Bonamassa Nerdville E interview

Strat54

Some great shot of those prizes. Loved the Elise Tele. Look forward to the next installment from his third home Nerdville Gotham. 
He's no songwriter and he knows it. He gets guys like Tom Hambridge and James House in to help. The results to my ears just sound over thought and over written. I still like the guy though.

lincolnblue

Just started watching it but I did wonder how the guitars that are out on stands / on the wall cope when one wall of his house was pure glass...surely that can’t be good for them?!

Musicman20

I loved the instruments but I didn't really enjoy Joe or Mark. Both, in reality, are incredibly luck to be where they are. There was a sense of being fairly pretentious as well. However, Joe is certainly extremely talented, just not the type of music I'd ever listen or play.

I still enjoyed seeing such a crazy collection. 

lustycourtier

Musicman20 said:

I loved the instruments but I didn't really enjoy Joe or Mark. Both, in reality, are incredibly luck to be where they are. There was a sense of being fairly pretentious as well. However, Joe is certainly extremely talented, just not the type of music I'd ever listen or play.

I still enjoyed seeing such a crazy collection. 

You class 25 years of 300 gigs a year to get to top as ‘luck’? 

TINMAN82

soma1975 said:

lustycourtier said:

soma1975 said:

merciful-evans said:

Though I like his playing, I couldn't call myself a fan. Maybe one day I might buy an album though?

I find its refreshing that he seems to regard himself a custodian of his guitars, and has respect for the previous owners/players. Yes he seems genuine and likable. 

Again that's part of the image. Tons of shops tell stories of his demanding discounts because of who he is and offering them the chance to tell people they sold Joe B a guitar as recompense.

It's absolutely a business for him as much as music is. He must have $10m minimum tied up in vintage gear. 

He has one big investor and numerous smaller ones. 

 Joe disappeared from IG a few weeks back due to a credible threat to his life and threat/s to burn down his house. It can’t be easy being Joe or any very famous and accessible‘celebrity’ nowadays. 

I know he shares a few with the LesPaulForum guy amongst others. 

Plus he knew who has the stolen Clapton Beano guitar and when he realised that meant he had knowledge of a crime and he wasn't going to dob in his investor mate he backtracked hugely said he was just guessing. 

Im assuming all your insider knowledge was read on a forum? You know far more about the guy than me and I’m a fan who’s seen him 3 times. What sort of music/artists do you like out of interest?

While I disagree with most of you’re rather cynical statements about the guy, I have always wondered why he’s rarely worked with Clapton and perhaps if it had something to do with the Beano rumours.

Winny_Pooh

lustycourtier said:

Musicman20 said:

I loved the instruments but I didn't really enjoy Joe or Mark. Both, in reality, are incredibly luck to be where they are. There was a sense of being fairly pretentious as well. However, Joe is certainly extremely talented, just not the type of music I'd ever listen or play.

I still enjoyed seeing such a crazy collection. 

You class 25 years of 300 gigs a year to get to top as ‘luck’? 

Not quite, but by comparison Derek Trucks, Kurt Rosenwinkel & Julian Lage gig as much, are more talented and innovative/influential and yet.... not rich. He is lucky, no shame in admitting it. 

TINMAN82

Winny_Pooh said:

lustycourtier said:

Musicman20 said:

I loved the instruments but I didn't really enjoy Joe or Mark. Both, in reality, are incredibly luck to be where they are. There was a sense of being fairly pretentious as well. However, Joe is certainly extremely talented, just not the type of music I'd ever listen or play.

I still enjoyed seeing such a crazy collection. 

You class 25 years of 300 gigs a year to get to top as ‘luck’? 

Not quite, but by comparison Derek Trucks, Kurt Rosenwinkel & Julian Lage gig as much, are more talented and innovatove/influential and yet.... not rich. He is lucky, no shame in admitting it. 

Most successful people have a mixture of both talent and some form of luck along the way. To state those artists are “more talented” is highly subjective and pretty pointless. If you’d rather listen to them fair enough.

Musicman20

lustycourtier said:

Musicman20 said:

I loved the instruments but I didn't really enjoy Joe or Mark. Both, in reality, are incredibly luck to be where they are. There was a sense of being fairly pretentious as well. However, Joe is certainly extremely talented, just not the type of music I'd ever listen or play.

I still enjoyed seeing such a crazy collection. 

You class 25 years of 300 gigs a year to get to top as ‘luck’? 

