's like a more bad ass version of Frodo". indeed he was. and of course the next morning at work, i was right on their website, looking up his bio and pictures to learn more about my new guitarist friend.

Here is a glimpse of some of the guitarists who have stuck with me till this day who i have had the pleasure of seeing live.

jamie hince.

this bitch. this motherfucker right here. pardon my language but this guy is the epitome of rock and roll guitarist. he swaggers on stage with numerous scarves and suggestively looks at his band mate and lead singer (a female) like she's a pice of steak and he's gonna do naughty things to her later. he uses his chocolate barry white voice to sing back up when he feels like it and plays his guitar without much thought, but damn does it sound good. oh and like any rock guitarist should be doing, he's banging a super model, Miss Kate Moss. Jamie Hince, i salute you. and come back to vancouver soon so i can see you shake your skinny ass again.

tom linton

i've always "liked" jimmy eat world. in the sense that i had one of their albums and listened to it on occasion, but when my friend byron invited me to their concert couple years back i was converted to full fledged fan. and one of those reasons being because of mr. lifton. what a great presence onstage. he has a whole aura of loyal faithful bandmate going on, with a touch of but i could be an asshole if you want me to be. awesome player, awesome attitude and most of all, he tapped into one of my weaknesses, a beautiful backing voice. strong and sometimes in my opinion, overshadowing the deeply talented frontman, jim adkins.

dave genn

i can write a whole blog about this incredibly talented individual but i won't. he is my favorite. of all time. words can not describe thy. why him? who knows. but one blistering hot and humid ottawa summer day matthew good band was playing bluesfest (why was the biggest canadian rock band at the time playing a blues festival? still a mystery) and as my friend jen and i waited around for hours and hours for the show to start, complete with random thunder shower where we all got soaked and muddy and standing through the worst.opening.band.of.all.time, they finally hit the stage. and as i was 3 rows back from the stage on the right, i was standing right in front of dave genn. who proceeded to blow my mind. granted i was 15 and this was only my like third live show but something about the way he handled his gibson les paul standard and played around with his 20 pedal set up made my skin tingle. after that concert, i finally picked up the acoustic guitar i had been given for free a year ago and finally took lessons. my teenage years were spent obsessing over him. i scrutinized his every solo and played them over and over. when he left matthew good band, i cried. when he started playing with holly mcnarland live i ran to the calgary stampede to see him. i waited backstage and got him to sign my ticket, he asked me my name and i said julia, to which he replied was his favorite song. i was so excited to be standing in front of my guitar god's presence that i blanked out to what song he was talking about. he tells me, "from the beatles, you know?". i melt into a pile of goo like Amelie, of course. of course i know. IDIOT. i let my obsession die down a bit after i graduated high school. although when i would hear through the grape vine what indie band he was helping produce, i would still go check em' out. finally, years later at the age of 22, caely-ann and i went to the commodore to go see 54-40. i knew that dave had joined the band. i told myself i was gonna go enjoy the night and see a good old canadian rock band, this wasn't about dave. but who was i kidding, i ran to the right part of the stage as soon as i got there and ogled his pedal set up. and out he came and i realized he would always, always be my favorite guitarist. to the point where recently, at the age of 24, my heart skipped a beat at a film premiere where i learned that one of the people involved with the film was his brother James Genn, a director/writer. And although we've lived in the same city for 5 years now, i've yet to see him anywhere but the stage. and that's just the way i like it. dave genn, don't ever change.

ta!

julia gulia