Advertisement
Photo credit: Nish Saunders
Ten years after Give It Back to You solidified The Record Company as a force built on grit, groove, and guitar-first restraint, the Grammy-nominated debut still feels as immediate as the day it dropped. Spurred by chart-topping singles like “Off the Ground,” which rose to #1 on Billboard’s AAA radio chart and cracked the Mainstream Rock Top 30, and “Rita Mae Young,” which landed at #12 on the AAA chart, the record marked a rare modern blues-rock breakthrough. Now, the band is taking Give It Back to You back on the road in full, using the 10th anniversary tour not as a nostalgia lap but as a chance to re-inhabit the raw performances, tones, and instincts that defined their breakout moment.
I caught up with Founder, Lead Vocalist, and Guitarist Chris Vos to not only talk all things gear and guitar but also what it means to carry a decade-old debut into the present, and why he lets his soul navigate his musical journey—whether he’s writing, recording, or performing the songs that shaped his career.
Guitar Thrills: Hi, Chris, thanks for sitting down with me today. You just kicked off your tour for the 10th anniversary of your break out debut Give it Back to You – how have the shows been going?
Chris Vos (CV): They've been amazing.
I've been in two really long-term relationships in my life. One is with my wife and the other is with this band. And the thing I've learned that's parallel between the two is when you have a good thing going, the depth that can be achieved when you know things and challenges and continue to challenge yourself to move forward.
When you know each other so well, there's a beautiful language and depth that can start to happen. Obviously, new things are always thrilling, but there's very big reward in being in a band for a long time and still trying to find better ways to do what you do.
It really hit, you know, and we hear each other instinctually at this point. It's a lot of fun and everyone has to just be diligent to keep things fresh. And we all are kind of inherently that way.
Guitar Thrills: You’re performing the album in its entirety each night. So, are you playing the songs faithful to the record or is this a new interpretation of the album?
CV: Nothing we do is true to anything except for the moment.
You know, there's an outline of what the song is going to be, obviously, the melodies and the lyrics and the structure is there. But we stretch and bend and flex it around. We're not like jamming; I'd call it more just stretching out, rocking out.
We take it past what the recording is so that in the moment, the instrumental parts of the band can add to what people are already expecting to hear. And then when you take in to account what the audience is giving you, it's a reciprocal thing. It's a circular thing that gives the audience a chance to feel like they're participating in what they expected to hear.
And that makes it fresh for them.
Guitar Thrills: How has your style evolved since the record?
I mean, it's been 10 years. We recorded the album in a living room and, as a band, we had never played anything bigger than maybe a couple of small midsize outdoor things. We hadn’t done anything giant yet like when we played Madison Square Garden with John Mayer or the kind of shows we've done since. So, I think when you get in a bigger room, you feel the need to stretch to make sure the sound reaches the walls.
You want to always have your sound kind of push like it's trying to get just past the walls you're confined in. If you go too hard, like you're trying to knock them down and everybody's got earplugs in, I kind of wonder, like, what's the point of that? But you do want it to be where if people want to hear it loud, feel it loud, that the energy and the sound coming off the stage begins with that intention and then the technology will carry it to the wall. That's what happens when you feel the audio stretch out like that.
It certainly does affect your playing. I'd say you learn how to play with a bigger presence. Longer notes sometimes resonate better than short ones, you know, and big statements, big movements, if you're in a bigger room, those really have an effect on a crowd.
So, as a guitarist, finding some melody and stretching, not just playing licks or phrases you've practiced, but finding a melody that lets listeners hook in and then you can embellish from there. That to me is a really musical way to do it. And it's something I'm always trying to get better at. I think there's just as much beauty in simplicity sometimes. I love that.
Guitar Thrills: I was just listening to an interview with Warren Haynes and he says the beauty lies between the notes, to paraphrase. And I thought that was beautiful.
CV: Yeah, they used to tell me, I think I heard it when I was about 18 and I started listening to James Brown and some elder in my community of musicians said to me, the dancing happens because of the space between the notes.
Guitar Thrills: I love it. Waiting for that next note, you know.
CV: Exactly.
