![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/marnie_stern.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe string-tapping method employed by adventurous musicians isn\u2019t new, and it wasn\u2019t devised by Eddie Van Halen. Some 200 years ago, composer Niccol\u00f2 Paganini used the technique on his violin. Jazz guitarist Barney Kessel used one- and two-hand tapping techniques in the 1950s, and Harvey Mandel was tapping the fretboard of his guitar while a member of Canned Heat. Guitarists across the musical landscape \u2013 Stanley Jordan, Buckethead and Steve Vai, to name just a few of many \u2013 use tapping as part of their approach to their instruments.<\/p>\n
But none of the aforementioned artists sounds much like Marnie Stern, nor she like them. Though Stern is perhaps best known for the comparatively mainstream \u201cday job\u201d she held down for the better part of the last decade, the electric guitarist is among the most unique and compelling exponents of the unconventional tapping technique.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI had picked up the guitar when I was around 19,\u201d Stern recalls. \u201cI just learned a couple open chords, but I didn’t really play much.\u201d Her musical tastes weren\u2019t exactly adventurous; certainly nothing that might hint at the direction she\u2019d eventually take. \u201cI didn’t listen to stuff that wasn\u2019t on the radio,\u201d she says. But after college \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t know why,\u201d she admits \u2013 Stern decided to take the guitar seriously. Yet not too<\/i> seriously: \u201cI didn’t take lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Stern figured it all out on her own. And her autodidactic method yielded unexpected results. \u201cThe reason I have such an unconventional approach,\u201d Stern laughs, \u201cis because I didn’t know what I was doing!\u201d But she had clear goals. \u201cI wanted to try and convey a lot of emotion,\u201d Stern explains. \u201cI was trying to use the instrument phonetically, [tapping] back and forth on single strings to convey intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Intensity<\/i> is an apt word to describe a key quality of Marnie Stern\u2019s original music. Her debut album, 2007\u2019s In Advance of the Broken Arm<\/i> is a jagged, overwhelming listen, combining dazzling guitar pyrotechnics, a clattering, thrash-like rhythm section and Stern\u2019s squalling vocals.<\/p>\n
There was little else like it; melodic lines crisscross and occasionally intersect, and that intensity never lets up. A high-profile review in The New York Times<\/i> described Stern\u2019s music as \u201criotous,\u201d \u201craucous\u201d and \u201cwriggly,\u201d naming her very first release as that year\u2019s most exciting album.<\/p>\n
Over the next six years, the guitarist followed that release with three more, culminating in 2013\u2019s The Chronicles of Marnia<\/i>. Each album built on Stern\u2019s prowess and reputation as a shredder par excellence. <\/i>Remarkably, Stern characterizes those years as \u201cmaybe a little more mellow phase,\u201d though it\u2019s a safe bet that few would describe any of the music on Chronicles<\/i> as mellow: her yelping vocals on \u201cYear of the Glad\u201d suggest an agitated monkey who just happens to know how to play the electric guitar with unparalleled mastery.<\/p>\n
But Stern\u2019s career trajectory took an unexpected turn when she abruptly placed her solo career on hold, joining the 8G house band on Late Night With Seth Meyers<\/i>. Even against the unconventional backdrop of her music, such a move seemed odd. And in many ways it was. \u201cWe had to write eight songs a day\u2026 it wasn\u2019t my style [of music] at all,\u201d she candidly admits.<\/p>\n
And applying her unorthodox methods to the needs of a general audience wasn\u2019t always easy. Sometimes she\u2019d put a gonzo guitar line onto one of the songs. \u201cThey\u2019d say, \u2018Nuh-uh; too weird. Too dissonant. Not good for TV,\u2019\u201d Stern says with a chuckle, noting that she had to be \u201cchecked,\u201d and often.<\/p>\n
So after having placed her own music on hold for eight years \u2013 an eternity in the career of most artists \u2013 Stern left Meyers\u2019 show and relaunched her solo career. After \u201cplaying nice, happy music, I wanted to undo that,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to go no-holds-barred with my own stuff again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fruit of that renewed focus and newfound freedom is the pointedly titled The Comeback Kid<\/i>. Released last November, the album demonstrates that Stern\u2019s heterodox approach to music is as sharp as ever. And though filled with musical in-jokes that most listeners couldn\u2019t possibly understand, the music skillfully conveys Stern\u2019s gleeful attitude. And that draws listeners in, even if they don\u2019t get all of the obscure, Zappa-like references. \u201cI’m aware of how wacky \u2013 and sometimes shrill and harsh \u2013 my stuff sounds,\u201d she says. \u201cI kind of like \u2018taking the piss\u2019 a little bit, and I\u2019m not a person who takes myself too seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lyrics on Stern\u2019s early albums were the product of extensive effort. \u201cI sat for endless hours working on lyrics,\u201d she says. And those words often displayed the angst of a young woman. These days \u2013 at age 47 and with a young child \u2013 Stern is in a very different place. Stern\u2019s vocals \u2013 often buried in the mix on those early albums \u2013 have taken on a more assertive character on the new record. \u201cI’m in this very comfortable, happy period of family life, so the lyrics are very motivated by that.\u201d Pausing for a moment, she shifts gears and adds, \u201cBut no one wants to listen to that<\/i>!\u201d<\/p>\n
At her core, Stern is an instrumentalist. And with the exception of the drums (played by Arcade Fire\u2019s Jeremy Gara), all of the sounds on The Comeback Kid<\/i> come from Marnie Stern. For her tour in support of the album, Stern is joined by a second guitarist and drummer, but no bassist. \u201cBut then,\u201d she points out, \u201cthere\u2019s not much bass on the record, either.\u201d Asked to sum up her live show in a few words, Stern doesn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cIt\u2019s very fun,\u201d she says with a wicked smile. \u201cIt\u2019s loud, and it\u2019s real rocking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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