He's hardworking, absolutely no doubt, but I'd swap my stressful career for his in a heartbeat, and not for the money, for the fact it's music ALL the time. As I said, he is incredibly talented.

pjf

TINMAN82 said:

soma1975 said:

lustycourtier said:

soma1975 said:

merciful-evans said:

Though I like his playing, I couldn't call myself a fan. Maybe one day I might buy an album though?

I find its refreshing that he seems to regard himself a custodian of his guitars, and has respect for the previous owners/players. Yes he seems genuine and likable. 

Again that's part of the image. Tons of shops tell stories of his demanding discounts because of who he is and offering them the chance to tell people they sold Joe B a guitar as recompense.

It's absolutely a business for him as much as music is. He must have $10m minimum tied up in vintage gear. 

He has one big investor and numerous smaller ones. 

 Joe disappeared from IG a few weeks back due to a credible threat to his life and threat/s to burn down his house. It can’t be easy being Joe or any very famous and accessible‘celebrity’ nowadays. 

I know he shares a few with the LesPaulForum guy amongst others. 

Plus he knew who has the stolen Clapton Beano guitar and when he realised that meant he had knowledge of a crime and he wasn't going to dob in his investor mate he backtracked hugely said he was just guessing. 

Im assuming all your insider knowledge was read on a forum? You know far more about the guy than me and I’m a fan who’s seen him 3 times. What sort of music/artists do you like out of interest?

While I disagree with most of you’re rather cynical statements about the guy, I have always wondered why he’s rarely worked with Clapton and perhaps if it had something to do with the Beano rumours.

Me and a few mates saw Bonamassa at the Sheffield Boardwalk in 2004(?). As 15-16 year olds he blew us all away. Hugely-talented guitarist. At least back then, he was modest, and approachable; he came back out after the gig and sat on the stage smoking a huge cigar and chatting to us about gear. 

Since then my tastes have changed and I'd rather see Derek Trucks or the Tedeschi Trucks band, for example, than JB. In any event, I enjoyed the programme, skipped through a bit of it, but interesting to see such an incredible collection nonetheless.

I can't speak for @soma1975 's source of information of course, but here's JB admitting he knows where the Beano guitar is: https://www.loudersound.com/news/joe-bonamassa-eric-clapton-stolen-beano-guitar#:~:text=Joe Bonamassa says he knows,Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton. 

mattdavis

I really like the way he comes across and his unabashed nerdery. I just wish he’d try harder with his songs. They really feel very formulaic and it sometimes feels like a conveyor belt of safe blues rock to simply fund the gear. Would be great if stretched himself and saw what happened. 
Have bought several albums and seen him twice as I wanted to support him, but never listen to his music now..

Epsilon

Fun to see live and no doubt an excellent guitarist. I can't imagine ever sitting down and listening to one of his albums though 

Nerine

I don't think it's anything to do with talent. I think it's hard work. Plain and simple.
He deserves to be where he is. 

soma1975

Nerine said:

I don't think it's anything to do with talent. I think it's hard work. Plain and simple.
He deserves to be where he is. 

Absolutely. For all my cynicism directed at him earlier he deserves all the plaudits in the world for carving out the life for himself and enjoying huge success in the music industry while still pretty much being outside it in terms of the mainstream. 

Greatape

Reminds me of Satriani: nice guy, worked hard, ploughed his own furrow...and his music bores me to tears. 

Still, a guy you'd love to chat with. Deserves his success. 

mark123

Am i being a cynic in thinking he'll play a few gibson modern l,pauls then trades them in against 50s les pauls as " as used on the road by Bonamassa " so worth ££££s .
Theres no way he can be pulling out 150 k /250k/ 100k month in month out for serious vintage guitars.

mattdavis

It does make you wonder doesn’t it? He’s definitely traded some of his own modern Les Pauls / sig prototypes etc to Norms guitars on their YouTube channel, so it probably happens more than a little. 
I guess he also can take more financial risks without family and kids to consider :-)

LewisJ

I feel that Joe is a genuine collector that keeps these things to preserve them rather than entirely for personal admiration. The fact he plays them to such a standard helps I suppose. His attitude towards it all is exactly the same as you would find in a stamp collector or similar geeky collector; he knows exactly where, when and why he bought each item (so he says anyway).

Personally I'd rather a video of Nerdville West and a good look through the real rare and special bits (not that his road 59s are not special). 

Not a huge fan of his music mind you, seems like a decent chap though. He is regularly replying to numerous comments on his Instagram etc.