Guitar Thrills: So, since we are Guitar Thrills magazine and we are very gear-oriented …
CV: I'm ready, man.
Guitar Thrills: What are we taking on this tour? Is it the same gear you used 10 years ago to recreate that sound?
CV: I'm going to get real dorky here. Is that all right?
Guitar Thrills: The dorkier the better.
CV: All right, here we go. I have two amps: a Deluxe that is cranked up loud toward the wall, and a Princeton facing the crowd. We are a three-piece, so depth is a top priority.
I plug the Deluxe into the Normal channel and crank it to 7 or 8. I turn the bass down a touch and the treble up a touch, then throw a moving blanket and baffles around it. It causes chaos without destroying the stage volume. I picked up that off-stage amp trick from articles I've read about Eddie Van Halen and SRV.
The Princeton faces front and runs a little cleaner—I like the amp facing the crowd to be open, not baffled. On the guitar, I set my bridge pickup tone to compliment the neck tone on the Gibson models, using the neck for clarity on single notes and the bridge for chords. I also use a little EQ for my Mule Resonator and Duesenberg Fairytale Lapsteel because they have such a vast low end.
And then my pedals are simple. I've got two stock Tube Screamers and a little MXR EQ. I've got Tele Thinlines, a 335, and for the Duesenberg Fairytale lap steel that's a little darker, the EQ up there can be really nice. A little JHS Echoplex delay looking thing that is just really simple. I like JHS. I have an EP-1 booster that I run “on” all the time. It just colors the low end and the mids; warms it up a bit. We're a three piece, so I have to cover a big broad spectrum of sound. And then, you know, acoustic is just line in. I also play a harmonica through a Green Bullet through a Strymon and a Strymon Iridium and a Strymon Compressor, but that's not guitar.
So, that's pretty much it. Polytune and away we go. Oh, and I do have a Surfy Bear reverb unit that I just bought that's a little bit boutique, amazing gear, proud gear, dorky stuff.
It kind of replicates the old Fender reverbs that you can have some control of the tone, but it's smaller. So, I just set it right on top of my road case and that's the only one. I have that always to my left so I can dial reverb higher or lower as we go. Pretty simple setup. I believe in the guitar, the fingers and the amp. Pedals are, and this was something Warren Haynes taught me, his guitar tech Eric [Hanson], actually, taught me when we first opened for Warren. I said, how are you getting that sound, man? And he just said, “volume.”
And I thought about Hendrix. I thought about even the Stones, where they were using smaller amps but cranking them to get that natural breakup and that breakup of the amp just sounds so much better to me than trying to push a pedal to replicate it. Which was something I learned over time. So, it's changed. It's changed a lot. And I have a Mule resonator that has a pickup in it that I'll put through the amp too. And it's a little lower in output, a little lower in drive, so I don't really have to mess with anything.
I'll actually turn the Tube Screamer on and just roll a little drive off to get a little grit, but I don't run that through the direct box like I would an acoustic. I run that through the amp because I want it to cough and spit and be mean, you know?
You know, you hear blazing, amazing guitar players and you want to play like them. But I
Thank you. I've been waiting for years to talk about that.
Guitar Thrills: You could talk about it all day here.
CV: I got more (laughs).
Guitar Thrills : Well, speaking of gear, what is your go-to guitar, the one you can’t leave home without?
CV: I have a Telecaster Thinline that my friend at Old Style Guitars here in Silver Lake, CA built for me, custom. Such a light guitar. You could throw it in the air; it almost would float down like a feather.
It has a depth to it that I can get backline like 335s or Les Pauls and get closer to the sound that I have with my Les Pauls or my 335s, but that Tele, I just can't get it anywhere else. And the Duesenberg Fairytale, you're not going to backline that if you're traveling, if you're flying. I mean, I'm flying with the Tele and I'm flying with the Duesenberg and the pedalboard.
And then the amps, I learned long ago that I love vintage amps. I have a few pre-CBS amps myself, but a Fender pre-CBSO64 or back. But, they sound amazing, but when you're flying and you need to make a good sound out of what you arrive with, I decided years ago I would pick amp models that were currently available, that would be available almost anywhere that I could get a really good basic sound going.
Like not go way off the map, even though I love all those boutique amps. For me, I needed to get a good sound out of a Deluxe and a Princeton. They're usually both available from a backline company when you fly.
And that's the reality of touring these days because we do a lot of flying and do short runs and fly home. If we're taking a bus or a sprinter, then I'll bring the whole deal and then I have a whole pile of guitars I bring. It's been a lot of backline lately, which can be challenging because you're not playing a guitar you're familiar with all the time. But as my one and only guitar instructor, Karen Macy, said when I was 13 years old, and I only took about four or five lessons from her, she said, “either play or you don't.” I just kind of let that be my mantra. It's a paintbrush, you know. I mean, if I pick up a 335 and a Tele and if the action sucks, yes, it makes a difference.
But I think part of being a professional is you got to know what to do when the string breaks, you got to know what to do when the input jack is messing up. You got to know how to take those moments and not panic when the amp is frying and be able to put the performance forward in a way where if somebody is watching, perhaps it could be the highlight of the day because like, oh man, the string broke and they just kept right on going. Yeah!
You know. Yeah. You can't let your head get ahead of your heart.
Guitar Thrills : I love that.
CV: Yeah, your soul has to lead you through a performance, through writing, through the picking of tones. Your soul and your ears, they're connected. That's the magic of it, right?
Guitar Thrills: Lastly, if you could sit down with your 2016 self, what guitar advice would you give?
CV: Ooh, that's a good one. You know, in 2016 I was playing a 1961 Silvertone Tuxedo in a Fender Champ and I had an old Guild guitar that really didn’t play well, so I just put what they call the perfect nut on it, which raises it up so it plays like a square neck Dobro. And for the time, I don't think I would tell myself anything about gear.
I think I'm happy with where I'm at, so I think my instincts were in tune. I knew at some point that I had to change what I was doing because I felt a little limited, you know, when I wanted to bend a string, the guitar would go a mile out of tune, which has character, but when you're a three-piece and we started going a little more in depth. I don't think I would tell myself much about gear, but I would tell myself to enjoy. I always thought I really cherished every gig, and my mantra for that has always been, right before I go on stage, I'm like, “it's one less time, not one more.” It's one less. You're only going to get so many of these. And that's a fact.
There is no refuting it. And you can either embrace that and take that into the performance and think, “I love doing this, and I'm going to play like time is ticking down instead of ticking up.” That's served me well, but what I would have added, because I was already thinking that way then, was, so “be sure to savor it and enjoy it.”
You're not trying to go anywhere, man. You're already here. Be here, do the best you can here, and that will take you there. And I didn't really believe that at that time. In life, it proved me different. But, you have to, in my opinion. Everybody I admire, everybody I see, whether they're a kid at some country thing down the road where he’s chicken pickin’ like crazy, and I can't believe how good he is, and there are three people there. Or if you go see Billy Strings, Marcus King, or Metallica (I just saw them this year – they were fantastic!), there's an adherence to the craft and giving a shit about being good and putting in your time and knowing that there's no algorithm, there's no cheat sheet to turn your hands and your heart into the same object of creation. You have to spend the time and learn the hard lessons.
You have to panic on stage. You have to mess up. You have to go home and feel like you blew it to learn how to not blow it.
I could tell you how to not blow it, but that's me telling you, and that's based on me. It's like you've got to go up there and you've got to put yourself on the line to make mistakes and give a shit and really dig in and be proud that you're a fucking guitar player because it's a great thing to be.
Guitar Thrills: I love it. Amen.
CV: Well, thank you so much.
Official The Record Company “10th Anniversary Give It Back to You Tour” dates are available here: https://therecordcompany.net/tour/. Follow The Record Company @therecordcompany a cheap combo amp solution. Nor do you have to sell the farm for an amp and cabinet. Add to it, additional pedals and you will need to work a lot of overtime or max out your credit cards. Maybe I am being a bit dramatic. However, there is no limit to what you can do with an FRFR. Unless you want to plug in an Amp head…. but why risk it. Just stick to the simple and effective solutions. Go FRFR …. Everyone is doing it. 😊
